Chapter 9


At the airport, Syaoran sat at the arrival area with one big cup of black coffee in one hand and his cellphone in the other. His hair was a disheveled mess, there were bags under his eyes, and his clothes were a little creased. He'd probably gotten 2 hours of sleep max.

The sun wasn't even out yet, he thought darkly.

When people started pouring out of the doors, he looked up uninterestedly, then closed his stinging eyes again. When the the tall, slender, black-haired, brown-eyed beauty walked out, he missed her grand entrance altogether.

When she stepped right in front of him, he opened one eye and saw the red pair of stilettos on her feet. His gaze ran up from her feet to her face. Then she grabbed his collar. "Get up here and kiss me."

"No." He pushed her hand off, then stood up. In her heels, he had only a few inches on her and they were almost eye to eye. "Long time no see cuz."

"Syaoran. At least give me a hug."

"So you still order people around." He commented dryly, then conceded a little. He put an arm around her and she hugged him tightly. He patted her shoulder twice, then pushed her off him. "All right let's go."

"Did you miss me?"

"No."

She sent him an annoyed look. "You could pretend to care a little bit, you know. I am family."

"Wow, I'm surprised you knew that with the way you normally throw yourself on me."

As they walked through the airport, eyes shifted to them, and eventually everyone's attention was captivated by the seemingly tall and handsome couple.

Meilin had grown up in Hong Kong all her life, but spoke Japanese fluently because of her Japanese mother. She was found by a model scout at a young age of sixteen, and since then she steadily grew to national fame. At 20, she caught the attention of renowned high fashion designers and quickly became a supermodel.

"Isn't that..?"

"They look like a celebrity couple. Though he looks kinda drunk."

"She's so pretty!"

"Hey I think she was in Vogue! I've totally seen her before!"

"What a gorgeous couple."

Though she'd been to Japan several times, they were mostly for work and rarely for pleasure. She and Syaoran had spent a few summers together in Hong Kong. Twice she had come to Japan to visit him and Fanren, but that was only for a weekend.

"This is weird. Do you get this reaction wherever you go?" Syaoran asked, sipping his coffee.

"Obviously."

Oh she wasn't full of herself at all. "So how long are you here for?"

"Six weeks."

At that he coughed a few times. "Say that again?"

"I have two months off and I haven't really seen much of Japan except your apartment, Fanren's house, and the fashion show venues. I haven't even met these childhood friends of yours for goodness' sake. I think now's the perfect time to meet them, don't you?"

"Uh…"

"And of course I want to tour around the country and see all those places that ordinary people go to see."

"You're not seriously expecting me to show you around, are you? I didn't even know you were coming!"

"You can certainly show me around Tokyo. It's only half an hour away," she argued back. "And I want to meet your friends."

Passing a garbage can, he threw out his empty coffee cup. "Yeah why is that?"

"All I've seen are pictures. I'm curious."

"Why is that?" He repeated.

She stopped and threw him an impatient look. "Can we just get to your car already? I'm so tired."

"Really? You are?" He asked, pretending to care. "Cos I'm pretty sure you got more sleep in first class than I did this morning."

"Is that why you look so awful?"

Ignoring her, he fished for his car keys. "What hotel am I dropping you off at?"

"No hotel. I'm staying with you."

Syaoran almost lost it. "Your next words better be 'I'm joking' or I'm buying you a return ticket home right now."

A smirk appeared on her porcelain features. "Fanren said I could stay at their guest room. Calm down cuz."

He stared at her blankly then walked off to the direction of the car.

::::::

"Hey," Eriol called as he hurried to the entrance door of the restaurant.

Hiro, who was standing right in front of it, turned. "Hey buddy. I thought you were coming with Tomoyo."

"She said she was going to be late." The two men in their business suits walked in. "Who else is here?"

"I don't know, I just got here."

"We have a reservation under Syaoran Li," Eriol said to the hostess who welcomed them in.

"Please follow me sir."

She led them down an aisle, turned to the left, and walked to the very end. It was a private room for groups bigger than six. Eriol took off his shoes and slid the door open.

Green eyes looked up. "Hey!"

"Hey. Just you so far?"

"Yup."

He bent down and went inside, crawling to Sakura's side.

Hiro looked in. "Aw, there's our bride!"

She smiled. "Hey, Hiro."

He quickly removed his shoes and came crawling in, settling on the cushion on the other side of Sakura. "Why'd he choose a fancy restaurant like this? Syaoran hates these kinds of places."

"I know!"

"He didn't," Eriol answered for Syaoran, taking off his blazer. "You guys know his supermodel cousin?"

