Recap:
"You're going where with who!" Tomoyo hissed. She grabbed Eriol's collar and almost choked him.
Syaoran and Yumi
"Then do you want to go somewhere with me?" Yumi asked.
"Fine. I'll go," Syaoran replied.
Tomoyo and Sakura
Tomoyo suggested, "Let's go have some fun, Sakura."
"What!"
"Just live with it!"
Eriol and Joy
Joy whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry, Eriol."
Sakura and Tomoyo meets Syaoran and Yumi
Sakura just stared. From her position, it looked like they were kissing.
Tomoyo glared. She pushed Sakura to the side and slapped Syaoran. "You cheater! Let's go, Sakura."
"I understand if you want to spend your time with her," she said, looking down. Sakura took a step pass him.
Tomoyo Sees Eriol and Joy
Tomoyo demanded, "Joy! What the hell are you doing!"
Joy closed the car door on Tomoyo's elbow.
"Can't you see that we're engaged!" Tomoyo yelled.
"Then till death will you part!" Joy waved as they started going downhill.
Joy's car hit the side of the truck.
Shadows of the Heart
Chapter Eight
Discovered: Part II
Sakura hugged her legs. How she returned to the hospital? By walking, of course. And, yes, it was dark. But no one attacked her. When she arrived, there was a lot of rushing. Obviously, there was some kind of accident involving more than one person.
She lied down, staring at the ceiling. Tomoyo, for some weird reason, hasn't come to say hi since she had always visited Eriol before going to work. And Sakura was notified that Tomoyo had her four-leaf clover and had gave her the book it was in.
Sakura took out the book. She flipped through the pages until something green appeared. The four-leaf clover was flat and wasn't dry yet. She put it back in its original place.
She couldn't help but think that she had encoutered Syaoran some time before she was raped. It hurts to think about it, but she needed to find out who he was.
"Um... Hi," someone said from the doorway. "Do you know where I can find Eriol?"
"You're looking for Eriol and Tomoyo?" she assumed. Sakura added, "I'm not sure where they are. Tomoyo usually visits me before she sees Eriol and heads off to work. I'm not sure where she could be." She was approaching the girl with black hair and blue eyes. "Want to look for them together?" she suggested, not wanting to be here when Syaoran arrives. She could easily ask the receptionist that he couldn't see her, but she couldn't bring herself to doing it.
"Huh? Sure," she replied, sort of hesitanting. As they were walking down the hallway, she said, "Didn't I see you with your boyfriend earlier?"
"Who? You must mean Syaoran, the guy with brown hair. No. He's just a friend." Sakura blushed, head down. "Oh, and I haven't properly introduced myself yet. I'm Sakura."
"Hm? Oh. Joy."
Sakura questioned, "So, how'd you come to know Eriol and Tomoyo?"
"I work with them at the same company."
"Wow! Really? I work with them, too!"
The nurses and doctors had agreed that Eriol's bed can be placed beside Tomoyo's since they were engaged and Tomoyo didn't oppose. But they couldn't mess with any of the wires.
Tomoyo opened the door. She distinctly saw Sakura heading down the hall. "Hey! Sakura!" she yelled.
Sakura immediately ran toward her. "Oh, God, Tomoyo! What happened to you! You disappeared yesterday night!" she cried, hugging her.
"Oh, there's nothing to be worried about. I'm okay. I'm fantastic - better than ever," Tomoyo assured, hugging Sakura back. Then she saw Joy out of the corners of her eyes. Part of her wanted to kill Joy, but the other part won't allow it. Tomoyo made up her mind: She wouldn't do anything to Joy.
The black-haired girl stood far away. She felt guilty. Tomoyo not doing anything made her guiltier.
Sakura asked, "Where's Eriol? I bet he knows what happened since you won't tell me!"
"He's in there." Tomoyo opened the door and walked over to Eriol. She sat down beside him.
"I thought you were gonna get my wheelchair," Eriol said.
"What? She is? Then go, Tomoyo!" Sakura insisted.
Tomoyo giggled. "I'm going! I'm going!" She left, closing the door behind her. One look at Joy and she went back in. "No. I think it'd be better if I tell you, Sakura."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "So, Eriol, what happened? You pushed her for payback?"
"What? You mean it's my fault for his accident!" Tomoyo demanded.
She sweatdropped. "No. Not really."
"Good. Because I slammed the door on my elbow, that's all."
"Ohh..." Sakura said, nodding her head slowly.
"Huh? No, you didn't! Joy-" Eriol started.
