Danera clenched her hands under the table and gritted her teeth. He wanted to make her a living doll according to what he wanted.
She might love that man, but Danera didn't want to give up her life to be controlled by others and have no say in her life!
"Then how long will I replace Doriane? I can't possibly replace Doriane forever, and you can't possibly like me either, right? Or... are you still waiting for Doriane?" Danera looked at him with curious eyes.
Zayn frowned at her last sentence. He hadn't been thinking about Doriane lately. But thinking that he was waiting for his ex-girlfriend to return after running away with another man, he felt somewhat humiliated. As if he was a wounded, lovesick man who was still expecting a woman who ran off with another man.
"I'm not waiting for her," Zayn retorted coldly.
"But you still have her clothes in your room. I thought you were waiting for her," Danera said quietly.
"No, I'll have Nanny Jo clean her clothes out of my closet. You can take her clothes if you want." Zayn felt no appetite to continue with his breakfast.
"I'm not defending this marriage because I'm waiting for Doriane, but I want to preserve the reputation of me and the Wilde family. Your Gillard family must take responsibility for that. As long as you are my wife, I will not do anything to the Gillard family." He looked at Danera with narrowed eyes. "Do you understand?"
The corner of Danera's lips twitched. She forced a smile on her lips. "I understand Mr. Zayn ...."
Zayn stood up from his chair and walked away from the dining room.
Nanny Jo came over to Danera with a worried look. "Miss, you didn't quarrel with young Master, did you?"
"No ...." Danera's mood was rather gloomy at the thought of her future. Marrying Zayn was as happy as she dreamed.
"Young Master didn't finish his breakfast again." Nanny Jo sighed looking at Zayn's plate that was still half full.
"Miss Danera, I will wrap up the food for Young Master. You must deliver it to Young Master. You two should talk nicely and not quarrel. You must apologize to Lord Zayn."
"Why should I do that? He would have bought food if he was hungry." Danera was not happy about apologizing to Zayn first when she had done nothing wrong.
Nanny Jo gave Danera a disapproving look and lectured her.
"Miss Danera, please don't oppose Young Master again. Young Master is a person of temperament who does not tolerate others opposing him. Even Miss Doriane dares not oppose or anger him."
Danera frowned. What kind of relationship was that? Was Zayn some kind of psychotic person who wanted absolute obedience? Is he an emperor? Danera scoffed inwardly.
"I understand, Nanny Jo."
....
Danera arrived at Brand Alisher's fashion company at ten o'clock as scheduled. She chuckled as she gazed at the grand-looking company building.
She held the file in her arms tightly, feeling very nervous. She could finally achieve her dream. Danera should make good use of this opportunity.
Taking a deep breath, she walked into the building with confident steps and approached the reception desk.
"Hello, good morning. I'm here for the fashion designer application. What floor is the interview on?"
"Ah, the interview is on the third floor, Miss."
"Thank you." Danera smiled her thanks and turned around. But she bumped into someone in front of her.
"Ouch, I'm sorry ...." Danera immediately apologized with her head bowed.
"It's okay, Doriane."
Danera looked up and saw Leticia's smiling face. The woman was wearing a soft pink blouse and a short white knee-length skirt. Her mane of hair was left down. She looked very elegant and professional.
"Oh, Miss Cooper... have you come?"
Leticia smiled and nodded. "Yes, I like your fashion style. Your clothes are very attractive compared to yesterday. You also came to propose?"
Danera hugged the application file in her hand and nodded.
"Yes."
Leticia looked at her with raised eyebrows. "I didn't expect you to come directly to propose. I thought you'd learn from Mrs. Wiston first."
" Grandma told me just to come apply."
"Apparently you came to work. I didn't know that, isn't your major in business management?"
Danera paused momentarily to think of the right words to reply to Leticia's question. Danera did not major in business management. That was Doriane.
"Well, I majored in business management. But I've always been interested in fashion design. I'd love to try once to apply for a job in the field I love."
"That's not fair." Leticia looked at her with her forehead furrowed as if objecting.
Danera blinked and looked at her uncomprehendingly. "What do you mean?"
"You know there are many people who apply to become fashion designers here? However, the company accepts one employee out of hundreds of applicants. You're robbing them of their chance," Leticia said, not smiling like before.
Danera frowned still not understanding. "Why do you think I'm usurping their opportunity? I applied and interviewed just like everyone else and hoped I'd get in."
Leticia crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at her with a flat gaze. "Of course you understand. Mrs. Wiston likes you a lot because you're her granddaughter-in-law. If you came to apply for a job, the company would immediately accept you because of your background as Mrs. Wiston's granddaughter-in-law. Doesn't that mean you're taking an opportunity that someone else is struggling for?"
Danera was silent for a moment.
"I've heard a lot about you. You majored in business management to pursue Zayn. Even now, you're pretending to want to study fashion design to attract Mrs. Wiston's attention." Leticia continued her sentence while shaking her blonde hair and criticizing Danare with a cold stare.
"You already got what you wanted. Why don't you just sit back and become Mrs. Wilde? Why are you fighting for this little chance to play around? You're such a pain in the ass."
Danera stared at the blonde woman with an expressionless face. The woman's demeanor instantly changed.
Her hands were clenched on her application file.
"I'm not playing around. I may not have majored in fashion design, but this is my dream. You have no right to criticize using my background and usurping other people's opportunities. But aren't you the same?"
Leticia frowned, looking at her with an unpleasant expression.
"What do you mean?"
"You're the daughter of the Cooper family. Your family owns a company, and you also work for a big overseas fashion company. With your family background and experience, this company would have accepted you without even an interview. Isn't it the same as you taking someone else's chance to apply here?"
"You're ...." Leticia was annoyed at Danera's words. "That's different. Compared to you, who was just playing around to get Mrs. Wiston's attention, I applied because I'm a professional in this field."
"Everyone has the same opportunity to apply and fight to be accepted. So do I. You have no right to accuse me before seeing the results."