"Where have my shampoo gone to? I'm sure there was still some remaining." Sakura Amamiya, a 16-yr old freshman of Tokyo University, was turning all her things, searching for shampoo. When another girl with long, black hair came in and saw her making mess, she asked, "Miko nee-chan, have you seen my shampoo? I can't seem to find it."
Sakura didn't receive any response other than the stifled laugh. She directed Miko a questioning stare. "S-sorry." Miko apologized, holding back her laughs. "It's just that you really seem to forget something so easily, considering that I'm three years older than you. Your memory fails you more than mine does. Didn't you throw it already yesterday after you clumsily dropped it in the bowl?"
Realizing what her roommate-slash-daughter of her father friend has said, the young girl turned red, embarrassed probably because she forgot what happened or the fact that it fell on the bowl. "Uh, y-yeah, you're right." She was scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. "And it seems like I forgot to buy some." She said, still embarrassed.
Miko patted her shoulder and pointed at something. "Don't worry. You can get from my sachets." Then, shyly, she got one and thanked Miko for it.
Finally, after being inside the bathroom for about an hour, carrying the empty sachet, she was looking for something- a trash bin to throw it into when she suddenly heard a familiar TV commercial about the same brand of shampoo she was holding.
There was a man, alone in a seashore, waiting for someone to be with in the city of romance, Paris and a voice saying, "Help him by purchasing 'Rapunzel' shampoo of any variant in sachets and open it to find prizes other than sharing a whole week with this hunk actor!" on the TV screen, Sakura saw lots of sachets flying with prints of "iPod Nano", "Laptop", and different amounts of money.
Although she wasn't a showbiz-lover, curiosity won her after seeing all those cash prizes. She opened it, searching if, somehow by any chance, there was something written. Her enthusiasm died when she saw the inside of the sachet. She sighed and realized that Miko wasn't there. "I guess I'll tell her later then."
Sakura was about to lock their apartment door when she remembered that she left the sachet. "Why do I forget such things?" She wondered as she walked her way towards the nearest mall.
It has already been almost two months since this auburn-haired girl lived almost independently from her parents, after being accepted at the most prestigious university of Japan. She stays at an apartment near the campus with a distant relative of her whom she just knew.
Being accepted at Tokyo university had placed greater pressure on her shoulders, and not to mention that her older brother was also once a student there but unfortunately, due to some negative influences directed to him, he began losing the will to study harder and instead, resulted him to go back to our hometown and stop studying until he has woken up.
She was thinking that she was already spending too much that she might have already have extracted every cent her parents have just to finance her studies and some silly wants. "That's why I must do this!" She convinced herself.
Without her noticing it, she has already arrived at her destination and proceeded to the information booth and presented the sachet she got. The man in-charge gave her an awarding smile and said, "Congratulations! You must be really excited to get your price, aren't you?"
She didn't know why the man in-charge was congratulating her with just what she got, but she had to be respectful so she gave him an off-willed smile. The man told her to wait for a while and he talked to someone over the phone and it hasn't reached ten minutes when a man in a tailor suit came and was greeted by the man she had talked with before.
The man in the tailor suit faced her and shook her hands. "You must be excited to get your prize. I'm sorry but could you wait for a little while? There are some people who want to meet with you. I've already spread the word and they wanted to meet you so that they could award you personally."
"There really is no need for that." She refused, wanting to return to her room soon. She did not see why she has to meet up with them, but the man talked her into it, so she accepted. "When?" she asked.
"Right now." The man eagerly replied.
"What? But it's so sudden. I didn't even have time to ask permission." Sakura said in surprise.
"Alright then. You should call home now 'cause we must hurry." The man reminded her.
She decided that she'll only tell Miko but she wasn't picking up her phone. 'I guess there's no need to worry much. I'll just have to go home before dinner.' She thought as she closed her phone and said that she was ready to leave.
A woman in her early 30's came up to her and said, "I'll accompany you there. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be in a man's presence the whole time. Anyways, I'm Fumi, the lawyer of the company responsible for 'Rapunzel' and I'm here to escort you." Sakura gladly shook hands with her and followed the woman obediently.
She was quite surprised when the lady led her to luxurious silver Mercedes Benz, seeing that she was supposed to get inside; she smiled shyly and rode in it before Fumi.