Tomoyo clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Oh! Joy! I forgot! She was looking for you, Eriol."
"What?" he muffled. Gently removing her hand, Eriol said, "Joy is looking for me?"
"Yeah. She works at the same company as us. Why didn't you tell me? Geez. I've been missing on a lot of things." Sakura was walking toward the door and talking at the same at. At the end of her comments, she opened the door and walked out.
"Wait! Sakura!" Tomoyo said.
Sakura returned with Joy. She was dragging her and it seems that she had used most of her strength. Joy stood, frozen, looking down at the floor.
"Joy! You bitch!" Eriol yelled. "You did this to Tomoyo-" he pointed at Tomoyo's cast "-and now you want to come see me!"
"Oh, my God, Eriol! Shut up! Don't be so rude!" Tomoyo hissed.
"Rude? She interfered, Tomoyo! How can you say that! You know, she should get sued!"
"Sued? That's going too far! Just because we're all lawyers doesn't mean we can win every fight!" she shot back.
"What? You did that to Tomoyo!" Sakura cried.
"Yes! But I'm sorry! I'm really, really sorry! Please forgive me!" Joy said. Not waiting for a reply, she ran out of the hospital.
Sakura looked at them. "What happened?" she whispered. "Tell me, Tomoyo! I told you about me, so you tell me about you now!"
"What! You never told me who raped you, Sakura! Who raped you? You won't tell me! See!" Tomoyo yelled.
"Dammit! Stop with all the yelling!" Eriol said, but not very calmly.
Sakura had tears in her eyes. She fell to her knees, crying.
"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Sakura. I didn't mean to bring it back up," Tomoyo whispered. She sat beside Sakura.
"No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hiding in the dark for weeks. I know who attacked me, Tomoyo."
"Shh. Don't say anymore. Let me explain about what happened to me and Eriol first."
"Stop bothering me, Yumi!" Syaoran growled, making his way out the front lobby.
"Syaoran! I demand to know what happened yesterday!" she argued, holding onto him like glue on paper.
"Well, guess what?" he said, stopping abruptly and turning to look at her. "I don't want to tell you. So leave me alone!"
Yumi almost fell when he stopped. "Syaoran, you want to get fired?"
He was about to take another step until she brought that up. "Blackmail," he murmured. If I didn't need this job to support myself, I'd quit a long time ago.
"I'm assuming no answer means no," she said, in that oh-so-sweet voice of hers.
"We'll take my car," Syaoran told her.
Making sure he won't make a run for it, though she trusted him, Yumi linked arms with him. She didn't let go until Syaoran started the ignition. Yumi let go of him and was making her way to the passenger seat when Syaoran backed the car and drove away.
She stomped her feet, cursing under her breath. "Damn!" She yelled, "I trusted you, Syaoran! But not anymore!"
Syaoran glanced at her through his rearview mirror and scoffed. But you couldn't really blame her. I mean, if you were in Yumi's position yesterday night, you'd be mad, too, right?
Sakura widened her eyes. "No... No..." she whispered. "Joy did that?"
Tomoyo nodded with her eyes closed.
"But I never thought... She seemed pretty nice."
"It just shows you there are more two-faced people in this world than you'd think," Eriol stated.
"Geez... Eriol... You were almost raped," Sakura commented, giggling. "A guy gettin' raped-"
Tomoyo giggled, too, finding it sort of surprising now that Sakura mentioned it.
He growled. "Hey! I wasn't very awake when it happened, you know! And who says guys are the only violent sex out there?"
"Okay, okay, Tomoyo. Shh. He's mad and you shouldn't get guys mad."
She nodded.
Syaoran stood at the doorway. A girl with black hair and blue eyes had just rushed passed him. She was crying.
"Um... Excuse me, sir, would you mind explaining why you're standing out here? Shouldn't you be somewhere already, like outside?" a nurse snapped. When she saw someone coming, she walked toward the elevator. She probably thinks they know each other, that's why she's leaving the scene.
Sakura walked out, a smile on face since she's happy because of the little joke. When she saw Syaoran, her heart skipped a beat. She could remember their small kiss vividly, and it almost broke her heart in half.
"Sakura-" he started.
She looked down when he called her.
"Sakura, who's out there?" Tomoyo asked. She was about to walk over to her when Eriol grabbed her arm and shook his head.
Sakura closed the door. She stood outside with him, still looking down. "What do you need?" she whispered.
"I - I - Sakura, look at me!" Syaoran hissed, gently shaking her shoulders.
