Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, places, or things in this story except for the ones that I make up.

I hope that you all like it. Hehehe.

Cherry Blossoms 101.8 FM

Chapter Ten: Life's Unfair

By: Enchanted Pink Jade

*~*~*~*~*

In town.

Meilin was just wandering aimlessly around town, lost in thought and just watching the eventless day move on. It was already after three, so school was over. She had tried looking for Syaoran, so that she could explain about the wedding, when, where, how. No such luck.

So now while she was walking, she was thinking about ways she can tell Syaoran about the wedding that will be taking place soon. She couldn't wait for it to come. She was excited, but was also sad because of Syaoran... He was making it hard for her. What am I going to do...? I promised the elders that when I come back, Syaoran will be with me, happy. Syaoran HAS to be there, otherwise, the wedding would incomplete, of course.

Meilin envisioned herself in a beautiful Chinese traditional gown that was especially made for her, trailing behind her softly. Walking up the isle with her father at her side, ready to give her up to the man she loved. He would already be stationed at the altar patiently, but nervously waiting for her to come. That day, she will bear his name and they will be forever bonded through Holy Matrimony. She would be the center of his world. He would be her knight in shining armor.

Meilin sighed dreamily. I hope that everything will be perfect. It WILL be perfect, I'll make sure that it is, she thought determinedly. Then she spotted Jake, who appeared to be flirting with another girl, heading her way. Meilin's eyes then moved to the girl that was beside him. Long blond hair, blue eyes, lightly tanned skin. Meilin laughed to herself. The girl barely reached his shoulder! Meilin waved to him when he caught her eye. Meilin watched as the girl disappeared into a store. Jake had decided to wait outside, so Meilin walked up to him.

"I didn't know that you were into the beach bunny types. Anyways, how's it going? With her, I mean," she said teasingly.

Jake grinned. "It's going great. I think she really likes me. She might be the one. It might be genuine this time." Then Jake pretended to look dreamy. Meilin rolled her eyes at him.

"You think every girl who sets their eyes on you likes you instantly and that they might be `the one'. You're a conceited pompous ass, you know that?" Meilin asked, laughing. Jake's grin just grew broader.

"Well, good luck with her, because you're going to need all the luck you can get. Hehehe, and have fun. I'm just gonna be around."

"Okay, bye. See ya laterz. Much, much more later." He winked at her and bobbed his eye brows up and down. "You know what I mean." Meilin shook her head at him.

"You're hopeless."

Meilin walked a few steps towards the direction where Jake and the girl had come from, then turned around. Jake was still watching her go. "What?" he asked, wondering why she'd turned around.

"Do you even know her name?" Meilin wanted to know.

"Ummmmmm......."

Meilin laughed hard. "You idiot!"

Meilin was still laughing a little bit as she walked by an ice cream and sweets shop. Her laughter died when she saw Syaoran inside. Meilin was just about to walk in and talk to him about what has been dominating her mind for the past few weeks. But she stopped when she noticed that Syaoran was not alone.

They were sitting in a booth in the back. Meilin couldn't see the girl's features because she was sitting with her back to Meilin. But from what she could see, the girl had long, silky ebony hair. Meilin's eyes narrowed into tiny slits. Could this be another girl? She watched them from the outside. Well, it's obvious that they wont be leaving any time soon, Meilin thought. So she decided to wait for them outside, and when they come out she'll confront Syaoran about HER. And about the other girl from the other day. I'll get to the bottom of this.

*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile...

Syaoran stared at the napkin dispenser in the middle of the table in the ice cream and sweets shop while Tomoyo glared at him. Both said nothing. Both were as still as statues. Not a sound was issued from either one of them except for their breathing. The people, the chatter, the cash register ringing... Everything just seemed to fade away.

Tomoyo decided to speak up. "What's going on between you and Sakura?"

"Nothing," was his reply. Tomoyo looked at him skeptically. "There's NOTHING going on between me and Sakura except for animosity, on her part. Sorrow on mine. She hates me, I know it."

"She wouldn't be hating you right now if you didn't lead her on while on the side you already had a fiancé. Why didn't you already tell her about it? All of this could have been avoided you know," Tomoyo said. And it was true. All of this could have been avoided.

Syaoran moaned. "My fiancé. I don't even like her," Syaoran said inaudibly, but it was still loud enough for Tomoyo to hear. "I... I like Sakura very much. No... I love her. Not that other girl who is supposed to be my fiancé."

