The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

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.

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.

the first six months, with work and studies, Sophia hardly had to

more regular routine. But Don didn’t really enforce the whole clocking in thing for her, so she was mostly free to manage

only in the past few months when her coursework eased up. She had less experience, having gone straight from

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

kept an eye

and designing. Initially, she started with

serious work ethic and appealing style made her a hit with a broad audience, and soon she had a steady Tow of

network from previous original artwork and cover Look on several

first pot of gold.

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

that this was just a means to fund her

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.

had a clear game plan back

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

contests.

basking in the post–test glow, Sophia’s life revolved around

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