A/N: Sorry for not updating for a while. A super typhoon hit our country last week making classes suspended for 2 days (Thursday and Friday, we're a day ahead for those who're leaving in the states. We're in the Philippines.) Too bad. The typhoon was in its Signal No.4 meaning about 185kph. And thankfully, it changed direction before it hit the national's capital (Metro Manila, I'm leaving in Quezon City, a part of it.) But people are very unfortunate in the provinces with Signal No.4. It's not really worst what has happened here in the city because we only experienced it for only one night. I know you must have heard this news on your TV because this disaster is shown worldwide... We're supposed to take our exams last week but due to the typhoon, it was moved this Dec. 09-10. And it's now finished! I've written this chapter right away. Well, I'm just keeping in touch with my readers and reviewers...

Thanks to:

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mEoWsIc-9871 – Thanks for reading, reviewing and loving my fic.

Crystal-ice19 – Hey! I was surprised when you reviewed on my work! I hope you'll read and review everytime I'll update and please post a story soon...

luv q si jade?? – This is my classmate too and once had an account here but I think it's not working now.

The Dark Reaper – Don't worry I won't make her dreams come into reality. Thanks for the review.

Ngoc1231 – Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Mei fa-chan – Thanks for praising my fic and for reviewing too.

kenshinlover2002 - I like this chapter a lot and I hope you'll like it too. Thanks for your wonderful review and I hope you won't get tired of reviewing.

Chapter 9:

LET'S PLAY PRETEND

The next week, Tomoyo set up a whole day of enjoyment in the mall. She loved shopping since she was young but she never bought clothes. She designed all kinds of dresses in her own wardrobe. She always buy angels for display in her mini collection composed of 739 angels in all sizes. Hey, did I just say 'mini' earlier?

Anyway, Tomoyo enjoyed walking around the mall with Sakura, Syaoran and especially Eriol. Her three friends can't say 'no' to her because they might offend her. They went into the mall about past twelve in the afternoon.

So here's the scene, Tomoyo was on the lead with already 3 small paper bags on her right hand. She's wearing yellow long sleeves, black balloon skirt and 2-inch heeled black sexy sandals. Her hair was down this time. Sakura, on her side, was in pale pink long sleeves, blue pleated denim skirt reaching her knees and knee-high leather boots with about an inch of heels.

At their back, following them were the two faithful boys ever. Eriol, who was carrying a big heavy paper bag for Tomoyo, was wearing a chocolate brown coat with a lights brown shirt beneath it, a pair of denim pants and of course, his eyeglasses. Syaoran, who had never run out of shirts, was in his favorite shade of green long sleeves with a wolf on its center, denim pants and a green baseball cap.

"Look!" Tomoyo pointed a white angel holding a candle on its hands placed on its chest on a nearby store, "I'll buy that. Just wait for me little angel then we'll be friends." She smiled at the angel then entered the store.

All her 3 friends followed her.

"Wow!" Tomoyo exclaimed in teary-eyed. "How lovely! I didn't know this store before! This should be new!"

Eriol simply smiled at her. "There's the angel you're looking for."

Tomoyo dashed towards it in a blink, "Yes, oh yes, angel..."

The store was full of angels in different sizes, shapes and uses. There's a lampshade, a picture frame, a key chain, a notebook, a clock and many things with an angel on it. No wonder, Tomoyo will love this place.

Sakura and Syaoran watched Tomoyo and Eriol picking the little angels. "Tomoyo is really happy today. This store truly looks newly opened."

Syaoran smiled. "It has been opened since last week." He said in a matter-of-fact.

"How did you know?" Sakura asked.

"I saw the advertisement when I went here with Eriol last week." Syaoran smiled again.

---oOo---

The four went into different shops until Tomoyo felt tired of walking. They ate ice cream then continued walking again.

"Oh..." Tomoyo sighed. Her three companions stopped walking then turned their heads towards her wondering what has happened. "Can we just stop for a while?"

"Thankfully!" Eriol exclaimed. Sakura laughed while looking into Eriol's hands with about six paper bags of angel items. "Let's eat again, shall we?"

"Let's go! Let's go!" Tomoyo became hyper again dragging Eriol into a nearby restaurant.

"Wait." Eriol turned to Syaoran. Tomoyo stopped. "Come with us little children."

Syaoran raised his eyebrows, "Little children? No, Eriol. Sakura and I are upto something..."

Sakura frowned at him guessing what could that be. They never planned to do anything. "Wha - ?"

Eriol nodded, "Why? What are you planning to do?"

Sakura's eyes widened staring at Syaoran. This thing only means that they'll be separated from Tomoyo and Eriol. "Syaoran, wha - ?"

Syaoran cut her sentence by covering her mouth. "Just a little game around here. It's not a big deal, Eriol. Just wait us back at the house, for we might went home late. Ok?"

Tomoyo giggled. "No problem. Let's go Eriol. Bye little children."

"Wha - ?" Sakura opened her mouth but Syaoran interrupted again.

"Let's go Sakura." Syaoran smiled.

Sakura didn't move. She looked around for Tomoyo and Eriol but they seemed to disappear from a crowd of people.

"Wha - ?"

"Do you want to say something?" Syaoran asked.

"Syaoran! Wha - ?"

"Go on." Syaoran playfully cut her again.

Sakura stomped her foot. "CAN YOU PLEASE LET ME FINISH?"

Syaoran stopped himself from laughing then merely nodded.

"You know what?" Sakura started.

"Not yet." Syaoran joked.

Sakura felt her temper rose. "Syaoran! For heaven's sake! Let me finish! Shut your mouth for five minutes!"

Syaoran nodded again.

Sakura raised an eyebrow like a teacher scolding a student, "You interrupted me five times on all my 'what's. I got billions of questions to ask you since you refused Eriol's offer."

