DIFFICULT, DAUNTLESS DARLING

CHAPTER 10: FITFUL LEDGE

FRIDAY : MORNING

Char Kee Villas was a low-rise apartment located in the nicest, eastern parts of the island, overlooking the South China Sea. Four 3-bedroom apartments were assigned to the twelve interns, two for the females on the fifth floor, and two for the males on the sixth floor. Sakura was happy to be sharing a flat with a fellow Japanese and a South Korean girl.

Floor to ceiling windows surrounded the second floor of a restaurant where all twelve interns currently gathered. Morning sunlight spilled through the transparent panes. The green scenery outside was relaxing, like dining in a garden. A white, rustic ceiling poised above their heads, matched with cream cushioned chairs and marble tables. All twelve college students were situated in two square tables, Sakura Kinomoto has yet to make friends out of these people.

A woman in her mid-30s stood in between the two tables. In a fresh and smart-casual outfit, she wore a chambray pinstripe shirt tucked in white pencil skirt updated with a skinny brown belt. She introduced herself as Peizhi Peng, and she would be their guardian for the entire semester. She would be guiding them about their schedules and whatever they needed, on the warning that they should not deem her as their nanny since, as she reminded them, they were all grown up. In addition, she has a day job in Li Enterprises' Executive Office. Everybody giggled at her quirks, and Sakura looked forward to getting to know this stylish woman.

MONDAY : AFTERNOON

Shang Fu gripped his graduated cylinder waiting for it to be filled with water. His slightly callused fingers clenched around the glass with practiced skill, but his eyes remained unfocused, barely paying attention to the task at hand. There was a certain thrill to experiments and theories, it was a challenging project, one he planned to commit to everyday for the next fifteen years or so. Here in one of the classrooms of Hong Kong University, his greatest foe would be nothing more than the hot flame on his table, boiling his water while he stood unclear of what to do next.

"Watch out," Sakura warned, scatting Shang's hand away from the flame. Shang quickly apologized, admitting that his thoughts were elsewhere. She placed her hands on her hips while she shook her head. "You better not burn us both on our first day," she teased, her lips curving into the beginnings of a smirk.

The boy laughed, "I better not!" He was also from Hong Kong, currently enrolled in the very University they were in. It meant he didn't have to temporarily change schools, his course curriculum was right on track. "I was just thinking about the mountain," he explained, as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

Sakura cocked her head to the side and smiled at him. She reached out her hand and motioned for Shang to pass her the device. On the screen was an article about Ben Nevis, a mountain close to the borders of China. "What of it?" she simply asked, returning the mobile back to the lad.

Shang momentarily looked away, thinking if he should divulge his discomfort. "I am just," he started hesitantly, "I just dread trips to mountains. Kinda creepy, truthfully. I heard we're heading there for research."

In contrast to the guy's reaction, a rush of excitement sent color to Sakura's cheeks, and she tore her gaze from his, focusing her attention on the lab tools on the table. "Can't wait," she mumbled happily to herself as she tried to contain her enthusiasm by returning her wits to her task.

Since Shang was standing right in front of her, he heard her loud and clear. He raised a brow and sarcastically stated, "So can't I." They briefly regarded each other, and Sakura naturally chuckled at his silliness.

You left with my beating heart in your hands.

TUESDAY : MORNING

Sakura's hair swung left and right as she briskly walked in one of the corridors of Hong Kong University, only stopping when she saw a garden stream through the window. She brushed back a loose, auburn strand. Idly standing there, she could get late for class, yet at that moment, she didn't mind. She liked the view; she could get lost in it. The riverbanks reminded her of home, and she felt at peace, as if it was a place that could not be contaminated by life's superficiality.

Sakura began to walk again. Her first class wasn't that far off. It was her first time staying in a place so far away from home, and not even lapping a week yet, she already felt homesick. Thinking of home, she had become wistful and sad, feeling the absence of the ones closest to her. Tonight, she planned, she would call her father, her brother, Tomoyo –

She stopped by the doorway and squinted her eyes in disbelief, startled by a vision she mentally prepared for – it's time, she thought. She looked up from her skirt, one she had consciously smoothed out.

