"The Last Tears"


Beep, beep.

A sound so annoying that never failed to anger Sakura.

Beep, beep.

After five more minutes of listening to the annoying sound, she realized it would not stop, so she sat up from her lying position on the futon. She looked around the room confused and rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Hoe…?"

After her eyes adjusted to the surroundings, she was reminded that she was in Touya's apartment.

Beep, beep.

That annoying sound was still going off though, so she decided to look for the source of it. She lifted the covers and saw that it was the alarm clock that went off every single morning. She hit the snooze button and sighed, falling back down on the futon, staring at the ceiling. Her mind automatically reverted back to yesterday's events and a blush crept to her cheeks, along with her heart rate picking up again like it had been doing all day yesterday.

Sakura had seen many attractive men throughout her life and had been hit on by quite a few, but none had ever intimidated her as much as the man from yesterday had. He had a son that looked very similar to him, but a lot less intimidating. They could have been mistaken for twins, with the exception of one being more masculine than the other.

"Li…Syaoran," she tested the name on her tongue. She could feel her heart flutter at the sound of it as a small smile tugged at her lips.

Red flag, Kinomoto Sakura! He's a man who is probably already taken, considering the fact that he has a kid. A man while you're a girl.

At her conscious warning, she could not help but agree more with it. She knew there was no need to let those thoughts get any further than that. The man had been blessed with good-looks and that's all there was to it.

What she did need to be focusing on is finding a job, rather than a man being attractive. Sakura looked at the calendar on the wall across from her, groaning when she noticed the date on the calendar and her handwriting in bold letters under the date.

RENT.

Just my luck.

She thought about her last shift and how much she had counted in tips last night before realizing it would not even be half of her rent. And to top that, her check would not hit until next week. She knew her landlord would not continue to be so gracious. She could only hope today though.

Deciding to think about that later, she jumped from the futon with her fist in the air. "I'm going to do my best today!" she exclaimed, trying to lighten her mood for the long day ahead of her. It was always better to stay positive anyway.

She chose casual attire for the day and took a quick shower. After she finished, she headed to the kitchen to look in the refrigerator for something to eat. She sighed, seeing the few things she had left in her kitchen. There were eggs and an apple, which was rotting out, and a water bottle.

She took out the eggs and apple, deciding it would have to do for the day. She began preparing for the eggs as she bit into the rotting apple. To make matters better for her, she reasoned that the apple did not taste as bad as it looked.

After cooking the eggs, she went to the living room and sat on the floor, in front of the picture with her family, and ate the eggs in silence after greeting them. She had sold their kitchen table a few months ago to pay for rent, so she had grown used to the idea of eating on the floor. It always felt comforting with the picture in front of her though.

She stood in front of the mirror after eating and examined herself, to make sure she looked appropriate enough for a job.

After finger combing through her short, auburn hair to make it look presentable, she left the house in search for a job.


Sakura walked out the eleventh restaurant that evening, face red with anger and frustration. With what? She could not even tell if it were at herself or every place she had walked out of today that had told her they required a license/ID in order to work there. She realized how lucky she had been at getting that job at the restaurant that laid her off yesterday.

If every single place in Tokyo required an ID to work there, she needed to make a trip to her old town she had not been to since her father passed. She did not have the funds to do that right now though, so she would just have to continue what she had been doing, begging people for a job.

She suddenly wanted to scream—cry about this being her last straw at living. Being jobless and almost homeless was too much to handle at this age. Perhaps she should have let her old boss contact the authorities to take her in to custody so someone could take care of her.

At that thought, she shook her head vigorously. That was a pure sign of weakness and it proved to get her nowhere in life because she always lost any person who would do that for her. She had cried and depended on people to make things better her entire life. She had even depended on the little boy to keep her happy yesterday. She had to stay strong and not let herself slip like she did yesterday. She had to keep trying her best to make life worth living somehow.

"Excuse me, ma'am, are you in need of a job? I've noticed you go in and out of several stores around here," a voice snapped her out of her pep-talk in her head.

She thought about what the voice had asked, and turned to it immediately, noticing a tall, middle-aged man stand before her with a kind smile on his face.

"Yes, I am and I've been looking all day. Do you, by any chance, know anywhere that is hiring a 17-year-old without any form of ID?" she asked, purposely looking at the man with a look of determination in her eyes.

