CHAPTER THREE
"Come again?!?" Syaoran asked in disbelief, not sure if he really heard THAT 'name'.
Sakura looked at the young man standing rigidly infront of her with growing nervousness. This, is definitely not turning out good at all.
"I-I'm Sakura Kinomoto." She mumbled.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded, eyes wide with surprised.
"Weren't you informed?" She asked quizzically. "I thought you already knew about my situation as the—"
"It doesn't matter." Syaoran cut her off rudely. He scowled with utter distaste at her, obviously pointing out that he doesn't like her at all.
"I never thought that you'd actually have the guts to come here." He continued haughtily.
A growing sense of embarrassment and anger is welling up inside of Sakura at the way Syaoran is treating her. All along, she was already warned about his spoiled and indifferent attitude yet, she still refused to believe it. She assumed that a son who has good and generous parents wouldn't act as such. But seeing the way he is right now, she was a fool to think that he is a nice person after all.
"Why shouldn't I come here?" She asked, trying her best to compose herself.
"You're asking me?" Syaoran narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I'll tell you why you shouldn't come here."
He walked arrogantly towards her, a smirk plastered on his face.
"First and foremost, you're not welcome here." He stressed. "Second, you're not even a part of our family or a friend of mine, to say the least. I don't allow strangers inside the house for your information."
Syaoran crossed his arms impatiently, enjoying the sight of Sakura's furious face. His plan is definitely working perfectly. He's pretty much sure that any minute now, she's going to storm out of the mansion calling the whole inheritance thing off. Anyway, he's willing to compromise and gave her in equivalent money all the value of her share in the mansion.
"Lastly, and most important of all, I DON'T like you." He scoffed. "And never will I."
"What's your problem?"
"I want you out of my house as soon as possible. Plain and simple."
Sakura tilted her head up, looking at him straight in the eye.
"I am also the legal co-heir of this mansion, you know." She pointed out. "You can't make me go away that easily."
"Tell me, what's your connection with my family so as to receive a good inheritance from my parents?" He glared at her. "You're just a nobody."
"Don't talk to me as if I did something wrong." She answered back hotly, not able to control her temper anymore. She didn't go all the way to Hongkong just to be insulted like this. "I am just as surprised as you are. I don't even know anyone from your family until recently, an attorney went to my place and told me everything about the inheritance."
"Don't lie to me, Kinomoto. How could someone like you, who says that she doesn't know us, received a good lump of fortune, huh?"
"I am not lying." She retorted. "If you don't want to believe me then that's your choice."
"Are you telling me that you're actually here to…to…live with me in this mansion?" Syaoran exclaimed, glancing at the two huge suitcases she carried along with her.
"I don't have much of a choice. I have my dad and my brother but…" She paused uncertainly, memories flashed across her mind and for a few seconds, sadness flickered in her face. "My brother has a family of his own now. I don't want to be a burden to him most especially now that he has a family to support and feed. As for my dad, I don't want to depend to him all my life because I'm already grown-up now. I have to live on my own and be independent."
"And now, you decided to depend on somebody else, who happened to be my parents?" He spattered out.
"It's a good opportunity! A good person like your mother gave something as important as shelter to me so I couldn't help but accept it! At least, I could have a place to stay without having to pay for a rent while I go out and look for a job."
"You don't have a job? You actually expected to come here and be taken care of just like a princess?"
"I do not!" She replied angrily. "You know nothing about me so don't always assume about everything! I am going to look for a job as soon as tomorrow so don't you worry! I finished college, mind you and I actually worked in an office back in Japan so don't say that I do not know anything!"
Syaoran's amber eyes darkened and she actually thought that he would shout at her and shove her out of the house in an instant but all he did was sighed loudly and briskly walked away without saying a word.
"You go asked Wei where your room is." He stopped walking and turned around to face her. "But just to let you know, you're STILL not welcome here."
And with that, he angrily ascended the stairs and slammed the door to his room as soon as he reached it.
~~~~~~~*OoO*~~~~~~~~
Sakura stared outside the huge window of her room, about three rooms far from Syaoran's, her emerald eyes glistening with tears.
"God! Stop doing this to yourself, Sakura! You're here to forget about him, not to think about him!" She shook her head in frustration.
