Lin was no stranger to meeting collaborators.
She had always been good at drawing clear lines—between work and personal life, between interest and restraint. She rarely felt curious about strangers, let alone emotionally invested. Still, she carried herself with ease: professional warmth, a practiced smile, a few well-timed jokes to keep the atmosphere light. Conversations rarely fell flat around her.
That day, however, things didn't go according to plan.
1. The First Question — Instinct
The moment Yeh sat down, Lin noticed she was different.
Quiet, polite, sincere—but there was a softness about her that felt rare for someone her age. A kind of shyness that didn't come from insecurity, but from holding too much inside. Someone with stories she hadn't told.
Before Lin could stop herself, the words left her mouth.
"Do you like women?"
The question surprised even her.
It wasn't provocation.
Not a test.
Just instinct.
A sudden, unfiltered thought: She might be like me.
Yeh froze. Not in offense, but in confusion—caught off guard, unsure how to respond.
And somehow, that hesitation intrigued Lin more than any answer could have.
Someone who guarded her emotions this carefully.
Someone who didn't rush toward desire.
Lin took mental note of it.
2. The Second Question — Confirmation
Later, under the warm amber glow of the bistro, Lin found her attention drifting back to Yeh again and again.
When others spoke, Yeh listened with her head slightly tilted, eyes focused, attentive. But whenever Lin looked at her, Yeh would instinctively look away—too quickly to be coincidence.
It was a distance that felt intentional.
A closeness disguised as restraint.
Lin had enough experience to recognize it.
She knew that look.
So she asked again.
"So… do you like women?"
This time, it wasn't curiosity.
It was confirmation.
A quiet challenge to the way Yeh kept retreating from the edges of the conversation.
Yeh's reply came softly:
"I… don't really talk about feelings."
That was enough.
Lin understood immediately—people like this didn't open easily. Their hearts ran deeper, guarded more carefully than most.
She didn't press further.
Instead, she thought to herself:
If she won't say it now, then I'll wait—until the day she's ready to.