A Queen with no home.

As many would know, ants are an eusocial species that rely on one another for survival. Each member of the colony plays an essential role in their nest. The scouts search for food and potential rivals to snatch from. Worker ants bring food into the nest, and Soldier ants defend the nest, ensuring the colony’s safety.

As for the queen, she carries the whole colony on her back. With the sole purpose of producing offspring, she continuously provides new workers and scouts to increase her colony’s numbers. Eventually, the queen ant shall retire, and from its purpose, it gives birth to potential queen ants to spread her genetics to claim unclaimed lands.

This is an ant’s life cycle. Like their much, much smaller cousins, Giant ants follow this cycle. However, they are gifted with a human visage and intelligence. With their advanced intellect and half-human bodies, they have integrated into the modern world as construction workers, demolishers, and miners. Any job that requires hard labor, they can handle in spades.

Even so, a few scant colonies of Giant ants refuse to integrate into human society. Separated from the rest of the world, they do not speak verbally but communicate with their antennae like their smaller cousins. Still, they are Giant ants, so they can learn if placed in the right environment. This asset will prove invaluable for one particular Giant Ant as she’s forced to venture out into the world to spread her colony. Paired with a designated human mate, they set off together.

Things would’ve gone as expected if it hadn’t been for one oddity in the budding young queen.

“…” The queen, odd as it was, suffered from a peculiar phobia. The male who escorted her grew impatient after only three days together. Seeking a better partner, he abandons her at a park, leaving her to fend for herself.

____________________

“Ah…damn…I really…need to get back…into shape…” January. It is a month in most people’s lives when they try to follow their New Year’s resolutions. Mine was no different from the stereotypical resolutions people joke about on the internet. I wanted to get into shape. I needed to work on my stamina before I could even think about lifting weights. And so far, I’m doing a piss-poor job at it.

“H-how many…miles was that…” Wearing a smartwatch, I have it set to track how many miles I have jogged since I left home. “What? Only two miles? That felt more like three and a half…” I could bitch and moan all I want, but I know these things are accurate. I’m just more out of shape than I’d like to admit. Still, I can’t push myself too hard right now. I need to take a breather and rehydrate. This bench next to me will do.

“Ow…my legs are freakin sore…” That was depressing. On top of being out of breath, the fact my legs are sore like this means I’ve neglected them too. It’s not like I can help it. I have a sit-in job at home. Coupled with a sedentary lifestyle from the convenience of food delivery apps, I technically never have to leave my apartment. That’s how I’ve been living for the past two years. I’ve relied on my youth to burn away any fat I would’ve built up, but lately, I’m beginning to gain weight. I can’t rely on my metabolism anymore.

“I don’t drink you often, water, but you always taste so much better after working up a sweat…” Taking a thermos with me, I debated whether I should’ve filled it with soda, but it’s a pain to clean sugary drinks in a thermos, so water will have to do.

“…hnng…”

“What the?!” Taking me by surprise, I heard a low, groaning sound behind me. Shit, could it be some stranger ready to pounce?! I turned around and saw nothing. “Was I just imagining things?”

*Cough, cough!*

NOPE! No, I was not! I jumped from the bench and looked straight behind me. That’s when I noticed what looked like an antenna poking out from a bush behind the bench. Wait, antenna? Walking back to the bench, I climbed over it and looked down over the bush.

“…uhh…” My god. It’s a woman. And not just a woman, she’s a Giant Ant. From how she looks, she’s probably no older than twenty. The only thing she had for ‘clothes’ was a dirty cloth wrapped around her chest. Her body’s covered in dust and dirt. Though, as a Giant Ant, I guess that’s normal. What wasn’t normal was her cheeks. They look sunken in, like she hadn’t eaten or drank anything for days.

Moving over the hedge, I gently pick her up from behind, propping her head on my lap. “First, I should probably give you some water.” Opening my thermos, I bring it closer to her lips. “I don’t know if you can hear me or not. But here, I have water for you.” I drip just a little bit of the water on her lips to give her an idea of what I was trying to give her. She didn’t seem to respond at first, but slowly, she licked her lips.

“Hmm?!” Her eyes suddenly shot open. Instantly, she took the thermos from my hand and began to drink feverishly. Before I knew it, she had drunk all the water in the thermos, letting go of it while taking deep breaths.

“Whoa…” Whoever she was, she was thirsty. Thankfully, her complexion already looked better after drinking the water I gave her. But now, I hear her stomach grumbling. “Um…excuse me?”

“HNNGGG?!” She lets out a sudden yelp. Her body grew rigid as she slowly turned her head toward me.

“Yes…hello…” The moment I wave to her, her whole body twitches as she clenches her hands close to her chest. Is she scared of me or something? “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you. The water you were drinking down just now. It was mine, you know.” I pointed at my thermos on the ground beside her, but she never averted her gaze.

“…” Geezus. She’s staring so hard at me that it feels like she’s boring holes through me. Her body was shaking like crazy. Maybe she didn’t like me touching her without permission. Maybe I should apologize to her.

“Look, I’m sorry about-” I wanted to move closer so she could hear me, but she panicked as soon as I took my first step. Her body tensed before she ran to the nearest tree and hid behind it. “Eh…” I wasn’t sure what to do now. If I took another step, she’d likely run further away.

“…” While staring, her body tensed when I heard her stomach growling again. With how she reacted to drinking water, maybe she’d come to me if I gave her something to eat next. I pulled out two energy bars I had in my pocket that I was going to snack on and showed them to her.

“Here. See? You’re hungry, right?” I wave the energy bars at her, but she just stares at them. Does she not know these are food? I’ve heard that there are some Giant Ants that live outside of human society. So maybe she doesn’t even know what an energy bar looks like, let alone know that it’s something edible. If that’s the case, I should open one and have her watch me eat one.

“?” Staring closely at me, I unwrap the energy bar before her. I take a bite from it, letting out a loud, satisfied moan while rubbing my stomach.

“See? This is food. You want one?” I opened the other energy bar and offered it to her. At first, she just stared. But, after her stomach growled again, she slowly, and I mean SLOWLY inched her way to me. I’ve never held my arm out for this long before. Pathetic, I know. It’s only an energy bar I’m holding. But I was holding my arm out for more than five minutes!

“Ah…hmm…” My arms were just about to fall when she finally reached for the bar. Then, she swipes the bar from above out of my hand before bringing it close to her face. She sniffed the energy bar and prodded it with her antenna. She looked at it from all angles until she finally licked the energy bar. The moment she tasted it, her eyes widened before eating it.

“There you go. It’s not much, but I’m sure it helps, right?” Utterly devouring the energy bar I offered her, she took deep breaths of what I assumed were relief. She seemed a lot better now.

“Hah!” Moving faster than I could react to, she suddenly lunges toward me. I stick my hand out in self-defense. I was waiting for the strike to come, but nothing happened.

“Huh?” I opened my eyes and saw she had swiped the other energy bar I had taken a bite out of earlier. She munches it down as quickly as the first bar I gave her.

“Oh…you just wanted the other one…I honestly thought you were going to attack me.” When she finished eating, she seemed to have finally calmed down.

“Hah…” Staring at me, she carefully moves closer and circles around me. I guess I was right about her. She doesn’t know anything about modern society. Thankfully, she’s at least capable of some level of understanding since she saw the energy bar I gave her was food. She also didn’t attack me like I thought she would, so she isn’t inherently aggressive either.

“So…um…can you understand what I’m saying?” She tilts her head in confusion. From the expression on her face, I could tell she was thinking or at least trying to figure out what I wanted with her. That’s when she got even closer. Her head was mere inches from mine before she poked my head with her antenna. If I recall, ants communicate mainly with their antenna. While I can’t understand her this way, maybe she could.

“I’ll try this again. Can you understand what I’m saying now?” Her antenna poked repeatedly before she finally nodded in response.

“Oh! Good. You can. I found you collapsed on the ground earlier. You seemed weak, so I gave you water and something to eat. You’re feeling better now, right?” Again, she nods after her antenna prods me. While she nodded, I noticed she still avoided eye contact with me. “What’s wrong? You’re still not scared of me, are you?” She moved to face me just long enough for her antenna to touch before turning away again. After a few seconds, she nods.

