Chapter 152: The Design in the Drawer

Freya kept drawing.

At first, she treated it as a private experiment. She would work at Awake Stories during the day, come home, eat dinner with Louis, and spend an hour with the sketchbook before bed.

The designs became increasingly confident.

Some knowledge clearly came from the original Freya's education. Freya herself remembered studying interior design in her previous life too, though she had never pursued it seriously. The overlap between their experiences fascinated her.

One Saturday morning, Louis found six floor plans spread across the dining table.

"Are we moving again?" he asked.

"No."

"Renovating?"

"No."

"Then should I be worried?"

Freya threw an eraser at him.

He picked up one drawing.

It showed a compact two-bedroom apartment designed to maximize storage without making the rooms feel cramped. Freya had included inexpensive modular furniture, foldable workspaces, and large reflective surfaces to improve natural light.

Louis studied it longer than she expected.

"This is good."

"Don't sound surprised."

"I'm not."

"You made the face."

"What face?"

"The surprised billionaire face."

Louis ignored that. "What are you doing with these?"

"Nothing."

That answer bothered her after she said it.

The next week, Awake Stories received an invitation to sponsor a community literacy program. The organization operated small reading centers in lower-income neighborhoods and wanted funding for books and digital access.

Freya visited one center before committing money.

The room was functional but badly organized. Shelves blocked windows. There were too few desks. Children crowded around electrical outlets because charging points were located in one corner.

Freya spent half the visit mentally redesigning the space.

The program director noticed.

"You keep staring at the walls."

Freya laughed. "Sorry. Old habit."

She explained her design background.

The director immediately asked whether she knew anyone who could suggest affordable improvements.

Freya almost recommended a professional firm.

Then she looked around again.

"I can make some suggestions."

Suggestions became measurements.

Measurements became drawings.

Drawings became a complete redesign using mostly existing furniture, donated materials, and a small renovation budget.

Louis heard about it from Mia rather than Freya.

"You redesigned a reading center?"

"It's not a big deal."

"Apparently the organization wants to use your plan for three more locations."

Freya paused.

That part was new.

The first center implemented the design over a weekend. Freya visited after completion and stood silently in the doorway.

The room looked larger even though nothing structural had changed. Children had separate reading and study zones. The windows were unobstructed. Storage was built vertically. Charging stations were distributed safely along two walls.

A little girl sat beneath the window reading one of Awake Stories' children's titles.

Something tightened pleasantly in Freya's chest.

The original Freya had once wanted to design affordable spaces.

Perhaps that dream had not disappeared.

It had simply been left in a drawer.

Freya went home and opened the old portfolio again.

This time, she placed her new sketchbook beside it.

Two sets of drawings.

Two lives.

One unfinished idea.

Before leaving the center, Freya asked the director to collect feedback after several weeks. A beautiful room that failed the people using it would still be a failed design. That practical rule felt familiar, as if both versions of Freya had arrived at it from different directions.

Freya made a note of the development and returned to the practical work in front of her. She had learned that a complicated life became manageable only when she separated what she knew, what she suspected, and what she could actually do next. Louis respected that habit, even when his instinct was to solve everything immediately. For now, they chose the next useful step and left the unanswered part where it belonged.