Until the Day I Die

My name is Catherine Aisha Cailloux, and I'm a young Frenchwoman living in the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. I was born in the Camargue region of France, to a French father and Lebanese-Canadian mother. My mother, Elisabeth Abdul-Hamid, often spoke of her life in the Confederation of Canada, where her family moved during the Lebanese Civil War. She came to study in France at the University of Paris in Sorbonne, fell in love with my pops and ended up staying there. My father, Louis Cailloux, is an old-school Frenchman. Man of few words, career military tough guy but a good soul. We visited the City of Montreal in the Quebec region of Canada in 2008, and I fell in love with one of Canada's most beautiful metropolitan areas as a wide-eyed eighteen-year-old. That's why I opted to study at the University of Ottawa for my Master's Degree in Business Administration four years later.

While living in the City of Ottawa, the Capital of Canada, I met a person destined to change my life forever. Antoine Versailles. A big and tall, ruggedly handsome young Black man originally from the City of Montreal, Province of Quebec. He came to study criminology at Carleton University in the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. The first time I laid eyes on Antoine, my heart skipped a beat. He was so gorgeous, and built like an NBA star. At six-foot-one I'm considered fairly tall. I'm very slim, with light bronze skin, curly black hair and pale brown eyes. Yeah, I'm not exactly short but Antoine was something else. Easily six-foot-six by 250 pounds. A sexy guy with light brown skin, curly black hair and light brown eyes. Like me, Antoine was biracial. His father, Jean-Pierre Versailles, came from the City of Cap-Haitien in the island of Haiti and moved to Canada in the early 1980s as a young man. His mother, Lorena Suarez, moved to Canada from the City of Metapan in the Republic of El Salvador. The guy was simply beautiful. Normally, I found Canadians way of speaking French supremely annoying, but I found Antoine's accent charming.

Antoine and I first ran into each other inside the Ottawa University Library. What was he doing there since he went to another school? A lot of Carleton University students take courses at the University of Ottawa and vice versa. I was looking for a particular book, and he had the last copy in hand, ready to check it out. I basically pleaded with him to let me photocopy the pages I would need for my assignment and he was cool with that. He even got my number out of the deal. That's how we met, and a quick coffee date turned into much more. Before I knew it, Antoine had me hooked. The guy wasn't just easy on the eyes. He was smart, sexy, friendly and very generous. And he could charm your pants off. I've never dated a Black man before, but what can I say? Antoine Versailles, the half Haitian, half Hispanic stud took my breath away. I was smitten with him and definitely didn't want to let him go.

Antoine was kind of a celebrity around the City of Ottawa. He excelled both as an academic and as a sportsman at Carleton University. His exploits on the Men's Rugby team were legendary. His father Jean-Pierre Versailles, a McGill University-trained civil engineer, basically runs Hydro Quebec's emerging technologies division. His mother Lorena Suarez is a professor of Mathematics at the University of Montreal. The guy wasn't just sexy as hell and smart as a whip, he came from good stock. Of course, I'm no slouch either. My dad is a Colonel in the French National Army and my mother is a criminal defense lawyer. When I look at Antoine, even though his skin color and his color differ from mine, I see a kindred spirit. When I told my parents, we were dating, I got some surprised reactions. My parents were surprised that I was going out with a Black man. I dated a Japanese guy during my final year of undergrad at the University of Paris in Sorbonne. Before that, I was in a pretty serious relationship with a Lebanese Christian guy named Adam Wahid. I like men of color. I don't go for white guys. Don't like it? Sue me.

I was surprised by my parents reactions. I mean, they told me the story of how unlikely it was that they actually met. My maternal grandparents, Raphael Abdul-Hamid, and Aisha Muhammad, fled the City of Baalbek, Republic of Lebanon, because of religious and social conflicts in their homeland. They came to Canada as refugees. Also, their story was complicated by the fact that my grandmother, Aisha Muhammad, was on the run from her own family because she, a devout Muslim, had fallen in love with a Christian guy and run off with him. My grandmother would convert from Islam to Christianity after coming to Canada to be with the man she loved. Had her family caught up with her, they would have slaughtered her. In the Islamic faith, any man or woman who leaves Islam for another religion must be killed. That's the punishment of The Apostate. My grandparents tale is one of forbidden love. They came to the Confederation of Canada, where my mother Elisabeth Abdul-Hamid was born. The fact that my grandmother risked life and limb to be with my grandfather always inspired my mother to knock down barriers and live life to the fullest. That's why, when she came to study in France and fell in love with a tall, handsome French soldier, she didn't hesitate to follow her heart. And I guess that's why I am here.

My family is very proud of the racial and religious issues they've overcame, on all sides. And yet here my parents were, acting all surprised that I had fallen in love with a young Black man. I told them that Antoine mattered to me a great deal and they'd love him if they gave him a chance. Antoine was a good Christian, a hard-working student, a good athlete, and he's wonderful to me. He worships the ground that I walk on. So what if he's Black? I calmly and quietly told my parents to get over themselves, or they'd lose me. Mom and dad looked at me, surprised by my tone and facial expressions as we communicated through Skype. Sighing, dad nodded and mom flashed me a fake smile which meant "this isn't over". I wished them goodnight, then left.

I rubbed my eyes, feeling flustered. I lay on my bed, wondering what this world was coming to. A moment later, something snapped me out of my reverie. My cell phone was vibrating. It was Antoine. He texted me a picture of himself shirtless in the men's locker room at Carleton University, then asked me if I was ready for our date tonight. We were going to see the movie Expendables 2, and then grab a bite at East Side Mario's restaurant. I smiled and told Antoine everything was cool. It was three in the afternoon, and the movie would start at seven. Plenty of time for me to get ready, and really wow this man I love more than anything in the world. Tonight, I'm going to stop him dead in his tracks. I know he loves me but I can't slack off and let him take me for granted, you know? Got to stay sexy and keep his attention, and his heart.