A/N: So, as everyone should know by now, this story is rated M, which means that there will be very explicit content in it. I can be very detailed when writing because I can't help it sometimes(sorry, it's just my writing style D:). However, I will provide warnings if there are very detailed scenes in the chapters of what for those who want to skip those scenes since I was kindly asked to. So, here's our...second warning of the story :).
WARNING: This chapter contains language, sexual fantasies, and masturbation.
With that being said, read at your own risks :P.
"All About Self-control"
Fuck.
Fuck.
Syaoran knew he had royally screwed something up for the first time in his life. This had not been an exaggeration either.
Growing up as a Li, everything was expected to be done in excellence. They were trained to be highly intelligent people who made no mistakes. Though this was impossible for any human, they were still expected to be of great status and character.
But, Syaoran had finally ruined his "perfect" record yesterday. None of the events from yesterday should have happened. The girl had caused him to lose a control that he had never lost before. He cringed at the thought of her probably at home thinking about him being some kind of creep, lusting after her right now.
He screwed up if he had not thought it enough already. Badly.
What made him even more infuriated was the thought of knowing there was nothing he could do to fix it. All he could do is imagine what was going through that thick head of hers right now with Xing at home with her.
To make himself feel better, he had thought of reasons yesterday could have happened that way. There was only so much blame that he could put on her before taking some blame. However, whenever he did this, all he could think about it not being his fault that his body was on edge yesterday when the foolish girl pulled him down on top of her. What was she even thinking?
She had no business laying her hands on him without his permission, yet she did. If it had been any other person, he would have pushed them out of the way with no regrets. He had never been a touchy-feely person with anyone. He had only made exceptions for Xing, and even with him, he had his limits. The little boy loved affection, so he tried his best giving him what he could maintain.
Growing up in a family that offered no form of affection aside from words of praise had made him uncomfortable with physical contact. Even with his former wife, he never showed her any form of affection, despite them having a child together. Physical contact had never been something he had been comfortable with, so for the girl to get comfortable like that was…
And for his body to act like it had for no other…
His anger directed at his body for ruining everything. He had not even known another person could make him that aroused until her...
Until she brushed against him with her silky thigh. It felt so—
Syaoran felt a nudge under the desk, snapping him out of his thoughts. He glared in the direction, only to see it had been his secretary, Hualing. He felt annoyed with the woman for interrupting his thoughts about the emerald-eyed at home. She motioned down to the notes she had been taking during the meeting, so his eyes shifted down to them.
After reading over what she had written, his gaze averted back to the wrinkly-skinned man in front of him. "Why would you suggest such a thing?" he asked, wondering where that idea had even formed in the old man's head.
"Well, I think that it would be great for both of our names. It would be great publicity and will definitely bring in more sells, I mean. We would be the first to step up to the plate and give it a try here in Japan," Hiroshi, the man who had been driving Syaoran mad with this merging deal, explained.
Syaoran mentally groaned, not wanting to succumb to this idea. Hiroshi's company was not even close to being important to Syaoran, yet his mother, Yelan, insisted on merging the companies together because he was a "dear" friend to the family. She always had her way whenever she desired something. It was almost annoying. But Syaoran liked to think that things always went his way when it came to his mother.
Whenever he felt like it was something his mother would tell him to do, he would act first and make the decision himself before she could. That way, he would not have to hear her mouth or intrusion on things going on.
"So you are saying that you want me to teach a college leveled business course at a high school?"
"Yes, I think that it would be great for all of us and the students. They'll get experience with college work and it will help them have one foot in the world. They need to be experienced with the basics of business work anyway because they will be faced with it either route they take in life. Business is everything, it's only wise to give the knowledge. I already know a few schools that are interested in the idea. It will only be an experiment to see how it goes though. One year is all it takes and if you agree to it, I will immediately sign all rights over to you."
Syaoran leaned his elbows on the table, wondering if this would be worth it. The man wanted him to teach a business course at the college level to high school students. He did not attend school to be a teacher, yet the man was suggesting him to become one for a year.
"It really would benefit everyone in this, Mr. Li. You should put some thought into this," Sato, the vice President of Hiroshi Corporation, chimed in.
Syaoran's eyes scanned the entire room, looking at all the businessmen and women in the office. They all maintained faces of agreement. They really wanted him to do this.
