Damien looks at me with his arms folded in front of him. “What do you have in mind?”

I step towards the glass doors and open them. “I think we should take down this wall and these doors and extend this room with a complete glass enclosure so you can feel the sun on your face on a bright summer day and see the stars on a clear night. It’ll be like a room within a room. We can have one of those hanging fire places here,” I say pointing to a far corner. “And a cozy seating here.” I point to where I am standing. “I can just imagine extending the walls of this room to glass walls on three sides, plus a glass ceiling. Better yet, a domed ceiling. It will look spectacular and will make a lovely lounge to relax in.”

I turn to both the men in front of me. Jonathan walks towards the glass doors and looks around. “Yes! I like it,” he says. “We can do this. What do you say, Damien?”

Damien slowly nods his head and asks me a couple of quick questions which I answer in a firm voice. This is what I’m good at and it’s time to prove it. We volley back and forth for a few minutes until he says, “I think this idea has merit.”

A warm glow lights up inside me as I do a victory dance in my head. Perhaps I can convince him to work with me after all.

We return to the main house and I stop at the double doors that connect the two wings. A sudden idea pops up in my mind for these doors and I flick through the photos on my phone as I look for a picture of something I’m certain will fit beautifully here. I walk in and out of the doors in delight as more images click in place inside my head.

Damien

AALIYA KEEPS RETURNING to the entrance of the new wing. She’s clicked pictures of it, measured it with a tape and made several notes on her phone. I don’t understand her fascination. But, her idea of the glass enclosure attached to the lounging room is exceptional. It is interesting and will add more character to this wing, which is just a bunch of boring walls as of now.

She’s asked many questions to Jonathan and now we know that he wants this wing to comprise of a den, a lounge, a sound-proof party room and two guest bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. He does want a lot of Indian and Eastern elements in this side of the house and that’s probably where Aaliya comes in. So far, she seems to be pretty confident and competent.