Chapter Seven: His
Whoosh, whoosh. Slice, slice. Kick, kick.
Calm. Peace. Quiet. It was all Syaoran understood, felt and lived in. There was nothing that could distract him from the future his mother had laid out for him. The future, she says, would change their lives and make him the very image of his father – his late-father.
His father had died even before six-year-old Syaoran could manage to remember. All he knows was that his father died honourably and had passed all his riches down to his only son. His mother had mourned pathetically but Syaoran stood strong and, if he was forced to, he had to cheer his mother up along with his four deeply-emotional older sisters. But being Lis, they came out strong and went on with their lives as if their father hadn't died at all.
So now, as he swung his father's sword and kicked into the air, with his mother and uncle looking on, all he felt was pride and honour. Not only will he be the next leader in his father's company, he would be the strongest Li ever known in his family's history. Such honour under his belt and he's only six-years-old.
"Master Feiren, Mistress Yelan, there is an urgent call!" The head maid of the house called out to them and Syaoran turned around. "It's about Master Longfeng—"
"What?!" His uncle shoved his way back into the house along with his mother. Being as curious as a child should be, he sheathed his sword and ran back inside as well.
He saw his uncle holding onto the receiver. His face and hands had paled, as if he just saw a ghost. But as Syaoran came closer to him, with his mother's hand on his shoulder, he listened tentatively.
"It's… It's impossible! Why would he do such a thing?" He spoke to the person on the other line. He paused to massage his temples. Then, all of a sudden he mumbled and slammed the phone. "I'm going off."
"W-W-Wait, where are you going, Feiren?"
Syaoran raised his head to stare at the two tall adults.
His uncle turned to look at Yelan. "Y-You remember Longfeng, don't you?" Yelan nodded and he looked away. "He got drunk yesterday and when he came home he…" he shut his eyes and held his face. "I can't believe he'd do such a thing to her!"
"Calm down, Feiren," Yelan placed a cool hand to his shoulder. "OK, we'll go to wherever you're going, together, alright?"
Feiren looked back to her, sighed and nodded. "Syaoran come, too?" Syaoran finally spoke and his uncle looked down to him with round brown eyes. "Can Syaoran come, too?"
Feiren raised his head back to Yelan. "Well, if it's OK with your mother, Syaoran—"
Yelan looked down to him as Syaoran raised his little head up to her. With a little tug to her lip in an act of smiling, she patted her son's head and nodded. "Alright,"
When they reached the Li's private villa – he knew because he went there before when his father was ill and had passed on a day after Syaoran turned six – and the car stopped, Syaoran quickly climbed off, helped his mother out and stared at the white building. Either he was anxious to meet someone outside the Li family tree, or that being in this building gave him the sense of remembering the loss of his beloved father. And as if on cue, his mother placed a cool hand to his shoulder.
"Will you be alright, son?" Her voice was like warm milk filling his insides and he flashed a small smile to her. "Good, but if you feel like going home just say the word and we'll go, OK?"
Syaoran nodded.
As he followed the two adults through the entrance of the private villa, his eyes immediately fell on the picture of his late-father hanging on a wall ever-so-obvious to anybody who steps in. Syaoran's heart ached, but knowing that there was nothing he could do to bring him back, he bowed his head slightly and greeted his late-father's picture. Besides the picture, there were several potted plants, other paintings by some weird artist he wasn't interested to know, and several nurses and doctors in white uniforms walking about the lobby.
He watched his uncle query a nurse and a doctor and a second later, they were following them. He had asked his mother who they were seeing but all his mother had said was "a broken family". He never thought there were such things as 'broken families'. He imagined a family break apart like fallen porcelain.
But when he stepped into a dimly-lit room, where there were nurses, a doctor, and two police officers surrounding a lady and a girl by a corner beside the sleeping patient in the middle of the room, he somehow got the idea of what 'broken families' meant.
"Hua Yan," he heard his uncle call out and the lady immediately raised her head to look at him. She had tears in her ruby-red eyes against her pale skin. But what caught Syaoran's attention was the blue-black bruising all over her face, and what seemed like two handprints on her neck. Was she strangled?
"Feiren," she breathed out, stood from her seat and approached him with a polite bow. "I know you have other businesses to deal with and a problem like mine isn't anywhere deserving of your time but—"
His uncle immediately wrapped his arms around the lady and held her close to him. Syaoran and his mother just eyed him with wide eyes. The Lis had never understood a custom called hugging, even if it was shared with family members or friends of families. All they ever did was bow and speak with utter politeness and high respect towards each other. And to see his honourable uncle act this way towards a stranger, it seemed almost appalling. But his mother just smiled down to him.
"Go on, there's a little girl there," she ushered him towards the sunken girl sitting on an orange chair. "She might need someone to talk to."
