"Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy and be with whoever makes you smile" - Brigitte

Chapter 14

"Life has its Phases"

Last night… he kept thinking about last night. Sakura had never given him an answer. Suri ended up interrupting them just when he had cornered her and Sakura, as always never missing a chance, ended up dismissing him with the excuse that she needed to finish work and his minute was up.

He fiddled with his tie a little to give himself a little more breathing space to at least help his discomfort. They were currently having their press conference as a team before the beginning of the tournament tomorrow and he hated dressing up this way. The minute this press conference was over he had no doubt in his mind that the first thing he would do would be to take off this ridiculous tie followed by undoing the first two buttons of his nice shirt and finishing with taking it out of his pants. He had always been more of a sport guy even when dressing up than a business man. In his opinion these clothes suited his father a lot more than it suited him.

"Syaoran?"Eriol nudge his cousin.

Syaoran curiously looked at him. "What?" he lowly asked.

"The reporter just asked you how you're feeling." Eriol whispered.

He looked back at the crowd of reporters and cleared his throat. "I feel a lot better than a month ago, I think everyone knows that." He decided to joke around the question to cover the fact that he was indeed not paying attention at all.

"How far along are you with your recovery? Are you already able to play?" One of the reporters asked.

"I'm still not entirely recovered yet. I've been cleared up to do some training with my teammates but the doctor still has to confirm my full recovery before I can start fully practicing with the team."

"As far as percentages go, how would you categorize the level of recovery you find yourself in right now?" a woman asked.

"I'd say about an 85% good to go. I've had one of the best rehabs any player could wish for and I will keep following it till I'm fully recovered."

A man stood up quickly and asked, "Do you think you'll be able to start in the first game on Sunday?"

He sighed. 'Another reason to hate press conferences…' he thought before replying, "As a team, we have worked very hard for various years and find ourselves prepared to face any opponent in the field. Whether I play or not is not important. My teammates, as well as I, have worked with the same intensity during these years preparing ourselves for this tournament. As for me, my doctor will release me when he thinks I'm ready and my coach will determine when I will play."

Kyu smirked and chuckled after hearing Syaoran's answer while Eriol simply looked at him and regretfully sighing turned his sight down. His cousin had never been good with having patient when it came to dealing with reporter's much less handling press conferences.

~ o ~

Feimei chuckled after hearing her brother on TV. It was obvious he was already bored with all the questions about his rehab. The reporters turned from asking questions at Syaoran to start asking questions to his coach. A move that made her laughed even more thinking about the poor reporters getting intimidated by her dear brother's answer.

"I thought you were staying in your apartment last night." Xiefa said as she walked down the stairs.

"You're still here?" she asked.

"I'm heading to the office in a couple of minutes." Xiefa answered while getting her car keys from the wall. She looked at China's soccer team press conference and stopped to listen to it. "Has Sakura talked to you about our brother?"

Feimei curiously looked at her. "Is there anything to tell?"

"He's taking that reporter to dinner tonight."

"Really?" she sarcastically asked before chuckling at the mere thought.

Xiefa bewildered looked at her little sister thinking that perhaps she had gone insane. "Is there anything laughable from what I just said?"

"Oh sister stop taking things too hard."

"As opposed to you who always take things too lightly you mean."

Feimei chuckled but nodded. "There's nothing to worry in there. Syaoran won't do anything with that girl and what's more… Mother already met her. Can you imagine the poor girl under mother's scrutinizing glare? I heard from Fuutie that morning was quite an eventful one."

Xiefa stared at her. "I'm glad at least one of us is having fun with this."

"Our brother only has eyes for Sakura. I think we all know that." Feimei simply said.

"Do you know what happened between them?"

Feimei looked back at her sister. "Something happened between them?"

Xiefa grunted. "You're no help." She said before walking out of the house.

~ o ~

Suri walked quickly through the hallways of the hotel. She avoided some workers who were carrying some seats into the ballroom to reach the room right behind it.

"Once Xiefa starts going up these stairs, I need you to start dimming the lights a little bit until she reaches the podium and then you'll focus the center light on her as she gives her speech. Is that clear?"

She heard Sakura giving her instructions for tonight's event. A young man who was probably around his twenties nodded. His long black hair tied up in a ponytail and big black glasses that adorned his pale skin suited his nerdy appearance. Suri approached them as soon as she spotted Sakura.

"Sakura!"

Sakura looked towards her side to see her assistant quickly approaching. "Please tell me there's nothing wrong. We are in our less than twenty four hours timeline."

Suri shook her head. "Not something wrong, but the chef wants you to check a new side dish he wishes to introduce tonight."

"No. I think I made it very clear that all dishes must have been tried by now. We are not changing anything when it comes to food."

Suri watched as Sakura went back to giving instructions to the poor tech boy. She thought that perhaps that talk with Syaoran would at least help her boss's mood but she had been clearly mistaken. Sakura had been more difficult to deal with than before the talk. "It's not a bad dish and it's quickly to make. I took the liberty of trying a little bit of it and I think you might want to reconsider. I can tell him to prepare some for you and have it delivered to the restaurant."

Sakura stopped giving her instructions and looked at Suri. "Did you not hear what I said or are you making yourself not understand? How much clearer do I need to make it?"

Suri took a deep breath and ignored her question. "You've always taught me that if it can make a difference then we should give it a try. It's precisely what I'm doing right now."

