I've been seeing a woman in my dreams.

3: No Safety

"So, you don't know the guy, but he follows you home every night?" I tried not to think of the night before. But luckily for me, Kaeda was having issues of her own.

"I don't," Kaeda said. Despite expressing true emotion, I found that her English was very controlled and easy to understand. Her hands were still as she gripped the Coke can.

I wanted to hug her and tell her that she was going to be fine, but the Japanese aren't a very touchy people, and I had a feeling that physical contact might have somehow damaged our relationship. I know now that hugging her as we had our lunch break would have meant the world to her, but I just listened to her talk.

There was a man following her home every night after she got off work. A man that she had no relation to her or memory of. Kaeda went on to explain she tried talking to him only once but realized there was no reasoning with the man as soon as she attempted to speak to him.

Kaeda explained after she asked him if he needed help, he just stared at her. When she turned to continue her route. She knew the man was following her because of the extra set of footsteps behind her. He never stepped a foot into her apartment complex, but the experience disturbed her more than she was leading on. I asked Kaeda if there was a way for me to help; she was hesitant to reply to that question at first but eventually gave me a nod.

"I'm sorry. Could you walk me home tonight?"

I always played a romantic fantasy about walking Kaeda home from work to the door of her apartment. I dreamt we'd have our first kiss overlooking Kanagawa as streetlights ignited the city around us from either her apartment or mine, but her request greeted me with an anxious sensation of possible trouble, not the desirable adventure of romance in a relationship. "Of course I can do that," I told her. Again, I had the urge to wrap myself around her, but I restrained myself.

"You can spend the night too," she reassured. "So you don't have to walk all the way back home."

My cheeks felt like a hot iron was pressed against them, but when I looked at Kaeda, I realized there was no point in thinking of anything obscene, like sex or detailed gossip. "Are you sure?"

She turned to face me, her face lighting with friendly pleasure. "Yes, of course I am!"

When we got back to the office, I thought about the dangers of myself being at her home. What if the demons plaguing me decided to torment Kaeda? This thought ran my mind raw, so I made several mistakes during office hours and had to stay a little longer than usual, even after Kaeda clocked out. Nonetheless, she waited for me out front. Kaeda and I knew each other well enough at a professional level to know when we weren't doing our best. She regarded me with a quick glance and frowned. "I'm just asking you to spend the night, David. You don't need to be nervous."

I let out an awkward laugh as my blood started to heat my face. "No, it's not just— I've so much on my mind right now. I don't want to make a fool of myself."

It was Kaeda's turn to laugh, and when she did, my heart started to race. I had always found Kaeda to be an attractive woman, but it was that laugh that made me realize I valued her so much more than a crush. I smiled before she could see my stop-sign red face. When she stopped, she told me I didn't need to worry about her thinking poorly about me. My expression must've changed because a look of concern came over her, and she grabbed my sleeve. "Daijōbudesuka??" (Are you okay/all right.)

"I'd be lost with you," I admitted,

She let go of my sleeve and gave me a loose smile. The gravity of the situation was nowhere near as intense as she realized. She gave me an "Oh, sannkyu" and then waited for me to lead the way.