"A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because her trust is not on the branch but on its own wings. Always believe in yourself." - Unknown
Chapter 17
"Fearless"
She tossed to her right side whining not fully comprehending what was going on. She turned once more bothered by the distressing sound that was disturbing her sleep. When she groggily opened her eyes she realized the annoying sound was coming from her phone though she couldn't fully understand who could be calling her in these ungodly hours of the morning. She looked outside her window and all she could see was darkness. The sun hadn't even started showing his first rays.
She searched for some minutes around her bed still fighting with her sleep but found nothing. She reached in front of her to touch around the night table but found thin air colliding with her hand. 'That's right! I'm not in my apartment.' She thought before turning around and reaching far enough to touch the only night table in this room. Grabbing her phone, she disconnected it from its battery source and angrily answered. "Who the heck is this?"
"Sakura! Father just had a heart attack!"
~ o ~
He opened his eyes slowly. It was pitch dark outside but the sound of a shower running early hours of the morning woke him up. He looked at his watch and growled at the sight of five in the morning being marked by the short hand. Usually he was the first to wake up but this time Eriol had woken before him. After having the talk with Sakura, he had tried to apologize to Eriol but he could tell he was still a little pissed off by the incident. He hadn't needed Sakura to tell him it was his entire fault, his guilty feeling while leaving the hotel last night was enough but she had confirmed it nonetheless which only made him feel worst and yet seeing her last night made him feel better at the same time.
Kyu's text had ended his little mischief of visiting Sakura last night. He had rushed into the hotel and gone straight to the hotel's conference room. Lucky for him, his cousin's anger hadn't reached a point of telling their coach the real reason why he was late to the meeting which to him was a good sign. He had no doubt Eriol probably had known all along about his whereabouts. They had their team meeting in which he apologized to the entire team for his behavior after the game and later on to his cousin before watching film and although he had expected it to be enough he only found himself disappointed at the fact that it hadn't been.
He heard the sound of the shower been turned off and sat down on his bed bent over with his hands on his knees still a little drowsy from his lack of sleep last night. After a couple of minutes the bathroom door opened and Eriol came out drying his hair with a towel. He looked at Syaoran but didn't acknowledge his presence. Instead he continued his way to his bag and pulled out his clothes to dress himself.
"Are you still pissed?" Syaoran asked. He waited for his cousin to answer but didn't hear a single word from him. The abundance of silence made him speak again. "Come on man. I already apologized. What else do you want me to say?"
"Nothing. I've already heard enough." Eriol said. He finished dressing up and headed out.
Syaoran watched him close the door after leaving and sighed. He couldn't remember the last time he had a fight with his cousin but they had never had a fight that involved soccer before. Usually their fights in the past always involved Tomoyo and even when they had them, although he was mostly guilty as charged for those too, they were able to talk things through the next day. The only difference was that this time an engagement wouldn't solve his entire problem.
He grabbed his phone and texted Sakura first thing in the morning before heading towards the shower.
*Morning Babe!
~ o ~
"Hey man!" Kyu greeted Eriol on the restaurant entrance.
Xiun also greeted Eriol from the side. He had been rooming with Kyu for this tournament which was perfect since he was also an early riser and enjoyed eating. Both of them had decided to have an early breakfast before leaving for morning practice. Lucky for them, they were both soccer players which meant they could eat anything they wanted, with moderation mind you, and sweat it off their bodies a couple of hours later. Looking around him, he noticed he had come downstairs alone and asked, "Where's Syaoran?"
"In the room." He simply said as he kept walking towards one of the empty tables.
Xiun and Kyu followed him since they usually sat down on the same table. Sometimes they would agree on doing this the night before. Other times like today they just met downstairs and after waiting for each other they would get the table. "You didn't wake him up?"
"I'm sure he's old enough to wake up on his own if his maturity allows him." Eriol said as an afterthought.
"Didn't he apologize last night?" Xiun asked taking the seat across him.
Eriol looked at him before silently looking at the menu. The hotel restaurant had a vast variety of choices for breakfast and he had made a point of trying everything on the menu if he was lucky enough to last the entire competition.