"No ID, hmm?" The man looked thoughtful for a moment before a grin spread across his face, causing her heart to do a few leaps at that response. "Well, I'm looking for young ladies to model for some advertisements for my company."

Her smile dropped at that. "I…try my very best at everything I do, but I am going to have to be honest and tell you that I don't have any experience in modeling," she said disappointingly.

A model? Her mother had been a rather popular model in all of japan before she passed at a young age.

The man held a hand towards her. "My name is Hideki Akiyama, and I can assure you that I'm not looking for experienced models. I'm actually more interested in…women who have no experience, so everything feels more…real. My shoots typically go for raw and natural, and I think you could fit that category. You have a very…unique look about yourself and I can tell that it's all natural beauty. Your face looks very familiar, but I can't seem to quite place my finger on the face I'm thinking about."

She blushed, never hearing a compliment as…smooth as that one before. It did not seem forward or forced. "Thank you, Mr. Akiyama. But…sadly, most of my focus will have to be on school this upcoming year because I'm a senior. If I were to do that, I need to think about it."

This was something too big of a decision to make on a whim, despite her needing a job, she reasoned mentally.

"Well, that's a shame because with your looks, you would definitely make a fortune. Give me a call if you ever change your mind and I'll be sure to get you in." He handed her a small square card.

Looking at it, she giggled softly, thinking about a similar situation that happened less than 24 hours ago. She wondered if people in Tokyo gave their business cards so freely to everyone they came across.

She smiled and nodded her head. "I will and thank you for the offer, Mr. Akiyama. Oh, and my name's Sakura."

"Sakura…" he said thoughtfully. "Well, Sakura, it was nice meeting you and I hope to hear from you soon."

She nodded before they bid each other goodbye. Then it hit her. She had just turned down a job offer even though she had been out all day looking for one.

What is wrong with me?

Pushing that thought to the back of her mid before she became depressed about it, she decided to head back to the apartment. She had until 6 to pay her rent, yet she had accomplished nothing. She would just have to give him what she could and hope that he would be gracious again. She walked back to the apartment with her mind occupied with different things she could tell the landlord this time.

When she arrived, she was still not sure what she was going to tell him and she was scared that whatever she did tell him, he would say no. And she would be evicted or end up on the streets with nowhere to go.

On the way to her room, she ended up running into the landlord coincidentally, not giving her much of a choice but to confront the situation now.

She wondered what his name is again. He was not necessarily the average, old man type of landlord. He looked fairly young—maybe in his mid-thirties and he had a very gentle face that made her feel less frightened to speak to him.

She inhaled a deep breath before mustering up the courage to approach him. She began to walk in his direction with a smile plastered on her face. "Hey, Mr. Hiyoshi. I was just looking for you, actually—"

"Ahh, Touya-kun's sister, right?" Hiyoshi said brightly.

She bit back the frown that threatened to form on her lips, but nodded her head slowly.

"I'm still sorry about what happened to the poor boy. I hope that you are coping well because I know a great loss like that can have a long impact," he said a lot more sympathetic this time.

She smiled sadly and bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, sir."

"Yes, your brother was a good man. He always talked good things about you, and I can tell that he really loved you because he did whatever he could to keep a roof over your head. He really cared for you a lot, like a great brother should for his sister."

Her heart rate accelerated, realizing this was the moment she had been preparing for all day. "Yes sir, he was. I actually wanted to talk to you about that." She looked down at her shoes shyly before glancing back up at him with all pride to the side and a look of determination on her face. "Is there any way that the date could be extended for me to pay rent? I just need a little more time to come up with the rest of the money, b-but I do have some of it. I could just use a few more days if you would allow me."

Her eyes ended up straying back to the floor, staying glued there from shame and embarrassment. He was just praising her brother about being able to take care of her, along with himself and she was doing the complete opposite of what he did. She could barely even take care of herself.

"Sakura…"

She knew that tone of voice. It was the tone that her father used whenever he was trying to let her down easily about something she could not have. The tone Touya used whenever he did not agree with the choice of guys that she liked. It was that tone that always shattered her heart into millions of pieces because she knew that she would not be able to get her way.

"Mr. Hiyoshi, please. I'll do anything, just name it. I know I was a little late paying it all last month too, but in a few more days, I'll have it all. Even extra for next month's rent that I can pay up-front. I just got this…modeling job and it pays very well. After one shoot, they hand you the money in cash."

