On my day off, Kaga surprised me with a phone call. She wanted to hang out in a place of my choosing. I intended to spend the day by myself, but if Yosefin wanted me or needed anything, I’d answer the call.

Kaga and I spent a few hours of the afternoon at her house, catching up on the last time we saw each other.

“How did things go with you and Yosefin?” Kaga said. “I hope you two are still friends.”

“Don’t judge me,” I said. “But...”

“She’s your girlfriend. Good.”

“Good?” I said after nearly choking on my spit I gulped.

“You heard me. It’s good you’re together.” I didn’t understand what she meant until she broke it down layer by layer of what she saw in Yosefin and me. “You guys were way too close to not be. What made you resist her?”

“I didn’t feel like I was a worthy pick,” I said.

“How did you become worth it in the end?”

“She,” I said, elongating the word to prepare myself for the truth. “She reminded me of how much I adored her.”

“That’s all it took?”

“Yes, but it took a while.”

“I hope you are happy.” Happy was a weak word to describe. I felt at ease, content, glad, and filled with intense emotion for love. Never in my life would I think boring me could have a chance at getting a girlfriend.

“I am.”

Later that day, I had urges to talk to Yosefin. I tried keeping my mind occupied by going through my gallery with tons of pictures of us. Unfortunately, it fueled the urges. I hid my phone under blankets to get away. The decision lasted a minute. I called.

“Hey, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. How was work?” I said. The first noise that came out of her mouth was a sigh followed by two sniffs. “I’m coming over.”

“No,” she said. “I was just about to come see you.”

Yosefin came earlier than I expected. Either she was on the move or drove fast. She was wearing her uniform apron and cap. Her eyes, nose, and parts of her face were red. She wasn’t wearing any piercings or makeup. I immediately took her by the hand to my room. Her grip was tight. She didn’t let me go until we sat on the bed.

“I’m listening,” I said.

One hour after Yosefin finished working, she had a half-hour argument with Teagan over Yosefin’s mutations. Teagan couldn’t understand why Yosefin chose not to take medical steps to prevent her body from changing. Yosefin told her she wasn’t sure how far the mutations would go. Her doctors didn’t know what to say or do at the time during the years. She accepted her new appearance once she figured it wasn’t bad. Teagan thought acceptance was a stupid decision. According to her absurd way of thinking, Yosefin should take all the offers from her personal and surgical doctors to remove all traces of the mutations. During those phases, she quoted how Yosefin was scared of what was happening to her. Then, she asked her if she had thoughts of living a life without them.

“What did you say?” I said.

“I did,” Yosefin said. “Quite a lot.” Last year before I asked her, she wondered what would happen if she reverted to her original appearance. She shortened her hair in part because of it. It didn’t disrupt her beautiful appearance to me, but it gave her a glimpse of what could be. “Josh, I feel so conflicted.”

“Don’t be. Your cousin is tripping.”

“Is she?”

“Yes,” I said and took off her uniform. “You made something beautiful out of your mutations. Look at your arms.” She gazed up and down, checking each tattoo on each arm. I pulled back on her pants where her ass crack was and said, “Don’t forget this one.”

“Oh,” she said, cracking a smile. “My thorny rose.”

“Don’t forget your style and interests.” She began to blush. When I slapped her ass, her face got redder. I did it again but gripped it to pull her to me.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Jesus, Josh,” she said nearly laughing. Her smile wasn’t big enough for my liking. I grabbed the other asscheek with my other hand. “What’s gotten into you?” The question came with laughter and hands lightly gripping my chest. She didn’t give me a chance to explain myself. Her lips suddenly came to me. Once I got to say something, I didn’t. “I like how more touchy you’re becoming.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said like it was a sigh. “It can be so therapeutic when I’m sad.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” she said then twirled my gaming chair with her knee. “You should read Konishi Sanako’s Passion and Etiquette book.”

“That white book?” I said once I recognized the name. “Why?”

“I think it’ll make you more romantic,” she said, looking at me over her shoulder. “There’s a few chapters for guys you can read about.”

“Okay. I’ll give it a read.”

“Awesome. Remind me this weekend to give it to you. I need some time to mentally cool off after what my cousin said.”

Yosefin left after I made sure she was in good spirits. Days went by. I didn’t see any alarming trouble when we were in class or at work. Once the weekend came, she handed me Konishi’s book after I got out of work. I noticed extra colorful tabs were poking from the right side of the book.

