Tomoyo was on the couch, watching the soap opera that she had been watching frequently. There was a woman pleading her hardest to this middle-aged man who was just staring at her with disgust. A sigh escaped out of Tomoyo's mouth. Soaps sure were cliché. It was like every single idea poured into a soap opera was entirely the same as another soap. Directors these days weren't very original. When the commercial started, she sat up and grabbed the bowl of chocolate bars on the middle of the coffee table. Bringing it with her, she was about to open one when a strong hand wrapped around hers.
Looking up in surprise, she met the eyes of her fiancé. "What??" She complained.
"It's not healthy for you to keep eating chocolates, Tom," Eriol replied, trying to pull away the chocolate bar.
"I haven't even eaten a chocolate-" Tomoyo started, but was cut off.
He displayed a shocked face. "Excuse me??"
"-This hour!" She finished lamely.
That got a laugh out of him. Sitting beside her, he took the bowl out of her hands and put it back on the table. "You don't even have a glass of water with you," he shook his head in a playful tease, "you're going to give our baby diabetes, or worse you're going to give yourself diabetes!"
She pouted heavily, throwing the bar down on the bowl. "Eriol, you can be so mean, you know that??" She rested her chin on her hands, glaring at the TV.
He laughed once again and pulled her closer to him. "Come on Tom, I just want you to be healthy…I don't want a dead wife or mother."
She relaxed and looked back at him. "Are you sure that's the only thing?? Are you sure you're not just being mean??" She squinted her eyes.
"When have I ever been mean to you?" He asked back, cradling her face with his hand. "I've done nothing but love you ever since the day I saw you," he argued softly.
"Oh right." She admitted bashfully, turning pink. "Well, sorry then." She kissed him lightly on the cheek, but he turned his face anyway and caught her lips purposely.
Tomoyo was about to pull away, but the feeling of his lips in contact with hers gave back some of those old heavy feelings she had for him when they were in love for the first time. Closing her eyes and allowing herself to be kissed, she gave back her own kisses, letting her emotions out. Eriol groaned slightly, loving the woman who he proposed to, made love to, and was the mother of his baby. It was like these moments that made Eriol, beyond a shadow of a doubt, sure that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She was the only woman in his whole life that made him feel.
When Eriol remembered the baby and the need to breathe, he pulled away, giving small space for her. Tomoyo caught her breath, opening her eyes softly. "Why'd you pull away?" She asked slowly, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I regret doing it, believe me," he managed to grin, "but the baby needs to breathe."
She gasped at the mention of her baby. "That's true! Oh Eriol, you shouldn't do that to me anymore!"
Eriol sighed. "You can't ask me to do that, Tom."
"Why not?" She frowned.
"Because I'm giving up enough already for this baby. You can't ask me to give up kissing you. It's just not right," he wore a crooked smile. "I rarely ever get to feel in love again, because you're preoccupied with the baby, and I've got work. So these are probably the only times we can actually feel in love."
"But you gave me this baby," Tomoyo interjected, pointing at him like a child.
He laughed. "I know I did, and I'm going to love this baby forever, but I'm not going to stop loving you. I'll always love you, Tomoyo. There are just times when…I need to…love you fully."
Now she understood what he was saying. "Ohh…" She turned bright red. "You mean…now that I'm pregnant, we can't…make love…so you feel like…we're not as close as we should be…and that's why you don't want me to ask you to stop kissing me like that."
Eriol felt no modesty at the confession. "That's right."
"Oh Eriol…" Tomoyo dropped all other feelings and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry." She whispered.
He automatically embraced her; trailing light kisses on her neck. "You don't have to be sorry. Just don't ask me that, ok?"
She nodded in his embrace. "You can kiss me all you want, Eriol."
"Good," he chuckled.
When they pulled away, Tomoyo brushed his blue bangs lightly. "I love you so much." She smiled brightly.
"You don't know how much I love you," Eriol began, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, live my life with you, have a family with you…all the things I've wanted ever since I was old enough to understand the meaning of family. That's why I asked you to marry me."
She nodded, looking into his eyes intently. "And I want to spend the rest of my life with you, grow old with you, be the mother of your children, and that's why I said yes."
"I don't even know why we're saying this to each other. We already know this in our hearts."
"Maybe because sometimes we just need to remind ourselves so we don't forget that sometimes adrift love between us." Tomoyo mumbled.
Eriol softly touched her lips with his and closed his eyes, wanting to kiss her once again. A few moments passed and they continued to kiss passionately, letting out all the love they felt, which was greater than any other kind of love possible. Tomoyo bit at his lip softly when they were kissing unknowingly. She giggled slightly and dropped her head on his shoulder, shaking her head in happiness. Eriol laughed, smelling the scent of her hair.
"Eriol?" Tomoyo asked quietly. "Can I ask you a question?" She kept her head on his shoulder.
"Go ahead," he said tenderly.
"Will you tell me about your…family?" She was afraid of how he'd react, but she wanted to know. She needed to know.
He stiffened at the mention of his family. "Y-you want to know…about my…family?" His voice seemed strangely gruff.
She pulled away, looking up at him. "Like you said, we're marrying each other pretty soon. Won't you tell me about them?"
He dropped his gaze and focused on the carpet. His hold on Tomoyo dropped as well. Nothing came out of his lips.
Tomoyo felt unsure now. "I-I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. You don't have to tell me about them." Looking guilty, she sat beside him, staring straight.
"No," he interjected. "You're right. I need to tell you."