She mentally winced at the lie, but reasoned that it had not been a complete lie. Akiyama did say that he would give her the job if she ever decided that she wanted to do it. Most modeling jobs paid very well in Tokyo, she had heard, so that was no lie either.

"A modeling job, eh?"

She could feel his eyes scan her entire body, sending unpleasant chills down her spine. It felt like little bugs were crawling under her skin with each glance over he gave her. She ignored the feeling and allowed him to look her over. She looked him in the eyes with determination in them. "Yes, sir. It pays very well too, so we won't have this problem anymore."

"You are aware what they make models do, right?"

His eyes remained glued to her form as he began to approach her slowly. She felt like the prey of a lions meal with the look in his eyes. "U-um…yes?"

Was there a wrong or right answer to that question? For some reason, she felt like there was.

"How about we make it simple and you do it for me?"

Her back hit against the wall, lightly. She did not even know she started moving and when had he invaded all of her personal space. "I-I'm not sure what you're asking, Mr. Hiyoshi," she lied, pressing her body against the wall more so their bodies would not make contact.

Run, you foolish girl!

He pulled on the hem of her shirt, pressing his body against hers fully. She gasped when something hard pressed against her stomach. "Take your clothes off. I'm willing to let you stay here for free if you're willing to do that," he demanded tightly.

She felt his cold hand slide under her shirt slightly, while he rest his other hand beside her head on the wall. She suddenly felt nauseated. She pushed his hand from under her shirt aggressively. "Mr. Hiyoshi, that is not what I meant, so I don't think I can do that."

"Sure you can. You'll have to get used to the idea anyway if you're going to do modeling."

She felt his hand slide under her shirt again and he pulled her shirt up a little more this time. She pushed against him again, but he grabbed both her small wrists with one hand and slammed them against the wall behind her roughly, pinning her there.

Her human instincts kicked in, making her struggle against him, fearing that this would all end in pain. "Please, Mr. Hiyoshi. I don't want to do this—"

"You said that you would be willing to do anything, right?"

That was when she felt his hot breath against her face. He did not stop pulling her shirt up this time though. Her body froze for a moment before she struggled against him even more. Automatically, she began to reprimand herself mentally, telling herself over and over how foolish she had been to insinuate she would do anything to live here.

After his lips brushed against her neck, she squirmed even more against him. "Please, Mr. Hiyoshi! I didn't mean anything like this!"

His cold tongue ran down the length of her neck, as his fingers crept up her torso. She could feel her insides twist in knots and she held back the vomit that was attempting to erupt from her stomach.

After a few seconds of struggling, she stopped, feeling hopeless to do anything else. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks for the first time in a long time before she could stop them. She had never pictured her first time being like this. She had always thought it would be with someone she had feelings for, at least. Her mind took her to darker places again as she stood pressed tightly against the wall motionless under his ministrations.

As fast as her mind drifted there, it was snatched away when she felt her cheap material shirt tear from her body and pulled towards her room number. She began struggling again, finding an opportunity to escape again. "Help me! Someo—" Her mouth was covered by a hand before she could finish her sentence.

She took a bite at his hand hard, drawing blood before she felt herself pushed down on the floor, hearing him yelp. She started crawling away and stood up, but he grabbed one of her legs, which caused her to fall face down to the ground again.

She grabbed her nose and gently held it as she felt something wet drip from it. "Ouch…"

The man was on top of her before she could tend to her bruised nose. "Why are you being so difficult? Here I am, trying to extend a helping hand and you're rejecting me. How rude can you get?"

More tears formed in her eyes as she struggled under him before he grabbed her wrists with one hand and pinned them above her head on the ground this time. He slammed her wrists against the floor several times, causing her to scream at the pain. Her eyes closed and my body went completely limp under him again as he started unzipping her pants.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, asshole?" She heard a voice bark and the weight was lifted off her. Instead of finding out who her savior had been, she tended to covering her half-naked torso.

"This doesn't concern you. She is the one who wanted to sell her body to me in order to live here!"

"You sick, motherfucker," She heard another punching sound, but still refused to look in the direction.

After a few more minutes of hearing grunts and more assaults, she heard the landlord trudging off murmuring curses under his breath before her savior could land anymore attacks.

