Author's Note: I do not own any of the Card Captor characters. I own a select few characters in this story, including Julian and Kat. I think those are the only two =P Anyway, Sakura and Li (much easier to type that Syaoran) should meet soon. But can they get together after so long? Read and review please!

It was the day of Sakura's interview with Julian Samuels. Sakura still couldn't quite believe that she was going to be featured in Envy magazine. It seemed a bit surreal to her. She wasn't nervous; she was just in a state of disbelief. In any case, she wasn't completely disoriented.

She chose a cozy white sweater to wear. Not only would it protect her from the slightly too cold for comfort breeze, it looked good on her and accented her figure. It didn't look too casual of too formal. She then chose a navy blue skirt that was made of a light material that would flutter in any wind. The hem, which came just below her knees, was diagonal and had a few decorative layers. She put on matching blue shoes and got her blue bag but couldn't seem to find her keys, or her wallet.

It wasn't on her desk, not on the bed. It wasn't on the dresser and it wasn't on the kitchen table.

"Oh no, I'm going to be late!" she cried hopelessly. It was scheduled for 1:00 and it was now 12:45. If I don't leave soon, Mr. Samuels will be gone before I even get there! She thought to herself, probably exaggerating.

"That's it! Time for drastic measures!" she paused to look around. Then suddenly she was everywhere at once. Maybe due to super speed, or she had made copies of herself, or maybe both. In less than five seconds she had her wallet and keys and returned to normal, with her hair (which was partly pulled back with a clip and straight ending just between her shoulder blades) only slightly tousled. She straightened and rushed out of the door.

Meanwhile . . .

"Damn those stupid director people," Syaoran said, switching on his television. The interview was scheduled to appear at 2:00, and he had been forced to smile and endure as the interview turned into a torture session. "It's like they wanted people to focus on the face, and not the case," he didn't even noticed how silly that sounded. "I swear, asking me questions about my love life!? That's not professional." But I guess it makes sense, he continued in his head. If the public had details they might decide that my client is guilty. That wouldn't be good for my reputation. It was now 1:55. He was about to be publicly humiliated in less than 5 minutes.

Meanwhile . . .

When the interview had first started, Sakura had noticed that Julian Samuels, as well as being really charming, was excessively attractive. Quite cute actually. But the thought really went no further. She felt comfortable with him in that cozy little restaurant as he asked the questions and she answered them. The hour sped by quickly. It had helped that the first few minutes, a magazine photographer had taken pictures.

"Well, I suppose that's it for me," Julian (he had asked her to call him by his first name) said to her. "Do you have any questions?"

Sakura knew he probably meant for her to ask "when is the article coming out?" but instead she asked, "Why me?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean, why put me in Envy magazine? It's not like I have anything that other people would be jealous of."

"You don't think so?"

"I honestly don't," Sakura answered him truthfully.

"Well," he said, his eyes twinkling nicely, "You're very successful, I've done my homework like a good boy should. You make roughly 85 dollars an hour not to mention the bonuses you get when you make speeches. You're young. You're self-sufficient. Not to mention you're pretty much gorgeous."

Sakura colored at this last comment. "Being young is pretty much an insignificant detail, plenty of people are self-sufficient, many people make much more money than me, and I'm not all that pretty. You probably make more money than me, and you're young too, and successful."

"Guess that's why I'm star reporter," he said laughing. It wasn't an arrogant laugh, just a good-natured one.

"That's not the point," Sakura said. She gave him a stare that she knew would make him fess up.

He did. "To tell you the truth, Miss Kinomoto – "

"Really, if I can call you by your first name you can have the same courtesy," Sakura interjected.

He smiled slightly at that, "To tell you the truth Sakura, I decided to feature you because you're the type of person worth being envied, and the editors agreed. You had no advantages of a famous name or fortune, yet you still are thriving. You did this all by yourself. You're the type of person that is . . . well rounded. A renaissance woman, if you will. You're good at almost everything as far as I know. The world would be a better place if there were more people as nice as you are, and as talented. Point is, sometimes we don't feature people who are envied. We put in people who should be."

Sakura was surprised. She hadn't expected this. She smiled and blushed and said, "When you put it that way . . . "

At the back of the restaurant someone yelled to the person at the counter. "Change the channel, Barry. I don't want to watch my team lose again! They're down by 6 points and I can't stand it!"

Barry changed the channel and Sakura heard the familiar introduction jingle of the news. Julian was talking to her again, but the television screen had caught her eye.

"Next up," the anchorman was saying. "The more and more public Evans vs. Paige case. An exclusive interview with Mr. Evan's attorney himself, Li Showron, continued."

Li? Sakura thought. Her attention was now fully captivated by the man on the television screen. The man who she recognized as her high school sweetheart. The man who was talking to Mei-Lin (Sakura had known Mei-Lin was a news person having watched her on TV every so often). Apparently, the interview had started before commercial break and it was wrapping up.

Details slipped through Sakura's mind like smoke. She knew the name of the courthouse and what time the verdict trial would be, but nothing more. She concentrated more on the sound of Syaoran's voice and how great he looked in his blue suit. The questions didn't seem about the gory attempted murder case, otherwise Syaoran wouldn't be smiling. The last question penetrated Sakura's belated hearing.

"Do you play as well as work, Mr. Showron? Is there some significant other?" Mei-Lin asked him.

Something stirred behind Syaoran's eyes, and his smile seemed a bit fake to Sakura now, "No, no there isn't."

"Sakura? Earth to Sakura!" Julian was looking at her strangely.

"Yeah?" she said jumpily.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just a little . . . yeah, I'm fine, what were you saying?"

"I was asking you whether you'd like to go for coffee some time," he said giving her a confused smile.

"Oh, really?" she said distractedly. "No, that's nice and all, but I don't think it's best right now." She stood up. "I'm sorry, I have to go now, I've got errands to run."

As she left, he stared after her. Was it something he said? Shrugging he paid the bill and stepped out as well. The story was ready to print tomorrow morning. He remembered vaguely to himself that he was also going to be at the courthouse observing the Evans/Paige case for his other job at one of the local newspapers. That meant he didn't have another opportunity to talk to Sakura. Unless of course she herself showed up at the trial.