Chapter 10 — Back Before The Wedding Day

Three months have passed since Khanh Linh was born, the spring collection called "Coi Nguon" - the name she gave to the design line inspired by traditional brocade fabric combined with modern shapes - has completed most of the samples, preparing to enter the lookbook stage and organize a launch show. This is an important milestone, marking a major turning point in her career at Bao Tin Group.

In the afternoon, while checking all the designs prepared for the photo shoot, Khanh Linh discovered a small detail that caught her attention - the original sketch of the main dress, her favorite design in the entire collection, was no longer in the right place in her personal filing cabinet as she always kept it.

"Did anyone touch my filing cabinet?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm as she turned to the team members working nearby.

"I won't touch anything," Bao Ngoc replied, looking up from the desk, her eyes a bit confused. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I probably just put it in the wrong place," Khanh Linh replied, smiling so as not to attract too much attention, but in her heart a high level of vigilance arose. She remembered clearly, that sketch was still intact in the filing cabinet this morning, and she had never moved it anywhere.

After work, she silently reviewed the entire storage system and checked the security cameras of the working floor through the relationship with the security department that she had deliberately built close to over the past few months — another preventative move that she had secretly prepared without anyone noticing.

The video recorded a scene during lunch break, when the design room was almost deserted, there was a familiar figure quietly opening Khanh Linh's filing cabinet, taking a few pages of documents with his phone before putting them back in their original position. The image is quite blurry because of the far angle, but the familiar figure, hairstyle, and outfit make Khanh Linh's heart ache.

"Bao Ngoc..." she whispered, her fingers shaking slightly on the phone screen playing back the video.

Even though she had mentally prepared in advance, even though she knew clearly that this was almost inevitable and would happen exactly as she remembered from her previous life, witnessing the concrete evidence with her own eyes still made Khanh Linh heartbroken. She sat silently for a long time in the security office, trying to suppress her swirling emotions.

"Maybe," she thought to herself, taking a deep breath to regain composure, "he's just being used and manipulated by someone, just like what I guessed from the beginning. I can't rush to conclusions, I need to find out the real motive behind this action."

That evening, instead of directly confronting her as her instincts urged, Khanh Linh decided to observe more, silently record all unusual developments, and at the same time increase protection measures for the most important sketches - switching completely to storing them in handwritten form in a personal notebook that she carried with her, leaving only the completed versions, which no longer had secret value, in the company filing cabinet.

She also decided that it was time to have a frank but tactful conversation with Bao Ngoc - not to accuse, but to probe, to better understand the pressures and temptations that were causing her friend to gradually deviate from the straight path.

The next morning, Khanh Linh found Lam During the break, Quoc Bao recounted everything he discovered through the security camera footage, although he still kept the identity of the person in the video hidden to avoid causing hasty prejudice. He listened attentively, his eyes thoughtful.

"Are you going to report this to your superiors?" he asked, his voice cautious.

"No," Khanh Linh replied, shaking her head. "I want to clearly understand the motive before acting. If you rush, it may push that person into a dead end situation, making things more difficult to control."

"Do you think someone is pressuring, or luring this person to do this?" he continued asking, keenly realizing the deeper meaning of her words.

"I think so," Khanh Linh replied, her eyes distant. "And I suspect this is just the beginning of a much larger plan, possibly involving the unusual financial transactions you previously discovered."

Lam Quoc Bao nodded, his expression becoming serious. "So I will quietly review all transactions related to the project in the near future, paying special attention to any unusual expenditures surrounding design and copyright. If someone is trying to create a certain scenario, we need to understand the whole picture before they can complete it."

"Thank you," Khanh Linh said, truly grateful for his understanding and unconditional support. "With you accompanying me, I feel much more confident in this journey."

"We're on the same page," he replied, a gentle but determined smile appearing on his normally calm face. "You gave me a chance to start over, I won't let you face anything alone."

That weekend, Khanh Linh proactively invited Bao Ngoc to her house, a more private and intimate space than the stressful office environment. The two sat in the small living room, sipping hot tea made by Khanh Linh herself.

"You seem stressed lately," Khanh Linh started, her voice gentle, without any obvious scrutiny. "Is there anything you want to share?"

Bao Ngoc paused slightly, his eyes flashed a bit confused before regaining his normal expression. "Nothing, just work pressure. You know, standing next to someone as talented as you, sometimes I feel more pressure to prove myself."

"You don't need to prove anything to me," Khanh Linh replied, gently holding her friend's hand, her eyes sincere. "I always consider you a friend, a talented colleague in your own way, no need to compare with anyone."

"You said that, but do you know what it feels like to stand next to someone who is always noticed, always praised?" Bao Ngoc suddenly blurted out, her voice a bit harsh and rare before she realized it and quickly lowered her voice. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything, I'm just a bit tired lately."

Khanh Linh was silent for a moment, feeling more clearly than ever the complex layers of emotions hidden behind her friend's usual cheerful appearance. "I understand that feeling is not pleasant," she said, her voice gentle, "but I hope you believe that your value does not lie in being better than anyone else, but in what you create with your own abilities."

Bao Ngoc's eyes were slightly wet, perhaps because of emotion, perhaps because of something Some torment is silently tearing in her heart that Khanh Linh cannot yet reach the end of. "Thank you," Bao Ngoc said, his voice a bit choked, "I... I just hope I'm always worthy of this friendship."

Khanh Linh smiled, although the necessary vigilance was still intact in her heart. "As long as you are always honest with me, no matter what happens, our friendship will always be strong."

That statement was both a sincere reassurance and a discreet reminder that Khanh Linh intentionally sent, hoping to reach her friend's conscience before things went too far and could not be saved. That night, after Bao Ngoc left, Khanh Linh sat alone at her desk, opened her notebook, and wrote a thoughtful line: "Bao Ngoc has begun to act, but seems to still be torn, not completely giving up on the wrong path. This may be the last chance to pull him back before it's too late. The next stage will be even more challenging — I need to prepare mentally for what's about to happen."

She closed the notebook and looked out the window at the quiet night covering the small street. Three months since her birth have passed with so many changes — her mother is safe, Lam Quoc Bao has become a strong ally, and an independent financial foundation has been established. But tonight, for the first time since waking up in the past, she clearly felt that the underground waves that she thought she could completely avoid were actually still silently rolling, just waiting for the right moment to flare up more fiercely than ever.

She stood up, walked to the window, and took a deep breath of the cool night air. "Even if the storms come, I am no longer the innocent, lonely girl of my previous life," she whispered, her eyes steadily looking towards the city skyline sparkling with lights in the distance. This time, she has a healthy mother by her side, a father who always believes in supporting her, Thu Ha ready to stand by her side, and Lam Quoc Bao - a trustworthy ally who is gradually becoming a stronger support than she ever dared to expect.