My Lips Are Sealed
Disclaimer: I own only my precious story here.
Author's Note: I sincerely thank you those who took a moment of their precious time to review.
Humor? I like including bits here and there.
Confidence? I don't have much, but I'll try my best. Thanks for the encouragement.
Sadness & secrets? Well, secrets play a part of the story so yea... Stop acting? That will ruin their career! XD There will be true moments where they won't act, but until then, please bare with "two-faces".
A friend of mine (Hiroyuki11) also helped me realize a lot of flaws/too obvious things, but I doubt I will go back and change them because 1) I'm lazy; it's a miracle even writing a story 2) by correcting the flaws will be A LOT of editing because it changes the content A LOT. If I do go back, that will probably be a long time later. Besides, this is just my first story, so I don't really need this to be perfect because nothing and nobody in this world is perfect. I am not an exception.
Too young to be playing "old" roles? Hmm…I haven't really thought about that one. Oh well…what's done is done. And well, I'm not making them play "that-old" couples, even if they're "married", they could still be "youngish"; young married couples seems so KAWAII. XD –shuts up-
Mini Recap
Little did they know, they were both thinking of the same thing:
'Because acting lets me escape reality.'
3. I c e - C r e a m - F l u f f
Sunday
Sealed With a Kiss
One lived on fiction. She wrote, she read, she imagined how it would've been like if she had her parents living today.
The other lived on lies. The truth pained him, so he used lies to maintain his sanity.
Rang was in a black business suit and blue striped tie. He was sitting in a small, local café, enjoying his morning cappuccino before work. He looked out the transparent glass window and saw…
"Cherry, darling."
"Cherry."
"Wifey!"
Cherry groaned. "I was in a middle of a sentence, hubby!"
"Well…I'm s-o-r-r-y that your precious story is more important than me, but there's a phone call from Aunt Sayori for you."
"Oh, ok." Cherry left the room for the phone call as Rang went to sit on the computer desk and continued Cherry's work as he had nothing better to do at the moment.
He looked out the transparent glass window and saw the same girl he nearly ran over yesterday. She was across the street, sitting on a bench and holding her hand out with birdseeds on her hand to two little birdies and a book was open on her lap. Her red eyes had a tint of happiness in them, unlike yesterday whereas they were devoid of emotion. Unknowingly, a small smile rose on his face as he watched her kind nature with the little creatures.
Then he looked at his watch, left a tip on the table and headed out the café with his business briefcase. Wouldn't you like to know where he parked his car? Near the innocent-looking girl across the street.
He walked over and started taking out his car keys as if he didn't acknowledge her presence.
"Hi."
"…Hi." He replied back.
"So…what are you doing here?" Rang asked. He didn't know what tempted him to continue having a conversation with the girl when he didn't want to have one with her in the first place. Besides, she could really be insane for all he knew. Curiosity about her? Maybe.
"Reading."
"Do you always read?"
"Yes."
"Don't you have a career or something?"
"Writing."
One-answer replies didn't help him at all. He looked down at his watch and saw that he only had seven minutes to get to work.
"…uhh…I have to go now. See you some other time."
"Bye-bye." Cherry waved.
He opened his car door, went in, strapped on the seatbelt, started the car, and drove off.
He didn't know he dropped his business card. Cherry picked it up.
"CEO of Irino Enterprise…Rang Irino…"
Rang massaged his head after reading so many proposals and papers. He looked at the fancy clock on the wall. It was 6 pm already. He gathered some papers into his briefcase and left his office, locked the doors and exited.
It was raining and he was about to make a run to his car, but his eyes caught something. Near his black Mercedes was a young lady holding an umbrella. She turned to face his direction as if she felt someone staring at her.
The same girl he saw this morning.
She walked towards him and brought the umbrella over them to cover them both.
"Why are you here?" Rang asked her. "Were you waiting for me? How did you know I work here?"
"Yes." Then Cherry held up his business card that he dropped this morning.
"You dropped it this morning."
"Why did you wait for me?" Rang asked.
"Your eyes intrigue me." She lifted her hand and touched his cheek gently.
Rang's cheeks became crimson. "W-what?" He stuttered like a shy high-school boy who was on his first date. Sure, he and Miya were in the same proximity before, maybe even closer, but this girl… the feeling she gave him made his heart flutter.