She turned and stared at him longingly. Eriol made no motion to face her. His head was bowed down and his arms relaxed on his thighs.
"I don't know where to start," he confessed dejectedly. He looked up and watched Tomoyo's shivering eyes.
"You'll find the words," she whispered encouragingly.
He nodded and looked away once more. Closing his eyes, the words came out of him almost immediately, as if desperately wanting to be released. "It was my first year in college, and I only started class…about 3 months in. I didn't live with my parents anymore…so I stayed in the dorm with my roommate, Syaoran." Tomoyo continued to listen.
Eighteen-year-old Eriol read the thick book given to him by his English Lit teacher. No matter how focused he was on the book and the words displayed on it, nothing seemed to pass through his eyes and into his brain. It was like something had happened that day that made Eriol completely devoid of any assignment. Frustrated, he closed the book and rested back down on his bed, trying to think of some bad event that could've happened that day that made him feel so…so hollow inside. There was that creeping feeling just at the pit of his stomach and there was no way of knowing what had made it.
Just as he was about to slip into his own thoughts, the door opened slowly, revealing Syaoran. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes held sadness. Eriol was alarmed at this and he immediately sat up. Staring at Syaoran as the boy entered the room, sitting on his own bed, he then noticed two people right behind him. It was the principal and a policeman.
"What's going on?" Eriol asked, confused. "Syaoran, you okay?"
"Mr. Hiiragizawa…something has happened earlier today. We've only found out minutes ago, and we searched for you everywhere." The principal explained.
"What happened?" He asked, frowning at what the old man had said. 'Oh no. I knew something bad happened. What could it be??' "Syaoran?" He returned his focus at him.
"Sir, I'll tell Eriol if…if you guys don't mind," Syaoran muttered.
"As you wish. We'll be in my office if you ever need to know anything…anything at all." The principal excused himself with the police and left the room.
Syaoran gave out a small sigh and looked up at Eriol's concerned face. "Man…"
"What's up, Syaoran? What's going on here?"
He looked for some way to explain it in a gentle way. "Ok…just listen to me, all right? Don't interrupt, because I gotta explain to you the whole thing." Syaoran started.
"Uh, all right," Eriol was confused at what he was agreeing to.
"Ok well, uh…yesterday, your parents…they were on a plane to go to Europe, right?" Syaoran asked.
"Yeah…" He hesitated to answer. Eriol felt his heart jerk at the mention of his parents.
Syaoran swallowed, not looking at his friend. "The flight was from Hong Kong to London. There was something wrong with the plane."
'Oh no.' His heart dropped to his feet, nerves breaking down. He felt his blood turn completely cold at the words.
"They were supposed to arrive in London three hours ago, but…they didn't get there." He paused.
Eriol couldn't take it any more. Tears built up in his eyes. He knew it…it was coming. He was afraid. So afraid.
"When the plane was about to…land…something happened."
'No.' He continued denying it in his heart, but his mind just took it all in. As if shutting out the words, he covered his ears, but Syaoran held Eriol's arms and said the words slowly and carefully.
"The principal just got a call 30 minutes ago from the airport they left in."
'No.' Eriol's face went blank and his eyes unfocused.
"The-the pilot lost control of the…the engine, and I don't know what went wrong. B-but the plane skidded and…burst into flames." Syaoran watched Eriol worriedly. "The plane…just…" Syaoran stopped, feeling complete agony inside. "Nobody survived, man."
His nightmare had just turned real. Eriol's mind completely shut. Nothing entered, except for the certain words that bit at him. His world had just shut down.
…Supposed to arrive…10 hours ago…didn't get there…happened…lost control…plane skidded…flames…nobody survived…
Then, the tears dropped. The teardrops fell. One…by…one. Eriol's face continued to show nothing. His whole body was rigid. Syaoran could no longer watch his best friend. Looking away, Syaoran kept the tears inside. When finally Eriol was able to understand every single word Syaoran had spoken, he blinked rapidly, amounts of tears falling at the same time. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. His breathing became shallow and his eyes wouldn't stop crying. He sniffed, keeping his jaws tight. Looking out the window, Eriol stared at the blackening clouds.
"When did this happen?" He whispered quietly, his voice breaking immensely.
Syaoran glanced up. "Three hours ago."
"Oh god…" Eriol whimpered, shutting his eyes. "No way…"
Syaoran got up from his bed and walked over to Eriol's crouched body. "I'm so sorry, man."
"No frickin' way!!" Eriol yelled, pushing Syaoran away. "No, they're not dead!!"
He kept quiet.
"NO I WON'T BELIEVE IT!! IT'S A LIE!" He screamed, the anger growing. "NO!"
Syaoran stared helplessly at the side, his heart breaking with Eriol.
"Don't lie to me, man!!"
"I'm not lying," Syaoran replied desperately. "Why would I lie about this?"
Seconds passed, and the anger dissipated. Nobody survived. His heart felt like it had just been stabbed countless of times with a sharp-edged knife. Nobody survived.
"No…" his voice grew smaller as he sobbed his heart out. "They're not dead…they can't be…"
Silence met the very tense room. Minutes went by quickly.
"I'm sorry, man." Syaoran repeated, sitting beside Eriol.
Eriol kept crying, no sound coming out of his lips. Syaoran let him cry on his shoulder, the only thing he could offer then. Eriol no longer tried to hide the anger, the sadness, and the pain. He just let it all out. To the one person he had left in the world.