บท 221: Fort Yano (7)
<Author's note: The things (racism, sexism, political views, etc.) depicted or mentioned in this story do not reflect the real world and are purely coincidences. If they do, please keep in mind that they are simply for world-building and are only work of fiction. Thank you for your understanding.>
Nathan, Daisy and Lyka were sitting in silence at one of the tables out in the busy streets of the central.
There were food and drinks on their table which was sponsored by James but they were barely touched.
The entrance of the gym where the comedy show was supposedly was also visible.
Nathan swept his gaze on the crowd.
'I don't see my father, mother or any relative…'
'Hell, I don't even recognize anyone here…'
'Are they really here…?'
'Or are they somewhere else…?'
'Or are they dead…?'
An image of a dead Amir as a human-dog lying down on the floor in front of him with its head cracked open and brain matter scattered all over the floor flashed inside his head.
'I will probably know soon when Vincent arrives…'
This time around, an image of a half-naked 21-year old Karen lying beside him in the bed and smiling flashed inside his head.
He closed his eyes and shook his head to erase her from his thoughts.
It's been years since he saw her, be it online or offline.
He doesn't even know anything about her whereabouts ever since that the incident happened because he cut all communication.
Any attempts from Vincent and her to reach out to him or from a third party, he would immediately just either block it or cut it off.
He opened his eyes and resumed looking at the crowd.
He saw a man walking around and carrying a styrofoam box on his shoulder.
"ICE CANDY! ICE CANDY! BANANA, MANGO, COCONUT ICE CANDY!"
'Too many short and slim people…'
'Very different from Womania…'
'People are taller and bigger…
'And speaking of slim…'
'This is...!'
The people around Nathan were sitting on plastic chairs.
But for him, he was sitting on a steel chair.
Earlier, he tried to sit on a plastic chair but it made some foreboding sounds that he immediately requested for a chair that could support his weight.
He was, after all, now 2.2m or around 7'2" which was a far cry from the average height here in Muwin which is 5'7" for men and 5'5" for women.
'Is this what fat people feel in Asian countries...?!'
'I feel bad about myself and at the same time a bit discriminated…'
He saw a cute woman with colored hair passed by.
'Ah yes, there's also a lot of women in Womania with colored hair, tattoos and piercings…'
He chuckled.
Another culture shock he noticed in Womania was colored hair.
Now, before he arrived in Womania, whenever he sees women with colored hair, he used to assume they were just simply fashion-conscious. And when it comes to hair with the colors blue, green and purple, in his head, they were fashionably-eccentric people which is still quite cute.
But thanks to his experience Womania, whenever he sees a woman with colored hair now, especially if it's blue, green and purple, his first thought would be to assume that that person is part of a certain social justice group.
He continued looking at the women.
'Well, at least they're not heavy with makeup…'
Here in Muwin or in any brown-skinned Asian country, due to its tropical climate, the beauty trend is to wear no makeup at all -- just a pinch of baby powder.
But if the woman likes to wear makeup or has to wear one because of her job, it has to be light or make sure it looks natural. Because if not, she'll be branded as a prostitute.
So when walking down the street, one will get to see the real faces of women here.
However, never ever trust their pictures on social media, though. Just like any other Asian woman, Muwinians women are also addicted to filtering their pictures even to the point where it doesn't make any sense anymore because they look inhuman.
And speaking of inhuman, there's also plastic surgeries.
Here, people with plastic surgeries are the butt of the joke, especially if it's a man.
Take Muwin for example. It's a religious and conservative country, and is dominated by two religions: Trinity and Iklas.
And to most Muwinians, having plastic surgery is like spitting on the face of God.
However, at the same time, they don't mind poisoning and jacking up their bodies with whitening pills, injectables, soaps and lotions.
So yeah, so much for spitting on the face of God.
'Wait, what about these two…?'
Nathan turned to the two women.
'No makeup. Very nice…'
'Black hair, no visible tattoos and normal piercings…'
'Cute faces, too, especially the one on the right…'
'The one on the right is also whiter…'
'But I think I prefer the left one...'
'She looks like the loud, wild and outgoing type...'
'Definitely not the girlfriend type, just the type you hang out and to have fun with...'
An image of a 21-year old Karen flashed inside his head once again.
This time around, she was casually walking right in front of him while looking at him and smiling sweetly.
He closed his eyes and shook his head.
