Apparently William had decided that the best course of action was to show up the following morning. He sat in the routine table; it was pushed into a corner with a singular window to the left. Yumi caught sight of him before she came in, stopped, and proceeded with caution. Feigning not having seen him, she chatted up the waitress from the day before. The waitress was smiling as if nothing in the world could possibly go wrong, while humming a song underneath her breath. She poured Yumi's coffee with expertise, dropping each lump of sugar into the cup with grace. Yumi reasoned that she could very well be a dancer.

"I see Mr Grumpy is back," she giggled as she pointedly looked William's way. Yumi refused to follow along and shrugged noncommittally. "I think I like your other boyfriend better. He's nicer and he always leaves me a nice tip."

"He's not my boyfriend," Yumi clarified. The waitress shrugged before smiling again. "Does that mean he's up for grabs?"

"I guess," Yumi said slowly. The scent of freshly brewed coffee wafted into her nostrils and intoxicated her. "Hmm," she said contently. "I think I'll take this to go."

"Yumi," William's voice was pronounced in the silence of the bakery. It was authoritative and arrogant, much like the person who it belonged to. "Sit with me."

Yumi hadn't expected him to go down on his knees and beg for forgiveness. William was too vain to do so, and he had an annoying habit of thinking that all of his thoughts and actions were correct and supremely right. God forbid you might go against him, that was clearly a sign that you were crazy. Yumi was having some trouble remembering exactly why she was dating him. No, wait, that was wrong. She knew exactly why she was dating him. William was the sort of guy that would drive her parents out of their minds; the very opposite of what they wanted for her. He was bossy, narrow minded, vain, and highly impulsive. Dating him was just another way to defy her parents.

"I don't think so," Yumi's voice was cold.

"Please," William grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry, I've been a jerk. Let me make it up to you."

The waitress was paying close attention to the scene before her. Yumi could feel her gaze boring into her back. William was manipulating the situaton; he knew she hated drawing attention to herself, especially in public places. The thought of someone manipulating her, or attempting to, made Yumi's blood simmer. Drawing back her expression, it was priority to appear calm and composed, Yumi followed William to their routine table. She was gripping the styrofoam cup so tightly she was afraid her nails might break through. The hot coffee warmed her hands but not her heart; it felt like ice.

The whole thing made Yumi feel a little sick. She wasn't even angry at William -- it was more at herself and her inability to move forward. A thousand miles away and her parents still had their hands tight around her neck.

William slid into the seat opposite hers and she followed.

"I'm sorry," William repeated. He scratched his the back of his head self consciously and dug his hands into his pocket. Yumi guarded her expression a little more; he was putting on quite the act. William wanted to come across as the good guy so she could feel guilty and give into falling under his control. Obviously, Yumi's eyes narrowed a bit, he had no idea who she was. If she cared about him she might correct his misconception. But she didn't, so instead, Yumi sat back and sipped her coffee as the same apology, in different words, tumbled ceaselessly out of his mouth.

Fortunately, William's cell phone rang and cut off his melodramatic, insufferable speech. A high pitched, whiny voice blared out of the speaker. William pressed the phone a little to his ear as to mute the sound but it was to no avail. Apparently, whichever girl -- because it was a girl, there was no doubt about that -- was on the other end of the line was not pleased. William tried to placate her but failed -- the girl's screams could be heard across the room.

"I'm sorry," William said. Something in Yumi's heart caught when he looked her in the eye. He was lying to her, straight to her face! Yumi swallowed her disgust with another gulp of coffee. A moment later William added, "It's my sister."

Which was funny, particularly because one of the things William had clarified shortly after they starting seeing each other was that his parents spoiled him because he was an only child. You don't care about him, Yumi reminded herself. It didn't matter. It still hurt.

Yumi stood up, clutching the styrofoam cup so tightly that creases were forming and her fingers were white from the lack of circulation.

"I"m going," Yumi said dismissively. Her tone was cool. William didn't even bother to look up, he was too engrossed in his phone conversation. The only inclination he gave that he had heard her was the raise of a hand. Yumi whipped around so quickly she felt her neck cramp. She was dangerously close to losing her temper.

