VII

Since her new contract as the Director of Costume Department for the second movie didn't start until late September, Tomoyo had a couple of months to rest and spend as she pleased. If she wasn't as shocked for Touya's disappearance from her life as she was, she would've spent those months hanging out with him, or maybe she would've even visited her mother, or maybe she would've gone back to work with Yue for a couple of weeks, or dedicate herself into creating new pieces to add to her future clothing line…

Instead of that, Tomoyo spent most of her time, locked inside her apartment. Once again, doors closed, curtains shut, staring at her phone, waiting for it to ring and announce she had a new message, maybe even a phone call from that number that now should've appeared as unknown. But no call arrived; no message popped in her notifications bar. She waited all for nothing, and that just made her fall into her endless loneliness and sadness.

She knew she had to finally accept that whatever had happened between them, it was already over. That opportunity life had given her had already passed, and she had to be mature and accept it as it was; there was nothing left than be happy and grateful for all the good things that she had gotten out of it, and move on through that path that no longer included Touya Kinomoto.

But she just couldn't.

Touya Kinomoto had embedded deep inside her, under her skin, inside each and every one of her thoughts, and it seemed there was nothing she could do to take him out of there. Especially since she didn't know how, and also she didn't want to figure out how to. Just as the first time she had held onto the idea, after sleeping with him at that hotel, she was hoping once again he would call her one more time. But this time, she already knew that wasn't going to happen; she was more than conscious that it would never ever happen again. And once again, her self-inflicted pain destroyed her.

When pre-production started, Tomoyo had to finally get out of her apartment, and get back to work. They still had some months before the sequel started filming but she and her team had to already begin making the new costumes. The first month was extremely hard. Tomoyo still felt as if she was not part of the world, and couldn't focus on what she was doing; she pushed most of her work to her assistants, and the little things she did took care of (mostly Sakura's outfits) ended up being taken care of late at night, at her own apartment, when her insomnia didn't allow her to fall asleep.

The little sanity she could get back during the three months of pre-production, menaced to crumble down when the actual filming started: going back into the routine, and having Sakura always next to her, just helped to remind her that Touya wasn't there, and he wouldn't be. It was torture to see Sakura at the studio, and not see her older brother nagging everybody, demanding changes in costume, objecting dangerous stunts, or preventing Syaoran to get close to his little sister.

It was hard at first, but as the weeks went by, Tomoyo had to admit not having Touya around also had some good points: Sakura did much better when she wasn't under the constant pressure of her older brother's supervision, and Tomoyo, just as the rest of the crew, had way more freedom to actually do their jobs. Yes, she had to admit finishing a costume, dressing Sakura in it and not having someone criticizing her choices and demanding hundreds of changes, felt like a blessing.

Another change in the routine was Syaoran's constant presence. Considering there was now no threat of being strangled by a man fifteen years older than him, and still madly in love with his co-protagonist, the kid spent most of his time with Sakura, which meant he also spent lots of time with Tomoyo, who had become the girl's best friend.

When the cameras where rolling, Tomoyo (who was always sitting next to Eriol) couldn't miss how they bonded perfectly at every scene they shot. In the scarce occasions when just one of them had to shoot, the other one sat next to Tomoyo and stared at the other one, completely bewitched. Sakura couldn't help but deeply sigh every time she saw him, and Syaoran couldn't help but blush every time he saw her.

When none of them where shooting, Sakura spent most of her time with Tomoyo, who pressured herself to deliver even better outstanding quality vs. the first film, and thus worked over hours almost every day. And so, Syaoran was with them: he turned to be very considerate with Tomoyo, and knowing the enormous pressure she was under, he got used to always get them something to eat, and a nice conversation to have.

When April arrived, Sakura invited them both to spent her birthday at her family's house. That was the perfect opportunity for Tomoyo to relapse, expecting to see Touya at the happy family reunion, despite she already knew he was still in Germany, filming his new action movie.

Still, she had already made her mind that she would never cross ways again with him, no matter how close she was with Sakura, that when she stepped into the Kinomoto household (Sakura and her parents lived north of Tokyo) her heart and mind didn't expect to find Touya there.

On the other hand, Tomoyo's only focus was the way Sakura and Syaoran loved and cared for each other, and couldn't help but tear a little bit when Syaoran introduced himself to Sakura's parents (Fujitaka and Nadeshiko Kinomoto) as his daughter's boyfriend, and promised he would take care of her, and protect her, for as long as she be by his side.