Carefully, she descended the wide steps of the aisle and stopped beside Syaoran Li who was seated in a chair by the end of the long rectangular table. The other students were yet to arrive, hence in a quiet room with no one looking on, she managed to get her emotions under control by focusing on an apology long overdue. "…" If she can't, perhaps something far simpler.

"Hi."

He just stared back at her as he held the day's paper. His ambers were as bright as she remembered, but they lacked the effervescence she grew to admire. His mouth remained unmoved. Syaoran's silence, she discovered, was worse than his anger.

TUESDAY : MORNING

Ever since he returned home, Syaoran had suggested that there should be days a chauffeur would be omitted. His mother didn't mirror his notion, but since it was such a tiny favor, she had thought it would be insensitive of her should she deny it. The approval had played well in his benefit. Today was one of those days. He had dressed himself simply and picked up a local paper from the convenience store closest to campus. After class, before going to his father's office, he had planned to squeeze in some soccer time. It was quite fortunate that there was a field close by.

Sure, being updated on the news could be easily achieved by pressing a few buttons on his phone, but there was something about the way the newspaper crinkled and crackled in his hands that made him feel calm. Not long ago he would admit he wasn't even in the least interested in Business and Politics, however, after a few semesters in, he was hooked. The Li blood pumped into his veins like everyone anticipated. He was slowly setting goals for himself – not large ones – but goals, nonetheless.

He arrived in class early, not that anyone would say anything about it. He hasn't made friends in the top university of his hometown. Quite frankly, for a person walking around with one, sometimes two bodyguards – the image didn't really scream 'friendly and outgoing.' Today, he was alone. Later, he'd try to score some new acquaintances, ones who weren't too intimidated by the name he carried.

Syaoran was engrossed in an article about sixty-nine year old, self-made billionaire, Joseph Lau and his girlfriend and daughter who attended a private party in Hong Kong when a small, mellow voice rang in his ears. He froze… uncertain if he was imagining it. It sounded so familiar, so intimate, similar to the ones in his gracious dreams. Since he sensed a presence standing beside him, he gradually raised his head, gazed up, and met her emerald eyes.

Aside from her long hair that stopped approximately five inches below her shoulders, she appeared the same – sweet, innocent, with a gorgeous face that promised no ability to break hearts.

Now that she was standing in front of him, he could try to say something to her. Howbeit, his tongue still tasted the bitter aftertaste of their last memory. The betrayal, the misunderstanding, the unpleasantly excessive silence…

Students rushed in, and a professor came. In the end, he didn't get a word out. Ten long seconds, it's as though he existed in a limbo.

I've been too busy missing you to be angry.

WEDNESDAY : EVENING

A thousand raindrops were falling beyond the window. As the sky brazenly displayed its emotions, Touya Kinomoto could not help but feel a little... annoyed. One of the most disappointing moments in his life was also a day like this one.

Many months ago, during a day when the rain poured, there sat in a cafe a handsome college boy with hair as black as raven's wings. He just finished his shift in a restaurant nearby. Tonight, he and his girlfriend planned to celebrate him being a Dean's Lister. Forty-five minutes passed and she still hasn't showed, hence Touya thought it was due that he calls her and inquire about her whereabouts.

When she picked up his third call, he was surprised to hear her voice groggy, as if she had just risen from slumber. "Did I... wake you?" he asked, confused.

For a long moment, there was silence. He heard some rustling from her background, and she finally answered, "I forgot to tell you I can't make it tonight. My friends and I decided to go jogging in the morning, so I thought it was best to turn in early."