Syaoran furrowed his brows at the girl and raised his head to his mother, hoping she'd understand that Syaoran didn't wish to talk to some stranger.
"Xiao-Lang," she drawled and Syaoran sighed in defeat.
He cleared his throat, adjusted his sweater and took a seat beside her. The doctor, nurses and the officer had left at his uncle's order and told them to give the Lis fifteen minutes before they leave. His uncle always had the higher authority and would say almost anything and anybody who heard would abide his orders. But now wasn't the time to praise his uncle…
"Hello," he croaked and stared at the girl.
She had messy black hair all over her face and had worn what looked like a red cheongsam. Her hands were glued to her face so Syaoran couldn't properly see what she looked like.
"Hello," he tried again.
Finally, he had a reaction and the girl dropped her hands to her lap. She turned her face to him and stared into his face with dull red eyes. For a moment there, Syaoran was fixated on how sad those red eyes looked. And for another moment, he thought of the same: hugging her like what his uncle had just done. But he couldn't, he's a man and men don't hug.
"H-H-H-Hello…" she stuttered.
Syaoran stayed firm and looked down. "Are you alright?"
The girl sobbed and looked away from him. "N-N-N-No,"
"Do you want to talk about it?"
He had done this a lot of times with his sisters and his mother so he was pretty much used to what questions he should and shouldn't ask, knowing the reactions were as scary enough as their wailings if he did hit a raw nerve. But this girl was a stranger so he'd better screen those questions wisely.
The girl looked back at him, paused for a moment and muttered. "W-What's your name…?"
Syaoran looked back to her. It's a start, anyways. "Syaoran,"
The girl blinked at him. "X-Xiao-Lang?"
Syaoran eyed her. "No, it's Syaoran. You cannot call me that. Only my family does that." He hadn't meant to be stern but it was the truth. Hearing his real name being said by some stranger wasn't comforting to him. "Call me Syaoran,"
The girl blinked, nodded slowly and looked back down to her little hands. "M-M-My name is Meiling…"
Great, now he doesn't know what else to say other than, "OK,"
"Is my father going to be OK?" She suddenly asked in between sobs. "I want my father to wake up. Why isn't he waking up?"
"He will, don't worry—"
"No, he won't! He will never wake up! The doctor said so!" Meiling cried out.
Syaoran sighed quietly. "Meiling—"
"But if he did… The police officer will take him to jail," she mumbled and Syaoran swung his head over to look at her. For a girl like her to speak about her father going to jail, it must've taken a lot of energy out of her. Syaoran somehow respected her. Somehow.
"W-What did he do to you?" But then he paused and looked back down. "I-I-I'm sorry… I shouldn't have ask—"
Meiling suddenly wrapped her arms around him and cried to his shoulder, wailing and screaming into his ear as if he wasn't affected. Well he was, and for a moment there he thought he was growing deaf. "M-Meiling!"
"Why did he have to beat me and Mommy? He doesn't beat us all the time! He always love me and Mommy! Why?" She pulled back and stared into Syaoran's eyes. "Why, Syaoran, why?"
Syaoran stared back. "I-I-I…"
"Meiling!" He heard her mother call out and he looked over to the adults who were staring at them. "Meiling!"
Meiling looked over to her mother, sobbed, and looked back to Syaoran. "S-S-Sorry…" She stood from her chair, dragged herself to her mother and hugged her waist. "M-Mommy,"
Hua Yan sobbed, looked over to Feiren and nodded. "I will think about it. T-T-Thank you,"
Syaoran raised a brow, glared at the damp patch on his sweater, and grumbled. Great, it was his favourite sweater!
"Xiao-Lang,"
He raised his head to her mother, nodded and stood. Well, that was a fruitful meeting with a family of strangers. If his mother ever tells him to do more 'counselling' with another family of strangers, he'd better run for his life.
But unfortunately, it was too late. Out of the blue, his uncle announced his marriage to Hua Yan Song and will, honourably, take responsibility of her six-year-old daughter, Meiling Song. Syaoran thought it was just another foolish dream, but his mother had bought him ceremonial clothes and told him to put them on. Syaoran refused, as always, but his mother looked, for once, happier than she used to and he couldn't help but obey her. It was time his mother smiled and felt happiness inside her.
And after several hours and hearing cousins cry and wail with happiness, the wedding was over and they were all led to the reception where several Li leaders cluttered and discussed in hush tones about stuff. Syaoran would be like them one day, but right now he had to deal with—
"Syaoran!!"
He growled under his breath, turned around and was about to call out her name when she pounced on him and hugged him. "M-M-Meiling?"
"We're cousins now! I'm a Li now! Isn't that great?" She smiled into his face, her eyes finally giving off that perfect ruby-red shine. "I'm so happy!" She hugged him again.
