"No Such Thing As a Drunk"

Glancing at the clock one last time that evening, I realized that I had been doing that all day. It was already past six and Ms. Hana had already cooked us dinner and left because her daughter had been involved in a car accident. So, it was only Xing and I sitting at the kitchen table eating our food in a comfortable silence.

He had been overly happy today. Apparently, he was overjoyed because he had gotten the chance to sleep with his father last night and used some sort of super powers to prevent his dad from having nightmares. I didn't understand it one bit, but I had to give it to him. His imagination was pretty ridiculously hilarious, yet adorable at the same time.

Most definitely adorable.

"Your food will start to get cold if you don't eat, Sakura." He snapped me out of my reverie. My eyes shifted over in his direction.

He grinned at me. "Daddy says that all the time when I don't eat my food."

I looked down at his plate to see that he had already demolished all the food on it. I looked back at him before a small smile tugged at my lips. "You ate all your food like a big boy today," I said proudly.

He had never eaten all the food off his plate, or what I presumed. He was never given large portions, so I never understood why he didn't. Maybe it was a kid thing.

"Well, Daddy says that I should eat all of my food, if I want to be a big boy," he said grinning from ear to ear.

My cheeks warmed a bit at the excessive amount of times Xing kept mentioning the man. Last night, he was so...different. I never thought that he would ever make any kind of physical contact with me purposely, but he did. It felt...

My cheeks warmed a little more, trying to think of the word that he made me feel. It was weird, but nice. Definitely nice.

I could feel the fluttering sensation at the pit of my stomach, imagining his rough, but soft fingers caressing my face again.

"Are you okay, Sakura?"

I blinked out of my stupor and looked at Xing before a small smile crept to my lips again. "Yes, I was just thinking."

Xing giggled, covering his mouth with his hands.

I sent him a playful, questioning look. "Your thinking face..." he giggled again, "It looks so silly!" He burst into a fit of laughter, causing me to giggle and shake my head.

"You're one silly, little boy," I said playfully before picking up my chopsticks to finish the rest of the food.

After we both finished eating, we went to the living room and cuddled up on the couch and watched TV.

"We're going to go to Disney world. Aren't you excited, Sakura?" he reminded me for the umpteenth time that day. The little boy's mind sure could jump from one thing to the next because he was just engrossed with the show that was on the TV.

I smiled and nodded. "Of course I am." I squeezed him a little tightly to me.

A small smile crept to his lips before a light blush tainted his cheeks as he rubbed his face into my chest. "I'm so happy that I will be able to spend time with two of my favorite people, at the same time," he said a little dazed.

I smiled and ruffled his hair, knocking him out of his reverie. Why could people not read kids minds?

His lips pouted as he swatted my fingers away from his head. I giggled and ruffled his hair again and he let out a loud groan. "Sakura," he whined, sounding a bit annoyed.

I removed my hand from his head smiling before looking at him to see a mischievous grin on his face. "You cheater," I poked his belly with my pointer finger gently, causing him to giggle.

I poked him again and he burst out laughing, grabbing my hand. I stopped and pulled him to me again, smiling.

I needed to stop before I spoiled the kid with so much affection, even though it felt like I was the one being spoiled.

"Why am I one of your favorite people?" I asked, bringing up his statement from earlier.

His cheeks colored again and he glanced up at me shyly. "It's a secret," he barely whispered.

"Well, I'll share a secret with you, if you tell me yours," I negotiated with the little boy.

His face brightened at that and he stood up on the couch, turning to me. "Really?!" he screeched.

Smiling, I grabbed his arm, pulling him to sit back down on the couch. "Mhm," I said.

He stood on the couch again excited and began jumping up and down on it.

"You have to stop jumping on the couch first."

He immediately propped down beside me at that. "Can I tell you mine first?" he asked looking at me with his big, amber eyes, reminding me of his dad.

I smiled at him softly and nodded.

He moved over to me and placed his hand beside my ear, getting ready to whisper the 'big' secret, but the front door opened and slammed shut loudly, causing Xing and I to jump at the impact.

I looked at the clock to see that it was 8:04pm before my eyes looked in the direction of the living room entrance, waiting for the man to walk through. And that he did.