Touya quietly gritted his teeth. He hasn't realized until now how inconsiderate this woman was. She forgot to tell him!? Not only did she not give him a second thought but he wouldn't have known she wasn't coming if he hadn't bothered calling her! If she didn't care about his hard work, that's understandable, but the lack of advise was incredibly infuriating! "..." He was only human, and he didn't expect any word coming out from his mouth would be better than his silence. Thus, he simply hanged up. He'll smooth things out with her later.

Three more dates came and went. He had begun to realize things about her - how filthy her car was, what a reckless driver she was, how she promised things and didn't see them through, how she suggested activities that would put people in uncomfortable positions, how she impulsively changed her mind without taking others' into account. She probably had issues that needed to be addressed, but he wasn't up to the task. He didn't normally permit himself to judge women so soon, yet he wasn't seeing himself enjoying her company for a very long time.

They broke up, and he had never heard from her again.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Meiling slid into the chair across him, dumping a huge textbook on the table with a scandalous thud. Touya simply eyed the ripple in his coffee while the saucer did a nervous crackle.

"What did you want to see me for?" he asked, looking up at her garnet orbs that quickly melted into amiable ones.

Meiling's sweat dropped, she wasn't sure how to say it. In times of uncertainty, bribery was usually the answer. "I need help with my coursework. In exchange, I'll buy you dinner -"

Before she finished her sentence, he slapped his palm on the table's surface and uttered, "Deal!"

An hour later...

What stood between Meiling and good grades was her undeniable sleepiness. Touya was so immersed in the subject matter that he half failed to notice that the girl was fighting off her drowsiness. When she tried not to be too conscious of his long fingers tracing over the paper, she noticed a female from a table away who had her eyes on them. It took Meiling half a minute to recognize who she was - tall woman, burgundy hair - the ex!

The raven-haired chick inched closer to Touya and placed her face near his shoulder, giving her the sick thrill of teasing someone. She even began pretending to listen to what he was saying, all the while her focus was elsewhere. She nodded and giggled, as though all the things coming out of his mouth were funny, and not of the intellectual sort.

"I haven't said no which means I am thinking of saying yes," were words she thought were flirty enough. Touya's brows lowered on his lids, his mouth drew a thin line. His once mirthful teaching evaporated into one of annoyance.

"I asked you about the validity between classical and quantum physics." Touya dropped the pen and it rolled in the middle of the book. He rested his spine upon the chair's backrest and gave Meiling a rigid look, wondering what threw her off. "That's hardly the answer, nor one that made sense," he muttered, and raised a brow. Meiling only smiled innocently. When he realized that her pupils had the tendency to gravitate toward something behind him, he didn't wait for another second before he tracked down whatever it was.

He shook his head upon uncovering the cause of the distraction, not quite able to give speech to the absurdity. Locked eyes with his ex, she consciously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Obviously uneasy.

Turning his attention to his student, he leveled a glare at Meiling who abruptly felt nervous and ended up chewing the end of the pen. Feigning seduction just to make another woman jealous, she looked childishly guilty.

A wry smirk crept into his lips, and then he pushed her pen further inside her mouth with his index finger. Surprised, she quickly pulled it off and growled at him, causing a loud laugh to escape his mouth.

Touya looked around the cafe as if he was only seeing it for the first time. The reasons to dilly-dally have dissipated. "Come on," he said, taking Meiling's arm and pulling her unsteadily to her feet. "Let's go home."

Half an hour later…

On the road to Meiling's apartment, the day's exhaustion has finally caught up to her, and forced her to fall asleep in the cab. A small bump in the ride brought her head to fall on Touya's shoulder, and then he smoothed her hair back from her cheeks. His dark eyes landed on her naïve face and observed the lack of strain. All the anxiety she held around the time they had fallen into a fortuitous friendship was gone. He supposed, right at that minute, she was in the middle of a happy dream.

Could her pain be cured by now?

Touya gave her more time to doze off on his left shoulder. He turned his head to the right where the window was. He casually placed his elbow atop the armrest, and his right-hand knuckles found their way to his bottom lip. Streetlights reflected in his dim orbs while he let himself get lost in his thoughts. Though there were times that their camaraderie implied to be genuine, it was solely based on using and being used. If that was the case, if she's all better, did it mean that she does not need him anymore?

