The Friday evening at the Hook bar was in full swing. The air hummed with laughter, the clinking of glasses, and muted music, creating a chaotic yet cozy atmosphere. At the heart of this merriment, a small group held court around a large wooden table.

"So, to our champion!" proclaimed a tall guy with a guitar at his feet, raising a pint of beer. "To Alina, who, as always, wiped the floor with everyone!"

"Hear, hear!" the rest chimed in unison, and several glasses met with a loud clink at the center of the table.

Alina, beaming from her friends' smiles and her recent tournament victory, shook her head in embarrassment. Her athletic figure, even under a simple T-shirt, betrayed her strength and confidence.

"Ah, come on, guys, no need for all this fuss," she tried to joke it off, but her eyes burned with pride. She had earned this evening.

Her gaze wandered around the room, catching the happy faces of her friends, the cozy semi-darkness, the flicker of neon signs behind the bar counter. And it was there that it caught on an unpleasant scene. At the counter, a little off to the side, some guy in a fashionable but garish jacket was looming over a fragile girl. She was looking away, nervously fiddling with the edge of her glass, and her whole demeanor screamed that she wanted to be left alone.

At first, Alina just frowned. "Well, there goes the mood," flashed through her mind. She tried to return to the conversation with her friends, but her peripheral vision kept tracking the situation.

The guy clearly didn't understand the word 'no'. He was becoming more persistent, jabbing his finger somewhere to the side, his smirk growing more and more repulsive. The girl was already leaning away, her shoulders tense, her replies becoming shorter and drier. Politeness clearly wasn't working.

Alina's patience snapped. It didn't fade—it snapped, like an over-tightened string.

"Guys, one sec," she threw to her friends and, without waiting for a reply, rose from her chair. Her movements weren't sharp but smooth and confident—like stepping onto the mat.

She approached the pair and stood beside them, her very presence creating a barrier between them.

"Problem?" her voice sounded calm, but low and weighty, cutting through the noise of the music.