The sterile silence of Zaid’s new green card dorm room felt less like an upgrade and more like a quarantine. The blank walls offered no conversation, the pristine floor no scuff marks of shared history. He’d been unpacked for an hour, sitting on the edge of his firm, new bed, when the peace was obliterated by a familiar, frantic knocking.
Before he could even answer, the door swung open to reveal Khamis, his face a canvas of unrestrained triumph.
"A GREEN CARD! I knew it! I knew my co-star couldn't stay languishing in the peasant quarters forever!" He marched in, not as a guest, but as a director surveying a new set.
He’d immediately seized on the narrative potential, his mind whirring like a camera reel.
"This is it, Zaid! We'll post a video about this. We're calling it 'From Red to