She looked up straight into his eyes. Then her head fell again.
He gave up. "Sorry."
His words echoed throughout Sakura's mind. Somehow, it was so familiar. She suddenly widened her eyes.
"Wait... Syaoran... Can you tell me something?"
He stopped, his hands in his pockets. He didn't look back.
"Why are you interested in me? I mean, we've never met before what happened to me... Right?"
Syaoran froze. He turned around and their eyes met. "We haven't met before," he replied. "But I remember your voice. You were the one who was talking about rape, right?"
She nodded.
"You sent reports to me so both of our companies would work together. When you tried to contact me three times, I was busy once, and someone picked up the phone two other times."
Sakura nodded slowly. He was correct. She tried to talk to him a couple of times, but the first time, a female voice replied and snapped at her for bothering him. The second time, he was busy. And the third time, the same woman picked up the phone. She was so rude, too!
"The day after you suddenly didn't call me, I was at work, and everyone was talking about an accident that happened near the building." He paused. "If it were you - I was walking out of the company when I heard something in the bushes. But someone called me on my cell phone, so I walked away."
-So, I'm guessing this would explain why Sakura fainted near the end of Chapter Three - She sort of remembered and it was too much pressure. You'll find out more on the chapter before a short Epilogue. Yeah, it's a very future chapter, but I got it planned out. Go on now.-
She let her tears fall, sniffling a little. "So it was you."
"I could've helped," he said, his eyes on the ground. "Forgive me." He took a step.
"You didn't finish," Sakura told him. "How did you find out about the phone calls?"
Syaoran walked back to her and stood in front of her. "You called me once. When I checked my cell phone's memory, I found your name three times. Two times, Yumi was in my room. I remembered because she kept asking me if I had time to take her out."
Sakura winced. "So, both of you are..."
"Ignore it," he whispered. Syaoran continued, "When I told the police I know you - but not much, of course - they agreed to hand me some information. They even gave me a recording of the last person who called you. But people like that don't give away leading clues. You should know, since you're a lawyer."
"And the piece of paper I held?" Her head remained down.
He narrowed his eyes.
Flashback
-
"Frank, where's the report you had to do yesterday? And where were you yesterday? I thought I told you to wait for me. You didn't even check out," Syaoran said, glancing through some papers.
"Um... I think it's here somewhere," Frank replied, searching through his pockets.
"Wait. It's right here." Syaoran pulled out a ripped piece of paper. He growled. "You'd better go type it back up. I have to turn it in next hour."
He nodded.
End of Flashback
-
"That piece of paper was the report you sent, right?"
Sakura nodded, still with her head down. "I recognized some of my sentences." She had to read it over and over again to make sure there were no mistakes.
"Well, the rapist was good, I have to say, because he didn't leave behind any leading fingerprints. Say, for example, he was someone working beside me and he have to take reports sent to the company and edit it so I can turn it in. Didn't you have a picture and your contacts on that sheet?"
"Yeah." She still didn't look up.
"No wonder he was holding it and didn't give me the package that night."
"Yeah. And I thought he was my friend," she whispered.
"Sakura," he started, almost touching her shoulder, "if you want to cry, just cry. Keeping it in won't do you any good."
She fell right into his arms. Syaoran wrapped his arms around her.
"Frank - He was trying to help me with the reports and all. When he phoned me, telling me you'd meet me, I was so excited. It was dark, and I tried to ignore it. When I was at the front door, he knocked me unconscious." Sakura paused. "When I woke up, I saw him. Then he sort of - And then I saw you from the bushes. I didn't know it was you. I tried to make some noises. He held me back.
"After he left, I walked out onto the sidewalk. And that's when I saw my dad and my brother. They were so happy to see me. My brother noticed how horrible I looked. He had this worried look on his face. My father said something. Touya, my brother, pushed his wheelchair across the road. That's when they were run over-" She sniffed. "I think I screamed, but I can't remember. I just remembered everything turning dark."
The whole time, tears fell from her eyes. It was hard to tell anyone that. But she felt so much better after that.
"If Tomoyo or Eriol asks, tell them what I told you. I don't want to repeat it again."
Syaoran held her tighter. "I can't, Sakura. It's your story. They'd feel more comfortable hearing it from you, from your perspective."
"Syaoran...?" said a voice from behind him.
Sakura quickly wiped away her tears. She stepped away from Syaoran at exactly the same time Tomoyo opened the door and popped out.
"What's going on?" Tomoyo asked. "What are you doing here, Li! Get the hell out!" She pushed him with her right hand.
