After leaving the building, I walked to my car and drove back to my dorm. Once in my room, I changed into running clothes and headed out for a jog.
As I was coming back from the run, I noticed people playing on the basketball court again. Among them, I saw that girl—she was Asian, the second Asian girl I had seen at the university. She was dium in height, had untidily cut short black hair that barely reached her ears, and she wore baggy sports clothes
One could almost mistake her for a boy.
It occurred to that in my previous life, I completely ignored everyone around .
I had been too focused on trying to learn as much as I could during this ti. In class and after class.
I would devour as much knowledge as humanly possible.
...
The next day, I had the first lecture in International Trade and Finance with Professor Sophia Fletcher.
Matt was actually answering so tough questions during the lecture.
Later, we had our calculus class.
On Wednesday, we had statistics and then political science.
In Political Science, Alex showed off hard, which made him seem prideful instead of looking cool like he might think.
But he did have the knowledge to be proud of; the professor was very impressed. Alex would definitely go on to take part in competitions for the University of Florida.
As I sat there, a thought popped into my head.
Maybe I should take part in so competition for fun?
After the classes on Wednesday, I felt ready to talk to Charlotte.
I thought about what I should say to her for a few days, like whether I should lie and say the money was not mine.
I ca to a conclusion, so I called her.
"Hi, Charlotte. I was wondering if you'd like to go out for a al."
She hesitated for a mont. "Sure, that sounds good. But is this a date or...?"
"No, it's not a date," I said quickly. "Just a al. I wanted to talk with you to clarify what you saw on my laptop. I don't want you to get the wrong idea."
"Okay, that is fine, but do you want to go to the dining hall?"
"We can go to a restaurant." I suggested.
Charlotte sighed. "Look, I don't exactly have the funds to just go out to a restaurant whenever I feel like it."
"I'll cover the cost."
"Oh, so it's a date after all, huh?"
"If you insist on calling it that,"
We agreed on a ti and place. I found a casual type of restaurant nearby.
We t at the restaurant at 5 p.m. Charlotte showed up in a white blouse, a pink skirt that showed off her legs and pink heels.
"Heeey!" She gave a warm hug as soon as she saw .
I placed my hand on her back gently. "It's a cheap restaurant, you know. You didn't need to go all out."
"Thank you! You look great too!"
We walked inside.
It was a xican restaurant with walls in hot colors and simple wooden tables.
We sat down and looked over the nus.
When the waiter ca to take our orders, I ordered the Braised Beef with Onion.
Charlotte looked up at the waiter, "I'll have the pico de gallo, guacamole, rice, and beans."
I looked at her, surprised. "Are you a vegetarian?"
"Yep, been one for years."
As we waited for our als, Charlotte was the first to get straight to the point.
"So, what did you want to tell exactly?" she asked, looking curious but calm.
"I just wanted to talk about that brokerage account you saw. At first, I thought maybe you were spying on on purpose."
Charlotte's face showed a quick flash of discomfort.
"But," I continued, "I feel like if that were the case, you would have been more forceful about it. So, for now, I just want to clear the air so that we don't end up in so kind of awkward or incidious relationship."
"Alright..." Charlotte was in deep thought: "I appreciate you being honest with . I'll be honest with you, too. I was curious why soone with that much money would drive an old, used car and wear second-hand clothes. So... I'm assuming it's your family's money?"
"Oh, no. The money is mine. I just don't spend much."
Her eyes grew wide in shock. "Wait, so... you're a millionaire?"
"I'm a millionaire." I confird.
Charlotte's expression shifted from surprise to excitent. And a strange, almost happy smile ca out.
"What?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Nothing; it's just... kind of fun."
As our food arrived, we started eating and talking more about each other. I realized that I didn't even know what she was studying.
It turned out she was in her second year, majoring in music, with the piano as her main instrunt. She had been playing since she was six, and it was clearly a big part of her life.
I found myself enjoying her company more than I had expected.
As we finished up our al, Charlotte glanced at with a curious spark in her eyes. "So, do you have a girlfriend?"
I chuckled and shook my head. "Nope. And honestly, I'm not really on the lookout for one right now."
"Figured as much."
Just then, the waiter ca by.
"How are you enjoying your al?"
"It's amazing, thank you," I said.
"I'm glad to hear that. Anything else I can get for you tonight?"
"Just the check, please," I told him.
The waiter brought the check in a red envelope and put it on the table. The al, together with the drinks, was $31.
They were probably expecting a tip, but I didn't want to contribute to the broken system.
People needed to stop following the tip culture like blind geese.
'It would only get worse as the years went by... Fuck'em.' I thought.
I placed $31 in the envelope and then we left the restaurant.
After saying goodbye to Charlotte, I headed back to the dorm to sleep.
One thought kept popping into my head as I dozed off.
There are so things I will want to keep secret to avoid garnering attention that could limit my freedom, but lying about a few million dollars was counterproductive.
On Thursday evening, I went for a run with Raheem.
He was spouting so nonsense about a "new" AWS service from Amazon and so new technology where he didn't need to 'scp' his code manually but could create an image or sothing...
Friday was free, but in the morning I got a call.
I picked up the phone and heard Sam's voice on the other end.
"Jack?"
"Yes?"
"Are you free today?"
I rubbed my eyes, still a bit groggy. It was 6 a.m.
"I should be. What's up?"
"If you'd be interested, I want to invite you to our family's proprietary trading firm in Orlando."
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