"Visit China"

She stopped in her tracks and mulled over going to acknowledge him or not. She found herself in a tight spot. She usually didn't approach her clients in a friendly manner, but this specific client-designer relationship was quite amiable and relaxed, so she didn't want to offend him by ignoring him. After a few seconds, seeing that they haven't noticed her, she decided to leave it be and go meet Adele.

Jo was wearing a dark blue, long shimmery dress that resembled the dark sky covered by sparkling stars, with her relaxed curls hugging her shoulders. The natural makeup applied on her pale complexion, gave her a vibe of young innocence, making her look like a little lamb, lost between a pack of wolves. All the guests tonight were important socialites of London, they were close family, friends and business partners of Mr. Barrowman. Jo was wondering what was his relation with Mr. Sun.

"Adele!"

"Joanne? What are you doing here?" Adele turned around and saw Jo standing behind her.

"I wanted to get acquainted, with the client of the Astoria Park project"

Adele was shocked by the bluntness of Joanne, has she realised that her words sounded indiscreet. Although they have never worked together, the two women have socialised a few times at the company gatherings and realised that Jo's way of speaking was very direct, with no hidden meanings. So after that thought dissipated in her mind, she replied.

"This project hasn't been assigned yet to a design team, are you making a step forward?"

"You know I like your structure layouts the most, I believe you were a designer in your previous life and know where to place a radiator and a door in a given space" There has always been a silent battle between architects and designers. A designer thinks meticulously of where the objects should sit in a space and their relation with windows, doors and other structural partitions. It aims to create a fluent and harmonious movement, between the object and the user, in the same time emphasising the importance of the natural light. While for an architect the prime factors that thrive in their creations will always be innovation, the square meter count and the structural resistance. For them it didn't matter that a king size bed and two bedsides are a must for any master bedroom, as long as it meets the square meter count, its good as gold.

"Stop buttering up the wrong person, Chris will decide which design team, shall take over from me"

"I know! I know... but I want you to be happy as well. How do you think I've got the extra invitation?! Through two months of buttering up, buying coffee and snacks for Chris. My bank account is running dry"

"Shush! He is coming over!"

"Jo, you're here! Good, good... later on I will introduce you to Mr. Barrowman. Its good for him to know more members of the design team."

"Chris, have you decided which design team will take over?"

"Its still being discussed. Adele... do you have any suggestions?"

"I don't want to get involved..." Before Adele could continue her trail of thoughts, Jo piped in.

"I do! I do!... pick me!" Jo asked Chris, with sparkling eyes.

"Jo... you really are something..."

The music resounded in every corner of the ballroom. The canapés were very pleasing to the eye, making ones mouth salivate. Jo and Adele, being two big foodies, headed over to the gorgeously arranged buffet, to indulge themselves with the exquisitely displayed delicacies.

"Ah!... my goodness, they have mini burgers as well, I had them before, they are may fav!" Jo pounced on the platter with mini burgers, while Adele was hovering over the fruits area.

"Adele! Don't tell me you are on a diet?!"

"Why can't I be?!" Adele retorted. "My nutritionist has made a very detailed plan for me, its very easy to follow and the meals are all under 15 minutes preparation time. Also, I can have a 500 calories desert every day. He is closely monitoring me, so I need to send him photos of the meals I am having every day"

"Really! That sounds very... interesting..." Jo didn't want to say something rude and blurted interesting instead. She was intrigued, who in their right mind will allow someone to control every piece of bread that enters their mouth. Some people were a bit too much sometimes.

Adele took a plate skimmed over with some fruit and veggies and started snapping photos of it, like the ultimate paparazzi. After a few minutes she put the plate down and gobbled down two mini burgers in an instant.

Jo was rendered speechless.

"Huh! What are you doing?!"

"What!... Do you think I'll let a man control me? If I was fine with that, I wouldn't have been single till now..." Adele replied.

Jo was speechless again. Didn't that defied the point of her nutritional plan? Some people were feeding money to the dogs.

The girls were happily chatting away and enjoying the food, when they saw Chris approaching them.

"Ladies, let's go and pay our respects to Mr Barrowman" The three of them crossed through the crowd and a approached a petite man in his late 70's with a full head of white hair, by the bar.

"Sir Barrowman! What a great evening, I hope you are enjoying yourself" Chris addressed the man.

"Mr Newman, I happy you were able to attend, I hope you find the event satisfactory" Mr Barrowman politely replied.

"It is very enjoyable as always. You already know Miss Sanders..." Chris gestured towards Adele. She faced the man with a gentile smile and a cold air.

"The other lovely lady next to me, is Miss Muller my colleague in the design department, I think you will be working together in the future" Chris introduced Jo to Mr. Barrowman with a large smile.

Chris was quite fond of Jo, she was very hardworking and always was oblivious at the politics happening in the office. Never complained and nobody complained about her. She was the easiest to work with in his department and on top of that, Jo was quite talented too, she was able to produce always great designs packages.

He hoped that this project went to her team. It was sitting or their desk for too long now and they wanted a clean and outstanding way out.

"Mr. Barrowman its a pleasure to meet you, congratulations on the anniversary of your company and I am looking forward to our collaboration" Jo replied politely.

Before Mr. Barrowman could reply, two figures approached them. It was Mr. Sun and his translator Harry.

"Mr. Barrowman, congratulations" Mr. Sun addressed the businessman.

"Mr. Sun, thank you! You arrived at the right time, I wanted to introduce Mr. Chris Newman to you. They are from Foster & Partners, the architecture company that manages Astoria Park in Switzerland, I think we should get their opinion on Fenteng"

"Ha! ha!..." Mr. Sun chuckled politely, saying a short phrase in Chinese to his translator.

"Mr. Sun is very well acquainted with Fosters & Partners. We are working closely with Miss Muller present here" Harry reiterated Mr. Sun's thoughts to the group. Seeing the pleasant smile on their lips Mr. Barrowman relaxed slightly. He thought to himself earlier that this young lass might not be fit to carry on this tremendous amount of work. Seeing now that his business partner Mr. Sun had a quite good impression about her, it made him look forward to their collaboration. She was quite beautiful too and he was known to have a fondness for pretty young girls.

"That is great then, Fenteng its a skyscraper we have submitted planning applications to in China. We aim to mediate the European and Chinese financial disputes through this partnership. We hope we can meet in the near future and draw some conclusions together Mr. Newman" Mr. Barrowman addressed Chris.

"We hope to see you in China" Mr. Sun added.

"It's a pleasure to be invited in the discussions of this partnership Mr. Barrowman, I look forward in visiting China in the near future Mr. Sun" Chris replied both business men with a grin on his face. He didn't expect this anniversary event to land him another project with these big shots.

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