I knew it by that look in his eyes. It was over. The sad thing was he didn’t put up a fight. You come to expect it from him, but no – he caved in without lifting an arm in protest. Let me be swept away into the grasp of another without batting a lash. I could’ve resisted, yet I didn’t. And the school is abuzz because of it.

I’ll be there when there’s nothing left
Night and day holding you
Harmony deep inside your soul
Meet me there

He spoke sweet nothings to me, made me feel more important than I ever had in my life. The one who I’d pined after wasn’t exactly adept at that, so could I help it that my knees got weak when he first whispered into my ear, “I can take you away.”?

Can you feel me?
Deep inside

I wanted to go back to him, I really did, but perhaps a change is best for everyone involved. I can’t even tell if he is hurting or not. He just won’t open up, to me or anyone. We’re restrained around him now, afraid of sparking that powder keg we know has to be waiting to explode under that stoic exterior.

So we find solace in each other, because as much as we are enraptured with new love, we are hurting enough for all of us.

There’s no time to deny that I’ll need you
And I’ll be there to inhale your delightful day
There’s no time to deny, I will need you
That’s why I’ll be there to relieve your painful day

We have duties, obligations that must be met, and those include keeping up amicable relations with those we’ve scorned. It’s times like this I’m glad we have another world to escape to, where I can vent my frustrations without repercussions. I know you feel the same. The jokes have disappeared, replaced with snarls and catcalls at the enemy. You need this as much as I. But what is it that you need the most?

Hiding well where the pain is real
Night and day growing in you
Anger is poison in your veins
Meet me there

So we come back and nothing has changed except inside our heads. He’s still sulking, but that is to be expected. We secret ourselves outside under a tree, surreptitiously watching him for a sign of change. I know he’s racked with guilt; we all are. He just can’t open up. At least not anymore, not like he used to be able to open up to me. And I took that away from him. I give him a look across the schoolyard and look back to my new heartthrob. He nods, understanding it all. I get up and walk over, prepared to kindle the blaze.

Can you feel me?
Deep inside

“We need to talk, and you know it.”

He does not respond, not so much as an inclined head or a perked ear. So I sit next to him and he does not flinch. Have I killed all feeling within him? I gaze at him with sympathy in my eyes that he surely does not see. I care, I really do, for both of them. I briefly wonder if I made the right choice. I look back to see him lounging in the shade, unconcerned and free, and know I did.

I feel the motion beside me and look up, but he is already stalking inside. He does not look back. Are ties that easy to sever? He sure makes it seem so. I tear up a bit as I get up and turn my back to him. This rift may not be easy to mend, but there, under the tree, is the answer I’d been looking for subconsciously all the time I’d been with someone else.

He rises to meet me, and we embrace tightly. It’s uncanny our mental understanding of each other. He, too, has been smitten with others, but was missing something. He, too, has felt the pain of loss from them, but here, together, we can begin to mend.

There’s no time to deny that I’ll need you
And I’ll be there to inhale your delightful day
There’s no time to deny, I will need you
That’s why I’ll be there to relieve your painful day

End notes:  Pairing (in case you didn't get it) is Odd/Yumi, where Yumi dumps Ulrich for Odd.