Becoming A Tech Tycoon Begins With Regression novel Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Breakfast At Sammy’s

The bell above Sammy’s diner door let out a a soft chime as Ethan walked inside.

The scent of coffee, pancakes, and slightly overcooked bacon hit him instantly—nostalgic, in a strange way.

His eyes scanned the place, landing on her almost immediately.

Lillian was already there, seated in a booth near the window, nervously fiddling with a straw wrapper.

She was still in her blue best buy Lacoste, but Ethan immediately noticed that her hair was down, instead of the usual bun she tied it in.

As her eyes darted around, she suddenly spotted him standing and their eyes locked.

She gave him a small smile and a wave. Ethan returned it with a casual one of his own and made his way over.

"Hey," he said, sliding into the booth across from her. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Hi," she replied, voice barely above a whisper. Her fingers fidgeted under the table, hidden from view, but he could tell.

He motioned to the menu. "Hope you haven’t ordered yet. I’m starving."

She shook her head, relieved. "No, I was waiting."

He picked up the laminated menu, but mostly for show as his attention drifted back to her.

"So... you come here often?" he gently asked.

Lillian let out a soft laugh, a bit of the tension easing from her shoulders. "Only when Aria drags me out. She says I need to touch grass."

This got a chuckle out of Ethan too.

A waitress came by, took their orders, and left with a practiced smile.

The booth suddenly went quiet, not because of awkwardness but because Ethan was waiting for her to say something.

After all, the past conversations were always led by him and this time, he wanted her to be comfortable enough to lead.

The waiter soon returned with their orders—pancakes for her, bacon and eggs for him. A mug of coffee was placed in front of each of them.

Lillian murmured a quiet "thank you" to the server, then picked up her fork, cutting into the stack of pancakes.

She took a small, measured bite, almost like she didn’t want to look messy in front of him.

Ethan, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate. He stabbed into the bacon and popped it into his mouth. "God, I missed greasy diner food."

Lillian smiled faintly, her fork pausing mid-air. "You talk like you haven’t eaten in years."

"In a way, I haven’t." Ethan sipped his coffee, letting the bitter warmth settle him. "Been too deep in code and noodles to bother with real meals."

There was silence again, but this time, it felt like Lillian was gathering her courage. She finally asked, "So... you mentioned you were working on something big?"

Ethan gave her a slight nod, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Yeah. Sentinel. It’s a cybersecurity tool with real-time detection and patching of vulnerabilities."

Lillian blinked. "Like antivirus software?"

"More like a bodyguard that makes sure every point of attack is identified and dealt with before the attack actually happens." His tone was calm, but she could hear the pride behind his words.

She lowered her fork, intrigued. "That sounds... ambitious."

"Maybe," Ethan said, taking a sip of his coffee, "but I’ve already built an MVP for it."

"Alone?" Lillian asked, surprised.

She might not know a whole lot about coding but she knew that even creating an antivirus software usually took teams of coders.

"Yeah" Ethan nodded.

"T...that’s really impressive" She gave a tiny smile at that.

"Thanks," he smiled back "but I do need your help."

"M-my help" Lillian stuttered, caught off guard by his words.

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