Author's Note: There were countless times when I thought of shooting myself. And one of them is when my parents decided to read what I've wrote. Anyway, thanks for reviewing! I'm seriously in love with you guys! ^^

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura isn't mine. The story is.


Until You're Mine

Chapter 12: I've Gained a Couple Pounds!


"Eriol," Tomoyo called as she marched towards him. She placed her hands on her hips and sighed as she watched him shove a couple of muffin tins into the oven. "You need to stop sending me cupcakes," she said when he twirled around to face her.

Eriol was stunned. "Why?"

Tomoyo bit her lips. "It's bad!"

Eriol chuckled. "That can't be true," he said as he shook his head. He turned to his cupcakes and shoved in more muffin tins into the oven. "Those cupcakes were freshly baked every morning. It's impossible for those cupcakes to turn out bad. Unless, there was something wrong with the ingredients. If that's the case, we need to check all the ingredients."

Tomoyo turned to a few trays of fresh baked white chocolate cupcakes on the working table, waiting to be frosted. She shook her head and chuckled. "I'm not saying that there's something wrong with the cupcakes."

"What then?" Eriol raised an eyebrow towards her.

"Eriol," Tomoyo called with a sigh. "I've gained a couple pounds!"

Eriol chuckled. He closed the oven and turned to Tomoyo. "You know I don't mind if you gain a few pounds, Tomoyo," he said as he wiped his hand on his apron "I'll still love you."

"Thank you." Tomoyo nodded. "And I love you too. But the problem is—"

"Stop!" Sakura said, raising her voice a little bit. "Stop it right there!" she repeated. She turned to her friend and sighed. "Listen, I love the fact that you two are finally together." She paused for a couple seconds. "But I can't do this. The rest of us can't do this." She shook her head, pointing towards the rest of Cupcakelicious staff. "If you guys want to have this lovey-dovey couple conversation, then please, do that somewhere else before the rest of us end up throwing up."

The couple turned around and noticed the staff members looking at them with a smile plastered on their face. "I'm sorry," the couple said in unison before they turned to face each other.

"Now," Sakura said as she placed her hands on her hips. "Can we all get back to work?" she suggested and turned to her staff to make sure that they weren't slacking around. Then, she turned to a few cupcakes on her worktable. "Eriol, come here, I need you to sample this."

"What are you making?" Tomoyo asked as she joined her cousin.

"Chocolate cupcakes," Sakura replied briefly.

Tomoyo widened her eyes. "But, there's so many of them!" she pointed out. There were at least five types of chocolate cupcakes on the stainless steel worktable. Each of them had different frosting and decorations.

"Sakura's trying to come up with new recipes," Eriol explained.

"What's wrong with the old chocolate cupcakes recipe?" Tomoyo asked with a frown. "I think they're perfect just the way they are!"

"These recipes are low fat and low sugar chocolate cupcakes," Eriol told her. "I think it would be perfect for you," he said with a smile. "You know, if you wanted to enjoy the cupcakes without worrying about your weight. They're low calorie cupcakes."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Now," she said as she handed them a cake fork. "I need you to sample them and tell me, which one do you like the best?"

"What's in this one?" Tomoyo asked as she sampled the second cupcake.

"That one is a chocolate oatmeal cupcake. It's gluten free," Sakura explained. "How does it taste?"

"I like it. It's really moist." Tomoyo nodded. "The vanilla frosting is to die for! It wasn't sweet, but it melted in my mouth like vanilla ice cream," she commented. "That was probably the best vanilla frosting I've had so far."

Sakura laughed at her cousin comment. She took a clean cake fork on the table, and sampled the cupcakes.

"What with the sudden mood to experiment some new cupcakes recipes?" Tomoyo asked with a frown. "Don't tell me that you're making these due to another customer's ridiculous request."

"No." Sakura shook her head. "I'm developing these new recipes for Li," she said. "He doesn't like sweet things, anyway."

xxx

"This is so not what I had in my mind, you know," Chiharu said. Her tone showed that she was disappointed. "When I said a double date, I never expected that we would have one in the hospital cafeteria, having lunch," she said, poking on her food with a fork. "For two days in a row."

Syaoran grimaced.

"Syaoran, you're the most not-so-romantic person I know. I mean, why would you have a date with your girlfriend in a hospital cafeteria?" Chiharu continued and shook her head disapprovingly before she turned to Sakura. "I pity you for having him as a boyfriend, Kinomoto."

