Hiya! So, I haven't updated in forever and I apologize. Anyway, i want to thank every reviewer and reader for this story. Right now enjoy...Meiling's back.
Chapter 7: Yue
Tomoyo's wedding was just around the corner. And so here I was teaching our new hired assistant the basics of his job.
"So you think you have it Fai?"
"I think so. Dresses back here, shirts up there, outfits on the right, and accessories on the left with pants and skirts in the middle."
"Good job. Now our lunch hour starts in about two minutes and-"the doorbell chimed and the two of us turned around to see Syaoran.
"Aren't you Syaoran Li?" Fai asked before I could greet him. Syaoran looked at me awkwardly before replying.
"Uh, yes I am." He walked up to me. "Ready for lunch?"
"I have to wait for Tomoyo; she said she'd be back soon."
"Alright. I don't like the guy." He whispered so only I could hear. Syaoran made himself comfortable leaning against the cash register area while Fai and I stood bored behind him. It was then I realized that Syaoran and Fai hadn't been introduced.
"Oh! Syaoran this is Fai- the new assistant Tomoyo and I hired, and Fai this is my boyfriend Syaoran Li."
"Nice to meet you." They answered shaking hands.
"So Fai, what made you want to get a job here?" Syaoran asked. I could practically feel jealousy oozing off of him.
"I really liked the store from what I heard about it and figured that it would be the best place to find a job after moving from Tokyo. Don't worry Syao-kun, I don't like girls."
"You're from Tokyo?" I asked shocked. I noticed that Syaoran was digesting the information that Fai had just given him.
"Yeah."
"Wow." My cell phone rang then and I excused myself as I answered it. "Hello?"
"Hi Sakura. Listen, I'm not going back to the store today, so just go ahead to lunch."
"What about Fai?"
"Is Syaoran there?"
"Yes."
"Give the phone to him." I handed the phone to Syaoran who took it.
"Hello? Oh Hi Tomoyo. Uh, huh no problem, but that's a lot of choices. Are you sure? Okay then." He hung up and handed me my phone.
"So, what did she say?"
"We're giving Fai a ride to wherever he wants to go for lunch, and then we're going cake-tasting."
"Come again?" I asked confused.
"Cake testing, with Yukito and Meiling."
"How many choices?" Knowing Tomoyo, she always went overboard.
"Twenty."
"Twenty?" Fai and I repeated shocked.
"Yes."
"Tomoyo knows I'm wearing that tight dress as her maid of honor right?"
"Relax Sakura, the wedding is this Saturday, and you've got five more days."
"Fai, come let's get our coats. You know you're not coming back till Monday right?"
"Yeah, but what time should I come?" The happy blond asked.
"Around eight." I answered as we walked into the backroom.
We ended up dropping Fai off at McDonald's and were currently on our way to La Maison de Gateaux, a French bakery that specialized in cakes. I pulled up into the parking lot next to Meiling's car. Sakura walked in first and I followed her. She waved to our companions and the four of us waited until a waiter arrived leading us to our specially reserved table. Leave it to Tomoyo to go all out. As we were waiting for the cakes, Sakura and Mei engaged in conversation leaving Yukito and I alone.
"So how are you Syaoran?"
"Great, you?"
"Fine." Yukito fiddled with his napkin for a bit before talking again. "Syaoran do you know a Yue?"
"Yue?" I briefly remembered my cousin who ran away fifteen years ago. Now that I thought of it, he had to be at least thirty-three. "I think so, but not really."
"What if I told you he was my half-brother?"
"Yue's your half-brother?" I yelled shocked. Meiling turned to me and her eyes had an unexplained emotion in them.
"What did you say about my brother?" She asked. Realization almost immediately dawned on Yukito's face and he stood up.
"Sakura, Syaoran, I think you're going to have to excuse Meiling and I." He left and Mei followed him. Sakura looked at me quizzically after they left.
"What was that about?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want to talk about it?" I ignored her and stared at the table. There was so much that I needed to think about right now.
I followed Yukito out of the restaurant not knowing what to expect. We wordlessly got into his car and he drove us somewhere. I was so lost in my thoughts that I jumped when a horn beeped behind us. Looking at the speedometer, I gasped.
"Slow down!" Yukito slammed the brakes as we neared a stoplight. He took deep breaths and pulled into a nearby parking lot when the light changed. I waited for him to say something.
"Yue's your brother?" he asked after a while.
"Yeah, but he ran away fifteen years ago. I hardly remember him since I was only ten when he left."
"Meiling," Yukito turned to me and I was scared by the seriousness of his face, "What would you do if I told you I knew where he was?"
"You know where Yue is?" I asked shocked.
"Yes, do you want to see him?" I stared in shock before I slowly nodded my head, not trusting my mouth enough to speak. He squeezed my hand.
"I just met him three weeks ago and something tells me he'll be glad to see you." I nodded my head mutely as we sat in the parking lot for a while. Yukito slowly pulled the car out and took me to meet my brother again after fifteen years.