“Still? What’s so scary about me? Is it my face? Am I being too forward? Do I make you feel uncomfortable?” I was trying to scramble for any reason she could be afraid of me, but I guess I was bombarding her with too many questions since she started shaking. Her eyes were watering like she was about to cry. “N-never mind. You don’t have to answer any of that, okay?”

The next few minutes were an awkward standoff. I wanted to say something, but every time I made a gesture to talk, she’d freak out and start shaking. Then, when I showed no signs of doing anything, she reached out with her hands, trying to grab mine as if she wanted to talk. And because she gets scared when I move, she moves away if I try to hold her hands.

This is getting us nowhere. I might just be overthinking things. Maybe she wants me to leave? That’s probably why she’s reaching out to me. It must be her way of telling me to leave her alone.

“W-well…I guess you’re all better now if you can shake and panic like that. I can tell my being here scares you, so I’ll take my leave.” I turned around so she wouldn’t have to be scared of my face any longer. I start walking away, but not before waving bye to her from behind. “Well, take care. I’m sure there are others who-”

*Yank*

“Wah?!” Suddenly, I felt her grab my right wrist. The strength she had behind those hands of hers was insane. I know I’m not that strong, but I couldn’t move my arm at all. “What is it?” While she had an iron grip, I could feel her arm shaking. She was facing the ground, so I didn’t know what expression she was making. Then, I saw tears start falling down her face. That’s when she looked up at me. Her face was scrunching up and on the verge of tears.

“Hey! Look, please, don’t cry, okay?!” I got close to her and let her antenna touch me again to get her to understand me. “Please, don’t cry, alright? I won’t go anywhere.” Waiting for her to calm down, she took a few minutes to dry her tears before she nodded.

Okay…so…I’m at a loss here. This girl is a complete enigma. From what I know so far, she gets scared really easily and doesn’t speak at all, but she can understand me if she uses her antennae to touch me. She was also dirty, hungry, and thirsty. Earlier, I guessed she didn’t know anything about modern society, so maybe she got lost.

“Alright, you’re calm now, right?” Poking me with her antenna, she slowly nods. “Tell me, are you lost and/or abandoned? Were you part of a colony?” Again, she nods. “Okay. I want to assume that you’re too scared to ask other people for help?” She nods again. “Do you have anywhere to go to? A home? A friend or family to stay with?” This time, she shakes her head at all three questions. “Finally, since you haven’t said a word…I take it you don’t know how to speak English or any other language?” With another nod, I close my eyes to concentrate, piecing together what I learned from her.

I found her covered in dirt, starved, and thirsty. She had nowhere to go and, due to her ignorance of the modern world, was too scared to ask for help. Even if she could, she can’t communicate vocally, but she can understand if her antenna makes contact with someone she’s willing to get close to. Either she must’ve been separated from her colony and didn’t know where to go, or she had nowhere to go to begin with. When I tried to leave her, she was practically falling apart and tearing up as if begging me to stay. So, I must’ve gotten her trust after helping her. I can’t just leave her after finding this out. I’m not sure if this is a good idea, but I don’t have a choice.

*Sigh*

Letting out a shriek, she jumped as if surprised before I opened my eyes.

“Okay. I think I understand now. Listen, if you have nowhere to go, why don’t you come with me?” For once, since I’d met her, there was a glint of hope in her eyes. She was still shaking, but I could tell it wasn’t from fear this time. “My apartment. Well, it’s not that big, and I need to do some house cleaning. But it should still be big enough for you and me to stay in. What do you say?” Her lips were quivering for a moment, probably contemplating whether to say yes or no.

“…Hmm! Hmm!” With a smile, she nods twice. It looks like she wants to come with me.

“I see. Alright then. Oh, I just realized! I haven’t introduced myself, did I?” She cocked her head but shook it afterward. “Eheh…well, my name’s Nicol. As for you, I’m not sure if you have a name or not. For now, I’ll just call you…” I wracked my brain for any ideas. Her eyes were wide with focus, waiting for me to decide on a name for her.

“Okay! I got one. What about…Jil? It’s simple and easy to remember.” She closed her eyes, humming as if thinking about the name. A few seconds later, she smiles and nods. “Okay. Jil it is.” Now that I have a name for her, it’ll be easier to communicate with her. “Right then. Shall we, Jil?” Nodding, Jil follows closely behind me. And I mean REAL close. She wrapped her arms around my right arm, looking around constantly and hiding her face from the people around us.

“Whoa…check that out…”

“Lucky SOB.”

“Get a room…”

Shit…the people around us are getting the wrong idea!

“Mmhhhhm!” Hearing Jil whimpering, I saw her eyes shaking as she stared at the other people around us.

“Hey, don’t mind them. They’re just looking.” Though, thinking about it. I’m glad they think we’re a couple in this instance since having Jil, who’s still dirty from being outside and barely clothed, would’ve given people the idea that I was taking her by force or something like that. “Don’t worry, we’re almost there.” It took a few more minutes of awkward stares before we reached my apartment complex. I live in a low-rise apartment complex on the third floor.

“Hey, Nicol!” Crap. Just as I made it to the third floor with Jil, my next-door neighbor Phil showed up. He’s a decent enough guy, but he’s very nosy.

“Oh, hey there, Phil.” While I waved to him with my left hand, Jll’s grip on my right arm only tightened as her eyes shook in fear of Phil.

“Nicol, is that Giant Ant your girlfriend or something?” Noticing Phil was pointing at her, Jil whimpered and moved behind me. Her antenna pokes out behind me on the right side of my shoulder.

“Ehehe…yeah. Her name’s Jil. As you can tell, she’s really shy around other people.” Hopefully, my little white lie will convince Phil. The way Jil acts around others certainly helps to sell the lie.

“So she is. Pretty adorable. You got lucky, Nicol! I knew you’d find your special someone someday!” Phil got closer to give me a pat on my left shoulder.

“HHHIHHIEEEE!” Letting out a shriek, Jil crouched beneath me, trying to stay away from Phil like he was some big, scary monster.

“Whoa! I didn’t mean to scare your girlfriend there! My bad, Jil.” Phil backed away thankfully and apologized. Jil, not understanding him, stayed where she was. Her only form of acknowledgment is her staring at him.

“Sorry about that. Like I said, Jil’s afraid of other people.”

“Alright. Well, I wouldn’t want to keep her scared stiff. I’ll see you around, Nicol.” Waving goodbye to me and Jil, Phil finally goes to his apartment. Now that it was only the two of us, Jil stood back up and clung closely to my arm. “Hey, come on. That wasn’t scary, was it?” Bumping my head with her antenna, Jil shook her head as if to say it was scary.

“Look, I swear Phil’s a good guy. He’s just a bit pushy, is all.” Jil just stared daggers at me. She didn’t seem convinced at all. That or she was too scared to respond. I’d better move on from this topic.

“N-never mind that. Come on.” Fiddling with my keys, I open the door to my apartment. Bringing Jil inside, I stretched my left arm out to present the living room to her. “Welp, this is my home.” As I mentioned, I still needed to do some house cleaning. The Mattress couch I have in the living room had empty bags of snacks on it. The floor had bits of chips and food on it. My game controllers were strewn about on the coffee table. But I swear every other guy’s house and/or apartment looks like this.

“HIIIIEEGH!!!” Letting out another yelp, I turned to Jil. There, I saw her eyes wide and shaking like she had witnessed something horrific.

“Ah…is it really that bad?” Immediately, Jil nods before she lets go of my arm. “Huh? What’s up? You don’t want to be here after all?” I thought she was going for the front door. Instead, she headed straight for the living room. There, she started picking up everything in sight and moving it to the front left corner of the living room.

“Ah…uh…Jil?” At first, Jil was just moving around small things like my bags of chips, my game console, pillows, mugs, etc, on the corner. But then, without breaking a sweat. She starts lifting the coffee table. Then the TV and the console it was sitting on. She even managed to lift the mattress couch alone without wincing.

