Catwalk vii: Trust

Wow. Thanks guys for the reviews and sorry if it's kind of a bit rushed (referring to chapter 6). I forgot that the break lines will not show as it is when I upload it to the Upload Manager thingy. I have to edit it again somehow and I completely forgot about it. And I also fail in erasing my notes haha. Sorry for that. I was just too excited to upload it for all of you! XD Anyhoo, here's Chapter 7! Cheers.


It's been a week since the incident of the surprise attack in the Black Li's and Sakura is still sort of being held up by Xiao Lang. She didn't know what's going on but after the incident, they moved to a new mansion located in the city next to Tomoeda. Xiao Lang told her that she should temporarily stay with them in case there will be another surprise attack and also to keep her safe. She didn't understand why he still keeps her inside the mansion when she perfectly knows that the person who threatened her is being tortured by Jin for answers. Plus, she's not an ordinary person who should just do what Xiao Lang says. She's a supermodel for heaven's sake. She has a life of her own and now she's in it for her manager because she missed out on a lot of her scheduled interviews, runway shows, and photo shoots. She explained to Xiao Lang several times how she badly needs to go back to her place and do her job but he always reasons out that she's still in danger. Truth be told, Xiao Lang only uses that excuse to keep her close to him. He didn't know why, but somehow he feels like he's obligated to protect her – to return the favor of her saving Rin. Yeah, favor.

"I can hire bodyguards. I can pay for them to protect me, you arrogant cheater," she mumbled. Sakura is currently laying in a huge king size bed covered up in sheets. It's eleven in the morning and the said girl lying in bed jumped when she heard someone spoke.

"I'm sorry Sakura if my brother is keeping you on a lock down. He's just worried," Rin said, placing a tray of breakfast beside Sakura's sitting form. "Well, more like being overprotective for no reason," she thought and giggled. Sakura looked at her when she giggled but shrugged it off and said, "Good morning, Rin!"

"Good morning, Sakura. I brought food for you," she said smiling.

"You shouldn't have bothered but I'm also not going to waste a good food prepared by you!" Sakura said, immediately eating her breakfast. "Now, if only Rin is always the one who greets me in the morning, I wouldn't have any problem staying here," she thought while munching on some bread.

"Rin, when do you think your brother will let me go on my own? I mean, I appreciate the security protocol and all that but I need to go back to my own life. My manager is probably going crazy right now and he's running out of excuses as to where I've been for the past week. And out of all the many rooms you have in here, why would I stay in his room?!"

Rin looked at her sadly. "I don't know. I'm truly sorry this is happening to you right now. But honestly, I kind of like it that you're here with us," she added, blushing. "And for the room, I think it's because my brother thinks that his room is the safest one for you to stay in. But anyway, it's kind of fun having you around here. Having you here is an addition of a female in the family, if you know what I mean." At that, both women laughed. It's true. Since most of the members in Xiao Lang's family and friends are guys, an addition of a woman is obviously needed. Their laughter died when Xiao Lang entered, walking with an air of authority and arrogance. Rin stood up and whispered "See you later" to Sakura before leaving the room knowing that her brother wanted some alone time with the girl sitting on the bed. Sakura nodded to Rin and removed the tray away from her lap and placed it on the night table.

Xiao Lang just walked past and immediately jumped onto the same bed where Sakura's still sitting without saying anything. This shocked her and tried to push him off the bed. Regardless of Xiao Lang's effort to keep her safe and make up for the thing that he did to her, Sakura's still mad at him and the thought of being in the same bed with him stirs up that anger she had for him.

Sakura's nonstop pushing annoyed Xiao Lang. He stood up sitting, held Sakura by her shoulder and shook her for a couple of times to stop her incessant pushing of him. "God, woman! Stop with the pushing. I just want to sleep and get some rest." Sakura frowned, glared at him, and looked at him square in the face to show her defiance. But then, she noticed the haggard look in Xiao Lang's face and the huge bags under his eyes. Worry got the better of Sakura and so her hands then unconsciously reached up to touch his cheek. Her thumbs brushed the bags under Xiao Lang's eyes. She looked at his eyes while her hands moved to brushing some of Xiao Lang's bangs. All the while Sakura was caressing his face, Xiao Lang's hands slowly snaked around her waist.

