"Oh Yumi! Yumi! I know we aren't the best of friends but I must tell you the awful news, Ulrich he was in a crash and well he has died!" Sissy burst into tears and ran off to her room leaving a heart-broken Yumi alone.
Yumi's life seemed to evolve around Ulrich. Her college grades didn't meet anybody's expectancy so in order to pay for her education fees she had to work night shifts at her local bar. She hated the job in many ways.
She hated the pick-up lines she would get from old drunken men.
She hated that her shifts caused her to have to re-arrange dates with Ulrich.
She hated everything about the job especially the minimum pay that they gave her.
On many occasions she had had to ring Ulrich to come and spend time with her at her flat because of her ever present depression. She knew that Ulrich hated seeing her like this but when he had offered to give her money, she had refused. She didn't want to use Ulrich's father's money. When she had met up with Ulrich's parents, they hadn't made it hidden that they didn't like her. It was obvious that they thought her a street tramp.
Life was hard for Yumi. Her parents had disowned her when she had turned 16 saying that she had turned into a slag that would bring shame upon the family.
The gang had also said that Yumi had changed for the worse. Only Ulrich had stuck beside her.
She still remembered the night when her parents chucked her out on the streets with her bags. Yumi had crawled with her bags to Kadic and had gone to Odd and Ulrich's room only to find them arguing about her. When Odd had seen her: her hair wet from the pouring rain; her face stained with make-up running; her lips smooched with red lipstick and her short and skimpy clothes a mess from the mud and dirt on the ground, he had gave Ulrich an ultimatum: her or the gang?
He had chosen Yumi. The gang had disowned Ulrich and Yumi. But Ulrich didn't seem to care. He just stayed by Yumi at all times. Yumi had had to start living in a hostel but refused Ulrich's offer of him joining her. He did stay the occasional night though but Yumi wouldn't deny him the chance of a warm bed even if it was shared by a cold person who now hated Yumi and Ulrich.
Life now didn't seem worth living now that the only person who believed in her, loved and cared for her was dead...