CHAPTER TEN: CONFRONTATIONS

"are you sure we had the right place?" syaoran asked for what seems to be the hundredth time as they stood outside the door of a house, as they gathered up the courage to ring the doorbell.

toya had again disappeared for a couple of days after tomoyo and eli's wedding and just came back the day before, an address clutched in his hand and a silly grin plastered on his face. the smile is what stunned the two men in the room, who was then having their usual night out, with a drink on their hands. it seems that it was the first time they had seen toya smile.

it seems that toya had pulled some of his connection to know just where exactly the three girls had run off to after they disappeared from the wedding. the minute they had heard it, they were up in no time, packing their bags, and was on the train going of to wherever retreat the girls had ran off to.

"no wonder why havent found them." renzo mused. "they had gone so far away. are we that repulsive that they desperately want to get away from us?" he sighed.

"ask them yourself." toya said, as he finally pressed the doorbell.

"coming!" they heard a familiar voice answer from the other side of the door, and all their doubts if they had found the right place had vanished from their thoughts.

a minute later, they heard the door open, and a slight gasp was heard from... sakura. "oh shit!" they heard, before the door slammed on their faces again.

sakura had her back on the door as she tried to keep herself from fainting from who she just saw outside their door. "i thought its finished... i thought they'd just leave us alone... i never wanna see him again..." she muttered as she closed her eyes, wishing it all was just a dream.

but the three sets of fist started to pound the door, and muffled voices were heard, and she knew that this is very much real.

sam and meiling stepped out of the living room when they heard the commotion and they quickly rushed to sakura when they saw that she was about to collapse, worry seen through their expression.

"what's going on?" sam said, as they hugged sakura, who suddenly broke out in sobs.

"they... here... found us..." sakura sobbed, not making sense.

"who? who's here?" meiling said, in her soothing voice.

"them!" sakura cried out. "they found us!"

it took a while before her words sunk into the two girls. they were becoming scared, too, as the shouts from outside their door became audible.

"let us in!"

"we're not leaving until you talk to us!"

"why wont you face us?!"

"please, you cant keep on doing this to us!"

"why cant they just leave us alone?" sam whispered, as they held each other, crying silent sobs.

-------

the girls are huddled together in a sofa in their living. still aware of the presence of the men outside their home. the pounding had long stopped and the cries had gone, but they hadnt left. they made true their promise - they had been through hell just to find them and they are not leaving until they had talked.

nighttime had fallen, its been hours, but the girls still hadnt moved. the winds were howling outside their windows, as the rain poured on. mother nature seems to be feeling the same way as they do for they feel the storm raging on. guilt silently ate through them as they knew the men is still outside, standing in the rain, waiting for them to open their door. but it was the fear and the hate and the hurt that was stopping themselves to take them in. they were afraid of opening up, afraid they would be much more hurt than they already are.

"i cant take this anymore!" meiling suddenly exclaimed, as she shot up from the couch. "i'm letting them in."

"you sure?" sam asked, a tint of amusement in her eyes. it was the last thing she thought her bestfriend could do - the first to give in. she had wanted to let them in hours ago for toya had really done nothing bad to her, it was she that was running away from him, and it hurts her to know that she had left him outside on the pouring rain, where he could catch pneumonia. but sakura's and meiling's case were different and she didnt want to force them to do anything they dont want to do. besides, she's still afraid of what will happen if she let toya in her life again.

"i'm not made of steel you know." she huffed, walking to the door, with the other two on her heels. "i still love that son of a ." she added, silently, making sam and sakura smile.

"we sure we want to do this?" sakura asked timidly, as they stood in front of the door, meiling's hand on the doorknob as she gathered up courage to open it.

"we'll just hear them out just as they asked so that they'll leave this stupid place and out of that rain." meiling said, her voice slightly shaking. "then we'll pack up and leave this goddamn place and go to a place where all their connections will be useless and we never had to see them again." with a nod, as if to convince to herself, she opened the door and braced herself for what was to come, but instead, silence greeted them, and she fell stunned. the men are no where in sight.

"they couldnt just have left." sam mused, as they walked out the door. "we could've heard them."

"oh my God!" sakura cried as she noticed three heaps of bodies sprawled on the benches of their garden. they quickly ran up to them and saw they were all unconscious.

sam timidly placed a hand on toya's forehead and gasped. "shit! he's burning up!"

at that, the other two examined syaoran and renzo. "i suppose we left them too long in the rain." meiling shrugged, forcing down a smile that was forming at the edge of her lips.

without warning, sakura suddenly broke in laughter, not really knowing what was funny. the two looked at her funny, then after a minute joined in the first laugh they had shared after two years.

