Flawless
By Zilver Wings
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Summary: He wrote the best-selling romance novels. She was an innocent fan girl who went to work for him. He brought her into his world of richness and high social status, but also the dark undertone of human nature. But she was willing to pay the consequences. In her eyes, he was perfect even with his many flaws, because she loved him.
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Chapter 3
The Article
"Xiao Lang! Is this the reason you dumped me, for her?"
A beautiful woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere and glared at Sakura as she pointed a finger at her distastefully, her other hand resting on the table, her hand bag dangling violently on her hand due to her actions.
Sensing his secretary's discomfort, he quickly discarded the fork and stood up. Taking the woman's hand, he whispered a soft gomen to Sakura before leading her outside.
Sakura watched the couple carefully from the glass doors. She couldn't make out what they were talking about due to the distance, but judging the way the woman looked, Syaoran must have said something really intimidating because the woman's expression changed from anger to shock in a matter of seconds.
Syaoran then walked away from her and back to the table he was previously sitting comfortably on and smiled calmly at Sakura as if nothing had happened all this time. Sakura watched the woman out of the corner of her eye, and saw her glare at Syaoran before stalking away.
Sakura raised her eyebrows at him, causing him to chuckle.
"Okay, I bet you're wondering who that is. She's of no importance, just a small company's daughter, spoiled brat. It's just a fling, nothing more."
Sakura's eyes bulged out for a millisecond, but she quickly composed herself although her insides were shaking with emotion. So it was true, he was a playboy. She never did really believe that until now. But still, how could he look so serene after dumping a girl, did he have no shame at all? She also wondered what he said was so effective to shut the girl up.
She gave an involuntary shiver.
The soft smile on Syaoran's face disappeared when he saw her quiver.
"Are you okay?" He asked, looking genuinely concerned.
"H…hai."
"Okay, since we're both finished, I guess I'll pay the bill."
His naïve secretary only nodded timidly.
Resisting the urge to smirk, Syaoran asked for the bill. He had a very good idea why his secretary was trembling. In his world, good acting skills were essential to the first step of being successful, and being indifferent in any situation was the second rule.
After paying, Syaoran stood up gracefully and went behind Sakura to pull her chair for her to stand up. Taking her coat in his hands, he gently slipped it over her arms and his arms went around her waist in a hugging motion for a fleeting moment before pulling them away. To the others, this was an act of affection. But Sakura knew better. He was just teasing her.
She forced herself to stay calm and not give him the satisfaction of seeing her blush like a high school girl around him. That seemed to have work, for the amused twinkle in Syaoran's eyes had disappeared.
Both didn't notice a pair of calculative closed eyes following their every move ever since they first stepped foot inside the restaurant. The person sat in a secluded spot, his face safely hidden in the shadows, but he stared at the back of the two in vengeance. How he managed to look with closed eyes remained as a mystery. (A/n: I couldn't resist adding this part, it is so humorous.)
"Li Xiao Lang, one day, I assure you, will use that woman you are with, and bring you down with me."
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Sakura dropped by Tomoyo's house after her first day of work since her best friend had insisted her to inform her with every single detail.
"Sakura-chan, how was your first day?"
This was the first question Tomoyo bombarded her with as she tiredly flung her handbag on a nearby chair and sunk into the sofa.
"Tiring… I want to sleep now."
"Oh no you don't."
Tomoyo hovered over her and proceeded to shake her violently on the shoulders until Sakura finally propped herself upright in annoyance.
"Okay, fine, fine. Li proved to a playboy, and I'm disappointed, my idolization of him is officially over, okay? But I'm still going to work for him because I love reading his books and editing it for him. I don't understand why you're so pessimistic about him, it's not as if he'll rape me or anything."
Somehow, that didn't sound right.
Tomoyo observed her friendly closely before collapsing into the sofa next to Sakura.
"It's not just that," her voice began to fade. "he's dangerous and not someone to be messed with."
Sakura looked at her friend strangely.
"What did you say?"
Tomoyo gave a small smile to Sakura before shaking her head to indicate that it was of no importance.
Sakura shrugged and suddenly bounced up from the sofa and announced brightly,
"Okay, let's bake a cake today to celebrate my first day of work!"
Tomoyo's sad smile disappeared and stars appeared in her eyes.
"In that case, Sakura-chan, you must wear my new outfit for you, it's super kawaii, with frills all over and"
Sakura sighed. Some things just never change.
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Sakura gritted her teeth as the phone rang for the millionth time that day.
She had started working for Li Syaoran a month ago, and although she had to admit she loved her job, sometimes, the non-ceasing phone calls would almost drive to her to brink of insanity. The ringing itself was not really that annoying, it was the people on the other line that drove her crazy.
All were girls with shrill voices who addressed themselves as Li Syaoran's girlfriends or even fiancées. Each time Sakura had to follow the directions of her boss, which was to tell them politely that they called the wrong number and no one with the name they wanted lived there. Most of them would hang up, but some would just yell at her until Sakura got fed up and hang the phone herself.