“What do you got there?”

“Important parts,” Yosefin said, punching the letter P. “As my boyfriend, you gotta learn some of these parts I highlighted.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I learned everything?”

“Yes, but these are my favorites.” I glimpsed through the pages without thoroughly reading the sentences. One highlighted paragraph caught my attention when I saw the words French kissing. I looked at her and the words several times before stopping on her.

“I see,” I said, holding in my smile. “I will read it all and make sure I remember what you want me to know.”

It took me a few hours to read the pages. The page that had French kissing gave a brief explanation of its history and how to use it properly in the modern world. There were sketches of a man and a woman performing the kiss. The book said it should be brief. One page after the French kissing chapter talked about where and when to use fragrance. Just like the chapter before, it had sketches. All of the highlighted tabs were mostly self-improvement to enhance my attraction.

I headed to Yosefin’s house to bring her book back. For the first time in months, someone else opened the door. Her father let me in. When I got close to the corner entrance of the hallway where her room was, I heard her voice through the door. I cracked the door open enough to push the book through.

“Josh?” Yosefin said.

“I finished the book,” I said, keeping my voice down. “I just wanted to drop it off.” I put it on the corner of her desk and headed out.

“Josh... Wait! Come inside.” She opened the door with her foot. She had her phone against her hand and had her finger over her lips. ” Nein. Ich werde Sie nicht mit ihm sprechen lassen. (No. I’m not going to let you speak with him.)” She continued talking for another minute. Halfway through, she became agitated. She held her forehead up with the knuckles of her right hand. Her eyes were shut and she kept scratching her eyebrow with her thumb. The longer the conversation went, the more she rubbed. Then she suddenly ended the call, jumped off her chair, and looked around with her phone cocked back behind her head.

“Whoa, whoa,” I said.

“Ugh!” She lightly threw the phone on the bed. “I should have never answered!”

“What’s going on?”

I didn’t get my answer straight away. Yosefin was fuming over what Teagan told her. It took her over two minutes to settle down. Teagan double-downed on suggesting Yosefin should go get “help.” The life Yosefin lived was too “risky” and it “wasn’t normal” to be what she shouldn’t be.

“Guess what she told me before I hung up?” Yosefin said.

“Something not good,” I said.

“You’re not a woman. Stop living like one.” I couldn’t believe my ears that someone would say something so rude. “And the funny thing about that,” she said and paused. “She’s... right.”

“Yosefin... no...”

“It’s true,” she said, weeping. She nearly broke down crying once the tears from her eyes fell down her face. “It’s true and you know it. I’m not one. I thought what I did made sense.”

“It does. Don’t listen to her. She doesn’t understand your dilemma.”

“Yet, she’s making sense. Josh, I could’ve stopped.” She began to break down. “I could’ve stopped this. What the hell is wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” I said, holding her waist from the front. My touch didn’t alter her mood. I thought about shushing her but I feared she would get mad or cry more. An idea came when I glanced at the book on her desk. I remembered one of the highlighted areas she wanted to hear me say. It was a chapter of various nicknames I could call her. “There’s nothing wrong with you, babe,” I said. She stopped like as if I shut off a feature within her mind. She gazed into my eyes and slightly tilted her head. “She’s screwing with your mind.”

“I’m so confused. Have I been living my life all wrong?”

“No,” I said, holding her drenched face in the palm of my hands. “There is nothing wrong with what you’ve done.” The tears kept coming. I directed her attention to the book in hopes it would get her mind off Tegan and her stupid thoughts. “The book was good. And I like what you chose for me.”

“Did... did you read all the ones I highlighted?”

“Yes.”

“What do you think about them?”

“They’re useful. That French kissing was...” I walked away, putting my back to her to create suspense. “That was...”

“Was what?” She pulled on my shirt and jumped in front of me.

“That was interesting. I like how you’re teaching me new things.”

“Oh,” she said, blushing. She tapped her index fingers together, looked at her right, and said, “I want you to be the best man you can be.”

“Now I got to reciprocate.”

“It’s fine,” she said, blushing more as she smiled. “I’ve read enough books to know what a man wants.”

“You’re taking being my girlfriend seriously.” She snickered before tightly hugging my waist. “Come on. Let’s go do something nice.”

“Okay! Like what?”

“Drink some shakes.”

“You really want me fat.”