Sakura stared at Suri. Her assistant was right. She had indeed taught her that. She took a deep breath and simply said, "If you consider it will make a difference then tell the chef to prepare it. I will be there once I finish here."

Suri smile a little before nodding and walking away. She couldn't believe she had been able to win this one. With Sakura everything was hard especially when the event was happening the same day. But today was different. Her temper was worst than any other event she had worked with her and she had no doubt that the reason behind her moodiness was none other than Li.

Sakura finish giving the tech boy the instructions and just as she had agreed on with Suri, she left towards the hotel restaurant. She spotted her assistant talking with one of the waiters and walked towards the table they had set for her. She sat down and looked at the waiter. "Make this quick. We don't have all day."

The waiter nodded and quickly left towards the kitchen.

"You know, something that has always worked for me is talking things with someone." Suri said as she sat next to her boss.

"Not everything works for everyone the way it works for you." Sakura said as she looked at her watch anxiously. It was almost noon and she still had a lot of things to take care of before seven o'clock. She sighed and looked up and found exactly the sight she had been dreading since last night… China's national team was beginning to enter the restaurant. They were all dressed up nicely which made her remember that this morning they were scheduled to have their press conference so they must have just gotten out from it. She watched as Kyu entered the restaurant followed by Eriol and regretfully looked down sighing knowing who would probably walk in next. She looked at Suri again. "What is taking the waiter so long?"

Suri turned from looking at the sight as well to face Sakura a little scared. "I didn't know they'll be eating now."

Sakura started to feel the anxiety rising within her. She looked around to find many people with cameras ready and taking pictures of the team entering the restaurant. She knew once he saw her he wouldn't stop. Suddenly the whole dismissing him with the "minute is over" excuse didn't seem like a good idea.

"He already spotted us." Suri said.

"I thought you said this chef could prepare this plate quickly." Sakura quickly responded still avoiding to look up.

Suri looked at her. "Well he can but I doubt two minutes is enough to prepare a plate Sakura." She said before looking back at the rest of the team entering the restaurant. She took advantage of the moment and smiled at her boyfriend once she saw him but her smile disappeared once she saw Syaoran moving towards them. "Oh, oh, he's coming over..."

~ o ~

Today indeed must be his lucky day. As he entered the restaurant he spotted none other than the turmoil of his thoughts Sakura sitting not too far from the restaurant door. He narrowed his eyes as he saw her trying to avoid him. She was looking everywhere but where he stood. Seeing that made him smirk knowing she was probably a nervous wreck inside by now. She had been able to escape him yesterday but she wouldn't be able to do the same today.

"Syaoran, where are you going?" He heard Kyu's question but simply ignored it as he started to walk over towards where she was sitting in a corner. He passed several tables and was halfway there until his little sister stepped in front of him and stopped him.

If looks could kill, Feimei would be dead by now but she simply smiled at him and gave him a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay. I didn't know you were coming back so soon." She worriedly said.

He sighed and hugged her back. Been his little sister he had always had a soft spot for her. "I'm sorry for making you worry. I didn't have too much time to say it to everybody. They just told me yesterday." He softly said to her.

Feimei smiled as she let go of her brother and sweetly said, "Don't even dare going towards her right now."

He stared at her. Her voice had suddenly turned from worry to warning in just mere seconds.

Feimei kept smiling as she playfully tried to caress her brother's face but Syaoran looked away before she could even touch him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Without stopping her smile and dissimulating having a good time with her brother she quickly said, "I'm saving whatever possibilities you have of getting back with Sakura. Am I not your favorite sister?"

He sighed. "Feimei get out of my way."

"There are more than fifty reporters in this restaurant and they are all following you. Didn't you notice at your press conference? I thought three questions about your recovery would be enough to know." She saw her brother taking a deep breath and knew she had finally convinced him. "As you can't go towards her, is there anything you want me to tell her?"

Feimei watched as her brother was about to look at Sakura and quickly added, "Ah! Eyes on me lover boy."

He looked back at his sister annoyed by the interruption and the fact that she was indeed right about the reporters. "Tell her she still hasn't given me my answer and if she doesn't I will come and get it." He said before turning around and going back to the team. They were still waiting for the waiters to finish setting up the rest of the tables so he was able to blend in with them without any problems.

Feimei relaxed as she watched her brother going back to his team. She had been able to see the whole scene from the corner of the restaurant. For seven years she had known Sakura and after seeing her facial expression when the soccer team started getting into the restaurant she knew she had to intervene.

As soon as her brother reached the rest of the team she turned around and walked over to Sakura's table. She sat with ease on the sit in front of Sakura with a smile on her face. "Hello!" she greeted.

"Hi!" Suri happily greeted back.

"Are you having lunch here?" Feimei asked.

At the mention of the word 'lunch' Suri remembered that they were about to try a new dish for tonight. With the whole soccer team entering the restaurant she had temporarily forgotten about it. "No. We're just trying out a new plate. Do you want me to order you one as well Feimei?"

Feimei smile. "Sure. I was about to have lunch anyways."

Suri nodded and got up from her chair to mention the extra plate to the chef.

Feimei followed Suri with her eyes until she was out of hearing reach to smirk at Sakura. "My brother says hi by the way."

Sakura sighed looking at her. "Thank you." At Feimei's questioning look she added, "For stopping him from coming here."

