Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me.


Sensei, I Love You

Chapter 8


"So... What's your purpose of dragging me here?" Sakura asked, a little irritated by her handsome grinning homeroom teacher sitting across the table. She darted her gaze around the busy cafe uneasily, jumping nervously when the door opened and new customers streamed in. "Aren't you afraid that someone might recognize us?"

Syaoran slapped on the table and chuckled loudly. Sakura's frown intensified as she glared at him, silently warning him to keep it down or he would attract attention to them. "This is funny! Why are you so afraid of people catching us together?"

"I used to think that you are an idiot," Sakura spat. "But now I think that you are really stupid. Really."

"Pfft... I may be stupid as you have said but I'm stupidly charming," Syaoran said, striking a pose as if there were paparazzi taking pictures of him as if he was some celebrity. He even waved to the people outside the cafe through the glass window.

Sakura felt like banging her head again the table. How did she end up with someone like him who didn't understand the importance of secrecy? "This is so not real," she grumbled unhappily. "This is a dream and I'll wake up from it soon. I can't take this anymore..."

"This is only the beginning, muffin."

Sakura's head swung up within a microsecond and her eyes was shooting knives at him. "Don't call me muffin."

Syaoran shrugged as he leaned back against the cushioned chair. "Then what should I call you? Sakura?"

Her eyes widened at how easily her name spilled from his mouth and couldn't suppress a shudder that wrecked through her body. No one called her simply by her name nowadays and it was weird to hear it from his mouth. "Not that either."

"What? You don't like your name?"

"Don't mock me," Sakura hissed as she stood up hastily. "Stop mocking me!"

Syaoran raised both his hands, palms out, in surrender. "All right—I get it. I went overboard and I'm sorry about it. Forgive me?" He shot her a puppy-eye look which no doubt would have left other girls swooning at his feet but Sakura caught herself at the last second and transformed her expression into a mighty glare. "I'm hungry after a long day at work... I didn't have my lunch so can we have an early dinner instead?"

"But you bought me lunch... and you should buy one for yourself!"

A waitress came over to their table, ready to take their order. Syaoran ordered omelette curry rice for the both of them and iced milk tea for Sakura. Sakura's arched her brow in surprise. How did he know what her favourite food and drink was? Syaoran thanked the waitress politely and handed the menu back to her so that Sakura wouldn't have a chance to take a peek at the price. By the look of the interior design of the cafe, the items wouldn't be cheap.

"How did you..." Sakura started to ask but stopped midway. She waved her question away. "Nevermind, it's nothing."

"What?" Syaoran asked, leaning forward with his arms on the table, eager to hear what Sakura wanted to ask.

"I said it was nothing," she snapped and regretted her harsh words immediately. Syaoran had done nothing but be kind to her and didn't deserve her nasty attitude. "I'm sorry."

"You must have had a long day too," Syaoran said with a slight smile and Sakura knew the two of them were back to normal. It was tiring to argue with him too.

"You have no idea," Sakura agreed. "It's just so weird not having a job. I guess I'm still not used to being jobless."

"Don't tell me that you are looking for a job already."

"I guess nothing escapes your eyes. Yes, I started looking around for one and yes, I remember the agreement I made with you—weekends only."

"And don't forget your grades," Syaoran reminded, wagging a finger at her.

"Of course I didn't! And I'm not planning to skip school either so you should be happy about it."

Syaoran nodded his head in approval. "Good! That's my girl."

Sakura grabbed a napkin on the table and threw it at him. He laughed when it landed nowhere near its target. "Stop saying weird stuff!"

"Weird stuff?" Syaoran asked and pushed himself out of his seat and leaned forward so close to Sakura's face that she had to lean back to put some distance between them. It was useless. Syaoran's lanky body allowed him to lean across the table without any problem. "What weird stuff?"

Sakura's breath hitched at the nearness and shook her head nervously. When he didn't move, she put her small hands on his shoulders and gave a hard shove and groaned in frustration when he didn't even balk. Syaoran chuckled at her vain attempt and sneaked a quick kiss on her cheek just to see what her reaction would be. Of course colour blossomed on her cheeks immediately as she squeaked and covered the side of her cheek which he had kissed. "Li-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed, aghast at the turn of events. She was dismayed when her sudden outburst had caught the attention of most of the diners and they were giving them weird looks. A teacher and his student alone in the cafe? That would be just the fodder needed for gossip to spread. Sakura could feel the tears stinging her eyes as panic rose to levels beyond her control. Why did he have to do that?

Syaoran knew he had gone overboard with that particular action but it was fun to see how Sakura reacted to it. Her face was always full of expression and it was a delight to watch the transformation. He did not expect her to burst into tears instead.

"You are so mean!" Sakura sobbed and she brushed away the angry tears. "I hate you!"

Syaoran was flustered by the turn of events and he tried to apologize. Sakura only looked down at her lap and continued to sniffle miserably. There was nowhere else she could run to since all her belongings were at Syaoran's house and she knew it was pointless to run away from him. What was the use when she still had to crawl back to his house at the end of the day?