She paused. Syaoran nodded.

"First," Sakura placed her hands on her hips, "What 'something' are you saying?" She asked referring on her first 'Wha - ?'

Syaoran opened his mouth to answer but Sakura continued.

"Second," She frowned, "What abnormality has entered your mind again to refuse the good old man's kindness?" Eriol wasn't old but because of her uncontrollable temper, she insulted the poor boy. Poor, by means of not having a chance to stop her by what she's saying.

Syaoran tried to answer.

"Third," Sakura grabbed Syaoran's collar. "What's the little game you're saying?"

Syaoran held her hand to stop her due to embarrassment. Imagine yourself in this situation in the mall and worst – with people staring at you. He opened his mouth again.

"Fourth," Sakura let go of the collar then pushed him. Poor Syaoran, bullied by Sakura. "What's the reason for cutting all I'm about to say?"

Syaoran sighed then tried to answer but like before, unsuccessful.

"And fifth," Sakura exhaled, "What are you planning?"

Syaoran ignored her then began walking. Sakura followed him mouthing at his back. Syaoran waved his hand on the air.

"Syaoran!"

"Ok, ok," Syaoran faced her. "Can you please shut your mouth for only a minute?"

Sakura nodded. Her temper dropped to zero.

"Let's have a date." Syaoran said flatly.

"What?" Sakura blurted our. Syaoran didn't speak, waiting for her to finish. But she's already finished.

Sakura's POV

I blinked. "What?" I repeated.

No answer.

"Are you mental?" I asked jokingly.

"No."

"Serious?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Would you stop saying 'what'?" Syaoran grinned widely. "Serious. Let's date – today."

"What?" I repeated. Why does that word come out my mouth again? "I mean, no we can't."

"Why?" Syaoran's grin faded.

"Because I say no." I smirked. "No, no, no, we're not yet together!"

"Nothing's wrong with that." Syaoran shook his head. "It's ok even if we're not together."

"We can't because, " I thought for a minute, "because... oh nevermind!"

"I got a wonderful offer you can't refuse." Syaoran smirked. He looked around, "Have you seen your wallet?"

I froze. Gosh, I hope the thing I'm thinking wasn't true. How does my wallet enter the conversation? I ran my hand into my pocket then entered my hand on it. My eyes widened. It's empty!

"My wallet!" I panicked. "It's missing!" I should've brought a bag!

"You know," Syaoran pulled something from his pocket then held a wallet up. "I saw this wallet lying around. So I picked it up."

"Oh!" I smiled, "That's mine!" I tried to grab it but he held it higher. I can't reach it even I jumped many times. "Give it to me."

"Why should I give it to you?" He smirked. "I found this when you went out of Tomoyo's car. I forgot to return this to you."

"So, you wanted me to walk around without my own money?" I asked angrily.

"No!" Syaoran quickly replied, "That's why I asked about your wallet."

"And what's the wonderful offer I can't refuse?"

"C'mon Sakura," Syaoran put my wallet back into his pocket. "Let's, you know, my treat."

My face brightened up. "You should've told me earlier! Your treat?"

Syaoran smiled, "Yes, in one condition."

"Anything." I smiled excitedly.

"Let's play pretend."

"Pretend?" I don't know whether to laugh or what. "How?"

"As simple as ABC," Syaoran beamed widely, "Pretend we're together."

"What do you mean?" I frowned, "We're together?"

"Precisely." Syaoran held my hand, "We'll act as couple for a day."

I stared at his hand into mine, "But what if someone who knew us saw us together while we're pretending?"

"We're very far from Tomoeda right now." Syaoran explained shortly. "Please Sakura, let me make you smile."

From nowhere, a smile was formed into my lips. "I think..."

"What?"

"I think..." I grinned, "We'll play it."

"Let the game begin!" Syaoran held my hand tighter. "Um... HONEY, where do you want to go?"

I giggled with my free hand covering my mouth. He put too much emphasis in the word 'honey'. I was thrilled and it sounds good. Hey! What am I thinking?

An old woman passed us muttering something like, "Teenagers nowadays..."

I giggled again. Then stared at Syaoran's eyes half-serious. "Your choice, DARLING!"

Syaoran's POV

I laughed.

Sounds good to my ear – darling, darling, darling. I hope someday that she'll let me call her 'honey'. Oh, how I wish to hear her calling me 'Darling', when the right time comes. How clever I was!

We started walking around the mall hand in hand. Whew, it felt good being free from the school gossip. I need to thank Tomoyo for inviting us here and Eriol too, for giving me tips.

Honestly, I didn't have any idea about this pretend-thing. I really planned to treat her around the mall. But unfortunately, or should I say, fortunately, I found her wallet, which started it all. I planned to give it back too but Eriol suddenly gave me this idea. He didn't told me to date Sakura but the moment he mentioned the word 'eat', I thought of the wallet, the treat, the enjoyment and everything that has followed. It resulted me to thought of pretending stuff. And everything else turned out well.

"Darling," Sakura smiled at me, "darling, darling..."

I smiled too, "Yes, honey."

"I find this game of yours with fun!" She swayed our arms.

"Really?" I asked. "Isn't it nice to hear me calling you 'honey'?"

"Well," She released my hand then put it on my waist. "I love to hear it, darling."

"Please continue calling me 'darling' throughout the day." I said. "I wouldn't mind calling you 'honey' – even forever." I encircled my arm into her shoulder.

"Sure, darling." She laughed.

"I want to have a souvenir photo of our little game." I started. "Let's have a picture."

"Why not?"

----------------------------------------------------oOo-------------------------------------------------------

A/N: So what do you think of this chapter? Please give comments and REVIEW.

The more reviews I received, the faster I update.