"Daddy!" Xing yelled excitedly, slipping from my side and ran over to the man.

Xing grabbed his leg, hugging it tightly and my eyes moved up to Li's, who was standing frozen in his spot. When his eyes looked in my direction, my cheeks began to warm a little. I could feel that familiar fluttering sensation in my stomach again while my heart hammered against my chest rapidly as an image of last night flashed across my mind.

When our eyes locked, he glared at me and turned his attention down to the little guy hugging his leg.

The blood drained from my face, feeling a bit confused. What had I done this time?

He ruffled Xing's hair before removing him from his leg and walked down the hall, away from him without forming any words to either of us.

I looked down to Xing and my eyes softened, seeing the disappointment that was painted on his face.

My heart crushed at the sight of his face, and I couldn't think of any encouraging words to speak to him.

His face had changed from disappointment, to sadness, to anger, then to hurt before I had enough of the horrid sight.

"Xing," I called softly, standing from the couch and walking over to him.

I received no response from him, but his shoulders tensed up, signifying that he had heard me.

Standing behind him, I decided to rest a hand on his shoulder, but before I could, he slapped my hand away reflexively, surprising me. I stood with my mouth opened a little, not believing he had really done that.

He ran to his room, never even glancing at me.

I bit my bottom lip, withholding the tears of sadness and anger. Sad for Xing, but angry at the man who caused Xing the pain.

He was such a jerk. How could he treat his own son like that? Did he not have a conscious? Did he not think that his son had been anticipating seeing him all day?

My fists clenched before I vigorously wiped the single tear that had slid down my cheek. I took a deep breath, then let it out a few times, trying to calm myself down. I know I was just being extremely emotional right now. Dad had always said that, when feeling overly emotional, take deep breaths to try and calm myself down when I was little, but I was beginning to wonder why he had promised that it had worked. I could still feel my blood boiling the more I thought about that infuriating man and Xing's tears.

Xing…

This was about him, no one else.

My fists unclenched, deciding that I should go to Xing's room and comfort him after thinking about his tears. Why did his father have to be so mean?

I pushed the door opened to Xing's room quietly to see that he was lying down on the bed with his back facing the door. I heard sniffing and my heat nearly broke again at the sound. I slowly approached him and sat on the edge of the bed beside him.

"Xing…" I called softly, getting ready to rest a hand on his shoulder, but stopped myself.

His rejection was probably one of the most painful experiences I had ever had and I didn't want to relive it.

"Xing…" I called again, softer this time.

He turned to me, revealing his flushed cheeks and tears before he sniffed and sat up on the bed and crawled over to me. He wrapped his arms around my neck tightly and buried his wet face in my chest, wetting my bare skin slightly.

I pulled him in my lap, holding him tightly. "Daddy just had a hard day, baby. Remember, next week is the time when we get to spend a lot of time with him. You know that, right?" I whispered softly in his hair, hoping that, that worked.

"I'm sorry…" he said brokenly against my skin as he squeezed me tighter.

"Don't apologize…" I whispered and kissed his head lightly.

He stifled a sob and my eyes closed as I pulled him to me more. He cried for a few more minutes before he calmed down. His breathing was at an even pace and he was very quiet now.

I looked down at him to see that he had fallen asleep. He must have been extremely exhausted.

Sighing, I laid him on the bed, pulling the covers over his body, but his fingers kept a tight clutch on my top. I gently attempted to pry his fingers away, but his grip only tightened.

"Please stay with me…" he pleaded. He still had his eyes shut tightly as if he were in deep thought.

"Of course, sweetie," I said lying down on the small-sized bed that I had to curl up on.

He cuddled up to me and I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer to me. Was there some secret message that this kid couldn't be happy, that I wasn't aware of? Was there something I was missing?

A frown tugged at my lips as I smoothed down his disheveled hair that was tickling my face. Why could he not be happy?

My hand dragged down to his wet cheeks and swiped away the tear stains before I rested my head against his pillow and closed my eyes. I prayed a silent prayer that he could maintain a permanent happiness like most kids have.