"They're like mine." Cherry inched her face closer as she gazed into his blue eyes.
He blushed even more.
"What are you talking about? They're both different colors."
"You're like me. You're sad too."
"Why would I be sad?"
"Because you're not doing what you want to do. You're not happy with the life you're living now even though you look like you are. It didn't turn out how you wanted it to, did it?"
Rang didn't respond because he didn't know how to respond.
"It's getting late. You should go home." He changed the topic as he looked away from her eyes. He was afraid to look in them. They seemed so powerful. It was as if her gaze could penetrate through his walls of lies that he spent so many years to build, to protect himself from accepting the reality, the reality that fate, no his parents set for him.
She didn't say anything. Rang made a gesture for them both to go to his car. She complied, not with words, but with actions as she maintained her umbrella over them both and followed him back to his car.
They got into the car and strapped the seatbelts as Rang started his car.
"Where do you live?" He asked.
"1735 Lily Street." (A/N: This is a non-existent place…I think; if it does exist, pardon me, I don't own it.)
Rang drove in silence. When they reached her house, the rain had already stopped.
"Thank you for bringing me home." Cherry undid her seatbelt and opened the car door.
He watched as she walked to her house and took out her keys. It looked like a normal two floor house and was painted yellow. There was a white porch in the front and a cherry blossom tree in front of the house.
Cherry opened the door and turned to wave goodbye.
He waved back, watched as the door shut, the lights of the house turn on and drove away.
Rang was there at the café the next morning. He parked his car in the same spot as yesterday. Rang was looking through the window again, in hopes of seeing the girl he saw yesterday. He didn't know why he wanted to see her again, but he felt as if she was someone he can talk to, to be friends with, even listening to her talk would be nice. But Rang didn't see Cherry like he did yesterday; he wondered why wasn't she there. With time running out, he went to work.
Knock knock
"Come in.", replied Rang.
"Mr. Irino, your new secretary is here, so I'm leaving now." Said Rei, Rang's old secretary who was four months pregnant and wanted to quit the job because of her pregnancy.
"Alright, it was nice working with you Rei." He smiled.
"Are you sure you don't need to interview this young lady first?"
"I trusted you to find someone capable of the job, so it should be no problem."
"Thank you. She's the niece of my mother's friend and I've met her. She's pretty nice… I hope the best for you and her." Rei winked.
Rang laughed. "I already have a girlfriend, Rei."
"Oh, you never know…" Rei giggled as she left. "Bye!"
"Bye."
Then his new secretary came in.
He didn't expect the girl he had wanted to see this morning to come in wearing a business blouse and skirt.
"Y-you're my new secretary?"
Cherry smiled brightly. "Hi, Mr. Irino. I'm Cherry Amamiya, your new secretary. You may call me Cherry."
He coughed and "ahem-ed" as he regained his professional, business-like posture. "I'm Rang Irino, your new…boss. You may call me Rang; Mr. Irino is so formal. Did Rei fill you in the details for this job?"
She nodded.
"Alright. Here, type up these documents."
"Anything else? Rang-san?" His name came out of her mouth like music to his ears. How he'd love to hear it again… he snapped out of it.
'Stupid Rang, what are you becoming into? A lovesick puppy?'
"No, you may go now."
"Yes, Rang-san." Cherry exited his office.
He glanced through the window at Cherry every now and then.
May it be a coincidence or that their meeting was inevitable and ultimately, they had fell in love…at second sight – not. They were just attracted to the feeling the other provided when they were near each other – for now and forever.
"I didn't know that you were interested in writing too." Cherry said as she entered the room and walked towards her husband. Rang smiled.
"Only this one, love. Only this one."
Cherry smiled. She proceeded to sit on Rang's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck as his arms snaked around her petite waist.
"It's special isn't it?"
"More than the ones you've made in the past..." And they engaged into a breath-taking passionate kiss and began to head towards the bed.
Kinomoto Household
Sakura opened the door to her house and walked in. Touya went out, but her father was home and he greeted her.
"Welcome home, Sakura."
"I'm back…Otou-san."
Fujitaka smiled. "I made spaghetti. Would you like some?"
"No thank you. I'm going out soon. I'll be meeting Tomoyo-chan, Eriol-kun and Syaoran-kun at Twilight Ice Cream." (A/N: I don't think this place exists in real life. If it does, it's a mere coincidence.) Sakura said as she headed for the staircase to her room.
