Chapter One

Talking to a woman is never easy, and it was no simple task for Len either. Growing up with only his father and two brothers, he only knew enough about girls from his best friend Yumi. He was shy, sensative and hardly able to be noticed by anyone; anyone but her. He spent his childhood with her, they were as thick as theives all the way up to junior high. Once they began to grow up, things became different. Len was more into electronics, easily able to take a circut board and speakers and make it tell you the time right on the hour.
Yumi was more into books, reading and learning from them faster than anyone could teach. She knew about the mind, about how manipulation worked and hypnotism could affect a personality. She also knew firsthand how it affected a family. Only one person knew her past, and she knew his. Even though they saw each other in the halls at school, they were drifting apart. Eventually, things were so different that they only talked twice a year. Every year on their birthdays, they would send a card to each other and a short note about what they have done the past year. Yumi cherished the cards, framing each one in a notebook and hiding it from her family. Len did much the same, but instead kept them in a shoebox in the floorboards of his room. 
During his teenage years, Len became more of a nerd than he thought. His hair was short and a light brown, his eyes needed glasses and he constantly carried around a notebook full of mathmatic equations. He hardly wore his glasses, but instead bought colored contacts. He didn't want himself or anyone else to see his aqua eyes, they were just like his mothers'. He never knew much about her, but enough to know she died when he was young. His brothers never said it around him, but they blamed him for her death. He always knew not to talk about her around his family, no one seemed to enjoy that conversation or question he rose.
Yumi's teenage years were more complicated than Lens' was and she was hardly recognizable by any of her friends, save Len. Her hair was long and always up in a ponytail with her bangs covering her left eye. She let her hair become the natural brunette color and even added a little splash of red into her roots. She has beautiful pale green eyes, nearly lime colored in their own and along the outer ring of her iris; you could see the ice blue. She never wore glasses or  was smart in the mathmatics department, but she was a wonder when it came to language. She was fluent in not only English but French and Spanish. Twice she spoke French around Len, and his heart nearly stopped both times. 
By the time they were out of high school and moving on to their young adult lives, they never saw each other. Len enjoyed his birthday, only for the card he got from her. She began to only write a short phrase after they graduated high school, always the same and without a return address. 

"Happy Birthday Le! 
      -Yi"

Neither his father nor his brothers ever asked him about the cards, they said their happy birthdays and gave him his gifts then left him to do his thing. They didn't treat him any better than when he was a child, he didn't show them anymore emotion than they showed him. As he took his gifts to his room, he began to pack things up for when he left home. He had been approved to a college, one of the best in the region, and was leaving in two weeks. He decided to put off the packing for a bit so he could go and meet with a few friends to enjoy the summer. As he got into his car, he took the card for Yumi and signed it on the steering wheel. 

"Happy Birthday Yi!
      -Le"