Despite a small part of him not wanting to put in the work for this, he had already made the decision from the very start of this meeting today before even knowing the deal. He had always known what the answer to everything was before the questions even arose.
"Alright," he said simply with a nod of the head.
A wide grin spread across the man's face, creating more wrinkles. "I knew you would do the job. Yelan-san was right, you are one that people can always count on." He slid a stack of papers in front of Syaoran. "Everything has already been signed. I just need you..." he slid more papers to Syaoran, "…to sign these papers here, agreeing that you will go through with this experiment."
Syaoran's eyes shifted down to the papers, skimming through. The first stack of papers were Hiroshi's, agreeing that all rights would belong to Syaoran, while the other was what he needed to sign.
A pen was placed by the table in front of him. He picked it up, signing through them without any hesitations. He had felt emotionless to the idea, not caring that that would be more of his time taken.
The rest of the meeting flew by in a haze with his mind being too occupied with other thoughts about a certain emerald-eyed girl.
He was currently sitting in his office now, still not able to focus on anything because of the girl again. His mind kept replaying yesterday's events no matter what he did. He could not come up with an excuse about his reaction to her and it was beginning to frustrate the hell out of him.
He had always been a man of reasoning, but since she came in his life, he was starting to question that. Her arrival in their lives had not been thought through that much either. All he knew was that Xing had formed a bond with a random girl on the street and he needed her.
He hated to think of it that way; that she was just there as convenience for him to have someone occupy Xing's time while he was away. It had been stressful having to find a suitable nanny every week because Xing scared away every single one of them. And, now here he was, had found a nanny and he was stressing about her being there, rather than it being the absent of one.
He had barely got any sleep last night because of the girl sleeping down the hall from him, so today had been awful so far. He had did something even more stupid after the incident happened. What was he attempting to do going to her room like that anyway? He knew he had a problem. He could not have been thinking going to her room like that. He had been surprised that she locked the door, but he supposed he deserved her lack of trust after the stunt he pulled the other night.
He had not meant to explode on her like that, but his rage had led him into confronting her. He was not thinking at all these days. Yet he had been thinking so much at the same time. The real question is why was he still thinking about her?
She was 17. That alone should have stopped him from thinking about her, so why was he still thinking about her? And the way those innocent, emerald eyes gazed at him…longing for something he knew he could never give her. He was almost sure that she did not even know the look her eyes were giving him. Her eyes were…
He could feel his cheeks beginning to warm before he shook his head, silently praying to erase the image of her eyes out of his head. His prayers had never been answered before, so it was no surprise that she remained engraved in his head, until a knock came to his office door.
"Come in."
The door opened to reveal his secretary again. Was he going to have to fire her in order for her to stop interrupting his thoughts?
She walked up to his desk and set a stack of papers on his desk. "Mr. Li, here are more documents regarding the Hiroshi Corporation's contract."
He grabbed the stack of papers, not glancing up at her. "Alright," he dismissed her.
After hearing the door click shut, he released a sigh before skimming through more of the papers. This contract sure was coming with a lot more than he had expected. He was still going to do it though.
Mother would be so proud.
His fists clenched, annoyed with his inner voice trying to insinuate he was doing it because of her. He was doing this because he chose to; nothing else. He picked up his phone that was lying on the desk. He punched in a few numbers and rest the phone against his ear. The phone rang four times before the other person on the line picked up.
"Wei," her smooth, strong voice answered on the line.
His body stiffened at the sternness in her tone. "Mother," he called confidently, despite his rigid form.
This woman was the most intimidating person he had ever known.
"Mr. Hiroshi has offered a deal," he decided to cut straight to the point. He wanted to stay ahead of her because he was sure that she would have called him later that week and mentioned something about it. He knew the old man told her everything.
"He has agreed to merge?" she asked with no trace of emotion in her voice.
"Yes, but on one condition that I have already agreed to do."
"And what is that, Xiao Lang?"
"He wants me to teach a college-leveled business course at a high school for a year as an experiment. He says, 'business is in everything, so one should have knowledge on it', " he informed.
When no response came, he thought he had made the wrong decision in doing so.
"I see. It's a marvelous idea. I see what he is trying to accomplish." There was no mirth or praise in her tone, even though she was praising the man. "You agreed to this, correct?" It was more of a statement, rather than a question.