Syaoran wanted to push her away, but if it means watching her wail and cry just because he wouldn't hug her back, he'd rather go through with this frailty and let her satisfy herself.
"I-I'm glad you're happy," he found himself saying.
Meiling finally pulled away and she nodded. "I am, because now I can see you everyday and play with you, sing with you, dance with you—"
"What?"
She giggled. "I'm only joking! Mommy says you're good at sword-fighting. Can you teach me?"
Syaoran furrowed his brows. "No, I don't want to teach you. You're a girl!"
"So? A girl can have every right to fight as much as a boy." She crossed her arms and raised her head. "So, teach me."
He sighed heavily and drained his fruit punch. Well, it was a start, anyways. If she insists on having him teach her how to fight like a boy, he'd just have to do it. If she aches and falls on her bum, it wouldn't be him to blame.
And through the years they were together as a family, Meiling and Syaoran stayed close, duelling amongst themselves and taunting each other for being weak. They would challenge each other who runs the fastest, or throw punches the quickest. They would test themselves with questions of the universe and then indulge themselves with ice-cream or practice sword-fighting throughout the afternoons. Syaoran had a lot of fun being himself with her but he never understood, even when he was sixteen-years-old, why she's so attached to him and would never go on a date with a guy. She would always give him excuses that the guys who had offered were jerks and she'd rather be with him than be with jerks.
"But it's prom night, Meiling. Every girl would want to go to their first prom night." Syaoran spoke as he sipped his juice from a juice box.
They were looking out from the Li mansion's deck and were staring at the full moon above them. Meiling had wanted to talk to him about something but when they had stood by the railings, she hadn't spoken a word.
"Meiling,"
She raised her head. "I already told you, they're jerks."
"They're boys, what do you expect?"
"I'd expect them to be nice, treat me well, and make me happy." She looked over to him. "No one can make me happy—"
He held his breath.
"—except you, Syaoran…" She immediately blushed beet red and she looked away. "S-S-Sorry,"
But somehow, he sort of knew what she felt for him, yet he never wanted to delve into the obvious. He was too busy getting pumped up for the leader selection by the 'Elders'. Now, Meiling had confessed to him and he hadn't any clue what to say.
He sighed heavily. "M-Meiling—"
"I love you, Syaoran." She looked back to him, bright ruby eyes shining. "I really do." She paused to grasp onto his hand for a squeeze. "Will you accept me?"
After that, all he remembered was Meiling coming up to her parents and telling them her "undying love" for Syaoran and that whether he becomes the next leader or not, she'd be ready to be his wife. Yelan, being the total devotee to the Li hierarchy and its rules, had obliged with a smile and a phone call to the 'Elders'. Syaoran, as he remembered, had offered to think things through and agree to nothing until the selection was over. Unfortunately, it was and until now, ten years later, Syaoran still hasn't come to terms with his yet-to-be title and power – and also the unnecessary of having a cousin to be his wife.
He never wanted Meiling to be his wife. He hadn't even pictured it, until now, as she paced around the study with a slim finger to her lips and an arm over her stomach. He only regard her as a cousin, a best buddy, not a wife – oh no wait, scratch that – wife-to-be. But this wasn't the true problem at hand: it was Sakura finding out in a painful manner.
He actually thought of telling her everything about him: from his upcoming title, down to Meiling, his cousin, becoming his wife once he accepts his title. But when he saw Meiling come up to them last night, he felt nothing but shock, and lost all memory of revealing everything to Sakura. Before, Meiling had told him she was coming on the first day, of the first week, of next month. But he guessed she can never wait that long and chose to come on the last week, of the previous month. He had meant to be angry with her, for saying such spiteful words to Sakura, but where Meiling was concerned, he couldn't help but listen to her.
"We should do something," Meiling finally spoke. "She has no right whatsoever in interfering with our affairs."
"Why didn't you tell me you're coming earlier than expected?"
Meiling ignored him and continued pacing.
He sighed heavily. "Meiling,"
"We should report this seductress to your mother. She'll know what to do. Yes, yes we should do that," Meiling started muttering. "And then Aunt Yelan would definitely have her charged and thrown in jail…"
Syaoran's eyes widened. "Meiling!"
She swung her head to him. "Syaoran, can't you see she was only manipulating you for your money, for your power? Can't you see that she's not suited for you? I'm suited for you," she came up to him, smiled into his face and held his cheek. "I'm the only woman who'll ever be able to take care of you—"
"Stop it, Meiling," he peeled her hand from his face and stood from his chair. "I never agreed to anything, remember? I told my mother that I would agree to nothing."
