I was meeting with my new boss who was explaining our new product before meeting one of the company's most important investors.
The product was some kind of soft, squishy polymer that I would squish between my thumb and forefinger.
Just as we entered the restaurant, I noticed a man who I used to be acquainted with many years earlier when I had lived in Valencia, and to who I owed a considerable amount of money.
Panicking, I stopped my boss and asked him if he could go over the particulars of our product one last time before we met up with the investor, who was awaiting our arrival inside the restaurant. This would give me time to scope out the place and come up with a way I could walk past my old acquaintance without his seeing me.
Seeing no way of avoiding walking past the table where the man sat, I tried to walk discreetly next to my boss—a tall, burly man—as to avoid being seen by the man.
Just then, my boss stopped and greeted the old acquaintance and his business associates who were seated at his table.
Turning to me, my boss introduced me to the man. He was the investor we had come to see.
Shaking his hand, he tightened and prolonged his grip while taking a good long look at my face, obviously trying to remember where he had known me from.
He let go of my hand and smiled broadly saying how pleased he was to see me, then turning to my boss, congratulating him for taking on such a good prospect.
The man knew I was uncomfortable, but he did everything in his power to put me at ease and make me feel welcome, asking a waiter to bring over two more chairs and making room next to himself for my chair.
I couldn't help but fixing my gaze on the man, who was a shell of the once stout and healthy man I knew all those years ago. His face was gaunt and I was certain he was dying of cancer.
He then looked at me and took my hand again, assuring me he was fine and that the worst of his recent illness was behind him. He smiled at me, patting my hand and nodding his head lightheartedly.
Then I woke up.
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