"You and Li-san are dating, right?"
"…Do you object to our relationship?" Sakura turned around to face her father and questioned.
"No…just asking."
"Alright. I'm going to change now." Sakura headed to her room.
Dingdong
Fujitaka opened the door. "Ah. Daidouji-san! Sakura should be ready any minute."
"Thank you Kinomoto-san." Tomoyo bowed in politeness. Her raven locks were pulled back into a ponytail with a purple hair band. She was wearing a curved neck, mid-sleeved purple shirt with yellow stars at the shoulder with a matching skirt and purple flats. Tomoyo held a purse in her hand.
"Tomoyo? You're here already? Where's Eriol-kun and Syaoran-kun?" Sakura asked as she descended down the stairs. Her hair was left swaying in her back, but a small cherry clip pushed a bit of her auburn tresses out of her eyes. She was wearing a simple short-zigzagged sleeve, light-green dress that ended 2-inches pass her knees and white sandals. She held a small white purse in her left hand.
"Sakura-chan…you look so pretty…" Tomoyo suddenly had her camera in her hands and started taping Sakura's every move.
"Hoeeee. Where'd you take that out from Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked as she started towards the door.
"I have my ways…they're outside in the limo. You ready?"
"Hai." Sakura turned around slightly and said, "Ja Otou-san. I'll be back around 6pm."
"Bye. Have fun Sakura."
"Bye Kinomoto-san."
Twilight Ice Cream
Syaoran and Sakura was sitting on one side of a four-people table at the ice cream shop and Tomoyo and Eriol on the other side, enjoying their ice cream.
"So how's the drama coming?" asked Eriol. Eriol was probably the only other person other than Tomoyo who knew Syaoran and Sakura were Cherry and Rang since he was quite a close friend of Syaoran. He also knew about the "pretend-dating" thing. It's really a wonder how Syaoran, a seemingly typical-player like person are good friends with a genius and quiet person like Eriol. Other than Eriol though, Syaoran doesn't seem to have any other close friends, so he respects Eriol very much, although Syaoran doesn't appear like it.
In other words, he's lonely.
"It's progressing well." Sakura answered as she licked her spoonful of strawberry ice cream with sprinkles.
"Of course it is for her. She's not the one who's forgetting her lines. I really do wonder how a clumsy and oversleeping person remembers her lines so fast…" Syaoran smirked.
"Hey! Look who's talking Mr. Forgetful. Who's the one who's making us do re-takes?" Sakura retorted.
Then suddenly, Syaoran leaned over to Sakura and licked the bit of strawberry ice cream that was on her face, near her mouth. "Yummy Cherry Blossom." He smirked as he pulled back, satisfied with Sakura's reaction. Her face had turned red at his actions. Was it from anger or blushing? Only Sakura would know that.
Then Sakura gave a fake smile at Syaoran and Sakura flicked a spoonful of ice cream at Syaoran. "Oops. I'm sorry, wolfie." She said sarcastically.
As for Syaoran? Let's just say, you can't really see his precious handsome face at the moment except for his eyes. He licked the reachable regions near his mouth and then reached for a tissue and wiped the remaining of the ice cream off.
"Yummy. You should eat from that and feed me the rest every time we get served with ice cream. But next time, maybe not with a spoon, but with your mouth." Syaoran grinned as Sakura fumed.
Tomoyo watched the couple that sat opposite from her as she filmed their little scene with glowing happiness in her amethyst eyes, her ice cream…momentarily forgotten. Eriol watched in amusement at the bickering couple as he continued to eat.
The content Syaoran continued eating his ice cream as he ignored Sakura's death glares.
"Are you alright Eriol, Daidouji-san? You seem awfully quiet." Syaoran asked. Sakura then stopped glaring at Syaoran and looked at Tomoyo and Eriol.
"Oh, we're fine. Go on eating. I'm busy filming Kura-chan." Tomoyo said as Sakura sweat dropped. 'She really does have her camera everywhere…'
"I'm fine. It was very amusing to watch the little show you two put up just now." Eriol said as he grinned, which earned a glare from Sakura.
Then they all continued eating and occasionally talked about trivial matters.
