Hello everyone, I've returned with another chapter. I've been kind of neglecting the other stories because this one's been getting a big reaction, plus it is fun to write this story. But I will return to my other stories, I still like the other stories so I urge you to check them out as well.
So here's Chapter 5: Yumi's Worst Day
Yumi couldn't believe her eyes. She was glued to the spot. Her boyfriend Will was making out with her boss's fiancé.
"Wh-What's going on here?" She choked out. Will stood up and looked at Yumi as if she had a gun pointed right at his head. Which was probably what she would have done if she had one.
"Yumi! What are you doing here?" William said giving a nervous laugh.
Yumi glared at him. "You're cheating on me, and all you can ask is why am I here? What's wrong with you!"
"Yumi,please!"
"No! Shut up! I can't believe I actually fell for your crap. All that talk about loving me and wanting to be with me! I was actually falling for you!" Yumi yelled. She walked towards William and slapped him with all of her might. William looked shocked and ashamed. "Get out." Yumi uttered, her voice filled with loathing and a hidden threat as well. William obeyed. As he approached the door, he took one look at her and exited the room.
This left Yumi alone with Emily. Emily remained on the bed. Yumi took a good look at her and noticed that Emily's shirt was completely unbuttoned. Yumi felt a complete rage enter her body. It was a different kind of rage however. While she felt betrayed by William, she knew that she ultimately felt no love for him. But Emily had betrayed the man that she supposedly wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She was cheating on Ulrich, her fiancé, her best friend, the man that beamed by just hearing her name, the man who considered Emily to be a goddess among women.
"Emily, WHY?" Yumi roared. "Why would you do this to Ulrich! Why would you just cheat on him. Hadn't he given you everything?"
"Yumi, I'm sorry, but," Emily started.
"Sorry?" Yumi laughed. She was crying at this point. "Just what in God's name are you sorry for? And you're saying you're sorry to me? I'm not the one who loves you. I'm not the one who thinks you're the most beautiful person ever. And I'm certainly not the one who you're supposed to be marrying in five months! What will Ulrich think? What will he do when he finds out that the love of his life is cheating on him with one of his employees?"
The threat of Yumi telling everything to Ulrich awoken a side of Emily that she had thought she had buried a long time ago. Emily jumped off of the bed and gave Yumi a most threatening glare. Yumi was a bit surprised that she had this resolve, but she held her ground.
"He won't." she replied.
Yumi tilted her head to the side as she gave Emily a confused look. "What do you mean he won't?"
Emily gave Yumi an arrogant, condescending smirk. "You or anyone else for that matter will not tell Ulrich what's going on. Because if you do I will make sure your life is completely ruined."
Yumi took a step back. The once calm and polite Emily had turned into a demonic monster. "And just how are you going to do that?"
Emily's smile grew wider. "If you tell Ulrich that I cheated on him, I'll just tell him that you're lying and obviously jealous."
"Ulrich will believe me." Yumi said, but even she could hear the doubt in her voice.
"Ulrich wouldn't believe you. I'm his fiance. He's known me for two years. And how long has he known you? What, for like five months?"
"Ulrich will find out the truth!"
"The only way Ulrich would ever find out is him I told him myself. So if you want to keep your precious job, keep your mouth shut! Because if you don't, I'll make sure Ulrich fires you, and I won't stop from there. I'll make sure he puts you're blacklisted, and with the power Ulrich has, won't even be able to work in a fastfood restaurant in Mexico." Emily glared at Yumi.
Yumi was completely freaked out by the drastic change in the girl and by her devious threat. Tears slowly began to fall as Yumi realized there was no hope. "Wh-Why are you doing this?" She sobbed.
"Because I can." Emily stated. "Honestly, I never loved Ulrich. It was always about his money. Sure he's young and handsome, but there's nothing but empty kisses and half-hearted 'I love you's' in that relationship. But I'm not really in love with William either. He just so happened to find out that I was only interested in Ulrich for his money. He blackmailed me in order to keep my mouth shut."
"How long has this been going on?"
"And why should I tell you?" Emily asked. "You can't do anything. And just so you know, when I finally do marry Ulrich, I won't have to persuade Ulrcih to fire you."
"Why not?" Yumi asked.
"Because, Ulrich's going to make me Co-Owner of Stern Co. When that happens, you will work for me as well as Ulrich. All I have to do is make you look incompetent and fire your sorry little butt."
