"We may love the wrong person, cry for the wrong person, but one thing is sure. Mistakes help us find the right person. Go for someone who isn't only proud to have you, but will also take every risk just to be with you! Never, ever settle. Just be patient and don't rush things. Anything worth having is worth waiting for. ~ Brigitte
Chapter 9
"The Longest Day"
Lightning illuminated the way as he stared at his sister's apartment door from his car. The heavy rain falling from the sky mirrored the turmoil he was feeling inside. It was the middle of the night and he hadn't been able to reach his house. Instead, he was sitting down inside his car hearing the heavy rain pouring on top of his car as he kept thinking about his last conversation with Sakura.
He had always wanted to play along his friends in a professional team until he found out she was living in China. He remembered that first night he saw her again. The white dress didn't do her justice. Her emerald eyes trying to avoid his gaze made something inside of him stir that night. Yet, those same emerald eyes brought him pain tonight as well. He took his cell phone and dialed his manager's phone number.
"Hello!" Choi sleepily answered the phone.
"It's me." He heard some shuffling on the other side of the line before hearing his manager's voice again.
"Are you alright? Did something happen?" he worriedly asked.
"No! Everything's good." He scratched his eyes before taking a deep breath.
"Do you know what time it is?"
Syaoran hesitated and sighed before saying, "I've made my decision. Tell Manchester I'm signing tomorrow but I do want to add a condition. I don't want a press conference until the tournament is over. And the same goes with the announcement of my signing. I don't want them to divulge the information until the end of the tournament."
"Are you sure?"
It truly hurt him to sign like this. Although it was one of his dreams since childhood, finding Sakura living in China had changed everything. He didn't want to live without her again. He had already walked down that path and had never liked one step of it. But this was what she'd wanted. "Yes."
"Then, congratulations! It's a great deal Syaoran. You will not regret it. I'll call the owner tomorrow morning to give him the good news and will call you later with the details."
He hung up his phone and closed his eyes. When he left Sakura's office, he had the intent of ignoring her advice and drive straight home but, as usual, he ended up following her advice even if his mind was against it. Saying no to her was something he had never been able to do.
Syaoran got out of his car and quickly ran towards the front door. He stood soaking wet in front of the door and knocked as he waited for his sister to open the door.
Feimei answered the door and froze. "Syaoran?" she asked surprised at seeing her brother on the steps of her door.
He sadly looked at her. "I need a place to stay tonight."
"Babe, who is…" Xiun, who had just appeared from the wall on the back, stopped his question as soon as he saw Syaoran's face in the front door.
Syaoran looked at him but didn't say anything. Instead he watched as his sister quickly closed the door and looked at him.
"Xiun is staying with me… whether you like it or not." She quickly said.
He stared at her. He could easily see that even as she tried to say those words in a brave and defensive way the tone of her voice gave away her fear of knowing what he could possibly do to her boyfriend. Even after talking with Sakura he still didn't feel all too agreeable with this situation. In any other occasion he would have without a doubt cause a whole issue about Xiun been in her apartment but right now he just didn't feel like it. He just wanted a place where he could stay and think about what this whole thing with Sakura meant. "I just need a place to stay for tonight. I'm not going to do anything."
"Syaoran-"
He heard the warning behind her words and assured her, "I mean it Feimei."
She looked at him curiously and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing." He softly answered.
"You don't look like your usual self." she said as she inspected every aspect of his face.
He sighed at her worried face and tried to calm her by saying, "It's nothing, really."
She nodded and opened the door for him to enter. Xiun was sitting down at one of the bar stool chairs at the far end of the room in front of the kitchen bar. The sound of the door opening once again made him stand up quickly from his chair. He looked at his girlfriend entering their apartment followed by her brother and decided not to say anything.
"Syaoran will be staying with us tonight." Feimei calmly smiled at her boyfriend trying to calm his nervousness down. She watched him nod but stayed quiet. His uneasiness at knowing her brother would spend the night with them was completely visible to her. She took a deep breath and looked at her brother again. "Have you eaten anything?"
He shook his head.
She sighed. Something was wrong with her brother and she knew it. She went to her kitchen and opened the fridge. Taking out a round plastic container, she reached up to one of her cabinets and took out a soup pan in which she could heat some ramen for him. After heating it up, she served it in a porcelain deep plate and set it on the table. "Come on. Eat while I get you some clothing so you can change and a towel." She offered before disappearing through the back wall to get the stuff for him.
Syaoran sat down where she placed the plate. He took the chance of his sister's absence to look at Xiun over. He felt satisfaction at knowing that his presence was making him feel uneasy. "You live here?" he calmly asked him.
"No..." he quickly blurted. Then decided it was better not to lie to him. "Sometimes..." And finally chose that it was better to not infuriate him with the vague answer. "Only when I'm in town."
Syaoran stared at him and sighed before going back to eating. He took a scoop before saying, "If you ever hurt her-"
Xiun quickly raised his hands. "Totally noted man." He didn't need Syaoran to finish that sentence to know what he was about to say. He guessed this was as much of a blessing he would ever get from him.
~ o ~
She took one of Xiun's shirts and a towel from the closet. It was a good thing that they had decided to buy an apartment with two rooms in it. When they were looking for apartments, Xiun had given her the idea to get one with two rooms so that she could use one of the rooms as her office and as a guest room as well. She was about to head back to the living room when she heard her phone vibrate.
She grabbed the phone from her night table and looked at a text message that had come in from Sakura. 'At this hour?' she thought before opening it.
*Is your brother with you?
She read it again before answering.
*How do you know that? Did you sent him here?
*He wanted to drive home but I told him the rain is too heavy.
Feimei was about to answer her question but suddenly smirked as she read Sakura's message again.
*Is that worry I sense in your words?
*I'm just glad he listened.
Feimei read her message and scoffed. 'When has he not listened to you?' she thought before writing back.
*Xiun is here. You owe me big time.
She left her phone charging and put it back down before walking towards the guest room. After preparing the room for Syaoran to be able to stay in it, she went back towards the living room. Leaving those two alone was never a good thing no matter how much her brother promised not to do anything.
~ o ~
Sakura looked at Feimei's message and put her phone down. Her gut feeling was letting her know that something just went wrong. She had tried to push him away as usual but this time it was different. He insisted, he cornered her, and finally at the end he told her he didn't want to be near her. What in the world had just happened? She heard her phone's ringtone signaling a message.
