Chapter 2: To see you again

Disclaimer: Maria-sama ga miteru and its characters are not mine. Credits to the author.

Yumi

Yumi was awoken by a loud thumping sound. She pulled a pillow over her head in an attempt to go back to sleep, only for the said pillow to be pulled up and snatched from her grasp.

"It's 7 in the morning onee-san, please wake up or you'll be late for work" it was Yuuki.

Yumi mumbled something incoherent before Yuuki shook her shoulders more. It made her headache even worse and she was forced to open her eyes and shoo Yuuki away.

"How many times do I have tell you to knock before entering my room? I could have been naked under these sheets." Yumi argued groggily.

"If you were, I wouldn't care. You're my sister remember. Also, I would know your state of undress, seeing that I was the very person who brought you home. So I am certain you are still in your red dress."

Yumi closed her eyes, trying to remember a vivid memory of a worried Yuuki entering the pub and getting a hold of her arm, stopping her from having another shot of tequila. Taki helped him carry her to the car and Yuuki brought her home. She also remembered the face of their mother as she opened their door and saw a drunk Yumi in her son's arms. Her father came soon after and helped in carrying the barely conscious Yumi to her room.

The troubled faces of her family made her heart wrench. "I have a hangover" Yumi complained, washing down the guilt of worrying them. "Can't you give me a few more minutes?"

"No. You will be late if you don't get up now. Also, it is your fault for being overly drunk last night. Do I get to ask what happened?" By the tone of Yuuki's voice, he already knew the answer, so she kept her mouth shut.

She slowly pushed herself up, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in her head. "I am up now. Can you please let me prepare for work in peace?" Yumi said with much sarcasm.

Her brother gave her one last calculating look before turning to leave. While Yumi, for her part, tried her best to stay seated and not put her head back down on the bed. When she felt like her nausea had subsided by a little, she slowly made her way the bathroom. She took a cold shower to wash away the webs of sleep and remnants of alcohol still crawling in her head.

Sachiko

Sachiko decided to go out of the office to grab a cup of coffee from a shop. She rarely goes out to walk, because usually she has people to buy her the things she need. But after another sleepless night, she decided to go for a walk to clear her mind and getting coffee seemed to be the best reason for her to be allowed to leave without any body guards (at least none that are visible).

The momentary freedom was nice, Sachiko thought. She was always surrounded by elitists, executives, her family or papers. Being out and about the Tokyo CBD, being invisible and surrounded by strangers was a well welcomed change of pace. She clutched her trench coat closer to her chest to block the chill. It was a cloudy November morning at the end of fall, making the air dry and cool to her skin. She smiled a little, just as the coffee shop came into view. But the smile was quickly wiped away when she saw the long queue of people. She sighed and fell in line. She pulled out her smart phone and started browsing through her emails to pass the time when someone suddenly hit her arm, causing her phone to fall out of her hand. The other person didn't seem to notice what happened and just proceeded to go in front of the line and towards the barista.

"Hey, Kouru-kun!" She shouted.

Sachiko was in the midst of picking up her phone when she heard the voice – a voice she hadn't heard in a long time. And as if in slow motion, she peaked out of the line of people to see the flowing brown hair of a modestly dressed woman. She was wearing a red trench coat, jeans and brown knee length boots. Even though her back was to her, Sachiko knew that the other woman's posture was elegant, if not perfect. The same posture which she knew she had.

"I have your coffee, with additional shot of espresso" the barista named Kouru replied.

"You sure know the right stuff. Thanks!" the woman replied as she handed a bill over the counter.

The person in front of Sachiko noticed her staring at the newly arrived woman, "she seems to be well acquainted with the barista here. She gets her coffee every day, skipping the line, and everybody just let her. She is a charming woman to begin with, so it seems fine to the regulars."

Sachiko looked at the speaker, he was a man in his early thirties with eyes on the back of the brown haired woman in front. She didn't like the way he looked at her, so she just nodded her head and pretended to go back to checking her mails.

"I wish she would bump into me just once, so I will have a reason to talk to her" the man commented, but Sachiko ignored him.

"Keep the change Kouru-kun. The coffee is amazing, just like always" the woman said.

"See you tomorrow Yumi-chan!"

At this Sachiko's eyes widened. She braced herself before braving to look up and see the woman's face. And just as the other person pass by on her way out, their eyes met, and at that very moment, the whole world seems to stop moving for Sachiko.

It was Yumi. Her Yumi.

Yumi

Yumi saw her first, as she made her way out the café. She was still unsure if it was indeed Sachiko because she hasn't seen or heard from her since college. So she kept her eyes glued to the woman who has her head on her phone, casually scrolling as if reading something boring. And as the other woman lifted her head to look at her, she can't help but stop and stare. She still looked the same, black hair just below her shoulders, pink lips and sharp blue eyes. She has matured from the last time she saw her, but it just made her all the more beautiful than before, if it was even possible.

"Excuse me, but I would like to introduce myself" the man in front of Sachiko spoke.

Both women whipped their head to look at the stranger, Yumi looked at him questioningly while Sachiko turned to give him an icy glare. The man sweat dropped and awkwardly scratched his head.

"Not the best time to be acquainted with you Yumi-san?" he asked abashedly.

Upon hearing her name, Yumi looked more puzzled and was about to say something when Sachiko cut her off, "No, and why are you addressing her so casually?" she asked with that icy tone Ogasawara Sachiko was known for.

Yumi gave the man an apologetic smile and cocked her head to the side, before pulling Sachiko out of line and out of the café. Before closing the door, she raised her hand in gesture to the barista. Upon seeing him nod his head, she proceeded out.

