Chapter 10

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I managed to update right on Christmas Day! Actually, I finished editing exactly at 12:00! XD! Please enjoy this chapter.

Thanks for all those reviews!

Being sick during finals is not good. My throat hurts and my nose is all stuffed up. I just feel ugh. Plain ugh.

Disclaimer: Yes, I do not own any character of Card Captor Sakura, don't need to rub it in!

Holy crap.

Actually, holy crap doesn't even justify what kind of situation we are in.

I completely freeze on the spot. One of my hands is in Syaoran's shirt and another is in his hair. Syaoran's tie is completely loosened and his top 3 buttons are un-buttoned. We stand up at the same time; rushing to fix ourselves to be, well, at least presentable.

I fall to the ground in a frantic, trying not to emit the tiniest sound. Syaoran tries to help me up while I try to brush down my hair. It's not working.

The door slightly opens and a reaction second later, Syaoran is there, slightly closing the door on the client. As he does, he quickly re-buttons his shirt, straighten outs his tie, and tries to flatten down his totally disheveled hair.

"Hold on one second, I'll be right there," Syaoran says in such a controlled, normal voice, it throws me off. Who knew he could be such a good actor?

He motions for me to hide under his desk, which I happily oblige to. Pretending to be in Syaoran's office because of a file or coffee is definitely no longer an option. Luckily the desk covers me completely, and I stay there, holding tightly on to my knees.

Syaoran opens the door and I hear the client walk in.

"Hey, do you think we can take this meeting somewhere else?" I hear Syaoran negotiate, "Maybe say, Starbucks?"

"Umm, is this place bad?" I hear the client ask. I hear the client take a couple steps into the room, causing me to hug my legs tighter, making myself smaller.

This situation is between life and death. If the client found me here, both Syaoran and I would both be screwed. We'd probably lose our jobs, lose our reputations, lose everything.

"Well, I felt like a place with coffee would be better…" Syaoran replies. I feel him leaning against the desk. Please persuade him to leave. Please persuade him to leave.

"Really, we can stay here. There's no trouble at all." I hear the client reply. NO! Go! Leave! Please, you're being treated for free coffee! What's wrong with that?! Who gives up free stuff?!

"I feel like it's a better environment to work," Syaoran replies, his voice slightly tense.

"Okay, sure," I hear the client agree. FINALLY!

"Great, great," Syaoran replies, his voice completely relieved. My body relaxes and I'm no longer in danger in having premature gray hair.

"Do you have lip-gloss on your lips?" I hear the client say before Syaoran closes the door.

Oh crap. I hope Syaoran has a good excuse for that…

Worst comes to worse, the client will just think he's gay.

I crawl out of the desk, slowly standing up. These situations seriously can scare the hell out of me. It is definitely not good for my health. Taking in a deep breath, I slowly make my way across the room and out the door. I fall down into my chair and take a couple breaths.

Seriously, this is going to kill me one day.

XSXSXSXS

Before I know it, I fall asleep on the table, right after lunch too. I wake up to the ring of the telephone. Trying to rouse myself into conscience, I pick up the phone, "Li's office, how may I help you?"

Hopefully, there weren't too many phone calls made to Syaoran's office when I was asleep. Actually, hopefully, there weren't too many important phone calls made to Syaoran's office. I think I've done enough damage to Syaoran today.

"Sakura! Where were you these last two days?!" I suddenly hear a voice yell at me. It's Tomoyo. Better than angry secretaries and businessmen yelling at me.

"Hey, Tomoyo-chan…how's life?" I reply, smiling and cringing at the same time.

"Don't 'how's life' me!" she snaps, "I heard from Eriol that you spent 2 days with Syaoran-kun in Osaka!! How could you not tell me?! Do you know what it's like to hear this from Eriol?!?!"

"Gomen ne, Tomoyo-chan," I reply, in a tired voice, "I was going to tell you sooner, but things kept happening…"

"I would rather find out from you than prying it out of Eriol's mind…" Tomoyo replies.

"I'm sorry," I reply, "any way I can do to forgive me?"

"Fine, I'll forgive you if you tell me everything that happened with you and Syaoran!" Tomoyo proposes.

I agree and tell about everything that happened in Osaka with her. It takes me about 20 minutes to do so with her commentary and my responses to her commentary. By the time we end out phone conversation, it's already past 3.

Another couple hours and I'm finally out for the day. I put my hand under my chin and flip the magazine that I hid a week ago. Ten minutes later, the door suddenly flies open. I hide the magazines under a pile of files in a frantic.

"I already know you read magazines when I'm not here," Syaoran says as he walks in, closing the door behind him.

Oh well, it's not like I kept it a big secret or something.

"How was the meeting?" I ask, trying hard not to laugh. It must have been a real mind turner to get out of that mess.

"Pretty good actually, well, at least after the awkward part…" he says, loosening his tie.

"I swear, there really is no good answer when someone asks you why you have lip-gloss on your lips…." he muses.

My stifled laughter breaks out, "sorry about that…"

He laughs casually, "it's fine. Besides it was fun seeing the clients face when I had to lie my way out for 10 minutes. At first he thought I was a secret drag queen or something…"

Closet drag queen, huh? I can't help but laugh.

"Sorry for starting that thing in the office…" I apologize after my laughter quells.