"But Ulrich will still be my boss!"
"But he'll trust my word over yours. Give it up, Ishiyama. Ulrich mine; his money's mine; and soon his business will mine. But I won't fire you. I'll keep you around. You just remember that your fate is in my hands. Keep your mouth shut, and act like you never saw anything." With that, Emily walked out of the room and made sure to knock shoulders with Yumi.
Yumi was completely devastated. She made her into the bathroom that she was looking for in the first place. She closed and looked the door and slid down onto the floor as she burst into tears. She didn't know what to do. Ulrich was now a close friend to her, but she had no way of telling him what was going on withtout making sure that he would absolutely believe her. And if he didn't, not only would he end up marrying a liar, he'd fire her as well.
Yumi walked into Stern Co. with the events of last night replaying in her head. She didn't know what she was going to do, and she couldn't bare see Ulrich let alone speak to him.
"Hello, Ishiyama." Sissi sneered as Yumi made her way to the front desk.
"Not now, Sissi." Yumi mumbled.
"What's wrong, sad because Ulrich's marrying Emily and not you?"
Yumi gave Sissi a cold glare that made the prep girl quake. "Sissi, if you value the way your face looks, you won't tick me off when I'm in such a bad mood. Just do your stupid job and let me in!"
Sissi stared at Yumi. "Are you okay? I-I was just joking, you know." Sissi said, trying to make it sound like an apology.
Yumi sighed. "It's not your fault. I just found out something terrible, but I don't want to talk about it. And certainly not with you."
Sissi smiled, and for a second, Yumi felt that it was genuine. "You can got through, Yumi." Now Yumi was really surprised. Sissi referred to her by her first name. Why was Sissi being so nice to her?
Yumi spent most of the morning working undisturbed until Ulrich finally came out of his office around lunch break.
"Hey, Yumes!" he greeted. "Sorry I have spoken to you 'til now, but I've had a major breakthrough on the novel I'm writing."
"I-It's okay." Yumi said as kept her focus on the computer monitor in front of her.
"Hey, Yumi, as I'm sure you already know, my birthday's next month."
"Actually I didn't know that." Yumi said.
Ulrich gasped. "For shame, Yumi! How could you not know the day your boss was born. It's only the most important date you will ever need to know! Even more important than your birthday!"
Yumi smiled as she turned to look at Ulrich. "Well honestly, I wish you had never been born."
Ulrich pretened to look hurt. "Because I know you don't have a heart, I'm going to let that one slide. You can still make this up to me, Yumi."
"How?" Yumi asked.
"My parents throw me a birthday party every year, and if you come, I might forgive you." Ulrich explained.
"Any excuse to party in a billion-dollar mansion is a great excuse to come in my book."
Ulrich rolled his eyes. "You can invite Sam and Aelita too. But they probably will be there thanks to Odd and Jeremie."
"I figured."
At that moment, Emily walked in. Yumi frowned and went back to her computer work. Ulrich greeted Emily with a kiss.
"Hey, Ulrich, did you tell Yumi about our agreement?" Emily said as she smirked at Yumi.
"Oh, I'll tell her now." Ulrich said.
"Tell me what?" Yumi asked nonchalantly. She already knew what he was going to say and wasn't too happy to hear it again.
"Since Emily's pretty good at running a business, I'm going to make her co-owner of Stern Co." Ulrich said excitedly.
"Oh really." Yumi said, faking the surprise.
"Yep. That means that you'll be her secretary as well as mine."
"So how long until then?"
"She'll be co-owner the week after we're married."
"Well I'll have to make sure I cherish these days of just having one boss." Yumi said, smirking at Emily. Emily never said she couldn't keep being sarcastic . . . even though she was actually being honest.
Ulrich took it as her being sarcastic and laughed. "Don't worry; I'm sure Emily will be a great boss."
"Of course I will. It's not like I'm going to fire you for any little thing." Emily said. Ulrich laughed, but Yumi could hear the threat in Emily's words. "Just think. In five months we'll be husband and wife." Emily cooed.
Now she was just being irritating. Yumi frowned as she looked at the couple smooch. It tore her heart to see Ulrich swoon over this traitorous hypocrite.
