We walked to the dining hall. Sam used his white cane, swinging it left and right as he followed behind us.


    A few minutester, we got to the dining hall. It was an open space, with the ceiling very very high and tables sprawn around.


    I headed to the food counter and grabbed a serving of fries with fish, then found a suitable spot for us all to sit. Alex, Mia, and Sam joined me shortly after. Mia kindly helped Sam bring his portion of food to the table.


    Raheem walked up a momentter with two tes of food—one piled high with wholemeal bread sandwiches and the other with chicken and a massive serving of vegetables.


    "Hey, are you seriously going to eat all that?" Alex couldn''t help but ask.


    "Of course, I''m running a lot. I want to go professional. I need the calories and protein."


    I turned to Raheem. "How about going for a run together sometime? I''m training for a marathon."


    "Really?" Raheem seemed interested. "What''s your usual running pace though?"


    "Between 7:30 and 7:50 per mile."


    "Ey, that''s decent," Raheem said with a nod. "Sure, I can go running with you on a recovery day."


    Alexughed. "Bro said ''recovery day''" He then turned to Sam. "How about you, Sam? Mia? You into running as well? Or are you just aszy as me?"


    Mia shot Alex a squinted look. "AreyousureyouwanttoaskSamthat?"


    Sam chuckled. "Running isn''t really my thing. But I do exercise every day."


    Mia nodded. "I don''t run either; I''m more into yoga and Ptes."


    Sam turned his head toward Mia. "So you''re tall and athletic?"


    Normally, this would have been a strange question, but it was totally normal because Sam was blind.


    Mia smiled. "I wouldn''t say I''m overly athletic, but yes, and I have long ck hair."


    ''She is giving him some information,'' I thought.


    I looked at Mia and Sam, "When did you guys get a chance to talk by the way?"


    Mia nced at Sam. "After the orientation, Sam thanked me for taking on the representative role. We ended up chatting a bit."


    Sam nodded. "Mia was curious about how I manage to function like this despite being blind."


    As we ate, we talked about the project. I mentioned that I had knowledge of marketpetition and investing. "I could write thousands of pages on topics like monopoly vs. perfectpetition or oligopoly."


    I did make this up a bit. There is a lot of stuff I could write about, but I knew this kind of topic woulde up in a week.


    Then I asked everyone what they were interested in.


    Mia said she had focused so much on math in high school that she didn''t have much time for other things. But she wanted to be an ountant and maybe run a tax-orientedpany someday.


    Next, it was Alex''s moment to share about himself, and a smile was already spreading across my face.


    "Well, actually, I''m from Canada and I was aureate of the International Economics Olympiad. I got invited by the University of Florida and offered a stipend," Alex said.


    Everyone looked at him, shocked and quiet, not knowing what to say.


    "Haa. You guys didn''t expect it, huh?" He added with a grin.


    "I expected this. Only a genius could make such embarrassing jokes..." I said.


    He then said that his father actually found a job in Gainesville and his family moved to Florida so that he could study here.


    He also shared his thoughts on mary policy. He believed in minimal government intervention and thought central banks often caused more problems than they solved.


    When it was Raheem''s turn, he talked about how he had been coding for many years and wanted to somehow connect his programming skills with economics to create something innovative.


    Finally, it was Sam''s turn to share. "Well... I have been learning a lot about how to manage and lead a conglomerate and how to invest effectively," he began. "Some of you probably know already that my family is very influential. I''m just trying to do my best."


    "Jack?" A female voice came from behind me.


    I turned around to see Charlotte. This time, she had her dark brown hair pulled up in a ponytail and was wearing a puffy green sweater paired with white shorts. A green handbag was hanging off her shoulder.


    "I''m sorry," I said to everyone, standing up and walking a few steps away to Charlotte.


    "Hi, Charlotte." I said, noticing a hint of disappointment in her expression.


    "You didn''t call me..."


    "I''m sorry, I just didn''t have the time."


    Charlotte sighed lightly. "Right," she said quietly. She reached into her purse and pulled out a neatly folded white shirt. "Here," she said, handing it to me. "I''m not going to force you or anything, but it would still be nice if you called."


    I took the shirt from her. "Thank you," I murmured, watching as she turned away and walked to the food counter.


    Getting back to the table, no one had asked what had happened between me and her. It seemed they had sensed it was a private matter.


    We continued talking for a bit longer.


    Once we finished eating, we gathered our things and left the dining hall, heading for thest ss of the day.


    Calculus with Proofs.


    The professor was an olderdy who was strict as all hell.


    There was the lecture and ss part of the course, and one was on Monday and the other on Tuesday.


    During the ss, she would require us to be prepared from whatever was on the lecture and if we don''t remember everything by heart, we should have it printed out; otherwise, we would get a minus credit.


    ''It was on the lecture.'' is a sentence I will never forget.


    As the lecture ended, everyone started packing up to leave, and I intended to do the same.


    "Till tomorrow, Sam," I said, rising from my seat.


    "Wait, Jack," Sam said. "I''ve been thinking about the conversation we had a month ago and I might have a little proposition for you."


    I nced at Sam, surprised.


    ''Did I just fast-forward this conversation by over 2 years?'' I thought.


    "What kind of proposition are we talking about?"


    "Would you be interested in talking to someone from my family who has a lot of experience in investing? Maybe you could learn something new."


    As Sam waited for my response, I fell into a moment of deep thought.


    Was what I was nning to do in this situation the correct way to go forward?


    Finally, I replied slowly, "I don''t know what to say, Sam... I would be grateful. Talking with someone who has a lot of experience can''t be bad."


    "Could you give me your number? I''ll contact you," Sam said, a hint of satisfaction in his voice.


    I nodded, pulling out my phone and exchanging numbers with him.


    Leaving the lecture hall, I had a big smile on my face. There was this feeling going through me that I couldn''t quite exin.


    Of course, I couldpletely abandon the Johnson family—maybe even destroy it once I had the power to do so.


    But I wasn''t doing this for myself.


    I was doing it for Sam.