I stood near the elaborate dining table, eyeing the different dishes placed before us. Li Yelan seated herself at the head of the table and smiled at all of us. "Please sit down & help yourself."
Everyone was almost halfway through their meal when we heard one of the doors to the dining hall opening. "Uh...I'm sorry- I just-" I turned to find a rather flushed Li Syaoran standing at the door.
"Xiao Lang." Li Yelan said, coldly staring at him. "You're late. Again."
"I apologize mother. Spinel was barking, so I went to feed him."
"You could have told Wei or one of the servants to feed him." She stated simply.
"I-er- decided to feed him myself."
"And where were you all this while? Don't tell me you spent the whole evening feeding the dog."
"I was in the library, mother. Reading." At this, I heard Meiling gasp, clearly surprised that she hadn't spotted him there.
Yelan turned away from her son. "Xiao Lang, I do not approve of you disappearing every time every time we have guests over." He dropped his gaze, staring at his feet. "Anyway, meet our new neighbours- Mr. Kinomoto, & his young daughters. I daresay you've met them before?"
"Yes, I have." He said without looking up.
"As for dinner," Yelan continued, "you can forget about getting any, since you are careless enough about it to walk in so late."
I could see that Syaoran was feeling more & more embarrassed at being scolded in front of strangers. His sisters were looking at him sympathetically. I had expected one of them to defend him, but no one did. The person who did speak up was someone I hadn't expected to. But I probably should have.
"Oh Mrs. Li, you're being too hard on Syaoran. I don't mind him being shy." My sister (guess which one) said. "In fact it's a real turn on for many girls." She gave him, what she thought, was a seductive smile.
I stared at Meiling, & so did Tomoyo. I hadn't thought that she would flirt with him so obviously, and that too in front of his mother! But oh well, this is Meiling we're talking about.
Yelan gave her a cold glare. However, Meiling's attention was still on her 'prey', who was now looking at her with an eyebrow raised.
"I agree mother." Fuutie piped up, though she looked like she was trying hard to keep a straight face. "For the past few days, you've been forcing Xiao Lang to skip his dinner, and look- the poor baby's growing weaker." Syaoran glared at his sister.
"There's no place for him to sit."
"Oh yes there is, Mrs. Li. He can sit here- next to me." Meiling interjected. I saw that she had very strategically seated herself next to an empty chair. That scheming little---
"Oh very well then," Yelan said resignedly to her son, waving her hand. "Sit down and eat."
Syaoran reluctantly made his way to the table and sat down next to Meiling. I watched Meiling closely trying to find out what she was planning. For some reason I had this weird urge to protect Syaoran from my sister. She, however, kept talking with Xiefa and didn't make any moves throughout the dinner.
It was when she had finished eating that I realised why she had wanted Syaoran to sit next to her in the first place.
After wiping her mouth carefully, so as to not smudge the liberal amount of lipstick that she had put on, she got up from her chair and accidentally tripped over it and fell right onto---
Syaoran's lap!
I had a mad urge to punch her. But I restrained myself when Syaoran's plate, still about half full tipped off the table and fell onto her lap, ruining her dress.
"OH NO! My beautiful dress!" she cried getting up, her voice shrill. "It's ruined!" Everyone was now staring at her. I caught Tomoyo's eye but she looked away grinning.
"Well, who told you to jump onto my lap?" Syaoran remarked, frowning. That was the last straw for Tomoyo and she burst out laughing.
"I tripped on the chair," Meiling said, defending herself. "And what's so funny Tomoyo? My brand new dress is ruined and you think it's something amusing."
"Oh yes- your dress is ruined." Tomoyo said, between her giggles. "If you could call it one, that is." That and the sight of a very flustered and angry Meiling, looking dishevelled in her pathetic excuse for a dress, which now didn't look very attractive with all the bits of food sticking on to it, and I couldn't control it any more either.
"Now, now, girls." Yelan said calmly, though her lips had curved upwards slightly. "Xiefa, please lead Ms. Kinomoto to the bathroom. And you may lend her one of your dresses, for her to change into."
Xiefa seemed to be the only one genuinely concerned for Meiling. Dad was frowning at her behaviour. The other three sisters were barely able to suppress their amusement. And Syaoran was muttering something about his dinner being ruined.
After Meiling had changed into Xiefa's lent pair of jeans and shirt, dad got up. " I think we should be going now, Mrs. Li. We're grateful for your kind hospitality."
"It's my pleasure, Mr. Kinomoto." Yelan replied, smiling. "And Tomoyo, don't forget to drop in sometime, with your designs."
"Oh, I will, Mrs. Li."
She then turned to her butler. "Wei, drop them till the gate, would you?"
We said our goodbyes and followed the elderly man through the lavish gardens in front of the Li mansion. We had almost reached the gate when I heard Syaoran's voice. "Uh- Ying Fa."
It took a moment for me to realise that he was calling me. I turned.
"You had left this that day, when you-er-ran off." I looked at the thing in his hand. It was the small stuffed teddy bear.
"It's yours, isn't it?" he asked. "And don't worry, I didn't try to eat it." He said teasingly, and as usual, I turned red.
I could feel three pairs of eyes on my back. Dad's held surprise that this guy even knew that I existed. Tomoyo's held a mixture of delight and curiosity. But Meiling's eyes were wide with shock, and absolute rage & jealousy.
I took the stuffed toy from him with a muttered 'thanks', even though it wasn't mine, and I had no idea from where Kero had got it. Then I turned and mechanically walked back home, trying hard not to meet anyone's eye. But I could still feel Meiling's eyes burning through my back.