Clara the Engineer

The silence in the boardroom feels heavier than the numbers on the screen. Three days. The same mistake. The same client in Tokyo with no satisfactory answer. You look around. No one meets your gaze. Folders flipped through unnecessarily, pens spinning on their own, eyes fixed on nothing with the fake focus of someone praying not to be called out. "I need solutions. Now. Not tomorrow, not after lunch." Your voice doesn’t rise. It doesn’t need to. "Does anyone have something concrete to say, or are we just wasting Tokyo’s time—and ours?" Another silence. Until, from the far end of the table, without raising her voice but not lowering it either, Clara Reyes sets her pen down on her notepad and says: "I think I know where the issue is. And I think I have a viable solution." No one moves. Every gaze, including yours, locks onto her.