"Why? Is she here?" Sakura asked in surprise. "Why didn't he tell me?!"

"Whaaat, Syaoran has a supermodel cousin?! He has never mentioned her to me. I'm a little offended that you both know. Is that what we're doing in the group now, some kind of hierarchy or something? I already know Syaoran loves Sakura the most, but I mean, Eriol over me? Really?" He paused. "Is she hot?"

"Baka."

"What, is she?"

"Anyway…she picked the restaurant. You were gone on your vacation when she arrived," he told Sakura. "Syaoran says she wants to meet us."

"Interesting. I wonder why."

"Huh. Well, you and Tomoyo are in the fashion industry," Hiro gathered. "That could be it. Cos if she's a supermodel, she's probably not single…"

"Where is Tomoyo by the way?" Sakura interrupted. "I thought you were coming with her."

"She said she'd be late so she told me to go ahead. How long have you been here?"

She glanced at her watch. "Maybe ten minutes."

"Oh ok. Is Kohei coming?"

"Oh! Yes, which reminds me," she grabbed her bag and looked for her phone. "He said he was going to drive from work. He said he'd call once he's close." She looked at her phone for a minute, then said, "He's probably still looking."

The waitress came with two more cups of hot tea. "Thanks," Eriol said as he grabbed it from her. After a drink, he turned back to Sakura. "How was your weekend off by the way?"

"It was good. I ended up spending the whole Saturday with Syaoran, but Sunday and Monday I drove up to Chiba and went to an onsen and spa. It was very relaxing and much needed." She took a small sip from the cup of tea in her hands.

"That's good to hear."

Hungry, Hiro grabbed the menu from Eriol's side of the table and flipped through it rapidly.

"As long as you got to relax. It must have sucked coming back," Eriol continued with a small laugh. "Except the seeing-Kohei part."

"Yeah. But ugh, Saturday was more stressful than I-"

"Hey can we order some appetizers? I'm so hungry," Hiro interrupted. "Who's down for some prawn tempura? Or spring rolls? Let's start with bread. Actually scratch that. Let's get all three. Excuse me!" He flagged a waitress down before Eriol and Sakura could say anything.

Used to it, Eriol and Sakura let him do his thing. After he listed off what he wanted, Eriol was about to ask Sakura to continue, but the hostess returned to their table with two people in tow.

"Hey!" Naoko cried. She crawled in and hugged Eriol and Sakura. "You're too far," she said to Hiro who had opened his arms for a hug. "I'm sitting here. Taka you sit over there."

"Hey guys," Takashi greeted, piling in too. At the narrowed stare Hiro was sending Naoko, Takashi bumped his head and said, "I'll hug you Hiro." Then he gave him a bear hug.

"Aw, that's why you're my buddy!" Hiro said appreciatively.

"Sorry we're late! The traffic's crazy out there."

"You're not late. Syaoran's late," Sakura pointed out. "And his supermodel cousin."

That brought on another series of mild protests about how some of them never knew of this famous cousin for fourteen years. It was like they were back in high school, talking over each other, unknowingly speaking louder and louder.

"Hello," greeted Kohei.

No one noticed for a good thirty seconds until Tomoyo came running from behind Kohei and joined in on the party. "Hey guys!"

Five pairs of eyes looked over.

"Kohei! Tomo!"

"Oh my gosh, Kohei!" Sakura scrambled to her feet. "Hi Tomo," she added quickly.

"Hey Mr. Kinomoto!"

"Tomoyo!"

Sakura quickly crawled behind Eriol and Naoko to get to them. She hugged Tomoyo briefly then grabbed Kohei's hand. "Sorry Hiro can you move over one? You said you'd call me," she said to Kohei.

"I did, twice. But you didn't pick up your phone. Sorry, excuse me, Naoko, Eriol, hello," he said as he crawled behind them.

"Hey Kohei."

Meanwhile, Tomoyo repeatedly glanced back and forth from the seat beside Takashi and the one beside Naoko. "Where should I sit?" She murmured under her breath.

Her nervousness starting to kick in, she began to move towards Takashi when a hand shot up and grabbed hers. When she looked up and met Eriol's gaze, her heart jumped.

"Sit here."

"Yeah, come sit over here," Naoko said, moving one seat over.

Blushing, she squeezed through and sat beside Eriol. "Hey," she said to him, unable to hide her smile.

Since that night they spent walking and talking after his run, she had come to wait for him at the same spot in the park every night and they would walk for an hour or so around the park.

Smiling back, he touched her back in greeting. "How's it going?"

On the opposite side of the large table, Hiro complained, "Where's my food? I ordered like ten minutes ago."