*Are you coming home?
She looked at Jun's message and sighed. She couldn't be with him right now. It would totally lead her to make a decision without thinking and that was something she needed to avoid at all cost.
*I'm staying at the office tonight. Don't wait up.
She simply wrote back. After a couple of seconds waiting she put her phone down knowing he wouldn't write back. Once again, her mind came back to Syaoran.
"Don't lie to me. I won't make you a dishonest woman like you said, but the fact that you even had to ask me means you know I could. I'll sign the contract, just don't marry him."
From the moment she knew he would be coming back to China and she would have to see him again, she knew she had to be careful. Syaoran had always been quick in figuring things out. She had tried from the first day to push him away but he never did. Instead, he had been calm all this time. 'Too calm for my own comfort…' she thought. Had he known all this time? Had he been able to figure her out?
His mind had always been enticing for her. The way he could analyze a situation was something that had always attracted her. She could even say it was sort of exciting to watch specifically when he was playing in the field. His athletic ability was good but what really made him an outstanding player was his way to strategize a play. And last night, he had been right… If he were to try she would let him. She had no doubt she would.
She rubbed her fingers through her tired eyes and went back to her desk. She grabbed her iPad and continue reading the new projects they had already in line of been developed. She stayed the night working like she used to do whenever she couldn't sleep and finally when she saw the first rays of light decided to head home to get a shower and come back.
~ o ~
"Just go in Xiun. He already promised me he wouldn't do anything against you." Feimei whispered.
"I'm not going in Feimei. You are his sister. You wake him up." Xiun whispered back.
She sighed. "Honestly, is not like he can kill you or anything, The Cup is weeks away baby."
"That's easy for you to say. You're his sister." He responded narrowing his eyes at her.
Xiun and Feimei were whispering to each other in the hallway fighting back and forth outside of the guest room to see who would get to wake Syaoran up. It was already 5:45 am and there was no sign whatsoever that indicated he was awake. Practice was supposed to start in forty five minutes and Syaoran still hadn't even made a sound inside that room that would let them know he was at least getting ready to head out.
Feimei rolled her eyes at her boyfriend and whispered, "Baby, would you rather having him kill you for not waking him up?"
Xiun narrowed his eyes at her, "You were the one that allowed him to stay. So, if he were to miss practice it would fall on your head not mine."
She gave him and incredulous stare and scoffed. "Fine."
Feimei carefully opened the door. She looked inside the room and found Syaoran's body still on bed. She slowly went inside and walked over to him. As she got closer to the bed, she found he was still sleeping.
"Syaoran…?" she slowly called. She saw him move a little but didn't wake up. "Syaoran, it's time to wake up. Your practice starts soon." She tried again to wake him up but he didn't do anything. She looked back at the door where her boyfriend was standing looking at the whole scene and he only shrugged.
She sighed. "Syaoran, really… you're late." This time she nudged his shoulder to move him.
He opened his eyes slowly but said, "I'm not going today. Tell Xiun to excuse me."
"What?" she asked loudly this time.
"I'm not feeling well. I'm not going to practice today." He said getting more comfortable under the sheets.
"Are you feeling sick? Do I need to take you to the doctor?"
He shook his head and went back to sleep. She silently looked at her boyfriend who in return didn't say anything as well. None of them could believe it.
~ o ~
He looked inside his binder for the plays he wanted to practice today. After gathering all the papers, he walked out of his office and into the field.
"Good Morning Tan!" he greeted his assistant coach.
His assistant coach looked at him and nodded but stayed quiet. Immediately after seen his reaction, he knew something was not right but decided to ask later about it. They walked as they normally did to the center of the field to wait for the team to get out of the locker room. He smiled as he started looking at the players getting out to the field. Some of them came out one by one while others came out talking with another teammate. They had been practicing for this tournament for years and finally the time was here to execute what they had learned so far.
They had pretty good chances this year of getting that cup. After the qualification round for this tournament everyone was aware of their team's improvements during the years. They hadn't entered in first place as one of the favorites to win the cup but they certainly made the news as a team to watch on the tournament. It had cost time along with fights and a lot of team bonding to get to where they were and now the time of proving how far they could go was finally here.
He waited for all of his players to gather in the middle of the field to start practice before looking back at the locker room door. "Where's Li?" he asked looking towards Eriol and Kyu.
They both shook their heads and didn't say anything.
"I've been wondering that too." Tan said as an afterthought.
He looked at Tan and was about to say something when he received a text message.
Coach, I'm taking the day off for personal reasons. I'll start tomorrow. Please excuse me.
He looked at the message again and turned to look at his two players once more. "Something I should know?"
Eriol simply shook his head but didn't say anything while Kyu asked, "Like what?"
Their coach took a deep breath before saying, "Nothing. Start warming up."
"Without Syaoran?" Mark asked.
"He won't be coming today. Now take your team and start warming up."
The other guys from the team started to look at each other and whispering among themselves except Xiun. He had known from the beginning Li wouldn't be coming to practice today. It had shocked him too when he heard about it but just went to practice as usual. Actually knowing before anyone else had made him feel a little guilty and a little nervous at the same time. He was actually relieved that at least Syaoran had texted the news to their coach instead of using him as the bearer of bad news.
He started wondering if he should tell Eriol and Kyu about Syaoran's whereabouts but then thought that if Syaoran hadn't said anything yet then perhaps he didn't wanted them to know.
"What?" Kyu asked.
"Do you have a problem with that Matsushi?"
Kyu shook his head. "No."
The coach turned his stare from Kyu to the captain of the team. "Mark, lead the warm-ups."
Mark nodded.
The team started to take their places to jog right behind Mark. Tan waited until the team was out of hearing range to ask the coach, "Do you still think we shouldn't talk to him? Just because he is good doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants in the team."
"Tan… We don't know what happened. Not even his friends know what happened. I'll speak to him tomorrow about this."
"You think they don't know? They could be lying to cover him." Tan said.
The coach looked at him, "I said I will speak to him tomorrow." With that said he turned to walk towards the bench. As a coach, he had encountered other players missing practices before but Syaoran had never been one of them. Since he had known him, his record of going to practice was almost perfect. There had only been one day he had missed and it had been after losing the Asia Junior Cup tournament.
He had always been a hard worker, more so after losing four years ago the FIFA tournament in quarterfinals. Training for this tournament had become some sort of a mission for him. Even when he had been sick in the past he had always shown himself in the field. For this reason the coach found his text message this morning strange. It just wasn't normal.
