Seeing as I got so many reviews, I'm updating soon. Keep this up, and I might do it again. I have Spring Break next week after all, so I'll have time.
So here's Chapter 16: Healing Hearts
Yumi rushed down the hall and didn't stop until she right in front of Mr. and Mrs. Stern. They were standing outside of Ulrich's operating room. Aelita, Sam, Jeremie, and Odd were also there.
"What . . . what happened?" Yumi asked, panting. She glanced at the gloomy faces.
Mr. Stern stood up from his seat and spoke. "Like I said on the phone, Ulrich was shot. He was shot by William Dunbar."
Yumi gasped as stood up. "Why the heck would he shoot Ulrich?" she screamed.
"Apparently Ulrich was shot in the meeting room of Stern Co. Tower."
"He shot him during the meeting that was supposed to be going on this afternoon?" Yumi asked. Mr. Stern nodded. "But Ulrich told me that meeting was canceled!" Yumi's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Mr. Stern seemed a bit astonished by that news. "Well it wasn't canceled. The meeting happened. Everyone was there except for you. That's what the other workers said. The meeting had gone underway, and right in the middle of the meeting, William stood up and declared that Ulrich had ruined his life. He took out a pistol and shot Ulrich in the chest. The doctors said the bullet lodged itself near Ulrich's heart. If it had've been an inch closer, Ulrich would be dead right now."
Yumi's heart skipped a beat at the thought of Ulrich being dead. It took everything for her just to keep breathing. "Is he . . . is he going to be . . ." Yumi couldn't even finish. Her chest tightened, and she collapsed onto the floor. Ulrich couldn't be dead. Yumi couldn't bear the thought. She had been so cruel to him the past couple of weeks. She regretted everything. She felt as if she pulled the trigger herself.
"The doctors don't know if he'll make it. It's too soon." Mr. Stern replied. He sighed. "Yumi, there's something that you must know."
"What?" Yumi said quickly.
"After William shot Ulrich, he ran out of the building and into his car. The police apprehended him as he was going down 1st Telfair Street . . . Don't you live about a couple of blocks from there?" Yumi nodded. Mr. Stern hung his head. "I thought so. I remember Ulrich telling me that. From what the police and I gather, William was headed for your apartment. We believe he was coming to kill you. He said he wasn't through when he was finally arrested, so we're pretty sure he was after you."
Yumi didn't even bother to stop the tears that freely flowed from her eyes. She was shaking. "Ulrich saved me . . . didn't he? He knew William was coming for me . . . S-so he lied about . . . the meeting. He saved me." Yumi sobbed. Aelita and the others gathered around her as they tried to console her.
"That's what we think also. And hearing that he told you that the meeting was canceled confirms that." Mr. Stern said.
"But why didn't he do anything about William?" Yumi asked.
"The police investigated William's house. The reason William wanted you and Ulrich dead is because he blames you two for ruining his life. He was the man who was having an affair with Emily as you know. Emily was pregnant . . . She had a miscarriage. She became depressed and she took her own life. The police found Emily on the ground with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand. The police suspect that it tipped William over the edge. He lost his child, his love, and his job. Everything that he had was gone. He wanted revenge." Mr. Stern was remaining firm the entire time for his wife's sake. But even the tall frame of this man was weakening as he retold Yumi the details that led to his son's possible demise. "Ulrich had heard about the miscarriage. It happened about a week ago. Ulrich received a text from Emily earlier today. The text said that she was sorry for what she did, and that she still loved him. She said she was going to end her life and wished him a-a happy life . . . Ulrich knew William wasn't going to sit around. He must have sent you a text afterwards . . . Maybe he didn't think William would do something in front of the other board members . . .Maybe he was just being cautious with you, but Ulrich was sh-shot. He was shot in cold blood. My son might be dead! All because of some crazy deranged sociopath!" Mr. Stern voice cracked, and a tear slid down his cheek. The hard exterior was broken.