The moment called for it. Instantly, Xiao Lang's face inched closer and kissed Sakura. Sakura stilled for a moment and kissed him back. Her mind went back to reality when she felt her pajama pants being pulled down. She then noticed that she was already under Xiao Lang and that he's back on kissing and nipping her collar bones. She moaned. Despite of the anger she still feels for him, she can't just push him away now. Honestly speaking, she needed him at the moment and it is apparent that Xiao Lang also wants this as much as she wants it. By now, Sakura is only sporting her pink lacy underwear and her buttoned pajama top, which is now open, showing her bosoms covered by her bra. Xiao Lang looked into her eyes and kissed her passionately while positioning himself in between Sakura's legs. His right hand slowly reached for Sakura's panties and was about tug it down when the door slammed open.

"Sakura! Riku's looking for you! I thought you'd be locked up in here so I thought I should go here and –" The guy shouted not knowing that he interrupted a very steamy make out session between the aforementioned woman and his now seething-in-anger boss-slash-cousin.

Due to Xiao Lang's fast reflex, he grabbed the sheets and instantly covered Sakura up to her neck. If it is another woman he's making out with, he wouldn't mind if his cousins will see the girl because they're pretty much used to seeing or catching him making out with different women. But this is Sakura. He may not admit it, but Xiao Lang sort of does not like the idea of other guys, be it his family members or not, to see any of Sakura's body parts. Xiao Lang wanted himself to be the only one who can see Sakura's naked body.

The intruder, still insensitive to what he interrupted, quickly went to the flat screen television in front of the bed, turned it on and started changing the channels while continuously talking nonstop. The baby cousin of Xiao Lang, Ren, then looked at his back to look at Sakura and see her reaction but what he saw made him gulp. Sakura was blushing red and gripping the sheets hard to cover herself from Ren whilst Xiao Lang is glaring at Ren and is using the not so normal glare but the glare that says if-you-don't-get-the-hell-out-of-here-now-I'll-make-sure-you'll-see-birds-flying-in-1-2-3… Ren became motionless and quickly caught on to what he disturbed. He gulped for the second time, stood up, and ran as fast as he could towards the door while shouting, "I'm sorryyyyyyyy!"

Since the heat of the moment was ruined, Xiao Lang looked at Sakura to apologize for what he did.

Sakura was still gripping the sheets hard. "What has gotten in to me? He fooled me to get in my pants and now I'm allowing him to yet again, violate my body. Get a grip Sakura! Don't be stupid!," she thought. Frustrations from a lot of things suddenly got the best of Sakura. Frustration from being locked up in a mansion, frustration from not being able to do her job, frustration from still being scared from what happened a week ago, and lastly, frustration from not being able completely resist Xiao Lang.

Xiao Lang moved closer to Sakura to check whether she's okay because after all, Ren have almost seen her but to no avail, Sakura held her hand up to stop him.

"Please leave me for awhile. I need to be alone."

Xiao Lang understood so he left the room. After shutting the door, Sakura sighed and covered her face with both her hands. "What am I doing? I shouldn't trust him anymore." She muttered.


When Xiao Lang descended from the stairs, he was greeted by Riku, who obviously is going up to go and see Sakura. For a week that Sakura has been staying in one of the Li's mansion, it has also been a week wherein Xiao Lang notices that Riku and Sakura's meeting with each other is becoming more and more frequent. And Xiao Lang didn't like it. He then went straight to the dining hall to eat and try to replace his feeling of jealousy for awhile with the feeling of hunger.


Sakura was changing her clothes when Riku suddenly opened the door.

"Sakura! Ren said – Sorry!" Riku immediately turned on his back, blushing beet red after seeing a glimpse of Sakura's bare back.

