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Lenne studied the three-dimensional projection of her boyfriend's face for a few more seconds before extending one slim finger around the side of her handheld computer to press the white "off" button. Shuyin's image vanished in an instant—his worried eyes, his mouth twisted by frustration—all gone. In his message, he had only spoken three simple words: "Meet me here."
The young woman was perfectly aware of where 'here' was. The message was from—she checked quickly, by turning the palm-sized device on again—two hours before. Shuyin would already have gotten a notice that she had watched his email and would immediately grow impatient for her arrival. That meant Lenne didn't have much time.
Oh, God, why had she slept for so long?
The woman rolled off her bed and headed from her bedroom into the small shower room next to the closet. There she washed quickly before sitting in front of the mirror. She combed her long brown hair while two robotic arms emerged on either side of her head and began blowing warm, fast air to dry it. This task was completed quickly and the arms retreated back into the wall. Lenne pulled her hair into a loose ponytail at the middle of the back of her head and secured it with a fat blue ribbon.
Back in her small, oval-shaped bedroom, she collected the clothes she would wear. There were shimmering blue-black jeans and a baby blue sweater, as well as thick white socks and a pair of thin white gloves. At the front door she pulled on black pleather boots and checked her appearance in the mirror, pulling down some strands of hair to cover her face a little. She didn't want to be recognized, didn't want the special meeting spot to be ruined like so many of the others had.
"Lenne, where you are running off to so fast? You slept enough?"
She looked to the right side of the door and found her balding uncle entering from the living room, pushing his rectangular glasses up his nose.
"Yes, I'm perfectly rested now. And I'm meeting Shuyin," she added apologetically, clutching her hands together before her chest and bowing her head.
"Don't you have a concert tonight?"
"I won't be long." In her mind, she was pleading to be let go. Shuyin would already be waiting, whistling aimlessly to himself, glaring up at the ceiling in impatience…
"I don't want another angry phone call from your manager," the man said, turning around to head back to his research.
"Thank you, Uncle!" Lenne lifted her head at last, and then bowed at her waist toward his retreating form. She grabbed her jacket and went running out the door, careful not to slam it behind her. Her feet flew down the three flights of stairs—a performer's legs were fully capable of avoiding elevators—and almost leapt into the breezy afternoon.
The warm autumn sun felt good, but it served as a reminder to the celebrity. She reached into her jacket pocket and retrieved a pair of thin sunglasses, which she promptly slipped on. Keeping her head bent so that the loose hair would cover her face, Lenne walked briskly through the throngs of people, most talking rapidly into the small microphones of their headsets, some clasping their hands over their ears and shouting, "I can't hear you! I can't hear you!" They would turn the small dials on their wristbands to increase the volume of the speakers tucked inside their ears.
Lenne was glad that everyone seemed so distracted. No one could not stop her and request an autograph if he did not recognize her. Still, the constant excitement was enough to make her feel a little dizzy. All the talking, chatting, talking, buzzing, beeping… Was there ever a time, perhaps very long ago, when people walked slowly and talked to one another face-to-face? When people were content not to be so tied to those who were large distances away?
Those days must have been buried in the very ancient past, she realized, looking around at the multitasking masses of her age. Lenne sighed and moved on, venturing farther down the street through all the one-sided conversations.
It took her fifteen minutes to reach the place, a spiraling crystal tower of an apartment building rising in protest of gravity, and another five to reach the second basement of it. There she found Shuyin pacing back and forth in the dimness of the small, hidden room he had rented.
Lenne went to the table by the couch and rid herself of her shoes, gloves, and jacket, placing the shoes on the floor and stacking the other items by the light.
The blond man saw her and was immediately upon her, sweeping her up into his huge, muscular arms. He kissed her neck even before issuing a greeting. "Where were you?"
"I had to get ready," she explained, blushing in the dimness. Why did his caresses feel so good? Why was the sound of his voice enough to make her heart beat wildly within her chest? They had been together two years and yet each meeting brought renewed passion—perhaps because these meetings grew fewer and farther in between and much more rushed?
It was all she could do to push him away. "I just woke up when I got your message."
"You never sleep that long," he said, caressing the side of her face with the back of a folded hand.
She sat close to him on his modest brown couch, tucked safely under the shelter of his muscular arm. She removed her sunglasses and placed them on the coffee table in front of them. "I got to bed pretty late."
"Where were you, Lenne? You weren't in any classes Friday either…"
"I told you." She tried to put laughter into her words, tried to make it all sound like nothing. It was silly he should worry like this, right? He had no cause for concern, did he? "I went to see my parents."
Lenne hated doing this, hated hiding the truth from him yet again. She would always tell as much of it as possible. Sometimes she would burst, exploding with a plethora of unimportant tidbits from her life—just for the sake of telling him something.
"How were they?"
Good. He was starting to sound disinterested.
"They were well."
"Did you have a good time?" He was more interested in playing with her hair now, concentrated on touching any exposed skin—her neck, face, hands. The blond man bent and began to kiss her again with earnest, pulling back her sweater to taste her shoulder.
Lenne began to breathe heavily, unable to control herself. This was the first time in two weeks they had had some privacy, and her boyfriend was certainly making the most of it. All right. If he was distracted, then he wouldn't ask her more about why she had disappeared, why she had just slept for more than a day…
"I missed you so much," Shuyin said in his soft, deep voice. "I was so worried when you wouldn't answer my messages…"
She looked into his eyes with earnest. "You always worry about me, Shuyin. You should worry about yourself more."
