This was rich. Mrs. Winters was actually asking her for a loan. The nerve of this woman was unbelievable.
Of course, Penelope was going to refuse, but before she could, Rebecca burst into the room.
“Mom, who told you to ask her for money?” she cried, her voice choked with anger and humiliation.
“Why are you crying? The Sullivans won’t give us the money, right? I knew it! That’s why I’m asking Penelope. Who else can you turn to? At the end of the day, she’s the only friend you have in Orenth who can help you!”
“Mom!”
Mrs. Sullivan had said she wasn’t as capable as Penelope, and now her own mother was saying the same thing. In what way was she inferior to Penelope? Were they all blind? She refused to accept it.
“I’ll get the money myself. It’s not that much. Please, don’t embarrass me like this.”
“You’re so ungrateful!” Mrs. Winters snapped before storming back to her room.
Penelope let out a deliberate sigh. “Rebecca, we’re best friends. If you really need help, you know I’ll be there for you.”
Rebecca’s eyes turned even redder. “I don’t need your help!”
Penelope shrugged. “Alright, then.”
She stood up to leave, but Rebecca blocked her path. “The design proposal. I already sent it to you. You…”
“I saw it.”
Rebecca swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on Penelope. “So… what did you think? Will it be approved?”
Rebecca was practically screaming in her face. Penelope frowned. Was this it? Was she finally ready to drop the act?
“Rebecca, you’re angry just because I didn’t approve your design?” Penelope said, her voice filled with feigned hurt. “But business is business. Even if I wanted to help you, I couldn’t approve a proposal like that. It would hurt KINY Group, and ultimately, it would hurt Stone Group and you, too.”
“That proposal was based on your original design! If you’re calling it garbage, what does that make you?” Rebecca yelled, her eyes flashing with rage.
Penelope blinked. “Is that so?”
“You didn’t even look at it, did you? No matter how good my design is, you’ll never approve it. You’re getting revenge on Stone Group, on the Sullivans, and on me!”
“First of all,” Penelope said, her voice calm and steady, “I did look at it. You took my original concept, stripped away everything good, and added a bunch of nonsense, turning it into a pile of garbage. Second, ‘revenge’? Don’t you think that’s a bit dramatic? Even if I was upset about losing the project, I wouldn’t resort to sabotaging my own work.”
...

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