The feeling tasted like sour wine. "Excuse me," he called the driver. "Can you drive a bit slower?" he said almost tonelessly with the tiniest hint of desperation.

The next half hour went faster than its actual duration. The next thing Touya knew was that they were both standing on the fourth floor of a building, right in front of her apartment's door. Beyond it was Wei, their butler, who had nothing much to do with the heir gone. He didn't know for how long he was staring at that navy blue door, as though he was waiting for the old man to show his face. "I'm pretty sure I could have reached this floor without encountering a criminal –" she paused her rambling, opened her mouth so wide and vocalized a loud gasp. "You walked me to my door! No way!" She said that as if there was a mountain-moving revelation. "You have a crush on me, don't you!?" Excitement danced between her shining garnets, her grin was too big, too white.

The right edge of Touya's lips conceitedly perked up, forming a very arrogant smirk. "Getting a kick out of being cool?"

His strong hand landed on her right shoulder. Meiling felt it to be warm, a bit possessive, and it wanted to convey something. He pushed her ever so slightly, as if to correct the angle of her body so it would face his.

He took one step forward, his head inched closer to hers. Meiling's garnet pools grew wider, her lungs did an inaudible, panicked inhale, her mouth was left half-open.

Touya intensely gazed at her, but it disappeared after a second. She tiptoed and caught his lips with hers. Everything else died in silence. With his eyes gently closed, he felt the calmness of his heart, soothed by their contact. She felt the rush in her veins and the crazy pounding in her chest.

His warm lips closed around hers like bottomless compassion. They moved in cautious rhythm, careful not to break.

Maybe later she'd wonder if they'd talk about this or would they pretend it never happened? She had only begun to heal, and she wished he'd be gentle - for this is surely a letter to uncertainty.

FRIDAY : NOON

Syaoran was in the middle of a lunch meeting when his phone rung for the fifth time. The president of Li Enterprises gave him a stern glance, making the boy uncomfortable in his seat. "It's just Meiling," he easily disclosed, putting the phone on the table as though it was about to be confiscated. His father, who appeared to be more of a boss during that meal, gave him a short nod. "Right, I should take this," he honestly didn't want to, and he could just turn his phone off, but he knew he couldn't avoid the conversation with his cousin forever.

After leaving the private room the deluxe restaurant provided, he answered the call in the narrow corridor. "You know – I used to tell you to FUCK OFF every time you tried to go near Sakura!" her voice echoed as if she was also there. He expected as much.

"Why didn't you tell me she was coming!?" He wasn't certain if he was relieved that his voice came out harsh. He was informed about their business expanding to Perfumery, he also understood that Sakura's credentials very much fitted into the scholarship, but what he was not aware of was Meiling actually inviting her to sign up! She probably forced her, even.

"Funny. That doesn't sound like a thank you," his cousin, at that moment, sounded really offended. "Hey, I worked my butt off for this. I had Touya agree to this! You better not fuck this chance up!"

Touya? Well, he had an inkling they were chums, no matter how twisted that was. He just didn't know how deep their alliance ran. "I have no solid idea on how to make of this situation, Mei. You should have thought this through," he coldly stated. Truthfully, he was glad to see her, but the appetite to please Sakura has passed. Back then, he knew he almost had her, and she ruined it, and kept him in the dark for seventeen long months. To him, her silence was the most honest answer she had given him; and he didn't think it was best to go through all those hoops again.

Syaoran was pretty much ready to end this call. "She'll be safe," safe from harm or safe from him, he didn't bother to validate the difference. "I'll talk to you later."

When he returned to the lunch table, he found his father engaged in a conversation with the two assistants who dined with them. Aside from the pretty face that showed up, one he wasn't quite convinced yet if it's a gift or a curse, everything was so dull.

