Chapter 14

"Good afternoon. I hope I'm no interrupting your lunch."

Syaoran walked into the brain surgeon's office to find a middle-aged man eating lunch quietly by himself. Everyone else went out for lunch without him, not because his colleagues hated him but because he was simply not the type of person who enjoyed public gatherings.

"I'm sorry, but it's lunch—"the man looked up from his well-prepared bento box and told Syaoran impatiently, not pretending to hide his displeasure of being interrupted.

"Perhaps you can make an exception for me," Syaoran asked as he took off his sunglasses and cap that kept him shielded when he entered the hospital.

The man's expression was indifferent at first but his eyes widened in surprise when he realized the identity of the man standing before him. Although he was not interested in the entertainment stuff, he knew who Syaoran was, since his face was plastered on every possible form of media out there.

The man quickly wiped any food residue off his moustache and mouth before walking over to greet Syaoran.

"I deeply apologize, , for interrupting your lunch. It's hard for me to sneak into the hospital to see you during any other time," Syaoran explained, shaking hands with the man, Fukomoto Kenji.

Just like Syaoran, Fukomoto was famous in his field of expertise. He was a brain surgeon who had performed miracles in the past, including the well-known case of Linda Hamasaki, a super model who was told by her doctors that she only had a few days to live from her brain concussion.

Fukomoto's success was widely-broadcasted across the country, and many rich people offered to invest in a private clinic for him. He had kindly rejected in the hope of offering his skills to the general public, who were less fortunate to afford private treatments.

Fukomoto nodded his head. "I understand your situation, . It's not a problem. What can I do for you?"

"I came here to ask you some questions regarding amnesia. I have a friend who lost her memory during a car accident, and I would like to help her gain back her memory. Are there ways to help her?" Syaoran told him.

Fukomoto nodded in understanding. "Although we have doctors who specialize in this area in the hospital, I do know some information about this that may help you. May I ask you, however, why you want to help her?"

Syaoran considered Fukomoto's question. Why did he want to help Sakura? He even went out of his way to get the director to film his part first, so that he could rush to the hospital during lunch.

"She has been suffering from emotional insecurity. She feels like she doesn't belong, even when everyone around her loves her very much," Syaoran told him, still trying to figure out inside if this was really the reason that caused him to help.

Fukomoto gave a small smile. "I'm sure your friend can feel your love for her."

"Indeed, people who have amnesia usually suffer from low self-esteem or emotional insecurities. Their missing memory makes them feel left out. To combat this problem, the friends and the relatives of the patient could express their love for her in many ways and make her believe that the memory she'd lost will not change their love for her. This can reload her confidence, but will not necessarily help her get her memories back, like in your friend's situation."

Syaoran nodded. "So, is there anything else I can do to help her?"

"Yes, there are plenty. They will not guarantee one hundred percent success, but they have been proven to be the top contributors to memory regains. How did your friend lose her memory?"

"She and her mom got into a car accident 7 years ago. Her mom, unfortunately, died."

Fukomoto stayed silent for a few seconds to intake the information."The injury done to her head during the accident may have played a role in her memory loss, but we cannot eliminate the psychological reasons. She may be repressing her memory on purpose, and unconsciously, because she does not want to recall her mother's death."

Sakura blocking out her memory on purpose seemed like something she would do, even if she didn't know that she was doing it. In the past few weeks when they spent their time together, and in their high school days, he realized that her way of protecting herself was to act indifferent.

"In the past few weeks, she had gotten serious headaches. Do these mean anything?" Syaoran asked, recalling their photo shoot.

Fukomoto's eyes widened. "Yes…that could be a sign. Does she ever talk about what she sees when she get those headaches?"

Syaoran shook his head without hesitation. He didn't remember her telling him because he never asked. And even if he did, she wouldn't have told him, anyways.

"No…"

But then, he suddenly remembered a conversation they had on the night when he drove her back to the Daidouji mansion.

"Oh, dear. It seems that my girlfriend doesn't hate me, anymore."

Did she really hate him less, now? "You're wrong," she said, staring out at the rows of trees, illuminated by street lamps.

"Hm…?"

"I never hated you in the first place. It's just that whenever I see you, there are always images that suddenly fly into my head and cause me headaches. With your personality, it makes me dislike you even more," she explained. "It's just dislike, not hate."

"Oh, so now I'm like a shooting bullet that cause you headaches?" he joked.

Sakura ignored his comment. "After spending the day with you, I realized that you're not as bad as I originally thought you were. I guess I don't dislike you, anymore, but that doesn't mean I like you, either," she continued.