The engine revved away and Fumi realized that Sakura was bothered by something. "The manager didn't tell you where we're going, am I right?" the young girl nodded shyly and the older one gave her a reassuring smile and said, "Don't worry. We're meeting them at a hotel. If you're wondering where, you'll have to wait and see."
The girl just smiled, feeling a bit relieved that Fumi will be with her while she gets to meet those people. She felt that Fumi was somehow a good person so she believed in her.
A pair of blue eyes was scrutinizing the girl, who was staring outside the moving car quietly and musing herself. "Can I call you Sakura-chan?" she asked suddenly, making the auburn-haired girl a bit surprised but then nodded in approval. The lady giggled a bit and said, "You really are a shy type, aren't you?" Sakura blushed pink at her sudden remark. "See. You don't even retort on my comments."
"I'm...I mean it's just that I'm not used to speak in this language yet. I still feel awkward." She confessed, not making any eye contact with the person beside her.
The woman was interested and asked, "From where are you, anyway?"
Sakura was hesitating to tell whether the name of the province or the city itself and finally answered, "From Hong Kong."
"Really? I grew up there, too!" Fumi replied in Mandarin. It took Sakura for a while to digest what she heard. She turned towards Fumi and saw her smiling. "It looks like you don't believe in me?"
Sakura chuckled, realizing that she must've looked rather idiotic. "No, it's not like that. I was just surprised. I never expected to meet someone who's also from Hong Kong."
"What's your family name, again?" Fumi asked the delighted girl.
"Amamiya." She answered.
As expected, Sakura saw Fumi realizing something. "Are you connected to the governor there?"
"Yes, he's my father's older brother." She explained, as if it had been spoken more than a dozen times before.
"You mean 'The Engineer Miyamoto' is your father'?" Sakura nodded. "I was attending most of the parties your family had been hosting but I don't quite recall your face. I know that he also has two boys...wait-" she was thinking deeply when suddenly she remembered something. "You have celebrated your birthday together with Ken when you were 6, ne?" She again nodded. "That's odd. All I can remember about you was when you were 6. I can't seem to recall when you were even younger."
Sakura laughed awkwardly and said, "I guess I was too shy?" The answer was more of a question than a statement. She was not sure why but somehow, she managed to tell Fumi some things that had been troubling her, but when she realized that she poured it all out to someone she had just met, she turned red and faced towards the window in embarrassment.
"Hey, Fumi-san-" She was cut-off by Fumi.
"Too formal. I would like you to call me Fumi nee-chan. Plus, you don't have to worry about what you said. I'll tell no one about it. I was quite surprised when you said it, though. You haven't told anyone about it, have you?"
Both of them laughed and chatted animatedly, peaceful with the other's presence. They seemed to have told each other everything about themselves when the chauffer stopped the car and said, "We have arrived, Madam."
"I guess we have to continue later. Everyone had been waiting for us." Fumi got out after a valet opened their door as Sakura followed suit.
In her surprise, she was greeted by a 75-storey building. "Whoa! So huge! It's as wide as one-eights of the China Wall!" A greater surprise hit her when she saw the large sign above them, "SHIRO HOTEL?" She racked her brain for that familiar name.
"HOOOEEE!" Almost every people within the ten-mile radius heard her shriek. Feeling embarrassed, she apologized continuously and stared at Fumi questioningly. "Why didn't you tell me we're going off the main island? I thought we were just going somewhere at the heart of the city."
Fumi was rather amused with the girl's reaction. "Don't worry. I'll call Miko later. I'm sure she'll understand. Stop worrying and let's get inside now. We have a lot of people to talk with about your decision." Then again, she gave her an assuring smile.
Fumi held the girl's hand while they entered the lobby and into the VIP restaurant where three old men in tuxedos, a man in his late 30's and a face she had already seen many time in TV were waiting for them, sitting around a circular well-polished table.
"Shiro-san, this is the girl who was lucky to have got the winning sachet." Fumi faced Sakura and one-by-one introduced themselves to her. They rather welcomed her warmly.
The three old men are the highest officers of the company that made "Rapunzel." The man in his late 30's is the manager of the last man. "And lastly, as you may have already known, he is Li Syaoran."
'Li Syaoran, a man in his early 20's is already one of the most famous leading actors in the whole of Asia. He has already starred in a lot of TV novellas and also award-winning movies for the past six years- that is, according to what Fumi nee-san told me. Such a successful man.' Sakura thought while forcefully smiling at something beside the actor.