Something large was thrown on top of her immediately after that. She looked up, gasping at the sight before her. She was surprised to see Li Syaoran staring down at her intensely with the eyes, she now called, killer-eyes. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before she looked away, feeling her heart skip a beat with the same stupid blush burning her face like it always did around him. It only increased the pain on her face.

"W-what are you doing here?" she stuttered, nervously wrapping his suit coat around her tightly so he could not see anything. The coat was fairly large, and it made her feel swallowed whole by him. And she did not mean by how large it was, but by the scent. He had a sandalwood scent with a hint of cologne she was sure cost a fortune.

He held up his phone, waving it lazily. "You didn't answer. I assumed you gave me a false number."

Her mouth opened, ready to give an explanation, but she just ended up closing it and then opening it again. She could not understand why she always made a fool of herself in front of him.

"S-sorry! It wasn't a false number, Mr. Li. It's my home phone number…"

"Used to be home phone number," he corrected, making her look at him questioningly. "Was that not true about what he said?"

Her eyes widened and she shook her head furiously. "No, Mr. Li! I would never do such a thing with a man I'm not familiar with!" she explained with a blush on her cheeks.

"You can't afford this piece of shit?" He motioned to the apartment complex.

She felt even more embarrassed and ashamed with a hint of anger at his insult. "This 'piece of crap' is my home. Not everyone owns their own company, Mr. Li," she said with an edginess to her tone. Sakura may be a coward at times and probably a lot of other things, but she refused to let a person talk down on people less fortunate than others. She would never let anyone talk down on those who tried their best every day to make a living.

"Yes, but I've seen lower class afford better places than this."

Her fists clenched, just itching to punch that smug look off his face as he spoke down on the place she grew to call home with her brother. "Was there something that you wanted?" she asked, wanting to get rid of him again.

His entire demeanor changed when she asked that. He was back to the killer-eyed, intimidating man that she first met. She looked down at the ground again, feeling that same fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach. She could not tell if it was the intimidating aura or his eyes that made her feel this way. "Yes. I find your situation to be perfect timing."

She gasped at his statement, wondering how much more would he throw at her today with his rude attitude. "How dare you—"

"How would you feel about being a nanny to my son?"

She froze when that question registered in her head. "W-what? You're not being serious." Less than 24 hours ago, the man made it a point to show he did not trust her with his kid.

He was silent for a while, so she decided to look up to meet those piercing, fiery eyes. "I am. As I told you last evening, Xing does not take a liking to most women. Every woman I've hired, it never turned out right."

She had no clue what to say, so it was no surprise how she sat there on the ground, staring at him with her mouth opening and closing. This seemed to be a new habit of hers around the man. "I-I don't know what to say."

"That you will. What's your desired pay? I'm willing to pay anything."

She gaped at his forward and boldness. "Mr. Li! That won't be necessary. You've already been generous enough, so I don't think that I would be able to take anymore from you than I already have." She remembered how much he had spent at the restaurant last night too.

Feeling it to be impossible to hold his intimidating stare, she looked away from his threatening eyes. She felt him glaring at her, even though she was not looking. She did not need to look to know anything this man did. He always somehow made her feel it.

"I thought we already had this discussion. I'm here offering you what you need, and you reject it?"

"I—"

"You'll have my home to stay in for the time-being as well, if that makes things a lot easier for you too."

She gasped again at the fact that he would offer a mere stranger an invitation to stay in his home with them. She wondered if his parents told him that he should not trust strangers. It seemed like the man had no home training.

Insane!

"Mr. Li. That—"

"Don't reject my generosity once more," he commanded, making her frown at his tone. "I would like to go out with you before we seal the deal and have a background check on you."

She had not even agreed to do it and he was already suggesting invading her privacy. "Mr. Li, I can't accept this offer from you. I would hate for Xing to think that I'm only around for the money, so my conscious won't let me do this."

"Ms. Kinomoto."

She looked at him hesitantly and had the urge to look away from his piercing stare, but she held it for once.

"Xing wouldn't mind having you around. He won't even know about the arrangement if it would put you at ease about the proposition. Don't think of it as you doing me a favor; instead, think of it the other way around. You need money and a place to stay and I'm willing to lend you a helping hand, in return of you watching my son. It's a win-win situation. Opportunities like this don't come by easy. Just think about it for a moment. An opportunity like this will probably never present itself to you again."

