Q's Relationship
Note: The interview was conducted on Zoom. The passage uses first-person voice from Q. Direct quotes indicate the conversation between me and Q except for the final scene, which records the dialogue between Q and the girlfriend.
My partner, my girlfriend, my fiancée [lifting his head], is an MBA Scholar at L. She’s taking a gap year from this program, and is currently a second year law student. I’m currently working in a startup doing energy building optimization—I graduated from V in 2021 with a math and history major, and from L in environment management this year. So I’m the highest-degree person for a couple of months in the household.
“It feels like a hiring interview.”
“You seem to be professional. Bruh, let’s move on.”
We met each other at V, technically. It was in 2018, a history class. There were 3 Asian guys, two Chinese, one Korean American. She was busy recruiting, and I was a sophomore. In 2019 we became more familiar with each other. We hung out with each other, and I wanted to push us together. She was busy recruiting in all 3 years of her college—“if I get admitted by Goldman Sachs, I’ll say yes.”
“She said yes.”
I have been waiting for one to two days. Goldman Sachs did not respond, but she responded. She got into Goldman Sachs Superday [1], but not Goldman Sachs.
For the first three months, it was more like a friendship. We were good friends who were trying to get into a relationship. After a few months [pause], on our first anniversary, I realized that “this is a person I can go along with for a lifetime.” Nothing monumental happened. We knew each other better, and there were more alignments than disagreements between us.
I can’t imagine myself being single forever. Sorry, I am that kind of person. If I can find the right person earlier, it is much better to find a wrong person later. It is a right person who becomes the right person. At first she said she could be single forever. She is busy with work. If she didn’t meet me, she would be single much longer, she said.
She had never tried to get into a relationship. I am not her first love, though. Both of her exes became gay. One was married. I’m straight. No identity crisis at all.
“You also mentioned you are the highEST-degree person (for now)?”
“Ah, haha, yes, let me show you our cat. There’s another one.”
We were long distance during the pandemic, from March to December 2020. In June or July 2021, we had a cat. A month later we got another. A year later, we became long distance again. I lived in New Haven, and she was in California. I was quite used to not seeing a person, but this was challenging for her. She was anxious about getting separated, about getting into a lifestyle she was not used to.
"That’s not something either of us would think of, not open relationships. After class I just go home. We don’t have time to develop romantic relationships with new people."
I flew a lot. I flew to her school every two to four weeks. Once or twice a month. My classmates said I was an exchange student from her university to mine. I often heard them saying “long time no see.” For every single break, they knew where I would go.
The cats were our companions. I like cats. I like them when we are living together, and she needs them during our long distance relationship. If there’s anything special that makes her think I’m different, it is perhaps mental support. We really spend time together. It’s a sense of belonging. It’s like a family. We do something together.
This past summer, I had a family issue in S city, something about my grandparent. I need to go back to China; she was busy with her work. Everything was pushed forward. We had a compressed schedule, and it got even more compressed. She was still not adapted to long distance. But I am in the States right now. We are in California.
Actually, I think I like working more than she does. I can’t live without work. I’d say she’s doing something she likes, but not something she really likes. She is doing better in legal practices than in finance. She likes visual arts. Remember that history class? She was the only A in that class. She is more humanity-minded.
This year, we went back to our undergraduate university—we got engaged. We planned the ceremony. I like people who are driven and organized, and she’s that kind of person. Am I attracted to people who have stories? Yes. But I like her, not her stories. I showed her the rings in the hotel room, as I don’t want to make it too special; we don’t want to make it too special.
“Okay. So what would be the ending of your story? Your relationship doesn’t seem to bear an end, but the story may need one.”
***
She (the girlfriend) just woke up from a nap, walking towards the screen.
“You are so noisy.”
“She always blames me for being noisy.”
He turned around the chair, looking at her.
“I’m so tired.”
“Hey, what’s the ending of our story?” He asked.
He turned back to the screen and looked at me.
[1] Superday is the final step of the interview process in Investment Banking.