“W-wait! Jil, what’re you doing?!” When she stopped, the whole living room was ‘cleaned.’ Save for the massive pile she made on the front left corner of the room. She then sat down before letting out a huff of satisfaction and smiling, proud she cleaned the place.

“Ah…well…I do appreciate you cleaning the living room…but I have things here that aren’t trash.” Jil, not knowing what I was telling her, cocks her head sideways. Her antenna was wriggling as if trying to read my thoughts. Right. Jil can’t understand what I’m saying unless she touches me with her antennas. I walked over to her and sat next to her. Offering my hand, she understood what I wanted and held them before bringing her antennae close and poking my head with them.

“Okay. Jil, I appreciate you helping me clean. But, there are some things in this living room that aren’t trash.” Again, Jil cocks her head and hums in confusion. Maybe she’ll understand if I show her rather than tell. “Okay. Listen carefully, Jil. I’m going to show you what’s trash and what isn’t. I’ll return the things that aren’t trash to where you got them. And I’ll leave the trash in the corner where you put it. Do you understand?” Jil sounded like she was humming in thought. A few seconds later, she nods.

“Alright. Watch me.” One by one, I started moving my belongings back to their original locations in my room. The coffee table, TV, and console were fairly easy to move. The hard part was the mattress couch. Lifting it, I had forgotten how heavy it was, considering I had replaced the mattress with a memory foam bed.

“Argh! This is heavier than I remembered!” I’d have better luck dragging this thing rather than lifting it. Suddenly, I felt the weight of the couch disappear completely. I looked over and saw Jil picked up the other side of the mattress sofa with me. “Jil?”

“Hmmm!” Letting out a happy hum, I saw her eyes and antenna poking out from the other side of the mattress sofa. Helping me, we set the mattress sofa back to its original spot.

“Wow, you made that super easy…” I gesture to Jil to grab my hands. Without delay, she grabs them and pokes me with her antenna.

“Okay, that’s everything that is supposed to be here. Make sure you don’t throw these things out, okay?” With an affirmative hum, Jil nods.

*Growl!*

Suddenly, I heard a gurgling noise from Jil’s stomach.

“HIIINNNG!!!” Pulling her hands away, Jil turned around, hiding her face. She was clearly embarrassed about it.

“Hey, it’s alright. I figured two energy bars and water wouldn’t be enough to fill your belly. Just stay here, Jil. I’ll go to the kitchen and see if I can give you something to eat.” Getting up, I went to my kitchen to find something for us to eat. I looked over at my sink and saw some dishes I had neglected to wash, still sitting in cold, soapy water. “I’ll get to those later.” I glanced at the contents of my fridge before coming to a realization…

“Yup…there’s not enough leftovers in my fridge for us both.” Crossing my arms, I glance at Jil, sitting perfectly still in the living room, waiting for me to return. “I guess I’ll have Chinese delivered for today.” Pulling out my phone, I placed my order before walking back into the living room to join Jil. “Okay. Dinner’s on its way.”

“Hmm?” Tilting her head, I offered my hand to Jil. She took it and prodded my head with her antenna.

“I said food will be here soon. Hopefully, I ordered enough to satisfy you.” The prospect of food made Jil’s eyes light up with excitement. She hummed and squeaked happy moans.

“Ahahaha. Just be patient. In the meantime, why don’t we watch some TV?” Letting go of Jil’s hand, I reach for the TV remote on my coffee table and flip the TV on.

“HHHIIIG!” Jil’s antennae suddenly flicked upward before darting behind the couch. It seems the noise the TV was making scared her.

“Whoops, my bad! I forgot you don’t even know what a TV is. So you’re probably scared of it, huh?” Jil slowly moved her head back in view, staring at the TV, albeit shaking the whole time.

“It’s alright. The TV won’t hurt you.” I gestured for Jil to sit back by patting a spot on the carpeted floor beside me. Slowly, Jil moves back to sit next to me. Once she saw there was nothing to be scared of, her eyes were glued to the TV. Currently, the TV was set on the news channel. They’re going over today’s weather forecast, which predicts rain in the upcoming days. It looks like I won’t be getting any jogging done tomorrow. Not that I could leave Jil alone in my apartment. Would she know how to cook? How to use the bathroom? Where to sleep? I will have to take these things one step at a time.

While we’re waiting, I should give Jil a tour of my apartment. So I poke her on the shoulder and gesture her to take my hand. Without hesitation, she took it as I led her to the kitchen. As I did in the living room, I pointed out things that were and weren’t trash, making sure she understood by nodding or shaking her head.

“Just remember. You’ll find food in the fridge here and the cabinets over here. But, if you want to eat, let me know so I can point out what you can eat right away and what needs to be reheated or made.” Jil seemed fascinated by the concept of foods that needed cooking. If I had to guess, she probably ate raw meals until I met her.

The next place I led her to was the bathroom. I kept my bathroom relatively clean, so there was hardly any trash to take care of aside from a rolled-up toothpaste container.

“Okay. Here is the bathroom. Jil, did the colony you belong to even use bathrooms? Or…do you even know what the word means?” Taking me by surprise, Jil did nod when I asked her. But then, she looked at the toilet and tilted her head in confusion. “Okay, so you know what a bathroom is.” Jil nods. “But you don’t know what this is.” Pointing at the toilet, Jil shook her head.

“Shit…how am I supposed to explain what a toilet is to you?” How would Giant Ants use the toilet anyway? If they’re like ants, don’t they just…’relieve’ themselves whenever? I can’t have Jil doing that. How does she even urinate and defecate anyway? From her human front or her lower ant abdomen? She probably pees from the front and poops from her ant anus, right?” Thinking of the ways Jil would use a bathroom was too embarrassing to dwell on. Crap! I’m in a real bind if I can’t teach her how to use one. I can’t very well show her!

Wait…

Jil learns by observation. Maybe I can show her a video that’ll teach her how to.

“To the internet!”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, uh. You probably don’t know what that is, either. Whatever. Just follow me, and I’ll show you.” Conveniently, my computer was in my bedroom, so I could also give her a tour of my bedroom. Like my living room, my bedroom was messy since I just threw clothes on the floor.

“…” Jil gave me a long, judgemental stare when she saw how much of my stuff was on the floor.

“Ahaha…I’ll clean up later. I promise. For now…” I had Jil stand next to me as I booted my PC up. Like with the TV, Jil was curious and looked at my computer from all angles as the RGB lighting and sounds it made piqued her interest.

“Okay…let’s see. They must have videos for budding parents on how to teach their Giant Ant babies to use the restroom, right?” It didn’t take much searching to find some videos relating to the topic. I grabbed Jil’s hand to get her attention before I started the video.

“Alright. So, you see how people are here too, like on my TV? They’re going to show you how to use the toilet that I showed you earlier in the bathroom. I’ll explain what’s going on as the video goes on, okay?” While Jil doesn’t need to understand what I mean by a ‘video,’ I can always explain what she sees on screen, so it’s not a big deal.

“Hmmm.” With an affirmative nod and hum from Jil, I played the video and explained what was happening. As I suspected, Giant ants go number one using their front set of genitals while going number two with their rear ends on their second abdomen. Jil seems to understand those parts just fine. It was the part where they used the toilets where she was getting confused. I had to pause the video pretty often to explain every part, from lifting the toilet seat to making sure she flushes after using it.

“So, do you understand everything you’ve seen so far?” Jil still seemed a little confused, but she nodded anyway. “We can always review parts that you don’t-”

*Ding Dong.*

“Oh, it looks like the food’s here. Just stay here for a sec and keep watching, okay?” Nodding, I left Jil in my room for a moment before I went to my front door. Opening it, I greeted the Youka delivery woman who came with my order.

“Hello! You have three orders of fried rice, orange chicken, egg rolls, egg soup, crispy wontons, spicy pork, and four liters of soda?”

“Y-yes. That would be my order.” The Youka woman squinted and looked at me, then over my shoulder.

“Mister, is all this food for you?”