FRIDAY : AFTERNOON

Syaoran Li was introduced to the interns as the son of the President of Li Enterprises, and they didn't need to emphasize that he was about to inherit everything. The start-up Perfumery was one of the ventures he was assigned to supervise like a training of sorts. It would give him tons of experience, and it would serve as a good head start for the collective of businesses he'd be running in the future. This was just level one.

It didn't take long before the well-seasoned businessmen and accomplished chemists returned to their posts. Each intern was given specific assignments – whether to observe, do research, or be a helping hand. Syaoran took his time getting to know the officers from different departments and visiting all the laboratories.

In one of the rooms, in between the tables, Sakura found Syaoran standing with his tablet. She recognized that it was the same one he had during his pre-graduation party, where he excitedly showed all of the apartments he considered to lease. Should she say hi? The last time didn't go smoothly, she had no hopes it would be better this time. "Li-san," she wasn't sure what to call him, especially with other people in the room. It would be best to be professional and polite. Also, better now than never. She wasn't just here for the internship and the scholarship; she was also here to apologize and make amends.

Calling him by his surname didn't sit well with Syaoran. To him, it was proof of unfamiliarity. He stopped reading the documents on his screen and temporarily tucked the device away. He leveled his eyes at hers, and he found her afraid and timid. Before, she was often cool, sometimes flushed. Being scared of him, he felt, was also a sign of distance, as though she had no idea what he was like. "Yes?" he answered curtly.

He responded! "I, um," Sakura was running into a block. She should have rehearsed what she was going to say! Specks of red erupted in her cheeks, ones Syaoran memorized all too well. They were tints of her honest emotions, ones he wanted to believe that were reserved for him. He just stood there, waiting for the damsel to gather her wits and utter some sense.

"Oh, look! Kinomoto has him!" One of the interns whispered, and it was loud enough for the others to hear. Much to her chagrin, Syaoran tore his gaze from her and regarded the others who were gathered in a large, rectangular table. "We would like to ask a few questions, Li xiansheng!" a female Taiwanese named Chia-yu Kao cheerfully called out. The heir smiled at everyone and joined their table. Sakura, due to no choice, followed suit.

Within the sea of twelve students all over Asia, Syaoran sat amongst them, clearly sharing the same age. The females, as usual, rested their elbows atop the table, their chins on their wrists, their faces leaned to him. Like hungry wolves in sheep's clothing, it was obvious they were all thinking he was hot. The males, rather, were casual in their seats, keen to participate in the topics to come. Sakura simply settled in the corner, in between two eager characters, as if she was booted to the background.

"So we'd have an idea on what kind of scent we're looking for, we were puzzling over the particulars of the initial testing," a male Taiwanese named Guanlin Chen asked.

Without a bat of an eye, Syaoran began, "When selling a house, the one thing you should do is bake cookies," he began with the air and poise of a rich, well-educated gent. "The smell indicates tenderness and warmth. I decided we need 'cookies' for our hotels."

All at once, a series of brainstorming and suggestions floated on the table. Syaoran was delighted to find that their interns were animated and smart, exactly how they should be. The young ones were needed for their fearless, vibrant ideas, to balance out the practiced and too-safe decisions the older ones tend to make.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak and Syaoran caught this, so he paused to listen. She felt frustrated when nothing was coming out. "How about freshly cut grass and sandalwood!?" her female South Korean roommate named Kang Ju-eun proposed.

A smile of satisfaction lit up the heir's face, "Correct." A nod followed, "That's why we're going for a trek over a wild, rugged mountain."

The lad beside Sakura gulped, and then she gaped at him. Shang Fu regarded her with a worried look on his face. She giggled, thinking him a nervous ninny. A set of amber orbs read the friendliness in their gazes, he was angry for a moment, and gone in an instant.

The twenty-one year old stood from the chair and expressed his pleasantries. "I'll see you all again soon." Perhaps right then Sakura and Syaoran felt something mutual – that they had galaxies between them. He reached the door and allowed himself to take his exit.