'Dammit… What's going on with me tonight...?!'
He opened his eyes and focused again on the two women.
'Looks like they're still in their late teens…'
'Or maybe early 20s...?'
'No, definitely late teens…'
He looked at their clothes.
Given that Fort Yano was near the mountains, it was a bit cold.
The woman on the right was wearing a one-piece slim-fit black mini-dress sweatshirt, exposing her legs.
Meanwhile, the woman on the left was originally wearing a jacket but she removed it, revealing a tank top and mini-shorts.
'Don't they feel cold with that outfit...?'
He then secretly glanced at something from the women on the left.
Nathan doesn't know if this is a man thing, an Asian man thing, or just him being a huge creep.
Whenever a woman wears something that exposes their armpits, he couldn't help but secretly peek at it to see if it's shaved or not and dark or not.
'Hmm… I can't see it…'
'Wait, I just realized that these two are the first real Muwinian women that I've interacted with…'
"The both of you," said Nathan. "I didn't catch your names. What was it again?"
"Daisy…" the woman on the right said.
"Lyka…" the woman on the left said.
Nathan squinted his eyes.
'So the one on the left is Lyka, huh…'
'Anyways, they seem afraid of me...'
'Is it because of what happened earlier or my height...?'
'Or is it both…?'
Before the zombie apocalypse, here in Muwin, he was used to people getting intimidated by him.
Given the average height of brown-skinned Asians, especially the ones from the mainland, and also the beauty standards here, Nathan, who was 6ft tall, works out, was sporting long hair and a goatee, most of the time, Muwinian women were afraid of him so he had to go the extra mile to make them lower their guard. Meanwhile, for the men, they tend to want to be his friend, there were a few annoying ones, usually short ones, who like to "test" him to prove how manly they are.
However, when he got to Womania, it was very different.
There, his 6ft height was common, his goatee was crap, and Asians were just slimmer or had a smaller skeletal frame compared to the other races so the people there weren't intimidated by him.
Moreover, although Womania was one of the most politically correct countries in the world, there was still that subtle racism, prejudice or whatever you want to call it where Asian men aren't really considered "manly" or "threatening" which allowed Nathan to get away with a number of things that he normally wouldn't get away with if he was here in Muwin.
It was such a strange experience for him.
Nathan flashed a warm and kind smile and said, "I see. Nice meeting you both."
"Same here…" both of the women said.
Nathan chuckled because their faces still wore a frightened and worried expression.
"Where are you guys from?"
"Kelurga City, the both of us…" said Daisy.
"Hmm... Now that you mentioned it, yeah, I can hear it from your accent. I'm from Latif City, by the way."
A young girl of about 10 years old carrying a basket filled with food items and whatnot approached them.
"Sir, cigarette, bubblegum, candy, peanut?"
Zita's face flashed inside Nathan's head.
"No thank you," he said with a warm and kind smile.
"Ma'am, cigarette, bubblegum, candy, peanut?"
"No thank you," both of the women said as well.
The young girl went to another table.
"Sir, ma'am, cigarette, bubblegum, candy, peanut?"
'Hmm… Now that I think of it.'
Nathan discreetly put his left hand under the table and summoned a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
After doing so, he raised them up and lit one stick.
Click!
"Wooo… Want some?" he blew out a cloud of white smoke and then said as he offered the pack and lighter to them.
"No thank you," both of the women said.
Nathan smiled.
'Heh~ I was expecting the one called Lyka was a smoker...'
He put down the pack and lighter before pulling the bamboo ashtray close to him.
"Are you both in college?"
"Yeah, I was taking Business Marketing…" said Daisy.
"IT..." said Lyka.
"Oh, very cool courses."
Another seller approached them. This time it was an old woman in her 60's.
"Sir, ma'am, tobacco?"
Nathan looked at the basket of leaves on her arms that was filled with native tobacco.
He flashed a warm and kind smile and said, "No thank you, ma'am."
The two girls did the same as well, "No thank you, ma'am."
The old woman left and went to another table.
"Sir, tobacco, sir?"
"You?" said Daisy.
"Hmm? My course?" said Nathan. "I've already graduated years ago. Journalism."
"Masters?"
"Nope. I just went working right away after I graduated."
"So you're a journalist? I thought you were a professional basketball player or something because of your height. How tall are you by the way?" said Lyka.
"Around 7'2"."
