I’d like to believe that the Summit ended relatively peacefully.
I’m still not used to things being relatively stable or working out for me, but it was much better than before.
After automatically assuming that the worst was about to happen, I stopped thinking about it and only remembered after so many good things happened in succession.
I’d like to believe that’s some progress.
Such a thing seemed relevant today. Not only were we starting the office renovations, but we also received news that the bidding results would come out within the day.
So, I was at the new office location with Mitchel and Alyssa while Rina was running through designs for the interior of our office.
Yes, our office.
After learning about our renovations, Ben offered to work on it. It wasn’t free, of course, and we didn’t really factor that in, but Rina and I couldn’t resist such a tempting offer. So I’d probably have to actively trade sometime soon.
There are always our personal funds, but we’d rather use the appropriated business funds for work-related expenditures, such as this renovation.
"We’ll really be staying here?" Alyssa asked as she navigated around the place.
It wasn’t an entire building. That would be too much for now. But we have two floors to ourselves, and that’s good enough for our needs.
"Yeah. Hopefully, it’ll be ready by next month."
The building itself was in great condition, so all we really needed to focus on were the fit-out works as well as the furniture.
"How’s the other candidates?" I asked the two of them who went to supervise the remaining hiring procedures.
"We’re trying to get them into a new system so that we can start working even before the office is ready. Right now, we’re just looking for a systems engineer." Mitchel gave an update.
"Hmm...That’s good. We’ll also ask around if someone’s got recommendations."
The job market has always been a tough place, with the increasing number of people looking for employment. But that just makes it harder to look for people who would fit the requirements and the culture. We received so many applications, but most of them were mass submissions that were sent out for openings.
"Hopefully, we’ll have everyone we need by the time this is finished."
After all, what’s an office without employees?
I was just about to ask them about the status of Loretta’s Building Permit application when I felt my phone vibrate. Interestingly enough, it was Lucian.
"Hello, you called?" I asked when the line connected.
"Yeah. You should know that we just received the Notice of Award for Windham." His tone did not betray his emotions, maybe because we partially expected this to happen.
"Congratulations!" Despite knowing there may be some traps and complications, I still expressed my congrats. Lucian worked on this for a long time, and was currently the biggest project he’s had to head since he joined SCC.
"Mn."
"That starts next year, right?"
"Yes, and Grandfather has highlighted that today." Lucian sounded annoyed, and I found that amusing.
"It’s supposed to be a vacation, and yet you sound like you’re going to take an exam." I chuckled but figured that was also wrong, "No, scratch that. You like exams."
"Sure, laugh now, cry later. You laugh because you don’t know." He warned, and I still took that into consideration. Maybe there was really something about it that bothered him.
"I know, but there’s no escaping that. We’ll just have to figure something out."
I was about to say goodbye to Lucian when the foreman came over with a large bouquet of flowers, which he tried handing to me.
"Yes? Did you need something?" I acknowledged the approaching foreman.
"Ma’am, there’s a delivery for you. I signed for it because I was the first person the delivery guy saw." Said the foreman from SCC.
Mitchel grabbed the bouquet in my stead as I still held my phone by my ear. I told him to look for a card while I informed Lucian about this thing.
"Lucian, I’m assuming you didn’t send random flowers today?" The question was phrased like this because unless coerced or for my death bed, Lucian wouldn’t be caught dead sending flowers.
I’ve received flowers from my Little Luci but this big one may even hesitate to send a garland for my wake.
"No. Who sent them? Straight to that unpublicized location, too."
Right. We never announced our company save for the hiring posts, much less the location of our office that was still under construction.
"Boss, I found a card!" Mitchel said as he opened the small envelope attached to the bouquet.
We all gathered around, even the foreman who hadn’t been dismissed.
"Congratulations. See you soon." That’s what’s written on the card and nothing else.
"Do you remember who delivered these?" I asked the foreman in case there was something we missed.
"It was one of those online delivery services, ma’am. I just don’t remember much of his face because he still had his helmet on."
Hmm. I finally stared at the actual flowers, hoping for some clues.
An arrangement of pink and red camellias, a very odd arrangement from someone who wasn’t my husband.
People who have been taught the flower language would cringe at these.
Longing and desire.
And it was not from the only person who should be able to give these without creating a scandal.
"Camellias, pink and red." Lucian had the same upbringing, so he should understand just that.
I added, "There’s also no sender," while taking a photo of the card to send to Lucian.
If it were any other person, I wouldn’t have sent them information about something that could be a prank. But I’m sending it because he asked to be annoyed like this.
"I’ll inform your security to screen packages and deliveries. We’ll have more surveillance cameras installed by tomorrow." His tone was grave, indicating the seriousness of the situation.
The others wondered if it was one of those stalkers, but Lucian and I had another idea. This came right on time, just as Lucian received the Notice of Award. How perfect was this timing?