~ o ~
Luck had been on her side this morning. When she reached her apartment Jun had already gone to work. She peacefully took her morning shower and went back to her office after having breakfast without any inconvenience. She placed her stuff in her office before going to Xian's office.
"You're here early. Did you miss your office this much while you were away on the weekend?"
She smiled at Xian's greeting and closed the door after getting in. "You know me too well."
He chuckled. "The meeting doesn't start until ten."
She looked at her watch which read nine and nodded. "I know. I wanted to discuss something else with you before the meeting starts."
He nodded.
"Actually, several things. First, I was thinking about this over the weekend and I think that Suri is ready to receive her first project alone."
He chuckled again, "Sakura, the weekend was supposed to be non-work related."
"I know… I just couldn't help it. The idea came to me even as I was supposed to be having some sort of vacation time." She casually said.
"What makes you so sure she's ready?"
"I've been watching for some time now and tested her with the Kahi tournament. She asked for help on some minor things but other than that she ran almost the whole tournament along with Xiefa and me. I've been giving her more responsibility with the FIFA tournament as well and she has been fine doing it. Even this weekend, she was able to handle everything without the need of calling me. I came in last night and found that she was able to execute correctly without depending on me."
He stared at her. "You came to the office last night? Did you sleep?"
She simply didn't answer him instead she sighed and followed her next point. "Second, I'm going this week to Japan. I'm coming back with Yuki and I'm not sure if he needs help bringing some of his stuff over."
He shook his head at the sudden change of subject but let her continue, "Is that your way of telling me that you need the company's jet?"
"Well, it would make things easier and faster if we could use the jet but I already have tickets. I leave on Wednesday and I'll be coming back on Saturday."
He sighed but nodded. "Back to Suri. You want to promote her, I can do that. But I don't want her to do things on her own just yet."
She nodded. "I can supervise her if needs be but I won't be making decisions on her projects."
He nodded. "Very well then, if you will supervise her I have no objection. And, what about you? I will not let you work without an assistant. You almost live here in the office and have one already. Do you have someone already in mind?"
She shook her head.
"What about Feimei?"
Sakura stared at him. She could see what he wanted to do but, knowing Feimei the way she did, she knew she would never like this. "Feimei just acquired her first project in the company she's working for. I don't see her moving to Li Corp to start as an assistant again."
"If you want her I can get her here." Xian calmly said.
She stared at him before calmly replying, "I'll get my own."
He slowly smiled and nodded before asking, "Anything else before the meeting?"
She shook her head. "No. I just wanted to talk to you about these before we started the meeting."
"Fine."
~ o ~
The sound of heals could be heard with each step Suri took as she walked through the corridors of the office with the list of new developments on hand. Thinking about last night made her smile. In all her years as Sakura's assistant she had never imagined been able to find a soccer player like Mark as she was doing checkups of her work… much less, been asked to a date afterwards.
She had to admit when she saw Li at first he had caught her attention. I mean, let's be honest, what girl wouldn't falter seeing him face to face? But then, going out with Mark last night had been so different. He had been such a gentleman with a mix of playfulness around him. There was nothing of that arrogant air that surrounded Li, instead she found Mark to be pretty open about things. The more she knew about him, the more she found she could easily talk to him and by the end of the night she felt comfortable enough to give him her phone number.
She sat down on her desk and started her computer. As she organized her documents, she looked up to find a lady looking at her from the corner of the office. She stared at her back as the lady kept looking around the office not finding who she was looking for. She was wearing high black heals with a black pencil skirt and a purple blouse. Her superior air as she kept looking over was enough indication for Suri to know that she wouldn't like this person. Yet, the lady started walking her way until she stopped in front of her.
"Can I help you?" Suri politely asked.
The lady looked at Suri down before answering, "I am looking for either Ms. Li or Ms. Kinomoto. Can you get them for me?"
Suri kept staring at her. "They are in a meeting. They'll probably be in it the entire morning. Is it something I can help you with?"
"I doubt it."
Suri took a deep breath before asking, "Do you have an appointment with either of them? I'm pretty sure I didn't schedule anything for Ms. Kinomoto this morning. And I'm afraid she doesn't attend anyone without an appointment made through me."
"I don't need an appointment. I'm sure I won't need one either when you tell Ms. Kinomoto I'm here."
"And, may I ask who are you?"
"You can announce me as Katherine. I'm sure she remembers who I am." She said as arrogant as when she started this conversation.
Suri smiled. "Well, Ms. Katherine, even if Ms. Kinomoto remembers who you are, I'm afraid I must put you through an appointment. No one sees my boss without an appointment.
Katherine stared at her. "Listen, it's very important that I speak with her."
Suri started typing in her computer. "Very well, I can set you an appointment for Wednesday and will call to confirm."
Katherine narrowed her eyes at her, "What do you mean will call to confirm?"
This time, Suri smirked. "My boss needs to confirm her appointments in order for me to confirm them with the client. She doesn't meet anyone, only important clients. Is there anything else you need?"
Katherine's mood started changing. She wasn't as confident as she had arrived but she swore herself she would do anything to get into the list of approved reporters for the tournament. She needed to be close to Li no matter what. "Fine. Tell her this has to do with Japan and that it's very important for me to meet with her."
That been said, Suri watched as the lady furiously turned around and walked towards the elevators.
"Wow… talking about a bad temper." Feimei smiled from the corner. She had watched the entire scene with much amusement.
Suri chuckled. "Nothing I couldn't handle. Sakura told me you were back. Congratulations, by the way."
Feimei smirked. "Thanks!"
~ o ~
Feimei looked around her office while waiting on Sakura. Suri had already told her she would be in late because of the meeting so she decided to wait inside. She looked around her office and found some pictures of her and Jun in a corner frame which made her grimace. She had never liked Jun to begin with. She then kept looking around until she reached her desk and saw two plane tickets along with a note that caught her attention.
Love,
I'm sorry for last night. I bought the tickets for the political activity. We leave on Wednesday.
I love you!
Jun
'Gosh, he's obnoxious even when he writes.' She thought after reading the note. She heard the door open a couple of seconds after and found Sakura entering her office.
"I didn't know you were here." Sakura said smiling as she walked towards he friend. She gave her a hug before saying, "I'm sorry about last night. I just couldn't think of a closer place for him to go."