"Yes, mother," he said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his tone.
"It will be great for the Li name, Xiao Lang. You are making history," she assured him as if he needed to know.
"Yes, I'm very well aware of that mother," he said respectfully, though the statement could be taken offensively.
"I know. I expect nothing but greatness in you, son."
Even though her tone did not sound like a proud mother, Syaoran knew that she was a proud one. She had put so much work into the person he is today, so it was only likely for her to be.
"I have to get back to work, mother. I will keep you informed about any changes."
She bid her farewells and the call ended. Talking to her had only caused another weight on his shoulder.
Deciding to block everything else out, Syaoran buried himself in the workload that he had to finish before the week was out.
Syaoran unlocked the door to his home and pushed it open quietly. It was after eleven, so he knew Sakura and Xing had to be sleeping. He closed the door behind him before slipping his shoes off and placing them in the foyer before walking towards the kitchen.
He stopped when he heard movement in the living room, turning to the direction of the noise. There Sakura stood, looking at him wide-eyed. For a moment, an unfamiliar warmth erupted in his stomach at the thought of her possibly waiting for him to arrive. That had been something he never had before.
She bit the inside of her cheek and shifted to one leg, looking nervous now. "Li-san."
He had not seen her since last night when she closed the door in his face after he attempted to apologize for his behavior. He had woken up earlier than usual the next morning, having to prepare for the meeting. She seemed unbothered by all this though.
The thought of her not being as bothered like he had been all day rubbed him the wrong way. She had been invading his thoughts all day and she probably had not even thought of him once.
"Welcome back." She bowed her head.
He tilted his head to the side and nodded, a little surprised by her behavior. He expected her to be a lot more uncomfortable after yesterday. Especially when he made an appearance at her door, seeing her in the flimsy clothes that evoked many forbidden images in his head last night.
He cleared his throat, hoping to clear his mind of the thoughts. "I'm going to go to the kitchen and get something to eat, would you like to join me?" he asked.
He was going to make this right—his reputation. He did not want her thinking he was some pervert sexualizing her. He had respect for women, though he never really showed much interest in them. It was a wonder why she was still even here after the incident.
Xing.
His conscious was starting to get on his nerves these days.
"S-sure," she squeaked out.
He arched a brow and continued back to the kitchen, hearing her smaller footsteps behind him. He took out the food that Hana had cooked for dinner and placed it in the microwave. He set it on a few minutes before turning around to see her sitting at the kitchen table. "How was Xing?" he asked, leaning his hip against the counter, staring at every inch of her that he could.
Stop it, idiot.
Her face brightened at the mention of that name. "He was great. I think yesterday really cheered him up." Syaoran froze at the mention of yesterday. "Nothing could dampen his mood today," she said between giggles.
She was acting as if nothing had ever happened yesterday. Quite frankly, Syaoran was okay with that. If she wanted to pretend it never happened, he could do the same.
"Why do you say that?" he asked, wondering what she had meant by that statement, though he could put a few of the pieces together.
"Well, he was able to spend time with his dad, obviously. You should try to do that more often."
There was no malice in her choice of words because of how sweet she sounded, but that triggered something in him. Who did she think she was to tell him what he should and shouldn't do with his son?
Before he could respond to that, the microwave interrupted with its beeping. He turned back to the microwave and grabbed the plate out before he went to sit across the table from her. It was probably best he did not respond to that anyway.
"How was work? Did you have a good day?" she asked after he never responded.
He took the first bite out of his food and felt like this had been Deja vu. Had they not just have this conversation a few nights ago? "Good," he said simply, avoiding glancing up at those innocent eyes.
"That's good..." she trailed off under her breath.
When deciding to give her his attention, she was looking down at the table appearing deep in thought. He wanted to know what was going on in her head. He cleared his throat, making her look up at him. "Have you been out of the country before?" he asked instead.
"No, I've never had the opportunity to," she said softly.
Syaoran had never been good at making conversation, so, instead of speaking anything else to her, he ate the rest of his food in silence and only listened to her talk about her and Xing's day. Well, partially listened while watching her. It was hard not to watch her, the energy she produced was almost addictive. It was the opposite of the energy he gave off…
He finished eating and placed his plate in the dishwasher this time. When he turned around, he halted in his tracks, seeing her stand from the table, displaying her slim legs to him—not that he was looking.
