Chapter 86
Two Years Later
At the end of June, Wye City was all sunshine and the perfect kind of warm, with a hint of early summer humidity in the air
Sophia had just stepped into the office when her buddy Sylvia slid a design proposal across the desk to her, and didn’t miss a beat to remind her, “Hey Sophia, don’t forget we’ve got graduation coming up in a couple of days.”
Sophia paused momentarily, then remembered indeed there was such an event and nodded, “Yeah, got it.”
She shot Sylvia a grateful smile, Thanks a bunch.”
With a chuckle, Sylvia clapped her on the shoulder, “No need to be formal with me.”
Sylvia and Sophia were classmates. She was a local. They’d entered Dempsey Architects as interns together, worked as a team on studies and now on the job too. Sylvia was one of the few good friends Sophia had in Wye City.
Sophia had joined Dempsey Architects a little over a year ago.
Initially, she hadn’t planned on joining, and despite a year of persuasion from Don and Ivan, she hadn’t budged.
But as it turned out, she couldn’t find a better fit for her internship. As a student and newbie, no other firm would dare to let her dive right into project design. Usually, she’d start as a glorified errand–runner, with limited chances to really cut her teeth, plus the cultural differences and fixed office hours. After scouting around, Sophia eventually went with Dempsey Architects.
They must have really dug her design style, because Don gave her plenty of freedom and responsibility at work. Right off the bat, she was the lead designer, and they seriously respected her ideas and inspiration. She didn’t have to clock in and out every day, just needed to show up for the big brainstorming sessions and other creative meetings. Aside from that, it was mostly online chats.
For the first six months, with work and studies, Sophia hardly had to stick to office hours.
Only in the past few months, after wrapping up her final design project, did she start to settle into a more regular routine. But Don didn’t really enforce the whole clocking in thing for her, so she was mostly free to manage her own time.
Sylvia had also started the daily grind of clocking in only in the past few months when her coursework eased up. She had less experience, having gone straight from undergrad to grad school, and didn’t have any big projects under her belt, so she started out as an assistant.
Sophia might not have officially worked a day in the company. But thanks to her crisis awareness during her student years, she knew from the get–go that her family wouldn’t be able to help her career–wise. Since her freshman year, she’d been itching to push her skills further at Apex Engineering University, knowing full well her family couldn’t provide that support, whether financially or emotionally. So, she was mentally gearing up for her future early on.
From the moment she set foot in college, she kept an eye out for any potential money–making gigs.
She was studying architecture, leaning towards design, and had a knack for drawing and designing. Initially, she started with cover designs and original character drawings for books through a friend’s referral.
Her serious work ethic and appealing style made her a hit with a broad audience, and soon she had a steady Tow of publishers, with authors specifically requesting her for their character designs and cover art. Conasquently, her Income started to rise with the tide.
unior year during the IP boom, she leveraged her network from previous original artwork and cover Look on several IP adaptation projects, all well–received Riding that market way, Sophie
her first pot of gold.
Though it might have been chump change compared to what Brandon and his crowd spent on a vacation, for Sophia, it meant she could fund her studies abroad and save up a little for pre–marriage, so she wouldn’t be at sixes and sevens when life’s crossroads came calling.
But Sophia was clear that this was just a means to fund her dreams.
Her true goal was to become an architectural designer. So, throughout her four years at university, aside from side hustles, she poured her time into honing her skills and gaining practical experience, which included participating in various architectural design competitions both at home and abroad.
Sophia had a clear game plan back then.
After graduation, she aimed to join the reputable Dempsey Architects. As a rookie, she didn’t stand a chance against seasoned pros, so she figured she’d beef up her resume with competition experience, complete with projects and awards, making her job applications shine. She poured her heart into prepping for these
contests.
While everyone else was still basking in the post–test glow, Sophia’s life revolved around classes and the library.
She was practically a fixture there, devouring books, seeking inspiration, sketching, and revising designs over and over. Maybe it was a case of fortune favoring the bold, or perhaps she had a genuine flair for it, but Sophia snagged a second–place prize at a major architectural design competition in her freshman year.
That was big news for a freshman in her college, and it caught the attention of her professor and renowned domestic architect, Zachary Gardner. Beyond her studies, she started getting her hands dirty with real projects under his guidance.
Sophia didn’t disappoint, working tirelessly, earning Zachary’s appreciation, and gradually moving from nameless team projects to credited ones.
In her senior year, Zachary, swamped with work, handed off a landmark project he deemed not too critical to Sophia for solo design. To everyone’s surprise, she nailed it in one go. And when the project was completed, it quickly became a popular local visiting spot, raking in praise and turning into an Instagram sensation.
Sophia might have taken a bit of a detour in life’s journey because of her pregnancy and marriage, but that didn’t mean she settled for playing house and stirring soups at home just because she married a guy with deep pockets and clout. She never had any obsession with high society. It’s just that the guy she fell for happened to come from wealth.
She was crystal clear that she couldn’t vibe with that Patricia–style luxury living.
It’s not that she was trying to be all high and mighty. She was just too used to being a free spirit, relying on herself for everything, and she had her own financial chops and foundation. She really couldn’t stomach playing the graveling game just to butter people up.
So, even though she wasn’t clocking in at a job, she kept the collaboration going with Zachary. Over those two years, she managed to churn out a few design pieces here and there.
All that work experience and the portfolio she built up since her student days cracked open a window of opportunity for her, thanks to Don.
Sophia was super grateful to Don for giving her that shot at a job, and she was equally thankful for the hustle she put in during her college years and those two years of marriage.
