Chapter 1 : Seven Minutes
Maya Sheikh was seven minutes late on her first day at Weston & Hale Architects.
She knew because she had spent the last five minutes watching the clock above reception.
8:07 a.m.
Her joining time was 8:00.
Not disastrous. Just enough to make her wish she’d left home fifteen minutes earlier.
The receptionist looked up.
“Ms. Sheikh?”
“Yes.”
“Welcome to Weston & Hale.”
“Thank you.”
She checked the screen in front of her before handing Maya an employee access card.
“Your ID card. Your access has been activated. Tracy asked Sophie to show you around before the project meeting. She’s in the main studio.”
Maya clipped the card onto her blazer and adjusted the strap of her bag.
“Thank you.”
The main studio was larger than she had expected.
Rows of workstations filled the open floor, separated by low partitions. Glass meeting rooms lined one side. On the other were shelves of material samples, models and rolled drawings. Several walls were covered with plans marked in different colours.
Everyone seemed busy.
Nobody seemed particularly interested in the new junior architect.
Maya decided she preferred it that way.
She found her desk a few minutes later.
A small nameplate sat neatly at the edge.
MAYA SHEIKH
JUNIOR ARCHITECT
She stood there for a moment.
Seeing her name made the morning feel real.
After college, internships, portfolio reviews and interviews, she had finally made it here.
“Maya?”
She turned.
A woman approached with a coffee in one hand and a folder in the other.
“I’m Sophie.”
“Hi.”
“Tracy asked me to take you around before the meeting. These are your access details and some basic project information. We’ll go through the rest later.”
Maya accepted the folder.
“Thank you.”
Sophie glanced around the studio.
“That’s the material library. Printer room is over there. Stationery cupboard beside it. Pantry at the end.”
“And coffee?”
Sophie pointed toward the pantry.
“Most important room in the building.”
Maya smiled.
“Good to know.”
Sophie then pointed toward the far side of the studio.
“That’s Kabir.”
Maya followed her gaze.
Kabir Khan stood beside a large screen with two architects, reviewing a drawing.
He looked exactly like the sort of person who had no interest in making people comfortable.
“Kabir Khan?”
“You’ve heard of him?”
“A little. His projects.”
“He’s the project lead.”
Maya nodded.
“He looks serious.”
“He is.”
One of the architects beside Kabir was explaining a revision.
Kabir scanned the drawing.
“Arjun.”
“Yes?”
“You changed the column spacing.”
“I thought it might work better with—”
“Check it with structural before making the change.”
Arjun nodded. “Understood.”
Kabir moved on to the next drawing without another word.
Sophie took a sip of coffee.
“You’ll get used to him.”
“Does everyone report to him?”
“Not everyone. Most of the project team does.”
“And you?”
“I do.”
Maya glanced at her.
“You’re not scared of him?”
Sophie laughed.
“I’ve worked with him for years.”
Before Maya could reply, a man approached them carrying a rolled drawing.
“Sophie.”
She turned.
“Rehan.”
He looked at Maya.
“You must be the new architect.”
“Maya.”
“Rehan.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
Sophie gestured toward the roll in his hand.
“Please tell me that isn’t another revision.”
“It isn’t.”
She looked relieved.
“It’s the same revision.”
Sophie stared at him.
Rehan smiled.
“I’m joking.”
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve been told.”
Maya laughed.
Sophie shook her head.
“Come on. I need to show you the project area.”
Rehan stepped aside.
“Good luck.”
“With what?”
He nodded toward the studio.
“Everything.”
Sophie pulled Maya along before he could elaborate.
By 9:30, Maya had settled at her desk.
Mostly.
Her joining formalities were done, and Sophie had helped her access the firm’s project folders.
The first project on her screen was:
RIVERSIDE DEVELOPMENT
Maya frowned slightly.
It was not a small assignment.
The development included residential towers, commercial offices, retail spaces, landscaped public areas and a community centre.
She had expected smaller tasks during her first few weeks.
Instead, she was looking at one of the firm’s major ongoing projects.
“You look worried.”
Maya glanced up.
Sophie was standing beside her desk.
“I’m not worried.”
“You’re staring at the screen like it personally offended you.”
Maya smiled.
“I’m just surprised.”
“You’ll be assisting on the eastern section.”
Maya looked back at the drawings.
“Is that normal for someone new?”
“You’re not a fresher. You already have experience. You just need to learn how we work here.”
Maya nodded.
“I’ll review your work before it goes to Kabir,” Sophie added. “So don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself.”
“Okay.”
Sophie returned to her desk.
Maya began studying the plans.
The project was impressive.
But something about the eastern courtyard bothered her.
She zoomed in.
Two residential blocks created a narrow, enclosed space between them.
She checked the site orientation, then the sunlight diagrams and pedestrian circulation.
Her pencil moved across the page.
Could the southern opening be wider?
She stared at the note.
Maybe there was a reason for the existing design that she hadn’t understood yet.
She wasn’t going to walk into a meeting on her first day and tell senior architects their work was wrong.
Experience didn’t mean knowing everything.
So she closed the notebook.
For now.
11:00, Sophie appeared beside her desk.
“Meeting.”
Maya picked up her notebook and followed her.
The conference room was already filling up.
Tracy Williams, the Managing Director, sat at the head of the table.
“Good morning, Maya.”
“Good morning.”
“I hope Sophie has shown you around.”
“She has.”
“Good.”
Tracy opened the meeting.
Kabir sat across the table, Rehan beside him.
The discussion moved quickly through site constraints, client expectations, budget and timelines.
Maya listened and took notes.
When the eastern courtyard appeared on the screen, her eyes dropped to the question in her notebook.
She hesitated.
It was her first day.
But she had noticed something worth testing.
Maya raised her hand.
Kabir looked toward her.
“Yes?”
“I was looking at the eastern courtyard earlier.”
He waited.
“I was wondering if the southern opening could be slightly wider.”
“Why?”
Maya glanced at the drawing.
“It might improve pedestrian movement through the space.”
“Have you run the circulation analysis?”
“No.”
“Then don’t assume it will.”
Maya nodded.
“Understood.”
Kabir turned back to the screen.
“Test it first. If the results support the change, we’ll review it.”
She wrote that down.
A moment later, Kabir looked toward Sophie.
“Have Maya run two options. The current layout and the wider opening. We can compare them.”
“Okay.”
Maya added another line to her notebook.
She hadn’t expected her question to become an assignment.
Still, she was glad it had.
When the meeting ended, everyone returned to work.
Sophie stopped beside Maya’s desk.
“Congratulations.”
Maya looked up.
“For what?”
“You’ve been here three hours and already created extra work for yourself.”
“I only asked a question.”
“And now you have to prove the question was worth asking.”
Maya looked at the plans.
“Fair enough.”
Sophie smiled.
“Welcome to architecture.”
She left Maya to the drawings.
Across the studio, Kabir was already occupied with another project discussion. He didn’t look toward Maya again.
Maya opened a new analysis file.
“Okay,” she murmured. “Let’s see if I’m actually right.”
She began working.
She didn’t know that she would spend years in that office.
She didn’t know that the people around her would eventually become some of the most important people in her life.
She certainly didn’t know that Kabir Khan would one day become someone she understood far better than she wanted to.
For now, he was simply her project lead.
A demanding senior architect whose approval she wasn’t particularly interested in chasing.
And Maya Sheikh was simply the new architect trying to prove that she deserved the nameplate on her desk.
That was all.
At least for now.