"Would it be possible for you to spend another day with us again? Seeing Xing so happy today was..." She stopped and looked down at her bare feet shyly before she glanced back up at him with a blush on her cheeks.
Damn it.
It was that look again. The one that always made him—
"I'm not saying that it has to be tomorrow or anything. If you find the time, it would be great if you could. Xing enjoyed you and..." she swallowed nervously before looking at him. "So did I." She smiled at him coyly, looking up at him through her long, thick lashes.
That look stirred something alive in him again, making his fists clench when he felt his pants tighten in the front. He closed his eyes, needing to not see that innocent look that was causing his body to do very very sinful, illegal things that it had no business doing.
"I—" He cleared his throat, trying his best to hide his arousal state. He had not been the best at it yesterday, but he would certainly not slip again. "I refrain from making promises. But I can try."
As soon as it came out, he realized what he had just done. He was there trying to agree on going out with her again. Xing, sure, but her? Never. "Actually, my schedule's tight," he said, reasoning with himself that he did not have to do that.
"Oh..." she said disappointed.
He almost felt guilty, but remembered that she was nothing but the live in nanny for his son. Before he could do anything he might regret, he decided to retreat. "I'm going to head to bed."
He started for the kitchen entrance, but felt something grab on to his shirt, stopping him from leaving. "Li-san, I don't think that I've ever had the chance to thank you properly. I know we got off to a rough start and it's only been a few days, but…I do think I should thank you for everything that you have done," she said quietly.
Suddenly, the palm of his hands formed sweat from trying to refrain himself from doing anything wrong. "It's Xing you should thank," he said stiffly, not moving an inch, due to her tight grip on his shirt.
"I know, but you trusted me enough to come in your home, around your kid. And I know I've messed up a few times already, but you're…still opening your door for me. And I'm still able to be in Xing's life, which I feel more than happy about. I know you still may not trust me with him, but just being here with him and knowing that I can be with him at this time in his life is very…warming to me. And, I have you to thank for that. I don't know how I could ever repay you, because I don't know where I would be without Xing. How I would—" she choked out a sob and his eyes closed, already knowing that the girl was becoming emotional again.
For some reason, Syaoran knew these tears were coming from somewhere else, other than her gratitude though. Something had triggered these tears and…oddly enough, he wanted to know what it was.
He turned around hesitantly and almost regretted it, seeing the glossy look in her emerald eyes. She was going to cry. Just fucking great.
"Kinomoto, you're doing enough by watching my kid. That's all you need to do," he said gently, not knowing how to calm the teenaged hormonal girl.
"Really? Are you sure? I can cook, clean, and watch Xing if you want. I still feel like I'm not doing enough. Are you sure?"
Unconsciously, his hand moved up to caress her cheek with certainty, using his thumb to swipe away the stray tear that had rolled its way down her hot, rosy cheeks. "I'm more than positive. Watching Xing is more than enough to repay me."
She smiled at him sweetly with tears brimming in her eyes before moving her hands up to his, cupping it between her own.
His entire body had a surge of different emotions, feeling her soft hands around his. His first instincts were to push her away like he did most people who touched him, but he found it hard to. His body somehow craved small physical contact from the girl like it had yesterday. It was the same reason he could not get off her yesterday, despite having that stupid boner. He could not figure out what was going on.
He snatched his hand from her as if he had touched a hot stove, glaring at her. At the thought of her feeling comfortable to do something like this made him irritated beyond belief. Was it at her or himself? He was not so sure anymore.
"Kinomoto," he called sternly, causing her entire body to freeze.
He felt a sense of relief seep in, seeing that he still had that effect on her. He knew he could not allow that to change. If he kept letting his guard down, she would take advantage of him. And that set him off.
She looked down as if she knew the backlash was coming, which almost made him more infuriated. Before he could snap, he remembered that he was trying to change her mind about him.
He took a deep breath and let it out. "Look at me," he commanded as softly as his voice would allow him to.
Hesitantly, she glanced up at him, causing regret to wash over him at telling her to do so instantly. Her sparkling, emerald eyes stared up at him curiously. He did not know what it was about her eyes, but they were so...
What are they?