"It's no problem. Besides, I enjoyed it," he replies, "Well, at least until the client came 10 damn minutes early…"

I twitch, but laugh at the same time.

He sits down on the waiting couch usually meant for his clients. "Ne, you said that you hated this job. If you hate this job so much, what's your dream job then?" He says, changing the subject.

"My dream job?" I echo. "I guess I want to be a magazine editor for Popolo or something…"

"You want to work for a magazine?" he asks. I nod. His foot moves my chair over closer to him.

"Yea, it'll be pretty interesting, won't it?" I say, smiling. "I mean, you get to work with all those celebrities and stuff…"

"That's why you want to become a magazine editor?" he asks, skeptical. "For celebrities?"

"No, not just that, I think I'd really enjoy it!" I protest. "I would actually learn things that I'm interested in!"

"Well, I guess if you enjoy it you should definitely give it a try," Syaoran replies.

"Yea, I think it'd be fun and I think I'd be good at it!" I explain. Plus, you get free stuff.

"Why don't you pursue that career then?" Syaoran asks, eyes fixating on me.

"I don't know, I guess I never really tried…" I mumble. He stares at me. "You know how hard it is to get into a magazine company…so I thought going into a lawyer company would look good and then switch into a magazine company…"

"You mean you haven't even tried applying?" he asks, bewildered. I shake my head. I've always wanted to, but somehow something always held me back. "Mou, Sakura…"

"What? I will…when the time comes…" I protest.

"Hopefully soon…" he replies, looking carefully at me, "you need to find a job you actually like…"

Is he giving me a life lesson or something? Just thinking about makes me twitch.

"I didn't ask for your career lessons," I mutter coolly. I slide from my chair on the couch, sitting right next to him.

"Just giving out some friendly advice…" he mutters, putting his hands behind his neck casually.

"Better keep that friendly advice to yourself then," I mutter under my breath.

XSXSXSXSXS

I think I'm sick.

(A/N: I really was sick when I wrote this part! LOL)

Actually, I think I'm really sick.

I think I caught the flu bug that has been going around the building. My head hurts, I've been having a migraine the whole day, and on top of that I have a light fever. I just feel terrible.

The worst thing? The party is tonight and I feel like total shit.

I stayed home from work today, hoping to feel better so that I could attend the party, but so far, no improvement.

It's 4:30 when I hear a knock on my door and groan as I get up from my bed to get it. It's Syaoran.

"Yo…"I mumble as I let him in.

"How are you feeling?" he asks, as I fall on to the couch.

"Hmm…" I mumble, unable to say anything. He sits next to me and puts his hand on my forehead.

"Light fever," he prescribes, "Have you taken any medicine for it yet?"

I shake my head. "I thought that I'd get better…"

He sighs; "good thing I brought this then…" he holds up a bottle of Tylenol, opens it and gives me two tablets.

"Thanks," I reply as he goes and gets me a glass of water. I take the glass from Syaoran and chug the water down with the medicine.

"Hopefully, that'll make you feel better…" Syaoran says, "so I take this as a sign of not going to the party?"

I stare at him, "no, I'm still going, remember our deal?"

I know I feel like shit, and going is definitely not the wisest of choices, but still. I don't go back on deals or promises.

"Of course I remember, but you're not feeling well…" he says, trailing off.

"No, I'm sticking to the deal! I am coming," I say, putting down the glass on the table counter.

Syaoran looks at me for a few minutes and finally sighs, "fine,"

I change into my new dress that I got in Osaka, and start putting on a little bit of makeup so I won't appear to be too sick. By the time I'm done, it's just about time to leave. I feel a little better, definitely thanks to the medicine, but I'm not feeling tremendously well either.

"Wow, you look amazing," Syaoran breathes, taking my hands as I appear before him. He gives me a kiss on my cheek.

"Thanks," I manage to reply. "you look great too,"

I'm not lying. Syaoran look really sexy in his black tuxedo. He should definitely dress up more often.

"You know, I rather spend my time taking off this dress than waste my time at the party," he whispers in my ear. I get chills throughout my whole body.

Is this just a tactic to make me stay at home and miss the party? I'm not that stupid.

"Ecchi, I know you're trying to prevent me from going to the party," I manage to mumble in his ear as he moves his hands to my hips. I quickly take them off, "let's go, we'll be late. I am not backing down from this deal."

He groans but obeys, "I'll shoot the deal right now,"

Ignoring him, I put on my pink strap shoes while Syaoran grabs me my coat, "Sure you feel okay for the party though?"

I nod, "I'm fine,"

"Promise me that you will tell me the second you're feeling uncomfortable, okay?" he says, as I lock the door to my apartment.

"Promise," I reply.

"Good," Syaoran replies.

I still feel pretty crappy, and going to the party might not seem the best choice during an illness, but I'll just see what happens, ne?

Whatever comes my way, I guess I'll think of something to get around it.

A little thing I want to start doing after each chapter is post a picture of something relating to the story. The reason I'm doing this is because I want to sharpen up my drawing skills and I want you guys to get a little picture what the world is like.

So, please check my profile if you would like to see the picture! It would be nice to have some feedback on the picture too! XD

My 1st picture: Sakura – this is basically how I picture Sakura in my mind right now.

Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the picture!

Happy Holidays!

Please review!