"A heads up would've been appreciated it but no matter." Feimei smile. "He didn't kill Xiun so that's good news."
Sakura chuckled and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. I already spoke to him about you two so hearing he hasn't killed Xiun yet is good news."
Feimei chuckled and then stared at her friend. "What's going on?"
Sakura curiously looked at her and asked, "What do you mean?"
"He was with you last night. He didn't kill Xiun. I asked him if something was wrong and he just said no. But then this morning he missed practice."
"What?" Sakura, surprised at the news, asked.
Feimei sighed. "He never misses practice unless it's unavoidable. So I ask you, what's going on?"
Sakura sighed. "So you automatically assume it has to do with me."
Feimei watched as her friend left her side to go look out the window like she usually did every time she wanted to think over something. "He was with you last night. How can you not know?"
Sakura nodded. "We talked. I just… don't know what happened." Sakura slowly said.
Feimei scoffed. "You don't know or you don't want to tell me?"
Sakura took a deep breath before saying, "Jun asked me to marry him over the weekend."
"Ew… please tell me you didn't accept." Feimei carelessly said while rolling her eyes. She waited for her friend to say no but her silence made her question her again, "You accepted it?"
Sakura sighed frustrated as she ran her hands through her hair before looking at Feimei again. "This doesn't get out of this room Feimei."
Feimei looked at her and nodded.
"I'm not over your brother. I thought I was, but this weekend I found out I wasn't."
Feimei irately sighed before asking, "Then why marry that idiot?"
"He's not an idiot Feimei. Jun has been good to me since I broke up with your brother. He has been the only man who has been able to wait until I've felt good enough to date him. And I haven't decided anything. I'm just confused and thinking."
"You're confused?" Feimei looked at her friend and shook her head. "I'm sorry Sakura but if Xiun asked me right now to marry him I would say yes without having to think twice about it. If you have doubts, doesn't that mean you shouldn't do it?"
"Anyways," Sakura sighed ignoring her question, "your brother knows."
Feimei scoffed and smirked "What? That you're not over him?"
"That Jun proposed."
Feimei eyes widened as he asked, "You told him?"
"I didn't. Jun did."
Feimei scoffed thinking about Jun. "And here I thought he couldn't go any lower than he already is in my head. Now I like him even less. No! Scratch that! I dislike him even more."
Sakura sighed. "I'll talk to your brother again."
"Sakura," Feimei stared at her for a moment before carefully continuing, "I saw you two together years ago and I was with you when he broke up with you. It wasn't easy to watch you go day after day looking the way you did and I certainly don't want to see him that way either. So when you talk to him, keep that in mind."
Sakura sadly looked at her and nodded. "I will."
~ o ~
Kyu drove silently towards the airport. He had promised Meiling to take her personally after practice so she decided to take an afternoon flight. He didn't liked that she would be leaving to comeback the same day the tournament was starting but, since he didn't have any other choice but to accept, he decided to take her to the airport and not say anything about it. She would be leaving for almost three weeks to Europe because of her job. He asked her to put the earliest flight available so she wouldn't miss one minute of the tournament but knew that wasn't up to her.
"Did he answer any of you guys? I tried texting him and he hasn't answered yet." She said from the passenger's seat looking through her phone.
Practice had felt totally different without Syaoran. His absence had been felt throughout the entire three hours and even after that. Mark, as a captain, had been very voice active in letting Syaoran know he had to be more lenient towards the rookies in the past but after this morning's practice Kyu understood that perhaps Syaoran's attitude had never been wrong in the first place.
He had told Meiling about Syaoran missing practice this morning. "We tried to call him but you know how he is." He said still looking at the road.
"Yeah, but missing practice Kyu? He doesn't do that." She thoughtfully said.
"Most of the rookies slacked off during our two weeks off. Their precision kicking the ball was off. Some of them came slower than usual, even conditioning at the end of practice was off. You know… maybe it was better that Syaoran did miss today's practice for their sake." He said as an afterthought.
"Kyu!"
"Think about it Meiling. Your cousin would've killed the poor rookies today. Syaoran has never been good at controlling his temper when it comes to accepting slackers on a team."
"Slackers? You're starting to sound more like him now. They are your teammates Kyu…"
He sighed. "Sorry babe." He took his eyes off the road for a quick second, took her hand and gave it a quick kiss. "I'm gonna miss you."
"You better!"
He chuckled. "Did you already tell that agent of yours to get the earliest flight possible after your last shoot?"
She chuckled and nodded. "Don't worry. I'll be right here when you walk into that field. Don't you trust me?"
"I trust you. I'm not too sure about your agent though." He said almost in a whisper but she heard him loud and clear.
Meiling laughed, "Baby… that's not nice." She smiled at him and then remembered her cousin again. "Do you think I should call Sakura?" she worriedly asked.
"What for babe? She's the reason he's like this."
"I still say Jun was lying. There's no way Sakura wouldn't have told us." Meiling said.
Kyu looked at her and then quickly looked back at the road.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing."
She raised her brow and stared at him, "Say what you need to say."
"Nothing. I just… He didn't look like he was lying when he told us. And they have talk about it. Remember brunch? It would be normal. I mean, they've been dating for quite a while."
She sighed. "I can't believe Eriol and Tomoyo are getting married too."
He chuckled and sarcastically replied, "Well… they have been dating for a long long long time. You have to agree with me in that from all of us, they have the longest record in staying together."
"Yeah…" she thoughtfully replied. "I mean but they're all getting married. It's so weird." She sighed.
He looked at her curiously and asked, "What was that?"
"What was what?" she asked.
"That sigh." He looked at her again before going back to watching the road.
"What are you talking about Kyu?" she casually asked before looking out the window.
"Do you want to get married?"
"No!" she quickly looked back at him and defensively replied. "I never said that."
He looked at her again before looking at the road and carefully repeating the question to her, "Do you want to get married Meiling?"
"No! I'm being serious, no." she replied and sighed again. "I was just wondering. I mean, how does she do it? You know… I can't even imagine working and having to worry about planning a wedding as well. That must be such a hassle."
He took a deep breath before pulling the car over to the emergency lane and stopping.
"What are you doing Kyu?" Meiling loudly asked.
He looked at her. "Why did you bring this up then?"
"What do you mean? I was just commenting on it."
"Meiling… We have never talked about this before."
"Okay, and we don't have time now to talk about this either Kyu. My plane leaves in exactly two hours. I'm going to be late if you don't start this car right now."