At that time, a male surgeon stepped out of the room. "We finished operating." He announced. "We were able to remove the bullet and repair as much damage as we could."
"Is my son going to be okay?" Mrs. Stern asked. The surgeon simply stared at her.
"I honestly can't say. All we can do is pray now. We've done everything we could. His life is in God's hands now." The surgeon clenched his jaw in empathy for the grieving mother and returned to the operating room.
Yumi walked over to the bench that Mrs. Stern was sitting on and sat next to her. She grabbed the woman's hand and gave it an assuring squeeze. They both bowed their heads in solemn prayer as did the others.
After the prayer session, Yumi approached her friends. "Sam. Aelita." She addressed them. She didn't know where to begin. She had lied to them both and had possibly destroyed their friendship. "I'm sorry I lied to you. It's just that you two were constantly getting on my case about Zander. I just didn't want to deal with it. I know I shouldn't have lied, but Zander makes me feel like I have someone in the world. I just . . . I want to be loved."
"Yumi." Sam said as she put her hand on Yumi's shoulder. "We know. Everybody wants that. It's just that we don't think Zander's the right person for you. And I know you think otherwise, but we only say so because of what's happened before. Maybe we really should give him a chance, but let's be serious here. We're talking about a guy that almost got me arrested. Do you really think I'm just going to forgive him right on the spot?"
"I'd be glad if you stopped planning his death." Yumi said nonchalantly.
"Exactly! It's me we're talking about. I'm just as stubborn as you and twice as hot-headed. It's just not in me. But that's an excuse really. But what I know is that I don't want to lose you as a friend. You could've been killed today. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I just need to trust you to make the right decision."
"Well what about you, Aelita?" Yumi asked.
"The reason I don't condone you and Zander is because I don't see the love between you two." This statement hit Yumi right in her gut.
"You don't think we're in love?"
"No. I don't." Aelita said bluntly. "Now I know it's not my place to go judging other couples, but I don't even see true affection or attraction between you two. And I'm not trying to funny when I say this but, there's more love between you and Ulrich than there is between you and Zander. Yumi, I want you to be happy. But more importantly, I want you to be the happiest you'll be in the long run. Zander will make you happy now, but he can't give you a happily ever after. I'm not even saying Ulrich can. But I know that sometimes it's best to be alone and sad now if it means that you'll eventually find the person who can give you everlasting love and happiness."
This proved to be quite the eye opener to Yumi. Did she really love Zander? Or did she just love the fact that he took away her loneliness even if it were just for the here and now?
"Aelita, you're getting married in four months' time. How do you know Jeremie's the one. How do you know that you're so in love with him?"
"I know because I don't question it." Since when was Aelita was so good at speaking about such serious matters? "The only way you know you're in love is when you can't imagine life without that person. When stop asking yourself if it is love because you have complete faith that it is. When you instantly disagree with anyone that says otherwise. The fact that you're still questioning whether you love Zander or not is proof that you haven't fallen in love yet."
Yumi staid quiet for a minute. "He asked me to marry him." Yumi said.
"He what?" Sam exclaimed. "That id—please tell me you said n—I mean . . . what did you say?" Sam asked trying to be nice and supportive.
"I didn't say anything. I was caught off guard. Plus, I didn't have time to answer. That's when I got the call that Ulrich was hurt."
"Are you going to say yes?" Odd asked, interjecting in the trio's talk.
"I dunno." She said.
"It's as simple as Aelita said it is." Jeremie said. "You can't marry someone that you're not in love with. So first you have to ask yourself. Are you in love?" Yumi remained silent for some time.
"I can't imagine life without him there? Does it hurt to be apart from him? Do I look forward to seeing him and being with him? Do I love him? Guys . . . I am in love. I know I am." The others smiled—even Sam managed to put a grinning grimace on her face.
"Everyone." The surgeon said, gaining everyone's attention. "Ulrich's stable, and the worst is over. He should be okay, but he's could go any second. If you want, you can go see him now. But only two at a time. Being amongst friends could definitely help him at this time." At that, Mr. and Mrs. Stern stood up and immediately went to go see there son.