And it was all because it was simply impossible to think about anything sad, negative or depressive when being next to them, whom could only emit happiness and love.

Nothing interesting happened during the rest of the year. When filming finished, the actors emptied the sets, and post-production crew finally got to work, Tomoyo, whom during the course of the year had healed her heart just enough, was able to go back to her apartment, and not shut down as she used to. She went back to work in her clothing line, with a smile on her face, and brightness in her eyes. She even went back to help Yue, who was planning an exhibit for late autumn, using his usual cold and lonesome vibes, that not even a single time had Tomoyo the oportunity to have a relapse into her depression.

The premiere for the sequel, happened during the first week of February. Once again Eriol became her date. During that last year their friendship had become way closer, but had never gone into something more. Tomoyo was grateful it had been that way: Eriol was a nice guy, but she wasn't into him romantically speaking, and she was more than sure that having a relationship with her boss would only bring her trouble.

"So, you're Sakura's date tonight?" Eriol asked when he and Tomoyo stopped in front of Sakura and Syaoran to have a chat, at the premiere's after party.

"It is an actual miracle for me to be here, actually." Syaoran replied, unable to hold his smile. "I mean, Kinomoto Touya finished filming and came back to Japan a month ago… I thought he would forbid me once again to be with Sakura…"

Hearing Touya's name made Tomoyo's heart skip a beat, which she made sure to dismiss by drinking a sip from her champagne glass.

"Touya needs to understand that I'm not a little girl anymore." Sakura said, visibly annoyed, as she held her boyfriend's hand. "If my parents have no issue with us dating, I don't see why would he."

"And you're totally right!" Eriol replied, pretending to clap. "I'm so sorry to be the one that has to say this to you Sakura, but your brother desperately needs a woman. We can all see how what he needs is just a little bit of sex…"

Eriol's words were drowned when Tomoyo laughed hysterically. Even Sakura and Syaoran turned to look at her, which made Tomoyo hurry and cover her mouth, trying to calm down.

"I'm so sorry, Eriol." She said, trying to recover her composure. "But I just find it so hard to imagine Touya Kinomoto having a relationship with someone. Have you ever seen that happen? And he has been followed by cameras 24/7 god knows how many years… If you ask me, I highly doubt he had ever slept with someone."

"He's a man after all, Tomoyo. The body has some basic needs. He definitely has a hidden relationship somewhere." Eriol replied, winking at her, which only made Tomoyo laugh again.

They hurried to change subject, and proceeded to talk about random and trivial stuff. Sakura and Syaoran walked away a couple of minutes later, since they still had other people to greet. Tomoyo and Eriol said goodbye and gave them a warm hug, and once they were by their own, walked together to the bar, ready to drink something heavier than just champagne.

They soon lost track of how many whiskies they both had, same with the tequila and vodka shots that occurred after. It was just that, which such a pleasant company, a relaxed ambient, and the funny conversation, it turned easy to just sit at the bar and kept on asking for drinks, which the bartender had them ready in just seconds.

Obviously, next morning, not used to ingest such alcohol quantity, Tomoyo woke up with a horrible hangover, and the usual wonder of what had just happened last night.

A knock at the door. That's what woke her up and brought her back to reality. She wondered who could be, annoying her such early morning. Usually she never had guests. She had to raise her hand a hurry to cover her eyes, since the sunrays had just hit her straight in the face, between some sort of semitransparent curtains, as she silently begged for the migraine to stop.

"Eriol, are you there?" asked a man's voice at the other side of the door.

Tomoyo did the best she could to slowly open her eyes, still unable to process what she had just heard. Blinked a couple of times, trying to get used to that much sunlight, as the man's voice continued:

"Please, don't be mad at me. I brought you breakfast."

Breakfast. That sounded good. She heard how whoever was at the other side of the door knocked again, which made her wish she could move faster and open the door, so he could finally shut up. After all, she better did not make him wait, that would be just rude. However, the slightest movement seemed to demand such efforts she simply could not do at the time. She was barely able to sit, when a shadow stopped in front of her. Unable to focus, she couldn't tell who was whoever pointed a finger against her, and whispered:

"Don't say a word."

She wasn't planning to say anything. Her throat was dry and hurt like hell. Her head was still spinning around, and she could only see blurry stuff that didn't look familiar at all, just as if someone had switched her apartment and she was now somewhere else. Completely oblivious to what was just happening, she saw the shadow walk up to the door, and could barely focus how it opened, and another shadow, this one taller and thinner, stopped there and looked at her.

