Chapter 140: Chapter 140

Chapter 140

Don got blocked.

“No way, aren’t you guys married?” He just didn’t get it. “I’m the boss here, and she’s just an employee. I was even bummed when she resigned. You guys were husband and wife for crying out loud, how can you be more chill about it than me?”

“Would Mr. Crawley happily sign those divorce papers if he wasn’t that chill?” Kent chimed in, with a bit of a teasing tone, and couldn’t resist sneaking a peek at Brandon.

When it was time to clock out, with Don beefing up his courage, he had no problem ribbing Brandon.

After he finished, Brandon just gave him a cool glance. “You got a problem with that?”

Kent quickly shook his head. “Nope. Just stating the facts.”

Brandon grabbed a stack of documents from the table and tossed them to Kent. “Since you’ve got so much free time, get these sorted. Summarize everyone’s strengths, weaknesses, and design philosophies, and hand it to me before work tomorrow.”

Kent picked it up and saw it was a thick pile of resumes for candidates for the design director position at Star Dempsey Architects, each accompanied by detailed introductions and design portfolios.

There were in-house recommendations from the head office and external candidates as well-quite a few of them.

To summarize their work styles, strengths, weaknesses, and design philosophies, he’d have to dive deep into each person’s work before he could even start analyzing and summarizing, not to mention background checks and scouring the web to understand their past styles.

This was an all-nighter job.

Kent was speechless.

“Mr. Crawley, there’s no way I can finish this in one night.” Kent tried to reason with Brandon, “I can’t be making HR calls for background checks in the middle of the night, can I?”

“Isn’t it not even midnight yet?”

Kent fell silent.

Brandon glanced at the time on his computer. “It’s eight o’clock. You still have two hours before break time. Hustle a bit, and you’ll have enough time for calls.”

Don gave Kent a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “Less heart-stabbing words next time, huh? See, karma’s already here.”

“This is straight-up revenge.”

Brandon gave him another indifferent look. “Yeah, got a problem?”

Kent didn’t dare object, his mouth all puckered up not wanting to do overtime. “Boss, work’s over, and this isn’t exactly urgent.”

The most important thing was, this was a job for a junior assistant, having him on it was overkill.

“Aren’t you the one who’s not in a hurry to leave? Then help your assistant out with some of their workload.”

“I’m in a hurry, super in a hurry,” Kent said as he put down the stack of resumes. “I’m off then, Mr. Crawley, you go on with your busy schedule.”

After saying that, he turned to leave, but hesitated at the door, glancing back at the stack of resumes and then at Brandon. “Mr. Crawley, are you really picking someone from there to replace Ms. Yearwood?”

Kent’s concern was the same as Don’s.

He too looked at Brandon. “Yeah, the new company has just started, and besides the Zenithan-style resort project, there are no other projects. I can cover the design director position for now; we don’t have to rush to find someone. Maybe Sophia got held up with something.”

Brandon looked at him. “How long can you cover? If she never comes, will you cover forever?”

Don was stumped.

“And about the Zenithan-style résort project, the start date is already set. If she doesn’t show, do we just not start?”

Don frowned. “Then why not start construction based on her plan?”

“No person, no plan.”

Don couldn’t help but exchange a look with Kent.

Kent had a helpless look on his face.

Brandon issued the marching orders. “You guys head out first.”

Worried, Don gave him another look, wanting to say more, but Kent already stepped forward to pull him. “We’ll leave now. Mr. Dempsey still has a ton of work to do.”

He yanked Don out of the office.

Brandon watched the office door close, his gaze lingered on the stack of design director candidate profiles on the table, then he looked away.

Sophia had called him to report her safe arrival in Wye City the day she returned, but that was it.

She never expressed any desire to continue the project.

And Brandon didn’t ask.

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09-291

He gave her time to think it over, but as the opening date approached and there was still no word from Sophia, the likelihood of her giving up was quite high.

Even though he saw it coming, when the moment actually arrived, Brandon couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

Whether it was leaving or having no further ties with him, Sophia had always been decisive and straightforward.

Brandon remembered Sophia saying, “Brandon, I liked you.” He didn’t know if her liking wasn’t deep enough, or if the disappointment accumulated over two years outweighed this affection, making her prefer to start anew far from his world rather than getting entangled again.

She could do just fine on her own.

Brandon had to accept this fact.

In fact, she was probably doing much better on her own than when she was with someone else.

Like she said at the time of their divorce, life felt the same with or without him. But without him, she could have fewer expectations, fewer hassles. She wouldn’t need to care about whether another person was happy or troubled by their mood swings, didn’t have to accommodate or please anyone, and most importantly, didn’t have to compromise herself.

Whether it was settling for less or chasing dreams and distant horizons, she didn’t need to accommodate anyone. It was all about what she liked.

With such freedom, she didn’t want to go back to the past, and Brandon could understand that.

The one who couldn’t let go was always himself.

He had never considered whether he liked it or not, so he never felt the worries and uncertainties that Sophia did.

He was the one taking a wife, not being wedded off, and he never experienced the compromises and endurance she felt facing his family, nor did he sacrifice anything for the marriage.

He was even the beneficiary of that marriage, so he couldn’t understand Sophia’s determination after comparing her life before and after.

His life didn’t lose anything because of marriage. On the contrary, he gained a lot.

Whether it was emotional value or companionship, Sophia satisfied him.

So, from marriage to divorce, it was a process for him of going from having to losing.

But Sophia wasn’t like that. She had been through the roller coaster from loss to gain.

So what she really needed was just to let go of the past.

Everyone had got the right to choose their own path in life.

Brandon knew he had gotta be cool about it, just let go and send good vibes.

Just don’t think about it, it’ll be alright.

Brandon stared at the resume on the table, looking absolutely gobsmacked.

In the outer office, Don and Kent were also sneakily peeping through the door crack at Brandon.

Brandon’s poker face had Don worried again, and he couldn’t help but tug at Kent’s sleeve. “You think he’s gonna be okay? He seems off.”

Kent took a peek through the crack as well. “Chill, man. If something was gonna happen, it would’ve happened by now. He’s been like this for two years.”

Don was speechless.

“Let’s hit the road, it’s quitting time,” Kent was used to the drill, “before we get roped into overtime again.”

“You go ahead.”

Don wasn’t as chill. He was still fretting over the new company.

“Alrighty, I’m outta here.” Kent started to tidy up his desk, “This is when being a wage slave rocks, no worrying about the company’s ups and downs.”

After packing up, he didn’t forget to wave at Don. “Catch you later.”

Don waved him off and kept his eyes glued to his phone, flipping through to Sophia’s WhatsApp. After hesitating for ages, he finally shot her a message. [Hey Sophia, Friday’s coming up. How’s the decision-making going?]