Breaking her thought, Fumi introduced her. "And this young lady here is Amamiya Sakura, a Freshman of Tokyo University." One-by-one they shook hands with her, saying things like: "Nice to have met an intellectual child." Or "Congratulations for winning." Or "Thank you for purchasing our product."
All she replies is, "Me, too. It's an honor to meet you." And "Thank you." Attached with an obliged smile.
In reality, Sakura doesn't like meeting the likes of actors and actresses 'cause there is one- and only one- impression in her mind attached to being actors and actresses. "The greater the achievement being actors, the more they are pretentious." But she, herself, is also one of the greatest pretenders of all.
So when the chocolate-haired actor came closer to greet her with a "grateful" smile, she also gave an equal smile, but didn't reply when he said, "I'm really looking forward to that one-week trip to Paris." He made his voice as alluring as possible and even kissed the girl's hand.
The auburn-haired girl didn't expect him to, specifically, kiss her hands, making her blush a little. 'I would have the same reaction if another guy would do the same thing to me.' She made an excuse for herself.
Pretending to be delighted with his actions, she smiled sweetly, yet her pair of emerald orbs remained blank. "I'm so touched. Thanks." She finally replied, almost forgetting to hide the sarcasm.
The rest were really amused at the two's interaction and didn't even made a sound to interrupt them until the actor let the girl sit at a chair across him and the rest followed.
"I can already see that the two of you would have the greatest time in Paris. Looks like they are already in terms with each other." One of the board members commented and the other two seemed to agree while Fumi and the manager were chuckling at something different.
"Actually, about the trip, Sakura has something to ask." Fumi said after recovering from the earlier program. She signalled Sakura to start explaining.
The nervousness she felt before had vanished since she amused herself into something else, smirking to herself. She sat straight and acted business-like, swiftly changing to some poor girl from a sweet one.
"I was really thrilled to have found out that I won the trip to Paris with Li-san. I really think that it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance, for the fact that it is Paris, the city of romance. It is every girl's dream to go there, especially being escorted by a gorgeous and successful actors like Li-san..." she trailed off. No one interjected, knowing that she has still things to say and she nearly want to explode to laughter but tried her best to hold it in, seeing that the actor's ears were growing bigger.
Everyone was waiting for her to finish speaking, anxious on what she would have liked to ask them. Then she continued. "As you may have heard a while ago, I'm still a freshman at Tokyo University. I am actually living far away from home and there are two of us in the family who is in college and our youngest is in his third year in high school. My parents are just government employees but they kept on telling me not to worry about the money I'm going to need even though they are actually pushing themselves to the limit just to support us and I know that I am spending too much."
She didn't expect that the board members would actually sympathize with her so easily and that even Li and his manager would be spell-bound with her words. She, herself, didn't actually think that she could manage to make her eyes watery as she told them those words.
Continuing she said, "That's why I'm here to ask a favour that if it's fine with you that instead of going to the trip, I would like to ask for cash." Everyone except Fumi was surprised with her request. She faced the actor and said, "I know that you have other businesses that you should have attended at the time you were waiting for me and now that I'm talking here. I'm so sorry to have bothered you much. I know that this trip would have been the greatest time of my life but I just want to help my family rise from poverty through graduating in time from college and to work hard in the future.
"I just can't help to see my family suffer while I go and have the greatest time at all.." Sakura was really into letting Li think that she had a hard time thinking if she'd accept or reject the promo. "That's why I'm begging all of you to please consider the favour." The girl was doing her all to make them agree.
When she glanced at Fumi, she saw her smile amusingly. She was looking at the three old men who are near to agree.
Seeing that they still need a bit of push, Fumi said, "I have already analyzed our situation here. I asked Sakura a while ago how much she'd like to have instead of going ahead with the trip and answered me, 'I'm okay with at most half of the total expenses the trip would cost. In that way, the company would be able to allocate the rest in their other projects or even share it to some orphanage.'
"What she wishes is actually equal to a four-year tuition fee in her University and the remaining of her share in the half. If we accept her offer, not only she will benefit from it but the company, as well." Fumi and Sakura were eagerly waiting for the three old men to approve of it.
After discussing it with each other, Shiro-san, the president of the company asked Sakura "Are you 100% sure about this?" Without hesitation, she nodded. Then he faced Li and asked, "What can you say about this?"