"If not friends, maybe we can be friendly business partners?" he asked. The car came to a halt in front of Tomoyo's mansion. Sakura noticed that Tomoyo's room lights were on, which meant that she had been back for quite a while. Syaoran purposefully drove slowly.

"Of course," she replied with a smile. "Drive safely." She got out of the car walked towards the gate. Syaoran made sure she safely entered the mansion before driving off.

"I believe that something prominent had happened up until the car crash that was related to you. You are the trigger point to parts of her memory," Fukomoto concluded, after hearing Syaoran's story. Syaoran made sure to leave out the "girlfriend" part.

Syaoran didn't understand what he was talking about. How could he be the trigger point if he didn't even know she got into a car accident until 7 years later?

"You may be the only one who has the ability to trigger her memory. Use it as your advantage if you really want to help. But you have to be careful, though. If you are part of an unwanted piece of memory, your actions will bury her past even deeper into the back of her mind, until the point when she will never be able to retrace them, again."

"It must be your eyes. They really do look like the late 's eyes," a woman in her early sixty's said, more to herself. She stared at Sakura wonderingly.

Sakura was sitting across from her, busy wiping the corners of Michio's mouth of chocolate ice cream.

Yasahiro Michio was his name. He was the son of Sakura's mentor, Yasahiro Shin, and his deceased wife, Yasahiro Ayumi.

The air-conditioned ice cream parlour and the ice cream he was eating cooled him off greatly from the heat outside. The boy no longer had extremely red cheeks like when Sakura first saw him in the hospital. His natural curly bangs messily fell on his forehead as a result of his dried sweat.

"Thank you, mommy," he politely thanked Sakura for wiping his mouth clean. His diction was slightly unintelligible due to his young age. He looked up from his ice cream and grinned at Sakura. The little straight nose he had was just like his dad's, except there wasn't a bruised mark.

He scooped a spoonful of his ice cream and held it up to her. "Here, mommy!"

"It's okay, Michio. I like the strawberry flavoured ice cream better," Sakura told him gently, not wanting to correct him that she wasn't his mommy. After hearing from his babysitter's story about him asking for his mother all the time, she didn't have the heart to hurt the innocent child.

Michio didn't take his small hand away. Instead, he pouted and attempted to persuade Sakura. "But the chocolate one tastes really good, too!"

Michio's babysitter giggled. "Why don't you just take a bite? He wants to share everything he likes with you," the babysitter suggested in a whisper. Sakura looked at her and opened her mouth in defeat.

"Ahhhhh," Michio said as he delivered the spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "Is it good?"

Sakura swallowed the creamy chocolate ice cream. "Yes," she said surprisingly. She was never a huge chocolate fan because it was too sweet, but the ice cream changed her view on it.

Michio's grin widened, his emerald-coloured eyes forming a line.

Michio waved with his spoon in the air when he saw his dad looking around the parlour. "Daddy!"

Shin, still in his white robe, paced to their table. "Michio!" he called his son in a voice that Sakura would have never imagined.

Michio jumped off of his chair and ran into Shin's arms. "Daddy! Mommy bought me ice cream!"

"Mommy?" Shin asked confusedly. He looked up to find Sakura nervously getting out of her chair as well and bowing to him.

"I'm sorry, . Michio came to the office at lunch to find you, but you weren't there. So, I took him out for ice cream," Sakura explained.

Shin's face softened. "Thank you, . I'm sorry for the trouble. I received a call from Michio's nanny that he wanted to visit me, so I came out early to buy ice cream. When I returned I didn't find them.

Looking at the nanny, he added,"Chihari, you may leave now. Thank you for today."

Michio's nanny bid farewell to Sakura, Shin, and Michio and left the parlour.

"Have you finished your ice cream, yet, Michio?" Shin asked softly to his son as he looked at the unfinished bowl of chocolate ice cream on the table.

"Not yet, daddy." Michio climbed onto his chair and continued eating the left-over of his ice cream. Sakura was going to sit across from her original seat, but Shin told her it was okay. "He seems to like you a lot."

"Yes, he calls me his mommy. Chihari says it's because of my eyes," Sakura said.

"They do."

Sakura looked at Shin. She knew she shouldn't be asking this question, but she couldn't keep it in anymore. "Is that why you dislike me?" The minute the question, more of an accusation, escaped her mouth, she immediately started to regret.

Shin eyes hardened, which added more to Sakura's distress. "What you look like has nothing to do with my dislike. It is your family background," he replied honestly.

Sakura frowned with confuse. "What are you talking about?"

