Chapter 7: The Truth Revealed, Hearts Devastated
So the girls got in the back of the car while Syaoran sat in the driver's seat and Eriol in the passenger's seat. Syaoran had told everyone that they were going to a restaurant called NBC Seafood which served the best Deem Sum dishes. During the ride to the restaurant, everyone was unusually quiet, well at least that was true for Syaoran and Eriol. The girls kept talking and giggling like they were back in Tomoeda Elementary, the good ol days you could say. They talked about old times such as Tomoeda elementary and college and also of the reasons Syaoran and herself were in Beijing, but no magic, which made Eriol glad because he wasn't supposed to know Syaoran and Sakura, because Tomoyo didn't even remember Eriol from when he was trying to get Sakura to transform all the clow cards into Sakura cards. Frankly, Eriol was nervous to bits. After talking for abit Sakura put on a serious face because she was about to ask a serious question.
"Tomoyo-chan?" she asked gently.
"Hai?" Tomoyo looked at her friend never remembering when Sakura had on such a serious expression before.
"Why didn't you ever try to contact me? And why didn't you let me contact you? You don't know how many times I called you or wrote to you, always disappointed in the end that you would never reply..." she said trying to suppress a small cry.
A frown formed on Tomoyo's face. She never knew that her actions had hurt her best tomodachi so badly. She always wanted to call Sakura or to write back, but every time something had come up and had eventually forgotten to contact Sakura. This made Tomoyo's heart ache with pain... Her eyes then began to fill up with tears and she just cried.
"Gomen nasai Sakura-chan! I never meant to hurt you. Every time I found that you had called me or that you had written me, I so badly wanted to reply back to you. But I found myself drowning in a sea of work and also drowning in a pool of misery. So unhappy I was...I missed you and everyone else in Tomoeda. But I had a business to run, so I had to close out all distractions. Please...find it in your heart to forgive me!" Tomoyo said with tears running down her face, throwing her arms tightly around Sakura.
Sakura smiled and hugged Tomoyo tightly back. "I forgive you...it will be okay I promise..." she said while patting Tomoyo's back to help her calm down. And of course the two guys in front wanted to do something to help, but knew that only Sakura could help Tomoyo on this one. After a few minutes Tomoyo stopped her tears and smiled brightly towards Sakura and she returned the smile.
After what seemed to be forever, the gang finally reached the infamous NBC Seafood Restaurant. There was a line that seemed to go on into oblivion just to be seated in the establishment. Luckily, Syaoran had gotten the manager of the restaurant to reserve them a special booth, since the Li Family is very well known. They were kindly seated by one of the waitresses and they all started looking hungrily at the menu and ordered a couple of dishes and thus breakfast began. While eating, they told one another about what their current lives were like and when talking about Syaoran and Sakura's wedding, Eriol stayed out of the conversation just so that he wouldn't raise Tomoyo's suspicions. Syaoran had told Sakura about Eriol's plan and how Tomoyo didn't remember Eriol, that is why Sakura stayed away from the subject of the cards and pretended not to know Eriol.
"I still can't believe after all this time, you two are finally going to tie the knot. I thought that day would never come," said Tomoyo laughing that infamous laugh of her's which made everyone sweatdrop abit.
The couple smiled and blushed furiously as well, which they didn't do much anymore since they were such adults. Tomoyo was about to comment even more, but Sakura now had the floor.
"Talking about people getting together, looks like you and Eriol are very close. I am so glad that Eriol's plan worked..." but then Syaoran covered Sakura's mouth, but it was too late. Eriol didn't know how Tomoyo would react and was scared to look at her but he did.
Tomoyo couldn't breath... 'What plan?!' she thought to herself. Sakura made it sound as if she knew Eriol. Her train of thought became very hazy and now she demanded answers. "Eriol...what is Sakura talking about?" she asked with a determined look on her face. Eriol stood up and took her hand in his "Dear, I don't think this is the time or place to be discussing about this," but just as he said that Tomoyo pulled her hand away from his and screamed "I want an answer now!" Luckily the booth they were seated at was far away from the eyes and ears of others. Tomoyo never felt so angry in her life. Eriol had been keeping secrets from her and now refused to discuss about them! She wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Eriol, I demand that you tell me what is going on this instant!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Eriol glanced at Sakura and Syaoran and sighed. He knew that Sakura never meant to blurt out his plans, but she had and now he had to deal with the consequences of his actions. "Well, when we met I thought you were familiar and you were, I knew you." Tomoyo was surprised "How do you know me?" Eriol explained about how he was the reincarnation of Clow Reed, half actually, and reminded her of when he caused all sorts of trouble to get Sakura to transform the cards. She gasped and now remembered, she couldn't believe that she never recognized him, but why keep it a secret that he knew her? "Why didn't you tell me that you knew me?" she asked in a hurt tone. "I saw how cold you had become, and I wanted to help you, so I decided that if I could get you to learn how to love again that would do the trick and you would be back to your normal self, but I.." but before he could finish Tomoyo began crying.
