Do it For Me Now

The prequel to Good Day.
You can read it here.

It starts pre-Rhymes in Yumi's timeline. After the time-skip, it's a little into Yumi's involvement with Rhymes before she pushes him away.
This one's for you, Yiling.
Enjoy.



The thing that made Jet D’Vulpe stand out the most from the rest of the boys was how passionate he was. He displayed his emotion through his art, which were inspiring and alluring. He was rather shy; no one could really understand what such a quiet boy was expressing. The fact that there was something more to him was the reason why Yumi fell for him in the first place. Such dedication touched him; no matter how many little things he did to push her away she tried to get his attention. Jet decided one day that maybe she deserved it, mustering the courage to ask her out.

No doubt, he fell for her as well. For the first time in his life, he felt like someone was paying attention and that someone cared, and wanted Yumi to feel the same. Even though Jet was generally shy, he had so many interesting things to say. Never once did Yumi’s attention falter in the least. Whenever she needed advice, Jet was always there. Whenever she needed to feel loved, he was always there. She never felt alone because Jet was there to protect her. Even though they went to different schools, he trusted her. To him, Yumi was the epitome of kindness and caring. She would never do anything to hurt him. Amongst all the emotions that Jet expressed through art, for the next two years he forgot what fear was like.

“Hello?” Thank goodness, Yumi finally picked up.

“Hey!” Replied Jet cheerfully. He almost forgot the fact he had to call her five times before she would pick up. This was odd, because he always called her around this time. Perhaps she was busy.

“Love, I can’t talk tonight.” His suspicions were right.

“Okay then. I love you.” Jet was a little disappointed. She whispered, “I love you too” barely enough for him to hear, did he daresay it, a little unhappily. Oh well, it was only one night, right? A variation of Yumi neglecting him would occur over the next few weeks every night. Fear was going to make a devastating comeback.

Yumi seemed sad every time they’d talk, and Jet wanted to know why. She would only reply “I don’t know, I’m just not happy” every time. It was either that or she was busy. Could he not make her happy anymore? Doubts began to stir. He began doubting himself, doubting everything around him, and it showed in his art.

“Jet, what’s wrong?” his art teacher frowned, placing a hand on his shoulder.

It was art class. They were supposed to be working on a project, but Jet merely stared at the blank canvas, his once deep blue eyes, full of emotion, were now pale.

“Nothing, miss,” he lied. His eyes met his brother’s, also blue, who was painting a picture of an armored knight with a large shield. His brother frowned at him. His art teacher told Jet to get working on it and went over to his brother, leaning in and talking to him. Jet pretended to create a practice sketch.

“…difficult…”
“…worried…”
“…intense…”
Jet couldn’t pick up much of their conversation.



“Hello?”

“Wow, I thought you weren’t going to pick up.” Jet’s words were cold.

“Don’t say that…” Yumi replied. Jet sighed.

"You’re probably busy anyways. I’m just going to leave you alone.”

“Wait, don’t go. You’re not bothering me.”

“Love, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know…”

“If I did anything wrong, I’m sorry!”

“You didn’t do anything wrong…”

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“I’m just not happy.”

“You’ve been not happy or neglecting me for six months! Honest to God, Love, I feel like complete shit! Please, I can help…what’s wrong…” He was desperate for answers.

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Yumi only replied in tears.

“Love-“

“I want to be alone now…”

Jet sighed.

“I love you…” he whispered.

“I’m sorry, Love.”

The dial tone was a stab to the chest.



Jet was living in fear of losing the thing that meant most to him. It gripped him, suffocated him, and tortured him. Suicide was the coward’s way out. He needed to see Yumi in person and set things straight. He wanted- no, needed to know what the fuck was going on. They decided to meet at the park at the top of the hill after school. Jet was there first, sitting on the grass on a clear day in spring. Yumi was half an hour late; Jet immediately took offense to it. Fucking hell, Jet thought, first I’m not even good enough to pick the fucking phone up for, and now you don’t even show the respect to show up on time. As Yumi walked up the hill, Jet hid his cold stare and stood up, waiting for her. He was pale and looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

“I’ve had enough. I can’t take this.”

“What do you want me to do, love?”

“Show me that you care about me?!”

“I can’t do that for you!”

“Why,” Jet breathed, “the fuck,” his teeth clenched, “not?”

“I-“

“You don’t know?!” Jet interrupted. “I’ve had it with that! Why do you keep hiding things from me?! You say you care about me, you say you love me, yet you utterly fail to show it! You’ve done fucking nothing for me over the past year. You watch me suffer; yet you’re the one crying. You can’t even pick up the phone and talk to me! Yumi, you’ve honestly let our relationship go to shit over no reason.”

Yumi was speechless.
He let the words sink in for a second and watched the tears start.

“I just want things to be back to normal…” he frowned.

“Things have changed!”

“How?!” He stared at her fiercely.

“I…met someone else.”

Time seemed to freeze for a moment as something occurred in Jet’s eyes that she could only describe as glass breaking into millions of pieces. It would be the last time that she would see them.
Jet turned around and walked down the hill, leaving Yumi there alone.


Yumi would never forget that one moment, even a year later while visiting her father’s grave. Yumi remembered how it was Jet who comforted her when she missed her father. She said she would always love him and care about him, and even after a year that never changed. The guy at school that her friends pressured her into going out with left her two weeks after they got together. Guilt forced her into isolation and loneliness.

