The meeting ended at twelve forty-seven.
I know the exact time because I checked my watch when Adrian stood, which was my signal that we were done, and because I had been tracking the minutes the way you track them when you are performing composure and need to know how much longer you have to hold it. Forty minutes of the Nakamura gap and subsidiary analysis and two very sharp questions from a man who had just cleared a boardroom at a whisper, and I had gotten through all of it. I was, by any measure, fine.
I collected my portfolio. Adrian said he would have Daniel reach out to schedule a follow-up. I said that would be acceptable. We did not shake hands. Neither of us moved toward the other, by some unspoken mutual agreement that proximity was not something we were ready to be strategic
