Wednesday March 13th, 2013

“Do you know her?” One of Tao’s friends asked after catching up with him.

“No.”

That simple two letter word had been echoing in her head for the past few hours. Yu-ki knew that he had recognized her. It was very clear that they knew each other, so why did he deny it? In the long run, it was probably for the better, but right now, she just wanted her best friend. Not even needing to roll over to glance at the clock on her night stand, Yu-ki already knew that it was nearing morning and soon, her alarm would go off signaling the start of her day.

The entire night, Yu-ki didn’t manage to sleep at all. She would have liked to play it off as jet lag, but deep down she knew exactly what was keeping her awake.

“No.”

Day 2 of being on the UBC campus wasn’t any different from the first. In fact, it might have even been worse. It seemed as if today people were purposefully going out of their way to look for her rather than to simply see her pass by chance. There were only two classes her mother had today, one of which was a standard first year English class where the majority of students have yet to catch wind of her mother’s reputation making Yu-ki feel slightlt more relaxed. The other was where the problem stood. It was a smaller second year class of about 100 students, most of which were already curious from yesterday. It also wouldn’t help that Tao was one of the students.

Following after her mother, Yu-ki ignored everyone’s stares as she entered the room. Settling into a vacant seat in the front row, Yu-ki caught the eye of someone sitting in the very back. Her automatic reflex was to smile, but as the words from yesterday rang in her head, Yu-ki frowned and turned to face the front turning on her laptop as a means to hide from everyone’s stares.

“I have to head out first.” Yu-ki looked up at her mother who came up to her right when the hour class ended. “I forgot I made an appointment, you know your way back to the office right?” Taking her daughter’s silence as acceptance, the professor promptly packed her things and left the room. Soon following after her was the majority of the students, though they all did slow down as they passed her. Yu-ki slowly began to pack up her things not wanting to leave immediately.

There was only one exit to this particular room, he could have easily walked down the steps and out the door, but that would be too close to Yu-ki than he could handle at the moment. Without hesitation, Tao made to walk in a wide arc around her, which earned a questioning glance from his friend. It wasn’t much of a difference, but even the slightest distance would put Tao’s heart at ease. Walking past her briskly, Tao thought he was in the clear until a hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

“Tao wait.” Yu-ki’s grip, though loose, burned his skin.

“Not today please.” Tao pleaded not bothering to turn around. “Just- let go please.” He whispered. Yu-ki made no move to let go, instead she gripped even harder. “Let go of me Katie.” He said lowly. Yu-ki flinched. He called her Katie, not Yu-ki or KiKi. After a second of hesitation, she slowly let go of Tao’s wrist, watching as it slowly fell to his side.

Tao waited for a moment judging whether or not she would grab him again, and when he was sure she wouldn’t he made his way to the door where his friend was waiting. However, before he could leave the room, Yu-ki called out to him.

“I don’t know what happened in our past for us to be like this, but you’re all I have right now.” Yu-ki cried quietly, though in the empty room it echoed loudly. “I need you.” She whispered brokenly as she held back tears.

Taking a chance, Tao turned around to face her. He took in how her cheeks had sunken in, and the dark circles that were visible under her make up. He noticed her now shoulder length hair dyed a light brown, the way her body had matured into that of a young lady. He saw the hurt in her eyes, the tightness of her lips, the sag of her shoulders. He saw her unchanging beauty.

“Can’t,” he responded. “Still hurts.”

[A/N]: This is a very important chapter in regards to the Tao/Yu-ki relationship (I think I say that about every chapter), but I mean it this time. Their full story will be revealed during her trip in Vancouver (Tao will still be in the story after that don't worry) and honestly most of it is pretty cliche and you could probably predict most of it, but I am the author and what I say goes.