A Christian Romance II

Chapter 5 - Meeting

Michael was fully aware of the troubles that would have awaited him if he had chosen to go to the Opera House in his car; parking there was a nightmare and an energy killer. He had had enough trouble flying back to Sydney the previous morning to attend that so-desired meeting. He diligently left the taxi that had brought him to the meeting point agreed with Ferdinand. His leg felt weak, which was expectable for he had not only lost a chunk of his calf, but also the nerves on the same leg had been irreversibly affected. Michael was grateful for the cane his physiotherapist had recommended, even to stand, the object turned out to be very helpful.

As he waited for Ferdinand, Michael began to think of excuses that could plausibly explain the use of a cane. He came across a sprained ankle and was satisfied with that.

"Sprained ankle it is." He thought out loud while adjusting his laptop's backpack on his back.

The clock was ticking and there was no sign of his mate. Ferdinand was many things; late wasn't one of them. Highly intrigued, Michael called his companion convinced that they would meet soon.

"Mate, you didn't tell me anything, so I decided to just ghost the company..." Ferdinand gave his most honest and stupid excuse.

"Ghost a company?! Mate, I sacrificed myself to be here! I was supposed to be in Melbourne and I came here to attend a meeting that," he emphasized the word in a rude tone, "you," he was on the verge of losing his cool. "organized!" Even the tone of his voice changed a little bit to beast mode.

Ferdinand didn't know what to say, for he knew that when Michael reached that point of anger, the only thing that could calm him down was for him to exert his violence on something.

Biting his lower lip in anger, Michael looked up at the Opera House and especially at the long stairway that preceded the building, and he was consumed with rage. "Thanks, mate!" He took a deep breath. "Really, thanks a lot." And hung up the call.

Michael didn't even know if he should already be climbing that many steps. But he was so enraged that it would do him good to cast his focus onto something else, so with the help of his cane, he began climbing up. It was 9 o'clock when he reached the reception of the Opera House.

"Good morning, may I help you?" The receptionist greeted him as he approached the reception.

Michael took a deep breath first. "I hope so." He replied. "I am already late for a meeting with," he hesitated, "Florencia?"

"You must be Ferdinand." The receptionist seemed to be expecting his visit.

"I come on Ferdinand's behalf..." he began. "I'm Michael Spencer."

"Welcome, Mr. Spencer!" The receptionist was fully aware of everything concerning that meeting. "Florencia is slightly delayed, but she will be here in no time."

"Oh, ok!" Michael was relieved to know that the meeting was slightly delayed.

"You can wait on this couch if you'd like." The receptionist offered.

"Thank you." He accepted the offer and gladly sat on the couch. His legs were thankful.

Now that Michael was calm, all the thoughts began to fall into the right place. He refocused on the project. The only thing though was that Michael was reluctant to reveal the truth of the project to its full extent.

As he strategically pondered about this, he was suddenly distracted by the arrival of two women coming from a long corridor walking in his direction. One was black and young, the other had white hair and was middle-aged. Michael noticed some familiarity in the first woman, which could have been because she politely smiled at him as she passed by, before disappearing into a room. The older woman walked to him.