"Shut up," Syaoran muttered.

"Please," Sakura said, smiling. "Call me Sakura."

"Well." Chiharu paused and smiled. "At least we're finally having this double date! And Takashi finally gets to meet your girlfriend," she commented. "But, I strongly suggest that we should go out some time."

"That's impossible," Takashi said. He took a cupcake from the box, and peeled off the cupcake liner.

"Why is that?" Chiharu asked.

Takashi shrugged. "The four of us have never had the same off day."

"That's true." Chiharu sighed disappointingly. She took the cupcake from Takashi and took a bite from it. "What's in this?" she asked with a frown. "It has a faint taste of honey," she added after another bite.

"You're absolutely right!" Sakura nodded. "There's a bit of honey in that one. It's called Castella Chocolate Cupcake," she explained with a smile. She leaned toward Chiharu and raised an eyebrow. "Do you like it?"

"Yes." Chiharu beamed. "It's really moist and fluffy."

"Right," Takashi said as he watched his cupcake being eaten by his girlfriend. He took another cupcake from the box and turned to Sakura. "Did you know that cupcakes are considered a pop trend in the culinary world?"

Chiharu raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to tell her a lie, are you?"

"I don't think that's a lie." Sakura shook her head. "What Yamazaki-san said about cupcakes is true. They are considered as a pop trend in culinary world. That's why there are so many cupcake bakeries out there."

"See." Takashi smiled smugly to Chiharu. Then, he turned to Sakura and smiled happily. "I think we're going to be great friends, Kinomoto-san," he said to Sakura. He stood up when his pager beeped.

"Sorry," Syaoran said apologetically. He had his pager in one hand and his drink in the other. "We've got to run, there's an emergency." He paused to finish off his drink. "I'll call you later, alright?"

Sakura nodded, turned to Chiharu and caught a glimpse of Takashi kissing her forehead.

xxx

"Hey," Eriol called. He cast a glance towards his girlfriend and raised an eyebrow. She was standing next to him absentmindedly. "Tomoyo," he called again, waving his hand in front of her to gain her attention.

"Yes?" Tomoyo said, snapping out from her thought.

"Are you alright?" he asked. His eyes showed that he was worried. "Are you sure?" he asked when Tomoyo nodded her head lightly and smiled. "Do you want to talk about it? You can tell me anything. You know that, right?"

Tomoyo nodded and took in a deep breath. "I was just thinking," she said as she turned away from Eriol. She tapped her slender fingers against the papers before her before she continued. "About Sakura."

"Sakura?" Eriol repeated. "What about her? Is there something wrong with her?"

"Eriol," Tomoyo called and turned to him. "Touya called me a couple nights ago," she told him. "I couldn't believe what he told me at first. I mean, it's not possible. But I guess it all makes sense."

"What is?" Eriol asked as he adjusted his glasses. "Tomoyo, what are you talking about? What about Sakura? What did Touya tell you?"

"Eriol," Tomoyo bit her lip and hesitated. "Touya thinks that Sakura might be in love with her boyfriend."

"What?" Eriol finally said after a momentary silent. "Why would he think that?"

"It all makes sense, don't you think?" Tomoyo spoke. "I mean, why else would Sakura develop new chocolate cupcake recipes? She did mention that she was making them for Li," she said.

"Well." Eriol paused and shrugged. He was lost for words. It's not that he didn't care about Sakura's feeling or anything like that. He cared a lot about his employer, his friend's relationship and her feelings. But surely, this matter was not something that he should be interfering with.

Tomoyo drew a breath. "When Touya called me last night, he told me that Sakura was looking at his picture on her cell phone," Tomoyo said and sighed exasperatedly. "What should we do, Eriol?"

"Tomoyo," he called softly. He pulled her and positioned her so that they were facing each other. "Maybe we shouldn't interfere with this matter."

"What?" Tomoyo's eyes widened. "But, Eriol, what if—"

"We can't stop her if she feels that way. We shouldn't try to change how she feels," Eriol said. "That is not the right thing to do. This is something that Sakura will have to deal with herself."

