Chapter 251: New Designer

The woman called Crystal turns to stare at Avery. She's wearing black Louboutin heels and an expensive-looking skirt suit. A young man who looks like an intern runs over and gives Crystal a fresh cup of coffee. Crystal sniffs it and wrinkles her little button nose.

"This smells like 2 percent, not skim milk," Crystal says. She tosses the cup at the employee and hot, milky coffee splatters the man's shirt and drips all over the floor. The man reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small rag; he wipes the floor before dabbing at his ruined shirt. 

"I'm Crystal Stone," Crystal says. "Are you a new employee?"

Avery stands tall and stares down at Crystal. She doesn't want to be intimidating or aggressive, but she hates bullies. If nothing else, Crystal is a bully. Avery can feel the eyes of everyone in the room on her, but she focuses on Crystal.

"If you're a newcomer, you better prove yourself," someone shouts from the far corner of the room. "You have to pay tribute when you start here. Go buy Crystal her breakfast."

"Listen to you all," Emily says nervously. "Sophie said—"

Avery interrupts Emily and says, "I'd be happy to buy you all breakfast. I'm looking forward to working with you and learning from you—think of this as a small token of my gratitude."

Crystal's pink lips curl into an ugly smile, and she says, "I don't think you understand how things work around here. The newcomer has to prove herself worthy to me. You'll buy me breakfast until I tell you-you can stop."

"I don't think so," Avery says calmly. "I'm your coworker, not your servant. This won't happen again."

"I want a breakfast sandwich and another cup of coffee," someone shouts.

"I want a croissant and an earl grey tea," another employee calls.

The employees start shouting their orders from across the room, and Avery keeps a mental tally in her head. She's always been good at memorizing complicated information, and she walks to the computer and places the order a few minutes later, confident that she's remembered it all perfectly.

Emily watches her nervously and says, "It's not my place to tell you how to act, but you don't need to give in to them. If you want them to respect you, I'm afraid you're going to have to earn it. Giving in to them and trying to be their friend won't get you very far."

"It's alright, Emily," Avery says. "I know what I'm doing. Now can you tell me more about my work here?"

"Of course," Emily says, her face instantly brightening. "The workspace is divided into an X shape, and there are four main teams within the Design Department. The teams are divided into two groups. Crystal leads one group, and I lead the other. For now, you'll be working with me."

"That's probably for the best," Avery says with a sarcastic smile.

Emily leads Avery to her office and says, "Really, you should be careful. They can all be quite scheming—especially Crystal."

"I will," Avery says. "But honestly, I'm not so worried about that. I'm more concerned about learning everything there is to know about the company."

Avery wants to learn all she can, and Sophie has generously offered to teach her. Besides, Sophie said that she could work from home as the pregnancy grows. Avery knows that Sophie doesn't usually treat her other employees so generously, and Avery doesn't want to do anything to upset them or cause trouble in the office.

"Are you married?" Emily asks, suddenly.

Avery glances down at her left hand before remembering that there's still no ring there. She pauses and then slowly shakes her head. It's not really a lie, she thinks. I signed the divorce papers with Evan—so I'm not really married to him anymore. Legally, I'm basically single.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Emily asks.

Avery pauses again. She's not sure why Emily is asking or what she's supposed to say. Nervously she shakes her head.

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"Well, you shouldn't have any problem getting one if you want—you're gorgeous," Emily says honestly. "But you need to know about one of our company rules: you absolutely can't date the customers."

Avery is surprised by the odd-sounding rule and asks, "So what would happen if an employee started dating a customer?"

"That person would be dismissed immediately," Emily says.

Avery feels her smile disappear. Though it sounds like a silly rule, it seems like the company has had problems in the past. Avery wants to ask more questions, but it seems inappropriate to ask Emily about old gossip.

"Most of our customers are wealthy men," Emily says as if she can guess what Avery's wondering. "It's not uncommon for some of our employees to develop an interest in them—especially when some of the men seem to enjoy working closely with the designers. I thought I should warn you, especially—you seem young and beautiful, but be careful. These men are usually ordering the jewelry for their wives or girlfriends—they may flirt with you, but you shouldn't take it seriously."

Avery nods slowly. The rule makes sense—it might be tempting for a young designer to fall for a rich customer, but Emily is wasting her concern, Avery thinks. I don't need a wealthy man. In fact, I have way too many of them around me already. I've come to work here to try to get some time away from them all and follow my own path.

"Anyway, our number one priority is to provide perfect customer service," Emily says. "Most of our clients want custom pieces, and it's our job to give them exactly what they want."

"What if I have a different opinion from one of the customers?" Avery asks.

"You should always do what they want," Emily answers. "Always."

"And what if my customers ask me to make something that has already been made by another designer?" Avery asks. "Are we allowed to copy other people's work?"

Emily sighs deeply and answers, "When we have to, we'll do it. Usually, we can talk the customer out of wanting a copy, but sometimes they insist, and we have to give them what they want. It happened quite recently, actually—with a ring called Peerless Love."

"Peerless Love?" Avery asks, thinking of the pink diamond ring Leonie wears.

"That's right," Emily says. "It's a completely unique pink diamond ring, or it was, anyway. Mr. Evan Howel bought it at auction for an outrageous amount of money a few months ago. Not long after that, someone came in and asked us to make a copy of it. We tried to talk them out of it and make them something more personalized instead, but they insisted. Of course, we couldn't make a perfect copy—there's only one pink diamond in the world that big, but I think we did a pretty good job."

Though Emily carefully avoids saying the customer's name, Avery knows who she's talking about, Leonie. Emily continues by explaining the company and the work to Avery, and 90 minutes fly by before Avery even realizes it. Emily seems to know about everything, and she's clearly really passionate about the company. A loud shout from outside Emily's office door draws both their attention.

"I should go see what's going on," Emily says with a sigh. "It sounds like there's been another quarrel."

A middle-aged woman in a white dress with a Gucci handbag is standing in the middle of the office and glaring at everyone around her. Some of the employees are bold enough to look back, but most look like they're pretending to be invisible at their desks. The customer raises her chin and glares at Emily.

"Hello, I'm Emily—the team leader here," Emily says. "Can I help you with something?"

"Last week, I ordered a ring made with a special piece of coral I had," the woman says. "You sent me the ring yesterday, and since then, all of my friends who have seen it have said it's a cheap fake. You stole my stone and put a fake one instead. You're lucky I haven't already gone to the police."

"Can I please see the ring?" Crystal asks.

The woman hands the ring to Crystal, and Crystal holds it up to the light. She seems to be making a big show out of rotating it and squinting at it. Then she lowers the ring and shoots a nasty look at Avery.

"We have a new designer on our team—she handpicked Sophie herself as a designer," Crystal says nastily. "Maybe we can ask this young genius to take a look at the ring?" 

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