Feimei noticed that even after stopping Syaoran from getting to her table Sakura was still trying to avoid looking over to where he was. Xiefa's words in the morning came back to her as she watched Sakura turned her sight to look out of the restaurant's window. "He did mention you not giving him an answer and if you don't he'll come and get it. Those were his exact words I believe. May I ask, to what question?"

Sakura looked back at Feimei.

Feimei watched as Sakura hesitated to answer her question. She smirked with curiosity before asking again, "What did he ask for or should I run with possible scenarios? Going out on a date? Sleeping with you? Getting back together? A relationship… it's been weeks since you've been in one."

Sakura rolled her eyes at Feimei impressed at how fast her mind could travel with her ideas. "I'd rather if you simply let it go, more so knowing where we're at." Sakura replied quickly. She turned to see Suri coming back towards the table.

Feimei chuckled. "I wonder if the rumors of his kisses are true…"

"Drop it!" Sakura said a little embarrassed. She didn't need to hear rumors anymore. She could vouch they were indeed true but letting Feimei know would certainly spoil her peace or what was left of it before the dinner ceremony tonight.

"What's wrong with you?" Feimei asked after seeing Sakura blush. "You can't honestly tell me you don't wonder as…" Before she could finish her sentence she gasped surprised at her friend. "Unless you know!"

Sakura was glad that at last Suri had reached the table and sat down. She quickly looked at her and asked, "Is he done?"

Suri looked at Sakura and smiled. "He's almost done. It's just that since I told him to add one more plate he's taking a couple of minutes in preparing it but the plate is done."

Sakura exhaled a little bothered because of the held back. "It's been five minutes already." She looked at the table as her phone flashed she had a new message. She picked it up and opened it.

*I want my answer. Come with me tonight.

She quickly looked at him from across the other side of the restaurant and found him staring directly at her. She narrowed her eyes before answering him.

*The answer is still no.

She put her phone back in the table and was relieved to see their food finally came. The plate was an appetizer as she looked at the arugula salad that was presented in front of her. The chef came out of the kitchen and started describing his plate as she took the first bites of it. He kept going through the preparation stages for it and explaining the benefits of having this plate for tonight's dinner even if it was a last minute dish but her mind was way far off from listening to him. She couldn't concentrate at all. She took two more bites before nodding. "It's good, you can put it in."

"Sakura, the chef hasn't finished his explanation." Suri pointed.

Sakura looked at her. "I said he can put it in. That's good enough." She looked at her phone flashing again and saw this time it was a call. She picked it up and excused herself from the table.

Feimei watched as her friend walked out of the restaurant. She felt something was definitely not right. She had only been teasing her with her brother but after seeing the way she reacted towards the chef she knew something was off. This wasn't the usual Sakura who was confident in her decisions. The arugula salad was good but she didn't even finish the plate.

Dumbfounded from what had just transpired in front of her Suri stared at the restaurant's door waiting to see if her boss would be coming back. She had known Sakura had never been too patient especially when she had a timeline to meet, but to just simply stand up and leave…

"Thank you for the salad. It's really good. You may leave now." Feimei nicely said to the chef. She waited for him to be out of hearing range before turning towards her lunch companion. "Suri?"

Suri looked from the door to Feimei. "Yes?"

"Double check everything Sakura does from now on for tonight's dinner."

Suri curiously stared at her and stated. "She's my boss..."

"Precisely," was Feimei's answer. "The way things are going she may need to count on you more than ever for tonight's event."

~ o ~

Sakura sighed as she hung up her phone. Apparently the last delivery of spices was late. From the moment she woke up this morning she knew this day would be hectic. Dealing with an entire reception plus a dinner took its toll on her especially considering she had only three hours of sleep last night. Or better yet, this early morning when she had finally reached her apartment. At the beginning the event had only been scheduled to be a simple nice top of the line dinner. Then later on as it usually happens with her boss other things got added in the way.

"Sakura!"

She looked to her side at her name being called and found none other than Meiling entering through the hotel doors. She raised her brow as she curiously looked at her friend. "Weren't you arriving tomorrow?"

Meiling greeted her with a quick hug and nodded. "I was able to finish faster than I thought this last trip."

Sakura nodded back. "Well, I can talk to the managers to get your room ready."

Meiling shook her head and quickly replied. "No! I'm not staying here tonight."

Sakura's curiosity rose after hearing her words. "I thought you'd want to stay in the hotel."

"Can we go somewhere to talk? Maybe even have lunch?" she asked nodding towards the restaurant.

She tried to mask her face with a smile as much as possible but Sakura suspected there was something wrong with her friend. Remembering what having lunch meant and the place where they stood, Sakura politely smiled and replied, "How about we go some other place? The restaurant is full of players as we speak and I'm in a tight schedule as it is. Maybe just coffee?"

Meiling nodded. "Better yet. I know of a small café around this area, if it's still there."

Sakura nodded. "We can go on my car. Is everything okay?"

"There's no need for driving. It's just around the corner literally."

"Okay." Sakura shrugged but followed Meiling nonetheless. As Meiling had stated, the small coffee shop was situated in a corner one block away from their hotel. One would think that after seven years Sakura would've visited this place at least once but she had never known of the place. She had drive around it several times but had never taken the chance to stop and visit the place per se. After opening the door and getting inside she found it had a warm and cozy atmosphere. She could easily tell the tea cups were the main theme by looking at several antique decorations around the place.

"Two Cappuccinos please!" Meiling ordered and looked at Sakura. "Is that okay with you?"