“Ah, no. I have a guest with me. She’s a Giant Ant. She’s currently in my bedroom.” Suddenly, I saw a deep blush on the Youka’s face. It took me a few seconds to realize what I had just said. “W-wait! That’s not what I-“

“Oh-ho! Mister’s about to have a good time, huh? I understand now! Need lots of energy to keep up with Giant Ants, after all.” And just like that, my chance to reel it back was gone. “Alright, mister, here you go.” I already paid for it over the phone earlier. But, after getting the food, I had her wait to tip her.

“Here you go.” I handed her twenty-five dollars for the delivery. I always like to tip highly since delivery workers typically don’t get much.

“Wah! Thank you so much, sir! I sincerely wish you luck in bedding your Giant Ant lover!” And with that misunderstanding, she left.

“Ah…well…I guess that’s better than her thinking I kidnapped Jil or something…” I whispered to myself before closing the door. As soon as I turned around, I found Jil staring at the bag of food. Her eyes were wide with anticipation as she used her antennae to prod them. “Oh, that eager, huh?” I took the bags with me and had Jil follow me to the dining table in my kitchen. There, I open the food containers. I turn to Jil and have her hold my hand so I can talk to her.

“Jil, just stay still for a moment, okay? I’ll grab us plates and silverware. I assume you don’t know what those are, right?” Jil was momentarily distracted by the smell of food. I cleared my throat to get her attention before she looked back at me and shook her head. “Right. Don’t touch the food just yet. I’ll show you how to eat properly next.” I hurry to the kitchen to grab plates, utensils, and cups for Jil and me before I set them up on the dining table. I grab her hands again before nudging my head toward the plates.

“I’m going to put our food in those white plates I brought. As for the silver-looking thingies, I’ll show you how to use them, okay?” I opened the food containers as Jil’s mouth hung slightly open. The scent and sight of food made her stomach growl louder. I portioned her plate so she could have a bit of each item I ordered on her plate. Once I plated myself, I instructed her to sit beside me as I showed her how to eat correctly by having her watch me eat for a moment.

“Alright, that should be the basics. Did you get all that?” Jil seemed more confused than anything. As her stomach growled, her patience ran out before she started eating everything by hand. “Well…I guess I should’ve expected that…” Thankfully, Jil was at least eating cleanly. She kept her face close to the food, humming in delight as she ate.

“Oh well.” I didn’t bother to correct Jil. I was just happy to see her eating. As suspected, she quickly cleared her first plate, so I plated her again.

“That was quick. Here, let me get you something to wash that food down.” I poured some soda for her to drink into a cup before handing it to her. “Here. It’s a drink.”

“Hmm?” Jil took the cup from my hand, taking a moment to observe the surface as it bubbled in front of her. Sticking her tongue out, she retracted it as soon as her tongue made contact, staring at me like I had just handed her something poisonous.

“Right. You’ve probably never drunk something carbonated before, have you? It’s okay. It’s harmless, I swear.” To demonstrate, I took my cup and had Jil watch as I drank my soda. “It’s a little tingly. But, it’s sweet and tasty.” Feeling more confident after watching me drink it, Jil tries again and drinks a bit of the soda. She winced at first, but after swallowing and tasting the soda, her eyes widened before she let out a pleased hum.

“Hmm!!!” She drank it with more gusto the third time around, finishing the cup in mere seconds. “Puwah!” Thrusting the cup toward me, Jil seemed to want more.

“Ah hah! I knew you’d like it.” I poured more soda into her cup before she switched between drinking and eating. While I was satisfied after eating a single serving, Jil had eaten at least three times as much as I did. She had eaten everything by the time she was satisfied.

“It’s a good thing I ordered a lot of food. I didn’t think you’d eat all of it, but here we are.” The mess she made on the table was inevitable. Still, she did manage to keep most of the mess on the table, so cleanup wasn’t that hard. With the table cleaned, it was time to clean the dishes.

“Hmm?” Following closely behind, Jil watched me as she shuffled back and forth out of curiosity.

“Is watching me clean these dishes mesmerizing?” I joked, but Jil seemed genuinely interested. Her eyes never left my hands as I scrubbed and rinsed the dishes.

“You seemed really interested in watching me wash those.” After drying my hands, I offer them to her before she holds them and brings her antennae close to my head. “Do you want to try?” Jil’s antennae stood straight, and her eyes lit up, clearly showing her excitement.

“Hmm!” Moving out of her way, I watched Jil pick up where I left. Picking up one of the plates in one hand and the sponge with the other, she mimicked my actions from earlier and started scrubbing the plate clean.

“Hey, that’s it! You’re doing it!” Cheering her on, Jil scrubs with more enthusiasm.

*Crack*

Perhaps a little too much enthusiasm. Jil put too much strength into scrubbing the plate, breaking it in her hand.

“Hiigh!” Panicking, Jil grabs another plate to try again. But she breaks it too when she puts pressure on the plate to scrub it clean. It seems she has no control over her strength just yet. Slowly, she turned her head to face me. Her eyes were wide and quivering as she was on the verge of crying.

“I-it’s okay, Jil! They’re just plates. I can always buy new ones.” I pat Jil between her antennae to calm her down. “I’m just happy that you were willing to try and help. I appreciate it.” Jil seemed to have calmed down, nodding afterward. While I was looking at her, the sight of dirt lightly covering her clothes and body reminded me that she still needed to bathe.

“Oh, Jil. I think you should go wash up now.” With a tilt of her head, I’d need to be more specific for Jil to understand. “You know…clean yourself.” Jil straightened her head this time before nodding. “Great. You should probably get cleaned up. I don’t exactly have women’s clothes, but I’m sure some of my shirts will fit on you.” Letting go of Jil’s hands, I left her in the kitchen and went to my bedroom so I could grab a T-shirt for her to wear.

Hold on. I have a shirt for Jil to wear. But what about her waist? Maybe I could give her one of my towels for the time being. When I went back to the kitchen, Jil had taken her top off as she licked the top of her chest clean.

“J-JIL?!”

“HNNNGG??!” Taken by surprise, Jil’s Antenna jumped straight up. Her eyes widened as she bolted to a chair nearby, hiding behind it.

“Whoops! I didn’t mean to scare you, Jil. It’s okay. I’m not mad.” Staring at me, I wave my hands at Jil non-threateningly before presenting my hands to her. Slowly, she peers out from the chair. It took her a minute to calm down before she slowly approached me. However, as soon as her chest was in view, I turned my head away.

“Ah…naked…” Jil froze up again, but only momentarily before resuming her approach. When I felt her hands on mine, she was close enough that I could look at her and stare at her face.

“I’m sorry about earlier. I’m not mad or anything. You just surprised me because you took your top off. It may not be common knowledge for you, but most people don’t get naked in front of others, you know?” Jil tilts her head, confused but seemingly thinking through what I told her.

“Anyway, you shouldn’t be cleaning yourself like that. I’ll take you to the bathroom, and you can wash yourself there.” With another nod, I led Jil to the bathroom. Watching her clean herself earlier, I wondered how I’d teach her how to use the shower and bathtub.

“Okay, Jil. Watch me.” While Jil watched me, I showed her how to turn the shower on. She was taken aback as water rushed out from the shower head. “It looks kind of like rain, doesn’t it?” Poking my head with her antenna, Jil could still understand me, so she nodded at the comparison I made before reaching out with her left hand to feel the water.

“While you’re familiar with rain, the water from this shower is a bit different. Washing your body with hot water will feel more relaxing, in my opinion.” I turned the heat on the water up. As the heat rose, Jil hummed curiously as her antenna twitched more feverishly.

“It’s not too hot, is it?” After getting a feel for the water, Jil shook her head. “Okay. I’m going to show you how to use soap. To describe it, you scrub your body with it while in the shower to help clean your body. Watch me.” Stretching my right arm out, I pour a dollop of liquid soap on my hand. I rub it on my right arm until suds start to form on my arm. I wash it away with water from the shower before bringing my clean right arm in front of Jil.