But she knew how hard it is to erase the pain she feels in her heart. Even after going miles away from Japan still doesn't help in forgetting all the painful memories of the past…
FLASHBACKSakura was never been happier. Two days from now, she's going to get married with the man she loves most and has been together with for almost two years now. Sure, she might still be young to get married at the age of twenty-one as some people says, but she knows that this is what she really wanted right now. They've talked about the whole thing for almost a year now and they finally came to a conclusion: to get married and have a family of their own. For her, Aki couldn't be any perfect; he is handsome, nice, loving and sweet. Even back in college, where they first met, she could remember how girls adore him and fantasize about going out with him that she couldn't believe he would actually come up to her one day and asked for a date.
Sakura couldn't help smiling at the thought. Just thinking about it makes her all happy and giggly inside.
"Sakura, Aki is already downstairs." Touya called out just outside her room.
She glanced at her reflection in the mirror to make a last minute check on her face before hurrying to open the door.
"Mou, kaijuu…" Her brother looked at her eyes, smiling slightly. "You certainly looks so grown-up now."
"What have you done to my brother?" She giggled, not used to hearing him sound so serious.
Touya smirked.
"Hah! You still haven't change even if you're going to get married…" He trailed off. "I guess, I'm just going to miss you, you know."
"Cut it off, Onii-chan!" She smiled, trying her best to sound happy even though she's going to miss being with her family too. "I'm pretty much sure you and Kaho will walk down the aisle, too. You're just sad because I've beaten you to the altar first."
Touya rolled his eyes, pinching her noise slightly.
"Go down now and quit babbling. You'll be late for your dinner."
After chatting a bit with her Oniichan and Otousan, Aki and Sakura decided to leave the house to be able to reach the restaurant just in time for dinner. Sakura couldn't help but be surprised at the sudden invitation of Aki this morning to go out tonight in a posh restaurant in the town. But nevertheless, she was touched by his surprise and was awfully glad that he took her out that night, for the food and the restaurant was definitely great. She must say that she absolutely loved the place and the food and it definitely helped them put their mind at ease before their 'big day'.
"Where are we going?" She asked softly, as soon as they were back in the car from the restaurant, noticing the direction where he's driving.
Aki smiled slightly, and she suddenly saw sadness behind that smile.
She shook her head gently. She must be imagining things. Why would he be sad anyway? He's even laughing and holding hands with her back at the restaurant!
However, Aki didn't answer her. Instead, he just continued driving and she just decided to occupy herself by watching all the places they were passing by. After a few more minutes, she was even surprised when the car stopped to a secluded place.
"Well…here we are." Aki's voice broke her out of her reverie.
She glanced curiously around and that's when she saw that they were parked at a place where she could see the whole town of Tomoeda right before her very eyes.
"This is…beautiful." She gasped, admiring the scenery infront of her.
"Yeah…it is. This is my favorite place, you know."
"You never brought me here."
"I only come here when I want to think and to…sort things out." He cleared his throat. "I-I want to talk to you, Sakura…before…before our marriage…"
Her lips lifted into a smile. "What about?"
"I just wanted to let you know how much I'm lucky to have you in my life. I think you're one of the sweetest and most beautiful woman I've ever known." Aki stared straight ahead, his voice muffled as he speaks.
"Thank you." She replied quietly, her heart overflowing with joy.
"Any man would be lucky to have you but…"
Sakura's smile disappeared hearing the 'but' at his statement. Somehow it doesn't sound right.
"…but I'm sorry. I can't marry you anymore."
"What are you talking about?"
Aki looked at her eyes, and she saw the guilt written all over it.
"I'm already in love with someone else."
END OF FLASHBACK
That happened almost a year ago. And still, the mere memory of it makes her eyes filled with tears. She couldn't forget the humiliation and pain of having to cancel the whole marriage thing off. Having been betrayed with the man she loves, she couldn't face all the people who know her anymore. She doesn't want to hear their pity or concern for her at that time. It's a good thing that with the help of her friends, brother and father, she was slowly able to cope up each day of living having to endure the pain in her heart. When an attorney went to their house one day to tell her about the inheritance, she found it as a good opportunity to start her life anew. She longed to go someplace else but she doesn't have a place to go to and now that she has a house, technically speaking, she immediately grab the chance and went to Hongkong. Her father and Tomoyo was supportive of her plan to move out but Touya was having a hard time letting her go all by herself. Most especially when she told him that she'd be living with somebody else in the house, being the co-heir of it and everything.
Sakura took one last glance at the stars and sighed. Maybe someday, she'll finally found the answer to all her questions.
~~~~~~~*OoO*~~~~~~~~
Syaoran woke up with a huge headache. And having to wake up early to get to his office doesn't help in making it go away either. After successfully summoning his self to get his bum out of his bed to take a shower and dressed for work, he uninterestedly went downstairs to grab some breakfast before starting out a very long day.
He was surprised to see a familiar face, already eating at the table with a newspaper in her hands.
"Good morning." Sakura said neutrally as soon as she saw him.
He just stared past at her, as if hearing nothing. He briskly sat down the chair on the other end of the table just opposite her, and silently eat his breakfast.
"I'm going out today to look for a job." She spoke after a few minutes of silence. She didn't know why she even bothered telling it to him but the words just slipped out from her mouth.
Syaoran shrugged. "Fine. Do what you want."
Sakura couldn't help but be amazed at his coldness towards her. She couldn't help but think that he hates her that much. She was hoping that they could speak to each other civilly and maybe brainstorm on why she got inheritance from his mother but looks like that will never going to happen.
After hurriedly eating his breakfast, Syaoran stood up from the table and was about to leave when he heard her spoke.
"Li."
"What do you want?" He growled.
"Seems like you do not know how to tie your tie, eh?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, looking at him amusingly.
Syaoran looked down at his tie and saw how it looks crooked, making him look obviously like he doesn't know what he's doing. He couldn't help but mutter a faint curse, remembering how Eriol told him yesterday to dress more formally than what he wore yesterday. 'Plain khakis and polo shirt is definitely not suited for business functions', the evil guy even told him.
He tried to straighten out his tie but in the process just ended up almost choking his self to death. He glared at Sakura as he heard her trying to muffle a laugh.
"Oh, sheeesshh…you do know NOTHING about what you are doing!" Sakura stood up and to his surprise, walked towards him. "Here, let me show you how it's done."
"I didn't ask for your help."
"Quit being a brat." She rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't want to look like an idiot now would you?"
"That's my own problem and it's certainly none of your business." He smirked. "You wouldn't actually be concern about me, don't you?"
Sakura's mouth opened slightly, hearing his sentence. She couldn't help thinking what an arrogant guy he really is!
"Sorry to disappoint you but helping you with your tie doesn't mean that I'm concerned about you. I just couldn't stand the sight of a person dressing so messed-up! That is such a pain in the eyes!"
"Well, then I think you shouldn't go and look at yourself in the mirror."
"What do you mean—"
"You said so yourself. It's suuuuuuch a pain in the eyes." Syaoran mimicked in an exaggerating tone.
"Why you--?" She stopped before she could say anything more. She really doesn't want to get into a fight with him early in the morning.
"I'm going now, Kinomoto. And don't you dare touch anything valuable in the mansion because you might destroy something here. I doubt if you could have the money to pay for anything inside the mansion."
Syaoran laughed inwardly when he saw her face crumpled into pure hatred and anger.
"If that's what you want." She answered coolly.
"Or better yet, I hope to see you out of here." He said icily before turning his back on her to walk away, not before noticing her hands at her side clenched into a tight fist.
= And I won the first and hopefully the last round. = Syaoran thought silently. But just before he reached the door out of the kitchen, he was stopped dead in his tracks when he realized and felt a faint presence of magic within the area.
He hurriedly whirled around and saw a very furious Sakura staring at him.
= What exactly was that? =
He couldn't be wrong about what he felt earlier. Just before he reached the door, he swear that he felt magic. But when he turned around, the aura disappeared as fast as it reappeared. It's really odd for it's only him and Sakura inside the kitchen. Surely, there wouldn't be any magical forces inside the house wouldn't it?
With one last look at her, he decided to leave the room, leaving a trembling Sakura behind.
~~~~~~
kotsch
A/N: Just want to say my heartfelt thanks to all the people who reviewed in the previous chapters. I never expected the number of reviews I got! You people are truly an inspiration. You never know how busy I really am but because of so many people who liked and reviewed this fic, I'm really, really trying my best to upload sooner…the best way that I can! ::bows down:: Thank you for all your support!