Sakura was staring at him, trying her best not to give him a try-to-disapprove-and-you'll-not-see-the-sun-set look and instead, looked pitiful while thinking, 'I know what you're thinking. You're too relieved you don't have to spend a week pretending to have a great time with someone like me but then again, I ruined your schedule for having to tell you that I would just have to reject the promo when you could have a rest in your too-luxurious vacation houses with some women you flirted with.'
As she would have expected for him to answer, he said as he stared at Sakura, "That's really a pity. I was totally looking forward to spending a great meek with you in Paris but I know that you still have to do your best to finish college to help your family, so" he reverted his glance at the old men and said, "I saw that you should accept her favour. I really do admire your way of thinking. There aren't many kind of people like you nowadays, are there?"
Sakura smiled gratefully, this time not pretending one. "Thank you. I know you could understand me." But behind those words, she was thinking, 'If someone else would have told me that, I would gladly believe it but then again, you're not someone else.'
Finally, the president sighed in surrender and said to Fumi, "I'll leave it up to you to settle the paperwork of this agreement. Make sure that the University recognizes her scholarship 'cause we don't want any future problems this bright young lady to attend to. I'm sure she did the right choice."
This time, Sakura stood up and bowed thankfully at the three officials, honestly. "Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me. I can't thank you enough. I'll make sure that you'll see that you didn't make the wrong decision. Again, thank you."
The three men also stood up and shook her hands. "We should be the one thanking you. For the half of the cost will be given to the unfortunates who want to study to help their family in the future just like what you also want."
Those words made the girl even more happy and delighted, forgetting the actor for a while.
"I'm sure you are tired from travelling and dealing with us, old people. Fumi has already settled your room here so please feel free to use any service here. We really are glad to have you here." The last old man said gently and spoke to Fumi, "Make sure that by tomorrow lunch everything has been settled and that our special guest would be enjoying her stay here."
"Rest assured. I have already made the initial arrangements before we arrived here." That lady lawyer assured them.
The they approached the actor and his manager, giving them their apology and appreciation, as well before finally exiting the hall.
When the young man and his manager were about to exit, as well, they passed by the two women who were already near the door. "Well, we must be going as well. Nice meeting you." The manager said to Fumi.
When Li passed them, he smiled at Sakura whose left side can only be seen by the actor and said, "I hope we can see each other again-" he stopped when he saw that she was actually talking to the phone and rather felt embarrassed, but when he saw that no one was watching him, he continued walking, as if nothing happened.
As soon as no one was already in sight, Fumi started chuckling quite louder than usual.
"I guess you've seen that. Oh how priceless his face was. It took me great effort not to laugh when he was here." Sakura said, giggling, as well. "Do you think he knows that I've been messing with him?"
Fumi raised two thumbs up and said, "If I didn't know you, I would have surely believed your acts. This is our first meeting, but I had the impression that you are evil." The two of them laughed until the auburn-haired girl realized something.
"Now that I remember, I don't have any clothes. How am I going to change clothes? I can't meet them again with these." Sakura asked, panicking.
"You sure are evil but a frantic one, at that. Don't worry. We're going shopping. And don't worry about the bills. I already allocated some of your money for clothes and also to commemorate the start of our sisterhood, I'll treat you!" seeing that she couldn't do anything to stop the older woman, she surrendered and let herself be pulled towards the car, which drove them from one store to another.
She was dragged from stores to stores, being dolled up and bought what the older one thinks best suits the younger one, squealing "KAWAIII!" all the time.
They also bought something for Miko, who is, for sure, going to rattle with not bringing her along.
What the auburn-haired girl didn't like the most was when she was dragged into a summer outfit boutique where Fumi forced her to try out some bikinis but she refused to try so many so they ended up buying the one and only she fitted.
It was a two-piece, purple bikini. Fortunately, when she fitted it, no one besides Fumi and the sales girl who was busy in front of a computer was in the store or she wouldn't have gotten out of the changing room.
"Why do I really have to buy a bikini?" Sakura asked the black-haired woman who was evilly smiling at her success of forcing her in buying one.
"Because we are going night swimming tonight!" she answered enthusiastically. "We should have our dinner now since we didn't have lunch today. After that, we'll watch a movie then the much-awaited night swimming!"
Sakura couldn't do anything else but join in as well in Fumi's enchantments. They had dinner in a family restaurant then watched a movie.