His eyes drifted down to her slightly parted lips and he had the sudden urge to kiss her. Something was wrong with him, he noted.
As if noticing what he was staring at, she bit her bottom lip lightly. That act made him subconsciously lean in to her. His heart was drumming against his chest loudly, making him wonder if she could hear it. He noticed her lack of response at pulling away from him. That made him want to lean in, even more. Something was wrong with him, repeated in his head the longer he stared at her.
He paused, taking one last glance at her inviting lips before closing his eyes tightly. This was so wrong if he had not told himself enough already.
He opened his eyes and they shifted back up to meet hers. "Tomorrow," he started, wondering where these new feelings and…ideas were coming from. He owed this girl nothing, yet he felt compelled to succumb to her request. Something like this had never occurred—not even with Meixia. "I will be here for dinner."
Her eyes widened and a smile spread across her face. "Really?" She looked at him hopefully.
Knowing that he was the cause of that reaction filled him with an emotion he had never felt before. It fed into his pride almost. He nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment for the first time in his life. He was always certain of himself, but with this girl, he was beginning to doubt himself.
"Thank you so much, Li-san." She bowed.
"Goodnight, Kinomoto," he said before he did something very wrong and walked out of the kitchen.
His fist clenched again, walking back to his room. Something was wrong with him. The girl was an incompetent, sensitive nuisance to him. A thorn to his side, even. She had to be doing this on purpose. The same spell she had put on Xing, she was putting it on him now too.
She had to be aware of his heart feeling like it would rip out of his chest at the sight of those tears, in her eyes, so why was he allowing her to take advantage of him? She was being manipulative like all the other women who tried to meddle their way into his life, forcing him to see them as someone important. Although, it never worked with any of those women.
His insides quivered, thinking about those pure, emerald orbs committing such a malicious act. She did not even appear as the type to do anything evil. Suppose that made the saying, 'It's always the innocent ones," true.
He pushed his door open and walked inside, kicking it shut behind him. He stifled a groan, feeling the fabric of his clothing brush against his sensitive crouch after sitting on the bed. He ran a frustrated hand down his face, annoyed with his body.
He thought his erection had gone down in the kitchen after mentally reprimanding himself for being wrong. He was so horny these days that it was almost getting annoying. He had already humiliated himself yesterday in front of the girl. Did he not experience enough torture yesterday?
He closed his eyes and fell back on the bed, covering his eyes with his arm from the light that just seemed too bright right now. He was exhausted from the days' work. His mind had not been keeping up with his body lately. He was never this tired after a long day at work. He could always come home and even get more work done, but now, it was different.
Since that girl arrived, he had been extremely exhausted, more than usual. The blame could only be put on her. She and her alluring eyes had been haunting him. All he could think about was those importune orbs and how they were slowly killing him softly. Why could she not stay out of his head and do her own thing?
Syaoran sat up from the bed, shaking his head from the ridiculous thoughts. She could not possibly be aware of what she was doing to him. Maybe he was the one being ridiculous. He stood from the bed and headed to the bathroom connected to his room after stripping from his clothes. He took a cold shower, hoping that the raging boner would go away on its own.
He refused to do it again. It had already happened once, but he was not going to allow himself to cave in to the dark, forbidden thoughts again. They should have never been there to begin with. Her face should have never been there. Those nude pink, succulent lips of hers should have never been there. It should not have been easy to picture her naked body under his with her slender legs wrapped around his waist as he...
Shit.
He was doing it again. He needed to stop before he surrendered to his body like he had last night. With that thought heavy in mind, he stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist, and continued on with his nightly routine.
On finishing, he grabbed his laptop out of the bag on the chair by the bed and sat on the edge of the bed and turned it on. He glanced at the clock on the wall to see that it was past midnight. He could get more cleared off his work schedule, so he responded to a few of the emails that he had not gotten around to earlier.
Hiroshi had sent him several documents, regarding the deal they had made today as if he had not seen enough of them. The documents were just topics that would have to be covered in the course for the school year. It was all the basics of business, such as, marketing, business management, human resource management, etc. He had never taught a class before, but he hoped it would be like doing a public speaking event. He had always been good at those.
He looked through the rest of the documents before closing the laptop, calling it a night. He placed it back in the bag on the chair. Pulling the spreads back, he slid under them, resting his slightly damp head against the soft pillows.
