Chapter Nineteen: Yumi:

Yumi has always been weird. No one denied that. I was quick to learn this the moment we met. I mean, who would invite a random homeless guy back to their home and take care of them? I could’ve been a serial killer for all I knew. (Well, so could she, but that’s beside the point.) Thinking about it now, I think I was just as crazy to follow her. Why did I do that? I still didn’t have an answer for that.

Yumi lived in her own little world. We just had to go along with it. It wasn’t like she was completely naïve. She knew what she wanted for her future.

“Aside from marrying me, what do you want to do?” I asked. Yumi took a moment to think as she stirred a pot of curry.

“Hm… It changes all the time,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked. Yumi turned her head.

“Sometimes, I want to work in a restaurant. There are days when I want to run a bookstore. And there are times when I just want to be a housewife. I don’t know, I just can’t decide.” I would probably get a different answer hours later. However, they would all have one theme in common: cooking. Yumi was a good cook. Her parents and friends suggested that she pursue a culinary career. Maybe go into catering. I could see her doing that. But would she commit to it?

“You could start a catering business,” I said.

“Maybe,” was all Yumi would say. Then she went back to her curry. That would be another piece of this complicated Yumi puzzle that I would have to figure out how to work. Did she have to be so strange?

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In a way, Yumi was like most girls, but then she wasn’t. She liked the usual girly things. However, she didn’t have many friends her age. Sure, Yumi got along with her classmates. But they rarely came over to the house, and she rarely went over to their houses. Her parents didn’t seem to mind it.

“Are you worried about how lonely she is?” I asked.

“She’s not lonely,” her mother said.

“She’s never been lonely,” her father said. Her parents were just as weird as Yumi. How were they okay with some random man living in their house? I thought her father would’ve kicked me out or threatened to call the police on me. But no. He just accepted the fact that his daughter let a stranger into the house and let him wear his clothes. The mom didn’t try to kick out or yell at me either. The whole family was just weird. I gave up on trying to figure them out. Trying to do so would only give me a headache.

But they were all good people. A little too trusting, but they were good people. They took care of me when I had nowhere to go. Yumi and her family didn’t ask for anything in return. We’ve been living together for two years, and it’s really nice.

I guess them being weird wouldn’t be too bad. It could be worse. I have no idea how. I should just go with it. What could I do?

“Toshiki? Are you listening to me? Hello? Hello?”

I jerked my head upward. Yumi’s face was inches away from mine. I blinked, confused.

“Huh?” I asked. My little fiancée frowned as she pouted.

“You weren’t listening to a word I was saying, were you?” she asked. I lowered my head.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. I bowed my head. Yumi shook her head.

“Honestly,” she said. “What will it take for you to listen?” I threw up my hands in a shrug.

“I’m sorry. I have so much on my mind,” I said. Yumi shook her head.

“Whatever,” she said. She turned back to the stove and took the pot off. At least she was normal in the aspect of being annoyed when I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying.