Saito looked up as Yoko entered the small room. A cup of tea in each hand. He watched while continuing to massage his sore knee. The room was dark, lit only by the single heater. The wind outside was coming down from the mountains, sweeping over the trees and causing the old farmhouse to creak. He wasn't sure what conversation was coming, but the fact that Yoko had brought tea couldn't be a good sign.

  Yoko set one of the cups down next to him before sitting on the floor and folding her legs underneath her. For a long while she didn't move. Didn't speak. Her face tight and tired, she sat unmoving. Saito waited.

  "I think I'm falling in love with him." She said softly. Almost too softly. Saito didn't need to ask who. There was only one person she could be talking about. Silently she stared down at her tea cup, picking at the hem of her sleeve.

  Saito reached for his own tea. "Hmmm." He said in the time honored tradition of an old man acknowledging a statement he didn't know how to respond to.

  "And I hate it. Every time I look at him I think of Wei Lin. How she watches him when she thinks no one is looking." Yoko pressed her lips together in a tight line and swallowed hard.

  Saito took a long sip of his tea.

  "I want him. I want him so badly, but every minute I spend with him is one more I've taken from Wei Lin." Yoko's voice was fragile now. Like thin ice over an autumn pond.

  Saito put his tea down and rubbed his leg again. "This is between you and Wei Lin. We both know how poor my advice is."

  The statement hung in the air like smoke. Visible but intangible. The words spoken with remorse. Defeat.

  "You couldn't have known what he was like." Came Yoko's deadpan response.

  "Hmph. I could have opened my eyes. If I hadn't been so focused on his income and his cheerful words, maybe I could have spared you."

  "If you had paid more attention. If I had paid more attention. If it had been pnting season. If mom had still been here. If Yuji had moved here. If Hon Ri was here. If Shinichi chose some other girl... "If" is a useless word in this context."

  "Hrmmm."

  "You don't have a problem with me and Yuji?"

  "It's nice to see you smile again."

  The roof creaked with the wind, drawing attention to the silence. Saito took another drink of his tea. Yoko stared down at her own cup.

  "Wei Lin deserves a chance. She's not broken. She could give him a future. What do I offer? Someone else's children? A broken soul? I flinch every time he touches me. We couldn't marry even if we wanted."

  "You could give him a home."

  Yoko huffed. Something short of a ugh. More brittle. "I don't know if I can do that. Wei Lin deserves him."

  "Have you asked her about her feelings? She chewed me out for treating her like an object. Learn from my mistakes."

  Yoko didn't respond. Saito reached over and put his hand on hers. She stared at his calloused fingers for a long while.