Isekia Reverse

Knight in Shining Armor

Where does one stay when you are kicked out of your housing in a foreign land? I have been through so much in the last few days that at this point I was too jaded to even cry. I have forty dollars left. I figure that I will go somewhere to eat and think about what to do after that point. I look at what is close to me and find a place that has many people waiting in line to eat at it. I walk over to investigate. I talk to the person outside. She tells me that there is a 2 hour wait for tables, but since it's just me I could sit at the bar right away. I am walked over to the bar and I sit down in the chair. It seems like the bar is a raised place right next to the bar tender. I don't know what about that makes it so much less appealing to others, but I am grateful for having someone to talk to. I order my food and the bartender asks, "what about something to drink?" I don't know what types of beverages are popular here, so I ask for a beer. The bartender rolls his eyes at me. "We have like 50 types of beer." Woah. Sometimes I forget where I am. I ask him for whatever type he likes best. Soon a glass of bright yellow foamy drink is plopped in front of me while I wait for my food. This is the first time I have had anything besides the protein bars for a meal since yesterday. I am very excited.

I drink up the beer in front of me. I want another one, but I don't know how much  money the first one cost so I probably shouldn't order another. Suddenly the bartender puts a new drink in front of me. This one is pink and has sugar around the rim. "oh, I didn't order this." He smiles at me as I say this, "It's from that table of guys over there." He point over to a table with two men at it. They wave at me and one of them winks. I start to feel embarrassed. I have never had so much male attention. My whole life, everyone knew who I was and that ended any random displays of attention like this one. I drink the new pink drink, it has a strong taste to it. I sip it. But it's taking a while for my food to come so I finish that drink too. At this point I am really starting to feel these drinks. My cheeks have gone flush and my mind has started to get groggy. This is the last thing that I need on a night where I don't know where I am sleeping.

 A few minutes later a new drink is put down in front of me. "This one is from that guy over there." The bartender now points out a new man. This one is slightly older. I cannot believe that men just buy women drinks because they want to. This drink is bright blue and has a pineapple with it. I take a big sip. Unlike the last drink, this one tastes very sweet. I begin to drink this drink almost too quickly. My food finally comes out. At this moment the older man who bought this blue drink comes over to talk to me. I bow my head and say thank you for the drink. He smiles at me. I can see a gold tooth in his mouth. Perhaps that is a sign of the wealthy? He asks me a few questions about myself but mostly talks about himself. His company he owns, the car he drives, his fabulous 4 bedroom home. He starts to get closer to me with each passing minute. I am uncomfortable with him. He tries putting his hands on my lap and I push them off. He puts his hand on my waist, I push them off again. The guy is now getting even more aggressive and is trying to convince me to come see his pool. I tell him I don't have a swimsuit and then he tells me that I won't need one. I cringe at this. I am desperately looking around for someone to come help me. After I told him no for the second time he grew pushy. He tried grabbing my arm. Just as I was about to break his wrist with my glass someone else stepped in.

This tall, dark, handsome man grabbed the unwanted older guy by the shoulders and pushed him out of the way. Then he directed him out of the restaurant completely. I was so relieved. After a few minutes Mr. tall dark and handsome came back into the bar. He was eating there with an older woman. He nodded at me and then went back to sitting down. I paid my bill with the bartender and was about to leave. But I decided to go say thank you to my knight in shining armor. As I got closer I noticed exactly how handsome he was. He had straight dark black hair that hung around his face. He pushed it out of his eyes every now and again. It left the most beautiful shape in his hair every time he did. He wore a tan suit that had a vest buttoned underneath. He also had on a tie and a pocket square. He looked more like someone from my world than he did from this one. He did however have this black marking on his hand. He stopped mid sentence as I approached. I nervously looked him in the eyes and said, "I am so grateful for your help with that man back there. I appreciate you stepping in to help a stranger." A smile breaks across his face slowly. He looks at me and says, "anytime." I start to turn to walk away when he asks, "do you want to join us? It looks like you are alone." I turn around. This is the first polite society I have experienced since coming to Los Angeles. With so many people everywhere I felt like I had started to fade into non-existence. I smile and say, "I would love to join you." He then signals for a waitress to bring another chair and I sit down next to him.

The woman with him turned out to be a boss from his work. They had come to celebrate a big win at their office. After a few minutes, she got up to excuse herself to go home to her family. I was left alone with this new friend. His name was Nolan. He smiled when he talked about work. I got the impression that he got a lot of his worth from his job. He talked to me about his job at first, but soon we moved on to other topics. I asked about his family and he explained how he was out in Los Angeles trying to make a life for himself after being raised in poverty. His story about how he overcame obstacles to become successful was so inspiring to me. Everyone I had known as Ana was born into privilege and wealth. I can't imagine the type of drive it takes for someone to start life out poor and change their circumstances. That was at least something appealing to me about Olivia's life. People here had no hierarchies to hold them back. People like Nolan, who were good at what they did, could make a better life for themselves than the one they had born into. Imagine if I had that kind of opportunity back home. I would have been able to continue sword training. I would have been able to rise up in the ranks of the military as a respected leader.

My conversation with Nolan went by so quickly. We got onto the topic our future dreams. He talked about how much more he wanted out of life. Drive. Just like me. I had always been criticized for wanting more. I explained that to him and he listened. He told me how my parents couldn't control my life anymore and that I should go after my dreams. I kept finding myself more in awe of this person. He was so different than any man I had ever met before. All while we were talking he kept ordering us drinks. He acted like money was no issue. He got me the finest wine on the menu. It was perfect. Warm and robust. Just like the wine back home that I loved. He could tell that I was enjoying it so he kept my glass full. Soon the tables around us cleared out. It was getting late. I looked at the clock and worried about where I was going to sleep tonight. Just as I did Nolan asked, "hey, do you want to come back to my place." I eye him suspiciously and he replies, "no, I promise nothing shady will happen." If I was any less desperate or any less drunk I would have said no, but I really needed somewhere to stay. I smile at him and say, "okay."