The gang gave each other a group hug. "Ulrich needs us now." Jeremie said. "So let's put all our differences aside and be there for him." After a couple of minutes, Mr. and Mrs. Stern came out. Mr. Stern had his arm around his wife whose crying had finally subsided.
"He's as peaceful as ever." She said. "We're going back home to get a few things, and then we'll stay here for a while."
"Take care you all." Mr. Stern said as he and his wife left. The gang said their goodbyes to them.
"Yumi, do you wanna go in first?" Odd asked.
"By myself?" Yumi asked.
"Yeah, you're closer to him than any of us. He'd want you all to himself." Odd teased.
"If it's alright with you guys." Yumi said.
"Course it is! I'm just hoping that there's some off chance you were talking about being in love with Ulrich." Sam joked. Yumi rolled her eyes and entered Ulrich's room.
Ulrich was lying in his bed, hooked up to several different beeping machines. Yumi slowly approached his bed. She knelt down and took his hand. Mrs. Stern was right. He seemed so peaceful. It was hard to believe that he could relapse into heart failure at any second. Yumi could feel her tears threaten to come back.
"Ulrich. Thank you for saving my life." Yumi whispered. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to end things the way we did. So you have to get better. I wanna be your friend again. I wanna laugh and joke with you. Let's have fun together. Besides, I don't think I can handle you dying—especially after you saved my life." Yumi felt a tear streak down her face. Yumi carefully placed her head over Ulrich's chest. She could hear his heard beat. It was so calming. This was how she knew that he was still living and fighting for his life.
"You're gonna be okay. You have to be. I'll kill you if you die." Yumi said, laughing a bit at her empty threat. So stay alive so I can thank you probably." Yumi said. She kissed Ulrich's temple and left his room. Yumi felt much more at peace afterwards. She smiled at the others.
"He'll be fine. I know it." She said to them. They smiled at her.
Yumi arrived at work not knowing what to expect. When she arrived at her office, Sissi was there."
"Sissi. Where were you last night? Didn't you hear what happened to Ulrich?" Yumi asked. With all that happened last night. The one thing that constantly bothered Yumi was where in the world was Sissi?
"I know what happened." Sissi said. "I got the call." Sissi said. She was pale. "I know I should go see him, but I couldn't bear seeing Ulrich like that. I don't know if I can bring myself to see him. I couldn't go right away anyways. I'm his personal lawyer. I had to attend to all of the legal matters dealing with William's attempted manslaughter which could easily become murder."
"It's probably harder for you because he's been your friend since childhood. But I found solace seeing him there. Go see him. Right now. You're not going to feel bad about yourself until you do."
"Okay. But promise me you'll keep everything going smoothly. With Ulrich in the hospital, his duties lie on you now."
"I've been meaning to ask, why isn't there like a second in command? You know. Like a Vice President over the entire company.
"I dunno. My father said that Mr. Stern handled everything all the time. Whenever he fell really ill, his wife handled everything. She was the secretary too you know. So everyone's just used to going to the secretary for things whenever the boss is not around."
"Well, I guess I have some big shoes to fill in."
"Size 11. And with your tiny Asian feet, you've got quite the task. Glad I'm not in your shoes." Sissi smirked.
"Shut up, girl." Yumi said. Sissi was right though. Yumi staid quite busy the entire week. She didn't even have a minute to herself. She was constantly working. Signing this, closing a deal, setting a meeting, approving that, start this project, ending that project. Ulrich did this so calmly. How in the heck could you do this calmly! And he still had time to jab in a few insults to her, whether they were spiteful or playful.
By the time her lunch break rolled by, Yumi was exhausted. She had been multi-tasking like crazy. She realized that she would probably have to skip lunch altogether if she wanted to be on top with work. She was in the midst of approving the ads for the a new video game when someone knocked on the door. Not waiting, the person came in, revealing to be Zander.