"You are the daughter from a rich family. To be more exact, you are the daughter of one of the richest and most influential family in the world. I assumed that you skipped the last two years of your education as a result of your family power. I assumed that you came to Japan because you simply want to get the doctoral degree, without being serious towards this job. I also assumed that you were playing around with your family's power in society."

Shin's each and every word stabbed Sakura like a million knives. She was serious about her medical studies and was not taking advantage of her family powers to further her degree. She also had never chosen to come to Japan because she wanted to get around the full educational pathway of a doctor.

"How do you know who—"

"And with your brother, Kinomoto Touya, continuously donating money to our new Sick Children's program, it wouldn't be surprising if all my assumptions held the truth," Shin continued, with fury.

Sakura's mouth opened in astonishment."You mean, my brother was the one who helped with the creation of the program?"

"Yes, he was the one who proposed and supported the program. The board of directors of the hospital were ordered by him to place you in this program. They assigned you to me so that you will receive one-on-one teaching from me."

Now, it made sense to Sakura. Yasahiro Shin, the well-known doctor who never took in any interns, accepted her out of all people because of his brother's doing.

"I—"

"Like I said, I assumed all those things based on what was going on between the board of directors and your brother. But, I was wrong. After giving you all those files to enter into the database for the whole week, I realized that I judged you wrongly. You came early in the morning and work all the way till 6 in the evening, without going for lunch or breaks. Even when you were finished, you rechecked for mistakes. You were serious towards your work and did not complain. I apologize for assuming things so easily." Shin said and gave Sakura a small bow of apology.

It was weird to Sakura that Shin had observed her without her noticing. All she knew, while she was typing away, was that Shin was either in his closed office or out doing clinic checks.

"I can't blame you for thinking that, after what my brother has done without my acknowledgement. , I hope you can keep my family background a secret."

Shin nodded. "Yes, the executives and I are the only ones who know. We've sworn to keep this a secret."

"Thank you—"

"From next week onwards, the hands-on practices will officially start. But that does not mean you will no longer have to input patient data into the database."

Sakura replied, "I understand. I kind of realized that the computer work was something that all future doctors have to do, on my second day here."

Shin's eyebrow rose.

"As a doctor, we have to not only learn about the condition of our patients but also additional information, like family background, that could contribute to their illness. I realized on the second day that you giving me all that work was more for my benefit than for the purpose of you testing me," Sakura explained.

"Very observant, Miss Kinomoto. That's good," Shin replied approvingly.

"Mommy, daddy, I finished my ice cream," Michio tugged on Sakura's shirt and said. His other hand pointed at the empty fancy glass bowl.

"Michio, look at you. You've got chocolate all over your mouth, sweety," Sakura giggled as she reached for a napkin and wiped Michio's mouth clean. Shin watched her quietly from across.

"Do you want to eat anything else?" Sakura asked.

It was not even an hour of acquaintance between Sakura and Michio, but Sakura already felt like she knew the child for a long time. She felt the obligation to give him the care that he never got the chance to receive from his mother.

Michio shook his head. "No, thank you."

"He's so polite, sir. You've raised him well."

Clueless to Sakura, the hard expression kicked back into him just when she thought that their "mentor-teacher" relationship was having the slightest improvement.

"Michio," he said solemnly. " is not your mommy. You have to stop calling her that."

Michio's eyes began to water. It amazed Sakura how the emotions of a child could come and go so quickly.

"She is my mommy!" he cried. His tiny hands clutched tightly to Sakura's white dress shirt.

"No, Michio. We cannot be like this. Mommy has left us. She—"

Sakura shot her mentor a glare, which she knew was disrespectful. She quickly picked Michio up from his chair and rested him on her legs. "Michio, daddy is just playing around. Mommy came back because she missed Michio too much!"

She pulled him into a tight, protective hug. "Mommy is back. Don't cry," her soft words told him.

Michio sobbed quietly. She knew that he was trying hard to obey her.

"Miss Kinomoto, please don't be like this," Shin said. "It's not good for the child."

Sakura stared at Shin, coldly. "What I care about now, is the happiness of the child. He has never gotten any love from his mother. Why do you have to be so cruel?"

"Michio, honey," Sakura said to Michio. "Daddy wants to give you a plane ride if you stop crying. He's sorry for joking with you." She shot Shin a look that told him to follow what she said.

"Michio," he said, unwillingly, "Come on daddy's shoulders."

He bent down on the floor. With Sakura's help, they got Michio onto Shin's shoulders. Michio sniffed and quickly wiped away his tears.

