"Mr Sun"

Two months ago in London, England in the conference room of the Foster & Partner architecture practice, a meeting was coming to an end. The senior designer was shacking hands with her client Mr Sun and his translator, while her assistant Millie was passing down the signed contracts.

After the client left, in the hallway of the office.

"Jo, are you attending the dinner this evening?"

"Yes"

"Oh..."

Joanne Muller was one of the senior designers of the international architecture practice, Foster and Partners. She has been with the company for two years now and she has started to create her own group of private clients. Mr Sun, was a Chinese business man who has invested in a number of proprieties in London and around, so this was their second time collaborating on a project.

He has bought a villa in the exclusive residential area in the outskirts of London. St George's Hills in Surrey, was the place where a lot of important figures in London, called home. The cost of a mansion with a few acres of land, could reach a few tens of million of pounds, so working on a project like this, was rather exciting.

It was lunch break and Millie with a few other co-workers, were having lunch at the coffee shop around the corner.

"I asked Jo if she is going to the dinner organised by Knox Group this evening" Millie mentions casually. Alex, a junior designer, who works under Jo asks.

"Is she going?"

"Yes"

"I wonder if there will be something more to it. Hannah told us that this client made her an indecent proposal, while she was working at her previous company" Mark jumps in the conversation.

"I don't know what to say, Hannah seems a bit full of her self, so I wonder if she is telling the truth" Millie replied. "Jo is very professional, she never talks casually with clients, so I wonder why she is going to this dinner party. It doesn't match her character. Also Mr. Barrowman wasn't her client, I don't know how she got invited"

"Director Barrowman has a high status, I don't think he will involve himself with a mere designer from our company, so she might have gotten the invitation from somewhere else" Mark adds on.

"Well... then she has high hopes, she is overestimating herself, although I think her pretty face is rather suitable for a one night stand... nobody said she'll become his mistress" Alex piped in.

"Alex, don't say that..." Millie shouts at her. "I don't know the reason of her going, but it can't be what you are implying. He is in his 70's and she is just 28, I don't think she is blind!"

"How many times, money have blinded young girls, isn't this actually a trend nowadays?!"

"Alex, you don't seem to like Jo" Mark retorts.

"When have I ever said that I don't like her!" Alex replied.

Alex was two years older than Jo and she felt completely repulsive to work under someone younger than her. It takes at least five years of experience to become a senior in this field and although Alex was aware that she was a late graduate and entered the work field much later than Jo, she still couldn't stop her jealousy. If she would have listened to her heart and started the design college after graduating highschool, rather than follow her parents wishes of becoming a nurse, she would have been sitting on a pile of money by now.

Anyway she had to hold it in, the company where they were working at, was one of the largest and most prestigious in the UK, with international projects, so it offered a lot of opportunities. Also she had to admit that being under Jo was quite convenient, she learned a lot in these six months working together and Jo always have taken her ideas in consideration, gave her the credit and freehand to do the small tasks in their projects. So her position was considered to be rather lucky.

Mark had it the worse, he was in line of being promoted to a mid-weight position for a long time. He was overly qualified, had a unique talent and the years of experience that were backing him. This new position would have allowed him to take under his belt some small projects that the company was offering, but the senior he was under, hasn't sucked up all his talent yet and didn't want to submit his file for promotion to the higher ups.

Paul Pinner was the sly fox of the company, he had a flock of juniors under him. He was like a dictator, he made all his subordinates work till late at night, used their work and designs all for himself, working under him was the worst. Mark couldn't find a way to escape, but he didn't want to give up either, he had invested to many years in this company.

Jo came across Mark a few moths ago, at the Greenlife Park project presentation where she had to fill in for Paul's leave of absence. She merely had to attend as a senior, all the work has been carried out by Mark and the speech held by him in the presentation scored them a signed contract on the spot.

After the meeting, the two of them went to a nearby pub to celebrate and after a few pints, Jo found out from Mark, although he didn't said it openly, that this was his hard work. Paul didn't even glance at the presentation before he went on holiday. Mark has poured his life and soul into it and gave an outstanding battle that day. He had a vast knowledge of what this project implied and made a lot of research on it. Jo has heard the rumours in the company regarding Paul and she attested that these rumours were true, when she had to work along side him, on a few other occasions.

Paul considered this small project beneath him as it had a small budget and they had to use unconventional, sustainable materials. Mark was in charge of delivering the design to the client, but obviously the credit went to Paul.

Jo had a very good impression of Mark and she wanted to pull him under her wing, to work together on the next project that she was planning to steal tonight.

At Rosewood Gentleman Club in Covent Garden the atmosphere was very lively and gallant. The Ladies and Gentlemen of the society were happily socialising when Jo has arrived. She paid the taxi fare and strode in.

The hosted at the entrance asked for her invitation, after she handed in her invitation the waiter offered her a glass of Laurent Perrier. She took the glass and entered the venue looking for two familiar faces.

Chris Newman the design director and shareholder of her company, along side Adele Sanders the lead Architect, were invited to the event as well. In fact Jo had snatched the invitation from Chris, she wanted to be involved in the grand project that their company has landed long time ago, Astoria Park. This project hasn't been assigned to a designer yet. The architects were drawing the final revisions and the next step was the tender package (the specification of the finishes and materials of the construction) and FF&E (the furniture, fixings and electrics selection). It took the architects four years to complete the structure layout, this project was one of the largest of the company, whit a very consistent budget and also it's location was in the scenic Grindelwald of Switzerland.

Tonight Mr. Barrowman one of the investors was celebrating the anniversary event of 30 years since Knox Group of Companies has been founded. When he started the business he was at the lowest point in his life, after six long years of negotiations, he had finally completed the life draining divorce from the woman he loved the most. On top of that, a year after, the company where he held a director position, dissolved because of bankruptcy.

He started Knox with his long time childhood friend and the two of them rose into the top business world at lightning speed. In just short five years their business was soaring, also the headquarters being located in the Isle of Man, the tax heaven of the UK, gave them an unbeatable place in the competition to success.

Tonight looked promising. After a few spins and turns, Jo spotted Adele in the distance. She was heading towards her when from the corner of her eye she has spotted a familiar face. Mr Sun.

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