Tomoyo stared at Eriol for a few moments before she finally sighed. "Maybe you're right."

xxx

"Kinomoto seems like a really nice girl," Takashi said. "I remembered a few weeks ago, when you started dating her, you told us that it's impossible to get along with her," Takashi said with a smile. "But I think you two get along just fine."

Syaoran chuckled as he remembered the conversation that he had with Takashi and Chiharu a few weeks ago. Sure, a few weeks ago he never thought that he could get along with Sakura. They both agreed to pretend to date and part ways after a month. But what is it that brought them closer?

"You like her, don't you?"

Syaoran stiffened. It took him a few seconds before he could respond. "What?" he replied as he pulled off his latex glove. He looked up at Takashi and noticed that he was waiting for him to say something. "She's an interesting person." Syaoran shrugged.

"Interesting?" Takashi repeated and raised an eyebrow. "That's definitely not the word I'm looking for." He chuckled. "You know." He paused and patted Syaoran's back. "You should give her a call, ask her to go out for dinner or something," he suggested. "I bet she'd be delighted."

Syaoran watched Takashi walked away and shook his head. He walked towards the washing basin and washed his hands. Then, he fished his iPhone in his pocket and stared to the screen.

Would she be happy if he gave her a call?

xxx

Sakura stared at her computer screen and blinked her eyes; one hand was holding the mouse and the other rested on her chin. She frowned and sighed. No matter how she looked at the figures, she couldn't understand them.

"You miscalculated the account under City Bakers," Eriol told her as he squinted towards the computer.

"Really?" Sakura frowned and turned to her computer screen. She scanned the screen and looked for the mentioned account. "Oh, so that's why my account isn't balanced!" she exclaimed. "Thank you, Eriol!"

"You're welcome," Eriol said and nodded.

"So," Sakura said as she picked up a calculator on her desk, and turned to the numbers on her computer screen. "Where are you taking Tomoyo for a date tomorrow?"

Eriol chuckled. "I can't tell you. It's a secret."

Sakura frowned and turned to Eriol. "You're not going to tell me?" she asked. Then, she focused back to her calculator and noticed that she had keyed in the wrong numbers. She pressed the 'C' button and cursed.

"Nope!" Eriol replied, snatching the calculator from Sakura.

"Fine," Sakura said with a sigh. "Have fun, then."

"I will," Eriol replied and chuckled. He glanced towards the computer and keyed in the right numbers before he returned the calculator to Sakura. "It's a good thing that we can arrange a surprise party for Tomoyo during this two days vacation."

Sakura smiled as she saw the figure. "Yeap!" she replied before she turned to her computer and keyed in the right number under City Bakers account.

"Are you sure this plan is going to work?"

"Of course." Sakura nodded. "All you have to do is to keep her away from here. I've spoken to her mother and she insisted that we should hold the party in her residence," Sakura explained. "My mother said that she would handle with all decorations and I'll bake the cake for her."

"That sounds like an easy plan," Eriol deadpanned.

"It is!" Sakura exclaimed. Then, she turned to her phone when it started to ring GUMI's Catch You Catch Me chorus. She stared at the screen for a bit and smiled before she pressed the green button. "Yes?"

"Hi," Syaoran said.

"Hi!" She replied. She cast a glance towards Eriol and saw him walk out from her office. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?" she asked after a minute of complete silence.

"Well." Syaoran paused and cleared his throat. "I was wondering." He stopped again and took a deep breath. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me this evening. After work, I mean. "

"Why?"

"No particular reason," he told her. "Look, I understand if you don't wan—"

"Okay," Sakura cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "Okay, I'll go out with you this evening," Sakura repeated when Syaoran didn't say anything from the other line.

"Great!" Syaoran said. "I'll pick you up after work."

xxx

Syaoran stared on his iPhone screen and pressed the call button. He placed his phone to his ear and was greeted by the operator, telling him that the receiver had turned off the phone.

He raised an eyebrow and stared at his phone. He couldn't help but wonder if she was mad at him. After all, he had stood her up again. It's not that that he did it on purpose though. He was about to enter the locker room and change his clothes when Doctor Hotaru pulled him away and told him that he was needed for an emergency operation.

Syaoran sighed in frustration, slid into his car and turned on the ignition. He drove to Sakura's bakery and pushed the glass doors only to find that they were locked. He peered against the door and noticed that there were a few of her staff members inside. He rapped his knuckles against the door and caught their attention.