'He used me...' is what came to her mind. 'He said he loved me and I believed him. I let down all my defenses and let myself love him... And now I find out it was all a lie? He never loved me....' is the sad conclusion to which Tomoyo told herself. She was hoping that he was lying, and that this was all one very unfunny joke, but when she looked into those eyes of his she knew that he was speaking the truth. And with her mind made up, she slowly started walking away...
Eriol saw the love of his life leaving, but he refused to let her go. He went up to Tomoyo and grabbed her arm, whirling her back to look at him. "Please Tomoyo-chan, let me explain..." Eriol said softly. Tomoyo's eyes burned with anger as she heard his pleas, but she didn't want to hear them. He used her and that was it. And with that she looked at him one last time and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. Sakura gasped and cried because it was all her fault for opening her big mouth, but Syaoran hugged her hoping to comfort her. Eriol's face was one filled with shock. He never knew that Tomoyo could do such a thing, even towards him.
"Eriol, it's okay. Just let Daidouji-san cool off and then you can explain to her why you did what you did.." said Syaoran putting a comforting hand on Eriol's shoulder.
"No, it's not okay Syaoran. She is taking this the wrong way, and if I leave her alone she will just keep thinking that way. I love her... I meant it when I told her my feelings, but now everything is so messed up! I have to go after her, gomen nasai!" and with that said Eriol went dashing off back to the motel room knowing that she would be there.
Back at the Motel Room...
Tomoyo wiped all the tears from her face and packed everything that was hers into a suitcase. Then she changed out of her clothes which reeked of tears, food and whisky and put on a very nice looking lavender blouse and skirt which complimented her eyes. Afterwards she picked up the phone and called Sakura's cell phone.
Ring Ring Ring...
"Moshi Moshi, Sakura speaking."
"Sakura, it's me Tomoyo."
"Are you okay?! I was worried when you ran off..."
"Hai, gomen nasai for worrying you, but I just couldn't stay there any longer. I am angry with Eriol, I'm also a bit upset with you and your husband to be. Why didn't you tell me what was going on? I still don't know what's going on!"
"I couldn't, I was bound to secrecy. Syaoran told me that everything would be alright...but it didn't turn out that way..."
"It's okay, I forgive you just as you forgave me. But now I need a favor."
"What is it Tomoyo?"
"Which Hotel are you staying in and what room? I can't stay with Eriol, not now."
And with that Sakura told Tomoyo that they were staying at the Oriental Garden Hotel in room #120. Tomoyo thanked Sakura and told her that she would be over as soon as she could. Just as she hung up the phone Eriol came in.
"What is going on?" He saw that all her stuff was packed and that she was about to leave.
"What does it look like I'm doing?! I am leaving, because I can no longer stand the sight or sound of you!" yelled Tomoyo picking up her suitcase and heading for the door, but Eriol stood in the way.
"I can't let you leave, not until I have explained why I did what I did," he said taking the suitcase away from Tomoyo and setting it down beside him. "The reason," but that was all he got to say because he then received another slap from Tomoyo.
"I should have known something wasn't right. The night that I got drunk and we came back to the motel room you said you didn't know it was Syaoran until it was too late, but supposedly you weren't supposed to know who he was. But because I was so hammered I let it pass thinking that my mind was playing word games with me. You lied to me, I asked you before if you had anything to tell me and you said no!" she sniffled wanting to stop, but went on. "I honestly thought that I loved you... I put my heart on the line and you shattered it! I don't know if I love you now....if I can ever love you like I wanted to... All I know is that..."
"What?" said softly from Eriol.
"I hate you..." Tomoyo said quietly...
Eriol's heart was devastated. He couldn't believe what he just heard. 'She hates me?' yet it wasn't fair. She didn't know the whole story, she wouldn't hear it. All that she thinks she knows is that she thinks he used her for his own twisted games...
"Goodbye Eriol, please don't try to contact me..." after that she was gone from his sight.
Eriol just dropped to his knees and tried to think of a way to get her back. He couldn't lose her...he loved her too much to lose her now... But the last thing she said to him kept repeating itself.
"I hate you..."
TBC...
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Author's note: I hope you enjoyed chapter 7. I know it took a VERY long time for this to be put up, but I had writer's block and some other things going on that prevented me from writing much. The truth is now out and Tomoyo has left Eriol. Will the misunderstanding ever be cleared between the two? Well you will just have to wait for the next chap to come out. Until then!
