Secret Admiration: Finding True Love After Prison
Chapter 626

Chapter 626 Fishy

Rachel's smile froze in an instant.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. At that moment, she felt a tightness in her chest, tears threatening to spill over.

"How is it possible that both awards went to Meryl?"

She couldn't wrap her head around it, convinced that there must have been some mistake on the organizers' part.

It was unprecedented for the special award and first place to be the same piece-why was Meryl receiving both?

Rachel was sure her arrangement was solid. Just a moment ago, she had sneakily checked the online voting results and saw she was consistently in the top three. There was no way she could walk away empty-handed!

Meanwhile, Meryl was still in a daze, completely taken aback that she was the one being honored.

She thought, "What a twist of fate! I was just going with the flow, and now look at this!"

Confused, Meryl instinctively glanced at her mentor, Harvey, who was seated among the judges.

He gave her a thumbs-up, a warm smile lighting up his face, It

Chapter 626 Fishy composition.

Meryl felt a wave of relief wash over her.

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She mused, "Harvey rarely praises anyone; his approval must mean my piece really struck a chord, especially since it was chosen by both the judges and the audience." The ceremony continued, and a staff member gestured for Meryl to step onto the stage.

All cameras turned to capture her expression.

The award presenter was Casey, a big name in the music industry. Just having him as a judge was a major coup for the competition.

The excitement in the room was palpable, with the livestream hitting a staggering 30 million viewers.

Casey, dressed sharply in a tailored suit, presented the trophy to Meryl, his fingers gently placing it in her hands.

"Congratulations!"

This was Meryl's first real interaction with Casey.

Earlier, she had borrowed a string from him through one of his assistants, but now, seeing the music prodigy up close, she was struck by how approachable he seemed. Meryl smiled back at him, "Thank you."

As she prepared to take the trophy, no one expected Rachel to

Chapter 626 Fishy

She dashed in front of Meryl, snatching the microphone from her hands and addressing the crowd.

"There's something fishy going on with this competition! My scores were high too-why is she the one winning, let alone snagging two awards?"

Just moments before the staff had invited Meryl to the stage, Rachel had learned her own score.

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Even if she couldn't claim the special award, she was confident she had secured second place!

Her emotions flared as she presented a piece of paper to the camera, waving it like a flag.

"This is our comprehensive scoring!" she shouted, having snatched it from a staff member just moments ago.

Suddenly, all eyes were on Rachel, cameras zooming in on her face, which was a mix of excitement and disbelief.

The atmosphere in the venue shifted; judges whispered among themselves, and the audience murmured in confusion.

Rachel's outburst had turned the livestream into a spectacle, leaving the host visibly startled. She stepped closer to Rachel, her expression serious.

"Ms. Morgan, your piece did score highly, but according to the committee, any work found to be plagiarized cannot compete."

Rachel froze, her mind racing. The moment the host uttered the

Chapter 626 Fishy

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word "plagiarism," the murmurs in the crowd grew louder.

The live chat exploded with comments, the screen filling up rapid-fire reactions.

with

[Plagiarism? Oh my God, and I just voted for her!]

[Exactly! In such a big competition? This is a joke!]

[Talk about guts! Did she really think she could get away with this? Plagiarists should get the boot from the music scene!]

Rachel felt her legs wobble beneath her, but she quickly steeled herself.

"Just because you say it's plagiarism doesn't make it true. Where's the proof?"

The host replied coolly, "There was a post on Twitter a couple of days ago with a piece that sounds a lot like yours.

"So, per the committee's decision, you're disqualified, and we reserve the right to pursue this matter further."

Just then, the familiar melody of the original piece filled the air.

[Now I see why this sounds so familiar-it's almost the same, just with a few tweaks!]

[Unbelievable! A competition this big, and they let a plagiarist in? This turns everything on its head!]

[How can she still stand there after being accused? Does she think we're all fools?]

Chapter 626 Fishy

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As Rachel faced the host, she firmly regained her composure, "I'm the original creator of this piece! Is it wrong to adapt my own work for this competition?], Sure, it was a 48-hour composition challenge, and the goal was originality. But adapting past works wasn't explicitly against the rules.

Rachel had cleverly capitalized on this loophole, which gave her the audacity to enter the contest with this music.

To prove her point, she pulled out her phone and opened her Twitter feed, revealing a post she had made just days earlier.

Suddenly, the audience realized that the "no name" account that had raised a stir online was actually Rachel's.

She had accused Casey's junior fellow apprentice of stealing her work, causing quite a ruckus and leading many to rethink their support for "Sweet Savage." [Well, sure, it seems a bit iffy, but if she's the one behind that no-name account and she's just adapting her own piece, it's not outright plagiarism, is it?]

[But that doesn't justify her winning-others have created entirely original pieces while she's taking the easy route!]

[A minute ago, I thought Meryl was just a fellow competitor, but isn't she Casey's junior fellow apprentice and the one behind "Sweet Savage"?

[If that's the case, didn't Meryl just pull a fast one on Rachel?]

Chapter 626 Fishy

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[Wait a minute. So the top prize and special award went to someone linked to a plagiarism scandal? This is going to tarnish the competition's reputation! The organizers must be fuming!] As the comments flooded the screen, the tide quickly turned in Rachel's favor.

Watching the chat explode with calls for Meryl to be kicked out of the music world, Rachel couldn't help but smile.

The host glanced at the production team with a questioning look.

The whispering in her earpiece told her everything she needed to know.

She turned back to Rachel, her expression serious. "Ms. Morgan, let's get one thing straight: is that song on Twitter truly your own composition?]

Rachel felt a flash of uncertainty prick her confidence.

She mused, "What if she's caught onto something?

No, that can't be! I have the original scores right here who could ever challenge that?

No one knows about the draft I found."

With an air of feigned indignation, Rachel replied, "Why would you even ask that? I have the original score; if it's not my composition, then whose is it?" Just then, a staff member approached, carrying a handwriting

Chapter 626 Fishy analysis report.

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Apparently, the plagiarism claim had more depth than Rachel realized.

Someone took her posted draft off Twitter and had it examined by an expert, producing a reputable report.

The moment the staff member held up the report for all to see, the room fell into stunned silence, followed by an uproar of disbelief.

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