"What is Tomoyo doing here?" The man asked.

"I ask myself the same." The shadow replied.

"How much did you guys drink last night?"

"Seems like more than enough."

"Have you done something stupid?"

"What? No, for the love of god, Yukito, of course not! Just in case you haven't noticed, she slept in the sofa. She's still wearing her dress. Who do you think I am…?"

"I was just asking."

"Are you jealous?"

"Shut up and move so I can get in."

Tomoyo didn't understand a single word of the conversation that had just occurred. She just wanted for the voices to shut up, drink something that would help her get rid of that headache (the door closing heard more like a gunshot), and an explanation of why she was sitting on a white sofa, when hers was deep red.

"Where am I?" was the first thing she could ask. Her throat was still dry and hurt. She definitely needed to drink some water.

"At my apartment." Replied the shortest of the shadows, who tried to hurry into the kitchen, but whose own headache made it impossible to move that fast. Then, the shadows started to look less blurry, and everything started taking shape. Tomoyo could make out that blue hair, pale skin and round frame glasses, that when got close enough offer her a glass of water, turned out to be Eriol.

"What am I doing at your apartment?" she asked after drinking from the glass of water her boss had offered her, and immediately felt refreshed.

"Honestly, I don't know." Eriol replied, as he placed his own glass on top of the coffee table, and placing his head in the sofa, just as Yukito walked into the kitchen, and proceeded to take out whatever he held (Tomoyo could finally see it) in the plastic bag he carried.

The mysterious contents of the plastic bag turned out to be breakfast. Yukito, who was standing at the other side of the counter, looking at them time to time, both obviously hungover, proceeded to take everything out. He didn't ask (he didn't need) for Eriol's help, and made his way in the kitchen, easily locating dishes, glasses and cutlery.

A quick look at the fridge allowed him to find the ice and unagi sauce Eriol used to hide behind the milk. It was just as if the silver haired men knew exactly where everything at that apartment was placed.

After dividing part of the content of the packages in two plates, Yukito walked out of the kitchen, and left everything on the coffee table, where Eriol (who was starving) hurried to grab one of the plates, an proceeded to eat it all.

"You're not gonna eat?" Yukito asked when he went back to the kitchen, and saw from the other side of the counter how Tomoyo hadn't take a single bite.

"Oh, I… Thank you." She said, but still didn't touch the food, and just drank more water.

"I haven't poisoned it." He continued, as he served a third plate, for himself. "After all this was our breakfast, you know? Eriol and mine…"

"Shush!" Said Eriol, visibly annoyed.

Yukito couldn't help but frown.

"You honestly think she hadn't notice?"

"Well, I know Tomoyo isn't stupid, but one thing is to completely confess..." Eriol begun, but promptly shut up.

Yukito couldn't help but sigh.

"I thought you were the one who didn't want to keep this as a secret."

"And I thought you were the one who didn't want this to be public information." Eriol said back. And they both sighed this time.

"What are you two talking about?" Asked Tomoyo. Honest speaking, she didn't care, but all that talking was making her headache to come back, and she hadn't find another polite way to tell them to shut it. After all, she was more than sure that none of them wanted to actually share whatever that secret information was.

"Well, this is your chance." Yukito said, as he proceeded to rest both elbows in the counter and stared at Eriol. "If you want to tell it to someone, you can tell her."

Eriol gave Yukito a murderous look before turning to look at Tomoyo.

"You have to promise you won't tell anybody." He asked, kinda begging. Tomoyo looked back at him, still confused. She nodded, out of courtesy, just once since she still had a headache. "Well, you know… You already know Yukito, right? The studio producer? Well, he's… He's my partner.

"Partner?" Tomoyo repeated.

"Yes, you know. Boyfriend."

Eriol's kindness came back at her, in a memory that could only make her way more confused. But he had invited her to both premieres as his date! They had even gone to have lunch together, just the two of them. Did that mean that was mere courtesy, so to hide his actual relationship with his boss? For a moment, she thought of herself as a fool; how did it ever occur to her that her boss had romantic feelings for her? And she had to hold her laugh; how was it even possible that Touya had also thought of it? Well yes, they had never suspected of Eriol's sexual orientation, you had to give him a little bit of credit for his flawless acting. She had not even once suspected it. Was it that Eriol was actually really good at hiding it and thus nobody really knew, or was it only Tomoyo who was way too focused into thinking how to politely reject him if he ever tried to confess his feelings for her?

