Inktober 2026 - 14 - Lady

“Hey! Lady!”

She turned around slowly at the call, only to see a man she didn’t know trotting to catch up with her, waving and smiling.

“‘Lady’? Is that what catcalling has come to, these days? Full circle?” she responded once he was within earshot.

The stranger stopped in front of her, and put his hands on his hips.

“First of all, that was NOT a catcall. Second of all, I’ve put a lot of thought into this wording, so I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed that it doesn’t seem to have landed quite right.”

“You have, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. I considered ‘Miss’ or ‘Ma’am’, but I wouldn’t want you to see me as a kid.”

“Obviously,” she confirmed, nodding in amusement.

“Obviously. There was also ‘girl’ in the running, but then I wouldn’t have just sounded childish but delinquent as well. ‘Woman’ would have made me rightfully come off as a Neanderthal, ‘Person’ is simply retarded, and I felt like ‘Hey! You!’ would have been entirely too personal. As of forgoing any formal interpellation altogether, I would have just felt impolite.”

She had kept nodding throughout his enumeration, the shadow of a smile at the corner of her lips.

“You have indeed thought about this for a while. How long have you been staring at me for, exactly?” she asked.

He lifted his hands up, palms forward, as a preemptive proclamation of innocence:

“Not long, I swear. But I confess I see you often; you walk past my workshop window pretty much every day at around the same time. I’ve come to look forward to it, and today I thought it was about time I let you know.”

“Very bold,” she commented.

“Thank you! I thought so myself. So… did I blow it? Do I even have a shot, or is there already someone in your life?”

“There’s plenty of people in my life, just not a romantic partner, if that’s what you are implying.”

“It absolutely is,” he confirmed with a giant smile.

He had actually been smiling widely this entire time. His whole demeanour was completely non-threatening, and his approach was quite charming and refreshing. However, she knew better than to let a pretty face and nice words win her over.

“Well, I am a firm believer than men shouldn’t be chastised for trying, but I also think it shouldn’t be easy either.”

“See? I was right to go with ‘Lady’. Tough but fair. Very ladylike.”

“I’m no Lady.”

“Famous words by every true Lady ever.”

“And many notorious actually non-Ladies, I’m sure.”

“Nevertheless, the door to ladyship remains open to you despite your claim.”

She chuckled, and he had to refrain from looking too victorious.

“You are persistent, I’ll give you that.”

“What are my trials, then, to gain your favour?”

She started nodding again, contemplating her options. He was sweet, and pretty brave, coming up to her like this in the street. But did she even have any idea herself how she wished to be wooed?