New Life

I look around the house and see that it is fully furnished, Xuilana notices this and says.

"wow this house is huge, it's much bigger than the place I'm renting."

I ask.

"where do you rent?"

she answers.

"oh, I rent a single room occupancy, in the city."

I ask curiously.

"so why don't you rent outside of the city?"

she gives me a crazy look and responds.

"renting outside of the city is not possible, only home owners can afford to live outside the city."

I then ask.

"so does that mean, you didn't make much working in the mining guild?"

she sits down on a couch and breathes a sigh of relief.

"well it doesn't matter, I won't be working for the mining guild anymore, since I got paid a good amount for discovering you."

I reply.

"even you should invest the money into something so that you can have a steady stream of revenue."

she responds.

"sounds boring, I was thinking of buying things I couldn't afford before, or maybe even go to one of the luxurious vacation islands, that the celebrities of Nibius Prime go to."

I chuckle.

"I know it's sounds boring, but if you have a steady income, then you can live a life of luxury, and not worry about working for someone else again."

she pouts and concedes.

"okay I get it Brian, I'll go invest in something or whatever."

I just smile instead of responding, so I don't say anything that will annoy her, I then head to the kitchen and get a sense of nostalgia.

"it's so surreal that this house looks very similar to the ones back at earth."

before the A.I went rogue, houses were built with the latest tech, and also had a heavy reliance of A.I voice commands, A.I synthetics taking care of every basic menial task that humans used to do themselves, but once they went rogue, everyone began to live in minimalistic houses, that didn't rely on tech, I then think to myself.

"I can't keep thinking about the past, if I want to live a normal life, I can't let it drag me down."

I open the refrigerator to check if there was any food stored here, and I'm not surprised that there isn't any inside, I then call out to Xuilana.

"hey, do you if there is a store around here to buy some food!?

she shouts back.

"yeah I think so!"

I go to the living room and see her laying down and lazing about on one of the couches, I ask her.

"what are you doing?"

she replies.

"nothing just enjoying this comfortable couch."

I sigh and say to her.

"can we get going, I want to buy some food to store in the fridge and also get familiar with the local delicacies and ingredients."

she asks.

"you know how to cook?"

I answer.

"yeah my sister taught me, the few times I got military leave."

she sits up straight, and asks.

"do you miss her?"

I respond.

"yeah."

I sigh and give a slight smile.

"but at least I can have a peace of mind, knowing that she and my niece got away."

she stands up and says with a chipper voice.

"alright then, let's go to the foodmart, and I'll help you buy what you need."

as I open the front door, I say to her trying to sound elegant.

"okay then, you lead the way my lady."

she approaches me and hooks her arm grinning ear to ear.

"don't worry, I'll take care of you properly."

we exit to the outside, and as I lock the door, she asks.

"is it a good idea to take you out publicly?"

I think to myself.

"oh right, I forgot that news of me had spread around throughout the Great Elf Empire."

I reply unsure.

"yeah, I'm sure your people won't bother us, while I'm shopping."

but then I remember back when there was relative peace in human history, where celebrities, or well know public figures were always bothered and hounded by our media, I then think to myself.

"it's fine, we lost the media after we left the terminal at the international ground station, so there is now way that there will be media here."

she replies.

"I don't know Brian, our media is known to invade people's privacy, and stopping at nothing to be the first to get the big scoop."

I chuckle nervously at the thought of news reporters stalking me, just so they can get an answer from me, I think to myself.

"maybe, I should wait when the sun goes down a bit before going anywhere publicly."

as I think that, I look around and notice that many neighbors, have left their house to get a close look at me, I ask Xuilana, who is still has her arm hooked to mine.

"um, maybe we should turn back while we still can?"

she doesn't, so then I take a quick glance at her and see that she is smiling and waving at everyone, enjoying the attention we are getting, I sigh and we just continue walking down the sidewalk, still gathering the attention of many locals in the neighborhood, and then a slim but well endowed female elf with blue eyes and blonde hair approaches me and asks smiling.

"hey can I take a picture with you?"

Xuilana answers annoyed.

"no he will not take a picture with you."

but she ignores Xuilana's answer, and asks with a hopeful tone.

"can I?"

I reply hesitantly, while Xuilana stares at her, with displeasure.

"um sure, I don't see why not."

she gets in between me and Xuilana, and says to me while holding a mobile device in front of us.

"smile."

she scoots closer to me, and then a quick flash comes from the device, she then says to me while smiling.

"thank you, I can't wait to show my friends that I met the new alien."

as she walk away, Xuilana looks at me while pouting and asks.

"so you like elves with big boobs huh?"

she turns her head away clicks her tongue at me.

"tch."

confused I think to myself.