Sakura blushed and quickly put on her clothes faster.

"You can look now. I'm decent." She said.

Riku turned to face her still looking guilty for unintentionally peeping at her while she was changing.

"I'm really sorry. I should've knocked." He said with sincerity.

Sakura giggled. "It's fine silly. I know you didn't mean it. Unless you did…" she added while pointing at him accusingly.

Riku stuttered. "No. I thought you're just watching a show or – " he stopped when Sakura started laughing heartily. "… What's funny?" he asked.

Sakura was red in the face. "You! You're so easy to make fun of. You're so gullible. It's adorable"

Riku blushed again. "Har Har. Whatever. Come on let's go grab some food."

He was surprised when Sakura grabbed hold of his left hand and started dragging him downstairs. "Let's go eat breakfast!"


Everyone was surprised when Sakura entered the dining room holding hands with Riku. Xiao Lang's eyebrow rose. Riku was blushing really hard when he accidentally met Xiao Lang's eyes. He gulped and immediately looked somewhere else rather than his seething boss. He knew that Xiao Lang is aware of his and Sakura's frequent meetings. And he also knew that Xiao Lang doesn't like it one bit.

"What's for breakfast?" The model asked innocently, still not letting go of Riku's hand.

Taki was the one who voiced out what everyone in the room was thinking. "Are you two together or something?" He asked while munching on crispy bacon.

Sakura then followed Taki's eyes and it landed on her hand holding Riku's. She then quickly let go of it while chuckling nervously. "Oh sorry if you got the wrong message. I tend to do things without thinking." She explained, taking a seat next to Yukito's while Riku unconsciously following her and seating beside her.

Riku, hearing Sakura's explanation, furrowed his eye brows in disappointment. Meanwhile, Xiao Lang sighed in relief secretly. He knows that he shouldn't be feeling this way since he was the one to blame while Sakura turned her attention to Riku. He didn't know what happened between those two but for the first time in his life, he thinks that assigning Riku to get rid of Sakura's problems seems to be the biggest mistake he made so far because that seems to be the reason why Sakura and Riku started being friendly with each other. "Too friendly." Xiao Lang thought bitterly.

"Oh. Then Xiao Lang has nothing to worry about. Right, boss?" Ren butted in making the atmosphere awkward again.

Both Sakura and Riku pretended that they didn't hear that and just continued on eating.

Xiao Lang glared at Ren making him gulp.

He cleared his throat. "Jin, what happened to that person?"

"He still won't budge, Xiao. I'm telling you. I've done all the torture methods that I know of to tell us the whereabouts of that bastard." Jin spat.

"How about the rats in the gang?" Xiao Lang asked looking at Ren then at Taki.

Ren raised his hands to answer as if he was in a class. "I listened to their phone conversation but all throughout that, they never mentioned any specific locations or names."

"Yeah. They're smart enough to use code names and meet in places that are not so suspicious." Taki added.

Xiao Lang smirked. "The bastard is good at hiding huh." He then looked around the table looking for someone he needed to speak to. "Where's Eriol?"

"He went out. Never said anything." Said Maki.

"Inform me when he gets back." Xiao Lang said.

"What are we you're secretary?" Ren said jokingly and then Taki high-fived him. A day won't pass without these two trying to get into Xiao Lang's bad side. And a day won't pass without Xiao Lang getting back at them by making them do hard tasks.

Everyone in the table just continued eating and didn't even comment about that joke since they know that Xiao Lang is already fuming. Yes, he is a man who you don't joke around with on a daily basis. Xiao Lang just stared stoically at the two until Ren and Taki went from laughing to chuckling to finally coughing awkwardly. Surely, Xiao Lang made his point that he wasn't in the mood to join in their fun.

Xiao Lang then pointed at the two with his point and middle finger as he stood up. "You two. Stay here and guard that fucker who won't tell us anything."

Ren retaliated. "What?! But that's like the most boring thing to do!"

Xiao Lang gave him a want-me-to-send-you-back-to-Hong Kong-and-do-paper works look and Ren shut up immediately and pouted. "Fine!"

