Chapter 4: Sugar

Monday morning was always hard for Nick. After the loud shouting and excitement on Sunday, Monday had to quickly switch to a cool, calm man who can behave appropriately in any situation and knows how to present himself at his best. Sometimes he was accompanied by a sore throat, as today, Sunday's shouting caused a sore throat for the fox, who, getting out of bed at 7 a.m., had to drink warm water and take a tablet for a sore throat, because the burning sensation and pain increased with every swallowed trickle of saliva.

Apart from this fact, Monday was generally a very good day, there were not too many clients because many people started going to the agency somewhere around Thursday to make sure that the next Saturday was possible if for an appointment to buy a flat. And the meetings themselves were a nice experience for the fox, despite being who he was (a fox), so he saw no problem in going to some meetings on Saturdays.

Nick liked his job. Generally it was the one and only thing he did with and for someone. He didn't have any other half that he could talk to, laugh with or even do something with (apart from Finnick with whom he used to spend all day. Everything broke down when he found a girlfriend...ah those women). Sometimes the neighbours even called him a workaholic, but this was not an opinion he could accept. Yes, he worked overtime sometimes, but in general he didn't harass himself to death, he tried not to overwork himself.

When Nick came down to the kitchen in his navy blue dressing gown and took a tablet, he boiled water for his morning coffee as he did every day and poured his favourite cereal into a bowl. He had some time in reserve, so he was not in such a monstrous hurry. He wanted it to be a quiet, nice breakfast. The weather was like yesterday, nice, hot even, which didn't surprise Nick, after all it was the middle of summer, mid-July. Even though the sun hadn't had time to fully come out from behind the horizon, it was already warm enough to walk around in just a short-sleeved shirt. Due to the positions he works at, Nick had to have proper attire, which was quite uncomfortable for this weather, but luckily he spent most of the day in the office.

Fox already felt like sitting down at the table, he had already prepared for it, poured boiled water into a coffee mug, poured milk and cereal into a bowl and even turned on the morning radio where he listened to relaxing music. However, his plans were thwarted by the doorbell, which took Nick by surprise; he wasn't expecting visitors, especially at this hour.

'And who is carrying visitors here at this hour?' thought Nick. He got up from his chair and made his way to the hallway that led to the front door. He adjusted the cord on his dressing gown, prepared to see his visitor standing outside the door, then opened the door. He was surprised to see the doe he had met yesterday by the red van. It was his new neighbour. Her clothes, a white shirt and trousers, white sports shoes made it immediately clear that she had been up for a long time and had some business to fox.

"Good morning, I have a request for you" greeted the rabbit with a smile on his face. Nick still looked at the girl with a puzzled and sleep-deprived look, leaning against the door frame waiting for a response from the man.

"I hope this isn't a request about last night's screaming..." Said Nick sleepily.

"What, no, no! It doesn't bother me personally, I came by to borrow sugar" replied the doe.

"You came to borrow...sugar? At this hour?" Repeated Nick with uncertainty, his face looking as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. the doe nodded with a movement of her head in slight embarrassment and it looked like her request was genuine.

"You know, I'm new here just moving in, not even the furniture is unpacked" the girl replied pointing to the furniture carts. Nick leaned through the door frame and looked towards the cars, they actually looked to be in pristine condition.

"I've got so much work to do and I'm about to have a job. I don't have all the groceries and I'm completely ignorant of where what is! If you could... At least give me a sugar bowl..."

"Relax, I'm on my way to get the sugar" laughed Nick as he heard the girl's explanation. It looked a bit like she was confessing to a fox, so he was willing to let go of further explanations for her. He turned his back on her then headed for the kitchen.

'Sugar...she came for sugar this morning...heh' Nick thought. He looked at the top shelf in the kitchen, took out one packet of sugar, then turned back to give the packet to Rabbit, who was nervously waiting for the product.

"Here you go, lady sugar. Just please don't put a lot of it in your tea, it's very unhealthy," replied Nick ironically as he handed over the packet. The doe laughed nodding her head .

"You seem like a positive guest. Thank you and goodbye!" She replied , with a quick step she backed out of Nick's door walking to her house .

"I'm always positive," Nick replied. He closed the door and then headed to the kitchen to continue his breakfast.

After breakfast, Nick was almost ready for work. He still had to change into his business attire with which he represented his agency. It was a smart suit tailored especially for him so that it would lie perfectly on him, there were no mismatched parts or looseness. Everything had to be perfect so that the potential client was aware that he was working with a professional company. For the suit, with a dark blue waistcoat, he also had a choice of several ties: red, black, white, blue or red with white stripes. And I guess he was right, at work too everyone praised him for a good choice of tie for his suit. It wasn't the greatest accolade, but Nick could make a mood out of every good word. Helping his neighbour also made him feel better knowing that he was the first person to meet his new neighbour. Out of curiosity he went to his room so he could look through the window to see if she was home, she was already gone.

"Actually she was in a hurry to get to work...I wonder where she works" Nick wondered. Her white outfit would suit something like a personal trainer, but seeing as she was taking sugar he doubted that was a valid option. Maybe she worked as a nutritionist, or given that she took sugar as a confectioner? Although on the other hand seeing on her it was just the eyes and her wide happy smile that was associated with something sweet, Nick had only seen them 2 times but he couldn't remember anymore when he last saw a similar sweet female smile.

The office where Nick worked was located in the centre of Zootopia. It was a modernist building that had several floors with something on each floor. The location was quite convenient as there was a park opposite it where Nick often strolled during his lunch break. It was a good opportunity to buy some food on the town and sit in the park, then consume his food in peace. After 20 minutes of such rest, you then had to return to your work and last until 5 p.m.

The worst thing about Nick's job was the boredom, which could sometimes last all day. It's not that Nick didn't enjoy not having something to do, yes he enjoyed it, but when he sat around all day and browsed YouTube he then realised that it was actually a waste of the day as he would be able to do other things that would give him satisfaction, and watching videos all day is not something that satisfies Fox's ambitions.

Nick's initial route to work, took him through the suburbs, where there was little traffic, making the road in this section pleasant, but everything changed when the fox entered the city area of Zootopia, there were traffic jams at every intersection, making him stand most of the way than drive, which was terribly annoying. Admittedly he was never in a hurry, but the constant braking and accelerating could annoy the fox sometimes. He would honestly prefer to brake more often in the suburbs to be able to speed up later in the city.

Finally, after more than 40 minutes on the road, Nick arrived after the agency car park. As he entered the staff car park he noticed that there were no spaces available! This was another downside of the job, when you arrived too late for your job you could not get a space in the car park. The car park was simply too small.

"Damn, are they arriving so early or am I arriving so late?" Nick thought. Sighing heavily, he backed out into the customer car park, noticed that there was a parking meter

"Pay parking...nah, who would want to check that" chuckled Nick. He parked next to the parking meter as it was the closest spot to the entrance of the building. He got out of the car, adjusted his outfit, then closed his car looking at the architecture of the building.

"The day is about to begin," Nick said as he moved towards the building.