"Sir," our waiter said in calm and professional tone. "I will have to ask you not to disturb our other guests. May I offer you a complimentary appetizer to go with your meal? Our Chef has prepared a delicious soup for tonight."
The young man held his tongue before demanding rudely, "Be quick about it!"
"Right away sir," our waiter said before exchanging a look with another waiter who had walked over. The other waiter nodded and turned around to take over, allowing our waiter to return to our table. "My apologies for the disturbance. Have you decided on what you will have to drink?"
Just like that the momentary disturbance passed. Kishan ordered a bottle of French wine and an appetizer before the waiter left again.
"Well," Kishan began, "I know you like to read but what else do you like to do with your free time?"
"Mmm, when I'm not reading I like to watch K-drama's and variety shows."
"Why K-drama's specifically and not other shows?"
"A good story by definition has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Most American tv drives me insane because the goal is to have another season, not actually resolve anything. So they almost never have a decent ending."
"Hmm, I've never thought of it that way."
"Well what do you do besides reading in your spare time?"
"I haven't had a lot of time to myself because of studying so much. But I have dabbled a bit in writing novels myself." He said calmly as he took a sip of water.
"Oh, about what?" I raised a curious eyebrow.
He laughed a little before saying, "It's probably just better if I show them to you later if you're interested. I might not be able to stop if I get started."
I narrowed my eyes slightly, "Fine, but you better not back out on it later."
He smiled warmly. "I wont."
"I know you just graduated, so did you graduate from a University around here?"
"No actually, I only moved down here a couple weeks ago. Come fall I will be starting to teach at the major University in Baton Rouge."
My eyes widened a little at his statement. "So your closer to Baton Rouge than New Orleans."
He nodded. "I've got a place only 20 min from the school."
I said nothing as I did the math. He had driven an hour to pick me up and then close to another hour down to New Orleans. I could not help but feel a little guilty but it would be to weird to apologize for it.
"That'll be nice for the commute," I commented instead. "Anyways how old are you? I realized earlier when Ester asked that I don't know."
"I'll be 32 in a few months."
The waiter returned with the wine and appetizer and we ordered our meal. Both the wine and the food where exquisite. Throughout dinner we exchanged short versions of our life stories.
However, as we were waiting for dessert to arrive, we began to discuss modern novels. Until then we had only discussed topics like classic literature and philosophy. When Kishan asked my favorite modern novel he was surprised to find out it was the latest supernatural detective series.
"I would have thought it would have been a romance," he said with a slightly raised eye brow.
"No. I..."
Crash. I was cut off by the sound of breaking glass. I turned to the find the source of the noise. It once again was the next table over. The man had continued his meal silently so I had forgotten about him. It was clear from a glance that he was drunk.
He sat there looking down at the glass he had just dropped on the floor in a complete daze. A waitress who had just finished delivering drinks to a table quickly went over and stopped the wine from spreading by placing her hand linen over the spill.
As she started to pick up the large pieces of glass and place them on her drink tray the man looked her over. I turned back towards Kishan intending to continue what I was about to say but I was distracted by what I heard.
"You'rrr not bad." He slurred. "Wanna come to my room later? It'll be fun."
"I'm sorry sir," she said in a very professional tone, "I am already married."
"Che. You'rrr probably lyin like that B****." He was very loud making it hard to ignore him.
"No sir, see I have a ring." I glanced back over as she was holding out her left hand.
"Che. Jus' bring me another glass then." As she left I was about to look away again when I noticed his gaze directed at me. I felt disgusted by his openly hungry look and promptly looked away. Unfortunately, it did not end there.
"You'rrr pretty," he practically yelled. I refused to look at him. Kishan across from me tensed as he looked in the man's direction.
"Excuse me sir," I heard a male voice speak but I still refused to turn around as I sipped my drink. "I think you have had enough wine tonight. Perhaps you will feel better after a good nights sleep." I heard the sound of a chair violently being scrapped across the floor.
"Heyyyyy Pretty don' ignore me," the man slurred ignoring the voice. To my surprise Kishan suddenly stood and took a two steps to stand at my side just a little ways away. I looked up to see Kishan had stepped in front of the man who was apparently stumbling towards me. Kishan gripped the man's shoulder steadying him.
"I think it's time for you to leave sir," Kishan's tone was calm but firm. The drunk man squinted looking at Kishan's face for a moment before he violently shook off Kishan's hand. Of course because Kishan had been steadying him he almost fell over.
"D*** it!" He swore as a waiter, probably the voice from before, caught him. The man brushed off his shoulder disgusted. "Don' dirty my cloths!"
"Sir," came a deep bass voice from a man who quickly approached. He was a tall African American man and wore a chefs coat that had 'Head Chef' embroidered on the front. He was at least 6 1/2 feet tall and clearly worked out. "I'll have to ask you to stop bothering our other guests."
I saw the waitress from before stood next to the kitchen doorway watching, along with a couple others. Apparently, she had asked him for help, and it was obvious why. Kishan stepped back behind me and placed a hand on the back of my chair.
The drunk man took an involuntary step back as he looked up at the Chef.
"An' what makes you fffhink I'll listen to you *****."
My jaw dropped at the mans insult to the Head Chef's heritage. I was impressed with what happened next. Though the Chef stiffened he remained professional as he explained that if the man did not leave on his own hotel security, who was already on the way, would escort him out.
The man refused and continued to insult the Head Chef, Kishan, everyone. He had the whole restaurant's attention. Less than a minute later hotel security came through the door that connected to the hotel that guests would use. As he was being pulled away he called me several insulting things as well for being with Kishan.
Overall the incident only took about three minutes but it was impactful. The whole restaurant's ambiance had changed.
"Ahem," the jazz singer cleared his throat into the microphone regaining everyones attention. I had not noticed when they had stopped.
"Now folks, there's no reason to allow this wonderful evening to be spoiled. The stars are out, the food is delicious and our loved ones are near. Not to mention the killer band." He added with perfect comedic timing, causing the crowd to chuckle. "This next one is my favorite. I hope y'all enjoy."