10. Kyle

10

KYLE

I gave myself plenty of time to get to Hong Kong. International travel always kicked my butt. It took too much time, too much effort, and for the amount of actual effort that was involved, I spent most of my time sitting on my ass or asleep in an airplane.

It was still exhausting having an open-ended travel schedule. I still had to hustle through airports and make connections. But it was nice not to have to stress over the hustle to get to the hotel where I would have to scramble to make it to appointments and meetings while feeling like a zombie while pretending I was anything but, only to have to repeat the process to go home, all in less than a week's time. It was nice to be able to relax through the process.

Airports would always be airports, and that part of traveling always took a certain level of energy. But for once, it was great that as soon as I landed in Hong Kong, I wasn't in a huge hurry to get everything together for a meeting. I had given myself more than a couple of days to allow myself to get settled, get over the jet lag, and catch up on sleep.

One of the first things I did as soon as I arrived was to plan with Alayna to have the building models shipped directly to the client. As soon as she was able to give me an estimated arrival schedule, I called and made meeting arrangements with the client.

I may not have had to be in the client's office right away, but it didn't mean I wasn't busy. During the few days of downtime, I located an apartment and signed a one-year lease. I also was able to spend time surveying the job site on my own. I wanted to take a look without having to answer any questions or provide any opinions. I had seen copious photos and videos of the location, but that was never quite the same as being there in person. Photos and videos always miss something. I liked to see the whole picture, not just the pit where the foundation was being constructed, or the buildings next to the site. I liked to see the entire neighborhood, and yes, tall office buildings had neighborhoods. Even a working community was a community.

I wanted to see what I was working with before I jumped into all of the work.

The design was mostly done. My job moving forward was to make the necessary modifications that would inevitably come up as construction met the obstacles of permits and environmental special interest groups.

I was in constant contact with Alayna in Chicago. At this point, I planned on returning after several months. I had a year lease because finding anything less than that was next to impossible. I had no intention of staying if the project wrapped up and was completed within that time. I was only able to work in Hong Kong because my office was based in the States, and I was only serving as a consultant for my client. I relied on her to keep my Chicago presence ongoing.

She even wrapped up all the necessary paperwork for the internship program. She wrote extensive reviews on each intern and provided letters of recommendation under my name. Overall, I considered the program a success. It felt good to give back to the architectural education community, even if I had mentally checked out on the last several weeks. By then, all the interns were wrapping up their projects and getting ready to start their next semester's classes.

I received a smattering of emails from the group. Bella and Kendall must have used the same template since they were practically identical, except for the signatures at the end. Conner straight out asked me for a job. The other Steve's note was similar to the one sent by the girls, formulaic. Sick Steve's message was the most honest one of the group. He pointed out his favorite things that he had the opportunity to complete and work on over the summer. He was really the only one I would consider doing a portfolio review for once he graduated. Him and Clarissa. Only I didn't hear from her. There was no message from Clarissa.

A small pang of guilt flared in my chest over how I left things with Clarissa. I realized I left without saying goodbye. That was a dick move. This was a business decision. She had to understand. What we had together had been fun, but my career was my priority, just as I knew hers was for her. She was a talented woman. She would go far.

I lost myself in the work and the hectic life of living in a city like Hong Kong. Chicago had a certain energy to it, and I would never call it laid back. But the energy in Hong Kong was so much more frenetic. I didn't have time to think about past mistakes, and I didn't even think about Clarissa at all. Not until I was leaving work one day a few months after I had settled in. It was one of those cold, blustery days.

Hong Kong is an international city, but someone shaped like Clarissa and with her coloring would still stand out. It was the hair, flying in the wind, that first caught my attention. There simply weren't that many blondes with Clarissa's curves. I saw her walking away from me with that hip sway of hers that was hard to forget. My breath caught in my throat. I changed my direction and turned to follow her. After about half a block, I was about to call out her name. I would say how amazed I was to see her, what a coincidence to run into her on the streets of Hong Kong, of all places. And then she stopped. She turned and said something to her companion.

She wasn't Clarissa. I stopped in my tracks and just stared at her for a while. I couldn't tell whether I was disappointed or relieved. I thought about Clarissa often for the next couple of days before work took over and all of my focus was back on the building.

"When are you coming back?" Alayna asked.

I had already been in Hong Kong for over six months. The building seemed to be taking forever.

"I'm here for at least another five months. We keep running into hiccups with the building commissions," I said.

"Sounds like someone hasn't been paying their bribes," she joked.

"Maybe not." I chuckled. "It's not like that anymore. Mostly ecological reasons. I've been thinking…" I paused.

"Don't tell me, you want me out there?" she asked.

"Damn, you are always one step ahead of me," I admitted. "I think now is the time to set up an international office."

"We need to discuss who will run the Chicago office if I'm in Hong Kong," Alayna pointed out. "I'm not going to be the person flying halfway around the world, back and forth every other week."

"I think I might want to shut Chicago down for now. Get a local office going here, and then expand back into the States. Come here for a couple of weeks. We'll get into it, really dig in deep for what needs to take place—keep that office up and running, or move everyone here."

"Kyle, you always dream and plan big," she said.

"How do you think I got to be where I am?"

I began the process of what it would take to immigrate and get a proper work visa so that I could take on other clients while I stayed here. Chicago would always have a special place in my heart, but I was where I needed to be.

Around the time I started discussing setting up a local firm, I received an email from Sick Steve—I was probably going to think of him with that nickname for the rest of my life.

‘I wanted to thank you for the great letter of recommendation. I know Alayna wrote it and signed for you. I've also sent her a thank you. I've been accepted into an accelerated graduate program. I will be done with my studies this time next year and was just wondering if you would consider having an opening for me? I would love to work with you again sometime, in any capacity.'

I didn't even think about my response. Steve would make a great addition to any team.

‘I'd be glad to review your portfolio once you are done with your studies. One thing you need to understand, though, is that I'm setting up new offices in Hong Kong, and you'd have to be willing to come out here.'

I hit Send . A sudden thought of Clarissa hit me. What was she up to? She should be graduating soon. Where was she going for her master's studies? In all this time, she hadn't reached out to me once. Had she followed up with Alayna at all?

I shook my head and cleared her out. I had a building to see through to the final construction and an office to establish. I didn't have time for thinking about mistakes that had been made and wondering what a woman I once knew was doing half a world away.