I didn't know how long I had been lying there, but I could feel my eyes begin to drift shut slowly, feeling sleep overtake me. Xing had long fallen into a deep slumber because his breathing pace had been even, so it would be alright for me to too.

Just when my eyes fully closed, they shot opened in a heartbeat, hearing a glass shatter.

I looked at the clock on the wall, wondering what could have possibly broken at this time of the night. Li had come home long ago, so he had to have been sleeping now and Xing was here with me, so who could have been up past midnight?

I gently peeled Xing's body from mine, feeling a bit guilty for having to leave the little boy. His grip on my top wasn't loosening though, so I grabbed his hand and my top gently, pulling them apart.

He stirred in his sleep, but turned to the other side of the bed and hugged his favorite bear, letting out a soft sigh before he relaxed again.

I sighed and quietly walked out of the room, being sure to close the door behind me slightly. Walking down the hall, I tried remembering where the shattering sound was more profound moments ago before thinking of the kitchen. I glanced at the front door, making sure it was closed securely, before walking to the kitchen. I gasped and stopped at the entrance, shocked by the sight before me.

There Li was, shirtless again, bending down to pick up the broken shards of glass with his bare hands.

My face felt like it could melt from the heat as I stared at his attractive physique. How could someone look this attractive?

I hadn't even noticed that I was staring at his lips until a sharp inhale came from his mouth. I glanced down to see that he had cut himself with one of the glass pieces. What was wrong with him, using his bare hands to pick up broken glass pieces?

Bruising my bottom lip with my teeth, I slowly walked in the kitchen to see if he was okay.

"Li-san?"

Immediately, he looked up at me and stood from the floor.

My eyes travelled down to his bare, chiseled chest again, feeling warmth spread throughout my body at his gaze on me.

"Kinomoto," he said in a raspy tone, causing my body to break out in goosebumps. Why was everything so attractive about this man?

"Shit." He winked, looking down.

My gaze followed his and I gasped."You're bleeding!" I rushed to his side and grabbed his hand gently, without much thought of the consequences.

His entire body froze, but I didn't pay close attention to it as I dragged him over to the sink, wanting to fix his finger. Turning the knob, I pushed his hand under the running water, rinsing the blood off his fingers.

"You shouldn't be so careless," I said very quietly, almost sure that he did not hear me.

A weird snorting noise emitted from him before he snatched his hand back from me, causing the water to splash on me slightly. "Like you're one to talk," he said haughtily.

A frown tugged at my lips before I huffed, feeling annoyed with the man and his sudden change of behavior towards me. What had I done to him this time? He had no right to treat me like this.

Never mind that, he had no right to treat Xing like he had earlier. Xing had been so happy to see him, yet he ignored his existence. The look on Xing's face had been so broken. It was not fair and I was beginning to have enough of his rude attitude.

"What is your problem?" I asked, attempting to keep my tone under control.

I didn't want disrespect the man in his own home. I had been taught better than that, but he was making it so hard not to.

"What's my problem? Are you seriously asking me that?" He leaned against the sink and crossed his arms over his bare chest, with that same haughty look on his face.

I could feel the blood rush to my face. Quite frankly, I wasn't even sure if it was because of my growing attraction to him or the anger that I had felt towards him at the moment this time.

"Yes, I'm asking that. You did not have to treat Xing, your own son, like that earlier. That was so cruel—it was terrible and you—"

My body slammed against something behind me painfully hard, causing my eyes to shut tight at the pain.

"Are we really going to go there right now?" he asked dangerously low.

My eyes shot opened, coming face to face with the man's face dangerously close to mine. My heart began to race and I could feel the bottom of my stomach have that familiar tug again even though I was furious.

I bit my lip lightly before trying to move from the wall behind me, but I couldn't. He had my body trapped to it with his own, holding me in place almost painfully hard, so escape wasn't an option for me. I almost fainted at the close proximity, but held it together for both of our sakes.

"You, of all people, have no right to tell me about myself. You should be questioning yourself. Who the hell comes into a stranger's home?" he whispered angrily, very close to my face.

It was hard concentrating on what he said while feeling his hot breath brush against my skin though. There was a whiff of something that invaded my senses soon after. It smelled like...alcohol?

