But I wasn't ready to give up. I pulled out the certificates for my two national design awards.
"Mr. Delgado, I've already applied for my Senior certification. I meet all the requirements. It's just that the Housing Authority's approval process has been slow."
He looked at the two awards. The dismissiveness in his eyes faded, degree by degree.
"I've seen both of these winning designs. At the time, I remember thinking the designer had a remarkably intuitive sense of space. So that was you."
Only then did he start going through my proposals carefully, his expression growing more focused with every page.
"You did over a dozen variations for a single floor plan? Each one in a different style. You've got something going on up here." He tapped his temple.
My heart was racing, but I kept my face composed.
He nodded. "Leave these with me. If I have questions, we'll talk."
That day, he added me on WhatsApp. His initiative, not mine.
On my way out, his assistant Alfred Chavez said, "Forty-four firms sent representatives. You're the first one he's given his personal contact to."
I rushed back to the office, buzzing with excitement, and reported everything to Edmund.
No excitement. No praise.
He didn't even look up.
"You want to waste your time chasing pipe dreams, that's your business. I'm not going to the boss with some half-baked lead and getting chewed out for it."
But the moment the project was locked in, he was the first one in Mr. Donaldson's office to claim credit.
"Mr. Donaldson, the Cloudridge project came through because I led the team and ground out every last detail."
One sentence. A full year of my sweat and sleepless nights, reduced to a stepping stone under his feet.
I selected the files, compressed them, and uploaded everything to my personal cloud.
Then I deleted them. Permanently.
I packaged up the basic Cloudridge documents and sent them to Kenneth.
Ten minutes later, Kenneth came storming out of the director's office and marched straight to my desk.
"Ronnie, why is there no building orientation data in these files? Where's the solar analysis? The ventilation simulation models?"
"No idea."
"No idea?"
Kenneth's brows twisted into a knot.
"You practically lived on that construction site. How can you not know? What the hell were you even doing out there?"
I let my gaze sweep across the office, slow and deliberate.
"They told me I was just there for show. So that's what I did."