When the movie had finished, the hurriedly went back to he hotel and asked some attendants to carry their shopping items in two full carts into Sakura's room and quickly changed into their swimsuits.
Sakura was still shy in her bikini so she put on the same sleeveless hoodie she wore before over the bikini and went to the shore with Fumi.
At the age of 33, Fumi's body has already matured, accentuated with a one-piece, red bikini leaving a little portion of her front covered made her appear sexier.
Fortunately, no one other than the two of them and two maids from a cottage are at that place, which intrigued her, too.
"This is actually an off-limits to customers, and since you are a special guest and that the owner was fond of you, we can have an access here to our hearts' content." The lawyer explained.
With only the bright full moon lighting the area, Sakura wore off her hoodie, still a bit shy but was pulled into the sea by the black-haired woman. They played like they were true sisters who were reunited after a long time of separation.
They still have not reached 15 minutes having fun when one of the maids called out to Fumi, saying that there was a phone call for her. So using a cordless phone, she talked with someone over the phone.
Sighing deeply, Fumi explained to Sakura what happened and that she needs to go there personally to fix some things for her scholarship.
Without any other choice, Sakura said, "Awww and I was having fun. I'm sorry to shorten your rest." She then felt a hand on her head.
"You don't have to apologize. I should be the one to do that. You won't have the time to have fun." Fumi said as she dried herself.
"No, don't worry about me. You've already shopped, ate and watched a movie with me. I had so much fun. You should go now, nee-chan. I'll stay here and so that I can do my emoting time." They both laughed.
Fumi looked at the younger girl worriedly before she and one of the maids went back. "Be careful and don't stay too late out here!" she reminded her.
When they were gone, Sakura noticed that the other maid left with her was getting bored, so she told her that she can go back first and that she'll just take a walk for a while and come after.
It took the maid for a while before agreeing to go on ahead. She wore her hoodie back but didn't close it.
She just sat there, at the shore, feeling relaxed as the wave hits her feet at a nice rhythm. She stared at the moon's reflection on the water. She was somehow hypnotized into staring at it that she didn't notice someone coming towards her.
"What does a beautiful young lady doing here all alone?" A sweet voice suddenly asked.
In response to this, the young girl shrieked and jumped almost ten meters from her original spot, cowering like a frightened little child. "HOOOEEE! Don't come near me! I'm not a suitable taste for ghosts!" She continued shrieking while burying her head between her knees and swatting her hands, as if to keep anyone from coming near her.
Seeing the girl act weird, the man who scared her couldn't help but laugh his heart out. When she heard him laughing, she couldn't help to take a look at him and when she realized who the man was, she turned red.
Fortunately for her, the moon was the only source of light around, hiding the redness of her face. "Ahem!" She cleared her throat, getting the man's attention.
"Oh, I'm sorry." He said, composing himself. He stood straight, his lean body showing off due to the fact that he has no shirt and he wore just board shorts, also showing off his torso. "I just got carried away. I didn't think that you were a scared-y cat." He said, smiling.
"Really?" Sakura asked sarcastically as she stood up, dusting off the sand on her legs. That's when she realized that she was showing off her bikini, making her blush even more and started moving towards the hotel.
When she passed the man, she stopped and faced him, "I forgot to tell you that all those comments I gave you were part of my acting. I just want to see a famous actor's hurt face." She said with a smirk then continued walking away.
Instantly, the man held Sakura's hand, holding her back. "What do you mean by that?"
Amber orbs stared through a pair of emerald eyes.
"Let me go!" the girl was trying to free herself from his clutch but couldn't manage to. "And to think that you were too gentle with me this morning." This made Syaoran let go of her. "This just proved how good you are as an actor." She said with such bitterness while rubbing her wrist.
"Pretending to be the 'perfect' person he is in front of other people and now that no one but you and I are here, you make fun and even hurt me." Sakura pointed out, glaring at the shirtless actor in front of her who was speechless and his blood boiling.
With all the complaining the auburn-haired girl was pouring out on the chocolate-haired actor, he couldn't even rebut a single word, making his anger pile up one after another.
"And you think that I will also be- oomph" emerald orbs flew wide open when out of the blue, Syaoran swiftly pulled her towards him, placing an arm on her back and the other on the back of her head. Aggressively, he lingered his lips on her untouched ones.
That incident caught her off-guard for a while but when she recovered, she pulled herself away from him and slapped him on the face.