"Hey... muffin?" Syaoran called out gently over Sakura's quiet sniffling. Her tensed shoulders were the only indication that she heard him. He let out a sigh when she ignored him. It pinched his heart to see her tears dripping down from her face. Ignoring the weird looks the customers were throwing at him, Syaoran slid out of his seat and went to Sakura's side and dropped onto the empty chair beside her. "Hey..."

Sakura slanted her teary gaze up at him and scooted further away from him. It was as if she was pushing him away on purpose. She bit her lips as she continued to stare at the folded hands on her lap. She was determined to ignore him for the rest of the day until he realized that secrecy was extremely important to them if he wanted to keep his teaching job.

A hand on her chin forced her to turn her face up to look at him. She tried to jerk away from his hold but he cupped her cheeks with both his large hands. His thumbs brushed away the droplets of tears that clung to her cheeks so gently that she was mesmerized. What surprised her was that he closed the distance between them to press a quick kiss to her forehead before pulling her into a hug.

"I don't care if people finds out about us," Syaoran explained, answering Sakura's unspoken fear. "It is not as if we are doing something wrong. You are just living with me, that's all. You have nothing to be afraid of."

"But... if people finds out about me staying at your place, won't you be implicated?" Sakura asked, still in Syaoran's embrace. "You'd be asked to quit teaching."

"If it is all that's required to protect you, I'm willing to risk it," Syaoran said solemnly and gently pried himself away from Sakura. "I swear."

The waitress came with their order and was frowning at Sakura. However, her scowl turned into a sweet smile when she turned and placed Syaoran's plate in front of him. "Enjoy your meal," she purred and sashayed away.

Syaoran shook his head ruefully at the waitress before turning his attention back to Sakura. He handed a napkin to Sakura and instructed her to blow her nose. Feeling shy out of a sudden, she tried to do it in the quietest manner ever and failed miserably. Syaoran chuckled at her expression as he pushed Sakura's plate towards her and passed her the cutlery. "This cafe is famous for its curry omelette rice. I hope you like it," he said. Sakura nodded her head and tucked into her meal, squealing in delight as the flavour burst within her mouth.

"It's delicious!" Sakura exclaimed, her earlier unease forgotten as she revelled in her food. "How did they make it so yummy?"

Syaoran chuckled. "Secret recipe?"

Sakura's eyes grew wide at the idea of a secret recipe. "If only I know how to cook delicious food like this. Unfortunately, my cooking skills are only passable if and only if I'm lucky."

"I seriously wonder how you manage all these months," Syaoran remarked and froze when he realized that he had accidentally made Sakura recall the brutal reality of her family's accident. "I take that back... I..."

"It's all right. It doesn't affect me anymore now. I guess I'm already used to being alone on my own."

"You are not alone," Syaoran argued. "You have me now."

"Only until I manage to find a room to rent," she added. Syaoran frowned at the idea of Sakura living on her own and facing people like Rui and Tanaka. "Besides, it wouldn't be good if people do actually find out that we are living together unchaperoned."

"What? Which era are you living in now?" Syaoran teased.

"Long ago?" Sakura suggested and burst into laughter, causing Syaoran to suck in a quick breath. Realizing that he had gone quiet, Sakura stopped laughing and looked up at him. "What?"

That seemed to pull Syaoran out of his reverie. He cleared his throat with a loud cough and turned to his food. "Nothing," he muttered and urged Sakura to have more food.

"Time to get down to work!" Sakura said as she pulled out textbooks after textbooks from her bag and her tiny bookshelf provided by Syaoran. The bookshelf was a useful tool for keeping her belongings. It wasn't too big, just reaching to Sakura's hip and consisted of two sections-an upper and lower shelf both without a cupboard door.

Grabbing her Calculus book, Sakura jumped onto her bed and flipped to the page which her teacher had assigned them as homework. However, she had to start way before the assigned pages because she had missed a lot of lessons. She regretted not attending classes because she had lots to catch up with at the moment and it was actually suffocating her. No one in the class offered to coach her in her studies. Guess it was my fault for skipping classes...

A knock sounded on the door a second before the door knob turned and Syaoran stepped in holding a tray in his palm. Sakura straightened up from her prone position on the bed and looked at him inquiringly.

"Supper," he answered, placing the tray of sandwiches onto her lap. "Eat up and have lots of energy to continue with your studies."

Before Sakura even had a chance to thank him, he was out of her room, shutting the door gently behind him. Sakura was bewildered. Why was he being so nice to her when it was obvious to her that he thought of her as nothing but her student. She hoped she was over-thinking about the whole situation. If not, things were going to get more difficult in the days to come.

Perhaps she was developing feelings for her crazy, stupid and idiot homeroom teacher.

And she was falling hard.


To be continued


Sorry for the delay! Was helping my mum with some baking the whole day and then had a super bad headache after that and headed straight to bed. Thanks for all your reviews, favorites, follows and alerts! *hearts* Those are real motivation for me. :)