“See? My arm looks cleaner now, doesn’t it? And not only does it look clean. It smells clean.” Taking my arm, Jil took a deep whiff of my arm. From how her eyes sparkled, I wanted to guess she liked it. “Smells good, right? Just do what I did all over your body while you’re showering. When you’re nice and clean, turn the nob here this way to turn the water off, okay?” After watching me, Jil nods as she steps into the bathtub.

“Before you start, let me grab a spare towel for you to dry yourself off with. Use it to cover your waist. And don’t forget to put this on too when you’re done.” I placed the T-shirt I had given her on top of the bathroom sink. Then, I went to my bedroom to grab a spare towel for Jil and pulled it on top of the T-shirt.

“Okay, enjoy your shower.” With that, I closed the bathroom door. I could hear Jil hum in shock at first, but it quickly turned into a soothed hum. “Good. From the sounds of it, Jil’s enjoying it.” I looked at the time on my phone and saw it was an hour before my work shift. I work as a remote dispatcher for a car insurance company, so I get to stay home for work. What should I have her do while I’m working? I can’t watch Jil while I’m on the clock. At least not when I’m taking calls.

I decided to wait until Jil finished washing herself before deciding what to do next. I’ll kill some time by watching TV.

…

*Creak*

“Hmm?” Twenty minutes had passed since Jil had showered before she came to the living room. She wore the T-shirt I gave her and had the towel she used to dry herself on her waist like I asked, thankfully. I was afraid she’d walk in naked.

Walking toward me, I held my hands out for Jil to grab. Prodding my head, I smiled at her.

“So, how was your shower? Did it feel good?” With a smile and a satisfied hum, Jil nodded. “That’s good. From now on, that’s how I expect you to wash yourself. Also, did you use the bathroom while you were in there?” Jil seemed to blush at the question, but she did nod shortly after.

“Good. Listen, pretty soon, I’ll have to start my job.” I guess the word ‘job’ isn’t something Jil was familiar with since she cocked her head. “Uh…okay. So, you know how you had Giant Ants in your colony that guarded the nest or brought food there? I have something I need to do to afford to live here. Does that make sense?” With another nod, I brought Jil to my bedroom and pointed at my computer.

“Okay. So soon, I’ll be sitting here for eight hours. My job is to help other people from faraway places.” To show Jil what I do, I grab the headset sitting on my desk for work and put it on. Since she’s not going to understand the finer details of my job like what calling a tow truck driver would be like or answering questions about my customer’s inquiries, I simplified my explanation and told her that whenever I’m facing the computer and talking, she has to stay quiet and not interrupt me.

“Did any of what I just told you make sense?” After I finished my explanation, Jil nodded. And just in time too. It was five minutes before my shift. “Okay. I showed you how to use the TV. So if you’re bored, you can watch something. And when you’re tired, just hunker down on the mattress I set up for you in the living room. If you need something, make sure you ask me. But if you see me staring at my computer and talking, just wait, okay?” Letting go of my hand, Jil left for the living room. I turn to my computer with a deep sigh before clocking in for work.

“Alright…time for work…”

…

“This is Nicol from triple B services. Are you in a safe location?” As someone who works as a dispatcher for an auto insurance company, most of my tasks revolve around answering people’s calls and sending tow truck drivers for a multitude of reasons. Whether it was to drive them to the nearest repair shop when their car broke down or to provide gas so they could drive themselves to the nearest gas station to fuel up, it was a simple but annoying job.

Why is it annoying? Because more than half of the customers who call never read our policies.

“Yes, I understand that three hours is a bit long, the closest tow truck driver we have stationed will take that long to pick you up. Yes, it’s inconvenient, but that driver is our closest one. I apologize. Just wait in your vehicle and stay warm until then. Okay. Thank you.” The one bad thing about doing graveyard shifts is I often get people who don’t seem to understand that no sane person is awake in the middle of the night. They’re lucky there are tow truck drivers awake and willing to drive them. Most of our tow truck drivers are contracted to us, but that doesn’t mean they have to take the job. Since they’re paid by job commission, they can refuse if they have reason to.

Once I finished my call, I hung up and sighed deeply.

“Ugh…fucking morons…” Waiting for my next call, I spun around my office chair. Suddenly, I see Jil in front of me. “Whoa!” Falling off my chair from the shock, Jil panicked and moved away, hiding behind my door.

“Hhmm…” Letting out a soft, worried groan, Jil peeks at me before I sat back up.

“M-my bad. I didn’t mean to scare you like that. You just spooked me.” Making sure I smiled to keep her calm, Jil relaxed before showing herself fully again. I motioned her to come to me before offering my hands to her. “How long were you behind me? Shortly after I started talking?” Jil nods before she turns her attention to my work monitor. It showed a map of the state where I was positioned to take calls, logs regarding my previous calls, the steps I took to fix them, etc.

Basically, things Jil, or even most normal people, wouldn’t be able to understand.

“Are you bored with the TV already?” Again, Jil nodded. I guess she prefers to be around me rather than be alone. “Do you want to watch me then?” With a smile, Jil nods. “Okay then. Just sit down on my bed, I guess. I’m not sure what you find interesting about listening to me work. Just make sure you don’t make too much noise when I’m talking to someone.” With a final nod, I let go of Jil’s hand before returning to work. Thankfully, my job’s pretty lax when I’m not in the middle of calls, so I can afford to goof off some by watching videos on my home computer.

For the next few hours, Jil would just watch me with curiosity in her eyes whenever I took calls. When I wasn’t doing stuff for my job, she was there next to me watching videos together. I went back to some of the videos I showed her to make sure she truly understood what she watched. Before I knew it, it was already time for my lunch break.

“Wow, time flew by quicker than I expected.” I wasn’t all that hungry since I ate a fair bit when I ordered Chinese earlier. Instead, I settled on snacking on some potato chips. Watching me eat, Jil cocked her head and stared at every angle she could.

“Want some?” She didn’t have to understand what I asked since offering the chip to her was enough. As soon as she took the chip and ate it, her eyes lit up before she stretched her hands out, asking for more. “Ah, you liked those, huh? Here you go.” I dump a few good chips on her hand before she starts eating them. She didn’t exactly eat them cleanly since she just shoved them all into her mouth. Still, she was enjoying herself, so who am I to stop her?

“Jil?” After calling her name out a few times, Jil seems to recognize that whenever I call her name and offer my hands, it means I want to talk to her.

“Hmm?” Humming as if asking what I wanted, she grabs my hand before bringing her head close to mine.

“I noticed that whenever I was talking with a customer, you were always right behind watching me. Do you want to learn to read, write and speak English?” She tilts her head at first, not knowing what I meant. “You know, how I’m speaking right now. If you learn how to read, write, and speak what I’m saying now, we won’t have to touch each other like this to understand each other.” Jil’s eyes widened, and her antennae straightened before she nodded furiously.

“Good! I’ll teach you starting tomorrow. Or I guess technically, sometime later today since it’s already Friday. For now, you should probably get some sleep.” With a slight frown, Jil shook her head. “Huh? You’re not sleepy yet?” Again, Jil shook her head. “Well…I guess you can keep watching then…” I let go of Jil’s hands afterward, using the remainder of my time to snack on some chips and watch videos with Jil next to me to pass the time. When it was time to work again, I got into the work flow and hardly noticed Jil as I took call after call.

About an hour later, I found Jil fast asleep as fatigue finally set in. She settled nicely on my bed, curling around like a cat.

“Heh…well, I guess I’ll be sleeping on the sofa mattress.” I still don’t know how Jil ended up the way she did, but I can imagine she had a long day. I’m surprised she didn’t fall asleep sooner. Hopefully, once I start teaching her to read, write, and speak, she can give me more details about what happened to her.

____________________

It’s been a month since I brought Jil into my apartment. The first few days I started teaching Jil, she more or less learned the words the same way dogs and parrots do. So when I say, ‘It’s time to eat!’ Jil would come to the kitchen for food. To change things up, I write the words instead of saying them. Naturally, she didn’t know how to read it at first. But after a few days of watching English lessons together with me explaining them to her, she started to understand some words by just reading them. She was better at understanding what I was saying little by little.