The cakes came out soon after Yukito and Meiling left. Syaoran and I eventually decided on one: the vanilla and chocolate pound cake with lemon frosting. It actually tasted a lot better than it sounded. We got into the car and Syaoran wordlessly drove us to our apartment. I immersed myself in memorizing the phone numbers of my contacts: I had nothing better to do. We were at the apartment as I was memorizing Fanren's number. I followed him into our place and walked into our bedroom. If he was going to ignore me, then so be it. He would just have to sleep on the couch tonight, with no blankets in the middle of December. I busied myself by making a list of things to spoil my little niece, Ai-chan. I eventually fell asleep and woke up hearing someone banging on the door.
"Sakura let me in." I stood up and opened the door to glare Syaoran in the face.
"You are not coming in here till you explain to me your behavior at lunch today."
"What behavior?"
"Stop that! You know perfectly well what I mean."
"Sakura, I had a reason, I just found out I had a cousin!"
"Oh, so like it doesn't matter that some guy who's like a brother to me has a half brother?"
"That's not important."
"Not important?" I yelled pushing Syaoran towards the front door. "You need to understand that sometimes things occur in our lives and we both have to work together to accomplish things or understand each other. You spacing out on me, when I felt the same way you did, that wasn't helpful."
"I keep telling you-"
"And what the hell do you mean by not important Syaoran? Yukito has known me since I was born, what's not important about that?" I pushed him out of the apartment and glared at him. "Get out of my sight and don't you dare come back here tonight!"
"Sakura, my wallet's inside."
"Then you better pray you have your cell phone with you." I replied slamming the door in his face.
I busied myself making Pasta after he left and was washing dishes when I received a phone call.
"Hello?" I immediately recognized Fanren's voice.
"You kicked my brother out?"
"He deserved it."
"I'm not saying he didn't. I'm asking how."
"Something about Yukito being his cousin. He called it unimportant, but it's not."
"I'm sure it's not Sakura. Tell me what happened."
"Yukito said something about Yue being his half brother and then we came home from the cake testing and Syaoran completely ignored me. Do you know how much that hurt? Yukito's known me since I was born and Syaoran think it's unimportant that Yukito has a half brother."
"What did you say about Yue?" Fanren asked.
"He's Yukito's half brother."
"Oh my gosh, Sakura, do you have any idea why Syaoran's acting this way?"
"Why?" I asked confused.
"When I was eight, Yue ran away from home and never came back."
"How long ago was this?" I asked as I processed the information.
"Fifteen years ago." I suddenly understood how this affected Syaoran in a much harder way. He knew the person already, and had been betrayed by him.
"Fanren, how's he taking this?"
"He's sitting in the living room and staring blankly at something."
"Can you bring him over?"
"Sure, when do you want me to come?"
"Now."
"Alright." I heard some shuffling on the other end before Fanren came back. "I'll talk to you late okay Sakura?"
"Yeah. Bye Fanren."
"Bye."
I walked up to the apartment I had been kicked out of less than two hours ago. Sakura opened the door. She still didn't acknowledge me, and I guess I deserved it, but really couldn't she let me explain my side of the story? Fanren and I took a seat on the couch before the questioning began.
"Who is Yue?" Sakura asked. I let Fanren answer, seeing as how Sakura and I still weren't on good terms.
"He's our cousin, Mei's older brother. Yue ran away fifteen years ago and that's about all."
"Oh." Sakura sighed and then looked at Fanren. "Would you like something to drink?"
"Water please." Sakura nodded before going into the kitchen. She came back out with a glass of water in one hand, and a cup of tea in the other.
"Here you go." She handed me the cup of tea. "It's cinnamon tea. I made it before you guys came here. It helps you relieve stress." I gratefully took the cup and smiled.
"I'm sorry Sakura."
"I am too. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Later." I answered discreetly averting my eyes to my sister.
"I'm leaving anyway Syaoran." Fanren stood up and made her way to the door. "I'll show myself out. Do you think I should tell Aunt Xiulan about it?"
"No, it's better if he comes back on his own." Fanren sighed before telling us goodbye and heading out. I turned to Sakura.
"Obviously, this is an important matter. But neither of us know exactly how deep this goes. Can we talk about it tomorrow with Yukito?"
"Sure." She answered sitting down with her arm around me.
I looked up as the door to the apartment opened. Meiling, my wife came in crying followed by a man I didn't recognize.
"Mei?" I asked. She looked at me before coming up and hugging me.
"Yue's come back."
"Yue? As in your brother?" I turned to glare at the man standing at our doorstep, but was stopped by Mei.
"Don't be mad at Yukito."
"Yukito?" The man at the door gave me a weak smile.
"I'm Yukito Tsukishiro. I'm sorry we're meeting like this, I'm Yue's half-brother."
"Mei, what's going on?"
"I don't know." She answered as she kept crying into my shirt. I looked at Yukito, who was still looking at Mei in a weird way.
"Mei, how is this guy related to you?"
"He's my brother's half-brother. He found out today that he had a sister he never knew of. Please leave it Ryu." I nodded as I offered Yukito a seat.
"I'll get you two some tea."
So, what do you think? This chapter was originally supposed to be Tomoyo's wedding, but the entire Yue thing took a bigger turn. Anyway, I've never been to a western wedding so I have to do my research before the next chapter: if anyone would like to give me suggestions I'm all open.
Please review and thanks for reading.
Kaoruhana