Sakura nodded. "It's fine. For all that's been going around a Cappuccino will go extra great on my day."

Meiling chuckled. "It's one of those days, huh?"

"I guess it is." Sakura tiredly answered.

After Meiling paid for everything, they both decided to sit in a table for two far from the window.

"And what's this of you coming a day early? I thought you were positively sure you wouldn't be able to arrive any earlier than tomorrow." Sakura commented.

Meiling waited for the waitress to serve their coffee. She took her spoon, poured two blocks of brown sugar in her coffee and mixed everything in with the spoon. "To tell you the truth I was actually kind of hoping we could have this talk." She finished mixing her coffee and looked at Sakura. "I needed to talk to a practical person for once. I mean, don't get me wrong Tomoyo has been a really good friend throughout all these years but her happy fairytale is not something I share with her."

Sakura looked at Meiling and chuckled. "I guess it's understandable."

Meiling sighed before saying, "Kyu asked me to marry him."

Sakura widened her eyes in shock. "Really?" She watched as her friend slowly nodded and finished her thought. "And… you're obviously not happy about it."

"Marriage for someone like Tomoyo is happiness. Is like fulfilling one of your most wanted wishes. But is not the same for me. Marriage to me is like enslavement inside a cage."

"And you think that's what Kyu meant when he proposed? That he wants to cage you in?"

Meiling shook her head. "He's more along the lines of feeling like Tomoyo about marriage."

"I thought you loved Kyu…"

"I do, but that doesn't mean that we have to marry. I mean, first is marriage. Then he's going to come up with wanting me to stay home. And then he's going to want children." After her small rant, she stopped and looked sternly at Sakura. "I don't even see myself as a mother."

Sakura slowly smiled at her friend before saying, "Meiling, I think he loves you too much to want to make you unhappy. And, don't take this the wrong way, but have you considered that perhaps he wants to marry you just to take a step forward in your relationship instead of being off and on whenever you guys go through a rough time? I mean, from what I've heard even the times when you guys have broken up you still end up going back to each other. I think that, if you are afraid that this is what he wants with the whole marriage thing then perhaps you should be straight forward with him. Just let him know how you truly feel about this."

"I don't want kids Sakura."

"Well, did he say he wants to have kids now?"

Meiling shook her head. "No. But after marriage, you know that's coming."

"Okay, then let me ask you this. If he were to agree not to have kids, would you marry him?"

Meiling thought about it before answering, "Yes."

"Then speak to him about it. You're problem is not marriage, is what comes after marriage."

Meiling shook her head again. "It's not so easy. I know he wants kids Sakura. He wants to have a family. He already told me this. And I know I'm being selfish right now because I don't want any but what am I supposed to do when I feel this way? And I don't want to lose him either because of something like this."

"Meiling, I've seen the way that man looks at you. I've seen the way he was with you seven years ago and the way he still is today. And if you tell him how you really feel about all of this, I'm sure he'll understand."

Meiling sighed. "I tried and ended up hanging up the phone on him."

Sakura looked at her messed up friend and asked, "You talked this over the phone?"

"Well I wasn't expecting to be a day earlier and neither did he so we ended up fighting about this over the phone." She quickly said.

It was definitely not a good way of discussing this particular topic on Sakura's mind but regardless she said, "Well, speak to him in person. Having a conversation face to face to solve problems has been proved to be more effective than having a phone talk."

Meiling took a deep breath before nodding. "You're right. I should just talk to him face to face." Then she narrowed her eyes and finished saying, "that way he can see how truly devastating I am of having children."

Sakura chuckled and shook her head while drinking another sip of her cappuccino. "Wow, I guess you'll be the second one engaged now."

"We all thought you'd be the first, you know…" Meiling carelessly said while also taking a sip of her cup.

Sakura stared at her before looking down at her cup and sadly smile. "Yeah."

At her friends reaction Meiling quickly said, "Oh! I didn't mean it that way."

Sakura shook her head. "It's okay. I still think we did the right thing."

"The right thing?" Meiling stared at her friend before continuing. "I know I shouldn't be saying this but you'll have to forgive me I just have to. Perhaps it was the right thing for you but you weren't there to see him fall. He has bruises right now that not even you can mend."

Sakura tiredly sighed. "Don't judge me Meiling. This wasn't easy on any of us." She wanted to finish that sentence the way she had thought of it but decided not to indulge anymore on the topic. Instead she opted for finishing her cappuccino before looking at her watch. "I have to go. I need to finish preparing everything and only have five hours left." She said before looking at her watch. "Actually, four and a half." She said as she took her purse and said goodbye to her friend before walking out the door. In the end… 'It had been his decision all along.'

~ o ~

"Alright! Before you leave, remember tonight at seven in the lobby for the Welcome Dinner. No excuses are allowed. You have the rest of the day to yourselves so make sure you rest and are on time. Also, remember curfew is at eleven. I don't want any of you out of your rooms after that. Is this clear?"

"Yes." Most of the players said collectively before dividing themselves into their usual social groups and leaving the lobby area.

After lunch their coach dismissed them as part of their tournament routine. It was important to practice but also to be well rested. The tournament lasted almost a month and rest would be hard to achieve after their first game on Sunday. He needed the team to bring their very best game throughout the tournament so trusting them to be responsible in their own time he gave them the rest of the afternoon off.

Syaoran looked around but didn't see her.

