Tomoyo had spent of the next day cooped up in her room making a new outfit for Sakura. It was what she usually did when she was depressed and didn't want to go out and fake her happiness. She sighed and then squeaked as she poked her finger with the needle and before you knew it she was crying like someone had killed her mom. The tears had come so suddenly that she had no idea how to stop them, so she just sobbed for what seemed like hours before a knock came to the door.
She gasped and found a towel to quickly clean her face up with but looking at herself in the mirror it was obvious that she was crying. She sighed and moved to the door. "Who is it?" She asked loudly and then another knock came. How unusual, her mother nor any of the maids would have done that, so she slowly opened the door and nearly fell back by the surprise she was suddenly struck with.
"Hey, Tomoyo!" Mei-Lin said cheerfully before she got a good glimpse of her and she dropped her bag at her side and ran over to her. Wrapping her arms around her she pulled her into a hug. "What's wrong? I hope you weren't worried that I wasn't going to come. You should know better." Knowing that Syaoran was standing behind her, Mei-Lin slipped a kiss to Tomoyo's cheek before drawing all the way. "We're here!"
Tomoyo's face was turning three shades of red at the moment, surprised by Mei-Lin's sudden acceptance to her feelings. Mei-Lin was dead set on believing she was straight, that Tomoyo's feelings would be one-sided. What had happened in the last week or so that made her so different toward her. Once all of these thoughts had run through her mind, Tomoyo's face lit up and she laughed. "Oh boy, am I glad to see you too. It's been pretty rough around here."
Syaoran nodded and set his and Mei-lin's bag inside the room before closing the door behind him. He pretended that he hadn't noticed the exchange between Mei-Lin and Tomoyo for their sakes, but he was glad that both of them had eventually found someone else. After a conversation with Mei-Lin about a week back, Syaoran had put two and two together, and he understood now more than ever why Mei-Lin wanted to come back with him.
"Well, I'm going to go over to the room I'll be staying in. It was a rough flight with all the snow I need to rest a bit." He grabbed his bag, gave them a wave, and left the room. Once the door was completely closed, Tomoyo realized that she was actually alone with Mei-Lin and the nervousness started to swell up in her. Mei-Lin must have noticed her unease because she just went to sit on the bed and patted the spot next to her to signal that she wanted tomoyo to come sit with her too.
"I'm sure you're wondering what's going on since I told you in my email that I wouldn't be coming with Syaoran. But you see…" Tomoyo went to sit down next to her and listen. "I had a long talk with Syaoran about things and realized that I never knew I could look at anyone the same way I saw him. Before Sakura came into the picture, everything was perfect. But then… she stole him from me. But I'm not mad or sad about it anymore. I think I've found a new way to love, and someone to love that way."
At first Tomoyo was completely lost, but Mei-Lin closed the small gap between them and drew Tomoyo's face in to be inches away from her's. "I'm willing to give `us` a try." Tomoyo's face lit up and she smiled brightly before her body stiffened. Mei-Lin had closed those last few inches, their lips were touching. Tomoyo's heart nearly beat right out of her chest, but she returned the usually simple gesture and pulled back to see her own emotions reflected in Mei-Lin features. Confused, scared, happy, it was all there in both of their expressions. And then they both burst into laughter and went on to talk about what's been going on here.
"Are you serious? She was doubting Syaoran!" Mei-Lin was shocked by that and she just huffed. "Well, I guess she had reason to start thinking crazy. He hadn't called her for some time, and he wasn't showing up or anything. Speaking of! You didn't tell her about him coming did you? That would ruin the whole thing!"
Tomoyo laughed and shook her head at Mei-Lin's question. "You've got to be crazy! I would never spill on something like that, but it was very very hard to keep it from Sakura, seeing her all teary eyed and miserable. But, I fought the hard fight to keep her happy, with a lot of help from Yukito." Mei-Lin laughed and nodded.
"I understand. I know just what you are going through, but remember, there's still three more days until New Years Eve. You have to keep it secret until then!" It seemed that the slightly awkward and exciting moment from earlier had completely disappeared from the conversation, but of course neither would forget, nor did they want it to be the last. On and on as the night drew late they talked about everything and soon Tomoyo's mother was coming to check on them.
Once she had left the room, Mei-Lin figured it was time for her to head to her own room. So she moved from the bed to grab her bag and Tomoyo grabbed her hand, pulling her back onto the bed and looking at her with sad eyes. "Don't leave me yet. I've been so lonely lately; I just don't want to be alone anymore!" For Tomoyo to admit something like that meant it must really be wearing on her. Mei-Lin looked to her bag, the door, and back several times.
She seemed nervous at first, but she figured that Tomoyo wouldn't try anything too dumb. "Okay, I'll stay with you tonight." And with those words, she had made Tomoyo the happiest woman on Earth at that very moment.