"Hey, I thought I'd take you out for lunch." He said as he walked over to her and gave her a peck on the cheek.
"Hey, Zander." Yumi said, not lifting her head to see him. "I don't think I could make it for lunch. I've got work to do."
"Well that never stopped you before."
"Yeah, but I wasn't doing the work of two people."
"Oh, you have to do Ulrich's work as well." Zander said. "So . . . how's he doing?" he asked.
"He could go under any second as of late." Yumi finally looked up. "He was shot in the chest. The bullet was near his heart, and it's causing him massive cardio damage."
"Man." Zander exclaimed. "Right near the heart. Well it's not like he's used to getting hurt there." He smirked. "He's been shot down by girl after girl, and his heart managed to get back from that. His heart should be used to it."
Yumi grimaced. That really wasn't all that funny to her. The man was dying! "You better hope he doesn't die because that's just cruel, Zander." She said, warning him to shut up.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I heard it was William who shot him. Is that true." Yumi nodded. "Must've been over Emily. See I told you. Girls give Ulrich heart problems." He joked.
"He won't be the only one hurt by a girl." Yumi threatened.
"Hey! Why so serious?"
"I don't know. People get really tense when their best friend's in the hospital and could die any second."
"But you gotta joke about these things, Yumi. You can't let them get to you."
"You're right about that. But I know you. You hate Ulrich. You never pass up a chance to take a jab at him."
"Just for the record, he was shot, not jabbed in the heart."
"You see? That's what I'm talking about. He's dying! But you don't care. Even if he does die, I bet you'll just make a whole joke about it. But it's not a joke to you is it? It's an insult. I thought you would at least be decent enough not to kick a man when he's down."
Zander frowned. "You're right. It's just that Ulrich and I never really seen eye to eye." Zander snorted. "Or heart to heart."
"Get out." Yumi said in a low voice. Zander barely heard her.
"Huh?"
"I said get out." Yumi was boring a whole into the ad. She was shaking in anger. "You may not like Ulrich. But he's my friend. I don't want to die. If you can't spare him for his sake, spare him for mine."
"I'm sorry. Here's some money for lunch. You need to eat something. I'll call you tonight." Zander said. "Bye." Yumi ignored him. Zander frowned and left.
After three days of work and exhaustion, Ulrich had finally gone through the worst of it, and the doctors were glad to say that he would make a full recovery. Yumi received quite the surprise as she entered Ulrich's hospital room to see him awake. She had been visiting him every day since the incident.
"Ulrich! You're alive!" she exclaimed.
"Is that all you can say." Ulrich said weakly. He smiled at her as she came over to his bed. His parents were sitting next to his bed.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Stern."
"Hello, Yumi. It's good to see you again." Mrs. Stern said. "You know, Ulrich. Yumi's been here to see you every day."
"Guess I've been rude then. You're not supposed to sleep when guests visit you." Ulrich joked.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Yumi asked.
"I'll be fine. Dad told me you've been keeping the company in check."
"I've been doing the best I can, but we all need you."
"I'll be back before you know it."
"She's done a tremendous job." Mr. Stern said. "Sales went up actually. Maybe you should get hurt more often." playfully hit her husband on the arm.
"It's okay, Mom. Remember how sales doubled when you took over when Dad was very sick?"
"Touché." Mr. Stern remarked.
"Doubled? Wow, I guess I know what I have to shoot for now."
"Aim for the heart!" Mr. Stern said.
"Tobias!" Mrs. Stern said. She tried to sound angry, but you could hear her laughter. "I'll aim for your heart if don't stop."
"You better be careful, Dad. Mom's a better shot than William."
"Ah, that's alright. Take me out." Mr. Stern dared.
"I'll take you out when there aren't any witnesses around." Mrs. Stern said.
"Well find then. Let's go home where no one can hear me scream, and we'll see if I see tomorrow."
"Put his eyes out." Yumi joked.