"So, how about we try the pool on the roof?" Kyu happily suggested after watching their coach walked away.

"The pool on the roof is probably the worst place to be right now Kyu. I bet a lot of fans are in there by now." Eriol said looking around to see what they could possibly do before dinner. His girlfriend was out buying her last minute preparations for tonight which meant he had absolutely nothing better to do. As he looked around, he spotted a very familiar face and smirked. "Besides, I think you'll be busy as of now."

Kyu curiously looked at him before following his gaze. He widened his eyes and smiled when he saw his girlfriend entering the hotel lobby with a small suitcase on her hand. Or better yet… a large suitcase which for her was a small one. He immediately left them and went to greet her.

Syaoran's lack of emotion worried Eriol. Their tournament was about to start and he had never seen his cousin so out of focused as he did today. "You do know Kyu asked our cousin to marry, don't you?"

Syaoran, who had been watching the entire scene, smirked. "Let me guess…"

"Yep." Eriol nodded and chuckled. "Are you okay man?"

"Yeah." He said as normally as he could. "I'll be in the gym if anyone asks."

Eriol looked at him. "Coach gave us the afternoon off and you're going to the gym?"

"Coach gave you guys the afternoon off. I need to train." He simply said.

"Syaoran, you're part of this team even if you're still recuperating. If coach gave us the afternoon off, that means you too."

Ignoring his cousin, he turned around. "Spare me your lectures Eriol. I'll see you guys at dinner."

Eriol widened his eyes. "You're going to train for four hours in the gym?" he loudly asked but Syaoran simply ignored him and walked all the way to the elevator. Sighing, Eriol shook his head. His cousin wasn't alright but something told him it wasn't just the training. He had seen the way Syaoran reacted when they entered the restaurant earlier. Something else was bothering his cousin and he had the slightly suspicion that it involved their long lost/found friend Sakura.

~ o ~

The moment he laid eyes on Meiling, everything else was forgotten. Their phone talk, their discussion, everything had passed to another page after seeing her arrive a day earlier. He smiled and without thinking it twice went over to her and hugged her. "I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow."

She felt engulfed in his hands and hugged him back. "Yeah, well I was able to get here a day earlier."

He gave her a quick kiss and happily hugged her again. "I'm glad."

"Can we go to your room?" she asked a little unsure.

"Yeah." He said before grabbing her bag and walking towards the elevator. "How was your trip?"

"It was alright. I mean it wasn't as comfortable as others since we had to fly standby and the seats weren't even assigned beforehand but I guess it was okay."

He let her enter the elevator first before following. "Did you already change the information on the hotel or do you need me to talk to someone?"

"I'll be staying at my aunt's house tonight."

He looked at her but didn't say anything. After the elevator doors opened, they walked together to his room. He unlocked the door and let her walk in before following her with her bag. "Why not just make the arrangements to stay here tonight?" He watched her walk toward his room big balcony and pause.

She looked down before taking a deep breath and turning towards him. "I don't want you to lose your concentration."

He nodded and casually put his hands on his pockets. "This doesn't need to make us feel awkward Meiling. I told you we can talk about that when the tournament's over."

"I do need to say something about 'that topic' now."

He kept looking at her. "Okay. Speak."

She looked around his bedroom trying to hide the fact that she was dead nervous about what she was about to say. What she had told Sakura had been true. She loved Kyu. With all her heart she loved Kyu which made it harder to bring the subject. Fear of losing him made her tremble but she needed to do this. "I know you don't like my profession."

He quickly interrupted her. "That's not true. I dislike some of the choices you've made with it but that doesn't mean I don't like it or support you in it."

"Then I will say you don't entirely like my profession as those choices I've made are part of my profession." She quickly said fixing her first sentence.

He sighed but didn't fight her about it. Instead he waited for her to continue.

"I'm…" she sighed. "I don't even know how to say this."

"It's not that hard. Just say what you feel." He simply said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Is not that easy for me, Kyu. And you're making it harder right now."

He sighed. "It's not, love. Just say what you need to say."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm… I'm not entirely against marrying. It's just that… I know what you want. And it scares me that I won't be able to give you what you want. I worked very hard to be where I'm at professionally and I may sound selfish but…"

He sighed and shook his head. "Meiling, what do you think I want with marriage?"

She stared at him. "People don't marry just for marrying Kyu. After this you'll probably want to start a family and I'm not ready to be a mother. I don't want to have kids but I don't want to lose you either. So what am I supposed to do when you ask to marry me knowing I can't give you what you want?" she sighed. "There, I said it!"

He chuckled at his girlfriend's small rant and shook his head. "Is this all?"

Bothered by his reaction she looked at him. "You're laughing at me? Do you find something funny about my feelings?"

He walked towards her until he was in front of her. He put his hands on her waist and closely looked at her. "Baby, I don't want to marry you just to have kids. I want us two as a couple to be something more than just girlfriend and boyfriend. If I would've wanted to have a kid with you I could've done it a long time ago. Do you think I don't know about you skipping your pills from now and then?"

She was quite surprised with his little confession. "That was before when they used to make me fat." She watched as he rolled his eyes at her comment and finished saying, "And even when I skip I make sure to take the morning after pill just in case."

He chuckled. "I love you." He said before kissing her. He felt her hands around his neck and knew they finally were alright. Most of their fights came because of misunderstandings. It was a constant in their relationship and something they had learned how to fix along the way. He kissed her neck and whispered. "Though I doubt you truly feel like that about kids."