My eyes glanced up to his eyes to see them unfocused as he glared at the wall behind me. His face was slightly flushed, which only confirmed my suspicion.

He was drunk.

Feeling like fuel had only been added to the flames, my fists clenched. How could he get drunk with Xing here? What was his problem? What if Xing had woken up instead and saw him like this? Had he lost his mind?!

"Who in the world gets drunk with a four-year-old child in their home?" I snapped, glaring at him.

His fists slammed against the wall behind me, causing me to jump at the impact, shocked. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath.

"Fuck..." he said a little clearer.

"Fuck!" he said louder this time.

My eyes snapped open, not even realizing I had shut them again. I looked at his face to see that familiar look I had a glimpse of the other night. I couldn't even feel the slightest bit guilty for my words because he deserved them. He should know better than to do something this irrational. He was a father, for goodness sake. What was he thinking?

He leaned forward and my heart skipped a beat, seeing his lips come closer to mine, but his head turned at the last second and rested on the wall that I was pressed against.

Goosebumps crept on every inch of my skin, feeling his hot breath brush against my bare shoulder. I remained still, oblivious to what he would do next. What was he trying to do?

I stood there holding my breath, anxious of his next move for the few deadly silent minutes that passed between us. Neither of us uttered a word, nor had we even made the slightest of movement. Just torturously stood still and silent, pressed against each other. Or, he pressed against me. Whichever way a passerby would take it.

A few more seconds ticked by before there was a low chuckle that came from him. There was no humor in it, which meant that it was a bad thing.

"You think that you can come here and tell me how to parent a kid? My kid? You don't even understand the half of it." He paused and his breath caught in his throat.

"You're not the one who has to tell him that he doesn't have a mother around anymore. Tell him that you can't spend time with him because you're overloaded with work. See those tears in his eyes because of something that you did..." His head leaned against my shoulder now, causing my body to stiffen.

"You tell him that you can't take him to Disney world next week...that you can't spend any time with him at all because you're too damn busy for him." I heard his hand sliding down the wall beside my head before it rested on my other shoulder, grabbing it almost painfully tight. "Get told that your own kid hates you. I know I don't get father of the year award, but I'm trying. You fucking tell me what kind of parent you would be?" he whispered brokenly.

My eyes shifted to the kitchen entrance, making sure Xing had not woken up and walked in on the scene. I looked back to the head full of chestnut hair and sighed, feeling guilty and a bit sympathetic for him.

"Li-san," I called softly.

"And then you..." I froze, wondering what problems I could possibly cause the man. "You're just here and you're..."

I gasped when his warm lips barely brushed against my bare shoulder. I would have thought I imagined it, if it weren't for the rush of electricity sparks that glided throughout my entire body. My hands shot up to his bare chest, ready to push him away, but the sharp inhale of breath that came from him stopped me.

"I-I what?" I stuttered, feeling my face heat up.

"You..." His lips brushed against my bare shoulder again and I shuttered as my eyes shut involuntarily.

"Li-san, you're drunk," I said weakly, even though I made no effort to push him away. What was wrong with me?

"There is no such thing," he whispered against my skin before his lips dragged across my skin again, lighting it on fire.

"Li-san," I heard myself almost whimper weakly. Was that my voice?

It was becoming harder to stand on my own the more his lips came in contact with my skin as he began to drag his lips over to my collarbone, never letting his lips leave my skin.

He pressed his body against mine harder, surely holding up my weight and I felt something hard press against me between our lower bodies. An involuntary gasp came from my lips at the feeling and my hand on his chest flattened, allowing my fingers to caress him, not being able to resist the urge to touch the intimidating man anymore.

"Li-san," I tried again, but his hot lips only wrapped around my collarbone, causing my fingers to reflexively grasp his pec shakily.

A strangled groan vibrated against my skin as his lips dragged over to the curve of my neck and shoulder before he pressed his hips back and forth against me, causing me to get a feel of the hardness between his legs more.

