Lock You In My Heart novel Chapter 269

Gabrielle hadn't been to the studio for two months, so when she finally came for a visit, she especially ordered afternoon tea and dessert from the cafe for everyone as a treat.

When they saw Gabrielle, everyone reacted differently. After all, she was an intern designer in Jason's studio, which, in blunt terms, almost made her the lady who was in charge of the menial tasks. Moreover, she only got the role because of Austin's help. So it was understandable that everyone had mixed feelings about Gabrielle.

Some people liked her a lot.

But others that didn't, created a lot of trouble for her.

"Gabrielle, you're finally back! I almost forgot all about you because you weren't here for so long. I thought you would never come back and had abandoned us." A clear and pleasant voice rang out, before a girl clad in pink rushed quickly towards Gabrielle. She hugged her tightly.

It was Lolita Anderson. She worked as an intern designer and joined the studio one month after Gabrielle. She graduated from a foreign jewelry design university, so the two of them had many common topics to talk about. They quickly became friends.

Lolita liked Gabrielle the most over everyone else in the studio.

Moreover, Lolita's looks were true to her name. She had a very cute and beautiful baby face, similar to that of a doll's.

"Of course I would come back, Lolita! I just felt a little unwell for some time and so I was away, resting. But I'm feeling much better now, so I decided to come back," Gabrielle explained.

Only Austin knew the truth: she hadn't gotten leave because she was sick, but rather because she was getting married. She was too busy with all those arrangements to come into work.

Now it seemed she had more free time, so she came back into work.

But Austin couldn't hold his anger back when he knew it was Westley whom Gabrielle was marrying.

That was not something he felt comfortable with.

"How are you feeling now?" Lolita was assessing her very carefully, thinking that she looked very much okay.

She seemed to be healthy, but there were some faint scars on her face.

"I'm feeling great... how else would I come back?" Gabrielle smiled.

"Yes, but there are some scars on your face. What happened?" Lolita was very sharp. She managed to notice the scars even though they were very faint.

Gabrielle touched her face subconsciously and forced a smile. "Nothing, my face is fine. This was a minor accident, but I've recovered now. Please give me a hand with the food."

"Sure, I'll help you hand them out!" Lolita went ahead and enthusiastically shared the food with everyone around her.

"Oh, our Miss Jones is finally willing to come back. I always knew that you weren't feeling well, but I didn't know where you were hospitalized so we could never come and visit you." A sharp and shrill female voice rang out into the air.

Gabrielle knew who it was before she even saw the owner of the voice. Guessing rightly, she saw the woman who had spoken out, wearing a classy white skirt, striding towards her.

She was Vivian Allen, one of the jewelry designers at the studio. Vivian was one of the most renowned people in the jewelry design industry of Antawood. She liked Jason, but Jason looked after Gabrielle at the studio. In Vivian's eyes, Gabrielle was her rival when it came to matters of the heart, so there was clearly some hate towards Gabrielle because of that.

In fact, Vivian hated Gabrielle as much as Lolita liked Gabrielle.

When Jason wasn't around, Vivian was sure to make life difficult for Gabrielle.

But Gabrielle never wanted to confront Vivian, especially around others. She didn't think it was serious enough to bother Jason about it, so she preferred to deal with this issue by herself. In fact, telling Jason would only create more trouble. Gabrielle had gotten the job because of a strong recommendation from Austin after all.

After joining at the studio, she had been working and studying hard, but she still felt that she didn't quite deserve this job because she used other people's recommendations; she never got in through her own merits. Because of this, she tried to stay as low-key as possible and avoid any sort of conflicts. Staying away from Vivian was because she didn't want to cause trouble in the workplace - not because she was scared of her.

"It would've been unnecessary for you to visit me, Vivian. My condition wasn't serious and I didn't s

tay in hospital. But I still want to thank you for your concern. Now that I'm back, please help and teach me from here on." Gabrielle was very diplomatic and humble with Vivian. However, Vivian didn't appreciate this. She haughtily walked off in her high heels.

Before walking out of the door, she stopped and looked back at her one last time. "By the way, Gabrielle, you do remember you're still an intern here, right? You would've never gotten in if not for Austin. I hope you are grateful for the opportunity and truly value it. There are a lot of people who want to come work here. If you don't want this opportunity, please let me know earlier so I can make arrangements."

"Vivian, what are you talking about? Haven't you seen how hard Gabrielle works here?" Austin blurted out at Vivian, not being able to stand it anymore.

"Well, I am not her mentor. I don't need to spell out her efforts, do I? I think Gabrielle herself knows whether she has worked hard or not. She doesn't need me to judge her performance," Vivian sneered, raising her eyebrows at her.

Gabrielle knew that Vivian made things difficult for her not only on a professional level, but because of Jason, who was Gabrielle's mentor. Usually, Jason attended to Gabrielle more than anyone else and this made Vivian burn with jealousy.

"Vivian, if you are so dissatisfied with Gabrielle, you can tell my brother directly - you don't need to pass on your passive-aggressive comments to Gabrielle." Austin automatically took Gabrielle's side.

"Well, I just want to remind Gabrielle her place in the studio. Since she is only an intern designer, she should do her job well. And you, Austin, you seem to really care about Gabrielle - do you like her or something?" Vivian asked bluntly.

Gabrielle frowned and immediately looked at Austin, who was stunned at Vivian's forwardness.

'What the hell is this woman talking about?'

"Vivian, what nonsense are you going on about? Gabrielle is my junior alumni. Don't be stupid." Austin growled at her.

Vivian glanced at the two of them and sneered again.

"The way you treat her is rare between alumni. But it's your own business whether you like her or not. I don't care at all." Vivian finally left after that last statement, her high heels clattering off with her.

Austin would never fight, let alone raise a finger on a woman. If not, he would've already hit Vivian by now. She was his brother's employee, so it was inappropriate for him to criticize her. But her last words had really embarrassed Austin, so it made him feel a little ashamed of facing Gabrielle.

"Gabrielle, are you okay? Vivian is always like that - arrogant as ever. Don't take her seriously."

Austin looked at Gabrielle uneasily, wondering anxiously whether Gabrielle would've believed Vivian's words.

This was not an appropriate time for Austin to express his true feelings.

"It's okay. I won't lower myself to the same level as Vivian. This woman has always had a problem with me. She has always tried to exasperate me with her vicious words." Gabrielle smiled awkwardly.

"Gabrielle, what Vivian said about me..."

"Hey! Gabrielle! I've gone around giving out all the drinks and cakes to everyone. Aren't I awesome?" Lolita ran over and hugged Gabrielle happily.

"Awesome! My little doll!" Gabrielle gently rubbed her head in appreciation.

"Well, who am I? I'm the Super Invincible Lolita! By the way, I just saw Vivian the Devil coming over this way. Did she make trouble for you again?" Lolita asked, concerned.

All the people in the studio knew that Vivian was hostile towards Gabrielle because Vivian liked Jason, and Jason didn't like her back. What's more, he was much closer to Gabrielle over Vivian - he even made her his apprentice so they spent a lot of time together. This made Vivian very unhappy.

"It's fine. She did have a little bit to say, but she left soon after." Gabrielle shook her head and smiled obligingly.

"Good thing she didn't say too much. She's always mean to you because she likes Mr. Foster, and you are his apprentice. You know he's close to you and not her. Well, it's her problem that she doesn't express her love to him. How could he know that she likes him?! Didn't she study abroad? Why is she so close-minded? She should just confess her love to him. What's the point of making things difficult for you? Is she crazy? If I liked Mr. Foster... "

"Well, what would you do?"