"Catherine, let's meet up."

"I don't want to see you. You always ruin my good mood. Besides, there is nothing to talk about. We're not the same."

​​

Unless Pearl stopped loving Sean, they would keep fighting.

Pearl clenched her phone and looked sharply.

"Some things are better to be discussed in person."

"I won't fall for your trick again."

Catherine knew Taylor Inwood must be on the verge of bankruptcy. The drafts were all gone, and they couldn't do the new line for next spring. Sean did this? Catherine wondered. He had the heart to do it?

Johnson and Blair were family friends. Vivian and Iris were so fond of Pearl. There was no need for this.

But Catherine didn't know how mad Sean was when he saw her face and back. He got possessive and thought he was the only one who could bully her. And no one else could. Then he started taking revenge on Taylor Inwood. He thought it was a mercy he didn't just blow its headquarters up.

"I'm not going to do anything to you," Pearl said.

"Can you swear it?" Catherine paused and said, "I won't believe you even if you did. You and Iris have cheated on me a lot of times. Do you remember the day Marco left when we were at Leydon's house and asked me to put on the dress you designed?"Catherine remembered everyone.

Now Taylor Inwood was in trouble. Catherine had to wonder whether she would kidnap her to force Sean to do something.

Sean was right. She could not walk into the trap they laid for her.

Unlike Iris, Pearl was too scheming and smart. She was a tough opponent.

"Catherine, I guess I underestimated what you were capable of."

"You're not so bad. By the way, your trick sucks so much that I could figure it out right away. Only Iris was a fool to believe you. She's so nice to you, how could you keep exploiting her?"

"None of your business."

Catherine smiled, "You're right. I have to remind you that my husband will be home in five minutes. If he knew you called me, he would be so mad."

Catherine was rubbing Pearl's nose with "husband" and getting under her skin. Pearl had to take a deep breath to hold back the overwhelming anger. She softened up her tongue and sounded mild and tender.

"Catherine, I'm sorry."

Pearl never apologized. In her book, that was something people with weak minds did. She was too proud to do that. She refused to admit she was wrong. Even if she made a mistake, she would make it look like others were responsible. There was no way she could apologize to her loved opponent, which was so humiliating. But she had to make a compromise this time.

Pearl didn't want to see Dora's upset look, how her father threw himself away, or how her brother was troubled by this. She made a mistake and decided to own up to it.

Taylor Inwood was short of cash. If they couldn't get any decent design for the next spring, Taylor Inwood might go bankrupt.

Pearl was used to privileged life, and she couldn't go back to the poor.

Although the Johnson family was well-off, it was nothing compared with the Blair family. Sean already looked down upon her now. If she became poor, Sean might not even give her a look.

Catherine pressed the recording button. Pearl was offering her an honest apology. It was so rare that she had to keep a recording.

"Why are you sorry? Is it because of something you did?"

"Catherine, we both knew what we were talking about. Let's not waste time."

Catherine had less than five minutes. She had to get an apology before Sean came home.

"Pearl, go ahead and apologize."

Catherine twirled the pencil and said, "You are apologizing for dabbing your dress with apricot pollen, which induced my allergy, eczema, and fever, right?"

Catherine had to be clear, so Pearl had to acknowledge it.

Pearl said after a while, "Yes."

"My special condition requires a second contact to induce my allergy. So you asked Madison to make me exposed, right?"

"Yes." Pearl hated to admit but had to.

Catherine said, "Okay. That's a genuine apology. But I've suffered so much. An apology can cover it?"

Catherine pressed stop. What she was about to say couldn't be recorded.

"Sean has made Taylor Inwood suffer. What do you want?"

"We're even."

"We're not. Taylor Inwood is in the critical phase of being bankrupt. You just have an allergy. You will get better."

"Then talk to my husband. I had nothing to do with what happened to Taylor Inwood."

"It's because of you."

Catherine smiled, "No. It's because you're narrow-minded and set up. You came up with the dirty trick since you couldn't embarrass me in public at the freshman party. Pearl, I'm really impressed with your mind. You just keep coming up with tricks to set me up."

Catherine was exhausted that she had to guard against Pearl all the time. All she wanted was to study and to get some talented designers to work for her. But Pearl had to make an enemy of her.

"Catherine, I have apologized. I hope that you could ask Sean to give back all our drafts. And we wanted an interest-free loan."

"Hey, you made a mistake because you were wrong. I'm not doing your bidding. If you want that, talk to Sean."

"You!" Pearl snapped.

Catherine held back the urge to laugh. She knew Sean wouldn't be willing to talk to Pearl and might refuse to see her. The thought pleased Catherine.

"What do I have to do to win your support?" Pearl begged.

"It's very simple."

Pearl had a bad feeling about what Catherine was about to say.

"Tell me."

"I want to see you disfigured."

"That's crossing the line!"

"Really? It hardly has any side effects. You'll have good news in a couple of days later."

Catherine thought they could look at Pearl's face covered in rashes if they had to look at someone's rashes.

"My time's up. I can't talk more. When I see it, I'll speak to Sean on your behalf."

But as to whether Sean agreed or not, Catherine wasn't bothered to know.

Pearl smashed the phone up against the wall after hanging up.