"Up we go!" Shin slowly rose from the floor like an airplane taking off. Once he fully stood, Michio felt the full impact of the height and grabbed onto the top of his daddy's head. The other customers inside the ice cream parlour looked in their way. Some kids around the same age as Michio, tugged their parents' shirt and wanted a similar demonstration.

"Michio, you're so high up! Mommy can't reach you!" Sakura exclaimed.

They walked out of the cool ice cream parlour and onto the crowded streets.

"Michio, why do you look so sad?" Sakura asked, when she saw his old excitement diminishing. He was looking down sadly.

"Because, mommy and daddy aren't holding hands," he replied quietly.

Sakura looked at Shin and then back at Michio. She was always against people spoiling children, but when it came to Michio, none of it mattered. Why was she treating Michio so differently? Perhaps, she thought, it was because both of them lost their mother, and she wanted to compensate that loss for him while she had the ability to do so.

", you don't have to listen to him," Shin told her quietly. Sakura shook her head.

"Michio, I would love to hold hands with daddy, but he would have to let go of you if we hold hands. Are you scared of falling?"

Michio shook his head without hesitation. Shin released one of his hands that was securing Michio as Sakura took it. At the sight of their hands together, Michio instantly brightened up.

Even though it was a short walk from the ice cream parlour back to the hospital, it was still the best moment of Michio's life. While they crossed the parking lot to the back door of their department, Sakura noticed a black Porsche parked on the side of the building. She glanced over to find a person behind the steering wheel inside the car, his face unintelligible.

Suddenly, the driver came out of the car in a blue cap and sunglasses. He approached them with what seemed like a grim expression on his face.

Upon recognizing the man behind the disguise, Sakura slipped her hand out of Shin's loose hold, feeling a bit of guilt.

Syaoran spread his arms wide open and pulled Sakura into a tight embrace.

"Mommy, who's that?" Michio questioned, his voice shocked with uncertainty. Sakura fidgeted in Syaoran's iron hold.

"What the hell? Mommy?" he whispered sharply into her ears.

Sakura replied to Michio quickly, "H-He's a friend of mommy's while mommy was away on a trip."

As she was telling the child, she forcefully pulled herself away from him. Realizing Sakura's unwillingness, Syaoran released her.

"Michio, mommy has to go somewhere with her friend, right now. Let's go inside first, okay?" Shin cut in. He gave Sakura's "friend" a dangerous look. Behind his sunglasses, Syaoran equally did the same.

Sakura walked back to Michio and told him,"Honey. Mommy has something very important to do, tonight. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Michio's expression faltered. He lowered his head disappointedly. "Be good, Michio," Shin warned. "You have to listen to mommy and daddy's instructions. Do you understand?"

Michio nodded hesitantly. He made a face to Syaoran.

"Miss Kinomoto, you may leave for today," Shin told Sakura.

"Yes, but I'll go in with you to get my stuff."

As the three of them were about to enter the backdoor of the hospital, Syaoran tagged along. "Stay here. You can't go into the hospital," Sakura turned to Syaoran and said, almost bumping into him along the way.

"It doesn't make a difference. I was already in there once today," he replied coldly.

"What were you doing at the hospital?"

"To do research for my next movie. Now, let me go in."

The four of them went back to their division. Thankfully, the place was empty because the nurses were all doing clinic checks.

When Syaoran felt it was safe enough, he removed his disguise. "A pleasure to meet you. I'm Sakura's fi—no I mean, boyfriend, Li Syaoran," Syaoran introduced himself to Shin, extending his hand. He glanced over at Sakura, who was busy cleaning up her work area with Michio's help.

Shin mistook his look and immediately began to explain, "I'm sorry for causing you inconvenience. My son just happens to think that Miss Kinomoto is her dead mother. I will explain it to him, tonight."

Shin's misfortune took Syaoran by surprise. He stumbled inside on trying to find the most appropriate words."It's fine. Sakura has always liked kids. Last time she was telling me about wanting one of our own. I guess this was meant to be. How old is Michio, by the way?" Syaoran replied good-naturedly.

"He's four, this year."

"Ah, he's still so young but he seems like a very mature kid." Ya right.

A few exchanges of words happened between the men before Sakura finished packing. "Be good, Michio. Mommy will see you soon," Sakura said to Michio as she got down on her knees so that they were at the same height.

"You promise?" His big emerald eyes gazed into hers. She became mesmerized by them, but managed to give him a nod.

Michio gave her an innocent grin and wrapped his tiny arms around her neck. Then, he planted a huge kiss on her lips.

"Sakura, the nurses are returning. We have to go," Syaoran pulled her up from behind.

Michio directed a glare at Syaoran before he pulled her out the back door.