The jingle of the bell as she closed the door behind her didn't register in her mind. The steady crunch of snow beneath her boots seemed a million miles away. All Yumi could hear was her blood pounding in her ears. Which, in retrospect, would have explained why she didn't see Ulrich standing in front of her. She knocked into him quite hard, and tumbled into the ground gracelessly.

Yumi swore as Ulrich offered his hand and helped her up. Upon closer inspection, he looked out of breath. Yumi spotted his car, parked less than three yards away, running. The key was still in the ignition, the door slightly ajar.

"You're an idiot," Yumi snapped and then relented when she heard the trickle of anger that had leaked into her voice. It wasn't Ulrich's fault that William was such an asshole. "You shouldn't leave your car open like that," she amended.

Ulrich was still catching his breath and couldn't reply. Yumi's mouth curved into a half smile, "You ran all this way to see me?"

Ulrich's expression was halfway torn between trying to look nonchalant and cheerful.

"Would it make me any less charming if I said yes?"

"Maybe," Yumi laughed. "But who said you were charming in the first place?"

"Ouch," Ulrich placed his hand over his heart in mock pain. "That was cruel."

Yumi grinned, "I know."

"Shouldn't you be getting to school?"

Yumi checked her wrist but belatedly realized that she no longer wore a watch. "Right," she said.

"Do you want a ride," Ulrich offered.

"Of course not," Yumi said matter of factly. "I'm just standing here in below freezing temperatures to dazzle the passing pedestrians with my beauty."

"You're being sarcastic, aren't you?"

"Yes, Einstein," Yumi laughed. It sounded hallowed out. She realized she was laughing at herself. If she didn't stop soon she could very well start crying or launch into hysterics. Yumi couldn't decided which would be worse.

William was waiting for her when class ended. He looked deeply troubled. Which meant he was probably thinking about his hair.

"Listen," his voice indicated that he had been thinking about what to say for a while. "I've been really stressed lately. I've been running back and forth between record labels and they're all booked because of some stupid kid MTV is importing from overseas."

Yumi could care less. William went on. "I'm doing this for us," he dramatized. "If I get signed then I promise I'll spend all the time you want with you."

Yumi was confused. She couldn't understand why William was putting so much effort into pleasing her when he could easily just get another girl, an airhead, who would be with him regardless of what he did. Could it be because he knew she didn't care about him? Was it that William needed someone as detached as he was? Yumi rationalized that William wanted someone who could impress a crowed of people if she were ever in public and simultaneously not criticize or question his actions.

Eyeing him warily, Yumi slid into the passenger seat of his car. He closed the door and made his way to the other side. William took her getting into his car as a sign of forgiveness and that troubled, oh so depressed, please pity me look was wiped off his face almost instataneously. He really was quite good at manipulation. It was unfortunate for him that she was better.

Halfway to her house, William started talking again much to Yumi's dismay. "Don't worry babe," his said in his over confident voice. "Once I get signed you won't have to worry about anything. All you'll have to do is look pretty while they photograph us."

"Excuse me," Yumi said. If there was something she hated in this world was to be perceived as incompetent just because she was a girl. Her father had been a strong believer in that women should be demure, brainless, and always compliant. It seemed William was expressing the same thought.

"I mean," William went on, oblivious to Yumi's tense posture. "I don't know why you even bother going to school. I mean, there are more than enough nurses in the world."

"I'm studying to become a doctor," Yumi snapped.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I don't see any reason why you should waste your time. I mean, you're hot and you can just find a guy who will buy you everything you need."

Yumi's mouth was hanging open. William took it as a sign of shock due to excitement. He grinned, "Yeah, I'll take care of you. You won't have to worry about a single --"

In mid street, Yumi unlocked the door. William stopped the car abruptly. Yumi grabbed her bag and stormed out of the car.

"Yumi," William called. "What are you doing?"

Yumi was trying to focus on breathing in and out, in and out, in and out --

"Yumi, get back in here!"

He was following her with his car. Yumi gave him the finger.

This seemed to convince him to desist because his car disappeared from her peripheral vision minutes later. Twenty minutes later, frozen to death and angrier than she had been in a while, Yumi marched into her apartment.