As the weeks went by, Yumi was getting more and more agitated by Emily's presence. She never thought she could hate a human being so much, but Emily was surprisingly good at pushing her buttons. Why couldn't she just leave her alone? She hadn't told Ulrich anything! So why was this witch so adamant on making Yumi feel stabbing emotional pains from seeing her with Ulrich? This girl was twisted. She was sadistic.
The affair and Ulrich's time with Emily was starting to get to Yumi. She couldn't sleep, and she didn't have much of an appetite. She was getting irritable and mad at anything. And this didn't go unnoticed.
"How come I'm always the one to clean up after you two!" Yumi screamed at Aelita and Sam. She came home again to find the house "dirty." The only thing to clean were a couple of dishes in the sink.
"What're you talking about, Yumes, you're more of a pig than us." Sam retorted.
"That's because I have an actual job to think about." Yumi fired back.
"I work too." Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"As if your job pays anything. I don't even have to live here, but I do because you two are just hopeless!"
"Yumi, why are you being so mean?" Aelita asked.
"I'm not mean. I'm just surrounded by a bunch of lazy, incompetent pigs."
"What is wrong with you?" Sam yelled. "You've been acting like there's something stuck up your butt all week!"
"Maybe it's your attitude!"
"Well if you have a problem with my attitude then why don't you just get out!"
"Maybe I will. I'd love it if I could stay the heck away from you two morons!" Yumi slammed the front door of the apartment and went for a walk.
Aelita and Sam stared at the door. "What do you think is going on with Yumi?" Aelita asked.
Sam sighed. "I dunno."
"You shouldn't have yelled at her like that."
"You're right. But she shouldn't have insulted us for no reason either."
"I just hope that whatever's bothering Yumi goes away." Aelita said.
Before Yumi knew it, it was Ulrich's birthday party. Yumi had already apologized to Sam and Aelita and told them that everything was fine. But Yumi's nightmare was about to spiral out of control. The trio entered the mansion and saw Odd vacuuming food at the buffet table as Jeremie and Ulrich sat at a table near Odd and watched in utter disgust.
"Hey, Ulrich, nice pad!" Sam said. "Oh, and happy birthday!"
"Thanks! Nice to see you too." The six of them began talking and joking as they enjoyed themselves at the party. Yumi was actually having a good time until Emily decided to interrupt.
"Ulrich, Happy Birthday!" she squealed as she captured the brunette in a kiss. Yumi looked away in disgust. This didn't go unnoticed by Sam and Aelita. Emily greeted the others, shaking their hands, but she made sure to hug Yumi who stiffened under the woman's cold embrace.
"Ulrich can you believe that we'll be married in four months?" Emily exclaimed.
"I know. I can't wait for us to be together forever. You all are invited by the way." Ulrich said to the others.
"Good, that means more food." Odd stated.
"You'll come, right, Yumi?" Ulrich asked.
Yumi gave Ulrich an uneasy smile. "I don't know, I think I have something planned then."
"You got plans four months from now? You're a very busy girl." Ulrich said joking.
"Yumi you must come!" Emily said as she grapsed her hand. "I insist!" Yumi snatched her hand away from Emily's grasp.
"I guess I could come." Yumi mumbled.
"Are you alright, Yumi?" Ulrich asked. "You seem a bit preoccupied."
Yumi glanced at Emily who gave her a threatening glare. "I . . . I'm fine."
"Hey, Yumi, why don't you introduce Aelita and me to some of your coworkers?" Sam said as she grabbed Yumi's arm and dragged her away from the others with Aelita bringing up the rear. Sam then led Yumi into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.
"Okay, Yumi, what's going on between you and Ulrich?" Sam asked.
Yumi looked between Aelita and Sam. They were both giving her disapproving looks. "What do you mean?"
"You're obviously jealous of Emily." Aelita remarked. "We saw the way you looked after she kissed Ulrich."
"Wait, you think I like Ulrich?" Yumi asked. She started laughing. "Trust me, that's not it at all."
"Oh come on!" Sam said. "You don't seem to like Emily. You're always frowning we talk about her, and you never seem happy when she's around. Did something happen between you two? Or did something happen between you and Ulrich?"
"Nothing happened!" Yumi insisted.
"Then what's wrong?" Aelita asked. "And don't tell us that it's nothing. You've been acting strange ever since Theo's party."