"Wait, so what you mean to say is that you're gay?"

"You can't say a word." Eriol repeated himself, and hurried to add. "Especially since Yukito is our boss, and the rest of the crew will totally think he has some sort of preference towards me…"

He didn't need to say another word. Tomoyo was not listening anymore. It was just too much information at once, mixed with all the alcohol she had drank last night, and the headache… She hurried to get up and down the hallway that had to obviously lead to the bedrooms, and tempting her luck, opened the first door that turned out to be the bathroom.

Unable to hold it any second longer, she dropped in front of the toilet, and threw up.

The new information she had about Eriol and Yukito, helped for Tomoyo and her boss to become even closer, if that was possible. Now that she knew there was actually no problem into having a deeper relationship with him, as he would never have romantic feelings for her, made her feel much more free to be herself around him.

From being just coworkers (despite being boss and subordinate), they had turned into intimate friends. Now it was pretty common to see Eriol asking for Tomoyo's opinion regarding not only the costumes, but filmography, or for when they were not filming any scene, they sat together at a corner of the studio, the canteen or whatever empty meeting room, to have lunch together or simply chat. From time to time they even leave together when their shift ended, and went to dinner together, sometimes even grab a drink… as a result, some of the staff started suspecting there was something happening between them both. Still, Tomoyo did not care at all: she knew her worth, and was already used to that type of rumors from when she even worked with Yue, and perfectly knew that since they had no evidence, soon the gossip would be forgotten. It was all about time, it would happen sooner or later.

Eriol preferred it to happen later than sooner. He did want to come out and finally state he was perfectly happy with Yukito, but at the same time, was totally scared of what people would say about him, and about his boyfriend being his boss. Also, pretending that he and Tomoyo had some chemistry going was quite fun. Oh, the faces all these people would make when they finally find out how mistaken they were and that actually he had eyes only for Yukito…

And so, another year went by at Yukito Tsukishiro's cinematographic studio, a year where preparing, filming and post-production of the third and last movie starring Sakura and Syaoran finally finished.

The premiere was held mid-October, and happened just the same as the last two: Eriol asked Tomoyo once more to be his date, and now, knowing nothing would happen if they had too much drinks, she accepted happily.

They arrived at the event together, just as Sakura and Syaoran, who now were simply inseparable. They had a short conversation with Yukito (who had arrived on his own) and with Yue, who also had come with no date, but was soon surrounded with fans and clients alike. To Tomoyo's surprise, something similar happened to her.

Her work during the last five years in Ichihara Yuuko's trilogy had been highly acclaimed and praised, so she soon found herself surrounded with actors and actresses, who all wanted her to design their wardrobes for the next season, or at least a dress or suit for their next social event.

"Can I have her for a moment?" Sakura asked around midnight, when Tomoyo had finally ran out of business cards to give. "It won't take long, I promise."

Tomoyo smiled to the two ladies she had been talking to, and letting Sakura pull her by her arm, they both walked away, straight to the bar, where Eriol and Syaoran where already waiting for them, with tequila shots at hand.

"What's going on?" Tomoyo asked, looking how both men were offering them both tequila shots too.

Sakura took hers and Tomoyo had no other option but take it too.

"We're gonna cheer." Syaoran said, as Eriol tried his best not to laugh.

"And why are we cheering?"

"Because Syaoran and I are getting married!" Sakura said happily and excited.

"You what!?" Tomoyo asked, completely stunned. Ignoring her tequila shot, she took Sakura's hand and fixed her eyes in her engagement ring. "You have to be kidding me!"

But she didn't even allow Sakura to say a word, when she pulled her by the wrist and hugged tightly. As both women screamed like crazy, Syaoran had to step back, avoiding the tequila shot that Sakura had just spilled. Eriol held his laugh once more.

"It took you ages to ask her." He said to Syaoran. Seemed the cheering had been totally forgotten, but he still drank his shot, and hurried to add. "So, when's the date?"

"We've decided it will happen in spring, next year."

"So you're taking it calmly, I see."

"Yes." Syaoran replied, finally drinking his tequila shot too. "There's lots of things we gotta plan and we want to take it one step at a time…"

Things did totally not happen one step at a time. Next morning, Tomoyo hurried to inform all of her clients that she was cancelling all her project since she would be extra busy during the next six months, designing Sakura Kinomoto's wedding dress. This only helped her fame to rise as fast as champagne foam, and suddenly, everybody wanted her to design something for them.