"Hey! You can't do that!" Yumi snapped at Tomoyo, stepping out of Syaoran's shadows. "Why are you hanging out with them! I thought you went some where - just somewhere better! You said you were visiting a friend! But you never let me know about him - her!" She glared at Sakura and Tomoyo.
Sakura had a smile on her face. She felt like laughing all of the lies away. She was about to cry at the same time, but she swallowed her tears and looked at Syaoran. "Syaoran... No... It's Li now."
"Sakura-" he started.
"No. Just go. Leave. I don't want to see you anymore." Her head dropped.
"Don't cry over him!" Tomoyo spat.
"Syaoran! Let's go!" Yumi insisted, grabbing his arm.
"Sakura-"
"I'm not crying. These tears are just falling. I don't know why. Maybe because it's flu season. But don't ever think I cried over you. Can't you just go! Leave! Leave, Li!"
Tomoyo glared. She helped Sakura into the room.
"Syaoran!" Yumi hissed.
The few seconds to him seemed like forever. Finally, after a last tug by Yumi, Syaoran followed her.
When they were outside, she turned to him. There was a long silent as she tried to figure out what to say.
"What's your problem!" Yumi demanded. She couldn't hold in her anger and couldn't find it in her to be merciful. "You lied, Syaoran! This is where you've been in the last few months!" She sniffled and wasn't able to look at him in the eye. "I trusted you! I don't know what you've been doing with those girls-"
"There's only one, Yumi," Syaoran pointed.
"So you admit it," came the surprisingly calm reply. Yumi clutched her palm. She was shaking from anger. "How'd you know her? I know she's not a childhood friend or I would've met her a long time ago."
Syaoran sighed. "Remember July 15th? The rumor about that girl that was raped near the company?"
She nodded.
"That's her."
"Really."
"Yes! Why would I lie!"
"How could I trust you! For all I know, you could be the rapist who's trying to make her feel better! I know you didn't leave until midnight that night because I called you, remember!" Yumi looked at him coldly.
"How can you say that! I know who the rapist is, Yumi! All the clues available led to him! How can you blame me? If it wasn't for you, she would probably be found!"
"What are you saying, that I ruined your 'plan' to rape her!"
Syaoran controlled himself. He wanted to shut her up so badly. "Why are we even on this subject?"
"You said you know who the rapist it!" she argued.
"I can't talk to you now, Yumi. Please. We need some time apart."
"So, you're dumping me for her. Very good, Syaoran," Yumi commented, nodding her head as he walked away from her.
He turned around. "I am not dumping you! We just need some time apart."
"Some time apart? Between you and me or you and that - that bitch that I should sympathize?" She was using her hands as well as her mouth, pointing at herself and Syaoran, then Syaoran and at a window some floors up."
"Don't call her that," Syaoran warned, growling.
"Wow. She's a friend now." Yumi blinked. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "Well... I guess... we shouldn't see each other anymore." Her tone wasn't very clear. She walked toward her car, wiping away the tears she couldn't hold back.
Syaoran's face softened. He grabbed her hand and turned her around. For a minute, he wasn't sure what he was doing. Maybe he was trying to save their relationship, or he pitied her. As their face got closer, he thought of the small kiss he shared with Sakura.
Yumi widened her eyes at first. Then she slowly closed them as Syaoran kissed her.
Sakura turned away. She was in her room and had heard the argument between Syaoran and Yumi. When she looked out after a long moment of silence (she could only hear the parts where they yelled - "!"), she couldn't believe what she saw.
A stream of tears followed a soft cry.
She put her hands over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. Then she put her hands on both sides of her head. Sakura opened her mouth and gave a silent scream. Her reasons:
One: She thought Syaoran was hers. She knew she was selfish when she kissed him. She remembered Yumi's phone call a few weeks ago, but didn't really give much thought about it.
Two: What happened yesterday broke her heart. Sakura wouldn't admit it. But it did. She couldn't believe Syaoran was with someone else. And she felt guilty for interfering with their relationship.
Three: Syaoran didn't really love her.
She was jealous.
Sakura used to be jealous of Tomoyo because she had Eriol. But now, she also felt hatred and betrayel. For who? Syaoran and Yumi.
"Syaoran don't really love me. He loves Yumi." Those last words echoed throughout her mind.
She felt like dying right now.
Her life is still falling apart. First, with being raped. Then her family being runned over. And finally, she caught Syaoran with Yumi. Now they're kissing!
She smiled, looking at the good side of life... as if she's going to do something for the last time...
To Be Continued...