“Okay, Jil. What is it that I’m asking you to do here?” A training method I like to use is to have her bring me certain objects I write down. Sometimes she gets it wrong, but she gets better with each day. Today, I asked her to bring me a specific soap brand in the bathroom. After waiting a few seconds, she returns with what I asked for.

“Good! That’s what I wanted.” With a smile and a happy hum, she hands it over to me before I pat her on the head between her antennae. Jil, in turn, hummed happily before reaching out to hug me. “Ahaha…take it easy, Jil. Don’t forget about that strength of yours. You’re liable to break a rib or two if you hug me too tightly…” Jil lets go of me before her cheeks turned red in embarrassment.

Aside from the English lessons I’ve been drilling into her, having Jil around in general helped me in ways I didn’t expect. For one, I started to pick up after myself more frequently since Jil pouts and grumbles whenever I left a mess somewhere. I also began to dabble in cooking since Jil seemed to like homecooked meals when I brought leftovers my mom gave me during one of my visits.

I’ve lived a sedentary lifestyle. This year, when I swore to change that by going out to exercise, I met Jil. And suddenly, my life feels more lively and fulfilling.

“Hmm…” It hasn’t been an issue since Jil hadn’t left my apartment since I’ve brought her here, but I’ve had her wear my T-shirts to cover her torso and my spare towels to cover her waist. It’d be cruel to have her keep wearing those. So I think it’s about time I buy her some clothes.

“Jil, are you getting used to wearing clothes now?” Looking down at the shirt she’s wearing, Jil smiled and nodded. “Good. I’ve had you wearing my spare T-shirts and towels as makeshift clothes in the apartment. And while that’s fine here, I can’t have you going out dressed like this.” Jil jumped when I mentioned the idea of going outside. When I brought it up to her before, she jumped as if she was scared of going outside.

“Hey, come on now. You can’t stay cooped up in my apartment forever. It’s not good for you. It’s not like I’m kicking you out or anything. I just figured it’d be good for you to get some fresh air, you know?” Jil looked down as if she was contemplating the idea. Soon after, she started shaking and whimpering.

“O-okay. Let’s forget about that for now. I can’t take you anywhere dressed as you are now anyway. So I’ll have to do some online shopping to get your clothes. Come on, follow me.” Leading Jil into my room, I have her stand next to me as we browse through possible clothes for her to wear.

“Hmm…thinking about it. I wonder if there’s clothes specifically designed for Giant Ants?” A quick search on the internet revealed that there were indeed clothes made specifically for them. A majority of the clothes were for their upper human bodies. And they all looked like specialized aprons with bands around the middle and bottom so the apron hugs their bodies.

“Oh! There are quite a lot of designs to choose from. I suppose there has to be, given they’re basically all the same type of clothes.” I looked over my shoulder to see if any of these designs caught her eye.

“Hiiighh!!!” To my surprise, Jil’s eyes sparkled like diamonds. I thought she didn’t have much interest in clothes. I guess seeing ones made for her changed her mind.

“D-do you want to look and see which ones you like?” In the month Jil watched me work, she figured out how to use the computer to some extent. I scooted my chair out of Jil’s way so she could move closer to the computer. “If you see a design you like, point at it. I’ll save it on the cart to buy after.”

“Hmm hmm!” With an enthusiastic hum, Jil starts to point at whatever design caught her fancy. I quickly realized having her pick without restraint was a mistake. There were already ten items on my cart.

“H-hey! I think that’s enough, Jil. We still need to get your underwear. Like a bra.” Jil tilted her head, humming in confusion. “That’s right…I haven’t explained what that is to you yet. Here, I’ll show you what I mean.” Rather than explain to her by words, I just looked up a video of a woman putting on a bra.

“See? You’ll need this too. Otherwise, your uh…boobs will sag. Not to mention people will notice your nipples.” At the mention of Jil’s…breasts, a slight blush formed on her face before she nodded.

“Oh, another thing I should do while I’m at it…” Checking through the clothes Jil picked, I forgot to choose the proper sizes for them. They have a convenient size chart, but I’d have to take Jil’s measurements to use it. I got up from my computer and went to the closet space in my room to look for my body measuring tape. When I found it, I walked back to Jil and held her hands, only to blush at what I was about to ask her.

“Okay, Jil…I’ll need to take your measurements to determine the right size for your clothes. So…um…I’ll have to get close and touch you in places like your waist and chest. Are you okay with that?” For about a week after I brought Jil into my apartment, she had no sense of shame as she’d often walk out of the shower naked without batting an eye when I saw her. At most, she’d either tilt her head in confusion or chuckle. But soon, she became more self-conscious of her appearance, avoiding eye contact when I’d see her fresh out of the shower. And that’s with a towel over her chest.

“Hmm…” Jil’s face turned a deep shade of red. She couldn’t look me in the eyes, but she did nod.

“Okay. I’ll make sure to be gentle.” With another nod, I start to take measurements of Jil’s body. Her arms, shoulders, and neck were easy enough. “Right. Now for your waist…” Gently, I put my hands on Jil’s waist, wrapping the measuring tape around it to get her measurements.

“Hnnigh…” Jil flinched a bit, but otherwise held still until I finished.

“Alright. Now for your chest.” Slowly, I bring my hands closer to Jil’s chest. Noticing my hands move closer to them, Jil starts to shake as her cheeks turn bright red. That, in turn, made me nervous, making it hard to keep my hands still. The first part was to measure the part of her chest just under her breasts. Wrapping the measuring tape around her, Jil lets out a short yelp as she closes her eyes.

“Okay. I got one part. Now for…the other…” The other part of her chest I have to measure is the part where her breasts are at their fullest. In other words, I have to wrap it around her breasts. Loosening the tape, I move up to her chest now.

“You might feel a bit of tugging, so just bear with it, okay?” Jil nods before I wrap the measuring tape on the fullest part of her breasts.

“F-Fuwah!” Unlike a yelp, Jil let out a sharp moan as she jolted from the measuring tape touching her breasts, making them bounce in front of me.

“Ah! Y-you gotta keep still, Jil. I can’t get a proper measurement if you move around.” I have to finish this before I cave in, so I try again.

“Aahhh…” Letting out a softer, more controlled moan, Jil managed to hold still long enough for me to get an accurate reading before I let the measuring tape fall. I back away from Jil, leaving us both taking deep breaths after that ordeal.

“Phew! G-good job, Jil.” Looking back at Jil, she had her arms wrapped around her chest. Shivering almost like she was freezing, she took deep breaths to calm herself. Slowly, she shivered less and less until she stopped. Opening her eyes, she glances at me and nods.

“I’m sorry for making you go through that. But it was necessary so I could buy the proper size for your bra. Come on, I’ll let you pick your design, okay?” As soon as I gestured Jil to pick out bras on the computer, her embarrassment faded near instantaneously. Like with the shirts, Jil sifted through the selection of bras that took her fancy, picking out ones she liked.

By the time she was satisfied, my overall bill came to almost a thousand dollars. I didn’t know women’s clothes could get so expensive. Still, seeing the smile on her face was worth it.

“Welp, we just have to wait for your clothes to arrive. I bet you can’t wait, huh?” With a hum of excitement, Jil folded her arms close to her chest. “Thought so.” Looking at the time on my computer, we still had five hours before my work shift. Plenty of time to squeeze some lessons in and cook dinner.

“Jil, why don’t we get some English practice lessons in?”

“Hmm!” With a determined hum, Jil nodded before I had her scoot next to me. With any luck, Jil should know how to speak by six months with how fast she learns.

____________________

“Jil! Are you ready to go?” After two more months, Jil had gotten used to wearing the clothes I bought her online. Thankfully, they fit her just right on arrival, so I didn’t have to send a single one back. She loved to stare at the mirror as she changed her clothes every day.

As for Jil’s English lessons…

“Yes. I’m ready…” Using a notebook I bought for Jil, she wrote her response in it with a pencil. Ever the quick learner, Jil blew past my expectations. I thought it’d take her six months to learn to write and read. But she learned how to in two months. She also got a lot better at understanding words vocally to the point that I can converse with her. Getting her to learn how to speak those words is a whole different can of worms, but she is trying. For now, the best solution I found I came up with was to give her a notebook to write on.