As the bride's best friend, Sakura had asked Tomoyo to become her bridesmaid. Tomoyo accepted instantly, and with this, her responsibilities (besides designing the most perfect of all the wedding dresses of the world) increased into advising Sakura on each and every tiny detail that were needed into planning a wedding.

Both of them became inseparable. They spent most of their time shopping, looking for the perfect venue to held the ceremony and reception, choosing colors and fabrics to decorate the saloon, surrounding themselves in thousands of flowers picking the best to decorate the venue, centerpieces, and even the bride's bouquet. It took the weeks to pick the design for the centerpieces, and the glassware, and napkins… It even took them a month to choose the cake: flavor, levels, decoration, icing vs. fondant…

The six months that happened between the last premiere and the actual wedding day, happened way more quickly than what they were supposed to last, as if someone had manipulated time to run twice as fast. That end of April afternoon, when spring had allowed cherry blossom trees to bloom, Tomoyo found herself in one of the bedrooms located in the second floor of that old Japanese mansion, located in Hokkaido's countryside, helping Sakura fix her hair and makeup.

"Nervous?" She asked her best friend. Sakura hurried to deny.

"Anxious is the right word." She replied, her eyes filled with hope. "To think that in a few hours, Syaoran and I will be together forever…"

Tomoyo couldn't help but smile.

"You're ready." She said as soon as she placed the last bobby pin that held her veil in place.

"And just in time." Said another voice, from the bedroom door. "They're waiting for us."

"Ah, Mei-Lin!" Sakura apologized. Grabbing her dress so it wouldn't get damaged, Tomoyo helped her get up.

Mei-Lin, a woman with long black hair and reddish brown eyes, was waiting for them at the door, with a pink dress just as Tomoyo's. the Chinese woman was the groom's cousin, and was part of the bridesmaids (she, Tomoyo, and the four older sisters of the groom where all wearing the same pink dress), although she was the most desperate one. Easily to see from the way she constantly hit the floor with her heel, indicating she was soon to lose her patience.

After helping Sakura to stand up, Tomoyo hurried to grab the back of her dress so it didn't drag across the floor, and so the three ladies walked out of the bedroom, and hurried to walk down to the mansion's garden, where the ceremony was about to start.

Tomoyo's popularity as a fashion designer had reached even China: half of the guests (Li's friends and family) came from that country and had hurried to surround the lady as soon as the vows were done and the party had started, congratulating her for her excellent work on Sakura's and the bridesmaid dresses. If they only knew she had also designed Sakura and Syaoran's mothers' dresses! Just as any other person who had met her for her designing, the ladies had wasted no time into asking her to design something for them too, but Tomoyo was no longer listening. Since the moment she had stand next to Mei-Lin, and saw him there, sitting first row, her brain had shut down.

How was it possible that she had forgotten he would be there? It was his little sister's wedding, after all. The whole hour that the ceremony lasted, felt as being under direct sunlight at a hot summer afternoon: she felt shaky, hot, as if she was short of air and needed to hydrate… although she could only think of drinking a tequila shot.

And when the ceremony ended and her and the rest of the guests walked to the venue to continue with the party… she once again felt lost. It had been almost four years without seeing him! She had even committed to not watch his movie, the project that had pulled him away from her, the job that had taken him to Germany for almost two years… Resisting the temptation that was looking at his face, even if it was just through the screen, meant the memory of Touya Kinomoto had been secluded, and belonged to the past…

So, how was it possible that, after all those years without seeing him, without thinking about him, her body still missed him?

Surrounded by all those people, she couldn't help but look around, asking herself if he was also looking for her. If he was also waiting for the perfect time to catch her alone and so, get close and talk to her.

But, as much as her only wish was to be alone for just a minute, seemed that it would be something impossible during that evening. If she wasn't with Sakura, who couldn't stop thanking her for how much she had helped her with planning everything, she was with random guests that kept on asking for her business card, in order to get in contact and ask her to design something for them. If she wasn't talking with guests, she then was with Syaoran's sisters, who had turned out to be the four most scandalous women she had ever met, always laughing, always talking, always drinking…

"Shiefa!" Fuutie said, as she jumped away. "Be careful, you almost stain my dress!"