Hong Kong
Li Yelan, mother of Fanran, Fuutie, Feimei, Sheifa, and Syaoran was sitting in her home mansion at her personal library. Since her husband was deceased, she was the one who was currently in charge of all the Li Enterprises and her children. In other words, she's a very busy woman. (A/N: in the previous chapter, I said Yelan sent her daughters to check up on Syao; never said anything about her being Japan. –smiles-)
Yelan had recently received the news that her precious son was finally dating someone named Kinomoto Sakura, so she had hired an agent to find information about this "Kinomoto Sakura."
She opened the folder that said "Confidential". At the left side corner of the documents held a picture of Sakura who was in her Tomoeda uniform, giving a smile of happiness, her emerald green eyes shining brightly towards the camera. Yelan gave a small smile at her picture.
Kinomoto Sakura Birthday: April 1st
Current Age: 18
Family Members:
Father: Fujitaka Kinomoto
Mother: Nadeshiko (Amamiya) Kinomoto -- deceased
She couldn't read anymore…
Daidouji Mansion
Syaoran and Eriol individually left after the event at the ice cream shop. Tomoyo and Sakura however, went to the Daidouji Mansion because Tomoyo wanted Sakura to try out some new outfits that she designed for her.
Sakura came out of the dressing room with a v-neck white dress that had tints of blue at the edge of the dress. It ended a few inches pass her knees and she had a blue translucent, very short jacket-like top that ended a bit above her waist. She was matching the outfit with a blue lily tying up her hair and 3-inch white heels.
"This is a beautiful outfit to use in the near-future for the drama, don't you think so, Sakura-chan?"
"Yes, it looks really pretty." Sakura said as she made a feel twirls in it.
"KAWAII!" Tomoyo squealed.
Sakura and Tomoyo were in the living room making tea after the outfit fitting.
"Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo started to ask as she took a sip of her tea.
"Yes?"
Tomoyo asks, "What if Syaoran falls in love with you? Or you to him?"
Sakura hesitated. "It's not possible…because I can't love." She whispered. "And I made him promise not to fall in love with me."
She didn't understand what Sakura meant by "I can't love."
"Promises can be broken." Tomoyo stated.
"I won't allow it. If it comes down to it, then it'll just have to be a one-sided unrequited love."
A teacup shattered.
"Tomoyo! Are you alright?" Sakura rushed to Tomoyo's side, carefully avoiding the broken teacup remains.
"I-I'm fine. The tea cup just slipped."
Sakura held Tomoyo by the shoulders and looked at her straight in the eyes.
Emerald met Amethyst.
"Tell me the truth."
Tomoyo smiled weakly. "I really am. Don't worry."
Sakura knew she was still lying, but she didn't push it because she knew that if someone wanted to talk about a certain thing, they will. Forcing the details to come out will just make everything worse.
Tomoyo started gently pushing Sakura towards the door.
"It's getting late and we have school tomorrow. You should go home."
"…Alright. If you feel like talking later, give me a call. Bye."
Tomoyo smiled. "Bye."
She closed the door, leaned on it and slid down.
"I won't allow it. If it comes down to it, then it'll just have to be a one-sided unrequited love."
Tomoyo shook her head in an attempt to make the words disperse, but the words never left her head…
Airport
An eighteen-year-old young lady with long, dark black hair and ruby red eyes came out from the airport. Her hair was tied into two "pigtails", the top like odangos and her neat bangs a few centimeters above her eyes. She was wearing a simple red with white polka-dot tank top and a black jean jacket over it. Dark black jeans dressed her legs and she was wearing low heels.
A limo was waiting for her and a tall, tanned skin young man with familiar brown hair and amber eyes were standing with his arms crossed next to the limo.
The young lady grinned and spoke. "It's been a long while, cousin."
"Yea, Meiling."
And she was greeted by none other than Li Syaoran.
Author's Note: I hate descriptions; it's hard to word it... This was an average, boring chapter, not to mention some lines sounded corny… I just wanted to progress the Cherry-Rang & SS relationship and to show the distant relationship between Fujitaka & Sakura. Though I did reveal Syaoran's problem, just not in a full explanation, but I think you can guess much why he's lonely. I was thinking about putting Meiling next chapter, but I didn't really want to leave the chapter at another "depressing scene". XD
Read & Review? –smiles-
Miscellaneous: Otou-san – Father; Hoe-eee – oh no (I almost forgot about Kura-chan's habit XD); Ja – bye; odango -- dumpling
/rui