Of course, Nathan measured his new height.
"Are your parents also tall? How about your siblings?"
"My parents are of normal height and I'm an only child."
"What news publication are you or were you working for?" said Daisy.
"Yeah, you must be a reporter. Did you get to interview famous people?" said Lyka.
Another seller came to them.
This time it was a man in her 40's carrying a basket with fruits that were already cut into pieces.
"Sir, ma'am, guava, mango, papaya."
"No thank you," the three of them said.
"Reporter? Interview famous people?" Nathan said and smiled. "I rarely did that -- the interviewing. It's mostly just me being given already gathered information and I just need to write them in a news article format. Well, that was how I worked at the beginning of my career until I became an editor."
"What TV station you worked for?" said Daisy.
"It was mostly international online news publishing sites. Mainly about women's rights."
"Women's rights?" both of the women said in astonishment.
'Gotcha...!' he thought. "Yeah, women's rights from all around the world, especially from countries where cases of abuse against women and children are quite high. I'm sorry, let's change the topic. You see, as a journalist, once in a while, you sometimes come across very disturbing and sensitive information. And in my case, it's about the abuses that women and children suffered from. It's really heartbreaking. I can't even understand how people could commit such crimes or why such things could even exist. Let's not talk about it. It will only dampen your mood if I told you the things I've seen."
"Oh, come on. Please tell us!" said Lyka.
"Yes, please!" said Daisy.
'Haha~ Stills works like a charm…'
He was about to open his mouth and talk when he saw Vincent and James coming.
"I'm sorry, ladies. But it looks like we have to postpone our conversation for the time being."
Vincent and James saw Nathan and the others.
There were also four chairs on their table so James left Vincent to go to the shop owner to ask for an extra chair.
When the two women saw Vincent, their eyes shined.
Perhaps it was universal, but according to scientists, women find men in uniform sexy.
And in the case of Vincent, not only was he young, wearing a soldier uniform and had a proper posture that soldiers normally do, but he also had a face that was quite easy on the eyes.
But of course, when it comes to the face, he still couldn't be compared to Amir. That guy had a face that belongs to a cover of a romantic novel and was already photoshopped by a professional.
Vincent finally arrived in front of Nathan.
However, he didn't say anything nor did he take a seat. He just stood there and stared at Nathan.
Only God knows what was going inside his head.
Nathan remained in his seat and didn't say anything.
He just stared at him as he sucked his cigarette a blew a cloud of white smoke.
"Wooo…"
After what felt like an eternity, one of them finally broke the silence.
"Nathan, it's good to see you again. I'm glad you're safe."
"Wooo... Yeah, me too. Please have a seat."
Vincent grab the vacant chair and sat down.
He sat between Nathan and Daisy.
He looked at the two women and gave them a smile and a quick slight bow as he said, "Hello."
"Hello, too," both of the women said and they too gave a smile and a quick slight bow.
"Want a smoke?" Nathan said.
"No thank you."
"Do you know where my family is?"
"This afternoon, after you left and I was done quarantining, I immediately went to Karen to tell her that you were here and you were searching for your family."
"Wooo…"
"She wasn't sure about your family's whereabouts but she told me she would look onto it right away. Like I said this afternoon, she works for the government."
James finally arrived with a chair and sat between Nathan and Lyka.
Nathan made a quick glance at James before ignoring him.
"Wooo…" he blew a white cloud as he pressed his cigarette on the bamboo ashtray. "So basically, you don't know anything?"
"Right after I talked to Karen, I went to go search for them myself but didn't find anything because I just arrived here two days ago. But I'm sure Karen already knows by now."
'Yeah, you went searching all right. That's why you were at the gym watching a comedy show,' he thought. "I see. Thank you."
"We can go see Karen now if you want."
Nathan stared at Vincent.
He looked at how they were seated.
James and sitting between Nathan and Lyka. Meanwhile, Vincent was sitting between Nathan and Daisy.
He also looked at the people around them.
And after almost a minute, Nathan finally said, "Okay."
They both got up from their seats.
James also got up.
Vincent looked at him and said, "Young, stay here and accompany these two."
"But sir --"
"That's an order."
James saluted and said, "Yes, sir!"
Vincent turned to Nathan and said, "Let's go."
He began walking and Nathan followed from behind.
*********************************************
Author's thoughts:
Hello, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading!
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