Kyu looked at him silently. Contrary to Eriol he already knew what he wanted so instead he thought about yesterday's incident. There was no doubt that this fight between Syaoran and Eriol would bring repercussions to the team. It was a given fact that whenever the two of them were fighting the team ended up getting affected by both of their attitudes. Eriol usually was very calm and passive but when he argued with reason getting him out of his mood was easier said than done. And Syaoran… well what could be said about Syaoran… even when his arrogance would allow him to apologize there was still a part of him that would try to justify his actions which ended up with him not caring whether you accepted the apology or not. "You know… you could be the mature person and accept his apology."
"We both know he still doesn't care. So why bother?" Eriol simply said while waiting on the waitress to take their orders.
~ o ~
She had arrived at the hospital with Feimei an hour after receiving Xiefa's call. It didn't took long to wake Feimei up since her mother had already called her to informed her so they both got dressed and left as soon as they could. They walked quickly through the hospital hallways already been familiarized with it since Syaoran had also been recruited here when he was injured. After several turns they found Xiefa sitting in the visitor area with what it looked to be a cup of coffee on her hand.
"Xiefa!" Feimei was the first to rush towards her. "How's father? What happened?"
Xiefa looked at both of them and waited for Sakura to reach them before explaining. "Father had a minor heart attack last night or earlier this morning however you want to call it. He just woke up several minutes ago. Mother is with him."
"Who found him?" Sakura asked.
Xiefa looked at Sakura and hesitated a little before replying. "I did. For some reason I forgot my iPad in the office and when I went to get it I saw his light was on so I went to turn it off and I found him on the floor."
Xiefa's face was enough to know that these were probably the only words she would utter about the incident. By the look on her face the event had affected her more than she would like to let on. Sakura noticed her voice lacked the confident tone she usually used when speaking to people and her skin had paled since the last time she had seen her.
"Can we see him?" Feimei asked.
"Yeah, I'm heading to his room now as well." Xiefa replied.
Sakura nodded. The three of them walked together to Xian's room. On the way to his room Sakura's mind was already running with possible scenarios on what could probably happen next. Xian in a bed meant someone would probably have to take care of all the meetings he had scheduled for this week. Not to mention if Yelan was to spend time on his recovery, which it was totally understandable, someone would also had to cover for her. Sparing a look at Xiefa once more, she wasn't too sure that on her condition she would be able to fit her mother's shoes in the company while her father recovered.
~ o ~
He hadn't spent much time after waking up pondering on past events instead he took a shower, dressed up quickly, and watched some TV before heading downstairs for breakfast. If his cousin couldn't accept his apology he wasn't going to beg for it. One time of uttering the words should've been enough in his opinion. Hearing the sound of the elevator reaching the lobby he waited for the doors to open before heading out. He started walking towards the restaurant but got distracted on the way.
He found Sayuri waiting in one of the tables of the bar with purse in hand. She hadn't take notice of him since she was looking the other way around but by looking at her all dressed up casually he could guess she was probably on her way out of the hotel. The other day when he found out she was here he wasn't able to express his thoughts like he had wanted to. Kyu and Eriol had been on his side but this time they weren't. He decided to approach her before heading to breakfast this morning. "I hope he hasn't kept you waiting long."
She jumped at the sound of his voice and turned to look at him. "Syaoran!"
He smiled and put his hands inside his sweat pant pockets. Contrary to Eriol he made sure to come completely prepared to go to the field once he finished eating so he dressed with his China practice shirt and his practice shorts under his sweat pants. "Good morning!"
"What are you doing here?"
He reclined himself from the bar casually before replying, "We need to talk."
She looked around searching for something or most likely someone before looking back at him. "I don't want any trouble."
"Have you seen your cousin lately?" he asked.
She confidently stared back at him knowing he always liked to go straight to the point. "I did. She has changed a lot. Not the same thing that can be said about you since you're probably still following her around even after she abandoned you."