I could feel myself blushing from head to toe, realizing the act he was attempting to perform against me. There was a burning ache between my legs the more he planted kisses against my skin and rubbed himself against me. It was almost becoming unbearably painful as I bit my lip, holding back the weird noises my vocal chords were trying to disgorge.

Unconsciously, the hand on his chiseled chest began to experimentally slide down the defined muscles, memorizing all the curves and crevices as my fingers shakily travelled lower, very slowly.

On feeling his wet tongue against my skin, a soft moan somehow escaped my mouth and my fingers came to a halt of their exploring.

I was taking advantage of the man. I knew better than this and would never do anything like this with anyone. He was drunk. I was taking advantage of a drunken man.

But he said he wasn't.

Shaking my head to get rid of the ridiculous thought, I moved my hand from his chest regretfully and slid my fingers in the back of his soft disheveled hair, gently pulling on it a little hard to get his attention.

He lifted his head and stopped his hip movements, looking at me questioningly with the dilated eyes.

My cheeks warmed at the look he was giving me before I shook my head, hoping to get rid of the feeling. "W-we shouldn't be doing this," I said, almost questioningly.

A lazy smirk crept to his lips and he rested his forehead against mine with his eyes closed. "You don't sound so sure yourself."

My eyes widened. "Y-you are really drunk, Li-san," I said shakily.

He began to lean down and I was sure that he would kiss my lips this time, but his lips came in contact with my nose instead.

"Goodnight, Kinomoto," he whispered huskily before removing his body from mine.

The moment his body left mine, it felt like a bucket of ice water was thrown on my body.

He began to walk away, stepping on some of the shards of glass as he stumbled the rest of the way out of the kitchen.

When he disappeared, I released the breath that I was holding, feeling my heart beat so fast that it could possibly jump right out of my chest. I was trying to catch my breath, more than I could actually breathe. My body remained pressed against the wall, not able to move from the spot he had me pressed against just moments ago.

I rested a hand over my chest, rubbing soothing circles over my chest, hoping to calm down my heart. It wasn't working.

Taking one last deep breath and letting it out, I removed myself from the wall and hopped over the glass pieces before looking for the broom to sweep up the broken glass.

After finishing, I threw the glass pieces in the trashcan and headed back to Xing's room to check on him. He was still fast asleep and that washed off the rest of the uneasiness that I had been feeling. If he had caught us in such a compromising position, it would have probably broken him. We needed to be more careful.

I stopped in my tracks as I was walking to my room, wondering why I had thought that. It wasn't like we had anything going on, so why was I suddenly assuming that we did?

We do not have anything going on, Sakura.

The man was drunk and feeling extremely vulnerable and I almost took advantage of him. What was wrong with me? I would never do something like that because it was wrong.

Why did it feel so right though? Taking advantage of people was wrong. So wrong. But his lips...

My stomach tied in knots and my cheeks burned, thinking about his lips. They felt so right. My eyes began to drift shut as I leaned against the wall to steady myself when a mental image of his lips on mine came to mind.

They had almost touched mine. It was so close. Even if it would have just been the briefest of touch, it would have probably been amazing—

My eyes snapped opened, embarrassment and shame washing over me on realizing what I was mentally picturing. Maybe I was getting in way over my head.

Not maybe, I was getting in over my head. How could I begin to imagine Xing's father kissing me? I didn't even know him enough to desire to be involved with him like that, so why was I? I was being very promiscuous.

My brows knitted together, wondering if that would make me a promiscuous person.

A promiscuous person was someone who engaged in sexual activities with a lot of different people. I had never been involved with anyone sexually before, so just because my body wanted to be involved with someone didn't make me one, right?

Did I want to be involved with the man sexually? Was this even the feeling everyone talked about at school?

Even though you're 17…

Closing my eyes again and ignoring my inner voice, I lifted my weight from the wall and walked to my room, silently praying that the questions would stop and the feeling would disappear. This was beyond inappropriate and exactly what the man had said would never happen. Yet here I was, trying to make it happen. I would be a dead girl in the morning if he remembered anything that happened tonight.

My body froze instantly on thinking that. Would he remember? People get drunk all the time and not remember what happened the next day, so would it be the same for him, right?

