Chapter 9: Confrontations and revelations

"That's it? That's all that happened!" Tomoyo exclaimed, almost in indignation.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You didn't even kiss?"

I rolled my eyes. "There you go with your matchmaking again. You know, you should seriously take a week off and give it a rest."

"But Sakura, it's so obvious. The guy's interested in you!"

"Right," I said sarcastically. "He probably just pities me or something."

"Pities you! That's ridiculous. If he just pities you or something, as you put it, he wouldn't be calling you Ying Fa."

I blinked and looked mutely at Tomoyo's smirking face.

"Plus, you're the only girl he ever talks to properly." She continued

"Well, I don't fall all over him like the other girls..."

"Exactly," Tomoyo said, "That's why he likes you. Maybe not in a lovey- dovey way, but as a friend, maybe more. And he wants to get close to you and know you better."

I stood there in her room as my sister's words sank into my mind. But I kept quiet.

"So you should allow him to get close. Grab him with both hands and never let him go!" she said forcefully.

"So you're suggesting I should lower myself to the level of Meiling?"

Tomoyo sighed and shook her head. "Sakura, trying to get the guy you like is not 'lowering yourself to the level of Meiling'." She paused and looked at me. "You do like Syaoran, don't you?"

"Yes...I mean NO..."

"Sakura you have to pick one option- Yes or No."

I bit my lip and stared at her. "I...I don't know."

I sat on my bed, thinking about my talk with Tomoyo. 'If he just pities you or something, as you put it, he wouldn't be calling you Ying Fa'

He hadn't called me Ying Fa ever since that dinner at the Li mansion. He never got a chance to say my name- I never gave him a chance.

It sounded ridiculous- he was trying to get close to me and I was running away from him.

Why? I had no idea. Was I shy? Was I scared? Or had I fallen for him?

Maybe it was all three...

I remembered the smile he had given me last evening, and I found my breath hitch again.

I knew I was naïve and clueless. But I finally realised that I had fallen for Li Syaoran. It was a small crush, but it was a crush, nonetheless...

The sound of the door opening broke me out of my thoughts.

"Dreaming about your non-existent boyfriend." It was Meiling.

I suddenly felt annoyed at her. "Don't you know how to knock?" I retorted, surprising both myself and my sister.

"Oh, so gloating over your little victory. But remember- you haven't won..."

"Oh, stop it Meiling. You are the one who started this 'war' or whatever you call it and I'm getting tired of it. Just give it a break." I interrupted her, seeming to have grown some new confidence out of nowhere. "And I'm not gloating."

She seemed to be taken aback by my answer. But she quickly recovered. "So are you saying you're giving up?" She asked slyly.

"No way!" I exclaimed.

"Good, coz I just came to say that since you've made your first move, I'm now going to make mine. Tomorrow." She tossed her hair back and continued airily. "And you better know this- you are dealing with Kinomoto Meiling. And Kinomoto Meiling does not give up!" With that she went out of the room.

I stared at the place where she had been standing moments ago, wondering what she was planning. Though I knew all her earlier plans had ended in disaster, I had a very bad feeling about this one...