He closed it in the envelope and drove off toward her house. He parked on the curb and got out, walking up to the front door. He made sure her name was on the envelope and slipped it into the mail slot the same he had done every year. He smiled as he walked back to his car. He felt like someone was watching him as he drove off, but didn't know why. From her window upstairs, Yumi watched him; a loving smile on her face and a tear slipping from her eye. 'I wish you would talk to me Le, I wish I could tell you how much you mean to me and how much I feel for you. I miss my friend, my best and only friend.' She thought as she watched him drive off toward the park. As she got dressed her cell rang, she reached for it and looked at the ID. She rolled her eyes and answered it reluctantly; hiding the annoyance in her voice. "Hello?"
"Hey babe, wanna go to the park today? I hear the geeks are down there for a boardgame session." A mans' voice spoke on the other end, a commanding and older voice.
Yumi rolled her eyes and moved the phone to huff. "Wallace, I've told you not to call me babe, you know I don't like it and I'm not your girlfriend. You're dating my sister, that doesn't mean you get to use me as a free booty call when she annoys you." She said as she slipped on a mini-skirt and tee shirt. 
"Aw c'mon Yumi, I don't use you as a booty call. I do call you all the time when I'm annoyed at your sister though, and this time she deserved to be ignored. She was flirting with the guys again, you know more than she does that I don't like her flirting with anyone but me." Wallace said again as an engine started from his side of the conversation.
Yumi put down the phone to put on a vest over her tee shirt and her thigh high socks. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and added some make-up to her lips. She grabbed the phone again and took a deep breath. "Wallace McArler, you are jealous cur who deserves no more than a common tavern wench and you know it. My sister is sweet and adorable and loving and..." She trailed off for a moment thinking about Len. She shook her head and went back to what she was saying. "And you should know that your guys end up flirting with her more than she does. I'm prettier than Krystine and you know it, but because I'm not going to jump at the chance to give my virginity to anyone just yet meant you went with her. I know what your buddies say, what they want to do with her and you've joked around with them about asking. I ever hear you talk about my sister that way or even consider doing it, I'll castrate you faster and more painful than a veterinarian does to a horse. Can you understand that, you wreched jock?" She said in a low and scolding tone. 
She could hear his hard gulp as he bit his lip. "Yes, I understand Yumi. I'm sorry, jeez you're scary when upset. I'm surprised your sister hasn't seen it just yet. Do you wanna come out with me, it won't be a date. I'll even ask Krystine. Pretty please." He began to ask slowly. She could tell he was sincere.
"Sure, I'll go. I wanna see if I can find someone over there anyway. Meet you at the door in twelve. And make up with my sister!" She said in that scolding tone again as she hung up the phone. She put her cell phone down and sat on her bed to get her shoes on. She thought about Len, when they were kids. He was always sensative to her and even more to anyone else who he thought might need help. His smile was all he ever needed to win over hearts, hers was the first he won over. As time went on, she began to want to see him more and more until high school. He began to blush around her, act nervous or embarassed whenever she was near. The first time she spoke French to her friend, she saw him suddenly faint. She got so worried that she stayed with him until he woke up, even though she was hiding when he did. She smiled at the memories and opened the notebook under her diary. She caressed the cards he sent her, each one with a lipstick kiss on the cover where she kissed it.
There was a knock at the door as she put the notebook back, she put on her necklace walked out of her room. Her sister was standing there with a scoul on her face, Yumi knew this was going to get loud. She sighed and allowed her sister into her room, reluctenly closing the door and standing behind it. "What is it Krystine?"
Krystine spun around as soon as she walking into the room and waited for the door to close before she began to spit her words. "I know you spoke to Wally, he always calls you when we get into a fight. I am tired of you trying to steal away my boyfriend; it's not right for my younger sister to be talking with my boyfriend all the time. I don't like it and I'm asking you to stop." She said in a small huff, her eyes narrowed and voice in a commanding tone. 
Yumi rolled her eyes and leaned against the door. "Honestly sis, you need to open your eyes a little wider. If I wanted to steal him from you I would have done that already and far sneakier than this. I've told you and everyone else countless times Krys, I am not into having a boyfriend that only wants to get his jollies off with me. I'm not ready and until I find the man who I believe is perfect in my eyes; I may never be. I don't want your boyfriend; Wallace and I have just been friends and the only reason why he keeps calling me when you two get into a nice little tivy is because he finds talking to me is calming. He's not cheating on you with me, not flaunting around with other woman or doing anything wrong. You should treat him better than you have and stop flirting with his friends. That's why he's upset and why he calls me; because you fail to see that you're making him very jealous. What would you do if suddenly he left you because of jealousy?"
"I'd feel bad, but if it happened it would happen. I can't change that fact if he did; I don't want that to happen. I apologized for making him jealous, you know I did because you heard me tell him shortly after he stormed out the door. I don't see why it's your business what happens between us, I don't go to his guy friends when I'm upset about us." Krystine sat on the bed and looked out the window in time to see Wallace drive up. She sighed and smiled from the window down at him then turned back to her sister. "He is here, I guess I better go and let him in." She said as she hurried past Yumi and down the stairs. She sighed and shook her head as she followed. She stood at the top of the staircase and listened to his appology and making things better.
Len got out of his car after parking it against the curb, his front tire grinding against it. He walked toward the chess tournament and looked for his friends, his eyes scanning over the grass and tables. Off in the short distance he heard and ice cream vendor jingle the bell, childrens screams for ice cream were noticable and expected.