2 Love Researcher - Part 1 (1/2)
”Will you be my lover?”
The girl who proposed the weird question to Dina looked like a high schooler. Short, white skin, black hair, dark eyes and wearing fashionable clothes, with a blue blouse, black shorts, and long brown stockings.
Dina was a college student. She was tall, had dark skin and her brown curly hair was tied in a ponytail. It was night and she was wearing a jacket and jeans. Her class had finished early that day, and she was about to go home. What she never expected was to be proposed by a teenage girl out of the blue.
”I-I don't get it”, she said.
”I'll become your girlfriend, bride, wife. I forgot what the order is.”
Dina was sure that was a joke. After all, the girl was a teenager, so that was to be expected. She didn't have the patience for that and tried to ignore the girl and keep walking home, but was stopped when the teenager jumped in front of her.
”Wait. Why aren't you answering me? I heard this would be easy in this place.”
Dina sighed.
”Look, I was your age once. Not that long ago, in fact. I get it, you're just having fun. I don't have time for this, so please go bother someone else.”
”I'm not having fun, right now”, the girl had a really serious face as she said it.
Dina scoped around trying to find anyone who could be the girl's friend, laughing at the whole situation. But if someone like that was there, they were really well hidden, as only adults seemed to be around.
”Okay, I'll give you a chance. Explain yourself.”
”Right. So, you see, I'm from another planet…”
By hearing that, Dina turned and tried to walk away again, but the girl held her arm again.
”I'm serious, please, let me explain!” she said.
Seeing the serious face the girl had, Dina didn't feel like ignoring her. Although she was probably lying, it seemed like a lie she actually believed in. Dina thought maybe there was something more about that whole thing.
***
They went to a snack bar. Dina paid for a coke and hamburger to the girl, while asking for a beer to herself, as she thought was appropriate given the situation. Although the girl hadn't asked for anything to eat, when it was in front of her, she started to devour it, as if she was famished.
”I heard about these, but it's the first time I eat one myself”, she said to the inquisitive look Dina gave her.
What Dina was thinking about was why she was wasting money on a girl she just met.
”Was food your objective after all?”
”Of course not”, the girl said after swallowing the food. There was sauce on the side of her mouth. ”I said it already, right? I need love.”
”Because you came from another planet, right?”
”That's right!”
Dina stared at the girl without saying anything. The girl probably picked up the distrust in her eyes, since she started to explain:
”I see you don't believe me. Well, our research did show how hard it would be, considering your species has a history of making lies. It's hard for me to imagine why someone would make a lie about it, though.”
”People like attention”, Dina said. She wasn't convinced, but she thought she would play along until to find out if the girl had any objective in all of that, or if she really believed she was from another planet.
”Well, I do owe you an explanation. According to our research, themes like mating can be sensitive to your people, so maybe my approach was wrong. I apologize for that.”
”That's understating it.”
”I see…”, she slurped a gulp of her coke. ”You see, we're not good with things like this, and that's exactly why I'm here. My planet is similar to yours, as we live in society and are born of a sexual act. We're compatible with the most different kinds of organisms, what means we can actually reproduce with other species, as long as they have a similar organism as ours. Five thousand years ago, in my planet's years, at least, we were victims of a meteor rain that fell on our surface and the element it brought was nocive to all male DNA. Since then we live in a society dominated by females, as even giving birth to a male with our bodies is impossible.”
Dina was impressed by how the girl had a whole story about her origin. She was starting to think maybe she had a problem with schizophrenia or something similar. Unfortunately, that was outside of Dina's area, as a marketing student.
”Until recently, our only means of reproduction was to get involved with a male from other species and reproducing with them”, she continued. ”We have chosen mothers who would go to other planets, seduce men and mate with them. They were trained at that, and that's how we lived until now. That's how our species lasted until today. Recently, we have experienced some difficulties with keeping that system, though. You see, our species is extremely logical, and as such, emotional values means little to us. Unfortunately, we realized the most advanced planets in the universe put a lot of weight on something called romance, and that's a hard concept for us to grasp. But it turns out that seducing people from these planets without working on this concept is a demanding task, and things like contraceptive technology make actually producing offspring from those sexual acts complicated, what made us target less developed planets until now. Our researchers believe that's maleficial to our DNA. And so, some of us were sent to planets where this concept is well developed to learn about it. And that's why I'm here.”
Dina looked at the girl, not knowing if she should laugh or take her seriously.
”So you want to be my lover, to learn about love?”
”Yes”, the girl had finished eating what was on her table.
”You just said it, right? You do that to seduce males. You're aware I'm female?”
”Yes…” the girl looked uncomfortable and tried to avoid Dina's gaze. ”I was not trained as a mother, and so… males are a little… scary…”
”How so?”
”They're too big. They smell weird… Their voices are scary. I'm not sure how to act around them and I heard stories from mothers that… I really am more comfortable with females”, the girl looked at Dina with pleading eyes. ”Is that wrong?”
Dina sighed.
”It's not about being wrong or right. You know we can't have babies, right?”
”My objective is learning to teach other, not offspring. So that's not a problem.”
”So, you want me to believe they sent a child for something like that?”
”Oh, I'm mature enough…”
”Excuse me?”
”Our researchers shows that females around this age are more likely to successfully seduce males, so often that's the appearance chosen for our interactions. It wasn't my choice either.”
