It hadn’t been a good weekend. Yamaa had enjoyed taking care of his collection as always but something was not right. He couldn’t stop thinking about that almost kiss. Why? He had his collection finally complete and they were all perfect and he felt complete, or almost.

He put on the oversized hoodie and covered his head with it. He grabbed the trays and went down the stairs to the doll house. He went to each of the rooms to given their breakfast. First, Blue. She had stopped swearing at him around the time he had brought Purple but she was still a handful: she would mess up her dress and her hair the fastest and sometimes mess up with the room. That was okay, some dolls required more maintenance. Next was Purple. From time to time she still threaten that people were looking for her that they would find her. She really was adorable. Then it was Green’s turn. She was usually quiet and she had the ability to calm Purple down. Next, he went into Yellow’s room. He knew that she was still plotting ways of escaping, but it was safe today, she wouldn’t try anything, there wasn’t much to try.  Then, came cute little Pink. She was still adapting but Yellow was helping. He came in quietly and left the tray on the small table. His mind started to wonder again. “What was he doing?” “what would have happened if they had actually kissed” Nothing. It couldn’t go beyond that. It was just curiosity, not that he hadn’t been with other women but he never felt comfortable with anybody until…

“Can I at least call my mom? Just to tell her I’m fine and not to worry.”

Yamaa never answered their questions but she caught him unaware and something in her voice made him answer.

“She knows you are okay.” he said.

“You are the one who leaves the letters, right?” Yamaa nodded. “But if I can talk to her she can be sure.”

“She knows you are okay and this is you are supposed to be, I explained all that to her.” With that Yamaa left the room. He had spoken too much. She had surprised him. If he could only stop getting so distracted.

It was Wednesday today. Maybe if he went to the office he could get some fresh air and focus?

He grabbed his keys and left his house. He lived an hour and a half away from the city and his was the only house for miles. No nosy neighbors who would try to talk to him. It was also close enough that he could commute. It was perfect. Her mother had loved the house and that’s why she’d left it to him. He had moved in, given away her doll collection (as she’s asked). He had been lost for awhile until he saw the first piece and he knew what he had to do: start a collection of his own.

He arrived at the office, said hello and went into his office. He turned his computer on and stared at the screen, and stared at the screen, and stared at the screen…

After several times of walking in front of Yamaa’s office and seeing him spacing out, Kimura knocked on his door and let himself in.

“Hey, how are you doing?” Kimura asked.

“Good, you?”

“Fine, fine. So, what are you working on?” Yamaa looked at the screen again “Wow, that screen must have the answer to all of life’s problems; you’ve been staring at it since you came.”

“Sorry. I’m just… I don’t know, just one of those days.” Or weeks, he added to himself.

Kimura stared at Yamaa. He couldn’t just come out and say what he wanted to because Yamaa would deny it and just close up. So he went on another direction.

“You want to make yourself useful? Would you mind playing the errand boy for a while?”

“What do you need?”

“I need you to deliver a last paycheck. I would send one of the guys but we are actually very busy and you seem like you could use the fresh air. I’ll give you her address. It’s silly but it’ll really help.”

HER address?? Of course, she was the only employee that he knew of that would be receiving a last paycheck.

Yamaa frowned. “I don’t know. It sounds like anyone can do it.”

“You are right.” He immediately said. “I just wanted you to get some fresh air. No worries I’ll tell Hiroshi to do it. You know, I think he likes her. The night you got locked up in the elevator he kept checking the time and he was the one who insisted we came to the office looking for you two. Yes, that’s better, he’ll be happy to do it.”

Yamaa knew what he was doing, and it was working.

He stared at Kimura. He was holding the envelope in his hand.

“I know what you’re doing.” Kimura waved the envelope in front of him.

Yamaa got up and grabbed the envelope.

“The address is in the envelope.” Kimura said with a smile in his voice.