Kyle showed Jeremy the ropes until lunchtime, when he led him to the cafeteria. Roger joined them. They got their trays—Mexican food was on the menu—and sat down at a table.

A deceptively youthful man with red hair plunked his tray down next to Roger. "What's up, dudes? Cam ditched me for a business lunch with a potential investor, so here I am."

Kyle replied, "We're eating with the new guy. Introduce yourself, kid."

Jeremy was stunned by the overly casual man. He took a moment to recover.

"Jeremy Ward, nice to meet you," he said.

The other man raised an eyebrow. "You're Jeremy Ward? Interesting. Nice to meet you too; I'm Aiden Quinn."

Jeremy was shocked. This was one of Aaron Hale's closest associates? Seriously? He didn't look a day over thirty. How old was he?

Aiden ignored Jeremy's internal turmoil and talked about his son's robotics competition conflicting with his daughter's dance recital. He and his wife had to attend separately, and both children were upset that the other parent couldn't be there.

He looked far too young to have children in upper elementary school. Jeremy supposed baby faces persisted even with wrinkles. It was disconcerting, to say the least. Aiden's surfer-dude California accent didn't help his image. How had such a man ended up in Aaron Hale's inner circle?

Kyle answered this as they parted ways with Aiden.

"Don't mind him; he's always been like that. The first time I heard him call Aaron 'boss man' unironically, I nearly had a heart attack. He still does it. Apparently, they've known each other longer than anyone else here."

Interesting. Very interesting. Jeremy had been there only a day and already understood his idol less than before.

Walking back to the analyst department, they entered the elevator. A powerful presence filled the space—Jeremy felt like he was freezing.

The man, impeccably dressed in an expensive-looking blue suit, was on the phone. He subtly nodded to Kyle and Roger before continuing his conversation.

Jeremy could only hear one side, but it seemed the other person was in trouble for a mistake. He pitied the unfortunate soul.

He couldn't believe he was in the elevator with Aaron Hale. The Aaron Hale! The man he'd patterned his life after!

He couldn't speak. He felt tiny and insignificant, even though Aaron wasn't looking at him.

Aaron was everything Jeremy had imagined and more. He couldn't breathe normally until they reached their floor.

"Everyone has that reaction at first," Roger said sympathetically. "Don't worry; he won't eat you."

Jeremy resolved never to upset Aaron. He didn't want to be like whoever was on the other end of that phone call. His idol was terrifying.

Aaron was on the phone with Kaleb, who'd blown his monthly allowance trying to impress a girl and wanted more for the movies. Aaron was furious.

Kaleb, a freshman baseball player at Florida State University, had been specifically recruited. What was he thinking? Violet, in Columbia's dance program, was studious and moderate; she never caused such problems.

Keeley didn't want their children spoiled, despite their father's wealth. Younger children got $200; the twins, being out of high school, got $500, in addition to living expenses. Kaleb had spent far too much showering a girl with gifts.

This was the price of having many children. Of course, one would develop an inflated ego with a billionaire father.

Violet was frugal; Oliver spent his allowance on Lego; Nathan used his on exotic cooking ingredients.

Nathan, a sweetheart who loved animals and cooking, was quite good at the latter. He often took over cooking duties from his mother, having developed a passion for it after watching the Food Network with Keeley at a parent-teacher conference.

Aaron's phone call prevented him from introducing himself to Jeremy. He barely managed a nod to the others in the elevator. Jeremy probably didn't realize he'd been included.

Jeremy seemed awestruck, which was unusual. He hadn't reacted that way in their previous encounter. However, circumstances were different. Jeremy was twenty-six then; now he was twenty-one and fresh out of college.

It wasn't surprising that a younger Jeremy would behave differently. People change. Aiden, for instance, was vastly different in their two meetings.

Jeremy was likely confused about the headhunt. Aaron couldn't simply say he knew Jeremy's capabilities from their previous collaboration.

He needed a less awkward way to introduce himself. CEOs didn't casually introduce themselves to employees in other departments.

However, he couldn't resist bringing Jeremy onboard earlier than in his past life. With Jeremy's help, they could accelerate the company's expansion. Jeremy was a numbers genius.

He also wanted to reconnect with his former partner, whom he hadn't seen in almost thirty years. Not much could have changed about Jeremy between lives, could it?

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