"It was nice to bump into you too Sachiko" Yumi said.

"Why did you pull me out Yumi?"

"Well, it seems you were shooting daggers at the poor man and he has done nothing wrong" Yumi responded still with a smile on her face.

"Nothing wrong? He was addressing you as if you two were friends. And by guessing at how he talked about you, it seems like you don't even know him." Sachiko reasoned.

"What did he say about me?" Yumi asked intrigued.

"That you were a regular at this café and… Wait, are we arguing right now?" Sachiko asked, perplexed at the turn of events.

"No, I was simply saving us from humiliation in there. I will have you know that that this store makes the best macchiato and I'd hate to be banned from coming back."

"Are you saying that I am making a scene and causing you embarrassment?" Sachiko's face visibly turned red and Yumi knew that she is now fuming.

Yumi instinctively reached out to touch to other woman's face. It was a trick to calm her down that she has done countless times. It seemed to work because the moment her cold hands touched her cheeks, Sachiko's expression changed and the lines of anger from her face was gone. They stared into each other's eyes before realization hit the both of them. Yumi immediately pulled her hand away and Sachiko stepped back a little, placing her own hand from where Yumi held her.

The weirdness of the situation seemed to sink in a second too late – "What am I doing?" Yumi thought.

Not a moment later, Kouru-kun's head popped out of the door, "Yumi, here's your regular Machiatto with non-fat milk."

Yumi turned to face the man. She got hold of her wallet pulled out a few bills and handed them to Kouru-kun just as she got hold of the cup from his hands. Kouru-kun gave her a bow and went back inside, not missing the flirtatious look he gave her.

Sachiko just watched the exchange and stood still unmoving as Yumi handed her the drink.

"Coffee" Yumi said as Sachiko just stared at the cup in her hands. "Is this not what you wanted?"

Sachiko averted her eyes for a second, a sign that Yumi got her order right and took the cup from Yumi's hands. "Thanks" she muttered.

"Well, this is an eventful meeting. I knew we would see each other some time, but I didn't imagine it to be like this. It was nice seeing you but I have to go because I am already late for work." Yumi said. When Sachiko didn't respond, she proceeded to leave.

"It was nice seeing you too Yumi" Sachiko called out.

Yumi raised a hand, to acknowledge that she had heard her and she disappeared into the crowd of people.

xxx

Yumi cursed inwardly for nth time that morning. She arrived late and got a scolding from her superior before getting her desk dumped with a mountain of plans she needed to finish. As punishment, the work of one of her colleagues on leave were given to her.

"Why do you put up with this Yumi-san? Your father has an architectural firm and you can work for him." Rica-san, her officemate peered into her desk.

"I need to learn more before going to work for dad. He has Yuuki to help out, so I need to learn other architectural and engineering design skills before I can really bring value to dad's company" Yumi reasoned.

"Hey! Get back to work you two!" their boss shouted from the other end of the room.

After a resounding "yes" from both of them, Yumi put her head down to start with her work. But she just ended up staring at her screen for minutes. Her mind was still on the unexpected occurrence of meeting Sachiko. Her beautiful face, the feel of her soft skin on her fingertips and her melodious voice resonating in her heart – all of which she missed for the long time that they were apart. She never really hated Sachiko, which made it harder to move on and forget her. It had been both their decision. Yumi for her part didn't want to leave Sachiko with a difficult choice of disobeying her grandfather's wish for her to be married to Suguru-san. She placed all the blame on fate and decided that they were not really destined to be together. They enjoyed their momentary freedom to love one another with the knowledge that the time will come when they have to part and this just made each moment they shared extra special. Despite their busy schedules, they found time to study together or go out on dates. There were even a few times when they went out of town, without their families and friend's knowledge.

On that fateful night that they decided to part, they both cried but made the firm decision that they will not see each other again until they were both emotionally ready. But upon seeing her now, Yumi knew that she will never be ready. That she will never be over her – not ever. She decided to start dating, with the hope that she will eventually find the right person to fall in love with and get married to. Despite telling other people that she chose to work for a multinational firm to learn and gain experience, a part of it was wanting to find her better half somehow. But she never did. Not yet at least.

Sachiko

Sachiko stood rooted to the spot where Yumi had left her. With a cup of coffee in hand she just stared at the throng of people, hating herself for not going after Yumi. She didn't care that she has a 9am meeting to attend to. They can wait.

Sachiko knew. The moment Yumi disappeared into the chaos of the Tokyo morning rush, that there is no other way of going after her. She could come to this café the next morning and wait for her, but it is also possible that Yumi will refrain from going to the café for a while with the fear of seeing her again. Because they both agreed not to meet until they were ready, and with what just happened, how she just froze when Yumi seemed to be unfazed by seeing her, showed that she was not ready yet. Yumi acted like she always did, while she just looked dumbfounded the whole time.

But what she cannot deny was the fact that it brought her inexplicable joy to be able to see, talk and be held by Yumi even for just a while. A ghost of their inexistent future together has always been in her head, because that is the only place where she will get to see her and be with her.

Yumi was beautiful, just as Sachiko always knew she was. But time seems to be on her side, making her Yumi even more elegant. She was almost as tall as she is, with the same waist length hair Sachiko used to have during high school. Her eyes still mirror the wonderful person she is inside and her smile still a ray of sunshine in the cold bitter day. It was the same smile that brings her out of her reverie in the past. A past she wishes to get back to, but can't.

With sad smile, Sachiko made her way back to the Ogasawara office.

A/N: Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks imoshen88 for your proposed improvements *_*