He sighed, noting he should have worked a little longer, that way, his hair would have been fully dry. Now he had to deal with the annoyance of a slightly damp pillow for the night. He shifted under the covers and stifled a quiet groan, extremely annoyed with the fabric of his clothing brushing against his excruciatingly painful erection again for the umpteenth time tonight.
He could not recall the last time he had been this aroused if he had been at all before—aside from yesterday.
Deciding that he had enough of the nonsense, his hand slid under the covers and his boxers to grip his aching member firmly and began stroking slowly. "Fuck," he groaned under his breath while stroking himself slowly. It had been a little painful with how turned on he felt right now, having the slightest clue where it came from, but not wanting to acknowledge it. Because of how painful this felt, he knew he would have to release to relieve it.
With furrowed brows, he closed his eyes and attempted to imagine a faceless woman standing in front of him bare while his hand continued to stroke himself. His thumb swiped across the tip to get a bit of the pre-cum to use as lubricate before doing it once more.
His heart hammered against his chest loudly and his member ached, the more he thought about the naked person sauntering over to him with her hips swaying in the process. Her entire body had an enchanting glow to it, due to the bright lights in his imaginary room.
Then it changed, or maybe it had always been that way, because there was no faceless woman anymore. There was the auburn-head in front of him naked instead, making him gasp at the unfamiliar intensity of pleasure as he stroked himself. He slid his boxers down to have better access to himself, gripping himself firmly again.
Everything from her head full of auburn locks to her feet was perfect. It was hard to believe how beautiful she truly is naked, standing in front of him. When reaching him, she climbed onto the bed, causing Syaoran to sink in a little while she slowly crawled over to him.
His heart was racing faster as his mind showed her removing his hand to take over by wrapping those same fingers around him like she had earlier, and began pumping. He spread his legs, laying his head back against the pillows with his eyes closed as his hand stroked himself, a little faster, imagining it being her hand instead. He felt the sweat break out on his body as his body temperature rose. And then he imagined the feel of her soft lips trailing kisses down his body, lighting every inch of skin her lips came in contact with on fire the more she pumped and brushed her lips against him.
He could feel her breasts pressed against him as she trailed lower down while continuing her teasingly fast strokes and then extremely slow ones. There was a rippling sensation of pleasure coursing through his entire body the more he imagined…feeling, her lips trail lower down his body. He could feel his arousal drip with more precum, the moisture slickening his hands, making his strokes increase as his mind imagined the moisture coming from her mouth.
And suddenly, he could feel her lips reach what he had just been imagining them reaching. She looked up at him innocently and uttered a two syllable word that he could not catch before swiping her pink tongue against—
"Daddy!"
Syaoran bolted up, pulling the covers over himself like a teenaged guy being caught, even though he was already protected from the eyes. Looking in the direction of the voice, he spotted Xing standing beside his bed. Syaoran inhaled a deep breath before letting out a sigh, trying to get his breathing under control. Instantly, he felt himself going completely soft on the spot at the sight of the boy.
"What's wrong?" he asked calmly.
Xing squeezed his favorite bear to his chest. "I can't sleep..." he said quietly.
Syaoran closed his eyes and pulled the covers back on one side of the bed for him to climb inside on the other side. A bright smile tugged on Xing's face before he climbed under the covers with Syaoran.
Syaoran pulled his boxers up under the covers before sitting up in the bed. He pulled the covers back and stepped out the bed. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. It'll only be a few seconds, so sit tight," he told Xing after the little boy looked up at him, pleadingly.
"Okay, Daddy," he said quietly.
Syaoran walked to the bathroom and switched the light on. Running a shaky, frustrated hand through his hair, he walked over to the sink and turned the handle on to wash his hands. When looking up at his reflection, he mentally groaned, feeling disgusted with himself. He had not even gotten the satisfaction of a release after his sinful behavior. Despite the dirty, disgusting, erotic...thoughts about the girl, he still had gotten nothing out of it. He was so close too. So close until...
His body froze at the realization of something. How long had Xing been standing by the bed? Was he watching him? Had Xing heard him? Was he even making noise? He had always been quiet when doing something like that, so he knew that the little boy could not have heard anything. He had been in his own little world that he realized he may have done something out of the ordinary.
Shit.