"How dare you do that without asking my permission? But then again I will not let you do it whatever you do 'cause I do not want to touch something that has been played by millions of women who were just picked around the streets." The girl complained as she tried to control down the redness of her face.
Syaoran smirked and raised one eye brow, saying, "Really? I thought you were going to complain that I stole your first kiss but I guess you are not a sweet, virgin girl I once thought."
"Unexpectedly, you are right about that assumption. You really did steal my first kiss but I still couldn't help the fact that you stained my lips with those ones that you forcibly kissed me with." The girl said, disgusted.
"Aren't you a shy girl? Don't be shy. I know that you were delighted with what I did." He said, sweetly.
"Oh, my. You got me." Sakura suddenly changed emotion and she was playing with her fingers with a bowed head. "How'd you know I was shy?"
Actually, the actor was also surprised with her sudden change and was about to answer her question when the girl beat her to it saying "NO. It's alright. I know that I was apparently TOO SHY." She emphasized. "Too shy to tell you that..." the girl giggled shyly. "You are the most idiotic man I've ever met!" Her shy voice instantly turned outrageously loud.
"Do you really think that because you are an actor- a high-class man with a body and face you can show off you can do anything you want, especially to me? All you know is how to act in front of many people yet you don't actually know when to stop or when somebody else is acting up on you."
Having received those words from someone he only know by name and face, from someone who he also, unexpectedly kissed a few moments ago, he couldn't help but get frustrated and ask, "What have I done to you that you wouldn't stop complaining?"
"What?" the girl asked strongly, as if it was an obvious question. "Isn't it too obvious? You're an actor! And actors are all the same!" She answered, as if stating a general truth.
He couldn't make anything out of what she said after thinking over it three times. "I really couldn't understand you. What does it have to do with my being an actor? Is it because you are jealous that I am one and you are not?" he suggested.
His words worsen her already-bad mood. "Why would I be jealous of something I hate in the first place? And you say that you do not understand what I said? It's because all you, alleged actors, only know one thing about life- acting! Pretending about everything even when there's no camera around! Do you think that true people are like the ones on the script that it's alright to act around with them as you like?"
Images came flooding into her mind, making her tears run down her cheeks as she ran away from him, leaving him to absorb what has been said.
"What was that for? Was what she said acceptable? As if she knows anything about being an actor. Syaoran lied down on the sand, exhausted. He stared off into the dark sky that looked like a black veil.
Her words kept repeating inside his mind. "All you, alleged actors, only know how to act that even there's already no camera around, you still keep on acting, playing people's lives around you!" the young man instantly sat up, troubled by what he remembered.
'Her expression was truly sincere. It showed too much emotions-negative emotions that must have drowned her once, leaving her soaking wet after safely grabbing onto a stone. It's as if she really does mean what she said.' His mind was then completely troubled with the girl who hated actors, for some reason he couldn't fathom.
After running away from the actor, Sakura managed to dry off her tears before entering the hotel, thinking that Fumi might have already come back.
She opened her room and darkness welcomed her. Although it was dark, she didn't mind opening the lights and followed a small streak of light, coming from a balcony facing the ocean and having the greatest view of the moon.
On the balcony, there was a round table with three chairs surrounding it, pots of different flowers, vines hanging from above and two couches that are farthest from each other.
She sat on one of the couches, hugging her knee towards her chest while staring at the moon. "Why do I have to break down in front of that guy? This was the first time I did something honest that is against my will." What she did a while ago flashed into her mind. "That was really embarrassing. I must have looked really stupid to him."
Out of the blue, a memory about her mother and father came into mind, causing her to hug her knees stronger and her nails to dig into her skin. "I despise actors!"
The next morning, she woke up in her bed, with a blanket over her body in pyjamas. 'When did I get here and how is it that I am not wearing last night's clothes?" Sakura thought, curiously.
Knowing that staying in bed, wondering what happened would not give her the answers she was looking for, she stood up and exited her room after fixing the bed.
She smelled the fresh odor of the ocean and thought that someone might be in the balcony and when she had gone out, there is, indeed, someone sitting on one of the chairs around the round table.
"Oh, you're up. Great timing! Our breakfast just arrived. Come here and join me." It was Fumi. She was wearing a new set of suit already. Seeing that the girl was not moving, she came to her instead and pushed her towards the table and let her sit. "You must be surprised to see me here after you woke up. Actually, it's already near lunch, so you need to eat and it is terribly lonely to eat alone at my room."
