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.

Zachary was

guy was over sixty,

academic rep and clout, he still got the odd invite to lecture. Post-retirement, he’d shifted gears to focus on architectural research and boosting domestic design.

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

smile upon seeing Zachary at

standing to greet her. “You made

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

“Just graduated,

your plan after graduation?” Zachary

asked, her dad asked, and now Zachary was the

head back home

of taking up that gig at Star-Dempsey Architects?” Zachary threw out there.

froze, giving Zachary

“Ivan mentioned it to me.”

by the same mentor, both Zachary’s protégés.

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

all just punching the clock. Between radical and safe, most would rather play it safe to secure their

quietly. “I get

wasn’t some green newbie; she knew the job

the compromises in the

transferring thoughts to paper.

a project could suffer

was just from the

all over the place, you were back in endless revision loops, needing a

Don, Sophia hadn’t felt

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