"That's a good idea, Yumi. I'll have to do that." Mrs. Stern said as she clapped her hands.
"Well before these two women plan my murder, I'll just leave." Mr. Stern said, standing up. With that, the married couple left Yumi and Ulrich by their lonesome.
Ulrich motioned for Yumi to take a seat. She obliged. "Ulrich, I've been meaning to tell you something. I know about how you tried to save me from William. Thank you. I would've been hurt or worse if it wasn't for you."
"You don't have to thank me. You're still my friend. I didn't want you get hurt."
"Why didn't you just call off the meeting?" Yumi asked.
"William lives closer to you. There was nothing stopping his anger. So I just let him come to the meeting. I figured we wouldn't try anything with the others there but I was clearly wrong. I thought I misjudged women, but man, that mistake almost cost me my life." Ulrich said laughing but then quickly moaning. "It hurts to laugh." He commented. This made Yumi laugh herself.
"I didn't think about that. You really had me in your thoughts."
"Of course. A boss must care for his employees. A man must protect the ones he loves."
"You sound like a fortune cookie."
"My dad used to say that a lot. He's fortune cookie himself."
"I'm really sorry about acting so mean to you before."
"As am I. But it's done with now. Let's move on."
"So how long will you be in the hospital?"
"About two weeks. Then I go home to my parents where someone can keep an eye on me." Ulrich grumbled.
"Hey, you're lucky to be alive. It'll go by."
"I'm not lucky." Ulrich said. "I've gone through worse. My heart has been hardened by the many times women have stabbed me in the back and shot me down." Yumi burst out laughing at this. Ulrich frowned. "That really hurts, Yumes."
"I'm sorry. Zander said something along those lines earlier this week. But it wasn't really funny when he said. You were still on the brink of life and death."
"I don't like that. I have the same sense of humor as Zander? Ugh!"
"Stop." Yumi said. "You know when to joke. He doesn't. You don't make jokes out of spite. He does. He hates you. Why is that?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but it might be along the lines that he wants what I have."
Yumi gave him a peculiar look that clearly said, "Explain yourself."
"What I mean is that whenever I did something, he'd try to do it better. Whatever I wanted, he'd want more. Whatever I got, he wanted to get something better. To him, everything's a competition between him and me. We have identical backgrounds. We come from very prominent families; our fathers were successful billion dollar businessmen. Women want us for our money and good lucks." Ulrich put on a confident smile. Yumi rolled her eyes. "Basically, we have so much in common, everyone has always made a big deal as to who is better. This has been going since we were kids. Who got the better grades? Who got picked first when playing sports? Who made the captain of the soccer team? Whose team won against the other? Who got a job first? Who makes more money? Who got a car first? Who has a better car? Who's dated the most girls? Who got dumped or cheated on the most girls (he obviously won both of the last questions)? Who's stronger? Who went to the better college? Who went for a better major? Who came out higher in their class rank? Who inherited their dad's business first? Who's managed the business well?" Yumi was amazed. People were constantly pitting them against each other.
"My father's never pushed me to do something I couldn't do. But he believes I can do anything so he only pushes me to do my best at whatever I want to do. Zander's father wants Zander to be the best at everything. Zander's fathers thrives on perfection. So when the media started comparing Zander and I, his dad expected him to come out on top every time. At first, he was. But it was too much. In the end, I've been coming out on top, and Zander can't stand it because his father berates him for it. It's not just that. Zander I used to be friends. We were rivals and competed all the time, but we always hung out. But Zander's a very competitive and ambitious person. He gets it from his dad, I guess. So eventually, it was more about what he wanted. He would do whatever it took to be better than me. He's cheated on tests before, but who hasn't? But he's paid teachers to ace him through classes, and he's paid coaches to give him the captain spots on teams. He had his father give a huge endorsement to Princeton in order to get accepted. He wanted to do everything in his power—good or bad—in order to beat me. It was friendly completion to me. But to him, beating me is his hobby, his job, his passion, and his life."
