Business Relationship

Chapter 2 - Uncertainty

Mai returned to her office. She set her bag down, then took Minato's application out of the rejected pile. She photocopied it again and placed the fresh copy on her desk.

At the top, she wrote, "* FEMALE." She stared at it for a bit, then highlighted that in yellow. With the new and old copy side by side, she glanced between them.

"I marked a lot of things as undesirable due to them being feminine or submissive. But, if it's a girl, are those fine?"

Mai pursed her lips. She felt more uncertain than she'd ever felt before in her life. She rose to her feet and left the office, then wandered outside into the garden.

While walking aimlessly among the flowers and trees, she thought intently about Minato and women in general.

"The biggest question is, am I okay dating a woman?"

Mai remembered Minato. She had a pretty cute appearance. Mai had no complaints there.

She tried imagining doing things with Minato. Hand holding and hugging was normal even between friends. Kissing? Stripping? Sex? She could imagine going through the motions, but not how they'd make her feel.

"Maybe imagination is insufficient for this."

Or maybe not feeling any revulsion was enough proof that she didn't mind.

She decided to set that question aside for the moment, despite its importance.

"Let's say I date a girl. Are my preferences the same as with men? Do I want her to be aggressive, or is a submissive girl okay? Can I have a housewife?"

Again, she imagined Minato. They only had a brief interaction, but the girl didn't really have a publicly submissive bearing. She seemed confident and open with her feelings. Perhaps she only grew submissive in the bedroom.

If a guy acted like Minato did, Mai would like it. As for the bedroom, Mai had no experience so couldn't really imagine it. She had a fair amount of confidence that she'd prefer the submissive role, but couldn't say for sure.

A housewife? If her partner was a girl, what would be wrong with that? She could come home and all the laundry and cleaning would be done, dinner would be ready, and then they'd have the evening free for some intimacy.

"A housewife would be good, actually."

As for why she didn't like it with a male partner, it was just the vibes from society. If she entered a same-sex relationship, they'd both be judged equally. If she had a househusband, people would look down on him, and look at her strangely. She didn't think a housewife would attract the same attention, most of it absorbed by the whole same-sex thing.

Mai stopped and stared up into the branches of a nearby tree. A little bird hopped around on them. She watched it while enjoying the breeze, letting her thoughts settle.

"What are you thinking so intently about?"

Mai flinched and turned around. "Greetings, father." She brought a hand to her chin and wondered how to explain it. "One of the applicants has an extremely make-or-break trait. The problem is, I'm not sure whether it's 'break' for me. I'm trying to figure that out."

"This is easily solved." He gave a warm smile. "You're not picking a husband here. You can date him for a few months and decide how you feel about it, assuming everything else meets your requirements."

Mai nodded slowly. "I suppose that's the best option. It just makes it harder to reply with certainty."

"Be honest. Make it clear you're not sure how you feel about it, and that you might end things early if it turns out to be not for you."