She chuckled. "I mean it Kyu."

He kissed her neck several times before whispering in her ear, "Are you sure? You don't want to see a mini bratty Meiling running around?"

"There's a fifty percent possibility that it could turn up to be a snobby Kyu running around, you know…" she responded to his question.

He chuckled and kissed her lips again. "I wouldn't mind any of the two." He said joking around.

"You're out of luck baby." She kissed him again before saying, "I have been taking my pills without missing a day."

He chuckled. "You know what I'm thinking?"

"What?" Meiling asked before giving him another kiss.

"That coach gave us the rest of the day off probably to rest before the tournament but I'm not sure I'll be able to do that now." He said before giving her another kiss.

She chuckled through the kiss but let herself go and let him lead the way. Almost a month without seeing her boyfriend was already too much for her.

~ o ~

After finishing tonight's preparations, Suri had followed Xian's orders and brought Sakura's things over to the hotel. She placed everything in a suite just like the president had instructed and left the room. She found her boss walking already towards the room and gave her the key. "Everything is in the bedroom. I'll see you downstairs."

Sakura nodded. She grabbed the keys from her assistant's hands and entered the suite. After closing the door behind, she sighed. She had double checked everything for the dinner and was satisfied knowing that everything was in place. The spices, which were luckily the only ingredients late, had arrived just in the nick of time and she had been able to personally supervise that they were in perfect order.

Entering the bedroom, she looked at the bed and narrowed her eyes. 'Great! Leave it to Feimei to choose this type of dress.' She thought as she saw a long red sleeveless dress on the bed. Golden high sandals accompanied the dress on the side. She usually didn't have problems wearing these dresses but tonight it was different. She had been planning on at least keep it small, try to pass under the radar, but now her plan had gone down the drain. From her history with Syaoran she remembered he loved these dresses on her, fact that she was certain his sister knew as well when she chose the dress.

Seeing that she didn't have any other choice, she took a shower and prepared herself for what would most likely be a torturous night. The dress clenched perfectly on her body. It was slightly tight on her upper body and loosened itself on her thighs to fall perfectly loose on the floor. She had left her hair down and put on her makeup as natural as possible for this kind of event. Putting her last earring on, she looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. 'You're doing this for the clients. Just meet them and let's get out of here.' She simply said to herself before heading downstairs.

The small reception had already started when she reached the first floor. She looked around already hating the fact that Xian had asked her to be here. Asked…? More like manipulated her on assisting tonight's event. Even if she had coordinated everything the thought of been here had never allured her one bit. She looked around and noticed people from different places interacting with each other. The only positive thought of the night so far. At least on that account her idea of doing a reception before dinner was a success.

She kept looking around until her eyes landed on him. He had off course already noticed her. The intensity of his stare brought a shock to her stomach and made her look away. She watched as one of the waiters was passing by with glasses of wine. Grabbing one, she quickly drank half of it in one gulp.

"You sure are drinking a lot tonight." Xiefa sarcastically said.

"How long do you think I need to be here for?" She asked.

Xiefa smirked. Already her friend was thinking about leaving when this party hadn't even started yet. "Stop drinking so fast. Father is on his way with the potential clients."

She nodded and took a deep breath. Apparently, she would need a lot of wine glasses after seeing the way Syaoran looked tonight but for now she would have to hold the urge of grabbing another one. He wasn't alone. As he had planned from the very beginning he brought that reporter after all to be his companion for the night… sight that hadn't gone unnoticed by her.

Xian finally approached them and without further a due he greeted both of them before saying, "Sakura, Xiefa, I want you to meet Oliver and Vaunt."

Sakura smiled at them and shook their hands as did Xiefa. "Very nice to meet you."

"It's finally good to meet you Ms. Li and Ms. Kinomoto. We have heard a lot about you two." Vaunt, an elegant man in his mid thirties nicely said. His short brown hair was nicely put back perfectly fitting his business man profile.

Oliver who was also elegantly dressed nodded. His confident air and mustache made him look a little older than Vaunt but his serious business man feature was visible to everyone. In Sakura's perception the one that made the decisions was probably him."I'm very impressed with the work you have done here Ms. Kinomoto."

She smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks but it wasn't all me. Xiefa knows how her father likes things done."

"Yet, you pulled the strings to get it." He said looking at her then turned his head toward Xian, "You truly are lucky indeed."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He smiled politely.

Their funny accents didn't escape Sakura at all as she stared at Xian. She tried to figure out what was he planning now when she heard one of the waiters signaling them to start entering the dinner ballroom. Suddenly Oliver offered his arm to her in an old fashioned way. She curiously looked back at him.

"A lady should never walk inside a dinner hall alone." He nicely said.

She politely smiled and accepted his offer feeling a little uncomfortable but nonetheless grateful as they walked towards their table.

Xiefa entered the dinner hall accompanied by Vaunt and excused herself immediately after reaching the table. Part of her duties for tonight was giving the 'Welcome to China' speech.

Sakura, contrary to Xiefa, sat down on the table next to Xian and Xiefa's empty seat. She accommodated herself in her assigned chair completely conscious that his eyes had been following her all this time. She felt his stare as she walked inside the dinner hall in Oliver's hand. She didn't need to look to know she was right but not resisting anymore she did take a quick look and the sight only made her feel worst. Katherine was whispering something in his ear before flirting her way into touching his chest as she laughed.