FRIDAY : EVENING

"Enough about me, tell me about you," Tomoyo Daidouji's voice could be heard from Sakura's mobile. Seven o'clock in the evening, the auburn-haired lady was alone in their three-bedroom apartment. Kang Ju-eun and Nao Yokoyama went to a nearby Cantonese restaurant for dinner, one she politely refused to join because she was scheduled to catch up with her best friend. "How's Hong Kong? How's the university? Have you talked to Li-kun!?"

Sakura's kitty-slipper clad feet walked on the shiny birch floor of the living room. She quickly investigated the area if anyone was nearby before she turned off the speaker and placed the phone to her ear. She didn't want anyone knowing so soon that she was once schoolmates with Syaoran, let alone the type of connection they had. "It's great in the capital, scenic and lively. More so within campus grounds, I've never witnessed such diversity of students." Those things, Sakura thought, were the easy questions. She took a short while before she moved on to the last, "I have, but only for a tiny bit."

Tomoyo had her delicate hands on her device, she observed her own eyes' reflection on her bedroom's glass windows. She was home for the weekend and would be returning to Kyoto on Sunday evening. "I want to embrace you, Sakura-chan," she said the words in such longing. An empath such as her could very well feel what her dearly beloved was going through even if she was a sea away. "Not being able to explain yourself to him, I know how you carried the burden all these months," not to mention how she constantly denied that she had already fallen for him. "Maybe he was just in a hurry."

Sakura had now crossed the short distance from the living to the kitchen. She took a small tray of left-over sushi from the black refrigerator and placed it on the island countertop. "He seems… different, Tomoyo-chan," she admitted sadly. "He's taller, his face a tad older, like he hadn't had fun all this time," but even more handsome, that part's indisputable.

"I heard some of his tasks from Meiling-chan. He's a very busy man, Sakura-chan. No less, I'm sure he's ecstatic to see you." Tomoyo reaffirmed. With the fact that he only uttered a single word to her, Sakura somewhat doubted that. "You'll get your alone time soon enough."

After that, a womanly voice was heard from Tomoyo's background. That clear, demanding yet joyful voice, only Sonomi Daidouji could muster such an attractively unusual tone. She was asking her daughter to come down for dinner.

Soon enough, the two said their goodbyes and their promises to catch up on their next convenient time. Sakura hanged up with a supple beep. While she started her cold supper, her emerald pools crawled to the white, square windowpane. The evening sky was beautiful but starless, and she had a sinking feeling in her gut, suddenly worried for Tomoyo.

Meanwhile…

Tomoyo's father sat in the head chair of a long, majestic, Brazilian walnut table. He was the king of his estate, his old face glowed in experience, glee, and pride. Sonomi, his queen, sat on his right, and Fumihiro Imai on his left. Tomoyo, beside her mother, gently smiled at him. "I was in my study this afternoon when this bright, young gentleman walked in with a demand." The massive room grew quiet, as though it had ever been the opposite. "He said," he referred to his offspring's beau, "that he wants to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage!"

Sonomi and Tomoyo softly gasped in unison. The two stared at the head of the family and then to the guy. "Tomoyo-san," Fumihiro began, "I know it sounds cheesy," exhibited was a flawlessly engineered, brilliant diamond floating above a white gold band, "but you're the one I've been waiting for my whole life."

There was a long silence, so long that the air had turned awkward. She was uncertain on how to respond. It wasn't a question. Should she say something of similar context? She felt her mother's elbow nudge hers. Tomoyo came to her senses and said, "Yes? I mean, I do?" She tried to agree with all her heart, yet she fully understood why at that very moment, Eriol's face came to her mind.

In case you foolishly ever forget, I am never not thinking of you.

MERCHESHIRE'S NOTES:

Disclaimer: If I misinterpreted some cultural facts, please know that I am only as knowledgeable as my quick Google search. Thank you for not biting me. 😊