It was five thirty nine. Yumi threw her bag on the floor, uncaring of what might happen to the contents. She fell into her bed and buried her face into her pillow. Her scream was comfortingly muffled against the fabric.

No one believed in her. Her father didn't believe in her because she was a woman, her mother didn't believe in her because she wasn't traditional, William didn't believe in her because he thought she was incompetent -- God must have been laughing at her.

When Yumi woke up it was half past eleven and her mouth felt very dry. She had fallen asleep and had a very nasty dream about going to pick up her diploma only to be told that she hadn't graduated at all. Instead of a diploma, the receptionist had given her a white, nondescript piece of paper with the word FAILURE stamped across in angry red.

She needed to talk to someone. Her parents were out of the question and so was William. She didn't really know anyone else in the city. That left one person. Yumi swore to herself. Her life really was the epitome of irony.

Ulrich didn't ask questions. He opened the door, saw her, and let her in. Then he started making coffee. It was hard not to like him.

He was half asleep so he probably thought this was a dream, or depending on how he felt about girls showing up in the early hours of the morning, a nightmare. Yumi suddenly realized that the only reason why he came to the bakery was because of her. She had only been teasing earlier, but with an espresso machine in his own house why would he go anywhere else? Yumi didn't feel flattered, just a little cornered. That may have just been the weight of the day catching up to her though.

Kiwi was snoring in the corner. This time Yumi did pet him. He wagged his tail appreciatively before settling back into sleep.

"So, um," Ulrich's voice was drugged with sleep. "Do you usually show up in the middle of the night to people's houses who you've just met? Or am I just special?"

"You're special," Yumi said as she took a long sip of her coffee. It was a little too sweet for her tastes. Ironic, especially in Ulrich's circumstances. Ulrich smiled, obviously flattered by her compliment.

"Special in the 'You're so easy to take advantage of and I can get free coffee from you' way, or special in the 'You're so irresistible I couldn't wait until tomorrow morning to see you so I came in the middle of the night to your house' way?"

Yumi laughed, "Is there a third choice?"

Ulrich laughed with her. "So I'm special in the 'I'm madly in love with you so I've been stalking you for months and today I'm finally making my move' way?"

Yumi gawked, "That's the third choice?"

Ulrich nodded.

"Wow," Yumi said. "You really are special." And crazy.

They shared a companionable silence and when Yumi was done with her coffee, Ulrich gathered up their cups and placed them in the sink.

"You're really domestic," Yumi pointed out.

"You're not?" Ulrich asked as he washed the cups. There was something soothing in the sound of the water rushing down.

Yumi actually snorted, "I"m domestically impaired. If I ever cook for you it's because I'm trying to poison you."

"Hmm," Ulrich murmured and look a little panicked. "I guess having a picnic is out of the question then."

"No," Yumi said thoughtlessly. "So long as you bring the food."

"You do realize you just accepted into having a picnic with me, right?"

Clever. "No, I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No, I did -- you're doing this on purpose, aren't you."

Ulrich smiled, "It's hard to provoke emotion from you. You're always so practical. You're very beautiful when you're angry, by the way."

Yumi blushed. She couldn't think of anything to say. Standing up, she suddenly declared; "I"m going to become a neurologist." Yumi never bothered to correct William whenever he assumed she was doing something easy and not challenging. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Ulrich turned around, back against the sink. He was drying his hands with a colorful towel. He looked thoughtful.

"That's impressive," he said. "It suits you."

"Really?"

"Really. It doesn't surprise me that you're ambitious."

It didn't matter that she'd met him less than a week ago, Ulrich believed in her and that prompted her to do something she'd never done with a man who she wasn't dating or wasn't her father. Ulrich seemed surprised when she swung her arms around his neck and hugged him.

Highly embarrassed that she had just emoted in public -- her of all people -- Yumi drew back.

"Thanks for the coffee."

Without another word, she gathered up her bag and walked to the door. Luckily, the combination of locks wasn't too difficult and Yumi got it on the first try. Ulrich didn't say anything. He was probably still in a state of shock.

Ulrich watched the door close and when it was clear that Yumi had left, he smiled absently.

Even longer than the last one. What do you guys think?