Yumi gave up. She couldn't hold it in any longer. "I'll tell you. But you can't tell anyone!" Yumi stressed. Aelita and Sam nodded in agreement. Remember how I went to the bathroom during the party? Well I actually went into the wrong room. I walked in on William and Emily. They were on a bed, and it was getting really serious to say the least. I confronted them, but Emily said that Ulrich would never believe me if I told Ulrich what I saw. She said she would make sure he'd fire me if I did." Yumi was sobbing. "I've had to put up with her two-faced act while she treats Ulrich like complete dirt. I can't even tell him that he's about to marry a complete and utter witch!"
Aelita and Sam were stunned. "That's it. She's dead." Sam said as she stood up.
"What are you going to do?" Yumi asked.
"I'm going to kill her, what else would I do?" Sam asked.
"Sam, as much as I would like to help you in that endeavor—and I'm sure Yumi would LOVE to finish her off—I don't think murdering Emily will make things better." Aelita reasoned.
"Well we can't just let her get away with this!" Sam said.
"I know, but we have to make sure that Ulrich will have no choice but to believe us when we tell him what his "precious" Emily's been up to." Yumi said.
"Fine. But if we don't find anything by the time of the wedding, we kill her in cold blood." Sam said.
"So it's settled. We expose her or kill or her." Aelita confirmed. Yumi looked at the two of them incredulously.
"Since when did being psycho killers become so popular?" Yumi asked.
"Oh you know you want to kill her too." Sam said. "And when we do break her and Ulrich up, we'll kill William as well. Then you and Ulrich and be together."
"I'm with you on killing William, but no on being with Ulrich." Yumi said.
After they returned to the party, Yumi felt a little more secure around Emily. But as the couple went off to dance, she decided to walk around and take in the sights of the beautiful party room. She then bumped into William. She hadn't told anyone except for Sam and Aelita about William cheating on her. Emily made it clear that William needed a "girlfriend" in order to throw suspicion off of her and William being together. Plus Ulrich would probably fire William if he found out that he was cheating on Yumi even if he didn't know who it was with. Though Yumi understood her first reason, she didn't see Ulrich doing anything like firing someone over her. But in order to keep her job, she kept silent.
"Yumi." William started, but said girl cut him off.
"William, just because I'm pretending to go out with you, doesn't mean I have to be around you with other people."
"Well technically you do. No one's going to believe we're together if we're not actually together." William insisted as he grabbed her hand. "Now dance with me."
Not having much choice and not wanting to make a scene, Yumi acquiesced. She glared at William as they danced to the music. "Tell me something. Why are you willing to go so far to cheat with Emily?"
William smirked. "She's gorgeous. She's the boss's girl. It's exciting. Plus, I plan on getting a nice promotion after they get married and she's co-owner. Sleeping with her is just something to keep me preoccupied while I wait for my bigger prize."
"You are so sick!" Yumi scowled.
"As if you're any different."
"I'm not the one blackmailing and cheating, now am I?"
"No, but you're not doing anything. You're just letting it happened. Why? Just so you can keep your job. You're just as selfish as I am. You might not be using it to your advantage, but you are benefiting from it by keeping your job. And if you play nice, Emily might give you a promotion or a pay raise too."
"Emily can keep her promotions and pay raises and shove it up her whorish—"
"Now Yumi, let's keep it clean." William cooed as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "The fact of the matter is that you, Emily, and I are all getting something out of this. The only one that's getting hurt is Ulrich. But that's only if someone tells him what's going on."
Yumi was about to deliver a few choice words to William when Ulrich's parents announced that it was time for Ulrich to blow out the candles. Afterwards, the guests asked Ulrich to give a small speech.
Ulrich blushed. "I'd like to thank everyone for coming out for my birthday party. I kind of feel like a little kid, so it's kind of embarrassing, but if a party is what will make my parents happy; then they'll get it. They have a knack for making me do things I don't want. I'm especially happy because this is my last birthday as a single man. As you all know, I'm about to marry the most wonderful woman in the world. Next to my mother, that is." Everyone laughed. "Just four more months and we'll be happily married. She's the only one for me. I'd also like to thank one more person. My secretary, Yumi Ishiyama. She's a close friend of mine." Yumi looked up at Ulrich who was smiling at her. "She's made running Stern Co. such a breeze. I'm glad that I can trust her. She's also the person that nagged me the most about proposing to Emily, so I thank you for encouraging me to do that . . ." Ulrich began wrapping up his speech, but Yumi had already checked out.
