Dear Yumi,
I'm writing this letter in hopes that you'll finally understand how I feel about you. You are the single greatest thing that's ever happened to me. I'll never forget the day I saw you, you looked so fierce and beautiful. You took my breath away. Odd kept asking me if I was okay, because I was so frozen in place and silent, because I was just taking in your beauty. From that point on, I made it my goal to say something to you everyday, and soon enough we became best friends, literally so inseparable. It was amazing, I had a reason to wake up everyday, I loved every moment I spent with you. And soon enough those moments became fewer and fewer, you slowly drifted away from me, and you slowly got closer to William. Yumi, the moment you told me you couldn't speak to me anymore broke my heart, and I have a feeling it wasn't totally your idea to ignore me. I've been noticing how you and William act together, and you look frightened, you look like a ghost. I've never known Yumi Ishiyama, this strong and fierce girl, to be afraid of anyone. I know something is going on, whether he's hurting you or blackmailing you or whatever it may be, I know something's wrong. And goddammit Yumi, I'm going to help you. I can't stand to see the only girl I've ever loved act this way. We had a future planned together Yumi, and there's no way you'd just throw me to the curb like that. If you still have any sort of feelings for me, and you want my help with your situation, please meet me at our favorite coffee shop, you know the one. I'll be there at 6pm with your favorite drink, an Iced Mocha, (yes, I still remember.) I really hope to see you there Yumes, I really miss you and I still really love you.
Yours Truly,
Ulrich.
Yumi handed Aelita the letter, while she continued to pace around her room.
"Aelita, what do I do?" Yumi cried.
Aelita was still scanning the letter, "Yumi, what does Ulrich mean by saying you look frightened to be around William? What's going on?"
"N-nothing Aelita. It's nothing."
"Yumi, I know you better than that. What's he doing to you?"
Yumi couldn't even answer, she just lifted her sleeves to show dark bruises. All Aelita could do was gasp, she couldn't believe anyone would hurt her best friend.
Yumi saw Aelita's face and just collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Why me, Aelita? Why is he hurting me? What did I do?"
"Oh Yumi, you did nothing wrong. It's something wrong with him. Usually men beat their girlfriends because they have anger issues or some sort of issue with themselves."
"What should I do, Aelita? It's not just these, there's more…on my legs, and back…"
"Yumi, you need to go see Ulrich, he can help.."
"But Aelita, if William finds out…he'll hurt me again, he might even kill me…you don't know what he's capable of…"
"Oh, Yumi. I know Ulrich will help you, he loves you more than anything. He'll do whatever it takes to protect you."
Yumi tried to compose herself, "Okay, Aelita..I'll go meet Ulrich."
Aelita checked the time, it was 4:45pm.
"You've only got about an hour to get ready, what are you gonna wear?"
"You mean I can't just wear what I'm wearing now?" Yumi asked her, puzzled.
"I mean, you can, but don't you wanna dress up a bit? You haven't formally been out with Ulrich in almost 3 years Yumi."
"You're right Aelita, but if I wear anything dressy or remotely cute, he'll be able to see the bruises…most of my nicer clothes are short-sleeved, or shorter dresses."
"I'm sure we can find you something that will cover those and something that's still cute!" Aelita exclaims while going to browse my closet.
Aelita spends about 5 or so minutes rummaging through my closet when she finally emerges with two items, black skinny jeans, which is a staple item of mine, and a black lacey long sleeve top.
"Here! Try these on!" She exclaims, grinning.
I take the items from her and go to the bathroom to change. As I'm changing I start to get nervous and second guess my decision to go. What if it's a joke? What if he won't love me because I let William do this to me, I wasn't strong enough to fight back. Tears start to form in my eyes and I just look at myself in the full-length mirror, all the bruises covering my once porcelain colored body. I was so lost in my own thoughts I didn't notice Aelita come in until I heard her say my name.
"Yumi…" she began, "Oh my gosh.."
I couldn't even bring myself to look at her, "I know Aelita, I know…it's awful."
"If Ulrich doesn't kick Williams ass, I will. I may lose, but I'll try my hardest."
I slightly smiled at Aelita, then I turned to finish getting dressed.
Once I was done I turned to her, "So, how do I look?" I asked, slightly nervous.
"You look amazing Yumi. Absolutely stunning." She said, as she smiled at me.
"You think Ulrich will like it?" I asked her, looking down.
"Of course Yumi," She reassured me.
I checked the time on my phone, "5:20pm" is what it read.
"Well Aelita, I better get going. I don't wanna be late."
"When you get done let me know how it went, I can't wait to know," She said grinning at me.
"Are you sure I'm making the right decision? What if William comes after me, what if he finds out I'm with Ulrich? He told me he'd kill me if I was ever with Ulrich again.."
"Yumi, it'll be okay. I promise. You know Ulrich and I would never let that happen. Now that I know about this whole situation I can try to do something, and once you tell Ulrich, you know he'll do something about it. He won't let him continue to hurt you." Aelita said, gently brushing my arms, to reassure me.
"You're right Aelita. Thank you so much, for everything."
"I'll see you later Yumi," Aelita said as she made her way to the front door.
Once she was gone, I went to gather my purse and my keys and headed for my favorite coffee shop to meet the love of my life.
