Gray stared at his phone for a long second.Then, he opened one of his chat threads. It had been months since either of them messaged each other. The last one was a voice note from Mara where she was ranting about a group project. "Uh oh..." He had reacted to it with a laughing emoji and promised to reply, but he never did.Now, he typed something quickly.[Gray:] Hey. You busy?He stared at the message a bit, then pressed send.The message got marked as delivered. Less than three seconds later, his phone lit up.Incoming Call – Mara"...Huh?" Gray blinked.She was calling him?That fast?"Hey." He picked it up and pressed it to his ear."...You good?" Mara's voice came through, her tone casual but sharp. It was exactly how he remembered it."You're messaging me at 3 p.m. in the middle of the week. Are you dying?"Gray leaned back again, a hand rubbing his face."I'm not dying." "Oh my god, you are dying.""I'm not," he said again, exasperated this time."That's something a dying p

"Man, it really has been a while since I left the house for something that wasn't groceries or a job interview."As they stepped out of the café, Mara stretched her arms over her head, letting out a light groan."You still don't cook?" Gray smirked. "Excuse you," she said with mock offense. "I tried. For like, a whole week. But I almost set my stove on fire twice." "Still an overachiever, I see." "Shut up and lead the way, color gray." She narrowed her eyes at him. Gray chuckled and started walking ahead. They boarded a bus and got off at the bus stop near the office. The walk wouldn't be long, but they agreed to take the long route and walk for a bit. It felt easier that way. It felt as if they had all the time in the world. "So what's the vibe?" Mara asked, matching his pace. "Is your office one of those soul-sucking glass buildings where everyone wears suits and cries in the bathroom during lunch?" "Ridiculous. I own a grocery store, not a big business." Gray snorted. "I mea

Gray grabbed his phone in the speed of light. His fingers fumbled unlocking it as the thought clicked harder into his head. The system did remind him to check, but he was so busy that the thought slipped from his mind. "Please don't tank, please don't tank, please don't tank..." As he repeatedly said those words, he opened the VaultFox app. His heart was thudding so loudly he could hear it in the silence. He tapped in his PIN, swiped past the splash screen, and waited for it to load. [Loading Portfolio...] The screen blinked. [SOLARBYTE (SBT)] Current Price: $66.51 Holdings: 802.47 coins Value: $53,372.28 Change: +410.3% Gray's mouth opened slowly. "Holy cra—" He didn't even finish his sentence when his eyes snapped to the second one. [NEOX (NX)] Current Price: $6.47 Holdings: 1301.115 Value: $8,418.22 Change: +100.21% Gray's jaw dropped open. He covered his mouth with one hand. "What is happening today." He felt like laughing. Or screaming. Or maybe both at th

The next couple of days moved in a blur.Gray still had meetings and calls to handle, but the bulk of the Jet2 preparation fell smoothly, with Mara leading the charge.They divided the work without saying much.Mara focused on the deck and the research, while Gray handled the numbers, projections, and call briefings.Occasionally, Mara would ask him some questions, and Gray would glance up from his laptop with an answer. Sometimes she'd challenge his numbers, and he'd have to walk her through the logic. Other times, she'd suggest a better way to frame something, and he'd just nod and let her run with it. It was the advantage of working with a friend. There was no awkwardness between them, no need for excessive politeness or careful wording. It was fun and surprisingly easy.At one point on Thursday afternoon, Mara even called the team directly to confirm a few final terms. Gray had listened to the conversation from his chair, pretending not to eavesdrop, but quietly impressed by how

In Gray's proposal, they outlined a phased onboarding system that would allow their smaller suppliers to adapt gradually. A cap on service fees for the first two quarters instead of three months. And most importantly, full transparency on how their inventory would be handled inside Jet2's platform."In exchange," Gray said, "you get our full catalog. Exclusive rights to fulfillment and delivery, and priority access."Silence followed.It was a pause where both sides were sitting with the weight of what was on the table.Edan leaned forward, smiling again. "I'll admit, we didn't expect you to come in with your own proposal."He glanced at the screen, then turned to exchange a look with the woman in the navy blazer seated beside him. She had been quiet the entire meeting. Now she spoke."Most of the terms look reasonable," she said, her voice measured. "But this part." She tapped a line on the shared document. "A fee cap for two full quarters. That's six months. Longer than anything we