"No." he stared at her. "We're talking about this now."
She looked at him. "I'm going to be late!"
"Do you want to get married or not?" he asked.
She stared at him not knowing how to answer. "Do you?"
"I don't see why not. I mean, not today but I do want to get married." he answered.
"You don't think we are good the way we are now?" she asked him.
He heard her question as he stared at her. Meiling had to be the most difficult woman he had ever met in his life. One minute she wanted one thing and then the next she wanted something else. Sighing, he turned to look up front, turn the car back on, and started driving towards the airport. "You're right… you'll be late for your flight if we talk about this now."
~ o ~
Syaoran spent most of his day thinking while his sister was away working. He excused himself with his coach earlier on the day and took the day off. He knew practice now was more important than ever but frankly he couldn't find a way of making it this morning. Still, he went running a couple of miles before stopping to sign the contract with Manchester and now he was back to his sister's apartment. Xiun hadn't even bothered coming by, no doubt trying to avoid a confrontation, and he felt grateful for it. A day was all he needed to sort his thoughts out.
He prepared himself a salad from the groceries his sister had in her fridge and was about to start eating it when the doorbell rang. He walked over to the door and opened it.
"Why am I not surprised she went straight to you…" he said immediately after seeing Sakura in front of him.
She invited herself in ignoring his comment as she calmly entered the living room looking around. "What is this that I hear of you missing practice?"
"I wasn't aware I needed to excuse myself with other people besides my coach."
"Really?" she turned around to look at him.
He closed the door and sighed before walking over to her. "I needed to think."
"You couldn't think enough over the weekend? You even stayed behind for a couple of hours more while we all came back from the cabin. Last time I checked, is not normal for you to miss practice."
He kept staring at her. It was true. Staying more time than usual on the cabin, taking a day off practice, still being in her sister's apartment wasn't normal indeed. And yet there was something that had bothered him since the moment he had started discovering everything about her since she arrived on China. "How did you get here Sakura?"
She curiously looked at him not knowing if he had really lost his mind or something. "What do you mean?"
"How did you get here? How did you get into China and ended up working with my father?" he asked.
For the second time since she had met Syaoran she felt she couldn't read his eyes. "What does this has to do with you missing practice?"
He stared at her. "How Sakura?"
She heard him again. The seriousness behind his words almost cut at her heart. Then, she understood. She knew seven years ago that doing this would be a time bomb waiting to be activated but not caring then she still did it.
Her silence was enough to confirm his doubts. "Or should I ask what my parents offered? Was a position in the company part of the deal?"
"Don't insult me." She quickly replied.
"How did you get here?" he said a little louder than he had intended.
She didn't understand why but a sudden wave of nervousness swept over her after hearing his demanding voice. She took a deep breath before finally answering him. "I received a call from Xiefa the morning after we broke up. She said your father approved of me coming here and apply for a summer internship so I accepted the offer."
"The internship was for summer. You left before summer." He watched her hesitate but waited for her to talk.
She shook her head and took a deep breath before asking, "Why do you need to know this?"
"I told you already, I want to know."
His unwavering eyes let her know he wasn't backing down from this. Now, she understood what happened in her office last night. It wasn't just pain behind those words before leaving but disappointment as well. "I don't want to hurt you."
"We both know it's too late for that." He softly said.
She hesitated before nodding and beginning. "Your parents came to our high school soccer tournament, the one that I coordinated the year before leaving. Your mother praised me for what I did in the tournament and spoke to me about considering project management as a future. At the moment I wasn't sure so I didn't tell her anything but I did stayed in communication with your sister after the tournament. And then on January I heard about the internship from her. She told me your parents were interested in me going over for the summer and learn about the company and what a project manager did."
She took another breath before continuing. "I didn't answer until the day after we broke up. Along with your missed calls there was one from Xiefa. I called her back and told her I would take it. They agreed on paying for my ticket to apply for it. When I got here I spoke to your mother. I told her there was no point in me applying since she already knew what I could do. So instead I asked her to help me with my studies so I could graduate from high school while I stayed here in China. She agreed and after that I started working in here while finishing high school by sending my exams through email."
He kept staring at her. "There's something you're still not telling me. My father's trust is not easily gained for people who are not family. My sister is my mother's right hand but you are my father's."
Once again, his mind was something that had always attracted her. From the moment she had met him years ago the way his mind analyzed things captivated her. His intelligence had always amazed her while at the same time it challenged her to be better. She nodded.
He slowly breathed out letting loose the air he didn't even know when he started holding while trying to calm himself down. "Are you the reason why I'm still playing?" he carefully asked.
She looked at him carefully before answering, "Perhaps."
"It's a yes or no question." He quickly said.
She took a deep breath before finally saying, "I graduated from college a year earlier than most students do. When I graduated, your mother spoke to me about Xian letting you play if he were to find a competent substitute for you in the company and I told her to consider me. When she told me, I never thought of you playing but in me and my career. Not everyone gets the privilege of working at your father's side so I took the chance not for you but for me. You playing because of me or not was never my intention, I made the decision for myself."
He narrowed his eyes at her answer, "Is that your way of saying you don't feel bad for being manipulated by my parents?"
"Manipulated?" She scoffed and smiled while looking away for a quick second before looking back at him. "I got what I wanted and I love what I do for a living. What manipulation do you see in that?"
He sadly smiled and shook his head. "What am I to you Sakura? Am I some toy you can just throw against the wall and walk over it thinking it will never break?"
She felt her tears forming in her eyes but quickly blinked them away. "I told you I didn't want to hurt you."
He shook his head again, "So, it's either go play in the European league like my mother wants me to or stay in China because my parents made sure you stayed here and for some stupid reason I still can't let you go."
"Syaoran-"
He shook his head. "Close the door on your way out," he said turning around and walking towards the bar where he left his salad. He knew he had hurt her but the way he was feeling was unavoidable. He hated been manipulated. He had left home years ago because of his mother's habit of wanting to control his life but this time it was different. He had been manipulated by Sakura even though she knew how he felt about this.
She opened the door and turned one more time to look at his back, "You may feel hurt or angry with me, but your team doesn't need to pay for this."