Yumi was stunned. She had always known that Zander was rich. But she didn't really care about that when she met him in high school. Zander was rebellious and said whatever he wanted to say. Yumi did too. They were considered to be the two loners of high school. It made sense to everyone that they should date. And they did. But was dating Yumi simply some way of Zander trying to beat Ulrich. She couldn't see it. But Zander was definitely competitive. He had to win at everything . . . He did try his hardest to be the top sports player and the top student. At the time, Yumi was the top student . . . but she was Valedictorian of her class. Zander was. Yumi started arguing with Sam and Aelita, and she lost concentration on her grades. Fooling around with Zander lost her precious study time. But surely Zander didn't go out with Yumi just for that to happen. And Yumi was still acing her classes even then. Come to think of it, Yumi had did have the top grades when they graduated! The only reason she didn't walk as #1 was because . . . It hit her like a ton of bricks. Maybe Zander did use her . . .
"Ulrich, do you think he's using me now?" Ulrich studied her face.
"I think he is. It's a combination of that and the fact that I really do think that he has feelings for you." This was news to Yumi. "I don't know if he loves you. But he's definitely attracted to you. You're an awesome secretary. I think he thinks that you could help him reclaim his lost business empire."
"Yeah, but who bought his business. He's lost it to you."
"But he's over his business. I just run it through him. He could manage to buy it back and then buy my business if he made the right moves. But that would be incredibly hard. But I don't really think that's all of it. You dated him before, right?" Yumi nodded. "I honestly don't think he likes the idea of you being my friend or my employee. He likes to own things—especially people. I dated an ex of his once. It was all horrible actually. I had a crush on her for the longest. But then she went out with Zander. I was crushed, but then she dumped him. I asked her out, and we dated for two months. It ended after she cheated on me with Zander. She left me for him. But then he turned around and dumped her. And to make matters worse, he left her for one of my other exes. It's hard to hear. I didn't want to tell you this because I didn't know if it would sound credible. I wanted you to just believe me when I said he was bad news. But I know you should give people the benefit of the doubt. I did with you after all."
"So do you think he's the same?"
"It's hard to say. I haven't really been paying that close attention to him. He might be. But you'd know better than anyone." Ulrich said.
Yumi looked at the floor. "He asked me to marry him." Yumi could hear Ulrich hold his breath.
"D-did you accept?"
"I didn't respond. I got the call about you being shot right afterwards. I haven't really had time to discuss it or think about it."
"Are you going to marry him?"
"I don't know anymore. I'm hearing all of this stuff about him for the first time. It's making me dizzy."
"Do you love him?" Ulrich asked earnestly.
"I'm in love, Ulrich. It's just a feeling right now. But I don't think I can say with all certainty. Not until I talk to him again."
"Will leave me? And the others." Ulrich asked, adding the last part quickly.
"You mean for the job?"
"Yes."
"I don't know about that either. I can't leave now. I won't. Not until you're at least able to run the business yourself. But after that, I'll be free." They both sat in silence. "I better go. Visiting hours are almost up." Yumi said. Ulrich grabbed her hand as if he wanted her to stay. Yumi looked at him, expecting him to say something. Ulrich squeezed her hand and let her go. He gave her a smile.
"I'm not so sad that I have to stay here or home now. I'll take my time healing. So you'll have all the time you need to think this stuff over." Ulrich said.
"Take all the time you need. Because I need all the time I can get to ponder." Yumi said, returning him a smile of her own.
I'm done! For now. Whew! That was long. I actually added the conversation between Yumi and Ulrich at the last minute. That's actually changed the way the story was supposed to got, but only by a little bit. If anything, it's made the results more plausible and in my opinion, it's enriched the plot. The next chapter might be just as long, maybe even longer. We're reaching the conclusion of this part of the story. But I assure you, after this is over, we still have more to cover. Now review, and if I feel satisfied by what I get, I MIGHT review later on this week or at least by next week.
The next chapter is titled: Reading Between the Lines