She needed to get out. She needed to find a way to leave. Not even the potential clients could keep her mind occupied enough to keep her in this dinner tonight. If she had to endure having to look at that whore at his side then she would rather talk with the potential clients during another time.

Luckily for her, her angry face was hidden by the diming of the lights as Xiefa made her way into the podium.

~ o ~

After dinner, everyone was laughing and talking to one another. Xian noticed Sakura had barely touched her food but didn't say much about it. He simply turned towards her and softly said, "You can go now if you wish."

She looked at him and to not draw too much attention on a low voice she said, "If you don't need me, I rather leave."

He nodded. "I'll walk you out."

She accepted and stood up. He stood up as well and was about to walk her out when he was called from behind.

"Father!"

He turned around to meet his son with a smile on his face.

"I want you to meet Katherine."

Xian curiously looked at her and smiled while offering his hand to greet her. 'Ah! The famous Katherine!' he sarcastically thought before cordially shaking her hand. "A pleasure to meet you."

Sakura stared at Syaoran. She was conscious of Xian shaking Katherine's hand but never took her eyes off Syaoran. She knew why he was doing this. Her dislike for the woman had always been visible to many including him. Although she controlled herself in front of everyone, inside his little game was working. Her many ideas on how to easily get this woman out of her sight never stopped flowing through her mind right now.

Xiefa, who had been watching the entire scene, took this chance to stand from her chair and throw her a conniving smile. "Katherine! I remember you. You were that reporter trying to do a piece on Syaoran."

"Reporter? I don't remember seeing your name on the list." Xian casually said as he looked from his daughter to his son's date.

Xiefa smiled, "That's because she's not on the list father. After careful evaluations she was not good enough to be in it."

"Xiefa!" Xian warned his daughter. He knew how much Xiefa loved a good fight but it wasn't the time or place to have it.

Katherine looked at Sakura and smiled, "If I air that piece, you'd be surprised at how good I really am."

Her little comment made Sakura turn her sight from Syaoran to the petite reporter. The mere thought of still been considered a threat after finding out of their past together brought a small confident smirk to her face after hearing this woman's comeback to Xiefa's words. It was enough to know that she wouldn't hold Syaoran's interest for long but, not minding that, Sakura indifferently turned towards Xian and said, "I am leaving."

"Ah, yes. Well, you'll have to excuse me. I'm walking her over to her car but later on we can all sit and talk a bit more if you like."

"Oh, I'd be delighted!" Katherine quickly said her excitement visible in her tone of voice.

Xian nodded. He put his hand on Sakura's lower back to direct her towards the door.

Yelan, who had been watching everything from the table, stayed silent. She only looked at her son and saw the pain in his eyes. Although she was itching inside to take care of the situation she decided to heed her husband's advice when he told her to let Syaoran handle the situation.

~ o ~

Xian walked Sakura like he said he would towards her car. "You know you're like a daughter to me."

She looked at him. "You've always known how to not interfere with my personal life. I will appreciate if you don't start now."

As they reached her car, Xian sadly smiled at her. He touched her chin so he could look at her face before carefully saying his next words, "Sometimes, fear makes us lose our best things in life but it's always there, we just have to find a way to overcome it."

She got out of his hold and scoffed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"For the first time I've seen fear in your eyes tonight. It doesn't suit you. It's not you." he sighed before casually looking away. "You may leave now. If you need to take tomorrow off you can take it. Just don't come into the office with these eyes. They'll accomplish nothing productive throughout the day." He put his hands in his pockets and smoothly turned around.

Sakura watched him walk away confidently as usual. She opened her car door and got in before starting the ignition and driving away. There were so many things in her mind she needed to clear out.

~ o ~

Suri walked out of dinner hall laughing at a joke her boyfriend Mark had made with some of his teammates. They were holding hands as they walked out to the hallway. From this moment on they supposedly weren't able to see each other until the tournament was over but since she was one of the people organizing this tournament that was easier said than done. As they were walking through the hotel lobby, she saw Syaoran on the bar sitting alone with a glass of what hopefully was water on his hands.

She turned towards her boyfriend and softly stopped him while he was still talking to some of his teammates, "Mark, can you give me a second?"

He looked towards her, smiled, and nodded.

She untangled her hand from his and walked slowly towards the bar. "I wasn't aware that players were allowed to drink while the tournament is on."

He looked at her before rolling his eyes and looking at his cup again sighed. "There's no alcohol in it so it's fine. What can I help you with?" He simply said.

"I wanted to apologize if I have been a jerk to you in the past."

He curiously looked at her not knowing if he could believe her or not. "And this? I'm pretty sure April fool's day was months ago."

She smirked. "Fair enough, but I'm being serious."

He nodded. "Apology accepted." He took a sip of his drink and put it back down on the bar.

"You know, I haven't told this to anyone but I'm really grateful for my boss." She waited for his reaction but at his lack of she continued. "I wouldn't have learned everything I have professionally learned if it wasn't for her."

This conversation suddenly was turning weirder than usual for him. I mean, was there a point to her conversation at all? He was truly tempted to ask her to leave him alone but restrained himself from doing it. Instead, he let her talk.

"One of the things she taught me was to always double check everything before an event happens. It's the reason why her projects have all been so successful. So, I'm guessing tonight will probably be a long night full of working hours since the opening ceremony is tomorrow."

He sighed and looked at her again. "Why are you telling me this?"