On her way out of the cemetery, she noticed a few pieces of broken glass on the ground. They reminded her of the very last moment she had with Jet; she never heard from him again. Reminiscing caused Yumi to bump into a boy her age. He was tall, had spiky black hair, and was wearing a light leather jacket.

“Whoa,” he said, “you alright?”

“Sorry!” Yumi apologized.

The boy seemed oddly familiar.

“Hey, you’re Yumi aren’t you? Sorry about your Dad.”

“Yeah, and it’s alright. Who are you?”

“I’m Jay D’Vulpe, Jet’s brother.” Jay replied. Yumi’s eyes widened.

“How’s Jet been doing?” she asked slowly, quietly.

“He’s…better.” Jay smiled warmly.

“What?”

“I’ve gotta’ go. See you around Yumi.” He waved curtly and walked off.


Yumi became obsessed with getting into contact with Jet again. She tried calling his cell phone with no luck; it was turned off, and she was too shy to call their house. Then she remembered all the letters that Jet wrote for her. She kept all of them, even the envelopes. His address was on them. Yumi had never been to his house before, so she was excited and optimistic. She wanted to surprise Jet, and she knew him well enough to know that he was a forgiving person.

Armed with Jet’s letters and envelopes, she set out to find his home and surprise him. It was surprisingly easy to find, even though it was so far away from her home. It was a nice townhouse with a white garage door and balcony. There were two windows at the very top. Perhaps one of those windows was one of Jet’s. Her optimism was replaced by nervousness. She went up to the door and rang the doorbell exactly three times. After a couple of seconds, a woman answered the door. She looked young, but the woman’s eyes were very sad, and Yumi had no doubt that this was Jet’s mother. He had her eyes.

“Hello Mrs D’Vulpe, is Jet home?” Yumi asked timidly.
She looked like she was about to cry. Jet’s mother paused for a second.

“Come in, dear.”

Jet’s mother sat her down at the dining table and poured her a glass of water. She then sat across from Yumi and paused again. The house was quiet, as if it were empty besides Yumi, Jet’s mother, and possibly Jet himself, who was probably napping somewhere. Yumi remembered that Jet’s cute little naps during the day. He was never the most energetic person she knew.

“Jet never told you that he had leukemia,” said his mother.
Yumi gripped her glass tightly, just as guilt gripped her.

“About a year and a half ago, it became more aggressive and continued to worsen over time. There was nothing we could do to stop it.” Her voice was breaking.
It choked her. It stabbed her. It cut her. It tortured her.

“A little less than a year ago, he gave into it and passed away.”
Each word, each syllable, each letter- destroyed her.

Jet’s mother got up and went upstairs in tears, leaving Yumi alone in the kitchen. She could not cry because she was completely robbed of her emotion, just as Jet must’ve felt a year ago. After a minute, Mrs. D’Vulpe came back downstairs with a small white book with a blue binding. It must’ve been his journal; those were his colors.

“He kept a journal while he was in the hospital during his last few weeks. He wrote in there that he wanted you to read it. There are some things in there that only you will understand.”

“Thank you Mrs. D’Vulpe.” Yumi put the journal in her bag. “I’ll go now, sorry.”
As Mrs. D’Vulpe was showing Yumi out, she stopped her at the door.

“You meant so much to my Son. Why did you abandon him when he needed you the most?”

“Because I’m a horrible person.”


Yumi read the journal as soon as she got home. The beginning of Jet’s final days was cold and angry. He could never forgive her, he could never trust anyone ever again; Jet hated her for what she did to him, after all he did for her. The whole beginning was full of cursing. Some pages were just angry pen scratches. About two weeks after, Jet began to calm down and began to express himself lyrically. At this point he was miserable and broken, yet he showed courage. There was an average of five “suicide is for the weak” writings on every page from then on. He never really wrote about his day-to-day at the hospital. Perhaps expressing himself through his words was his day-to-day.

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears,
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears,
And I held your hand through all of these years,
But you still have…all of me.

At the very last page, Jet had composed a song. She noticed that bits and parts of it were conceived throughout the journal but he put it together in the end. He didn’t just put together a song at his life’s end, in a way he put himself together in the end. Jet had finally moved on and forgave Yumi and himself. Yumi smiled. Even in death, Jet still managed to protect her from the greatest enemy he could face: himself.

Sorrow is what I hate but it's grown my sensations,
Regrets taught me how to make any hard decisions.
Peace is always by my side but I've never felt it once,
Love is not the word only for the sweet romance.

Well, I'm scared, scared, scared, scared to death,
And I'm scared to keep on going on my way.
Well, I'm scared, scared, scared, scared to death,
And I'll tell myself I'm special till the end.

Recalling my torn, broken, aching heart of these long days,
And all the memories I wanted to forget for making mistakes/
Recalling, breaking, aching, crying, making sure to me,
And I take all and grin at my future on the way…

Sorrow is what I hate but it's grown my sensations,
Regrets taught me how to make any hard decisions.
Peace is always by my side but I've never felt it once,
Love is not the word only for the sweet romance.

Yumi’s smile faded. She wouldn’t let this happen with Rhymes.