As though the waitress heard, she arrived with a silver tray of the three dishes Hiro ordered. Another was behind her with a tray of cups of tea. As they all scooted around the table so that the entrance would be accessible to the waitresses, the seating arrangement resulted as follows: from the curtains to the left, Naoko, Tomoyo, Eriol, Sakura, Kohei, Hiro, and Takashi.

"Where are they anyway?" Sakura asked now, looking at the time. "I've been here for half an hour."

"You guys can have some by the way," Hiro offered, already filling his plate with bread, rolls, and tempura.

"Don't mind if I do. I could eat a cow," Takashi said, reaching in.

"Yeah I wonder what happened. Should I call him?"

"Yeah you should."

Eriol disappeared for a few minutes then came back. "They're just parking the car now."

"Did he say what happened?" Naoko asked.

He shook his head.

Five minutes later, Syaoran, with Meilin behind him, came into the restaurant. In an annoyed and exhausted mood, he pulled at the lapels of his suit. The hostess walked them through the restaurant and to the corner private area, which was currently very noisy.

Syaoran turned to Meilin and said, "The first thing you're gonna do is apologize."

"Why?!"

"Oh I don't know, for not being dressed on time, for making me wait for almost an hour, for making me stop at a drug store so you could buy pantyho-"

"Ok fine, fine. Just shut up and go inside," she said dismissively.

His hand turning into a fist, he held back the really strong urge to do something regretful. Forcing himself to remember that she was a woman, and a woman many people around the world knew, he turned around and decided to ignore her for the rest of the night. He took off his shoes and slid the door open.

"Syaoran!" came the chorus from the table.

His head dropped and he let out a huge sigh. "Hi," was all he said. Then he pulled her in forcibly.

All eyes shifted to Meilin, then widened. Jaws slightly fell.

Syaoran didn't bother with the niceties and squeezed in between Eriol and Sakura. Not caring that the entire table had gone dead silent and were still staring at Meilin, Syaoran grabbed the menu and flipped through it.

"Did you guys order yet?"

"Uh…"

Then the clamor of loud hellos and questions and all sorts of comments came at once. Already nursing a headache, Syaoran put up both hands.

"Hold on a second. Meilin has something she wants to say."

Meilin, who hardly flinched at the attention, merely smiled, and said, "Hi everyone. It's nice to finally meet you all. I'm sorry that Syaoran and I were late today. It was my fault. There. Was that good? Can I sit down now?"

"Yeah sit over here with me!" Hiro said quickly, pushing Takashi over one seat. "Right here," he patted the cushion beside him.

Meilin ignored him. "Hm. I'd like to sit here. You don't mind do you?" She sent a very brief smile to Tomoyo and sat between her and Eriol. Then she looked up again and met everyone's expectant stares. "Yes?"

"You're so beautiful," Naoko blurted. She exuded a "Hollywood celebrity" vibe and it was definitely blinding.

"Thank you."

"Syaoran never told us about you," Takashi said.

"That doesn't surprise me. Could you all introduce yourselves? I don't know your names. I've only seen pictures."

"I'm Eriol," he shook her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you, Meilin."

She studied Eriol's face and finally found a reason to genuinely smile. He was a very attractive man. "Hi Eriol."

"I'm-"

"Sakura," she guessed. She'd seen her face in almost every picture Syaoran brought home to them. "You grew up with Syaoran, right?"

"Yes, well, we all did. But this is my fiancé, Kohei."

Kohei was still trying to recover at the sight of Meilin, so he fumbled a little when he reached forward to shake her hand. "Hi. You're…you're…a supermodel. I've seen you on TV and on magazines."

Slightly amused by his reaction, she shook his hand in return. "Yes I'm sure you have."

Because of her rudeness, Hiro felt put off by her. Uninterested in meeting her gaze, he merely said, "I'm Hiro. Next."

"Takashi. Nice to meet you Meilin."

"And I'm Naoko. Hi," she said again when they shook hands.

"Great. When are you two getting married? Syaoran failed to tell me that you were getting married, Sakura. I thought you were my biggest rival," she said with an almost wicked smile. "Looks like I don't have to worry about you at all."

"What?"

"Nothing, just ignore her," Syaoran replied.

"We're getting married in just under five weeks, right honey?" Kohei answered when Sakura didn't say a thing.

"Yeah." She briefly showed Meilin her engagement ring. "There it is."

"Oh wow." It was a half-hearted compliment.

"Uh why don't we order. Sorry for the long wait guys. I know everybody's hungry." He squeezed Sakura's thigh under the table.

