Chapter 2 – The Girl

At the Airport

"I'm sure my mother wouldn't have mind coming along. I still think we should have told her" Syaroan thought that his mother had a right to know that she was leaving today. It was just too soon

"Don't worry about it! I'm sure she'll understand, besides, it's only a vacation, I don't want any bawling eyes crying over me. Gawd I would hate that, tears and everything...eww! Now THAT" she said "would be a nasty sight"

Syaroan smiled, she was back. He thought she was being too subtle the night before, but it didn't occur to him until the real her came out again. It was funny how he didn't notice the difference...they were two different Mei Ling's...yet, he didn't notice and he didn't know which one he liked better either. The sun was blazing down through the windows, and was rising. They both had barely any sleep that night. Mei Ling needed to pack her things and since she was leaving on such a short notice, she knew she couldn't do everything herself on time so she asked Syaroan to help her out. She was scared she wouldn't be able to make the flight. The sun just rose and there was still so much to do before she leaves.

"You sure you don't want me to get you annnnnything at all?" asked Mei Ling

"Yah."

"Good, cause then I don't needa waste any of my precious time to look for a present JUSt for you!"

Mei Ling laughed, "she's so naïve" Syaroan thought. "but no matter what, I'll still love her for who she is"

He started to chuckle himself.

"hey! What are youuu laughing at?" she asked him

"You!" and he gave out a louder laugh

"That's not funny! You don't want me to get pissed at you right before I leave, do you? Huh? Do you??" she tried hard not to laugh

"Of course I do! Who wouldn't want little Mei Ling to be mad at them?" he looked at Mei Ling and smirked

"If I did know better, I would give you a black eye, and you'll remember me for the next two months every time you look at the mirror and see a big ugly black patch around your eye! Theeeeeen we'll see who's laughing! HA HA HA!"

Even though they had just broke up the night before, they both knew better and things went pretty well between them. She asked if he was mad, and he said that he understood. She thought it was a bit weird, but if it worked out for the both of them, it would just be for the best, so she didn't care.

"Hey! I wanna go in, I don't wanna be late for my flight and then miss it then I'll needa be stuck with you once again!" and pointed her finger at him when she said 'you'.

"Hah, whatever you wish. You better call me when you get there! I'll be waiting!"

"You're such a geezer! Always worrying about me" Mei Ling thought to herself

"Don't miss me too much!" she shouted at Syaroan as she was leaving then waved.

Mei Ling turned her back about to go through the gates to have her luggage checked up before she boarded onto the plan.

"Hey!" Syaroan stopped Mei Ling in her footsteps. She turned around and started at him. "Promise me you won't do anything foolish, alright?"

She paused then smiled at him. "You bet!"

And with that, she left. The sun had fully risen by now. He decided to wait until she was out of site. She wore low tight jeans and a black shirt with words down the sleeve. Her belly button was showing, as always, but this time, she wasn't wearing her belly ring. She didn't put any ear rings on, making it seem like she didn't have any piercings from afar, but truthfully she had more then enough. "Maybe she was trying to get a new image." He thought to himself. Her hair streaked red was let down, she said she wanted to sleep on the plane, and if she put her hair in her usually hairstyle, it would bother her when she tired to sleep. She was long out of site now, and Syaroan found himself staring at nothing.

"Such a kid" he told himself, and left the airport.

He drove endlessy in the car. He wanted to think. What was Mei Ling doing? Although his feelings for her started to drift, what made her give him up? Did she know? Either way, he decided to go to the place he always went to when he wasn't feeling good. The park. A place with grass so green, a stream nearby filled with fish, and a wide space to walk on. What he loved most about this park, was that there was a section with willow trees where the leaves would fall to the floor and the gentle breeze making the day feel much better. It made him feel safe, and he decided to go there.

But there was a surprise

A girl that he's never seen around was at 'his' spot. He wanted to be there, where she was. He was even ready to kick the girl out from the willow trees so he could sit at his rightful spot where he wanted to be, but then he noticed that she had tears in her eyes. As they glistened down her cheeks, he suddenly felt he wanted to know her, he wanted to know what was wrong with her and to help her. He no longer wanted to move her from where she was sitting. He stood there speechless. He made sure nobody else was with her, he didn't want to be seen as a threat and slowly made his way towards her.

His steps was slowly and careful. He didn't want to frighten her thinking he was there to kidnap her. He walked until he was standing right next to her.