Sakura stared at the meal in front of her but she couldn't recognize even one dish. "Uhm...nee-chan..." She looked at Fumi. "What are these? These aren't Japanese food, are they?"
The older lady smiled and said, "Yes, you're right. These are actually Mexican food. They are spicy though, you alright with that?" she asked.
Looking at the food again, Sakura was not sure what to eat first 'cause she loves spicy foods and that those cuisines are new to her. "Really? These are Mexican food? Are they really spicy?" Fumi smiled as she nodded, seeing that the girl was already in the mood. "Okay! I'll taste this one first!" the girl exclaimed while poking his fork on the dish closest to her.
Fumi was entertaining herself by looking at the girl looking delighted every time she takes a bite of a dish. "Hey, Sakura. Why were you crying when you slept last night?" She suddenly asked.
The auburn-haired girl was caught off-guard with the question that she stopped eating. She looked at Fumi and asked, "Did I really cry last night?" Fumi nodded. "So you were the one who brought me to my bed?"
"Didn't you remember?" The lawyer asked and when the girl replied with a questioning nod, she said, "I came here last night and I saw you crying in your sleep here at the balcony. Then I woke you up and you changed your clothes then went back to sleep on your bed. Don't you really remember it?" Fumi chuckled when Sakura honestly answered with a nod.
Now that Fumi mentioned it, she somehow felt something wet on the pillow she was sleeping on when she fixed her bed. She recalled what happened before she fell asleep and an image of a certain chestnut-haired guy came in mind.
She suddenly lost her appetite, so she placed her spoon down on her plate and excused herself from Fumi, saying something about upset stomach.
Fumi was surprised at her bluntness, not realizing she was excusing herself from something other than that.
Locking the door of the bathroom, Sakura felt stupid for what happened the night before, and felt her self drop to the ground.
She could feel the tears well up again in her eyes, but she had enough of crying in her eyes so she wiped it all away with her hands and after having the energy to stand, she faced the mirror and saw a pair of lifeless emerald orbs staring back at her.
The cold water somehow brought her back to her senses. Finally, after sighing a couple of times, she fixed herself and was about to go out when she remembered something.
She flushed the toilet.
In some odd ways, that made her feel a bit more light.
Fumi left her after having breakfast because she needs to finalize all the paper works for Sakura so that she can return to her apartment.
She said that she can do anything while waiting for her to return or order anything she wants. And so, after an hour of staring at the ceiling, she decided to roam around and explore the hotel.
She was mesmerized at the beautiful paintings and artefacts all around the hotel, but what mostly caught her interest was the large garden inside the hotel. She wonders how they can maintain the growth of the plants.
"You really are an astounding girl." Sakura turned around and saw one of the board members she faced yesterday. He walked towards her, giving her a smile.
The girl returned the smile and was not sure what he meant by what he said. "Oh, nice seeing you, sir."
The old man just stared at the garden and said, "I have seen you since a while ago. You seem to like these kinds of things. I saw you admire the artefacts around the hotel and now, I can also see that you like this garden. Not many kids of your age appreciate them. I sure am happy to have met you."
Sakura was surprised at his words. She didn't know that someone was watching her and that she was praised just by admiring the pieces of art and nature. "Yes, they give me this warm feeling of being alive. I sometimes wish that I have enough talent to share to others and give them the same feeling these art gave me."
The old man smiled at her words and patted her head. "I know you have that talent. You just need to find out what it is but the most important thing is what your purpose for it. I'd love to stay and have a chat with you but I must do some things. Please excuse me and you are more than welcome to come back here again and if there is something you need help with you can ask me. I'll be glad to. Farewell and be careful. Good luck with your studies." With that, Sakura gave her thanks and waved a goodbye.
She was quite happy that someone had appreciated her and also because she got to see different kinds of art she dreams of creating. She was humming her way towards the dining area when she spotted a certain amber-eyed boy who just turned her way and saw her change her cheerful expression into a dark one before walking to the opposite direction.
Syaoran sat up from his chair, surprising his manager. "Syaoran, where are you going?" his manager shouted at his retreating back, but he didn't get an answer.
The lad ran into the direction she headed to and after running into some cross-roads, he spotted her heading towards the elevator. He tried running towards it to catch up with her.
He did not mind the curious stares people around him were having. All he minded was that he could catch up with her.