You little bastard!

Syaoran wanted to talk to Sakura about her new role play once they got inside his car, but he left it till later because they were meeting Eriol and Tomoyo for dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Moonlight.

When they arrived, Tomoyo and Eriol were already in the private room that they booked, sitting next to each other and sharing the same menu.

During dinner, the four of them engaged in a friendly conversation, all the while leaving out Sakura's meeting with Michio. For Sakura, she wanted to tell Tomoyo in private when they got home. For Syaoran, he simply didn't feel like bringing the topic up.

At one point, Eriol proposed to Sakura an offer on being the spokesperson of a wedding planning company with Syaoran. Syaoran quickly rejected the offer, knowing that Sakura would not be willing to do it. To everyone's surprise, Sakura did the exact opposite. She agreed to the offer because it had a more than enough pay, which was exactly what she needed in order to be free of her brother's financial support.

She figured that it would be the first step to escape her brother's control over her own life.

After receiving Sakura's confirmation and, later, Syaoran's, Eriol told them that he will make a phone call tomorrow during work to the company.

Their dinner ended at around 9. Tomoyo was going to call her driver to come and pick Sakura and her up, but Syaoran stopped her before she could, telling her that he had something important to discuss with Sakura, and it was a good alone time for her and Eriol. Tomoyo blushed at his remark, but didn't reject the idea.

Syaoran left with Sakura first. Once Syaoran pulled out onto the street and safely driving away, he finally brought up the topic he had kept quiet all this time.

"Last Friday when I saw you, you were still Kinomoto Sakura, Li Syaoran's girlfriend. 7 days later when I see you again, you become the mommy of a 4 year-old child. Very nice variety of acting roles you have there, honey," he began in one of the annoying tone of voice that Sakura despised. Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to talk about the issue, seriously. He realized that a show of solemnity meant that he was weak and was bothered by the issue.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have held Shin's hand in public," Sakura apologized sincerely. The unsettling feeling inside of Syaoran was suddenly calmed by her unexpected words.

"I'm glad you realize how dangerous that was."

"I'm really sorry. I didn't want to, but Michio was on the verge of crying, so I had to do something!"Sakura explained. She was almost pleading for his understanding, which was quite absurd on her side.

Her words played inside his head repeatedly. I didn't want to…I didn't want to…I did—

Why was he so happy by her words? He mentally slapped himself.

"What is so special about the kid anyways, other than the fact that you two creepily share the same eye colour?" Syaoran asked, casually. Inside, he was actually dying to know because the kid having the same eye colour as Sakura just didn't settle well with him.

"Because both of us lost our mothers."

The simple answer was more than enough for Syaoran. Although he never lost anyone he loved, he knew that there was always a connection between people who had lost their loved ones.

The rest of the ride home was silent, but neither of them felt uncomfortable by it.

When Syaoran's car came to a halt in front of Tomoyo's mansion, he reminded Sakura,"I forgot to tell you. There's an evening gala to raise money for cancer research tomorrow. I will come to pick you up in the morning for the preparations, okay?"

"WHAT?" Sakura stopped on the stairs and swiftly turned to look at him. "You never mentioned this!"

"Well, now I have. You have to come to this one. It will be our first appearance at a public event together," Syaoran said.

Sakura sighed in defeat. Originally, she had planned tomorrow as a job-hunting day, but it seemed like the plan had to be post-poned again.

"Fine," she groaned as she walked into the mansion.

"Good night to you too," Syaoran called out.

On his way back to his condo, he received a text message from his cousin, Meiling Li.

My dear cousin : ) It's been a long time since we've talked. Just a kind reminder that next week will be your father's 60th birthday. If you dare not to show up, I will turn your life into hell…

Love,

Meiling 3

He scanned through the text once and dragged it into the trash bin.

Valkyrie85: Thank you for reading! You may be wondering why I didn't put a note at the beginning of this chapter...it's because this is a revised version of Chapter 14. I'm just too lazy to rewrite, or even copy and past, what I wrote for the first edition onto this copy! LOLL. Anyways, tell me how you think about our new little Michio ; ) It seems like our Syaoran is starting to act weird...or extremely out of his character because of Michio and his father, Shin! ;p

P.S. You may have noticed that there are some weird mistakes, like double commas or something, in this chapter. There's supposed to be a name in between those commas, but I don't know why the name doesn't show. Please forgive me. I am trying my best to fix it, but it seems like the document viewer on doesn't like me ;s But, if you know who the speaker is and who the speaker is talking to, then the missing names won't be a big deal.

REMEMBER TO REVIEWWWWWWW! ; )