All their heads snapped in the direction of the entrance of the dining hall when they heard a commotion going on.

"You can't go in there. She's not here!" One of Xiao Lang's underlings shouted while trying to stop one person who is all too familiar to Sakura – Mr. Ki.

"I know that she's here! Damn it! Where is she? Where is my most precious talent?!" Mr. Ki demanded.

Sakura's eyes widened when the two bickering guys reached the dining area. She stood up abruptly causing her chair to fall. Both her hands were on the table. "What are you doing here, Mr. Ki?"

Mr. Ki returned her question while bombarding her with many more. "What are you doing here? And who owns this place anyways? What have you been doing for the past week? I'm worried sick, you little girl! I almost believed what the media has been insinuating, you know. Did you elope with someone? Ran away with your secret lover? Who is your secret lover? Why aren't you telling me anything? I'm almost as good as your mother."

Everyone went silent.

Mei Ling choked on her drink when she heard the word "mother" while Jin rubbed her back.

Taki coughed on his hand while muttering, "gay." Xiao Lang glared at him reminding him of his manners.

Ren snickered.

Maki and Rin looked at each other confused. Meanwhile, Yukito continued on eating his meal because nothing can divert his attention when he's eating his breakfast. Riku stared at Mr. Ki's chest to check whether he really is what he claims to be – a "mother".

Xiao Lang was kind enough to break the silence by stepping in and introducing himself. "I am the owner of this place, Xiao Lang." He said, with an authoritative voice.

Mr. Ki turned and checked him from head to toe. He raised one eye brow. "I see." He then looked at Sakura. "So, he is what you've been hiding from me. The boyfriend."

Sakura gasped. "What. No. He is so not my boyfriend." She denied.

Even though that is the truth, for some reason, Xiao Lang seemed disappointed by her answer and it was so obvious because of the furrowing of his eye brows.

"Oh." Mr. Ki then scanned the table and his eyes landed on Riku. He pointed at him. "So if he's not your boyfriend, then I'm assuming he is?"

"Oh God, no! For heaven's sake stop assuming that I have a boyfriend because I don't. I really don't have one!"

"I am Sakura's boyfriend!" Ren interjected.

Xiao Lang glared at him knowing that he's just playing.

Mr. Ki looked at Ren boringly. "Oh please. You're handsome and all but I know Sakura well enough to know that you're not her type."

"Ooooh baby burn!" Jin commented making Ren instantly blush while sitting down.

Unbeknownst to all of them, he secretly handed a ten thousand yen to Taki because he lost the bet.

"Enough with this. Let's go home, Sakura." Mr. Ki said grabbing on Sakura's right hand.

"She can't." Both guys shouted. Xiao Lang grabbed Sakura's left hand whereas Riku held onto her left elbow. Xiao Lang and Riku glared at each other, not backing down as to whom will let go of Sakura first.

"Damn. I'm glad I stayed here and didn't go with Eriol or else I wouldn't have the chance to see this." Jin whispered to his girlfriend.

"Shut up. I'm watching." True to that, Mei Ling sure is watching the scene as if it was a drama of some sort.

"And may I ask why she can't go? What are you to her anyways?" Mr. Ki inquired.

Riku was about to answer that he is Sakura's friend when Xiao Lang beat him to it. "I'm her boyfriend. Due to some circumstances, I can't let her go out of my sight because her life is in danger. The past week, an incident happened causing some of my enemies to get a good look at her and because of her popularity, it is no hard for my enemies to track her down and maybe use her as a bait for me to give in to what they want." Xiao Lang explained to Mr. Ki without batting an eye.

Everyone's jaw dropped literally not at Xiao Lang's explanation because there is some truth in to it. What shocked them was that Xiao Lang claimed himself as Sakura's boyfriend when everyone knows that they are not getting along well at the moment.

Too shocked to answer, Sakura forgot to deny any of what Xiao Lang claimed.

