ATTRACTION

A few hours later, Jeremy and Sarah walk out of the nightclub laughing their head off. They are less drunk than they seem; the alcohol and the atmosphere made them cheerful and relaxed enough to dare to get to know each other. They haven't seen Stephan all night, but they both guess he is in very good company somewhere. Since he lives nearby, Jeremy offers Sarah to go over to his place.

"How about your parents?" Sarah asks, watching Jeremy. Sitting at the kitchen table, she is amused by the young man bustling in the tiny kitchen.

"My mother died more than a month ago, just before I started at Libra Justice. I don't know my father," Jeremy replies, gently stirring a spoon in a saucepan.

"You shouldn't go to so much trouble for me, it's 5 am."

"Don't worry," Jeremy says with a wave of his hand. "When it comes to food, I like to take my time. I'm very hungry. I'm sure you are too."

"Do you have family in town?" Sarah continues, observing with great interest each object in the small flat.

"Cousins ​​here and there. A few relatives left with the first colonies."

Suddenly, Sarah's face darkened. She looks down at her hands on the table, wondering if Jeremy knows what happened up there to the first colonies. Probably not. The government has kept the news secret to avoid a popular uprising on planet Earth. No media has spoken about it. Nobody counts the deaths that no longer count. There has been no leak even on social medial which has been restricted and no longer free for over fifty years now. All communication with the colonies has been cut under the pretext of preserving the planet's energy and resources. The young woman only learnt about it through her godfather. Borys believes the news will breakout sooner or later, most probably when it will be too late to intervene.

"And you? Is all your family here?" Jeremy asks before putting the spoon on the counter.

Sarah hesitates for a moment as if sorting out which pieces of information to tell:

"The family on my father's side live mostly in Asia, mainly China," she says.

"Ah yes, I should have guessed with your name," Jeremy exclaims, taking two plates out of a cupboard.

"Today, a surname no longer means anything," Sarah snaps, laughing.

Jeremy pauses, puzzled for a moment before asking, "And where did your parents meet?"

Again, Sarah hesitates. She lowers her eyes for a split second, then she gets up to take the plates from Jeremy's hands:

"It's a long and beautiful story that only my mother knows how to tell properly," she says to him smiling.

Sarah places the plates on the table very slowly as if not to break them. Then, she turns back to Jeremy to ask cheerfully:

"Where do you keep your cutlery?"

"In that drawer," Jeremy says, pointing at a drawer behind her.

Jeremy smiles at Sarah and the irony that allows him to finally see beauty in the saddest moment of his life. Sarah is also pleasantly surprised by Jeremy's natural charm, which she only allows herself to appreciate now. She never knew what to think of him nor his thoughts; His gaze constantly camouflaged behind his huge smoked glasses. Unlike her brother and people of their generation, Sarah isn't most comfortable with her sexuality. Object of desire of man, by man and for man, the purpose of her existence seems to be 'to please', regardless of her own desires. Always concerned about saying the wrong word, showing herself from the wrong angle, making the wrong impression, the young woman prefers not to give any impression at all. Unlike Stephan and other young men, she has met, Jeremy has a different way of addressing the people around him, her including. It feels as if the young man considers everyone as his fellow. even if he can't look them in the eye, the so-called window of the human soul.

How can she relate so much with someone from an ancestor people who also happens to have such a severe disability?

She can finally put an experience to a word her parents spoke so much about in her childhood: Humility.