"Wait!" he shouted. Sakura heard it and saw that he was coming so she frantically pushed the button to close it. Unfortunately for her, he got in just in time before it closed.
She would have tried getting off but the door is already closed and the elevator started moving. She mentally cursed herself.
There were only the two of them inside the elevator, which somehow relieved her- she doesn't need to put up an act anymore, but then again she's alone with the person she currently hates the most.
She wanted to bang her head against the wall because she has to endure this for the next 70 floors. 'Why did I even take the non-stop ride?'
Tanks to her pride, she still has her head in perfect shape. She doesn't want for the most-hated person of hers to see her ruin herself because of him.
After catching up his breath, Syaoran stared at the girl who was facing the wall of the elevator- her back towards him.
"Amamiya-san, are you alright? You seem to be avoiding me." He started to ask but he got no answer. He tried repeating two more times, but he still got no response.
He knows that being polite will not do it, and he was already at the limit. "Okay! I'm getting pissed! Why are you oh-so-sweet to me when there are people but when we're alone you fire at me accusations and as well as avoiding me as if I did something to you! What have I done to anger you?"
Sakura was already bothered with his non-stop blabbering but still forced herself not to answer and pretended to e-mail someone just to have something to distract her for a while.
Already irritated at her snubbing him, he grabbed her phone and said, "Oh, c'mon! How can you e-mail someone when there's no network coverage inside? Just answer me, dammit!"
This was his first time getting irritated at some girl who he had just met a day before. It is his first time to get angry at someone other than his cousin who knows just what button to push for him to blow. He never even gets angry at his manager or anyone at the show business. That's why he was surprised at himself when he got angry at the girl in front of him.
Annoyed, the girl tried getting back her phone but was unsuccessful. "How fare you? Give me back my phone!" She demanded, furiously.
"Tell me first- why did you evade me?" he insisted.
The emerald orbs stared at him as if her was supposed to know the answer. "You ask why? Simple- you're an actor!" she answered without hesitation, her age filled with anger and sorrow.
"There you go again with your 'because you're an actor' reason." He complained, surprising the girl. "What part of being an actor do you hate so much? Do you think all actors are the same just because they know how to act?" the girl stood there, not knowing why nothing couldn't come out from her mouth.
"And you say that we keep on acting even on normal everyday living. Is that why you hate us? The what do you call what you are doing to me? Aren't you fooling the rest as well?" those words came out his mouth out of frustration. Seeing that she was keeping quiet and was surely hurt, he felt guilty.
"Here, sorry." He said as he handed her phone. At the moment the elevator stopped, the auburn-haired girl ran out of the elevator. Syaoran was too upset to chase her so he decided to return to his room first and rest his head.
When he was looking for his key card, he realized that he still had her phone and decided to return it to her when the phone inside his room rang.
He answered at the sixth ring. It was his manager. "Syaoran, where did you go? I was looking for you ages ago! Don't you dare do that again! Anyway, get your things and we're going. The president wanted to talk to you about your work, ASAP!." He decided that he'd have to fix his things before he give back her phone.
When he reached the lobby, he asked the personnel behind the desk what room Sakura was in.
"Sakura Amamiya...let me see..." the lady searched for the said name. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Li-san. Amamiya-san had just checked out and left 10 minutes ago. Was there something you'd like to tell her?" she asked.
"She had just checked out? Are you sure she had already left?" He asked, hoping that she hadn't left. Unfortunately, the lady saw her with Fumi leave in a car. "Oh, thank you for the info." He then checked out and met up with his manager.
'I guess I'll have to return this, myself.' He thought as he sighed.
Meanwhile, the auburn-haired girl pretended to feel tired, which is partly true, so that Fumi would not bother her for a while. She was glad to find that when she returned to her room, Fumi said that they can already leave so she took the chance to finally get rid of that guy.
At the elevator incident, she just couldn't tell why she could not rebut at his words. She also felt guilty with what he said. "You say that we keep on acting even on normal everyday living. Is that why you hate actors? Then what do you call what you are doing to me? Aren't you fooling the rest as well?" Takumi's words kept on repeating in her head.
His words somehow hit her. She realized that he was speaking the truth. She was somehow guilty but the hatred she felt was still there.
She was staring outside the window and watched various merchandises of different stores pass by, and saw cellular phones on one shop. That's when she realized that her phone was still with him. 'Oh, shit!'