He was talking as though they were creating some type of business arrangement. One side of her mind was telling her to say no and run, while the more rational side was telling her that she should because he was right. After she left here, she would not have a place to stay. She could not stay here any longer, especially after what just happened. There was no way that she could do this though. Being in a house with a stranger and his kid also seemed insane. It would be nice if she were able to be around Xing, but this whole deal screamed bad news.

"Mr. Li—"

"Is there anything I can do to convince you to do this?"

There was not anything that he could do. She did not know what to tell him either.

Her eyes shifted back to the ground—which she was still sitting on. Her mind told her she did not know this man, so there was no way that she could trust him so easily…right?

Without much thought into that question, she made up her mind. "Alright."

He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, causing an ugly, red stain to taint her cheeks. "Have everything that is necessary packed by…" he glanced down at his clock, "8:00. I will get you a place to stay for the next few days until we have everything settled. Someone will come over and help you get your things moved. This person will also take you to the hospital to get your injuries checked and…fixed, all medical expenses taken care of. You should be settled in before midnight though."

She shook her head vigorously. "No, no, no. The hospital won't be necessary," she said.

He gave her a pointed look that said this conversation was not up for debate anymore.

She did not know what to say because everything was happening so fast, so she just sighed and nodded. She no longer had any energy to argue with the fact that he was spending so much money on her again.

"Have a good rest of the evening." And just like that, he was gone. Again.

She had not even got to thank him for stopping what was going to happen with her landlord. Unconsciously, she pulled the jacket around her body tighter and stood from the ground.

She was going to stay with Xing and his father…

It was almost unbelievable.

She knew she certainly should not have felt this excited and anxious about it, but she did. She should have been scared because she did not know these people. She confirmed that she really was going insane.

She unlocked her apartment door and went to the bathroom to take a look at her nose and cleaning the blood. It hurt more than she thought it did because the more she touched it, the more it stung and so did her wrist. After she finished cleaning up, she went straight to packing the necessary things with her mind still being occupied by the proposition. She gently placed the man's jacket on the couch and slipped a T-shirt on. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling disgust rush all over her body suddenly.

She could almost still feel Hiyoshi's hands and mouth on her. She took the shirt back off and went to the bathroom to take a bath. No matter how hard she scrubbed her skin, she could still feel him on her. Her eyes began to burn with tears again. But she quickly shook her head to get rid of the tears. She was being such a crybaby. She had always resorted to crying in the past whenever she did not know how to cope with her feelings or situations. She had not been like that in a while, so she refused to let herself fall backwards.

After she showered, she dressed in a different outfit and finished packing the rest of her things. Just as the man promised, there was a man who came to her door, dressed in all black at 8 o' clock to pick up her things, along with her. She was now in the car with a stranger, who was driving her to the hospital.

"This isn't something that happens every day."

He was right on so many levels. This did not happen where she used to live anyway. She knew no one who was taken in by some rich guy who wanted them to take care of their child.

"Pretty…" She was looking out the window at all the lights and skyscrapers. Tokyo really was a beautiful place. It was sad that she had not noticed until now.

"We will arrive at the hospital shortly, Ms. Kinomoto," the driver said, keeping his eyes glued to the road.

She smiled a little, even though he could not see her. "Alright," she said, barely a whisper but she saw him nod.

It did not take long to get to the destination after he promised that.


Sakura could see a goldish-yellow building come in to view two hours later. The words Conrad were in black, bold letters in the middle of it. It looked so beautiful...

After they had arrived at the hospital earlier, she was surprised that they did not have to wait in a line like most people would. All of the doctors had been nice and overly-welcoming of her being there. They had tended to her injuries and given her pain meds to ease the pain. She had been relieved when they told her that she had not broken her nose, but they did still end up putting a covering on it after putting some ointment to calm the pain. And the same with her bruised wrist. They had been quick with their services before they sent her home with medicine.

Now, they were at, what seemed to be, a hotel.

"Ms. Kinomoto, follow me this way."

She glanced at the guy who had been assisting her since 8 o' clock. He had already grabbed her bags and was waiting for her to follow him.

A blush stained her cheeks as she nodded. "U-um…I can carry one of those if you would like, sir." She offered a hand towards him for one of the bags.

He shook his head with a small smile on his lips. "That won't be necessary, Ms. Kinomoto. Besides, that is not why Mr. Li hired me, so I don't think that he would be pleased to know that I'm not being of assistance to you. Right this way."

