Chapter 4
Sakura clocked out at 2:15pm. She worked eight hours, which was her limit that Thomas gave her. She got into her car and drove home. She wanted to shower and change before heading into the city for her shopping. She walked into her apartment and saw she had a message on her answering machine. She pressed the play button and started walking into the bathroom when a familiar voice echoed through the apartment. Turning to the machine, Sakura walked over to it and stared at it. Almost expecting it to start laughing and say "jokes on you!" Sakura replayed it another five times so it would sink in. "It couldn't be. Why now?" Sakura thought to herself. "After all this time, why now?" Hearing the voice repeat the phone number given for about the 6th time, she finally grabbed a pen and notebook paper and jotted down the number. After the message stopped playing, Sakura picked up the phone and pressed, "talk". After dialing the area code Sakura quickly hung up the phone. Then, looking down at the number she tried again, this time only dialing the area code and the next four digits before hanging up the phone again. Getting angry, Sakura threw the phone onto the sofa giving a scream of frustration. Finally giving up, Sakura walked back into her bathroom and took a shower. Hoping that when she got out the message would just disappear.
Wrapping her hair in a towel and throwing a robe on, she walked into the living room to see once again her answering machine flashing a message that was already played but not deleted.
"Damn it." Sakura mumbled lightly. She sat there for half an hour starring at the phone. Finally, when finished arguing with herself, she picked up the phone and dialed all the digits. Putting it up to her ear, she continued to talk to herself while it rang. "If she starts pissing me off, I'll just hang up. Not that big of a deal. It'll be..." but before she could finish she heard a click on the other end, signifying someone picked up.
"Hello?" Sakura felt all the fear come back. Her stomach started hurting and she suddenly felt dizzy.
"Hello? Anyone there?" Sakura heard him ask. She couldn't be a coward. She wouldn't let them know how bad they hurt her.
"Eli, its Sakura. Let me talk to Madison.
Eli was sitting in his home office talking to Rusty, the head of the construction team. He was talking over some numbers with him when his phone beeped; he had an incoming call. Asking Rusty to hold for a minute, Eli switched over and answered politely. No answer. He sat there and listened. He knew someone was there because he could hear breathing.
"Eli... its Sakura. Give me Madison." Was the sharp answer he got in return. It was Sakura. He didn't know if she would return the call Madison made earlier that day. But he hoped she would for Li's sake.
"Sakura, Hello. How have you been?" Eli asked politely. He was hopping Madison was home from her company meeting by now because he didn't know if Sakura would want to return the call.
"Eli, give me Madison. Please." Eli winced at Sakura's tone. She was still obviously pissed. Why shouldn't she be? She was hurt and he wasn't sure if that would ever heal.