"I guess jealousy seems to be a common trait for intelligent species."

I sigh and try to reassure her.

"honestly I'm not a big fan of big boobs."

I think to myself.

"hopefully she believes that, I prefer the smaller ones."

she clears her throat nervously, and replies with false confidence.

"yeah, of course I knew that, it's pretty obvious."

she hooks her arm to mine again, and I think to myself as I breathe a sigh of relief.

"I've never had a girlfriend before, so I don't really know how to act when I'm in a relationship, so I need to thread carefully because I'm in uncharted waters."

we continue walking, catching the eyes of many bystanders, and requests for taking pictures with me, I then think to myself.

"maybe I should say no if they ask to take a picture with me, but then I would feel bad."

even though I think that, I didn't muster up the will to reject them, but for that reason Xuilana scolds me, because it took us hours to arrive at the foodmart.

"you know we could have arrived here much sooner, and been at home, but no you had to take a picture with everyone who approached you."

I respond with an apologetic tone.

"sorry."

I then think to myself.

"if Emilia saw me like this, she would me teasing me like crazy, for being a big softy to these people, especially since I was well known for being strict."

Xuilana snaps me out of my thoughts.

"okay Brian, let's go shop around."

I look at the store and a sense a familiarity flows through me, as I remember the times, me, my sister Maria, her husband Sergio and my niece Ruby would go shopping together back on Earth,

and then tears began to well up in my eyes, Xuilana notices and asks concerned.

"Brian are you okay, what happened?"

I reply wiping my tears away.

"sorry, when I saw this store, it brought back memories of me and my famIly."

she gently caresses my cheek and gives me words of encouragement.

"I know it's hard, but you have to remain strong, so that you can see them again."

I once again see a flash of my sister in her, and I think to myself smiling.

"oh yeah, I was always soft on my sister, maybe that's why I'm soft around Xuilana."

I chuckle and reply to her.

"you're right, and since I have you with me, It will be easier to remain strong."

she blushes with embarrassment and responds stuttering her words.

"Idiot don't say embarrassing things in public."

she quickly grabs my hand while covering her red face with her free hand and leads me inside the store and as we walk around the store on the search for food an ingredients, the management and the staff welcomed me once they noticed that I was the newly discovered alien that the news outlets have been talking about, and since the manager payed special attention to me, Xuilana took advantage of this opportunity and said.

"you know since, he's a new alien, you should give him some kind of special discount."

the male elf manager replies.

"yeah, I don't mind giving a valued customer a discount."

Xuilana gives off a devious smile, as he said that,

but I think to myself.

"maybe I should ask him for a job, I could use a steady income since I'm in this for the long haul."

I then ask.

"I don't mean to impose, but do you happen to be hiring new people."

his eyes light up.

"yes we do need new motivated individuals."

I reply.

"okay then, I'll come by tomorrow to apply."

he nods with a smile on his face.

"yeah sounds good, and if you do become an employee we could make you the face of this store and draw in a bunch a customers."

I then ask.

"do you also own this store, besides being the manager?"

he replies.

"yes."

we continue searching through the store, and since I have no idea on what any of this planet's food is like I just ended up, relying on the help of Xuilana, and as we finish making our purchase, a slender female elf with brown hair, wearing glasses over her black eyes, approaches me, holding a mobile device close to my mouth.

"so tell me alien, are you really the missing link of our species?"

I answer nervously.

"um I don't really know, no one has confirmed this to me, so I can't really tell you."

Xuilana smacks her hand away from me and scolds her.

"don't rudely shove your cell phone close to his mouth when he is busy shopping."

she turns her attention to her and asks.

"what are you his baby sitter?"

she answers.

"no, but I'm his close personal friend, that is showing him what our planet and empire has to offer."

the woman smiles deviously and asks.

"may I get your name miss?"

Xuilana answers.

"Xuilana Sorokin."

she puts away her mobile device and replies as she leaves the store.

"I'll leave you alone for now, but this isn't the last time you will see of me."

Xuilana then looks at me and says.

"Brian, you don't need to answer any of their questions, those kind of people always claim that they just want the answers, but they will only use your words and twist it for whatever narrative that suites them."

I reply to her in my mind.

"yeah, but you seem to enjoy all the attention we are getting."

she claps her hands together and says.

"okay Brian let's go home and see what kind of things we can cook up together."

I respond smiling.

"sure lead the way my lady."

I then think to myself as we leave the store.

"I'm gonna have to adjust go this new crazy life quickly."

she asks while blushing.

"why are you smiling?"

I answer.

"because I'm looking forward with what lies ahead of me, with you by my side."

she answers completely embarrassed.

"Brian you idiot, I told you stop saying embarrassing things in public, you, idiot, idiot idiot."