I pushed my hair back from my face, pulling on it anxiously. I almost started hyperventilating, thinking about the outcome of my stupid, lustful actions. What would I do if he did remember?

I released my hair from my firm grasp and inhaled a deep breath before exhaling. I did that two times before I finally calmed down.

Everything would be alright. I just needed to pretend it never happened, and everything would be alright.

I slipped under the covers and closed my eyes, praying to every single god out there that the intimidating man wouldn't remember anything.

My eyes squeezed shut tighter as my body tried to ignore the thing that was intruding in on my sleep.

"Sakura..." I heard the little voice call out again. It had been going on and on for the last 30 minutes or so, but I thought, maybe if I keep pretending to be in a deep slumber, it would stop. Wrong. I was so wrong because he never stopped.

"Sakura…"

I groaned before my eyes finally fluttered opened. Looking down, my face encountered the little mischievous boy who had been harassing me for the last 30 minutes. A smile tugged at my lips when I saw him sitting on the bed, looking as though he had been patiently waiting for me.

"Finally," he said dramatically before crawling over to me and getting under the blankets with me lying down. He grabbed my arm and shuffled his way under it.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer to me, granting his wish.

"Why did you ignore me? Do you not want to be with me anymore?" he asked sadly.

I hummed and pulled him closer to me. "Would I really have you wrapped in my arms if that was the case?" I asked sleepily.

He sat up and looked at me with his face scrunched up in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I'm just sleepy. I do want to be with you still, silly," I decided on, instead of explaining what I meant.

"Oh..." He smiled and lay back down on the bed beside me. He rested his head on the back of his hand while staring at me.

"I'm sorry for crying again," he said suddenly.

"Xing, I told you not to apologize for that," I said softly.

"I know...I want to make Daddy very happy now," he said and a small smile formed on his face.

"How are you going to do that?" I decided to play along.

"Well, I was hoping that you could tell me," he said sheepishly.

"Hmm..." I pretended to be in deep thought. "How about we start off by being on our best behaviors."

He sighed and hid his face under the covers.

"What is it?"

"That doesn't make him happy..." he sounded a bit muffled.

"Of course, it does. It makes me happy, so it has to make him happy too." I blushed a little, thinking about the man. It was too early for this.

"Really?" he asked, hopefully.

"Yes, really."

He peeked at me under the covers, shyly. "Okay..." he said quietly.

Smiling, I pulled the covers back so he could be exposed to me before looking at the clock. "You're up pretty early. What woke you up?"

A bright smile spread across his face. "Daddy!"

My body froze on the spot. Was he already awake?

I glanced at the clock again.

5:02am.

Why was he awake so early?

"W-what do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"Well, I had a really really bad dream that Elly the elephant eats Daddy! It was a really, really scary dream," he said dramatically.

I let out a relieved sigh, glad that the man was not awake yet.

"And then I woke up when I heard my door opening and Daddy walked in!" he said excitedly.

My heart nearly dropped to the bottom of my stomach at that added on information. "S-so he's already awake?" I asked, silently praying that he was not.

"Yes. Do you want to go and play with him—?"

"No!" I said almost immediately.

His head titled to the side, a look of confusion plastered on his face.

"I mean...I'm sure that Daddy is very busy with his work to play with us and we don't want to be a bother to him," I explained, hoping that he would buy it.

"But Daddy won't think that we are bothering him. He said that he will be here all day, so if I need anything I could just ask him," he said grinning.

Everything had to have stopped functioning in my body surely.

He was joking. He had to be joking. Li would never skip out on work. Last night he had just told me that he was too busy for Xing, so there was no way that he would be here all day. He said that he was...

I glanced down at Xing and felt my eyes softening. Why was I being a terrible human being by not giving the man the benefit of the doubt? Why was I trying to find excuses for Xing to not be happy?

They were a broken family and here I was, trying to back out of the plan to put them back together because of a stupid encounter that occurred between the man and me. There wasn't much I could probably do, but I could at least try to be there for him. How could I act so selfish?

Forgetting my own fears, I pulled Xing to my side, hugging him tightly. "Okay, Xing. It's a bit early to play now, so let's just go and watch TV until Ms. Hana comes by for breakfast, then later on we can play with Daddy," I suggested.

