I dreamt of you last night

From the gates emerged a bald, dark complexion, "what's your business here, gentleman? "

Lucas was about to improvise a reply when his father took a small envelope out of his suit pocket and handed it to him "Please...hand it to sir Nicholas saron ....."

"Go give it to him, and tell him Louis Al-Zahar is outside. We've known each other for a long time."

The secretary "Just a moment."

Five minutes passed during which lucas tried to get some information, but he failed, before the door opened again to the same man: "Come in."

The man led them through the gate, walking a few steps in the lush garden before entering a large wooden door into a spacious hall covered in black marble, in which hung a huge, branching chandelier that illuminated polished walls, large paintings, and chairs worthy of a Parisian museum ,"wait here for a minute..." he left them behind and disappeared.

Lucas leaned towards his father. "You like mystery, dad!!" Louis didn't answer him. He looked extremely serious.

Lucas suddenly shouted, "Do you want to complain to him about yesterday's issue? The brick, the 'automobile' and all that?"

"No, Lucas."

Before his father could reply, a girl appeared to them whose legs were enough to resolve disputes, sir Nicholas will meet you now, sir.

Walking behind her fragrant scent until they reached the elevator that took them to the second floor where the room had a sliding door, she reached out and opened the door.

Inside was Nicholas saron at his desk making a phone call, handsome despite his advanced age and the bags that had grown under his eyes from staying up late all night.

He was wearing a suit and a shirt without a tie and was smoking a cigar that was almost finished. His office was luxurious: a large TV hanging near the ceiling, comfortable leather chairs, a large picture of him giving a speech in front of a thin microphone and another picture with his son "antoine", and a third picture of him bent over greeting a famous political figure.

The lighting was dim, and an intermittent glimmer came from between the curtains above the window that overlooked louis Al-Zahar's apartment.

When they entered, he put the cigar down and gave them a scrutinizing look before indicating: "Come in."

He said it fully, extending his hand and smiling with fake affection:" I don't recognize you."

"Louis Al-Zahar... your neighbor in the building across from you," louis said, then turned to lucas: " go wait for me outside, lucas."

He told lucas to leave, denouncing: "Okay, okay.. but don't be late."

Lucas went out behind what seemed to be a secretary who pulled him to a nearby room where he sank into a comfortable sofa in front of a desk with a vase of flowers on top of it, praying to God in secret that his father had a convincing reason for what he was doing.

He was no longer able to predict his recent actions, given the dire financial situation, in addition to the bachelors' talk about marriage and the watermelon that someone must have hyped him up and so on.

Two possibilities for that visit crossed Lucas's mind: a request for an apartment, medication, financial assistance.

No.. not louis Al-Zahar.. he wouldn't do it! He also knew that his father denounced the Nicholas saron entity from the beginning and rejected the idea of medication, and even raised it to the level of a major sin!!

The secretary was fiddling with her phone when she raised her eyes to lucas, whose face was painted with reverence for that striking beauty and that strappy sandal wrapped around that luminous waxy foot on which rested a body resembling a low-starch custard.

Lucas tried to engage in conversation with the beauty " the decor of the villa... is that your taste?"

With ice-coldness, she smiled for a split second as she shook her head, severing all diplomatic relations before they began.

Inside, the situation wasn't much different, Nicholas saron was pretending to be busy with papers on his desk, his mind occupied with question marks surrounding the strange entity crouching in front of him.

He was trying to find a suitable response to the one who had forced him to meet him, giving off a fake indifference that didn't bother Louis, who didn't give him time to think: "It's been a while since I've wanted to meet you..."

Nicholas remained silent for a few moments, then opened the paper that Louis had sent: "You wrote on the paper that the matter is serious and concerns me... I got curious."

" Shall we drink some tea first ?!"

Nicholas pressed the button next to him, and louis added "without sugar."

"Bring me some strong tea without sugar." Silence reigned for a second, until Nicholas broke it. "Get to the point, now."

Louis interrupted him " The truth is, they are two issues, not one. The first one concerns me, so allow me to start with it while you finish your tea."

Nicholas gave him an expressionless look as Louis added " Excuse me, can we sit next to the sofa because of the chair, you know..."

With patience running out, Nicholas got up to sit on the leather desk while louis moved his chair closer to be next to him so it would be more comfortable.

The servant entered with a tray, placed it near louis with water, and left as Nicholas sat up straight, making all the body language that suggested boredom.

He scratched his chin, examined his nails, looked at the ceiling, and sighed. He had long since passed the stage of personal interviews.

The paralyzed man must be coming with a request, a job maybe.

However, something in that visitor's face and his vague message made him wait for the first blow.

"As you can see, Mr. Nicholas, I live opposite you, Your neighbor, the window directly in your face, is the apartment above mine. A man named "eze" lives there.

May God spare you from his bad manners. That day, I looked at the bathroom ceiling and found it covered in smoke. I sent "lucas" to talk to him. He told him that the apartment was a new rental.

"He won't even put a nail in it, What's worse is that he brought an engineer from the neighborhood who wrote a report that the damage wasn't his fault, and the problem was with my bathroom ceiling!! "

"Not to mention the laundry that drips on us all the time, His wife has been putting us on her mind since we yelled at him."

"Look how people are now. I live alone with my son, my wife is dead, and the damage is all over the building. Can you take a look at it please? "

Nicholas urged him angrily: "Yes, yes, I didn't notice."

"Excuse me, just take a look so you can see for yourself."

Nicholas got up, sluggish and bored after he realized the significance of the visit... cursing the day he had to receive those who thought he was a plumber... The window was about four meters away from the sofa... He reached the window and extended his hand to lift the curtains...

That was just enough time for Louis Al-Zahar... enough time to reach into his faded shirt pocket and pull out a small plastic bag containing an amount of powder... not more than half a gram... He leaned back on the back of his chair, enduring it, and reached for Nicholas's coffee... He emptied the contents of the bag into a circle to ensure the proportion was distributed evenly .

Louis watched the small grains penetrate the surface of the coffee.

Louis put the small bag in his pocket before Nicholas returned, He looked at his watch. "Is this the serious matter?!"

"Not exactly."

Nicholas voice became louder " You came here to fool around."

"Believe me, when you hear the rest of the topic, you'll know how serious and deadly this topic is,Calm down and have a cup of coffee. "

Louis needed time, he looked at Nicholas's face until he surrendered to his slow pace and drank the coffee.

The cup was small as a jute cup, it only took Nicholas three quick sips to finish it, waiting for his guest who had gained weight above his heart to leave.

With the last sip, louis looked at Nicholas's empty cup and smiled: "May it last, sir. Take care. Old man eze learned two weeks ago that he has advanced cancer. "

"When he felt that the world was over, he came down and sat with me, made peace with me and satisfied me, and began to fix his bas furniture . "

Nicholas came back, leaning back, clasping his hands, showing extreme surprise between his eyebrows.

He didn't understand" What are you complaining about then? I don't have time..."

Louis interrupted him "I came for you. You are the one who needs to hear it, not me."

"Came for me?"

"I dreamt about you yesterday.." louis said smiling.

That was enough to wear out Nicholas patience, so he stood up and ended the meeting.

"I don't have patience for quackery, my time does not permit it, if you were not a disabled man I would have acted differently..."