The dreams, the thoughts, the unfinished murmurs of hopes that this time would never come to shine in front of me. Plans unfolding, or to be folded.

Yumi is on her bed twisting her hair with her index finger. She stares at a black high heel as if to dissect its purpose. It takes her a moment and myself as well to notice that she’s stark nude. Raisin removes his hand from my shoulder and covers Sky’s eyes then his own. Yumi gives a sort of a shocked huff. She twists the sheets around her then hustles her way behind her vanity screen. Giving me a nudge on my side Raisin whispers something crude, that really shouldn’t be repeated, but I giggle all the same. Yumi is soon dressed and eyes are uncovered. Introductions are made, then apologies. I say I’m sorry for surprising her. She smiles at me, touches my face and in a quiet voice says “You’re just filled with them aren’t you?” I tilt my head into her hand then ask in the same volume “Surprises?” She smiles and whispers to me “No, apologies.” She lets out a chuckle, and I do as well. In need to speak with her, I pull her hand from my face and pull her into the kitchen.

I set the kettle onto the stove and click the electric pilot on. Yumi sits on the counter as I stare at her. Her passive eyes twinkle. I want to tell her I love her but different words come out. “We’re going to go back to save my parents. I don’t know what may happen bu…” She places her index fingers on my lips then hops down. I get poked in the nostril but ignore it, or I try to. I have a grin when she looks right into me. “If this is for the best, I can’t help but tell you to go, ’cause it’s what you want and all, but I want you to go.” I hug her and in a muffled voice she asks “Will it be dangerous?”  I grip her a little tighter and lie through my teeth “Not very likely.” She  exhales in a sigh which flows through the cotton of my shirt. “Just come back ok.” We stand there for some time as the kettle whistles. “I need to make the tea.” She says. It takes me a second before I let her go.

I follow her back into the living room from the bedroom. I want to make a joke about it being like a hotel room with the bed being the most important feature, but I’m pretty bad at telling jokes. I hand Raisin his tea and Yumi gives Sky her juice. We sip in silence for a minute or two. As charming as Raisin is he breaks the quiet “So where did you meet such a lovely miss like this?” I sort of stammer for an answer, so Yumi gives one. “Through my work.” I give her a nervous look. But she just smiles at me. “How wonderful!” Raisin says, seeing I didn’t want to talk about the subject, he changes it. “Have he ever told you how we’ve come to meet each other?” Yumi gives me a look before I stare at the knots on my shoes. “He hasn’t.” She says. Raisin chortles then starts the story. I sit there listening with my eyes fixed on my shoes. “I sort of just happened on his journal in a way, after trying to find how to save my little Sky there. The way of it became pretty clear. So I went to see him and he was quite helpful. So he helped me save her, a fine catch you have here.” I smirk at the memory of it, the desperate man with the loaded gun. I look up from my shoes to smile at him and he smiles back. “Even after all that, he helped me save the world. Gosh, beat those damn Chinese, I mean, I don’t mean any offense or anything, they were the bad folks. Pretty sure we changed a lot of things, for the better that is.” Sky bored with the conversation goes to the bed and starts jumping. Raisin tries to call her off but Yumi says it’s ok and joins her on the bed. They jump and giggle and the bed makes awkward sounds. I watch Raisin as he watches Sky. His expression ever mixed from smile to frown, and back and forth. I see in his eyes of what a parent’s love is, true love, honest love. I wanted it, so much so I don’t notice my eyes pool with tears until one slides down my cheek. I excuse myself to the bathroom, leaving the happiness behind me.

I lean against the door after I shut it. I wipe the tears away and make my way to the bathroom sink. Turning the tap on I let it run as I stare at the mirror, not quite at myself, but not quite that either. I splash the cool water on my face. I let it drip dry as I go through the plan in my head. Over and over again, how it all made sense, but how it didn’t at the same time. Frustrated I sit down on the toilet, and I pull the paper out of my pocket. The photocopied faces, the note, “It had to be this way.” I had to save them, to have that love, at least once.

Stepping out of the bathroom Sky is already tired from jumping. Yumi and her flip through magazines I brought from my time. Sky stares at the pictures, not able to read yet, though she pretends she can. Yumi looks up at me, our eyes meet and the information passed. I have a similar exchange with Raisin but instead of locking eyes, it’s nods. Raisin gets up from the chair and walks over to Sky. He kisses her on the head and tells her how much he loves her, and a goodbye that sounded like he was prepared that it was going to be his last. Yumi gives me the saddest face, not quite ready for the same exchange. But I ignore my gut feeling and bend down and kiss her on the forehead. “I’ll see you soon.” I say as my lips hover above her forehead, one more kiss and I stand up straight. Without a word, Raisin takes out his device and disappears with a crack. I let the apartment vanish in front of me.