He appeared to be in deep thought before he smiled widely. "Okay," he said, and then hugged me tightly.

"I love you so much, Sakura," he mumbled into my shoulder.

My mouth fell opened, shocked by what he said. Nothing came out, or nothing that would make sense because I didn't know how to respond to that.

Thankfully, he released me and climbed off the bed and turned to me. "Come on." He looked at me patiently.

I took a deep breath, hoping that I would not run into the man just yet. I would have to face him eventually, but not so early in the morning. I was already barely awake now.

What would I do if I saw him this early? With the way my behavior had been lately, I wouldn't be surprised if I jumped his bones at the given opportunity.

My cheeks warmed a bit at the thought before I slid out of the bed and grabbed Xing's hand.

We walked out of my room, into the living room, having no signs of Li, thankfully. After turning the TV on, we cuddled up on the couch and watched our normal television shows together. It didn't take a long time for Xing to be enraptured by the TV series, leaving me to my thoughts.

I needed to figure out what I was going to do if Li remembered what happened last night. This feeling of anticipation would never wear off, knowing that I didn't know if he was thinking about it right now as much as I had been.

Where was he even at right now? Did he not mean it when he told Xing that he would be here all day? Maybe he was not even here. Maybe I was stressing and losing hair over nothing. I did tend to overthink everything, so maybe I was doing that now too. I just needed to calm down and let everything pan out as it should. Besides, he was probably not even here—

"Daddy!"

My eyes closed, not knowing if that sound was adorable or horrid anymore. Why did this always have to happen to me?

I avoided looking in their direction, trying to ignore their conversation. Maybe Li hadn't noticed me here because I couldn't feel him staring at me. None of his attention was on me. That was a good thing. A very, very good thing. Why did I feel a little disappointed though?

"Is that understood?" I heard Li ask.

Is what understood?

"Yes, Daddy. And I'm sorry about last night again," Xing whispered, but he was never good at whispering.

"I told you to stop apologizing..." The rest of the sentence was very distant and I began to wonder why.

Nervously, I looked in the direction to see that the two had disappeared from the living room and I couldn't have been happier and relieved than I had felt right now.

It felt nice to be alone at the moment because it had seemed like it was an eternity since I had been. It was only just a few days ago when I was alone, yet it felt like forever. Maybe he would let me have a rest for the weekend.

It was Friday after all and he said that the weekends were my free days off. That meant Saturday and Sunday would be me time, right? I needed to get away and clear my head because this wasn't right. Thinking about Xing's father like this was stupid. He would never see me like that, so why should I try to allow myself to become involved?

I sighed and turned my direction back to the TV, staring at the screen not really paying attention to the series. Why could a hole just not swallow me already? That would probably be the best thing that could happen to me right now.

"So, you'll be right back after you finish talking to Ms. Mizuki?" I distinctly heard Xing asking. His footsteps were coming closer, which only meant that they were coming back now.

"Yes, but remember what I told you?"

My body froze and I was sure the tip of my ears to the tip of my chin had probably turned to an ugly shade of red at hearing that voice.

"Yes sir, I understand," Xing said like a well-behaved child.

"Good. Be good while I'm gone for a few, alright?"

"Yes sir," Xing said before I heard his footsteps walking towards me again.

I didn't even bother to look back at the man before welcoming Xing back with opened arms the moment he reached the couch.

"Kinomoto."

I froze hearing Li call my name, fearing that he had remembered. From the tone of his voice, I already knew that he had though.

Hesitantly, I turned towards him and my cheeks burned even more when I saw him staring at me intensely.

Swallowing, I opened my mouth. "Y-yes?" I squeaked.

He stared at me for a few moments, only rising more suspense for me before he decided to speak. "We..." he stopped and just stared at me for a moment before he blinked and shook his head. "We need to talk when I get back."

Before I could respond, he had already disappeared through the front door.

He remembered. That was the only thing that he had to say for me to know that. Why did he have to remember? Why did he want to talk? No, what was there to talk about?

Maybe starting with the way he roughly slammed you against the wall and violated your body.

