Chapter 9: You and Me, lovin' in an elevator
Sakura slumped further down. She half-hoped he hadn't noticed her, but the smug smile across his face, spoke otherwise.
Assex placed his arms around her shoulders, "What's wrong baby?"
Sakura covered her face with her hands, "Nothing, I don't feel so well. "
"Don't worry baby, we'll be in a comfortable place real soon." He squeezed her shoulder in reassurance.
Sakura wanted to tackle the man right there and then. That would lessen half the trouble. Unfortunately, there would be the consequences of a witness. And that involved a lot of unnecessary paperwork. Not to mention the use of a hypnotist.
Syaoran Li rolled his eyes and responded to Assex's blunt statement, "Look, can you please take the PDA down a notch? I'm feeling suffocated in here."
Assex glared at him, "Look man, why don't you mind your own business? What's PDA mean anyway?"
Syaoran shook his hand as if he were talking to a dumb animal. Sakura thought he looked extremely obnoxious.
"I'm not interested in any of your business. Trust me, the truth is far from that. But you and your stupid prostitute are giving me a headache." He began to rub his head; " I don't even know how they let you into this place."
Assex turned his head quickly in Sakura's direction, "You're a prostitute? Holy shit. I though you were a virgin."
He began to scratch his head in confusion.
Sakura stood up and glared a Syaoran. "No, I'm not a prostitute. This guy's crazy!"
Syaoran Li crossed his arms and sneered, "Your dress says it all. Can you make it any easier?"
Although he was wearing shades, Sakura still felt he was checking her out. She tugged her dress a little lower. But it didn't help. She still felt cheap. She made a mental note to kill Tomoyo.
Assex, in an attempt to calm the tension, stepped between them and held his hands up.
"Ya'll need to relax. I think-"
Sakura pushed Assex aside and stood in front of Syaoran. "Since when does appearance judge character?"
In response, Syaoran straightened the nonexistent wrinkles on his jacket.
"In my world, appearances are everything. And you, whatever you are, are not welcome in it."
Sakura mumbled, "Nobody asked," but it was inaudible to his ears.
He checked his look in the mirror behind him and turned towards her, "Now, I am going to make things really clear for you. Once we get out of this elevator, I will have the guards escort you and your client out of this establishment. You go your way, in a place far, far away from mine. Do we understand each other?"
Sakura stepped forward, "Clearly we don't."
The elevator stopped at an abrupt halt. The lights began to oscillate between dimness and brightness, resulting in an unsettling rhythm of discomfort.
Assex began to fumble at the glass walls and held on to the enclosed railing for support, "What's happening?"
The elevator emitted a loud creak and began to sway unnaturally.
"Looks like this amazing establishment has a faulty elevator," Sakura flashed a mock smile at Syaoran, "oh boo."
"This elevator was imported, piece by piece, from France."
He looked disheveled and embarrassed. Even though the light was dim, Sakura could tell his face was red.
She loved it.
"Oh, yeah. That really shows."
"I'll have you know, it cost 5000 to make."
"Are you sure? It looks like they ripped you off," Sakura glanced around at the elevator and shook her head, "Pity, it had to happen on inauguration day. I'm sure the press is going to love this."
"Shutup!" Syaoran slammed his hand against the button panel.
The elevator began to creak. A distinct sound of something snapping was heard. It sounded like it was coming from the ceiling. Before they had time to react, the elevator tilted.
Assex flew against the opposite wall.
Sakura attempted to grab the rail, but the impact of the force of the elevator prevented her from doing so. She braced herself for the wall, but something broke her fall.
Syaoran saw that she was about to fall. Gleefully, he stepped aside to let her slam against the elevator wall. Instead, he was pushed towards the wall.
He winced at the impact. His head, which had hit the glass most forcefully, was painfully throbbing. When he attempted to move, he realized that he was paralyzed. She was on top of him.
Sakura moved her hair out of her face and glanced at Syaoran whose sunglasses were cracked. She also saw that her body was meticulously draped all over his; her legs were over his legs and her arms were around his neck.
Their faces were also very close. So close, that she could hear him breathing. The warmth emanating from his body, made her feel less cold. She moved closer in spite of herself.
The elevator took another lurch. Instinctively, he placed his arms around her waist. He felt her body stiffen under his embrace.
She didn't know what was happening. One moment, she was screaming at the guy and the next, she was leaning towards him for comfort. This was bizarre beyond all means. When he put his arms around her, she felt her stomach flip over.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
Sakura pulled away from Syaoran and pushed him against the wall.
"I'm not that type of woman!" Sakura tried to cover herself up with her hands, but she failed miserably.
Syaoran, shocked at the outburst, just glared at her. He pushed himself up with his hands.
"You were the one that fell on me."
"That wasn't my fault! It was this stupid elevator!" Sakura directed her hands in a circular motion towards the elevator.
As if the elevator possessed ears, it began to creak unnaturally.
Assex began to moan, "What's that sound?"
Sakura, remembering that someone else was also in the elevator, diverted her glare from Syaoran towards Assex.
"Obviously, one of the elevator cables broke. Somebody's precious elevator has forsaken him. Great going genius."
Syaoran Li ran his hand through his hair and muttered, "You're impossible."
Assex shook his head slowly, "Does this mean, I'm going to die here?"
Silence ensued. Sakura and Syaoran were too busy glaring at one another to respond.
Interpreting the silence as the sign of an upcoming apocalypse, Assex began to bang the walls, "Oh shit! I don't want to die down here! I'm too young to die!"
