CHAPTER 2 — THE MAN WHO HADN'T SPOKEN HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE IN THIRTY YEARS
CHAPTER 2 — THE MAN WHO HADN'T SPOKEN HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE IN THIRTY YEARS
The elderly man remained standing in front of the camera.
Silence filled every office connected to the international conference.
No one dared interrupt.
The expression on his face had completely changed.
Moments earlier, he had looked calm and distant, almost as if he expected another routine business meeting.
Now, his eyes were fixed on Amelia with unmistakable disbelief.
He slowly removed his glasses and set them on the desk.
"Who taught you that language?" he asked.
This time, he spoke in English so everyone in the room could understand.
Amelia answered honestly.
"My grandfather."
The old man's eyebrows lifted.
"What was his name?"
"William Carter."
The instant those two words left her mouth, the man's breathing became uneven.
Around the boardroom table, several executives exchanged puzzled glances.
The CEO frowned.
"You know him?"
The elderly scholar didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked back at Amelia.
"Did your grandfather ever tell you where he learned that language?"
She nodded.
"He said it came from a small mountain village that almost disappeared decades ago. He told me fewer than fifty people in the world could still speak it fluently."
The old man slowly smiled.
"Your grandfather underestimated the number."
The executives waited.
"There are only seventeen."
The room fell silent again.
"And before today..."
He looked directly into the camera.
"...I believed I was the last."
A wave of shock spread across the conference table.
Richard Holloway leaned forward.
"Impossible."
The scholar calmly shook his head.
"No."
He pointed toward Amelia.
"She's speaking an endangered dialect that even most linguists have never heard."
One foreign investor immediately searched online.
Nothing.
Another tried.
Almost nothing appeared except a handful of academic papers buried in university archives.
The CEO looked stunned.
"So she wasn't translating from memory..."
"No."
The scholar smiled warmly.
"She was thinking in the language."
That distinction changed everything.
Professional interpreters often memorized vocabulary.
Native speakers thought differently.
Amelia had answered questions naturally.
She had understood humor.
Emotion.
Hidden meaning.
Things no dictionary could ever teach.
Richard still wasn't convinced.
"There must be another explanation."
The scholar chuckled.
"I've spent forty-five years testing interpreters for governments and international organizations."
He folded his hands.
"I know the difference between memorization and mastery."
Then he surprised everyone.
"I'd like to test her myself."
The CEO immediately nodded.
"Please."
The old man switched back into the rare language.
This time, however, he spoke much faster.
His sentences became poetic.
Filled with metaphors.
Ancient expressions.
Historical references.
Even the rhythm of his speech sounded musical.
Nearly three uninterrupted minutes passed.
Most people around the table had no idea what they were hearing.
When he finally stopped, Amelia remained quiet.
She smiled.
Then she answered in the same language.
Not hurried.
Not nervous.
Confident.
The conversation continued naturally.
Question after question.
Answer after answer.
Sometimes the old man laughed.
Sometimes he looked deeply emotional.
At one point, he actually wiped away a tear.
Nearly ten minutes later, he finally returned to English.
"I have only one question left."
Everyone leaned forward.
"What is it?" the CEO asked.
The scholar looked directly at Amelia.
"Would you repeat the blessing your grandfather taught you before every lesson?"
Amelia lowered her eyes.
For the first time all afternoon, her confident expression softened.
"My grandfather said it should only be spoken to someone who truly respected the language."
"I do."
She took a slow breath.
Then recited the blessing.
Her voice was gentle.
Almost musical.
The unfamiliar words echoed through every speaker connected to the conference.
When she finished...
The elderly man closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
Finally, he whispered,
"I haven't heard those words since I was twelve years old."
Nobody in the room moved.
"I thought they had disappeared forever."
A heavy silence settled over the boardroom.
The CEO quietly asked,
"Who exactly are you?"
The old man smiled.
"My name is Professor Elias Novak."
Several executives gasped.
One investor nearly dropped his tablet.
Richard's face lost all color.
Professor Elias Novak.
The world's most respected authority on endangered languages.
A man who had advised the United Nations, governments, and leading universities across the globe.
He rarely appeared in public.
He almost never participated in private corporate meetings.
And now...
He was looking at a thirteen-year-old girl with the admiration usually reserved for legendary scholars.
"I came here today expecting to evaluate another translation department."
He paused.
"Instead..."
His eyes returned to Amelia.
"...I may have just found the most extraordinary linguistic mind of this century."
Before anyone could respond, Professor Novak reached into a drawer beside his desk.
He carefully removed a small, weathered notebook bound in cracked brown leather.
Its pages looked older than anyone in the room.
He held it toward the camera.
"Amelia..."
he said quietly.
"If you can tell me what's written on the first page of this notebook without opening it..."
Richard laughed.
"That's absurd."
But Professor Novak ignored him.
"Because only one family in the world would know."
The boardroom watched in complete silence.
Amelia stared at the notebook.
Then her expression slowly changed.
She whispered five words.
The notebook slipped from Professor Novak's trembling hands.
His face turned completely pale.
"That's impossible..."
May you like
he breathed.
"I never told another living soul what was written inside."