"That night-"
"Don't!" she interrupted before he could finish. "I'm well aware that it meant something different for both of us. You don't need to taint my memory with your thoughts."
He kept looking at her. The feeling inside those memories for her where entirely different than the sensation he felt when remembering that night. When everything ended it was too late to take back and he hadn't just hurt one person that night but three before hitting rock bottom. "I will only say this because I feel it's right that you hear it from me. Sakura and I are giving ourselves another chance."
"So I've heard. Though if you ask me I'm not too sure you know what you're getting yourself into."
He looked away and sighed uninterested with her opinion. "I'm only letting you know. Nothing else."
She smirked. "She's not the same cheerful little girl she was when you dated her years ago. Her cheerleading days were over a long time ago. I'm telling you she's changed but I know you won't take my word for it so if your announcement was all you needed to say then be gone. My boyfriend should be getting here any minute now."
"Did you tell her about us?" he asked
She questionably looked at him but was interrupted before she could answer him.
"Babe! Sorry that took so long." A tall man approached them. The man had wavy brown hair that reached his ears. The width of his shoulders suggested that the man either was another model or was used to working out at the gym. He sure did fitted Sayuri perfectly since she had always liked men with good physiques.
Syaoran looked at the man walking towards them before he reached down to peck her in the lips. When he looked back up, he was surprised to find him there and gasped. "You're Li Syaoran!" he amazedly said.
Immediately Syaoran could recognize the fascination on his voice. It was the same reaction he got from all his fans. He smiled and nodded putting his hand out. "Yes I am. And you are?"
He grabbed his hand and shook it. "I'm Ozuna, Mikael but you can call me Mik. It's such a pleasure! Forgive my excitement, you must be tired of these, it's just that in my life I'd never thought I would actually be meeting you in person."
"No worries." Syaoran casually answered.
He turned towards Sayuri and looked at him again. "This is my girlfriend. Kinomoto, Sayuri."
Syaoran chuckled. "Yes, we know each other from high school."
His eyes widened before looking at her. "What? You knew Li and you never told me?"
She stood up from her chair and smiled at him. "It was much a surprise for me to see him here as it was for you, baby. Do you want a picture with him? I'm pretty sure Li has other things he needs to do today."
Syaoran smirked. The way he remembered Sakura's cousin… Mikael was exactly Sayuri's type. A man she could easily manipulate with a smile to do her bidding. Even though it was still a little unnerving to find her here in the same hotel as him, he felt relieved to know that she was able to move on with someone more compatible for her.
He posed to take the picture with Mikael while Sayuri took it in front of them. "There! Very nice!" she happily said.
"Let me see it!" Mikael said while grabbing her phone.
She took advantage of the fact that he was taking a look at the picture to look at Syaoran silently. She mimicked with her lips the word 'thank you' to him before looking at her boyfriend again.
Syaoran nodded towards her. He clearly took her message as gratitude towards not indulging in their past in front of her boyfriend. "Well, I do have to leave now. It was good seeing you again. Take care!" he said before walking towards the restaurant.
On the way he encountered many more fans with their phones out ready to take pictures of him or with him. The hotel had established a line made of small poles with ropes to keep fans out of the hotel while the tournament was been played. Anyone without a carnet that could identify them wouldn't be able to get inside. Since this hotel was chosen to only have teams and VIP guests they established this form of security where the teams could be safe and at the same time the fans could see their players walking around from time to time. He walked near the entrance and took several pictures with little kids. From his pockets he took out a sharpie he had grabbed from the room and signed some autographs before heading over to the restaurant to have breakfast.
On his way to the restaurant he noticed his friends walking out talking animatedly between each other.
"Are you guys done?" he asked.
Eriol simply looked at him but continued on his way.
Kyu nodded. "We just ate but Mark just got here."
Syaoran sighed at his cousin's attitude but nodded. "I'll see you guys later then." He said while walking inside the restaurant. Just like Kyu had said he found Mark grabbing a chair in one of the tables and walked over. He watched as Mark looked at him curiously but sat down next to him anyways.
