One: The Development Plan

NADINE SINGH

"Congratulations, Ms. Singh, the project has been approved."

I stared at Dominic, the director of my department, not believing my ears. I just stood there like a statute, unmoving.

"Come on, Nadine," Dominic chuckled as he moved closer to me, "are you in that much shock? You're not even responding."

Around me, I could hear the rest of the teammates hollering and screaming and clapping in excitement while I just remained frozen.

What?

The project has been approved?

That was my aim; that was the end game, I've prayed for this, cried for this, all the sleepless nights of planning and planning and sketching and coming up with the modern city plan that the forest at the outskirts of the town was going to convert to, all the rejections and everything and finally, the project has been approved?

The project has finally been approved?

God! It felt like a dream and that was why I wasn't shouting or bringing down the roof right now because what if I start screaming in excitement only to wake up and realize that it's just a dream?

"Nah, this is epic," I heard Dominic's teasing voice close to my ears, "I've never seen Nadine this quiet and flustered before, can someone take a picture? We need to immortalize this moment."

Almost immediately, I heard snapshots and the flashes of the camera almost blinded me. That was what jolted me out of my reverie, what made me scream excitedly when I realized that this wasn't a dream.

It wasn't a dream at all!

My lifelong dream was finally going to come true.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" I was hyperventilating because the happiness within me couldn't be contained.

I was too happy.

I was ridiculously happy.

"Yeah, you did it, Nadine, I'm so proud of you," Dominic praised as he pulled me in for a hug and the others started coming around and hugging me while congratulations keeps ringing from every corner of the room.

"Thank you so much guys," I told the team of seven, "this isn't about me alone, we all made it happen, we all worked hard for this, this win is possible because of all of us so congratulations to us all."

"Yaaaaahh," they all screamed excitedly as they hugged each other and the guys fist-pumped each other. I could see the glee and happiness on their faces which just mirrored mine.

I was too happy.

The development of Eden City started as far back as when I was in High School. The huge, almost useless forest on the outskirts of Crescent Valley had always called out to me whenever the school bus passed in front of it and instead of seeing the thick forest, the huge trees and all, I could always see a city, a very big and modern city with high skyscrapers, beautiful buildings, shopping malls, gardens and in general, the finest city we could have in Crescent Valley.

It never made sense to me why that forest was allowed to be when it could easily be converted into a modern city that'd depopularize the rest of Crescent Valley and also bring a lot of investors to Crescent Valley from all walks of life.

That was when I started planning, when I started plotting and drafting and drawing what I wanted the city to look like.

I've been at it since I was sixteen and now, 8 years later, I've redesigned the city and all but the architectural structures never changed. The initial plan that came to my head the first time I thought about the city 8 years ago was still the one in my head.

Strangely, I've never been able to think of a better plan, of the city looking better than it did in that first plan.

The plan for Eden City was what made me study architecture with a minor in estate development in college because I just knew that I had to make it into a reality no matter what it takes.

It did take a lot because from the minute I started working in Andron Homes, the best real estate development company in Crescent Valley, I've started pitching the idea of Eden City to my superiors but they always turned it down.

It never made sense to me why they wouldn't want to develop Eden City because it was the best thing that'd ever happen to Crescent Valley and I wasn't even joking.

It was going to be an Ultra-Modern City and it was going to put us on the global map as the best city ever but they just kept rejecting it, no matter how much I fleshened out my proposal and made it more beautiful, they always reject it.

There were lots of times when Dominic, my direct boss would advise me to just give it up and focus on more feasible projects but Eden City was so dear to me that I couldn't give it up, it was inconceivable for me to let go of my childhood dreams just like that.

So I just continued to work on it, to develop it more.

I ended up befriending one of the higher-ups just to find out why exactly my proposal was getting trashed every single time even though it was a very brilliant proposal and she was the one that told me the reason why.

Apparently, the town councilor has the final say on all the developments that were going on in Crescent Valley and if he should say no to a proposal, there was no way it'd see the light of the day.

What I didn't know all this while was that most of the directors at the company were actually approving of my proposal but some of the directors that have close ties with the councilor, Mr. George were the ones rejecting it.

And then, Mr. George himself.

I wondered why that was happening but it goes without saying that this Mr. George must have had one reason why he was rejecting my proposal so I made it a priority to seek him out and ask him why.

I was unable to meet Mr. George until two months after that day because all my efforts to see him proved futile. All my requests to see him in his office were turned so the minute I saw him on a dinner night that was hosted by our company, I knew I had to seek him out.

"Oh, so you're the young daring lady that is hell bent on developing that forest?"

"Yes," I replied to him with a smile on my face while wondering why the hell I was called daring for just wanting to develop a forest that was just there.

"Ohh, I see, that's quite admirable though but haven't you wondered why that place had not been developed till now?"

I've always wondered but I've just never seemed to be able to come up with a plausible reason.

It made no sense why they'd just allow the forest to be when they could have just made billions of dollars from it.

"You can't come up with anything, right?" he asked without even looking away from his food, "that's right and there must be a reason, hmm?-

Just give up on the project, my dear. If you know what's good for you, just stop trying to develop that place, you'll be playing with literal fire if you keep pursuing it."

What? What he said made no sense... I mean what fire could I be possibly playing with by just trying to develop an abandoned land?

No one was benefitting from it, not even me because that place was just there.

And even though Mr. George was so wealthy that his salaries couldn't have possibly made him that wealthy, investigations have never been able to prove that he was making money through any illegal means.

And it seems really unlikely that he was getting money from stopping this forest from being developed.

Who'd even pay him for that?

It doesn't make any sense.

I started to ask him what he meant by that but Tania, one of my teammates was already calling me for a group photo so I had to leave.

"Excuse me, young lady," he called me as soon as I turned back to walk away and I turned to look at him.

He was looking right at me.

"Why did you name your proposed city Eden City?"

I shrugged casually, thinking about his question and the answer was that there's no particular reason, "no particular reason, it's just the first name that came to my mind from the minute I thought of the development."

"Wow," he muttered, his lips crinkling into a smile, "how ironic."

He was talking like he knew something like he was privy to a knowledge that no one else is privy to and it made me so curious. I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask him but Tania was already calling me for the group photo again.

So I had to leave.

That was two months ago.

Mr. George died last week and that's the only reason why we got the approval.

His misfortune gave way to my fortune and though I felt bad about his death, the happiness that my project finally got approved overshadowed every other feeling completely.

But I should have known because he was right, I was playing with literal fire.

I'll learn that soon enough.