"I'm nothing without you, Lenne, you know that. I wouldn't care about living if it weren't for you—"
"Shuyin."
"It's the truth. Why can't I tell you what I feel? How much I need you…" He was taking off her sweater now, folding it loosely and setting it to the side. He ran his fingers along her back, pulling her close and then letting her go to look at her with admiration and desire.
Lenne lowered her eyes, her pale cheeks filling with color. "I feel the same way about you, Shuyin… I need you more than anything… But I can't validate your existence for you! Don't you know you're important?"
He mumbled into her chest, his lips already busy traveling down from her collarbone. Lenne ran her fingers through his blond hair, leaning backward so he was almost on top of her. He rose so that he did tower over her and he kissed her lips greedily with an unrestrained passion.
All the while Lenne was torn between thinking of the pleasure of their reunion and the secret pain buried within her. She knew well how strongly Shuyin felt, but it wasn't right for him to place no value in himself. He was everything to her too—her studies, her music, everything paled in comparison to him…
She reached up and unbuttoned Shuyin's shirt now, occasionally pulling her face from his lips in order to suck in much-needed breaths. It was quiet in the hidden basement apartment, but there was a sort of music in the pulsing of Shuyin's heart beating beneath her palm as she touched his chest, in the hot steam of his breaths upon her naked skin.
"I love you, Lenne," he told her and began to repeat the phrase over and over. Their bodies grew hotter as they were pressed against each other.
They would reach a certain line and draw back before crossing it. Lenne had decided early on against that ultimate sacrifice of virtue. Shuyin had never complained. He obeyed her wishes wordlessly, taking her only as far as she wanted. They could express their physical love without taking a certain step, and for two years that had been enough.
Shuyin reached over to click off the light. He rolled to one side and brought her body on top of his own. They were done now, content to rest in each other's arms after the shared passion. Shuyin arranged his shirt over Lenne's bare torso and the young woman sighed contentedly, nestling the side of her face into the soft but firm flesh of his shoulder.
"I could fall asleep," she said dreamily.
"Why not? We can stay here forever."
"I have a concert tonight."
She could hear him sigh with disappointment. Then he was touching her again, drawing one finger up and down the back of her right arm.
She murmured her appreciation, tensing and relaxing as his stroke make her tingle with excitement and pleasure. "Shuyin…"
They touched lips for a brief moment, pressing mouth upon mouth. She took her arms and wrapped them around her neck. His hands went for her waist and the two people froze in this intimate pose, rubbing cheek against cheek and stroking face and torso.
It was nice in the dark. For a small moment, it was only the two of them; the rest of the world didn't exist. Even time slowed just enough for them to properly enjoy it.
Then the clock glowing green on the wall above them began to click the seconds by at its normal pace.
"I did miss you in class. I wouldn't be going to that university if it wasn't for our plan to spend more time together."
"Shuyin, you know I'm busy." She tried to scold him, but found herself being apologetic instead. "I already made up the classes online…"
"It's not the same without watching Professor Watanabe's nostrils flare up as he lectures—"
"Shuyin!" She struck him playfully.
"What? It's not."
Lenne giggled. "Oh, aren't we a little old for this?"
"Twenty isn't old at all. People live to be a hundred and twenty these days."
"So you think you have an excuse to be immature?"
"Sure I do."
It was fun to be silly with him. The world was such a dreadfully serious place with all the wars and the outbreaks of disease. Japan was one of the few places left resembling a nation. The other great powers had fallen. Chaos ruled.
That's why Lenne had reconsidered the boundaries for their relationship. She would like to be married first, yes, but what point would there be in the act? She was emotionally bound to him already. Did she really wish to start a family now? How cruel would it be to raise children in a world on the brink of destruction?
"Hey, what's the matter?"
Even in the dark he was quick to sense a change in her mood.
"I was just thinking about the world."
"Ah."
"Did you hear? Another thousand people died in that attack in London…"
"You can't always think about things like that, Lenne. It's the world's fault for destroying itself."
"What about all the children who died, Shuyin? They didn't do anything to deserve such an early death." She began to despair. One billion people had been killed in the wars of the past twenty years alone—during her lifetime!
"I wish there was a way to get rid of the adults causing all these deaths and leave the children to rebuild the world…"
"Hmm?"
"But there isn't. Humans are corrupt. They are killing themselves for the sake of their own greed. Soon we'll all be gone…that'll teach 'em," he added bitterly.
Lenne rolled off of her lover and stood, her stocking feet in the brown carpet invisible in the darkness. She pulled her arms through the sleeves of his short-sleeved collared shirt and fastened a pair of the middle buttons. Behind her, Shuyin clicked on the light and room took on a dim quality. Her eyes adjusted and she began to pace around, quivering quietly to herself.
"Sorry," Shuyin said dismally from the couch. He sat there with his head down.
She had made him angry with himself, so she hurried to his side and rested her hands on his shoulders. He put his hands on her waist again and buried his face in her stomach.
"I know that's how you feel. It just makes me depressed to think our world will be gone, that everyone will die…"
"You won't die. I won't let it happen."
The determination in his voice startled her. Even for Shuyin he sounded serious. Lenne knelt on the floor beside his legs, resting her elbows on his knee and looking up at him.
"I'll never let you die, Lenne."
She had no words with which to respond. It was ridiculous. If the world was destroyed, how could they hope to survive?
No. The end of them would be the end of Earth, and they would die along with the other nine billion on their planet.
"We all have to die sometime, Shuyin. I only care about being with you."
"I'll save you."
She dropped her gaze.
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