Chapter 9 — Back Before The Wedding Day

On the first morning of the week, the design room was bustling as the first fabric samples for the spring collection were delivered from the factory. Khanh Linh and the whole team eagerly opened each roll of fabric, checking the quality, drape, and color compared to the original sketch. This is one of her favorite moments at work — seeing ideas on paper gradually become reality.

"This fabric is so beautiful," Bao Ngoc exclaimed, gently caressing the silk fabric dyed in the purple-orange sunset color. "Exactly what I envisioned when combining the colors."

"You have really good aesthetic eyes," Khanh Linh complimented, smiling as she looked at her friend who was engrossed in her work.

While the whole team was busy, Ms. Kim Chi's personal assistant suddenly appeared at the door of the design room, holding a file. "Miss Khanh Linh, the chairwoman invited you to her private office. There is something that needs to be discussed urgently."

Khanh Linh was a bit surprised but still followed her assistant to the twenty-second floor. Entering Mrs. Kim Chi's private office, she noticed that the atmosphere was somewhat different from previous meetings - Mrs. Kim Chi sat behind the desk, her cold eyes looking straight at her, no longer her usual gentleness and sociality.

“Please sit down,” she said, her voice calm but filled with scrutiny. "I heard that you asked to add a provision to store sketches separately outside the company system. I'm curious, what made you so careful right from the start?"

Khanh Linh kept her composure, even though she had partly anticipated this question would appear. "I just want to ensure transparency and safety for my creative efforts, ma'am. The fashion industry inherently has many potential risks of copyright disputes, I think, early prevention is the right thing to do."

"A very standard answer," Ms. Kim Chi said, the corners of her lips slightly raised but her eyes were still no warmer. "But I also want to remind you that at Bao Tin Group, we always value trust and cohesion between members. Being overly cautious sometimes accidentally creates unnecessary distance."

"I understand what you mean," Khanh Linh replied, unfazed. "But I believe that clear transparency from the beginning is the strongest foundation for long-term trust, ma'am."

Mrs. Kim Chi was silent for a moment, her eyes evaluating the young girl in front of her with a new caution. Obviously, she was not like her original image of a young, talented designer but easily influenced by affection and admiration for a powerful family. "Okay, I just wanted to get to know you better," she said, switching to a softer tone. "Anyway, she is the person I have high hopes for in this project."

Leaving Mrs. Kim Chi's office, Khanh Linh felt a cold current run down her spine. She understood that the conversation just now was not simply a curious question - Mrs. Kim Chi had begun to pay attention and be wary of her much earlier than in her previous life, when it was not until her fourth year, when Khanh Linh and Dang Khoa were officially engaged, that she began to clearly show her wariness and aversion.

"Maybe," she thought to herself as she entered the elevator, "it was because I was so cautious, so different from the image of an innocent girl who was easily manipulated, that she soon realized something was wrong. I need to be more careful in how I express myself, Can't reveal too many intentions to the outside."

Returning to the design room, Khanh Linh briefly recounted the meeting with Lam Quoc Bao during lunch break, not going into too much detail but enough for him to understand the situation. "The president seems to be paying more attention to me than usual," she said, her voice thoughtful.

"You need to be more careful in the future," Lam Quoc Bao commented, his eyes serious. "If she has started paying attention, maybe your every move will be watched more closely. I will pay closer attention to financial transactions related to the project, in case someone deliberately sets a trap to discredit you."

"Thank you," Khanh Linh replied, truly grateful for his unhesitating support. "I think, from now on we need to coordinate more closely, not only for the project, but also to protect each other from potential risks."

"Agreed," he replied, nodding emphatically. "I will create a separate backup for all important data, updating you weekly instead of just reporting according to the company's official procedures. That way, no matter what happens, we always have independent comparative data, not completely dependent on the internal system."

Khanh Linh nodded in agreement, secretly feeling lucky to have had such a careful, trustworthy ally right from the first steps on the thorny road ahead.

In the afternoon, while focusing on completing technical drawings for an innovative ao dai model, Khanh Linh received a text message from Thu Ha, asking to meet over the weekend for coffee as promised. She smiled, feeling relieved at the thought of having a relaxing time, chatting with her most trusted friend, temporarily putting aside the calculations and precautions that had always been on her mind during the past few days.

On the weekend, Khanh Linh met Thu Ha at a quiet cafe near the magazine editorial office where her friend worked. The cozy atmosphere and the fragrant smell of roasted coffee helped her temporarily forget the pent-up stress of the past week.

"You look more tired than usual," Thu Ha commented, pushing a cup of iced milk coffee towards you. "Is the project at the company very stressful?"

"A little," Khanh Linh replied, gently stirring her coffee, "but I'm fine. Well, you work at a fashion magazine, so you probably know a lot about investors in this industry, right? Have you heard of an investment fund named Trinh Ngoc Lan?"

Thu Ha frowned and thought for a moment. "This name sounds familiar. Ah, I remember, that fund has emerged quite quickly in the last two years, specializing in pouring capital into rising fashion and cosmetics brands. But I also heard some colleagues in the economic sector say that the way this fund operates is quite ambiguous, many transactions have unknown capital sources, have been questioned but there has been no official conclusion. Why do you suddenly ask that?"

"I just happened to hear the name at a company party and was curious," Khanh Linh replied, trying to keep her voice natural. "Thank you, this information is very useful."

"Be careful," Thu Ha said, with a rare serious look in her eyes. "Investors like that, if they get involved in your company, it's no joke. If there's anything unusual, remember to let me know, I have some connections in the economic investigation department, I can inquire for you."

"I will remember," Khanh Linh replied, gently holding her friend's hand, her heart warmed by that sincere concern. The two continued to play talk about other everyday things, temporarily put aside work worries, enjoy the rare relaxing time amid the busy pace of life.

Late at night, before going to bed, she opened her notebook and wrote an important note: "Mrs. Kim Chi began to be cautious much earlier than in her previous life. It is necessary to adjust the strategy - reduce the exposure of preventive moves, increase the collection of evidence in a more discreet and silent way. We cannot let her be on guard too early before we have enough evidence to act."

Closing the book, Khanh Linh lay down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling in the dark. She was both worried about the sudden change in Mrs. Kim Chi's attitude and felt a new determination rising. The fateful chess game is gradually entering a more complicated stage, and she knows that she needs to be more cautious and clever so as not to lose the advantage that she has built up over the past months.

She reached out to turn off the desk lamp, and the faint moonlight filtered through the gap in the window curtain and shone down on the open notebook page. In the quiet darkness, she told herself, no matter how complicated the chess game was, as long as she maintained each carefully calculated move, she could completely turn the situation around before anyone could realize she was being watched.

Sleep that night came later than usual, but when she finally fell asleep, Khanh Linh no longer saw the image of the car plunging into the dark water like the first nights after being reborn. Instead, she dreamed of a small sewing factory bearing her own name, where brocade fabrics were woven by the skillful hands she inherited from her father - a simple but warm dream, like a promise for the future that she is trying to build every day.