“Who’s copying Olivia? Spill the tea!”
く
“Never seen this concept before. Whoever
posts it next is obviously the thief.”
“Copycats are the worst!”
Olivia replied to the first comment: “It’s another
beauty influencer, someone with a much bigger
following than me. I don’t want to name names,
but she’s been trying to rebrand lately, so she
hasn’t posted in a while. Guess she’s so
desperate she’s resorting to stealing from little
old me.”
She hadn’t named me, but the clues were there.
And the internet detectives quickly put the
pieces together. My comments section was
flooded. Hate. Accusations. Threats.
My loyal followers tried to defend me. There
was no concrete proof I’d copied her, so the
backlash wasn’t as intense…yet. But I was
exhausted. I crawled into bed, hoping sleep
would offer some escape.
<
BANG! BANG! BANG! The pounding on my door
jolted me awake.
“Jenna! I know you’re in there! Open up!”
“Jenna! Don’t make me break this down!”
I opened the door to find Ethan, suitcase in
hand.
“What the hell, Jenna? Dumping me over
nothing? Olivia and I just happened to run into
each other. You’re being crazy!” He pushed
past me, dragging his suitcase inside.
I snapped out of my daze. “We’re broken up,
Ethan! Get out!” I shoved at him, trying to push
him back out the door.
“Stop it, Jenna. I’m giving you a chance to fix
this. Apologize to me. Apologize to Olivia online.
We can make this go away.”
<
“I didn’t copy her! She copied me!”
He scoffed. “Right. The copier posted before
the original. Brilliant.”
“Why are you still lying? Everyone knows you’re
a fraud!”
“Get out!” I screamed, pointing at the door. “Or
I’m calling the cops!”
He finally grabbed his suitcase and retreated,
but not before spitting, “You’ll be begging me
to take you back soon enough.”
I slammed the door, shaking. I didn’t understand
what he meant. Then, I saw it. Ethan had
posted a video. He confirmed our relationship,
then went on a rant about how disgusted he
was by my plagiarism.
Olivia commented: “Thanks for speaking out,
Ethan.” Then she posted her own statement: “I
<
believe original content always wins. Please stand with me against plagiarism.”
That was it. I was officially branded a thief.
I wanted to scream that I was innocent. But
how could I explain it? That Olivia had somehow
stolen my ideas before I even shared them? No
one would believe me.
Then someone found my burner account, my
comment.
“So, she was asking Olivia for ‘more‘ so she
could steal her next idea? Wow.”
“The audacity to beg Olivia for content, then