Syaoran turned the water off and hurried back to the room after switching the light back off. Closing the bathroom door, he turned around and saw that Xing was sitting up on the bed. Syaoran dimmed the lights in the room and walked over to the bed and climbed in beside him. "What's wrong, buddy?" he asked gently, pulling Xing towards him.
Xing snuggled up against Syaoran, who pulled them both back so his back could rest against the headboard of the bed. "It was mommy..."
Closing his eyes, a sigh escaped past Syaoran's mouth before he squeezed his shoulder gently. "I thought we talked about this, Xing."
"I know...but she was there, Daddy. I just want to know if..." he trailed off and pulled away from Syaoran.
Syaoran stared at him, wondering what was going on in his head. He was hoping that he would not ask again. He had already asked twice since she had been gone. It nearly broke Syaoran having to tell him the same thing over and over again.
Syaoran pulled Xing close to him again and sighed before sinking them both to lie down on the bed together. He knew this was a time where Xing needed affection. "Want to know what?" Syaoran asked gently, hoping it was not what he was thinking.
Xing turned over in his arms and rest his chin on Syaoran's chest, looking up at him worriedly. "Daddy, were you having a nightmare?" he asked innocently, looking at Syaoran.
Syaoran's brows knitted together, wondering why he would ask something like that. And shift the conversation so abruptly. "No, why would you ask that?"
"You were making all kind of weird noises in your sleep like you were in pain."
Syaoran's body froze under the little boy before Xing laid his head down on his chest and drifted off to sleep.
Well, there was the answer to the hundred questions Syaoran had.
Unconsciously, Syaoran subtly glanced at the clock for the third time that evening, while drumming the tip of his fingers against the table in the conference room with his leg bouncing up and down under the table.
5:54pm, it showed.
"Tokyo High is the school you'll teach at. Is that alright, Mr. Li?"
The urge to question if he had a choice was at the tip of his tongue. Instead, he nodded. "Yes, sir." He had been on edge all day for some reason. He was never one to back-talk elderly people. He had been raised to respect them.
"School starts in two weeks. However, you're expected to begin school a week before the students do..." Whatever else the man said after that was drowned out.
Next week? Next week? That was when he promised to take Xing out. Of all the weeks, it had to be next week. It could not be this week, but next week...
What was he supposed to tell Xing now?
"Is tomorrow alright to meet with the principle of the school?"
An image of Xing's tears and display of disappointment painted itself in his head when he would break the horrid news to him. He had already done enough to break the boy, but he had to do more damage?
"Yes," he answered simply.
It felt like he was answering both of the questions. More damage would be done to his son, by his own doings.
"Great! I talked with him earlier and he's excited about the whole idea..."
The man's words were drowned out again, when thinking about what he could tell Xing. There was nothing he could tell him besides the truth.
Maybe he was a bad father since he could not provide enough for Xing. Maybe what Sakura had been thinking about him was true since he could not even get his mind out of the gutter when he thought of her. It did not take a genius to know what kind of person he had been seeming like lately.
Syaoran glanced at the clock once more to see that it was past six now. He listened in silence to the rest of the meeting, taking in everything that was said about the deal of the man's, while responding when necessary. Suddenly, he just wanted it to be over.
After the meeting ended, Hualing was close behind him announcing everything that had to be done for the remainder of the day.
Looks like he really was not going to make it home for dinner either.
Great.
A/N: So, what do you guys think of the chapter?
I do feel the need to explain the deal that was made in this chapter...I'm not sure how it's done in Japan or if it's done at all, but where I live, it is. I had the opportunity to take several college courses in high school, business being some of the courses. Business is not my major in college now, but I did take several the first year I did college classes in high school to see if I wanted to do it or not as a career. This was done at my high school, so I'm not sure where or if it's done in other places. That's why I decided to make it an experiment in the story so I don't mislead anyone into thinking they do this in Japan.
Second A/N: I accidentally mixed up when Touya had passed. The first two chapters said 2 years and then the chapter after that said a few months, but it's really 2 years. Sorry I got something confused again. I need to be a lot more organized with my stories D:. I may start editing the next chapter tonight, but I won't be able to stay up too late since I have classes tomorrow, but I'll try to get another chapter out tomorrow after I complete some assignments for my classes.
Ja ne!