”You…” Dina paused, looking straight into the girl's eyes. ”Are you calling us all pedophiliacs?”
”We didn't invent those numbers, miss.”
Dina finished eating. She wasn't keen on keeping that farce. Either that girl was making a joke and had a really fertile imagination, or she was sick.
”Well, even if I believe you, and I'm not saying I do, I don't think we could make it work. You're just a girl.”
”So that's impossible?”, the girl looked disappointed. ”So it really won't work unless it's a male?”
”I wouldn't say that. But you're going to be luckier with a male, yeah. Like you said, all yours… huh… researches were with that purpose.”
”I see…”, the girl rose from the table and looked at Dina, forcing a smile: ”I'm sorry for taking your time. Thanks for the food, I'll repay you sometime, for sure.”
And saying that, she walked away.
Dina felt bad, but there wasn't much she could do. Maybe that was cruel if that girl really had a problem, but it wasn't Dina's responsibility. Maybe she would look the next day for reports about a lost girl and send her family over there.
She paid for the food and left the bar. Looking at her wristwatch, she realized it was almost midnight. She lost a lot of time in that joke, or whatever it was. Luckily the next day was weekend, so she had no job or college.
Dina would be lying if she said that girl didn't bother her. The most she walked home, the more she thought that leaving her alone at night after saying she should propose to a man wasn't such a good idea. Maybe because of that, she didn't go home and wandered through downtown, as if looking for something aimless.
”Will you be my lover?”
It was the same voice, but it was different this time. First, because it wasn't directed to Dina, as before. And also because the person saying it was clearly uncomfortable and nervous, not confident as before. But as Dina looked in the voice's direction, there was the same girl. In front of her, an older man, probably in his forties. He looked around in the same way Dina did.
”Is that a joke?”, he asked. ”Is someone hiding somewhere?”
”It's not a joke… I need to learn about love. If you're willing to teach me…”
There wasn't the same conviction about it in her voice. Dina remembered what the girl had said about males being scary. She was playing with her fingers, avoiding eye contact with the man, while talking to him.
He surveyed around again, lowered his eyes to the girl as if examining her.
”So, huh… If you want help, you can come with me.” He grabbed her hand, almost too eager. ”If you come to my house, then…”
Dina hurried and grabbed the girl's free arm. She turned her face and looked at Dina with a surprised expression, although a faint smile crossed her face.
”Erika!”, Dina shouted. ”Thank god I found you!”
”W-what… D-Do you know this girl?”, the man asked, clearly startled.
”Yes. She's my neighbor. She has some psychological problems, so her family was worried.”
”I...I see. Huh… I realized she was lost, so I was trying to help…”
”I see. Thanks, you're really a good man.”
”Y-Yeah… Then, huh, bye.”, the man left in a hurry.
”Asshole…”, murmured Dina.
She looked at the girl. She wondered until which point the excuse she gave the man was a lie. It was likely that the girl had some psychological issues, even if she could talk soberly. All that talk about aliens and studying love made no sense.
”You're coming with me”, Dina said, and the girl followed her while holding her hand tight.
***
Dina knew that she needed to find that girl's home, but all questions in that regard would bring that same answer about another planet.
”Can you give me some proof of that, then?”, she asked, but the girl just shook shoulders, saying she didn't know what she could do.
Dina decided she would need to stay with the girl for that night. Maybe looking for news of a lost person. She lent some of her old clothes to the girl, who was developed for her apparent age.
”By the way, I'm Dina. What's your name?”, she asked and the girl reflected in silence for some seconds.
”My name would be too hard to understand with your current language skills. I think that one you called me by should work.”
”Erika?”
”Yeah, I don't really understand much about name conventions in your society, but the name does have some… nice sound to it. Also, as far as our studies about your behavior go, it seems like important items you get from your beloved are valuable and strengthen your relationship with them, even if such item is an abstract concept. So while thinking about the name, I should remember you, and my heart should beat in a way that it wasn't designed to.”
Dina sighed. She was looking at the girl sitting on the couch like a behaved kid.
”You see… I brought you home, but that doesn't mean I agree with your proposal.”
”Is that so? So why did you brought me here? That man was willing to give me his love.”
”Because of things like that I can't leave you alone. That man had no intention of giving you anything. All he was interested was in sex.”
”Why would he want sex with me if he doesn't love me? Was he looking for offsprings?”
The girl looked confused as she asked it, waiting for an actual answer. Dina took her palm to her face, letting out a big sigh.
”If you're serious, I worry about you. Look...Erika...You can stay here. I promise I'll help you somehow, but don't go saying things like that to strangers.”
All that Dina meant with that was that she would look for Erika's house, but she knew the girl wouldn't agree with it since, for all purposes, she looked like she actually believed the alien story. The girl just looked into Dina's eyes with a calm expression before throwing her next question.
”Is a female absolutely out of question?”
”W-what?”, Dina was taken by surprise by the question.
”Is the fact that I'm a female the reason why you'll refuse me?”
”Th-That's…”
”Don't you have the slight interest in females in that way?”
”I…”, Dina avoided looking Erika in the eyes. ”I wouldn't say I never had any interest, but… Well… To begin with, when I mentioned a male would be easier, I just meant...most of the time… I'm not interested in romancing you, but...”
”I understand… Yeah, I see... I'm satisfied with that, then. After all, romantic relationships are said to be developed over time, so as long as we are near each other, I could work on it.”