It was raining outside. The room was in darkness and an odd sense of deja vu wormed its way into Yumi's heart. A bus halted at a curb nearby. She could hear the brakes screeching to a halt, voices merged into indistinct sound. It was nice. It was peaceful.

It was lonely.

It's hard to provoke emotion from you.

Two years ago that would have been a compliment. Now, it just hurt a little. Her father had always stressed the importance of emotion as a weakness. If you let someone know how you feel, unavoidably, they'll use it to their advantage. People are just too greedy, too selfish, too power hungry not to. Even if you think someone cares about you, don't let them know. It's dangerous. Those were his words, more or less. However, now that she looked back on it, that was probably just another chip in his sexist bravado.

According to him, women were over emotional and thus, weak. And yet, Ulrich Stern had managed to defy years of hard work. He had unconsciously defied the philosophy that her father had imposed on her for so many years, making it impossible for Yumi to be honest, to be emotionally intimate.

You're very beautiful when you're angry, by the way.

There was an odd moment in her head thinking of that. Yumi lingered behind a series of masks, there was always a perfected smile for each emotion. Whenever she was angry her mouth would draw into a thin, tight line and the corners of her mouth would be pinched. Then, after a few moments of convincing herself that she well enough to try at deception, her smile began to unwind and her voice became unpleasantly pleasant. But it was no use. Whenever Ulrich was in the room, her masks failed. It was as if something deep inside of her was saying, sorry, there's no point now. He knows you inside out and there's nothing you can do about it.

Which, when your life was all about control, was a bit unnerving. What did Ulrich see when he looked at her? Did he see a lonely little girl who never gained her parents approval? Did he see insecurity? The almost desperate need to please people? She didn't know! It was frustrating and it was terrifying.

Is this how other people feel?

The question bounced back and forth inside her skull. Yumi knew everything about everyone. Whether it'd be the basest desires, the most corrupted dreams, the brightest ambitions; Yumi always made it her business to know. People where easy to manipulate. It was as simple as that. And after gaining what she wanted, Yumi quietly distanced herself from them.

In turn, these people knew nothing about her. They read into her as far as the surface, falling in love with her sympathy or easy acceptance. Their comprehension of who she was and how she felt was severely limited if not nonexistent.

Ulrich, it seemed, was not one for rules. In contrast to the rest of the world, he refused to be distanced. He had integrated himself into Yumi's life seamlessly and there was nothing she could do about it. She wanted him to stop. She wanted him to keep going.

For the first time in her life, Yumi didn't know what she wanted.

It was four in the afternoon. If she wasn't feeling so wretched and unbalanced Yumi would have been out of bed. As routine dictated, Yumi had woken up at five thirty in the morning, ready to get dressed and head out to her partake in her morning indulgence. Instead, she had stared at the fan directly above her bed, mesmerized by the eight identical and symmetrical blades.

Going without coffee made her head hurt.

Eventually, Yumi dragged herself upright and to the kitchen. She ransacked the cabinets for anything quick, and with much displeasure only found a can of soup and a box of saltine crackers. Yumi animated herself to eat the soup but not the crackers.

William called. It was to be expected. Yumi buried her face in her pillow, bending it over her head as to block out the sound.

On the fourth day of her self imposed isolation, Yumi dreamed she was getting married.

Her dress was itching her and when she lowered the sleeves her skin was an angry red. She complained to her mother who shook her head sadly as she slipped the sleeve back into place. At first she couldn't see the groom's face, then as she glanced back at the people in the pews and turned back, William stood waiting for her.

"Do not dishonor me," her father's breath was heavy on her neck. He walked behind her, eliminating any chance she might have of escape. Yumi's palms were sweating and her veil was becoming more opaque by the second. By the time she reached the alter she could see nothing.

The words of the priest were undecipherable in her ears. Yumi focused on the sensation of fingers pulling up the veil from her face, soft and coaxing. It almost felt pleasant. The veil lifted from her face, Yumi could now see clearly.

Standing before her, as if he had never seen anything beautiful in his life before, was Ulrich.

--

On the fifth day, Yumi swore she was suffering from caffeine withdrawal.

She ate the saltine crackers with a bit of milk. William called again.

Yumi disconnected her phone from the wall.

--

In her dreams Ulrich was calling out for her but Yumi couldn't hear what he was saying.

"What?"

The static in the background stilled and Ulrich said,

"Wait for me."

On the six night her dreams came true. Sort of.

The room was dark, as usual, the temperature stifling. Yumi pressed her head to the cool steel of the door, savoring the stillness of the moment. She felt impossibly hot and terribly alone. Yumi hadn't realized she was crying until her fingers crossed her face and the streaks of silver illuminated her fingertips.

Something in her chest ached.

"Yumi?"

"Go away."

"Open the door," It was unmistakable who that voice belonged to. It was not diminished one decibel because of the door.

"No."

"I brought coffee."

Of all the dirty tricks to pull. "I'm not going to open the door."

"Not for me?"

"Especially not for you."

"That's cruel, Yumi. After all the time I invested in you."

Yumi actually snorted, "We've known each other for less than a week, Ulrich."

"Romeo and Juliet got married after three days," Ulrich pointed out.

"And died before the week was over," Yumi countered. "I hope you're not trying to imply anything."

"Open the door," Ulrich repeated.

"Why are you here?"

"Because I was worried about you," Ulrich said conversationally. He made emotion look so easy. "That and the fact that I have no life."

"I can see that," Yumi murmured.

"Oh, there are some letters out here, I thought you should know," there was a pause and the sound of scuffling between letters and fingers. "One of them has no stamp, I guess someone dropped it off here personally."

Yumi sighed, "What does the handwriting look like?"

"Terrible," Ulrich laughed, then sobered up. "... Unless it's from your mom or something like that. Then the handwriting looks really, um --"

"It's not from my mother," Yumi interrupted. Her mother wouldn't write to her if she was on a falling plane. "Stop looking through my correspondence. That's against the law."

It was from William. No doubt about it. If you couldn't read it, he wrote it.

"You can throw it in the trash," Yumi said a bit darkly "And while you're at it, you can leave."

"You're rutheless," Ulrich said, not sounding hurt at all. "But I must warn you, you can't stop me from liking you."

"Really," Yumi's voice was dry. Her heart was involuntarily skipping. It was very unsettling. "I thought showing up at your house and taking advantage of you would have turned you off."

"You didn't take advantage of me," Ulrich clarified. "And if you would have, I wouldn't have minded."

Yumi rolled her eyes, "Is there anything important you want to talk about?"

Ulrich didn't rise to the bait. "Well, for starters, you can tell me why you've been crying."

Clever boy. He was just waiting for the right moment to ease into this sort of conversation. It dawned on Yumi that she had severely underestimated Ulrich Stern.

"I hate you."

Ulrich laughed, "So soon? Girls usually wait until after the second date to say that."

"... do you really have coffee out there?"

"Yes, darling."

"Don't call me that," It was hard to contain the curve at the ends of her lips.

"Sugarplum?"

"No."

"Baby?"

"Not on your life."

"Cutie pie?"

"Quit while you're ahead."

"Reichlich?"

"What?"

"It means precious, in German."

"Oh," a pause. "No."

"Yumi --"

"Yes," a smile. "I think I like that one."

--

In her dreams he came again. In her dreams she opened the door.

All your quick feedback really inspired/encouraged me write. More dialogue in this chapter and some very important points. I wonder if anyone can catch the symbolism in the chapter. Most of you were right -- Yumi is through with William, but William isn't gone. What do you guys think?