Love, Simply - Chapter 5：She's a chaser

~Three months later~

“Louise, Cahir,” Kate said, waving her hand in front of her friend’s face. Where is she? “Cahir Louise Sue Benjamin.”

“You didn’t have to say my full name,” Louise said in annoyance. “What do you want?”

“Blind date, are you going?”

“No, I have someone I like.”

“Why haven’t you made a move yet And who?”

“Forget it. I am not going. Mina will be there, more reasons for me not to show up,” she said.

“What do you have against her?” Kate asked.

“I don’t know the guy she dated. He must have been tolerant. And if he is as good as Mina claimed, no one should be dating that woman. You know him too. So, you should know.”

“You don’t like her because she broke up with her boyfriend?”

“Are you stupid?” Louise flicked her forehead. “What does their breakup have to do with me? She always said how good he was. Yet, she broke up with him because he couldn’t afford to bring her out to fancy restaurants, buy her expensive gifts. The guy wasn’t born wealthy. I’d give anything for a guy who surprises me with a fancy home-cooked candlelight dinner. She’s a nurse practitioner. He’s a—what is he?”

“College professor,” Kate answered.

“Decent job. I bet you Mina’s boyfriend was going to propose.”

“I’ve never seen you defended a guy—you were so aggressively on his side. Shouldn’t you be on her side? No matter what. You’re her friend. You should be supporting her.”

“No, she’s your friend. Why wouldn’t I be? He did nothing wrong. It’s her fault for being so darn ambitious,” Louise rolled her eyes.

“I have no problem with your friend. But, she is not the type of human I’d want to befriend.”

“Judge Cahir closed the case.”

“How do your employees deal with you?” Kate wondered. “You are too blunt and straightforward. You don’t even smile,” she pointed out. Louise was not the type who’d greet people with a smile on her face. Smiling was not her thing. “Do they even know you’re a woman?”

Louise sighed, “You didn’t even know I was a woman. You sent me a long love text message, asking me to be your boyfriend.”

Kate awkwardly laughed, “Can we not talk about this anymore? But you still look very much like a man. It’s hard to tell.”

“I let you see my vagin—”

“I know, I know, and I know. You are a woman. A woman, indeed.”

~~~

She was born intersex, but her father decided to wait until she turned eighteen to choose the sex and gender she wanted to identify herself.

Louise’s mother died in childbirth when she was thirteen years old. Resulting in her father sending her to France to her maternal grandparents.

Louise and her father weren’t close, but they had a good relationship, so did her little brother, Gregg.

She didn’t like smiling very much, but people who knew her knew she was a warm and affectionate person despite her aloof expression.

~~~

“Hey, are we still meeting your cousin today?” Louise asked as they crossed the street to the coffee shop.

“Yeah!”

“Isn’t your aunt sterile?”

“Yes, he’s uncle’s son.”

“Huh!”

“It’s complicated. I’ll tell you later,” Kate said.

“Mmm! Is that so? Little bast—”

“Don’t say it!”

“Say what?” Louise smiled knowingly.

“He’s not like that,” Kate defended. “His girlfriend left him because he couldn’t give her much. He wants to get her back, but he is afraid that she’ll only come back for the money,” she explained.

“Sounds like Mina.”

~~~

“Where are they? I am leaving if they are not here in the next second,” Louise said impatiently.

“You! Stop being so impatient.”

“Time’s money for me,” she crossed her legs, tapping her fingers on the table in annoyance.

“Stop that!”

“They must be a new married couple,” one of the servers commented. “The guy’s so handsome.”

“You heard that. I am not the only one,” Kate grinned.

“Is it my fault that I was born like this?” Louise frowned.

“I love you the way you are,” Kate said, touching her face. “And it’s not—”

“Sorry, we’re late,” A pleasant and sweet voice said. “We had something to take care of,” Cyrus said. “Hey, I didn’t think I’d meet you here,” he smiled at Louise.

“Me too,” she smiled. “I never had the chance to thank you.”

“Now that you know how to find me,” he pointed at Kate, “You can thank me now,” Cyrus smiled. “I went back to check on you, but you had left,” he continued.

“My little aunt came to pick me up,” Louise said, letting out a small laugh, “It was an embarrassing night for me.”

“I can imagine. Did you take care of things in the end?”

Peter and Kate looked back and forth at them. Hello! They weren’t the only people at the table.

“I went back.” The server put the drinks on the table. The guy stared at Louise for a while, realizing that she was a woman after a closer look. “Damn, she’s beautiful,” he thought.

~~~

Kate cleared her throat.

“Katie, you’re here,” Cyrus said.

“I see you didn’t forget your dear cousin,” she rolled her eyes.

“How could I? You are my only cousin,” he said.

Peter took a large sip of his drink, reminding them of his presence.

“This is my bro, Peter. You met him already, Kate.”

“Hey!” Louise said.

Peter nodded at her in return. It was a meeting he didn’t want to be part of, but his annoying friend dragged him there.

“I never got your name,” Louise said.

“Cyrus. And you?”

“I am Cahir—call me Louise.”

~~~

Louise felt someone kicked her legs.

“Ne me dites pas que mon cousin est le gars que t’allais demander pour son numero?” Kate asked. (Don’t tell me my cousin is the guy you were going to ask for his number)?

“Mmh c’est lui.” (Mmh it’s him).

“Quoi, vraiment?” Kate asked in excitement. (What, really)? “Tu vas faire quoi maintenant?” (What are you going to do now)?

“Hey, tu es trop excitee,” Louise said. (Hey, you are too excited).

“Je suis contente qu’il y a un gars qui t’interesse,” Kate laughed. (I am glad there’s a guy that interest you).

“Thanks.”

“Quoi maintenant?” (What now)”

“I don’t know,” Louise shrugged, “I’ll treat it as my second chance.” She didn’t know what she was going to say to Cyrus. Yes, he interested her, but it wasn’t like she went around courting guys.

It was all new to her. Louise wasn’t worried about making a fool out of herself. She only wanted his permission to go after him.

~~~

“You guys weren’t badmouthing us, right?” Peter asked. He hated that they were talking in a foreign language. He didn’t trust them, and not being able to understand Kate and Louise made things even worse.

“No,” Louise answered. “Cyrus, do you have a girlfriend?”

“Nah, it ended three months ago. Why do you ask?”

“No reason.” No reasons?

“Qu’est ce que tu fais? Kate asked. She thought that her friend would have courageously gone for it. (What are you doing?) “Go for it. I support you.”

Cyrus was insanely handsome. Was he too attractive that Louise had forgotten her words? Or was she just nervous?

“Can I pursue you? She blurted out. Kate was dumbfounded. Why was she so direct? Cyrus looked surprised. Or was it confusion?

“Sure,” Cyrus said. ‘Pursue you’ rang in his head. “What?”

“CAN I PURSUE YOU? I LIKE YOU.”

Cyrus blinked. “You like me? Sure?” He said questioningly. He didn’t know why he agreed.

~~~

“If other women could confess to a guy easily like you,” Kate sighed. “Some of them are struggling.”

Louise stared at Cyrus’ number on her phone.

“Why didn’t you stop me?” Louise cried. “What am I going to say? Sure, I like him. But, he’s a guy he knows what to say and do. Me? When was the last time I dated? Oh, my impudent self.”