"In other words, you don't love that other girl anymore, who is going to carry your name the moment you say the words 'I do'."

"She already has my name. My last name." He took a glance at Tomoyo. Her expression was a shocked one.

"So then you already..." Tomoyo started to get mad. "So you already went and got married didn't you? When was it? Last night?"

"No. Her name is Li Meilin. She's a distant cousin of mine. We were engaged even before I knew what the meaning of being engaged was, or what it meant to be engaged. My family... wants to keep the blood pure. We come from a long line of Li's. A magical one. So you see, I never really wanted to get married to her. She's nice. I know. And... I do care for her. But.. not in the way she wants me to, or in the way that my family would like me to. She came here to Tomoeda, to finalize our wedding plans I guess. I never thought that it would be so soon. I never knew. I swear. I thought that I could go back and see if I could break the engagement. I guess I can't after all." Syaoran bowed his head.

Tomoyo's look soften towards him. "You should tell Sakura about this, you know. She'll understand."

Syaoran raised his head again. "Do you think that she'll even give me the time of day?" Tomoyo's silence was as good as an answer. "I didn't think so."

"I can't do it for you... You have to do it yourself."

"I know that. I have my sense of responsibility. I wouldn't dump anything that I know I am supposed to do on anyone else."

"Well, I can talk her into seeing you, if you want me to."

Syaoran shook his head. "No, I don't want her to come and listen to what I have to say just to do a favor for a friend, or because you asked her to. I want her to come to me on her own. I don't want her to anything that she doesn't want to do. If she comes, I want it to be her own will, because she wanted to."

"Okay. I understand." She then stood up. "Well, I guess that was all I wanted to talk to you about."

Syaoran stood up too. "I was expecting you... I knew you would demand an explanation. After all, Sakura is your best friend. You can't stand to see her hurt. Neither can I. I just feel worse because I'm the one who caused her the pain," Syaoran said as they headed for the door. What he didn't know was that there was another girl with black hair who would demand another explanation from him. Only, it will be on something entirely different.

As soon as they walked away from the sweets shop, Meilin confronted them.

"Who the hell is she?" Meilin said in Cantonese, so Tomoyo couldn't understand what was said.

"None of your business."

"This is my business. Now, who is she?"

"A friend."

"What about the other girl? Is she another one of your `friends'?"

"Yes."

This must be Meilin... Tomoyo thought. She doesn't look so half bad. She's very pretty.

"Syaoran, we need to talk."

"What is it that we're doing now?" Syaoran said, getting annoyed with her.

"In private, without any other people around." Meilin glanced at Tomoyo.

"She can't understand what we're saying. Say what you have to say and get it over with already.

"Not here. This isn't just anything. It's about our future. Our wedding. Our engagement."

"Forget it, then. I already know about it. When will it take place? Where?"

"But Syaoran-"

"Tell me!"

"Next month, in Hong Kong, at the Li Manor."

"Why so soon? Did you talk the elders into it? Did you want us to be together so badly that you decided to rush everything ahead?" Syaoran gave her a disgusted look.

"Why are you so mean to me? After all that we've been through together. We lived together. Trained together. And you hate me! You don't even understa-"

"I understand perfectly. My hearing isn't impaired." He turned sharply to Tomoyo. And to her in Japanese, he said, "Come on, let's go. I've wasted enough of my time."

He left Meilin hurt and on the brink of tears.

"Don't you think that you were a little harsh on her?" Tomoyo asked, as soon as they were out of Meilin's eye sight. Tomoyo hadn't understood a word that they had said to each other, but by the looks on their faces...

"No."

"Have you ever asked her how she feels about the engagement?"

"I don't have to ask. She was always hovering over me. Following me around. Like she followed me here. Always buying things for me, even she didn't have to. Always doing things for me. Always made sure that I didn't button my shirts wrong..."

"Sounds like the ideal girl to me."

"But I don't love her. She can't seem to get that through her skull, into her brain. I don't love her, the way I love Sakura."

*~*~*~*~*

Meilin watched them leave. I will not cry! I will not cry. I will not cry. That other girl wasn't his girlfriend... His words had stung her deeply. She walked into the shop with her head down and sat down at a two person booth... alone. A waitress came to her table and took her order.