Tomoyo looked up from her sketch book and squinted. She turned her head towards the kitchen and saw Eriol and a few other staff members mopping the floor. She walked towards the entrance and unlocked the door. "Look," she said, pointing towards the signboard hanging on the door. "We're closed."

"Is Sakura here?" Syaoran asked, ignoring her statement.

"No." Tomoyo shook her head. She took a step back and glanced at the man before her. It took her a few second to notice that he was Li Syaoran, Sakura's pretend boyfriend. "She went out a few hours ago," Tomoyo told him. "She told me that she was going to the hospital to meet you. Didn't you meet up with her?"

"Well, No." Syaoran cleared his throat. "I was supposed to pick her up," he told her. "But, there was an emergency at the hospital. I've been trying to call her, but she turned off her phone."

"She probably went back home," Tomoyo said as she pulled the door and invited Syaoran in. "Come in, I'll check with her mother to confirm. Why don't you have a seat first?"

Syaoran nodded and sat on and empty chair anxiously. He turned to Tomoyo and saw her hang up the phone. "Well?"

"She's home," Tomoyo told him. "But Aunt Nadeshiko told me that she went out with Yukito for a while."

"Oh." Syaoran mouthed and stood up. "Thank you, uh. . ."

"Daidouji Tomoyo,"

Syaoran nodded. "Thank you Daidouji-san," he said. "But, I've got to go now."

"Wait!" Tomoyo called.

Syaoran raised an eyebrow and turned to her. "Yes?"

Tomoyo bit her lip and hesitated for a little bit. "What do you think of those cupcakes Sakura baked this morning?"

Syaoran stood there looking a bit astonished. For a second, he wondered if everyone around Sakura would always say something random. Well, last week Sakura had randomly asked him if he wanted a hug. Then, she randomly took him to play laser tag. Then, she randomly...

"Well?" Tomoyo raised an eyebrow.

Syaoran shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't taste any of them. I don't really favor sweet treats."

xxx

"Thank you for treating me, Yukito," Sakura said as they walked home together. She turned her attention to her Popsicle and took the last bite.

"No." Yukito shook his head. "I should be thanking you for accompanying me, Sakura."

"We haven't done this for a long time, have we?" Sakura said with a smile. "You used to treat me to ice cream all the time." She paused and chuckled. "Of course, Touya had to join us too."

Yukito smiled. "You were really small back then," he commented. "I used to pat your head all the time. I stopped when you grew taller. And those heels make you almost taller as me."

Sakura laughed. "I'm still tall without these heels, you know."

Yukito stopped when they almost reached the house. He turned to Sakura and smiled at her. "Your boyfriend seems like a really nice person," he commented.

"What?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at the sudden mention of her boyfriend.

Sakura looked up and spotted Syaoran leaning against the wall, waiting for her when Yukito signaled her towards the house. She raised an eyebrow and took a few steps towards him. "Hi," she said when approached him. "What are you doing here?"

"I—" Syaoran paused to suck in some air. "I was waiting for you."

"Oh."

"Well then," Yukito said. He turned to Syaoran and smiled. "I guess, I'll leave you two to talk."

"I'm sorry I stood you up this evening," Syaoran said as Yukito disappeared into the house. "Something came up — an emergency."

Sakura nodded. "I know..."

"You know?"

Sakura giggled when she saw the shocked look on Syaoran's face. "I went to the hospital when you didn't turn up," she told him. "Then, I met with Chiharu. She told me that you had an emergency."

"Oh," Syaoran said. "I tried to call your cell phone, but it was turned off."

"I'm sorry," Sakura apologized. "My cell phone ran out of battery," she said and smiled.

Syaoran smirked. "I told you to be alert with your phone, didn't I?"

"I know, I know," Sakura said, waving her hand. "I knew you're going to say something like that." She giggled. "So," Sakura said after a moment of silence. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

Syaoran turned to her and frowned. "What?"

"Well, you sounded a bit tensed when you called. I just assumed you had something you wanted to tell me," Sakura said, tossing her hair behind her ear. "So, what is it?"

"I—" He shook his head. "I just wanted to see you."

Sakura was astounded. "You just wanted to see me?" she echoed. "Why?"

Syaoran shrugged. "I haven't figured that out."

"What? You haven't figured out why you wanted to see me?" Sakura nudged him with her elbow and laughed. "You're funny."