"Hey...umm... are you okay? Do you need some help?" Syaroan tried to give the most gentle approach, he didn't want to scare her.

"Who sniff are you? sniff" As she looked up at Syaroan, he realized she had the most beautiful eyes, he had never seen eyes her color anywhere and was amazed.

The girl placed her long brown hair trying to cover her face. She didn't want to been seen like this, especially not by a stranger.

"If it makes it any better, I'm not feeling much better then you either" Continued Syaroan

The girl looked up at him

"Mind if I sit?" as he tried to look for her eyes once again.

The girl shook her head.

He placed himself down beside her. He looked straight and stared at the stream. "You wanna talk about it?" he found himself saying

"Like you would sniff wanna listen to a stranger's problems" retorted the girl

"Well you've got troubles, and so do I" said Syaroan

"So...?"

"Well I was thinking...since we both seem to have nobody who's gonna listen...why don't we make a trade?" suggested Syaroan

"Trade? What do you sniff mean? I don't exactly sniff get what you're trying to say sniff" the girl even looked lost at syaroan's words

"Simple, you tell me what's wrong, then I tell you mine in return" he explained.

"Yah, but, well.." thought the girl "alright" she pulled herself together so she would stop crying.

She sat there holding tightly onto her knees. She looked so fragile and innocent. "Fragile and innocent...nothing like Mei Ling...she's so tough and..."

"Are you ready for this?" Syaroan's thought were interrupted by the girl.

"Any time you are" he wondered what she had to say.

"It's nothing big I guess...it's actually quite simple. Well my father is a professor, and my brother is some university student. My dad got accepted for some business job thing, and he's to go research for two months. He already left so I'm stuck with my brother."

The girl took a deep sigh, paused then started again.

"My mother's...not here anymore..."

"Sorry to hear that" Syaroan quickly said.

"Oh, it's alright, it's been a while now. Just that... ever since she left, my father and brother have been very tight on me. I'm not allowed to go anywhere alone. I barely get to go to the mall, and when I see my friends out of school, they usually need to come over to my house. It gets pretty boring if you know what I mean."

She paused. She took left hand and started to play with the grass beside her. She started to feel more comfortable around the stranger that asked if she would share her problems with him. She felt awkward, she didn't know the stranger, yet she started pouring her heart out to him. But she wasn't scared, she was sure that he was a good guy. She continued.

"They don't want anything bad to happen to me. They want me to be safe always. But you see, because of this, I've been living a pretty sheltered life as you can imagine, and I mean, I'm going into university next year, I'm not that young anymore. Do you think I'm young?"

The question hit Syaroan by surprise, but he quickly said "not at all" and she continued with her story.

"I didn't think so either. I asked my dad if I could go out with friends and go to places I've never been before, I want to go and have some fun! After a bit of begging, he let me. On the other hand, my brother objected to the idea, even til now, today, this very minute. We had an argument, so I ran out to here. He's probably looking for me right now, but that's okay. I'm safe, and that's all that matters."

She looked up and quickly turned her head towards Syaroan, she laughed a little and said "pretty pathetic huh?"

By now Syaroan thought he figured her out. "She just wants a little fun" he told himself. "There's no harm in that"

"Your turn" she said.

"Huh?" Syaroan asked back

"You're turn to tell me your story" she smiled at him.

It was then that she clearly took a look at his face. He was attractive, she stared at him to find out more about him. He has messy brown hair, she liked that, he worse black jeans and a button shirt, she liked that too, and most of all, she loved his smile. She felt safe around him, and they've just met.

"Hey, before I start, you wanna go somewhere to eat? It's noon and I'm getting pretty hungry." His stomach growled as if on cue.

"Sounds like you are hungry" she laughed. She paused to think "what if something bad happens to me? Of course not, he's such a nice guy, and if something does happen, then it'll prove my brother right and I'll listen to him..no harm in that" then she said out loud. "sure, let's go eat"

She didn't want to say it, but she was getting quite hungry herself. The argument with her brother happened after they both got seated for breakfast. She barely had a bite and stormed off because she didn't want to listen to her brother's reasoning. She felt pressured, something she didn't like.

Syaroan's cheek flushed red, but he stood up and offered his hand towards the girl and said "Li Syaroan"

She was shooked when she first saw his hand. "what a gentlemen" she thought.

She looked up at where he was, and smiled brightly. She took her hand and placed it on his and replied "Kinomoto Sakura"