"Heavy on the chocolate."

"That bad huh?" the waitress asked. Meilin didn't like the waitress being so nosy, but she didn't feel like getting mad or being annoyed, she didn't have the strength to.

"Is it that obvious?" Meilin asked.

The waitress gave Meilin an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder and a smile of sympathy. "I'm sure that everything will turn out fine, whatever it is," she said, then she walked away.

Someone brought her order and she slowly ate it. A group of people came in and sat down in the corner booth behind Meilin. Their happy chatter annoyed Meilin. Why is it that they get to be happy? They don't know what it feels like to be me. the whole world should be in mourning because I'm not happy right now, so no one should be all happy-go-lucky, Meilin thought sourly. It's one of those times when you're not really that happy, and you feel as if that the people who are happy around you shouldn't be. You ask yourself, Why do they get to be happy? Meilin was having one of those times right now.

She wanted to get away from all the noise. I wish that they would stop talking. She was about to leave, her ice cream barely finished when she heard something that caught her attention.

"...it's really weird. Syaoran. And Sakura. Tomoyo and Eriol. They are all acting weird," a voice said.

"I agree with you, Naoko. I mean, not even two or three days ago, they were all happy, especially Sakura and Syaoran. You never saw a happier couple than them. It was as if the whole world could have collapsed for all they cared, as long as they were together. And now, they're not speaking to each other. You can practically see the bolts of hatred that they shoot when they make any kind of contact with each other," a male voice said.

"No, I don't think that it's hatred. That's too strong a word. True, they seemed like they didn't want to have anything to do with each other, but I think that it's more like sadness. They're both real sad. I bet that they still love each other. It wasn't just some silly high school crush that was going on between them. It was the real thing. Love. One of them probably hurt the other. You know, there is that saying where you always hurt the one you love. I bet that that's what's going on. It makes me feel sad to see Sakura this way," a softer female voice said.

Meilin didn't dare turn around for fear of their discovering her, eavesdropping on them.

"Well, you are probably the wisest of us all, Rika. But I do agree with you. And what about Tomoyo? And Eriol? Just today, during lunch, I saw Eriol comforting Tomoyo. You think that they got together? They do make a sweet couple. Anyways, Tomoyo probably knows what's going on. She's Sakura's best friend. They've known each other for a long time. And every time she looked at Sakura, she looked like she really wanted to help her out, but whatever it was, was beyond her power to do so."

"Yeah, I do to, Chiharu. Help Sakura, I mean. I've never seen her like this before. I've gotten so used to see her smiling and waving at me happily. So full of life and unlimited energy. It just doesn't seem fair."

"Life is never fair. You gotta get the good with the bad to balance it all out. But what do you think we CAN do to help, Naoko?"

"I don't know Yamazaki."

"Hey, do you think that I could try my hand at Match-making?"

"No, please don't do that, Yamazaki. It'll just make things worse."

"I can try. You know-"

"NO. You shouldn't be messing with other people's lives anyways," Meilin heard the girl say. Chiharu was her name. Then she heard them getting up, and they left, talking about an upcoming festival, this coming Saturday, and what their class was doing, helping to put the festival together and organized.

So that girl with Syaoran earlier was Tomoyo. And she's the best friend to this girl, Sakura. Could Sakura be that girl I saw with Syaoran, that first day? She must be. It must be that they were a couple. WERE together. And she's feeling pain now, too, huh? I wonder if they'll ever get together again. I guess my appearance was untimely. HMPH. Tough luck for him. I'll get this straight, between me and Syaoran once and for all, if it's the last thing I do before I become a wife. The only question, is how? Meilin suddenly remembered a festival that was coming soon. A plan formed in her minds eye. I am a genius. This perfect. Nothing can possibly go wrong. And with that thought, Meilin left the shop, her confidence in her self had risen a few notches. After all, she IS a Li. What she wants, she gets. Not even Syaoran's stubbornness can stop her. No one can.

*~*~*~*~*

Author's Note: Uh-Oh! Dum Dum Dum. And the plot thickens! What has this scheming Meilin got planned in her head? What's she gonna do? What will happen? Will this cause I HUGE rift between our favorite couple? What will become of all this?

Well, what did you think? I know, I'm so evil, to have it done this way. Hehehe.

~Enchanted Pink Jade

E-mail: Lyricalaznangel@aol.com