He heard the door open and waited for it to close again before sitting down in the bar stool. He looked at his salad before putting it aside and rubbing his hands through his face. He started thinking about his mother. From as far back as he could remember there had never been a day where she wouldn't get what she wanted. Whether it was with her clients, his sisters, and even his father, his mother always found a way of having her way with things. He had tried to get away from her manipulative ways when he left for Japan and yet this morning he ended up signing in Europe after all. But signing had never been an issue before, the real problem was that at the end of the day his decision hadn't been his at all… it had been Sakura's.
He sighed. Soon, he would have to go back to his house and pack his clothes. His coach wanted all of them to stay at the hotel while they started their final practices for the tournament.
~ o ~
Couple of hours later, Syaoran drove through the parking lot of the hotel and parked his car. He reached the hotel earlier than most of the guys hoping to find his coach before anyone else so he could talk to him. Getting out of his car, he opened the trunk and took his bag out before closing it again and walking into the hotel. He looked around several times and noticed some of his fans where already watching him and getting their cameras ready as usual.
He sighed and simply walked inside without stopping. Usually he wasn't so antisocial when it came to fans but today was different. It hadn't been the best of weekends and so far his week hadn't started too good either. He was definitely not in a good mood.
As he walked his first steps into the hotel, he looked around searching for his coach. He walked towards the front desk and saw Tan waiting in one of the tables. 'Oh great! Just when I thought my day couldn't get worse…' he thought at the sight.
"Li! What a lovely surprise to have you show up." Tan sarcastically said while looking at him as he reached the front desk.
Syaoran didn't look at him as he waited for the front desk lady to attend him with his check in. It wasn't a secret to anyone on the team that he didn't get along with Tan at all. It had always been like that. Since Syaoran started on the national team, Tan had always been after him. Back then, Syaoran had been the rookie on Tan's last year playing. And while Tan played most of the minutes in the field, he had never been able to kiss the cup. In his last game played with the national team, he had been sub by Syaoran in the last couple of minutes of the game. Syaoran took his playing turn and scored a goal on that game but in vain as they lost to Japan 3-2.
"Li, Syaoran checking in." he smiled at the front desk lady and waited for her to retreat before looking at him. "Is coach already here?"
Tan smirked. "Had a good sleep this morning?"
"Here you go." The front desk lady gave him his room keys and made him sign before going back to working.
Syaoran looked at his keys before turning his gaze to Tan again. "Tell coach I want to speak with him when you see him."
"I'm not your messenger boy." Tan simply said.
"I wasn't aware you were my nanny either."
Tan stopped smiling. He quickly stood up and walked towards Syaoran till he was in front of him. "Just because you are the little star of this team doesn't mean you can do whatever you want."
"Are you jealous already? The tournament hasn't even started yet." Syaoran smirked.
"Jealous?" Tan scoffed. "See with what face you can call the rookies slackers again after missing this morning's practice."
Syaoran met his stare. "Is that what's really bothering you or is it that I truly have a chance of winning this cup?"
"Syaoran!"
He heard his name been called from the side and turned his face to see Takashi approaching. He smiled and ignored Tan as he dropped his bag while giving his long time friend a hug.
"Hey man! How've you been?" Takashi asked.
"Good. Ready to beat your ass." Syaoran said before grabbing his bag from the floor again.
Takashi laughed. "You don't change. Where's the rest of the guys?"
Syaoran shrugged. "They'll be here soon. How's Chiharu doing?"
"Pissed for not been able to come to the tournament." He answered with a smirk. "She's almost on that eight month milestone now. Hopefully she won't go into labor during the tournament."
Syaoran laughed. He couldn't believe Takashi was having his third baby now. He walked along side his friend as he retreated from the front desk leaving Tan behind. "When did you get here?"
"We flew in this afternoon. But, overall she's doing good."
"Finally the boy huh!" Syaoran said.
Takashi smirked. "Well, you know what they say, third time's the charm."
He laughed at Takashi's comment while walking with him to one of the tables aside. They sat down and kept talking as they waited for the rest of the guys to reach the hotel.
~ o ~
The next day, Sakura spent most of her time inspecting Suri's work at the stadium. She found everything to be in place down to the last diminutive detail which encouraged her decision of promoting her. It had been four good years having her as an assistant and now she couldn't teach her anything else. She was right where she needed to be and ready for the next step.
After making sure everything was ready with the VIP room at the stadium and meeting with the kitchen chefs, Suri and her went back to the office. Sakura sat down in her desk and opened up a drawer to take a small package out.
"Suri!" Sakura called from her office. Minutes later Suri appeared on the door waiting with a notebook on hand. "Please come in and sit down."
Suri nodded and walked over to take a sit in front of her. Sakura waited for her to be sited before handing her an iPad. She curiously looked at it before looking back up to Sakura with questioning eyes. "What's this?"
"This is your new iPad. It contains all the information you need pertaining your new project. The time frame is two years and you get to choose your first team of five."
Suri kept looking at Sakura with incredulous eyes. "I don't understand. Are you going somewhere?"
Sakura smiled and shook her head. "Congratulations! As of today, you are one of Li Enterprises' project managers."
"Is this true?" Suri kept staring at Sakura. She kept thinking Sakura at some point of the conversation would tell her it was a joke but she didn't hear any of that.
Sakura chuckled and nodded. "Now, I will be assisting your meetings to see where everything is standing and informing Xian about it but other than that all calls are yours."
"Oh! Thank you so much for this opportunity. I promise you I won't let you down." She excitedly said.
Sakura smiled and nodded. "I'm sure you won't. You've already demonstrated to me that you can handle things on your own. So know this, I have complete faith in that you will be able to develop your first project without problems. If you need anything you know you can always ask even if you are the one handling the project. And last but not least, have fun doing it. "
Suri excitedly got out of her seat, walked over to Sakura, and gave her a hug. "Thank you! Thank you! I'm so excited."
Sakura chuckled and waited until the hug ended to say, "Now, our last project together is the Cup. After that, I'll be taking a new intern to torture so you will move from your desk to your own office. I'm sure Xiefa will probably tell you where it is once she finds out her father approved this. But, until the Cup is over you're still my assistant so… I'm leaving tomorrow for Japan and will be coming back on Saturday with Yuki so make sure that the kitchen is ready. Call him and see if he needs us to get him anything in particular before he gets here."
"What about that lady that wanted to meet with you? Ms. Katherine, I believe was her name... I put her on your calendar so you could approve or not." Suri asked.
"You can scratch that one. I'm not speaking with her." Sakura was about to get in her computer before she remembered, "Oh, tell Xiefa about her. I don't want any surprises in three weeks when the tournament starts."