She smiled at him before looking at her boyfriend waiting for her. "Because I wouldn't be with Mark if she hadn't helped me when I needed her to." She turned her face to look at him again. "So, I guess you can call it a reconciliation gift from me to you. What you decide to do with it it's entirely your call."

Syaoran saw her smirk before turning around and walking back towards his teammate.

"So, I'm guessing tonight will probably be a long night full of working hours since the opening ceremony is tomorrow."

Her words resounded on his mind. He kept staring at her before standing from his seat. He took a bill from one of his pockets and placed it on the bar before walking towards his car.

~ o ~

She walked a couple of steps inside the field and looked around. She was standing right where he would start playing the biggest tournament of his career in a week. She hadn't told him everything the doctor had said that day but it was almost certain that he would be released completely around next week. Knowing how impatient he had been with his rehab there was no telling when he would actually start practicing. In fact she had no doubt he would probably want to start even before the doctor's release so as she relayed the news to his coach she decided to take some precautions. He had agreed with her on not allowing him to play unless it was truly necessary on the first week.

She took a deep breath and crunched down. Thoughts about tonight's little encounter filled her head as she remembered the way he introduced Katherine to his father. She grabbed a few pieces of grass in her hands and put them in her purse as she kept remembering the way he looked. She knew what his purpose had been. She knew why he had done it. Words were not necessary between them to understand his meaning. He hadn't introduced Katherine to his father tonight instead he was sending her a message... This is who I'm choosing to play around with unless you come forward. And he did choose well. She despised the woman from the very first time she met her.

"The field is not part of the promotional events of the tournament."

She didn't need to turn around to know it was him. Standing up, she took a deep breath before replying, "I can't believe this tournament is about to start tomorrow."

"It's late. I can understand me being here. I'm sure you can as well, but why are you here?"

She took a deep breath and tried to quickly prepare herself mentally for what she could find behind her before finally looking at him. He was still wearing his tux which meant he hadn't even been to his room. "Where's Katherine?"

With his hands in his pockets he heard her answer scrutinizing every detail. She had never been easy to read but he was tired of her games. He shook his head and walked enough to stand in front of her but kept watching the field. "I've been to many fields. Most of them have almost the same measurements 105 meters goal line to goal line but playing in each of them brings different feelings. And yet none of those feelings compare to what I feel for you Sak."

She stared at him but didn't move at all. Her instinct was screaming at her to walk away and yet trembling inside after listening to his words she waited.

He turned to look at her. "You ask me to focus on my recuperation, how do I do that if my mind keeps going back to wanting to be with you?"

She tiredly sighed and looked down trying to avoid his eyes. "I don't want this now."

"What's this?" he softly asked.

"This… Us." She said still avoiding his eyes.

"Us?" he softly asked turning completely towards her. "Us doesn't even make sense to me Sakura. Not being together, going out with other girls while knowing I'm hurting you, it doesn't make sense."

She sighed and looked at him. "Can't you just let it go? Can't knowing be enough for now?"

"Please stop this." He almost whispered as he touched his forehead against hers. "You're hurting us both. Do you truly need me to answer that? I want you back and you know this."

She shook her head. "Last time I wasn't enough"

He softly caressed her hand with his fingers. She closed her eyes. "Last time I wasn't ready for this." An electric shock traveled through her body as his hand softly caressed her from fingers through her skin all the way to her neck. He definitely had grown a lot more experienced.

It took quite some effort before she opened her eyes. "There's nothing different between us Syaoran. You have your tournament starting tomorrow."

"Is this the only thing stopping you?"

"I'd be lying if I say it is. There's too much history between us for that been the only reason."

He softly caressed her cheek. "But you also have reasons to want this." He kept caressing her cheeks slowly before stealing a kiss from her. He felt her hands grabbed his but he didn't stop. He kissed her lips softly several times coaxing her to give in until he felt her hands slowly slipping away towards his waist. He tasted her lips several times before he felt her giving in and deepening the kiss.

Moaning into the kiss she broke breathlessly from it. "What about your tournament?" she worriedly asked.

He shook his head before saying, "Let me worry about my tournament. As far as I can tell, if I'm going to win this tournament I rather win it with you at my side than without you." He softly replied before kissing her again.

She felt his arms slowly encircling her waist as he softly pulled her closer to him. She put her arms around his neck before pulling away from the kiss and putting her forehead once again against his. "We need to talk."

"We can talk later." He said before kissing her again.

She broke the kiss again and looked at his eyes. "I'm being serious. We still need to talk."

He looked into her eyes and softly nodded. "You want to talk, we'll talk. But I'm not going back to being without you."

She smiled and softly nodded before feeling his lips against hers again but this time she just relaxed and enjoy the kiss as she put her hands around his neck.

Author's note: First of all I wanted to clarify something from the last chapter… Yue is Mark's last name. I did see some of you wrote to me on that matter and I wish to apologize if you got confused by the sudden change. Also, I wanted to end chapter 13 how I ended this one but then as I was re-reading it I found out I was missing a lot of things so it took me longer than usual and in the end had to cut the last chapter in half. But on a much happier note, I was able to finish this chapter just like I wanted to. It took me one more week than I thought but I think it was well worth it. As always, I want to thank you for your opinion on the matter. I feel like knowing the readers thoughts helps me improve each day when writing this story. As for this chapter, I hope you like it as well and please let me know what you think on it.