She felt so terrible. Ulrich trusted her, yet she was allowing two other people use him like a small puppet. William was right; she was nothing but a hypocrite. She was no worse than Emily or William. She had been lying to Ulrich and all of her friends for the past months. She was just as good of an actor as the other two. She easily acted as if nothing was going on when there was absolute pure evil and deceit going on. She didn't know when she started, but she was crying now. The tears poured from her eyes. She couldn't take it anymore. She stood up unnoticed by the other guests and walked out of the party room and into the kitchen.
She knelt by the counter and cried her eyes out. She then felt two masculine arms pull her into a hug. She already knew who it was, and it only made her cry harder. "Ulrich, what are you doing here?"
"My friend is crying, and you ask why I'm here?"
"Go back to your party, I'm just being weird." Yumi said as she waved him off.
Ulrich frowned. "Yumi are weird, but I'm weird too, so I know that something's actually bothering you." Ulrich pulled Yumi up from the floor. "Now tell me what's wrong." Yumi was about to tell him everything, but she could see Emily behind him.
"It's William."
"What about William?" Ulrich asked.
"He's been cheating on me." Yumi said. It wasn't really a lie, but it wasn't all of the truth as well.
"And you came here, knowing that he'd be here?" Ulrich asked.
"I wanted to come for your party. I didn't want you to worry."
"Screw my birthday! Someone's been hurting you! My party's the least of my concerns. Don't worry, I'll handle William." Ulrich said as he stormed out of the room. Yumi was shocked. She had never seen Ulrich that mad before.
Emily walked towards Yumi. "Why did you tell him that?" she barked.
"It was either that, or you cheating on him." Yumi spat. "Be glad I didn't tell who."
"Telling him that William cheated is like telling him I was the one who he was cheating with! Ulrich's going to fire William, and then he's going to tell Ulrich about me! And don't think you're going to be safe! You kept this away from him so he'll never trust you again. You'll still get fired! You idiot!"
"Wait, I'll tell Ulrich not to fire William!"
"And how are you going to do that?"
"Don't worry, I'll work something out." Yumi said. She ran towards Ulrich who was about to address William.
"Wait! Ulrich, stop!" she said as she grabbed his arm.
"What is it?" Ulrich asked.
"You're not going to fire him, are you?"
"Of course I am! He deserves it. He's proven that I can't trust him!"
"He may be unfaithful, but he's still a good businessman. You need him. Besides, it's between me and William. Our relationship has nothing to do with this."
"But I can't have your productivity thrown off because he's around. This will disrupt valuable work time. So it's either you or him."
"I can handle it, Ulrich. Trust me, I wasn't in love with him. I was just shocked and hurt that he would do something like that."
"Why don't you want me to fire him?" Ulrich asked.
"Because, William may be a jerk, but we need his innovation. His ideas can and have helped us get the deals you needed with Britain when it came to expanding. If you want to keep this up, you have to keep him around. Forget about me, I will be okay. Just don't make this turn into something bigger than needs to be!" Yumi pleaded.
"Okay. I won't fire him, I'm sure as heck going to demote him. " Ulrich stated.
"And you have time to do that Monday. Don't ruin the party with this." Yumi added.
Ulrich smiled. "You know, you're one of the most altruistic people I've ever met." Yumi felt undeserving of such a compliment. "I'm lucky I have such a considerate secretary. You'll cause yourself harm if you keep putting the business and myself before you." That statement cut deep. Yumi was manipulating Ulrich just like Emily was and just like William was with Emily. She was no better than them. She could feel the tears coming again. She gave Ulrich a weak smile and left. She was at her lowest point. This was without a doubt the worst day of Yumi's life.
Yumi walked into Stern Co. and handed her ID to Sissi for her scan. Sissi scanned it, but didn't return it to her yet. She studied Yumi for a second, started to speak, and then decided against it.
"What?" Yumi asked.
"It's nothing." Sissi said.
"No, you want to ask me something. What is it?" Yumi asked.
Sissi looked at her and then gave it a go. "You know about Emily and William don't you?"
Yeah, I am so evil. I'm ending it here now. So until next time. Review!