I wanted to punch my conscious so badly right now. It could never keep quiet! It was more like the other way around anyway, because he was drunk. I was the one who took advantage—

"Sakura?" I heard Xing calling.

I looked down at him and forced a smile. "We should get you ready for the day then?"

"Okay!"

With that, we dressed him in his attire for practice and set up the kitchen table for Ms. Hana before she arrived.

We were back to where we were earlier, waiting for Ms. Hana to arrive so we could eat breakfast. It was kind of a shame that the woman had to wake up early and come here to do the duties of the house when I was here, but Li insisted that it was not necessary.

"Daddy said that we will go out tonight. Do you want to come with us?" He looked at me hopefully.

"Xing," I said softly.

His mouth opened, turning upside down slightly, realizing what I would say. "Please..." he whispered desperately.

Then I remembered why he was really asking me if I could come.

"How did you feel before I got here?"

"A very long time ago, we didn't used to go out a lot..." He turned to me and clasped his hands together and gave me the eyes. The eyes. "Please..."

I scratched the back of my head nervously, looking around for something—anything to help me out of this situation.

Why, oh why did the little boy love to put me in awkward predicaments?

I pulled him to me and hugged him, hoping that would work.

He pouted and pulled back. "Please, Sakura..."

Just when I had decided to cave in to the amber eyes and ask his dad, a knock on the door interrupted our conversation. I hurriedly stood up and answered the door immediately, happy to see the woman smiling at me brightly.

"Good morning, Sakura. You're awfully frantic this morning," Ms. Hana said walking inside after I stepped to the side.

"You have no idea..." I murmured under my breath before closing the door behind her.

"Ms. Hana!" Xing exclaimed, running over to us and hugging Ms. Hana's legs.

She giggled and patted his head lightly before picking him up in her arms. "Wow, you're getting heavy, aren't you?" She tickled his belly with the tips of her finger.

He giggled and nodded his head. "It's because I'm a big boy now!" He lifted his hands up, emphasizing how big he was.

"I bet this big boy is hungry."

On cue, his stomach made a funny sound and he blushed.

We started laughing at him before heading to the kitchen. We did the usual, me and Xing fixing the table and helping when we could, while she cooked us breakfast.

Afterwards, we ate then cleaned the kitchen before she left. Xing was now headed to practice with Mr. Chenchi and I was headed back to my own room, glad that I could get a little break from the little boy. He had been on his game today.

It seemed like he was purposely trying to torture me this morning. Did he not sense or see the distress I was in with everything he was saying and doing? Four-year-olds were not supposed to be torturing people like this, so why was Xing torturing me?

I heard the front door opening and was tempted to run the rest of the way to my room, but remained calm, but maybe picking up the pace to my room a little bit.

"Kinomoto."

I stopped, just in front of my door at the call of my name by the man. I released the handle of the door and turned in his direction, forcing a smile on my face. "Li-san," I said stiffly.

He stared at me hard for a few seconds before he started walking in my direction.

My eyes closed, already knowing my fate. This was it, the moment that had been pestering me all morning. The moment I had been so patiently waiting for.

He had to choose the perfect time too, when Xing was in training with Mr. Chenchi. He was always ten steps ahead of the game as Ms. Hana had said.

"Kinomoto," he said, closer than I had anticipated him to be.

My eyes opened, seeing him only mere centimeters away from me. I looked up slowly and blushed when my eyes came in contact with his lips before they traveled higher to his eyes, where he was staring at me intensely.

My cheeks warmed even more, thinking about the way they had looked at me last night. I was such an idiot! I should just start apologizing and begging him.

Right, that was smart.

"I—"

"Would you mind if we talked somewhere more..." He paused and looked back before turning back to me, "My study."

Before I could respond, he grabbed my wrist and dragged me to his study.

Kill. Me. Now.

So...what did you guys think? Besides the annoying cliffhanger, of course lol. I had a free weekend and decided to work on my stories a bit, but I only have one test this week, so I should find time to start writing the next chapter. Thank you guys for the reviews, you really don't know how much they mean to me!

Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, so please review! I'm not begging for reviews, but I'm begging, so PLEASE! :P

Ja ne! :D