"She did seem a little impatient about wanting to speak with you. She said it was urgent."
Sakura shook her head. "It isn't. She just wants to get into the tournament. If she calls again just let her know that the answer is no and if she has problems with that she can write a letter and send it to customer service."
Suri nodded. She turned around and started walking back towards her desk but stopped midway and looked back at Sakura. "Thank you again for this."
Sakura smiled at her. "Just enjoy it. Always give more than you think you can give and never take anything for granted. You'll see it in the outcome of your project and trust me when I say there's nothing more satisfying for a project manager than knowing all your efforts are well worth it."
Suri nodded and exited her office.
Sakura sighed. In a way, knowing Suri had been able to learn all of this from her brought a good warm feeling inside of her. She was truly proud of her assistant and yet, thinking that she would have to get a new intern started giving her a headache.
~ o ~
He had spent the entire day between reading documents that were work related and thinking about his girlfriend and the fight they had the other night. She had decided to spend that night in the office and yet when she came in the other day it had been too late to even talk about it. He hated going to bed been mad or having words unspoken between them. It had always been a dangerous playground for him every time they did so he decided to wait for her awake tonight even if she came to the apartment really late.
Jun stared at the door anxiously while taking a sip of his warm fresh tea. He had made it with the sole purpose of calming his nerves as he wasn't too sure of how this conversation would end up. Needless to say the whole tea drink was not helping at all.
As he took his next sip, he heard the door lock unclip and saw Sakura entering the apartment. He watched her from the dining table while drinking some more from his cup thinking on how to start this conversation. "How was your day?" he calmly asked.
She sighed putting her keys and purse on the receiver table by the side. "It was okay. I promote Suri today which made me realize I need to find a new intern now to start training again."
He smiled. "Well, that's good news."
She nodded not feeling too excited about it. "And yours?" she asked.
"Very entertaining reading a bunch of work papers and stuff." He said with his tea cup in hand.
She chuckled before looking at him entirely. As usual, her mind was already analyzing each movement he made. It had become some sort of habit after working so closely with Xian for years. "What are you drinking?"
"Chamomile Tea. It's really good for-"
He was about to finish his sentence when she did it for him. "Relaxing? Calming down?"
He smile and nodded.
She sighed. After having the fight with Syaoran, the least she wanted to do right now was to deal with a situation that would add up to the stress she was feeling now but understood that it was necessary. "Well, since you are calmed now, do you understand why I was mad?"
"It's not that I don't understand Sakura, but so far the guy has done nothing but get on my nerves since I found out you two dated and you haven't even considered my feelings when it comes to him. Then two days ago you get mad at me because I didn't consider your thoughts on something that I said to him?" He shook his head before continuing. "I've told you I don't feel comfortable when he's around, I've told you I don't trust him and yet, a couple of months ago we were staying at his house and now an entire weekend with him."
"This isn't about you not trusting him, it's about us and the way we handle our relationship Jun. Whatever Syaoran does or doesn't do has nothing to do with us. Regardless of the way you feel about him, our decisions we have always taken them together. Even the staying at his house or this last weekend we spent at the cabin, they were decisions we both discussed before doing them."
"Yes, but you knew how I felt about them and still did them how you pleased. I went there as soon as my seminar was over and found you playing with him on the ground. Then a couple of days later he asks me if you had already broken up with me so I'm sorry but it just came out."
She looked at his eyes and then his hands. It was certain he was already getting anxious with the conversation. And the way she was feeling right now… she only wanted to take a shower and throw herself in her bed. She took a deep breath before calmly saying, "I told you already Jun, you need to trust me."
"It was before that talk."
She nodded and sighed. "Still, for me part of been in a relationship means counting on the other person to make decisions… especially if what's been discussed pertains to that person as well. Even if you don't like some of my decisions, I like to discuss them with you before doing something about it."
He nodded. "I'm sorry. And this time I really mean it." He said thinking about the last words he heard from her before she took off to the office that night.
She nodded and smile. "You know I hate fighting. We're leaving tomorrow for Japan. I'll accompany you to your political activity, and we'll have some alone time which I so think we need right now." She said walking towards him and throwing her arms around his neck.
He smiled at her and kissed her.
"Can't wait!" he said quickly after breaking the kiss.
~ o ~
The next morning, practice had started at six as usual. He jogged through the left side of the field passing the center line and into the other side of the field. He received the ball from the air and put it down on the field. After dribbling the ball through his feet a couple of times, he faked to go in through the left side before turning right and kicking the ball towards the net but he missed his shot. He stared at the missed shot and exhaled before looking down and jogging towards the other side.
"What the heck is wrong with him?" Mark asked Eriol.
Eriol, who had just watched his friend miss the shot from the other side of the field, shook his head. "I don't know." he said though inside he knew what was wrong. That shot looked a lot like the one he missed years ago on the Junior Asia Cup. If there were a bet going around that had to do with the reason as to why he missed the shot he would bet all he had on the answer that said Sakura.
"Syaoran! Is there any reason why you can't find the net?" their coach loudly asked from the field. "You took Monday off and now think you can come to practice like this?"
If he heard his coach, he didn't give any signal that would let others know. He had texted his coach on Monday to let him know he would take the day off for personal reasons. His coach had been furious on Tuesday when they spoke about it but it didn't change anything. Two days had gone by and he was still pissed off with Sakura, pissed off with his parents for even offering her a job, and even pissed off with himself for caring so much.
His practices had helped him in the past to get his mind off things before but this was different. Even practice was not helping him at all. For the first time in his life he felt betrayed by her. Betrayed because she knew him better than anyone else and yet she still agreed to this deal. Since he had been a child, he hated the feeling of been manipulated by his parents and she knew this. It was the reason why he had pushed the idea of playing and studying in Japan instead of staying in China. He wanted to have control over his own life instead of his parents controlling him.
Syaoran watched as the second goalie stopped a shot made by Kyu and started jogging towards the other side of the field. Xiun watched as the goalkeeper kicked the ball high in the air. He jumped from the middle of the field to hit the ball with his head and the ball bounced towards Syaoran. As he hit the ground, he looked at the ball and then at Syaoran, who had been out of focus the entire practice.
Syaoran jumped without noticing another rookie jumping as well for the ball. He hit the ball with his head and felt the rookie slam into him on his left side. The push led him to try and adjust his landing but when his feet touched the ground he immediately regretted practicing unfocused.
