My Boyfriend's Junior Accused Me of Plagiarism, I Sent Her to Jail

In my previous life, I had my suspicions about my boyfriend, Steven.

After all, we were living together off-campus, so he was the most likely person to have stolen my design and handed it to Sarah.

I'd even snuck into his phone with his fingerprint while he was asleep and poked around his computer, but I found zilch—no clues, no proof, nothing.

Just a bunch of complaints he made to his buddies.

[Nina's way too headstrong. She's got zero femininity, not even close to Sarah.]

[If she had just a third of Sarah's looks or even half her sweetness, things would be so much better. Too bad she's not even in the same league.]

Back then, I thought it was all on me—that I wasn't good enough.

Now that I think about it, there's no point in staying with a boyfriend who's always rooting for someone else.

I made up my mind to break up with Steven right after this competition wrapped up.

Back at the little apartment Steven and I rented, I fired up my computer.

I entered my password and opened the backup design I'd saved earlier.

No one had ever seen this design; I was sure this time I wouldn't end up like before.

It still needed some final coloring, but I wasn't sweating it.

The later I finished it, the less chance there was for anyone to copy me.

I decided to keep an eye on when Sarah would submit her work.

My advisor called, saying he saw in the system that I hadn't submitted anything yet and asked if I'd forgotten.

I told him I felt my previous design wasn't perfect, so I wanted to start over.

He was stunned.

"Nina, I know you've got talent, but there are only three days left before the deadline. This isn't a game!"

Of course, it wasn't a game.

Only by scoring in this competition would I have a shot at landing my dream job at the firm I'd been eyeing.

Getting into Prime Design Studio has been a dream of mine since I was a kid.

I wouldn't gamble with my future or my dreams.

I wasn't about to let anyone slap me with a cheater's label. I wanted my win fair and square.

Though shocked, my advisor eventually agreed to let me do it my way.

In my previous life, when I was falsely accused of plagiarism, he was the only one who stood up for me.

He defended my character and was the only person at school who had my back.

But in the end, he got dragged down too and lost his job.

This time, I wasn't just going to change my fate—I wasn't going to let him suffer because of me.

Steven got back home and asked, "Didn't you already submit your design for the competition? What are you still doing on the computer?"

I turned around and shot back, "How do you know whether I submitted it or not?"

He paused, then shrugged. "Didn't you finish it a couple of days ago? I just figured you'd turned it in."

He seemed so normal—nothing out of place, no weird vibes.

While having dinner, he was scrolling through Sarah's social media, and I leaned in to take a peek.

A grid of nine photos popped up, all capturing Sarah's picture-perfect daily life.

Among them were a few blurred-out snapshots of her latest design work for the competition.

[Busy week! My eyes are killing me from all the sketching, but Steven sent over some eye medicine—so grateful!]

Steven had just liked the post when he turned and caught my stare.

He jumped out of his chair, clearly flustered, and snapped, "What's your problem? It's just a like. What's the big deal?"

He looked angry and embarrassed, but I just kept watching him silently.

Steven waved his hand dismissively, annoyed. "It's just a pack of medicine. If you want one, I'll buy you a pack tomorrow."

I let out a cold laugh. "Who needs your medicine? My eyes are just fine."

Dinner ended in silence, both of us stewing in our own thoughts.

The next morning, when I got up to work on my backup plan, I saw Sarah's latest post.

[So upset... Someone's plagiarized my design, and now I have to start all over again.]

[The person's a well-known senior, always topping the class. I can't fight back, so I guess I'll just swallow this injustice.]

She didn't name names, but anyone with half a brain could tell she was talking about me.

I was completely blindsided.