“Good. If you’re scared, just close your eyes and keep your grip on my arm.” Today, I planned to take her with me to the grocery so she could experience what it’s like to live in the modern world.

“You’re not going to leave me behind, right?” Over the past week, I had Jil practice going to the local park with me. It’s still impossible to convince her to go off on her own. Even being away from her for more than five minutes out in public elicits a panic response.

“Well, considering you cling to me like glue, it’s safe to say that’s very unlikely. Don’t worry, the grocer isn’t that much further than the park is from here. Besides, you agreed to this after I mentioned I would cook that beef stew you saw on TV earlier. It’s a good chance for you to see where I buy the ingredients to make these meals.”

“You also threatened not to make it if I didn’t come along! You’re so mean!” Pouting like a kid, I laughed off Jil’s cute show of annoyance.

“Yes, yes, I know. I’m a bully.” With that, I offered my right hand to Jil. “Well then, let’s go.” Walking toward me, Jil took my hand before we left the apartment. Just as we walk down the second-floor stairs, we bump into Phil.

“Hey! Nicol! Nice to see you, man.” Phil’s attention quickly shifts to Jil, who, in turn, hid behind me as soon as they made eye-contact.

“Hey, Jil! Still nervous around me, eh?” While I successfully got Jil to come outside with me, the same couldn’t be said regarding communication. Jil would have panic attacks that are even worse than when I leave her alone. I didn’t ask her personally since it seemed like a touchy subject, but it looked like she had some sort of phobia to me.

“Phil. You know how she reacts every time. You outta stop scaring her.”

“Okay, my bad, Mr. boyfriend.” Putting his hands up, Phil walks past us, walking up the stairs. “I’ll see you two love birds later…”

“Uh-huh. See you, Phil.” Once Phil left, Jil stopped hiding and wrote on her notebook.

“What did Phil mean when he called you ‘Mr. Boyfriend?’ He called me your Girlfriend the first time I met him too. Does that mean something?” Crap! That’s right. I hadn’t explained to her what that means yet.

“Uh…how do I put this? I guess the simplest way to explain it is that it’s like how you define a mate in your colony, like a queen with her mate. Only the relationship has a deeper emotional connection to it. They stay together for life, that kind of deal.” I know the way I explained it was oversimplifying it, but trying to explain the finer details of it now would take too damn long.

“Ah, but don’t get the wrong idea. That’s just a lie. It’s easier to tell people we’re in a relationship and living together. Telling someone I found a stranger passed out in a park and taking them to my home would be a lot harder to explain in context, you know?”

After writing her response, Jil turned her face away, but nodded.

“I see. I understand. It’ll cause you some trouble if people think you took me against my will.”

“Exactly! So…just go along with that white lie for now. I don’t expect you to like me that way anyway.” I found it strange that Jil looked away. Maybe she feels awkward with the comparison I made. “Okay. Come on. Shopping time.” With that distraction out of the way, we went to the grocery to do some shopping.

Once we got there, I could feel Jil’s body shaking as the number of people around us overwhelmed her.

“It’s alright, Jil. Just close your eyes if you need to.” It was a bit of a slog pulling Jil along as we went shopping. She’d open her eyes and look whenever I pointed out an ingredient I’d use for tonight’s dinner, but she’d quickly close them as soon as she noticed someone staring. It wouldn’t happen so often if Jil could follow me instead of clinging to me.

After all…

“Aww, how cute.”

“Ugh. Another lovey, dovey couple…” People around us can’t help but be nosey, given how Jil reacts with every person who looks at us.

“Hey, come on, Jil. You gotta watch where you’re walking. Try to open your eyes a little. If it helps, just stare at the ground and watch for people’s feet.” Waiting for Jil’s response, she nods before opening her eyes. She was slow, but Jil was moving. We got the ingredients we needed for the stew bit by bit until we got everything.

“Okay. We have everything we need. Time to head to the register so I can pay for these.” With an affirmative nod, Jil followed closely.

“Hello, sir. Did you find everything alright?” The person manning the register was, oddly enough, another Giant Ant.

“Ah, yes. Thank you.” Taking notice of Jil as the cashier started scanning the items I brought over, I saw her raise her right brow, possibly confused by how Jil was acting.

“She’s your girlfriend, sir?”

“Ah, yeah. She gets nervous around people she hadn’t met before.” Hearing we were talking about her, Jil looked up at the Giant Ant cashier. Taking me by surprise, Jil actually managed to stare at her for a few seconds before looking away.

“Hmm? Relax, I’m taken, girl. I won’t steal your man away from you.” The cashier joked as she gave me my total. As I pay for it, I wonder what prompted Jil to look at the cashier like that? She was able to stare at the cashier. But as soon as the cashier looked back at her, she turned away. Maybe she’s Scopophobic?

“Sorry about her. And thank you.” If that’s the case, it’s probably best to head home sooner rather than later. “Alright, let’s head home, Jil.”

“Hmm!” From how positively Jil hummed, I guess my analysis was correct this time. When we got back to my apartment, Jil was much more relaxed. She immediately took interest in watching me as I started cooking our dinner.

“Hey…Jil. I’m sorry that I’m forcing you to overcome your fear. I just figured it’d be best if you could get over your fear so you could go out on your own. I didn’t mean to push you beyond your comfort zone…”

“Ah…” With a soft gasp, Jil grabs her notebook and writes her response.

“It’s alright. I have to learn to overcome my fear. If I really didn’t want to go, I wouldn’t have agreed in the first place. While it’d be nice if I could go out alone, I’d honestly be content just being able to go with you…” Blushing deeply, Jil couldn’t bring herself to stare after showing me her response.

“Ah…” I didn’t know how to respond to that. With how she worded that…it almost sounds as if…

*Sizzle*

“Ah! The pot’s boiling over!” I was boiling the bone marrow to make the stew’s broth when it started to overboil. I’ll have to think about that later and focus on cooking.

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“Wow, it turned out great, Jil! Your pork chops with mashed potatoes, gravy, and broccoli all taste great!”

“Th-thank you…” Another three months had passed since then. Jil had wholly learned how to understand English verbally. I thought she would’ve learned how to speak it verbally by now, but unlike teaching her how to read and write, teaching her how to say words was still a struggle.

“Next time, you can try your hand grilling steak?” Still, she is making progress. Jil now responds with short sentences. If she needs to talk more thoroughly, she still feels better writing it down than speaking since it’d take her forever. Aside from that, she’s also learning to do other things in the apartment like washing clothes and cooking.

“O-okay…I’ll try…” While eating, I noticed Jil avoiding eye-contact with me. She’s been that way for the past two weeks. Jil wasn’t like this before, so maybe her Scopophobia hits her randomly.

“N-Nicol…” Calling out my name, I jumped just as I was about to eat a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

“Huh? D-did you just call me by my name?” It was the first time I’ve heard Jil say my name. She’d written it before, but this was the first time I had heard her call me my name verbally. I thought she would talk more, but she pulled out her notebook and started writing.

“There’s something important I need to talk to you about…” There it is again. Jil had no problem making eye-contact with me before, but now, she’s hiding her face behind her notebook.

“Sure. We’ll talk after eating.” It was hard to see since she was still hiding her face, but I could tell she nodded from how her antennae moved. The rest of dinner was pretty quiet after that. “I wonder what she’s so serious about. Without noticing it, I rushed to clean the dishes to see what Jil wanted to discuss.

After finishing the dishes, Jil awaited me in the living room. She was already writing something on her notebook. Seeing me sit across from the coffee table, Jil jumps and pulls her notebook close to her. Her cheeks turned red before staring at me as if she was trying to look for something.

“Hey, I’m here. What did you want to talk about?” Flipping over to an empty page on her notebook, she starts writing her response.

“Sorry about that. I have a lot to talk to you about, so I figured it’d be easier to write down things beforehand to save time.”

“I see…” Writing some more, Jil would occasionally stop to fix something before going back at it.