"I'm so sorry, Fuutie!" Shiefa apologized, as Feimei and Fanren laughed. "I didn't do it on purpose…"

"And now how are we supposed to cheer?" Fuutie cried, when her drink also fell from her glass. Feimie and Fanren laughed even harder.

"I'll go get another drink for you two." Tomoyo said, as she hurried her glass. "That means three champagne glasses, and then we can all cheer together…"

None of the four tall and skinny women stopped her. Feimei and Fanren were still laughing, and soon their drinks also dripped to the floor, and now, the four of them laughed as they pointed the champagne puddle that had stained their shoes.

Tomoyo walked away, not looking behind her. Yes, she knew where she was going, but had no intention of asking for more champagne. Midway, she saw how Eriol attempted to get to her, ready to chit chat, but she raised her empty glass, hinting she first needed another drink, and so Eriol didn't stop her and let her go.

Tomoyo smiled relieved, but, when she finally reached her destination, her smiled quickly faded, as she proceeded to breathe nervously.

The bar was almost empty. Located at a corner of the gardens, under a cherry blossom tree in full bloom, there was only the barman and a lonely figure sitting in the middle, drinking whiskey.

Déjà vu.

That was the only way to explain what she saw at that moment. Once again, that familiar feeling crawled under her skin. The way that Touya Kinomoto was sitting by himself, exactly in the middle of the bar, hidden under the shadows the cherry blossoms casted onto him, drinking from his glass, staring at nothing… It felt as no years had gone by, and at the same time, as if had been an eternity since she last saw him.

Still, Touya Kinomoto looked exactly the same as Tomoyo had last seen him. Tall, thin, broad shoulders, darken complexion, his sharp jawline and mysterious dark brown eyes… She took a moment to admire him from afar, and when she couldn't take it any longer, slowly but steady walked towards him.

Not fully conscious of her movements, she placed her empty glass at the bar, and instead of asking the barman to pour three champagne glasses for her, she sled onto the stool next to him, and unable to stop looking at him, she waited.

Touya Kinomoto grabbed his glass and agitated it slightly. A simple circular motion which made the ice clatter as it hit the glass. Looking at the bottom of his glass, he finished it all in one drink, and not looking at anything in particular, placed it back in the bar. And proceeded to swallow slowly.

Looking at his side face, she could see him frown slightly. And then, still slowly, he turned his face and look her straight into her eyes.

Her hear skipped a beat, for a second she couldn't breathe, and before she was conscious of her own actions, she shyly smiled at him.

And, to her surprise, he smiled at her back. A half a smile. A smile that was as enigmatic and sexy as it had always been…

"Wanna have a drink?" Touya asked, as he had noticed her glass was empty.

"Whiskey." She replied.

"Make it two." He said to the barman, not looking at him. His brown eyes were still locked in Tomoyo's, just as her gray eyes were locked on his.

The drinks arrived fast, but none of them hurried to grab their glasses. They were still looking one another, as if the first to look away lost, or as if they were scared that as they looked another way, the other one would simply disappear into thin air.

Still, after five minutes of tortuous silence, Tomoyo finally decided to part her lips (she still didn't know what to say, but just knew she had to say something), but Touya hurried and got up his seat.

Tomoyo felt as if her soul left her body, just as she saw him turn around and finally take his drink. He was leaving, just as he always had done. She couldn't help but resign herself; yes, it had felt good to see him again, but it was way better to end with it fast this time. Nothing had to happen between them this time; she wouldn't make the same mistake of expecting more of him, more than he was willing to give her, more than he could actually give her, and it was best for her to save herself of the pain of knowing she wasn't meant for him…

"Let's walk a bit." Touya said.

Tomoyo hurried to look up (she didn't know when she had looked down to the floor) and finally saw that, while he was holding both of their whiskey glasses in one hand, he had extended her his other one, waiting for her to grab it.

A new smile formed in Tomoyo's lips. Trembling, she took Touya's hand, letting her fingers intertwine with his. She stepped down of the stool, and stood next to him. She was still shorter than him, barely reaching his shoulder, even with her high heels, so she had to slightly look up so to see his face.

Touya smiled at her. Once again, that half smile that worked so good on him. He offered Tomoyo her glass of whisky (she was too nervous and so her hand trembled a bit), and after feeling how he grabbed her by her waist (making her blush), they proceeded to walk away.

They had too much to talk about.

THE END

I'm so sorry I wasn't able to upload last weekend. It had been hectic days.

Anyway, I hope today's chapter was worth the wait.

See you next time C:

Ribo~