Sakura bit her lip and tried to ignore the ringing and concentrate on her work. Apparently, the person on the other line was very persistent, for the phone continued to ring.
Sakura finally gave up and moved one hand from the keyboard to the receiver.
"Moshi, moshi. Gomenasai, demo"
"Where is Xiao Lang, and who are you?"
A calm voice cut in coolly. Sakura pulled the receiver from her ear and stared at it bizarrely before putting it back to her face.
"Xiao Lang?"
"Yes, or known as Li Syaoran in Japan. I am his mother."
Sakura's eyes widened until they were as large as saucers. Her boss must have gave his mother the wrong telephone number. There were two lines in the house; one in her room to fend of his 'girlfriends', and the other one used all over the house for business.
"Oh, I am his assistant, Kinomoto Sakura. Please wait for a moment."
Sakura put the receiver down and rose up from her seat. Her face burned as she recalled what she had almost said to the woman.
She knocked when she reached the half-opened door of Syaoran's study but heard no reply.
Cautiously, she opened the door wider to access and saw that the room was indeed empty. Since it was the first time she had entered his room, her eyes surveyed around. His room was similar to hers, except that the scenery was even more breathtaking than hers. It showed the huge park nearby and also an amusement park. Sakura was so awed that she couldn't help but walk closer to observe it.
However, something caught her eye as soon as she reached the desk. Barely visible beneath all the stacks of papers was a newspaper article from a few weeks ago.
There was nothing special about the date of the article. Instead, it was the heading that caught her attention. She turned her head to have a better look.
"The infamous Li Syaoran brings down the young Takashi from the Yamazaki family." Sakura murmured. Suddenly, she regretted for never bothering to waste her time reading the newspapers. She had just laid a finger on the article when the door suddenly flung open and a gust of wind blew past her ear.
Sakura's heart skipped a beat and she quickly let her hands fall to her side. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to compose herself before turning around to face Syaoran calmly.
"Why are you here?"
Syaoran smiled lightly at her as he walked closer to her. Sakura forced herself not to swallow and look straight into his gleaming eyes. If Sakura had just started working, she would have believed it to be a genuine smile. But after a month of observing him, she knew that he was a man who always had an intention behind his actions, everything was just an act to him.
"Oh. I just received a call from your mother in my room, which is supposed to be reserved for your numerous girlfriends." She said in a playful tone even though her insides were shaking.
His eyes lingered on her face for any trace of doubt.
"Really? I guess I must have mistaken it then. Arigatou."
The gleam disappeared from his eyes and he dashed out of his room to answer the call.
Sakura let out a sigh of relief and slowly followed Syaoran back to her room just to hear him say sayonara.
Syaoran jumped off the desk when he saw Sakura.
"There's going to be a banquet next week held by Hiirigizawa Eriol to celebrate the publishing of his new series. Since you are the only decent female I know, you will be my companion to the banquet. If you want, I would be more than happy to shop with you for a beautiful gown to accent your nice figure." He winked at her suggestively.
But Sakura was already in another world. In her mind, she could already picture Tomoyo strangling her to death when she announces to her that she decided to buy an evening gown from a shop instead of letting her make one.
Syaoran sweat dropped as he saw the swirl of emotions changing on Sakura's face from amusement to resentment and then finally defeat.
"Sakura?"
Sakura broke out of her reverie and stared at her boss.
"Uhh, I'll get one myself thank you."
Syaoran nodded and walked past her.
Sakura was still rooted on her spot a long time after Syaoran left.
"He addressed me by my first name." She whispered to herself softly.
Sometimes, denial just doesn't help to stop something, perhaps, just perhaps, she should listen to her heart for once.
To be continued…
Great, I've just gotten another inspiration for this story, so I'm just going to discard my previous one. Sorry for not updating, but I've been busy with other stuff. Things will get more exciting after this. Also, please take note of Sakura's gradual change of character in this story. Again, I'm not going to proof read this story because it's really late and I have school tomorrow, so please excuse me for my poor grammar.
Please continue to R&R, I'm so happy, I finally got over 200 reviews for "Love Without Words" D.
HappyTofu- Exquisite writing, gee, thanks. I'll try my best to make this story different from my other ones.
Kero- Hoho, I love the start of my story, kind of mysterious and doesn't give out much information. I admit the lack of reviews are depressing me, but I'll try to ignore this and continue on. "Anywho love the fic tremendously. Review when you can Onegai!!", thank you so much!
Kumiko Imaidegawa- Don't make it darker? It's not even dark now!
love it- Sakura's not retelling the story, it's just a story jumping forwards and backwards.
Kiiriya- Very cliché indeed, "if this chap is a disappointment then I would love to see wha tone that isn't looks like cause this chapter was 'flawless'", but I love it, lol.
Sapphire Serenity- Don't worry, she's going to be less of a fan girl later on. Well, this chapter is longer, hope you're satisfied with it, and my story is simple and isn't loaded with detail is because I'm not experienced enough. P