“So, that time when you found me collapsed at the park. You asked me if I was lost and/or abandoned, or part of a colony, right?”

“Yeah…”

“The thing is…you were right about all three things. I belonged to a Giant Ant colony removed from modern civilisation. That’s why I didn’t know how to talk or understand you. That’s not to mention all the foreign things I was introduced to. Street lights, TV, and many, many other things…” I knew it. The only other logical thing that could’ve explained Jil’s behavior when we first met would’ve been amnesia, but that wouldn’t make sense since she seemed more scared than she was confused at her situation.

“I had a feeling that was the case. So…this colony you belonged to. Why haven’t they come to look for you? Or…wait, maybe they might’ve found you if I didn’t take you with me. Oh god, I might’ve just prevented them from finding you!”

“Hiiigh!!” Letting out a panicked squeal, I turn to Jil, who furiously wrote in her notebook.

“No! That’s not it. I swear you didn’t do anything terrible like that. If anything, you saved me.” Jil’s expression took a sudden change. She frowned while writing on her notebook. “I was abandoned…by my appointed mate. And because I’ve never left my colony beforehand, I was lost.”

“Appointed mate? Does that mean…” I only know this because I watched animal documentaries often as a kid, but when an ant leaves with an appointed mate, it means that Jil is…

“You’re a budding Queen Giant Ant?” With a slight blush on her cheeks, Jil nods before continuing.

“You see. Back in my colony, I had a very troublesome condition. I’m not sure how to describe it, but I always freeze up whenever I get close to someone.”

“Yeah, I noticed. You probably have Scopophobia.” Tilting her head, I had a feeling Jil wouldn’t know what that is. “Right. Scopophobia is a condition where someone experiences intense fear when being stared at. That explains why you constantly freeze up when someone looks at you.” Unmoving, Jil stared right into my eyes before shaking her head.

“Huh? You’re saying I’m wrong?” Nodding, Jil writes her response.

“I wouldn’t say I’m scared of people staring at me. What scares me is how a person will judge me. I’m always scared of failing to meet people’s expectations. My mom is the picture of regality, leading our workers to prosperity. Everyone respects and loves her. So, when those same qualities are expected of her daughters, like me, I freeze up. When others in the colony want to talk to me, I can barely bring myself to touch them to communicate with them with our antennae.”

“Okay…so it’s not about having people stare at you. But about communicating with others in general?” Jil’s cheeks turn red in embarrassment before nodding. Based on what she said, Jil doesn’t have Scopophobia. She has Social Phobia.

“As you can imagine, being unable to communicate in a colony that relies on social interactions and communication is a problem. I was more of a burden in my colony since I did little to contribute to it. So my mother assigned me a man to be my mate and asked me to venture out to start a new colony to expand our lineage. Thinking back, I think she did it to get me out of the colony.” Explaining more of her backstory, I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. It’s basically the same as getting disowned.

“The mate I was assigned to, Derrick, as mom called him, was actually nice. But, as we travelled together for about three days, looking for places to make a new nest, Derrick quickly got impatient with me. I’d get nervous whenever he tried to talk to me. And because I didn’t respond to him, he quickly got tired of me and decided to abandon me soon after. Wandering all alone, I wanted to ask for help from others. But putting my lack of ability to speak English at the time, my anxiety made it impossible for me to even get near someone without going into a panic attack. I eventually found the park where I could take shelter for a bit, but I hadn’t eaten anything since I knew it’d be bad just to take food from someone. And I didn’t know how to forage for food either. I was on the brink of starving to death when I met you.”

“I see. You must’ve been through a lot, Jil. I’m sorry to hear that.” I can’t even imagine how scary it must’ve been for her. Imagine being kicked out of your home to a world you barely know anything about. To top it all off, the one person who’s supposed to help you through it leaves you to fend for yourself. Even if she wanted to ask for help, her Social anxiety would get in the way of it.

While writing her next reply, I noticed Jil’s somber expression soften, changing into a smile after she finished.

“But…in a way. I’m kind of glad it all happened. Because if it didn’t I wouldn’t have met you, Nicol.”

“Ah…wh-what do you mean by that? Anybody would’ve come and helped you if they found you before I did.” Shaking her head furiously, Jil’s hands were moving more furiously as she wrote.

“That’s not true. You’re the first person I’ve met who’s had the patience to wait for me. Even when I couldn’t verbally communicate, you stayed behind.”

“That’s right. I’ve been meaning to ask. I know ants communicate with their antenna. How were you able to understand me at the time when you couldn’t speak, let alone read or write English?”

“Exactly the way you described it. Like ants we’re related to, we Giant Ants use our Antenna to understand one another through something close to telepathy. We don’t actually understand what’s being said nor do we ‘talk’. We just ‘feel’ what the person is trying to tell us…”

“Huh? I can’t say I get it. But what’s important is that you understand others using that method.” Nodding, Jil turns her notebook back several pages. She shows me a page she had already written on while hiding her face with it. It must’ve been what she was writing while I was doing the dishes.

“Nicol, I hadn’t had a chance to say this until now, since I wanted to learn how to write English fluently before saying this. But I wanted to give you my sincerest thanks. You saved my life, dealt with my problems, and patiently cared for me.”

“Ah…l-like I said…anyone else would’ve done the same. But…you’re welcome…” Confessing her thanks like this, I’m glad Jil’s hiding her face since I’m probably blushing red by now.

“You didn’t just help me either. You showed me so many wonderful things, fed me so many delicious meals, and gave me a way to communicate with others I could never figure out on my own.” As Jil flips to the next page, her hands start to shake, making it hard to read her notebook.

“Remember a few months ago when I asked you what Phil meant when he called you Mr. Boyfriend and me your Girlfriend? You mentioned it was a convenient white lie so it wouldn’t look strange when you brought me to your apartment.” I could hear Jil humming nervously as her notebook was shaking more vigorously.

“After hearing how you defined it, I felt sad when you said it was a lie. I didn’t know why at first, but after reading what it means to be boyfriend and girlfriend online while you were away on the computer…I started to realize why it was I felt sad…” N-no way…from what I’m reading…does that mean…

“N-nicol…I…” Slowly, I saw Jil putting her notebook down. Jil’s face was as red as a tomato. Fighting through her anxiety, she stared me right in the eyes.

“I…I want…you to be…my boyfriend. I want us…to be mates…for life. I don’t care about being…a queen ant. I just…want to be ‘your’ queen ant…” Not once has Jil’s eyes left mine. Even as tears began to form around them, she kept her gaze fixated on mine, waiting for my response. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the same way, but I didn’t want to be presumptuous.

But now that Jil’s confessed like this, fighting through her social anxiety even to confess verbally. My answer was clear.

“I…I’d like that. Very much! Jil. I want to be yours. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Responding to my answer, Jil quickly used her notebook to cover her face again.

“Ever since I’ve had you in my life, my dull day to day routine turned into something meaningful. I became cleaner and ate healthier meals. I have so much fun having you in my life. And I can’t imagine it without you. So if you’ll have me, then I’m yours.” Taking deep breaths, I got nervous after an embarrassing confession of my own.

*Sniff!*

Suddenly, I heard Jil crying behind her notebook. Seeing tears fall onto the coffee table, she let go of her notebook. While her eyes filled with tears, Jil’s smile was as wide as could be.

“Th-then…let’s do it! Right here, right now…” Suddenly, Jil stretched her arms out and pulled me across the coffee table. Carrying me bridal style with little effort, she tossed me on the bed before she started stripping.

“Ah…w-wait! J-Jil?! Th-th-this is moving…a little too f-fast! Don’t you think?!” Almost as if Jil had a split personality, her demeanor changed completely. The way she stared at me was hella erotic as she climbed on top of the bed.

It’s like I flipped a switch somewhere. Jil’s blue eyes never leave mine before she leans down. Her mere inches from mine.

“Moving…too fast? We’ve known each other for six months. I’d say that’s plenty of…time. Now…as your queen…I have to make sure…I…pass down…descedants…” And with that, Jil leaned down and kissed me.

Just like that, our lovely dovey confession turned into a passionate love-making night.

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