Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 45: Design

Chapter 45: Design

"What was that about?" Rina asked as she scooped ice cream into her mouth.

"That was Lara Castor. I found her being assaulted by some drunkard. She’s got a history of staging encounters, but this time, it looked like the real thing."

"Lara Castor? Who’s that?" I forgot to tell Rina about Lucian’s issue, as it wasn’t really my story to tell, but considering the situation, I tried filling her in.

"So that’s Lucian’s stalker? And you just helped her?!" Rina practically stopped in her tracks.

"Yeah. I did because I knew she had no guards with her. And that reaction was one of genuine fear. I’ve long been trained to spot acting, courtesy of Alexa as usual." I shrugged. And even if it had been staged, there wasn’t much she’d lose from doing that.

"Who knows what goes in her head? Even Lucian thinks she’s too unpredictable."

"You should inform Lucian." Rina insisted.

The security personnel probably already told him, but I should also be responsible enough to inform him. I might end up grounded or worse if I don’t, so I called him.

"Lucian," I said after he picked up.

The line was silent as if he was just waiting for me to speak, so I just did: "I encountered Lara, just as you expected. I rescued her from some thug, but nothing else happened so far."

"Hmm." Lucian hummed as I told him about earlier, only to be told to go home once we were done.

"Go home as soon as possible. The longer you stay outside, the more people you’ll send to jail." Lucian said as he hung up.

"This asshole," I muttered as I put away my phone.

"He’s right. We should probably go back. Anyway, there’s nothing much to do, and we’re pretty full."

We had eaten our way through the afternoon. Actually, it was more like I ate through my complicated feelings. Finally recovering my lost appetite. Nothing that great food couldn’t solve.

So, playing with Chester at home could get her back on track.

__

And that she did. Not that she managed to solve her psychological issues that easily, but because she got swamped.

The school was just about to enter finals before the winter break. Then, because they managed to close the deal with the architectural firm and the general contractor, work suddenly increased.

She had no time for other problems, and it seemed like even the villains were as busy as she should be.

I mean, one’s still in jail awaiting trial, so that’s one stuck villain.

It’s been a relatively peaceful two weeks if the sleepless nights and coffee-induced breakdowns weren’t counted.

It would just be Rina and Eli crying their hearts out while crunching documents and blueprints.

These days, Eliana needs Chester and the entire dining table more. As they looked at their first location, they commandeered all the large surfaces.

"When are we going for an ocular?"

"Once your school’s done. Have you seen the final plans for our beachside location?" Rina looked excited, as excited as an overworked person can be.

She had been busy with schoolwork and looking for office spaces, so she hadn’t seen the final plans.

This was the only location that Idris initially accepted. We managed to snag it some years back because it was challenging to work with, but she guessed it attracted Idris to the project.

We went to him with a general idea of what we wanted, and Rina had been communicating with him before we even met in person.

"He’s got a final plan already?" Eliana had to wonder how he had churned that out so soon.

"Apparently, because he had long made plans for such a concept. Something he did while still in school but never had a chance to use."

Eli raised her eyebrows at Rina’s explanation before asking, "And you know this because?"

"Because I had argued about how he made it so hard to make him agree, only for him to have the plans ready that quickly." Rina rolled her eyes as if remembering something unpleasant.

"You haven’t driven off our new architect with your pleasing personality, right?" Eliana looked skeptically at her best friend, who looked offended.

"Of course not! Who do you take me for?"

"Girl. You really wanna go there?" Eli scrunched her face.

"Hush. We have more important things to focus on." Rina gave her a side-eye, trying to change the subject.

"But yeah, what took time was the adjustment based on the land survey we had done recently."

They looked at the renders together, and Eli realized why Rina had been willing to go to this lengths for the design.

"You said he did this for school? What kind of person submits such a thing for school?"

"Why do you think he could be that cocky?" Rina said, probably frustrated at how he’s got the skills to back it up.

"No wonder those two were friends." Eli now understood what they had in common. Those two were insane.

The structures were inspired by Fibonacci geometry and held by spiraling structural arches. The common areas and buildings housing the major amenities were designed to let in a lot of natural light.

The design used layers of prefabricated panels shaped to integrate with the natural surroundings, indicating a preference for natural stones and bamboo.

Rather than flattening the land, Idris snaked around the terrain, mounting some cabins on stilts and connecting areas with bridges and inclines, causing as little disturbance to nature as possible.

"He was not kidding when he said we needed a good general contractor. The prefab materials alone would kill smaller firms." Eliana looked at the precision and fluidity of his design and understood why he was being very picky.

"And we can afford this?"

"That’s the clincher. We shouldn’t have a problem affording this. Using natural materials drove the costs down, and there’s barely any glasswork. In fact, the guy took ventilation costs into account, too." Rina was delivering good news, but for every praise, her face had more black lines.

"You don’t seem too happy about that?" Eliana had no choice but to ask.

"I’m happy."

"That’s supposed to be your happy face?"

"This is as happy as I could look like. But anyway, we just need a good landscaping firm. Maybe we can ask your husband for that?"

"I’ll try asking." Eliana let Rina go. She seemed hesitant to talk about what was making her look constipated, so maybe she’ll investigate once she’s got the time.

"Have you found an office location?"

"I had options, but when I plotted them out, they came under the sphere of influence of the Thornhills, so I’m going to ask Mom for that building that she hasn’t used in a while."

As an old-rich family, the Thornhills owned a lot of land in the business districts; that’s one way they maintained their fortune, so it was difficult to find places they had less influence on.

If she just chose randomly, she’s sure to end up evicted regardless of a breach of contract. They were that petty, after all.

That was why Eliana had always been in charge of property acquisition. They had to ensure they got assets far from such influence, and who would know better than the most famous victim?

The girls worked tirelessly but were happy because their plans finally began to bear fruit.