"But, Syaoran, I love you. And you love me—"
"No, Meiling, I don't love you," he sighed heavily. It was the truth so why bother fabricating it so she'd feel better about herself? "I only love you how cousins should to one another," he raised his eyes to look at her, already prepared for the worst of the worst. "I'm not the person you should be marrying—"
"What are you saying, Syaoran? You must be joking! Next month, on the twenty-fifth, they'd hand-over the company, title, and power to you! You must have a bride with you and that bride must be me!" Meiling breathed in and out. "Your mother had made it so that I would be your bride…"
"Meiling, please," Syaoran came up to her slowly. "You know well how I feel about you—"
"Yes, and you love me! You love me!" Her ruby-red eyes twinkled with tears. "Syaoran, you love me…!"
He stared at her, sighed heavily and pulled her in for a comforting hug. "Meiling, I'm not the man you should be marrying because I can never take care of you farther than a cousin should. I see you as my cousin, my friend, my training buddy," he smiled into her raven hair. "Please understand—"
"NO! No, I don't want to understand!" She pushed him away and cried. "What's wrong with you? What happened, when I was gone, that changed you to become…" She shut her eyes and looked away. "How could you do this to me? Me, your cousin, the one you loved dearly—"
"Meiling, stop—"
"No! You stop! Stop misleading me! Stop playing with my feelings! Stop having feelings for other sluts and come to me! Look at me and fall in love with me, Syaoran, please!" She came back up to Syaoran and grabbed his shirt. "You came to me when I was hurt. You came to me when I was crying… And now I come to you when you're alone. Why can't you see how much I love you, Syaoran? Why?!"
He just looked away. He never once withstood watching her cry her heart out. He never once survived it. "M-Meiling…"
"What does that wench have that I don't?" She wailed. "What does she have, huh, Syaoran? What did she do to you to make you treat me like this?"
He lowered his eyes and stared at the ground. What did Sakura do to him? He knew for a fact that she somewhat managed to warm him up despite the pains she's constantly going through. He also knew for a fact that she's stronger than she thinks, and that she also braved through people's misconceptions and came out a survivor. It might've been her powerful will that appealed to him, but as he dug through his mind, past the inkling thought he's going all mushy, he thought of her green eyes and smile.
But as he stayed fixated on her glistening emeralds and her wicked smile, the incident yesterday rocked him back to reality. How fast she ran from him, how painful the look on her face had become. It tugged his heart and somewhat ached him with regret. How will he make it up to her now? Will she give him the chance to explain if he sees her again? Will she accept it? is the true question here.
"Syaoran!"
He blinked, looked back to Meiling and stared. "M-Meiling,"
She cried. "Syaoran, you idiot! How could you still be thinking about her when I'm right in front of you and pouring my heart and soul into you?!" She stared at his chest and started punching at him. "Idiot! Idiot! YOU IDIOT!!!!"
"M-Meiling!" He stopped with a hand. Again and again, she threw punches into his chest. Again and again, he stopped her, but she kept going. Tears formed and fell from her eyes, "Meiling, stop!!"
"What is going on here?" Yelan finally came inside the study. "Meiling!" She gasped and came up to her, pulling her back. "W-What happened?" She looked at Syaoran. "What did you do to her?"
His mouth dropped open. To think his mother would accuse him of doing something bad to Meiling! "Mother, I did not do anything to her—"
"I hate you! SYAORAN LI, I HATE YOU!!!!!" Meiling suddenly screamed, tears flowing from her ruby eyes like raging waterfalls. Yelan grunted, pulled a kicking and punching Meiling out of the study and slammed the door. Clearly, she sees it as Syaoran was to blame.
He plonked back to his chair, slapped a hand to his forehead and heaved out a heavy sigh. Great, Meiling hates him for life, his mother's probably sitting in her own office writing out her next lecture to Syaoran on how to treat his bride-to-be well and in order, and Sakura's avoiding him, maybe even on the verge of hating him…
Somehow, that revelation ache him to the pit of his stomach.
Why? Why would it ache him to the pit of his stomach?
Would it matter to her that he's aching at the thought of losing her?
He closed his eyes. "Sakura…"
End of Chapter Seven
Author's Note: So, what do you think so far? Is it getting worst by the lines or is it just dawdling in the mediocre category? Oh i don't know. I tend to get boring with the words and plots i use. Even the dialogues might not appeal to me despite me being the author. I just hope people would review more and give me motivations to continue writing and to hopefully finish this story with a big bang. I really want to finish it. I think i have the climax in my head. All i'm left with you, the reviewers, your support. I really hope you could motivate me more. LOL. I've never gotten this much reviews, so far, but i hoped to get more. Reviews to me meant that i'm not boring and i can be a writer. LOL. Thanks for reading this piece of me. LOL. Do review? Thanks.
Love,
Yoshimi-chan