She followed closely behind him, keeping her eyes to the ground. Even though "killer-eyes" was a little rude and intimidating, he seemed to be a very genuine person. He had been generous to her even when she did not deserve it. She knew he was only doing all of this so he could have someone watch his kid, but there were too many women, who were much older than her, that were capable of doing the job.

"As I told you last evening, Xing does not take a liking to most women. Every woman I've hired, it never turned out right."." Was what he said to her back at her apartment.

Just how many women had he tried to hire? And why was Xing giving these women such a hard time? She found it quite hard to believe that he would do such a thing. He was such an angel the day they met…

The doors automatically opened when they approached them. Her mouth fell open at the sight in front of her. It was even more beautiful inside of the entrance hall. She barely had any time to suck in everything, because it felt like they were walking much too fast for her liking. They walked into the elevator and he pressed the top floor.

The elevator dinged and they walked to a room door. He opened the door for her to walk in first. A smile formed on her lips as she bowed her head, thanking him silently.

Taking a look at the room, she was awestruck again. The room was even more beautiful and comfy feeling than the outside of the building was. She had heard about this place quite often back in Tomoeda from people who came to Tokyo. They always talked about how the King Room Bay View was, so she was almost sure that this was what they were talking about.

There was a king-sized bed in the middle of the room and the view that the window displayed was beautiful. You could take in the view of the Royal Hamarikyu Gardens and Tokyo Bay from the window. In front of the bed a few feet away, there was a flat screen TV hanging on the wall and a beautiful, brown dresser underneath it. On the wall, there was a sumi-e style cherry blossom painted on the headboard of the bed and on the flooring. The room was complimented by the traditional lantern-styled lamps by the bed and dresser. There was a table by the dresser with a comfy-looking wheel chair and a sofa-looking bed by the window with pillows on it.

The man sat her bags down by the bed before he left after they bid each other goodbye.

She walked in the room fully, still taking every little detail in that she could. Thanking the man was one of her top priorities right now. He did not have to go out of his way and get her a room like this. In fact, he did not have to do any of this for her, yet he did. Even though she felt guilty, there was not really any other option but to thank him, even if he could be rude sometimes.

The phone began ringing and she walked to the small dresser by the bed hurriedly, with the phone on top of it.

Who would be calling this room, this late at night?

Hesitantly, she picked up. "H-hello?"

"I see you've arrived. How is everything for you?"

Her heart began to race at the voice on the other line.

Mr. Li.

"I-It's great actually. You didn't have to go out of your way for—"

"Ms. Kinomoto."

Her sentence came to a halt with how stern his voice was. "S-sorry, Mr. Li. I just can't wrap my head around someone spending so much on me."

"It is my money to spend, so keep your nose out of it."

She blushed from embarrassment, glad that he could not see her. "You're right. Thank you, Mr. Li."

"Tomorrow, I will have one of my men come by and pick you up."

"P-pick me up for what?"

"Be ready at 6:00."

Before she could even respond, he ended the call.

She huffed and sat the phone back down, feeling a little irritated with the man. He was so pushy and grouchy all the time for no reason. She had not done anything to make him feel whatever way he was towards her, so he had no reason to treat her like he does. What made him think that he could just appear in people lives and control them anyway?

Deciding that she had enough with the man, she went to her bag and found his business card and got ready to dial his number and tell him that she did not want to do this anymore. Just as she was about to dial the last digit, her conscious stopped her.

If she went through with this, she would be on the streets of Tokyo, lost, not knowing where to go. She hated to feel like she had to depend on other people though. That was what happened with Touya. He worked so hard for the both of them and even encouraged her to just focus on school. He would not allow her to work, but she let him. He worked three jobs, while doing school. Why could she not be blessed like him to have the ability to do stuff like that?

She sat the phone back on the hook and took off her shoes, then slid under the soft sheets of the bed, not caring that she was fully clothed. And here she thought that she was going to finally stop depending on others so much. Mr. Li and his pushy personality just had to come along and ruin that.

She buried her face in the pillow, as her head sunk in it. She could just feel the burning sensation behind her eyes and nose. Crying was always the solution that she somehow turned to in the past. So guess what she did?

Cried herself to sleep tonight, hoping for a better tomorrow…


A/N: I'll have more chapters uploaded today! Also, I decided to rewrite it because I think my writing has improved since writing this story right after high school :).