Riku let go of Sakura's elbow and insecurity got the best of him. Who is he to fight with his boss when he clearly sees that the girl still has her hots for Xiao Lang.

Mr. Ki is a completely level-headed person so after Xiao Lang explained the situation at hand; he didn't press for any more believing Xiao Lang's every word.

Rin stood up. "Mr. Ki, you seem to be tired. We have an extra room upstairs. I insist that you stay there for awhile and take a rest." She said

Mr. Ki smiled at her kindly. "Why thank you, young lady but I'm fine."

"No, Mr. Ki, you should stay for the night. I need to sort out things, too, before I go with you." Sakura said. The manager nodded and immediately understood her. "Okay. But, tomorrow you'll go with me, okay?"

Xiao Lang was about to protest but then Sakura stopped him. "I need to talk with you." she said as she went out from the dining room. Xiao Lang followed her.

"So, Mr. Ki, what would you like to eat? I'm Mei Ling, by the way" Mei Ling said enthusiastically.


When Xiao Lang entered the room, he saw Sakura standing by the veranda, looking at the vast land property of the Li's. He stopped and stood beside Sakura. Neither of them said anything and just gazed at the vastness of his property.

"Why did you say that?" She asked.

"Because I want to." He answered.

Her brows creased. "Why did you want to?"

"Because I feel like it."

Sakura sighed. "Why did you feel like it?"

"I don't know." He answered; his patience getting thinner and thinner at each question she asked.

"Why did you say it?" she asked. Sakura was adamant in knowing why he claimed himself as her boyfriend.

"Because I don't want to lose." Xiao Lang said looking at her straight in the eye.

"To lose?" Sakura asked, raising one of her perfectly shaped eye brow.

"Yes."

"To whom?"

He sighed. "To Riku."

"What?" She asked, surprised.

"He likes you." Xiao Lang stated.

Sakura ignored his answer and focused on asking him another question. "Do you? I mean, like me?"

"Maybe." He shrugged.

Sakura snorted. "More like "physically"."

"No." He said defensively.

"Then what?" She asked, clearly she's tired of asking.

"I don't know, okay!"

"Well, if you don't know then I shouldn't waste my time asking you. I'm leaving." She shouted.

Sakura turned on her heels and was about to go out of the room when Xiao Lang's voice echoed in the room.

"I'm jealous!" He shouted.

Sakura turned to Xiao Lang slowly.

"I've been jealous, okay. I don't know how but all I know is that I'm jealous. For the past week, when you're always with Riku, I, uhh, I don't like it. I don't like it when you're with some guy. It doesn't feel right." He explained.

"So, it's not okay for me to hangout with some guy when it's okay for you to make out with some other red head chick?" Sakura asked, referring to the event that happened a week ago.

"Look, I'm sorry about that. I'm an ass, a bastard, a jerk, or whatever you want to call me but I'm sorry. I really am."

"Tell me the truth then. Why are you jealous?" Sakura asked, closing in the distance she has with Xiao Lang.

"I already told you."

"Clearly you wouldn't feel that way if you don't harbour any feelings for me."

He snorted. "I don't know. It's the first time I'm feeling this. If the other girls that I used to pick moves on with another guy, I don't mind it. But with you, I don't like it. I hate it. That feeling. It makes me angry. It makes me angry seeing you too friendly with other guys."

Sakura's face changed from that of hopeful – hoping that Xiao Lang really does like her – to that of confused – she's confused as to whether she'll believe him because she's still hurt from what had happened a week ago – to that of distrust – Sakura doubts every word from Xiao Lang.

She walked forward stopping in front of Xiao Lang and touched his cheek. She smiled – a bitter one.

Xiao Lang thought that this was the day that the two of them will kiss and makeup, even though they're not yet an official couple. However, his hopes were shattered when Sakura said,

"I don't trust you anymore."


So, there goes chapter 7. Sorry for the late upload. I've been busy with school. Hopefully I get to focus on writing chapter 8 and finish it in a day or two but I won't promise because I still have a lot of paper to write. *cries*

Review? Review!