Sympathetically, she rubbed his back.

Half an hour later, the food finally arrived, and everyone had a better idea of Meilin's personality. She was snobbish, curt with her answers, and easily got bored of a conversation topic. Everyone understood exactly why Syaoran looked half-irritated, half-wearied upon arrival.

"Do you enjoy your work?" Takashi asked.

"Only if I'm wearing clothes that makes me look good."

"…Right."

"You didn't tell me she was coming," Sakura whispered to Syaoran.

"I found out five hours before she was landing," he muttered back, loosening his tie.

"Eriol are you dating anyone?" Meilin asked suddenly and loud enough for everyone to hear.

Eriol blinked. "Why?"

She shrugged casually. "It's a simple question. Yes or no?"

"Uh…" Eriol's gaze dropped a few notches to catch sight of Tomoyo from the corner of his eye. She was looking down at her food without much of a reaction. "No I'm not."

Tomoyo's grip on her fork unconsciously tightened.

"Good. Let's have dinner tomorrow night, just you and I."

Tomoyo dropped the fork she was holding. Sakura's eyes narrowed. Kohei froze with his hand holding his fork just in front of his mouth. Naoko and Takashi openly stared at Meilin. Hiro's mouth dropped open. Syaoran kept eating his food.

Did she just ask a man out on a date? In front of everyone? In public?

"Sorry?"

"Let's go on a date," she repeated. "You're free tomorrow night, aren't you?"

"N-no!" Tomoyo interrupted.

Eriol and Sakura's gaze shot to Tomoyo. Everyone else's gaze followed half a second later. The only person who wasn't looking her way was Syaoran, who drank a sip to hide his smile.

Meilin threw her a slightly irked look. "No?"

"I mean, Eriol said he was going to watch a movie with me tomorrow night," Tomoyo said quickly, talking a bit faster than normal. "Right?"

Eriol was still too surprised to respond.

"Yeah I was there when Eriol asked Tomoyo," Syaoran answered instead. "Looks like you're out of luck, cuz."

"Are you covering for her because you're jealous?" Meilin directed at him.

"Uh…No."

Halfway through dinner, Sakura met Tomoyo in the bathroom. She locked the door and crossed her arms. Stuck, Tomoyo looked back into Sakura's narrowed gaze and held her hands together in uncertainty.

"What was that?" Sakura demanded.

"Hmm? I…"

Sakura continued to scrutinize her. "You said you're in love with Syaoran."

"I…I…am…?"

"So why would you have a problem with Meilin going on a date with Eriol?"

Tomoyo shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. When she said that, it just came out. I don't know."

"Are you in love with both of them?"

Tomoyo bit her lip. "I don't know." Then she grabbed Sakura's arms and gripped them. "But I think I like Eriol a little bit."

Sakura squeezed the bridge of her nose. "If you have a problem with the man going on a date with someone else, I'm pretty sure you like him more than a little bit."

"I know. I know. It's so bad. It's awful." Tomoyo dropped her arms to her side. "I just…the more time I spend with Eriol, the more I see how much he's changed. I see him in a very different way and…"

"What about Syaoran?" Sakura interrupted.

"I've spent time with Syaoran too, but it's not the same. With Eriol, I feel like he just sees me. He asks me so many questions and wants to know who I am, who I've become. Syaoran…"

"Syaoran?" she prodded.

Just then, Tomoyo smiled almost a little sadly. "Syaoran hasn't changed. Just like in high school."

"Neither has Eriol," she argued back.

"Yeah but Syaoran… he just sees you, Sakuchin."

Sakura felt something inside her tighten. "No."

"I know you guys are best friends and I know you're like brother and sister. And I've seen you two grow up together. But…you should stop and look at him when he looks at you. He doesn't look at you like a brother would. There's more-"

"Tomoyo, stop," Sakura interrupted. "This conversation is so not happening. I'm getting married in five weeks! And why are you pushing Syaoran at me? You said you're still in love with him!"

"I don't know!" She repeated in as loud a voice as Sakura. Then her head dropped in a sign of weariness and she walked away from Sakura. "Before I came back, I was. At least I thought I was."

"What happened? You've only been here less than a month."

"Like you said, Sakuchin, eight years is a long time." For a moment, she was quiet, then she said, "I don't expect you to understand. I can't understand myself either."

Sakura kept studying her until someone knocked on the door. Without a choice, she said before unlocking it, "Ok fine, but this conversation isn't over."


A/N: Sorry for the late chapter! I caught the flu and it's like an epidemic here in Japan, so it was inevitable. But I'm getting better now. Take care of your health, everyone! I will update again soon!