~ o ~
"I'm just leaving everything ready in the office. I can't afford to come back and find everything in a mess." She said on the phone while cleaning up her desk as much as possible. She had left early from the apartment to go to the office and left a note for Jun to find out once he woke up.
"Well, I'm downstairs waiting. I'm sure your boss wouldn't mind leaving your car here in the office."
Sakura chuckled. "I'll be downstairs in a couple of minutes. I'm almost done here. Just need to grab a couple of papers-"
She was speaking with her boyfriend on the phone when suddenly her office door was flung open by an almost trembling Suri. Sakura looked at her curiously and at the same time bothered for having been interrupted while she was talking with her boyfriend but she didn't even speak. She just grabbed her TV remote control and turned the TV on.
"Hold on a sec babe." Sakura put her cell phone in mute so that he wouldn't hear what she was about to say to Suri. "Can I please have some privacy Suri?"
Suri shook her head. "I just heard it on the radio..." She fidgeted with the remote till she found the news.
According to the medics, it is uncertain how much time he'll be out for until all of the tests have been performed and they have the results on hand. The video you're seeing right now is of famous soccer player Li, Syaoran who was taken out of the field in an ambulance this afternoon with an ankle injury. He injured himself at practice today, three weeks from the World Cup tournament about to start. We repeat, this has just come in. Once we have more information we'll keep updating and keep you posted on Li's health.
She froze. She didn't even notice when Xiefa had walked in.
"You need to postpone your flight," were the words that came out of Xiefa's mouth as soon as she entered Sakura's office.
Sakura shook her head while still looking at the screen, "I can't! Jun is waiting for me downstairs."
"Sakura! My brother needs you."
"My flight leaves in three hours Xiefa. Jun needs me to be there by his side and I told him I'd be there."
If Xiefa had heard her she gave no indication that she minded what Sakura had just said and in a louder voice said, "Work wise Xiolang is one of our biggest assets for this tournament. You're going to tell me you will still leave while knowing this will affect our company?"
"This may affect the company but I'll be able to handle it when I get back over the weekend." Sakura's voice was also starting to get louder with the whole confrontation.
"Sakura!" Xiefa loudly exclaimed.
She heard Xiefa's loud voice before she snapped. "Xiefa, you're brother and I where done seven years ago."
"What? You dated Li?" Suri quickly looked at her boss surprised at the news and asked.
Sakura immediately regretted the words that came out of her mouth. Since the moment she saw him again she had tried to avoid the subject. In fact, the least people that knew about it the better. And yet, she was so tired of everything.
Xiefa heard her loud and clear but she didn't stop either. "This is not about the past. You know it isn't but what about Xiolang? He needs you more than ever now! Will you leave while he's in the hospital? I'm sure going home is not as important as this."
She took the last folders she needed for the trip and put them on her briefcase. "I'll see you when I get back." It was all she said before walking past Xiefa and into the elevator. She hit the first floor and calmly waited while thinking about the news. To have this injury three weeks before the tournament started shouldn't be that bad for a soccer player, but then again… he had to be taken out in an ambulance. 'When has an ankle injury been so bad as to be taken out in an ambulance?' she thought.
~ o ~
"Kate, medics still have no date yet as to when Li Syaoran will recuperate and be ready. From the information we have, he was at practice and tore his ankle. Now we have here Kai who is a retired professional athlete. He used to play as well on the China national team back in his days, Kai what can you tell us about Li's ankle? Do you think he will be able to play in the World Cup?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, I texted his trainer when I heard about the news and it doesn't look good. Some trainers were talking about surgery, others about a level 3 tore which will probably take about almost two months to recover. If it is a level 3 tore which doesn't require surgery, then it's almost certain he will be missing the tournament but without an MRI it is not possible to know for sure."
"Where you able to talk to Li?"
"I wasn't. From what I hear he is very well guarded on the hospital but his trainer said he is taking it as best as an athlete like him would take it. Obviously these are not good news for anyone and this was something he never expected but it is a game and in every sport you are exposed to these kinds of injuries."
"Well Ashley we are still trying to see if we can get the trainer for an interview but till we do, back to you."
"Well, thanks Kate for that piece of info-"
Her boyfriend had offered to buy some coffee which had been perfect because she had time to watch the news while he was away. She looked at her side and what she saw commoved her. A kid, no greater than seven years was plugging his father's pants while crying and asking why Li couldn't play in the tournament.
His fans had been devastated from the moment the first news came out of his injury. According to the news as well, they had already started sending him messages throughout social sites, most of them wishing him a prompt recovery. He had already received thousands and thousands of them and still counting.
Two months… she couldn't believe this was happening. After all he had sacrificed to be in that tournament to have this injury happen three weeks before the tournament started was a shame indeed.
"Here love, your coffee." she looked up to see Jun offering her the cup of coffee he went to go get for her.
"Thanks." She smiled as she took her cup.
"It's a shame about your friend. Even if I don't like him, I know it must be tough for him."
She nodded to acknowledge his comment but in fact her thoughts were way off from the airport. Worry filled her mind knowing how he must've been feeling right now.
"Flight 247 departing to Osaka, Japan will start boarding the airplane in a couple of minutes."
"Well, that's us!" Jun said.
"This isn't right." she lowly said.
"What do you mean?" Jun looked at his boarding pass, "It's our flight baby."
She knew this would probably hit him harder than perhaps Syaoran's ankle right now but she looked at him, "I can't go with you."
"What?" he looked at her dumbfounded by her statement.
"I can't get on that plane with you." She looked at him and calmly said, "We have talked about this but I feel like right now is not the time. And I know you will hate what I'm about to say but there's no other way of putting this. My job for this tournament is the advertising and right now Syaoran is our main advertisement. I can't get on that plane with you Jun. I need to fix this. Please forgive me." She stood up and started to walk away.
"Sakura!" he stared at her.
She turned to look at him after hearing her name but quickly said, "Please forgive me, I need to go. I'll call you later." It was all she said before dashing out of the airport and calling a taxi.
Author's note: Finally! Chapter 9 is done. I was really trying to get this chapter out for September but it ended up taking one more week than expected. So sorry for the late update! I hope you guys like it thought. I was so happy for last chapter's reviews and feedbacks. It's really encouraging for me to read that people are liking this story and it helps a lot to keep writing it and posting it. So, thank you so much for the reviews.
