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.

was the lead designer, and they seriously respected her ideas and inspiration. She

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

wrapping up her final design project, did she start to settle into a more regular routine. But Don didn’t really enforce the

months when her coursework eased up. She had less experience, having gone straight from undergrad to grad school, and didn’t have any big

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

she set foot in college, she kept an eye out for

had a knack for drawing and designing. Initially, she started with cover designs and original character drawings for books through

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

original artwork and cover Look on several IP adaptation projects, all

first pot of

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.

was just a

years at university, aside from side hustles, she poured her time into

a clear game plan back then.

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.

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

sketching, and revising designs over and over. Maybe it was a case of fortune favoring the bold, or perhaps she had a