"Listen." Syaoran paused and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry that I haven't taken a bite off your cupcakes. After all, you tried out some new recipes for me."

"H-how did you know that?" Sakura gasped, placing a hand over her mouth.

"So, it's true then?" Syaoran said. "Your cousin mentioned that to me when I stopped by your bakery this evening," Syaoran told her when Sakura didn't respond his earlier question. He turned to her and their gaze met. "Thank you."

Sakura turned away and rubbed her hand against her neck. "Well, this is embarrassing," she muttered, making a mental note to smack her cousin on the head the next time she saw her.

"Why did you do that?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura laughed nervously. "I just thought that I should make you something that you could enjoy," she told him. "Well, with you being health conscious and all that."

"Oh," Syaoran said and chuckled. "That was not the answer I was expecting."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at his remark. "How did you expect me to answer you, then?"

Syaoran clenched his jaw and turned away. He took a glance towards his wristwatch and smiled. "I should get going."

xxx

Syaoran was smiling when he walked into his house. He wondered what had gotten into him recently. He wondered why his mind would always trailed back to Sakura when she wasn't around. He wondered why he always had the urge to meet her and see her face.

"Syaoran?" A voice finally broke him out from his thought. Syaoran looked up and saw his cousin, Meiling, staring at him.

"I need to talk to you," Meiling said.

"Okay," Syaoran nodded and led her to his room. He slumped on his bed and watched his cousin who was standing at his door with her hands crossed on her chest. "What is it?"

Meiling closed the door behind her and pulled out a folded paper from her pocket. "I found this in your room today."

Syaoran glanced at the familiar paper — the agreement that he had with Sakura to date each other for a month. He stood up abruptly to snatch it away from Meiling. "Did you snoop around in my room?" he said, raising his voice a little.

"You might want to keep your voice down, or everyone else is going to wonder what happened," Meiling suggested. "And I didn't snoop around your room. I found it by accident."

"Oh, really?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Meiling snapped. "Sheifa wanted me to get some papers from your room for Aiko," she explained. "Look." Meiling sighed. "You're lucky that it was me who found the agreement. Just imagine if it was Sheifa or your mother who found it."

Syaoran frowned. "You're not going to tell them about this agreement, are you?"

"No," Meiling said softly and shook her head.

"Thank you," Syaoran nodded.

"Syaoran," Meiling said softly. "Why are you doing this? Why did you go this far to lie to your family? Why would you..." She paused and turned to her cousin and frowned "So, the whole 'I'm interested in her' was bullshit then?"

Syaoran clenched his jaw. "No. It's wasn't," he answered. "Look," he said when Meiling didn't utter anything. Instead, she was staring at him, waiting for further explanation. "I told you, didn't I? I started to go out with her because mother forced me to. So I proposed this agreement to her and hoped that this whole dating thing would be over within a month, we would go our separate ways, and my mother would stop bothering me about this whole thing."

"But?" Meiling raised an eyebrow.

"But." Syaoran paused. "Meiling, it all changed. After I spent time with her, it all changed, alright?"

"What changed?"

"Well." Syaoran paused and licked his lips. "I guess, I couldn't stop thinking about her, and I found myself wanting to see her and be around her, and..." He sighed exasperatedly.

"Syaoran," Meiling called. Her gaze softened. She had never seen her cousin act like this before, or talk about anyone that way he did now. "Did you fall for her?"

Syaoran turned to his cousin and raised an eyebrow. Then he turned away. "I don't know." He shrugged. "Yes?" He blinked. "I guess..."

"It's love then!" Meiling exclaimed. "Syaoran!" she gasped and took a few steps towards him. "You have to tell her!"

"What?" Syaoran said. He looked at Meiling as if she just spoke a foreign language to him.

"You have to tell her!" she repeated. "Syaoran," Meiling called when he didn't respond. "You do realize that your agreement is going to end within ten days, don't you?"

- End of Chapter 12: I've Gained a Couple Pounds!-


Author's Note: So, Meiling found out about the agreement. What will happen next? Anyway, this chapter was not written as what I plan to. Well, a lot of part in this story was not written the way I plan. But, I'm glad that I managed to write this far and update this story frequently. Although there were countless time that I was distracted and decided to watch another episode of Doctor Who. XD That was a bit random... Don't forget to shower me with love and reviews!