"Stop it! You're going to make it worse!" Sakura tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen.
He continued to bang at the glass walls.
Exasperated, Sakura took hold of Assex and smacked him squarely across the face.
Assex slumped downwards and remained still.
"You just knocked him out," Syaoran stared at Assex with his mouth wide open and them turned to Sakura, "What are you?"
Detecting a hint of awe in that statement, Sakura smiled and replied, "Never underestimate the power of a woman."
She kissed her hand for good measure.
Syaoran snorted, "Right."
The elevator took another lurch. This time they both were smart enough the grab the rails.
Sakura observed the model and intermittent creaks of the elevator and commented, "I say we have five minutes before the last cable snaps. After that, I think we'll certainly be crushed to pulp."
"Oh, that's reassuring." Syaoran dryly replied.
Sakura lifted an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Fine. Do something about it."
Syaoran spluttered, "E-excuse me?"
Sakura took a step forward, "Yeah, you heard me. Do something."
Syaoran glared at her, "Fine. Watch and learn."
He raised his chin up and took a deep breath. Then he rolled up his sleeves and cracked his neck.
Finally, came the moment of truth.
Lifting one of his hands up, he….
… frantically began to press the emergency button. After the first few attempts failed, he began to press the button with speeding veracity.
Sakura, who was watching this scene with much amusement, slapped her knee and snorted, "Oh, so that's how it's done? I had no idea."
Syaoran ignored her and continued pressing the button.
This is so embarrassing. Why isn't this working?
Sakura cleared her throat.
"What." Syaoran spat the word. He still faced the buttons.
"Hold it there pretty boy, we wouldn't want your finger to get hurt. You're gonna break it if you keep doing that."
"Did you just call me pretty boy?" Syaoran raised an eyebrow and turned around.
Blatantly ignoring his statement, she said, "Kneel on the ground."
Syaoran spluttered for the second time that day, "W-what?"
Sakura rolled her eyes, "Chillax dude, I'm gonna get us out of here. Obviously you raping the emergency button isn't going to help us."
Sakura felt a little flustered. She knew her comment was taken the wrong way. But she did not have any impure intention behind that command.
"Your language is disgusting." Syaoran sneered and took off his jacket.
"Like you never cursed before. W-wait. Why are you taking your jacket off?"
She couldn't disguise the panic in her voice.
Her question was answered as he threw his jacket at her face.
"When we get out, I don't want there to be any misconceptions with the press. I am respectable you know."
Sakura put on the jacket and muttered, "Respectable, my ass."
Nonetheless, she was thankful for the jacket. Atleast, she could do this with some dignity.
"Now don't break my back. You look pretty heavy." She saw that he had followed her command.
With a freshly flushed face, she took off her heels and threw them aside. Then, using the mirrored wall for support, she placed a foot on his shoulder and followed with her other. With her stance mounted stably, she pushed at the small compartment door at the top of the elevator. She was glad there weren't any screws involved.
"Can't you just raise your shoulders a little higher?"
He responded with a grunt, but fulfilled the action nonetheless.
After pushing a few more times, the door was finally loosened and, with a final punch, she blew it open.
"Got it!"
She pushed herself on top of the elevator and peered downwards, "Now give me your hand."
XOXO
Syaoran Li had never been more humiliated in his life. And it was all due to that stupid prostitute. Or whatever she was. The technicalities made no difference in that matter.
First with the car incident and now with the elevator, she was making his life intolerable. She was like his personalized unlucky charm; a siren, freshly emerged from hell, whose sole purpose was to make his life as difficult as possible.
When she asked him to kneel, he had half an urge to tell her to "fuck off," but he refrained from doing so with the thought of his kids. With Tara gone, he didn't want them to become complete orphans.
But aren't they already? I barely spend time with them.
As he offered his back as support, he watched as she climbed on top of him and reached for the elevator. He began to mutter curses under his breath, but stopped as he caught sight of her in the mirrors; a sight that made him feel extremely embarrassed.
He had viewed her teddy-bear knickers.
Feeling like a total pervert, he clenched his eyes shut and began to hum a random tune.
"Hey! You down there! Are you listening to me? We got like a minute before this thing collapses! Come on now!"
He snapped out of his weird teddy-wonderland trance and gazed up, "Just give me a moment."
He tried to control his racing heartbeat and gulped to bring some moisture to his dry throat.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I've seen hundreds of these things before.
But you haven't seen ones with teddy bears on them.
What difference does that make?
It makes all the difference in the world.
WHAT THE-
With his head pounding from this ridiculous inner monologue, he irritably grabbed her hand and pulled himself up.
"Are you alright?"
The genuine concern laced in her voice made him feel ashamed of his thoughts. He refused to look at her.
"No, I'm not fucking alright. Now leave me alone!"
"Hey! I just saved your life here. Is that any way to thank someone?" Sakura furrowed her eyebrows.
Syaoran gritted his teeth, "I would thank you for not ever crossing my path again. Now move."
He pushed her aside as he took a step up to the crowd waiting for him at the edge of the elevator platform.
Sakura, confused and angered by this heightened animosity retorted, "Well screw you!"
Good riddance, she hoped to never meet him again in the future.
A/N: Hello, all you lovely people! Happy New Year! No, I have not forgotten about this fic, just been on a hiatus due to work and all. I really hope to finish this soon. I just keep on getting so many new ideas. I hope to have the next chapter posted in a few days. Reviews might help make it quicker ;)
Thanks
3 Serendipitousloveaffair
