Friday March 22nd, 2013

“Tao, you put me down right this instant. I’m serious. You let me go.” Yu-ki kicked and thrashed as Tao hauled her up easily and brought her to her bedroom ceremoniously dumping her on her bed.

“No, you are coming with me and that is final.” He told her. “I don’t care what you say, but I’m not leaving this house unless you’re with me.”

Yu-ki had told her mother that morning that she was swamped with work and therefore did not feel like accompanying her to the university. Seeing her daughter’s tired eyes, she relented and Yu-ki was left home alone with only her thoughts keeping her company. It wasn’t until a few hours later when her doorbell rung and Yu-ki moved from her room to answer it. As soon as she saw it was Tao behind the door, she knew exactly what he was planning and tried to slam the door in his face. Unfortunately for her, Tao was expecting this reaction from her and was able to push the door open and make his way into the house before she could act.

“People are going to talk Taozi.” She sighed.

“So? When have you ever cared about what others think?” He retorted. The Yu-ki he knew would never let what other’s thought of her control her actions.

“Since it involved other people. You heard Bryan yesterday. The entire campus probably knows by now. People are gonna start thinking that you’re using me to get good grades.”

“So? It doesn’t matter. It’s not the truth.”

“Your reputation is not worth it Tao.”

“I don’t care. Now get dressed. If we don’t leave in the next 15 minutes we’re gonna be late and your mother is going to kill me.”

Yu-ki thought that after years of being raised in the public eye, she would get used to being in the spotlight. It never gets easier, the flashes of light, the incessant camera shutters going off, the blatant disrespect for basic human rights. But, Yu-ki thinks, she would rather have that than having to hear the whispers any day. The whispers that are only spoken when they think no one is listening. The whispers which reveal everyone’s true thoughts. Nothing compares however, to the pain of witnessing Tao’s struggle of keeping an expression of indifference. Nothing hurts more than seeing the ones you love take the burden of your faults.