Chapter 142

Sophia glanced at her phone and saw a call from her college mentor, Zachary.

Raising an eyebrow in confusion, she picked up the call.

It turned out that Zachary was hitting her up for a meal.

He was in town for a scholarly conference and knew she was still around, so he wanted to catch up over some grub.

Sophia was kinda taken aback.

Zachary had been her uni mentor.

Back in her freshman year, she’d snagged an award at the Architectural Design Competition and caught Zachary’s eye. He’d taken her under his wing ever since.

During those years, it was Zachary leading her through projects, from group gigs without any credit to solo designs where her name could shine. His mentorship paved the way for where she was today.

So, for her old college mentor, Sophia had nothing but respect, gratitude, and admiration.

When she nailed her grad school acceptance here, she’d buzzed Zachary with the good news first thing.

Life, work, and studies had gotten in the way, and while they hadn’t worked together in a while, they stayed in touch. But since she hadn’t managed to go back home, she hadn’t had the chance to visit him in person.

Now with Zachary swinging by for a conference, Sophia was both surprised and stoked.

She was down for the dinner date.

Zachary had set it up for the evening at a joint near the campus.

Sophia arrived, Zachary was already there,

over sixty,

his hefty academic rep and clout, he still got the odd invite to

of hard yakka, he looked older than his years, with a head mostly silver, but he still had this refined and gentle vibe, always talking with a twinkle in his eye and a smile at the corner of his mouth, real

Sophia greeted with a smile upon seeing Zachary at the table.

beamed, standing to greet her. “You made

her seat and letting her order from the menu, he turned to Sophia. “Have you been swamped with work lately?”

chuckled, shaking her head, “Just

after

before Brandon asked, her dad asked, and now

stuff here then head back home to job hunt,” Sophia

taking up that gig at Star-Dempsey

giving Zachary a puzzled

just chuckled. “Ivan mentioned it

was sorta her senior by the same mentor, both Zachary’s protégés.

a job like that fresh outta school isn’t a cakewalk. Especially since that Zenithan-style resort proposal you cooked up got the green light,” Zachary advised with a hint of concern, “In our design biz, sure, talent and smarts matter, but so does finding your patron. Our job’s about pleasing aesthetics, but beauty’s in the eye of the beholder. Before you make a name for yourself,

clients, we’re all just punching the clock. Between radical and safe, most would rather play it safe to secure their livelihood than take risks, unless you’re the big cheese with a vision. But in today’s climate, those folks are few and

quietly. “I get it.”

the job hunt’s ups and

compromises in the work

thoughts to paper. Aligning with leadership’s

project could suffer endless tweaks until it

that was just

who’s all over the place, you were back in endless revision loops, needing a boss who

to a guy named Don, Sophia hadn’t felt much of

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