« We have no more options. The project is doomed. »
The conference room fell into a stifling silence. Around the long glass table, the city’s top engineers and investors all stared at the complex plans projected onto the wall. The sleek design of a next-generation aircraft had a fatal flaw: the numbers didn’t add up. Millions had been spent, and if they failed now, the entire venture would collapse.
At the head of the table sat Richard Grant, billionaire, entrepreneur, and aviation magnate. His jaw was clenched, his eyes burning with exhaustion. He had already built empires, but this—this was his dream. And he watched it crumble.
From the back of the room, a small, trembling voice rose. « I… I can fix this. »
They all turned around. In the doorway stood a boy who looked barely eleven, his clothes threadbare, his sneakers torn, a tattered backpack hanging from one shoulder. His dark eyes, despite their fatigue, shone with certainty.
Security approached, but Grant raised his hand. « What did you say? »
The boy swallowed. « The numbers. They’re wrong. But I know how to fix them. »
Laughter rippled through the room. An investor sneered: « Are we really going to take advice from a street kid? »
But Grant didn’t laugh. There was something in the boy’s gaze—sharp, unwavering, eager to be heard. Against his instinct, Grant pushed the plans forward. « Very well. Show me. »
The boy dropped his bag, pulled out a dog-eared notebook covered in scribbles, and began to work feverishly. Pencils scratched, equations flowed, symbols twisted into solutions. In a few minutes, he circled one last number, tapped it twice, and looked up.
« There, » he said simply. « Now it works. »
The room fell silent again. The equations held up. Every flaw, every dead end that had kept the engineers debating for weeks—solved by a street kid.
Grant’s heart raced. « What’s your name, boy? »
« Jamal, » the boy murmured. « And I told you… I can fix this. »
At first, everyone celebrated Jamal as a prodigy. Engineers crowded around his notebook, investors shook their heads in disbelief, and Grant himself couldn’t take his eyes off the child who had just saved his life’s work.
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