"we better get them inside." sakura said after their laugh had died down, but a smile remained on their faces. "before we catch whatever they have."

then, they struggled as they pulled the three unconscious oversized men into their house.

-------

its been six hours since they had dragged the men inside their home and the sun is starting to rise. the girls had already changed out from their wet clothes and changed the men as well. since they dont have any men's clothes with them, they decided to remove the men's clothes, blushing fiercely as they did so, then wash them to dry, then put them back. they were glad that the men had stayed asleep as they did their task, cringing at the thought of what would have happened if they were caught doing what they are doing in the middle of them doing it.

they had laid them in their guestroom, in folding beds side by side as they took care of them, forcing the medicine down the men's throats and placing cold towel on their heads. they were glad that their fever had gone down and they are no longer shivering. they realized that the men had not been taking care of themselves well lately to have gotten a cold that easily, and felt another tinge of guilt in their hearts. after they did all that they could, they left the men to rest and again huddled together in the living room, watching tv, afraid to leave each other for fear of what may happen if the men woke up.

they hadnt had sleep since the day before but they were anything but sleepy. every sound outside of their movie made them jump, as if it was the men, waking up from their sleep.

after about the tenth time they suddenly looked back to the stairs, looking for the source of the sound and it wasnt what they thought, meiling stood up massaging her neck that was aching from their sudden movement. "i cant take this anymore. i'm going to sleep." she said, then started to walk up the stairs.

"wait! we're coming with you." sakura said as she and sam walked up to her. "we can all sleep in my room. its the farthest." sakura added.

without another word, they silently went to sakura's room and settled down for a restless sleep.

-------

"what happened?" syaoran asked himself as he slowly waked into consciousness. he opened his eyes and saw that he's not in his room, or any of his friends' rooms for that matter. in fact, it doesnt look familiar at all. he shot up from the bed as he slowly remembered the past events before he passed out, but the pain that attacked his head made him lie back down.

"easy there." he heard renzo say from beside him, and he turned and saw toya and renzo sitting from their beds, looking at him. "i dont think you're that well yet."

"what happened?" he asked again, as he slowly sat up from his bed.

renzo shrugged. "last thing i remember is being out in the rain and cursing at how heartless those girls could be, making us wait out there in the storm. never knew they had it in them, though meiling could be quite a fighter at times."

"guess we deserve it." syaoran sighed, leaning on his headboard. "figured they never want to see us again. and here we are forcing ourselves on them."

"i dont regret it." toya said quietly. "living without her is far worse than this."

"i know." syaoran sighed again. then a thought ran through his head that made him smile. "wait a minute, they let us in! and there's no way our clothes dried out by themselves! they took care of us! maybe they'll also give us a chance to talk."

renzo smiled, too. "figured that as well. or they would have shipped us off to God knows where. or at least meiling would. he he."

"guess we better find them." toya said, standing up. the other two followed suit and together, they walked out of the room.

-------

"they couldnt have just left us here!" renzo cried incrediously as they walked through the house and saw no trace of the girls. they've been in the living room, the kitchen, the patio and outside, but still they couldnt find them.

"calm down." toya said. "maybe they're just in one of those rooms upstairs, sleeping or something." he shrugged as he made his way upstairs.

they found the girls, lying next to each other at the third room they went into, at the farthest side of the house, which appeared to be sakura's for it was all pink. they had clearly identified to which each room belongs to because of its color - meiling's was lavender while sam's was blue. for a while, the men just stood by the door, struck by just how lovely and peaceful their loves looked asleep. they hated to be the one who caused them pain. they decided then and there to end it all and make up for lost time.

"you guys thinking what i'm thinking?" renzo said, a mischievously glint on his eyes as he approached the side of the bed where meiling was sleeping. he looked at toya who was standing on the other side of the bed, near sam. he gently scooped sam in his arms and smiled at renzo who did the same. "its a good thing they're heavy sleepers." he added.

"be good." syaoran said, winking at them as they walked out of the room. he was seated on the bed next to sakura, as he unconsciously played with her hair. "its not good to take advantage." renzo threw him a playful glare before closing the door behind him.

"everything's gonna be alright now." he whispered lovingly, as he looked down on the sleeping angel in front of him.