"I thought you ate already. This is late for you."
Syaoran sighed rolling his eyes and looked at the menu. "I got held back by fans." He said which was somewhat true but decided to simply answer with that than telling him the entire truth.
"Eriol just walked out of here." Mark simply said while looking at the menu as well.
"I saw him." He replied not liking at all where this conversation was going.
Mark put his menu down and looked at him. "Then I will say this straight out even if you don't want to hear it. You're a forward, he's a midfielder and both of you are on the initial eleven. Make sure you guys are talking to each other by tonight's game or I will exert my authority as captain and ask to put both of you on the bench for lack of teamwork even if it costs us the game."
'Great!' he thought. His morning had already started in the wrong side of the bed because of Eriol and now he had to add Mark's little threat to the list. "I'm trying. I apologized. I don't know what else he wants from me?"
"I don't care. Fix this."
"Did you not hear me? He doesn't want to talk."
"Find a way. He's your cousin." Mark simply said before turning towards the waitress and ordering his plate.
Syaoran sighed and ordered his plate as well before giving the menu to the waitress. He looked at his phone and frowned. It was near 8:00 and Sakura hadn't texted back yet. He knew she had always been an early riser. 'Maybe she overslept.' He thought and yet there was still that nagging sensation in the back of his head that kept telling him that something was definitely not right with her not answering his text.
~ o ~
Sakura kept turning the pages back and forth of a travel magazine she found lying in a booth that was placed in the visitor's waiting room of the hospital. Yelan was with Xian and the doctor right now discussing his blood analysis results nurses had performed on him earlier on this morning. While she waited she thought it best to keep herself distanced from her current boyfriend till she had a definite answer for him on the status of his father. Hence why she was very well entertained looking over a very helpful travel magazine. Since having that talk with Syaoran a couple of nights ago she was looking for places to visit.
"Are you serious about wanting to take a few days off?" she asked.
"Yes, just the two of us." He made sure to specify that last part.
"You do know what that means… no soccer or training or anything that has to do with exercising your body…" she playfully said. She could imagine the smirk on his face after hearing her words.
"All hotels now these days have a gym."
"What's the point of going into vacations to work?"
"Does that mean I get the privilege of being with you with no phone or tablet or anything that is linked to your office?"
She chuckled. "Okay, I walked straight down into that one…" She heard him laugh in the line. "I'm still thinking about this. I haven't agreed to any of this yet but supposing I agree on it, what kind of place do you want to go to?"
"Supposing? Why are you still thinking about this? Didn't you say you would be taking time off?"
"I am taking time off. I just didn't think I would be traveling. I mean… the Cup is over in two to three weeks. There's no concrete plan, no made reservations, no background search on places… there's not even a named place yet."
"Well, you don't need a year to plan a small week just pick a place."
"A week? I thought you said a couple of days…"
He sighed. "A week, a weekend, it doesn't matter. Whatever you want just let me know."
She heard his exasperated voice and smiled after noticing he was already losing his patience about this. "How did the meeting go?"
"It was fine." He said in a not too convincing way.
"Were you able to apologize to your cousin?"
He was quiet for a couple of seconds before finally saying, "I apologized after all since you made me feel guilty enough about it but I don't think it mattered much."
"What do you mean?"
"It means he's not even here right now." He monotonously answered.
"He's breaking curfew?" Apparently the fight had escalated more than she thought. Since meeting them for the first time, Eriol had never been the type to break the rules.
He hesitated and smirked. "That's secret of the state. I can't confirm something like that."
She scoffed and jokingly replied, "You already said he's not there as of now. Taken that it's past ten that literally means he's breaking curfew but rest assured baby your secret is safe with me. Though I can't believe he is breaking curfew…"
Syaoran took a deep breath. "Not joking around, I don't know what to do Sak. Usually it was me the one who would disappear the entire night and walked in silently the next morning."
She bit her lip and at the same time put the phone on speaker to write a text on her phone while talking to Syaoran. "Well, give him a little bit of time. You never had a fight like this before with him either so maybe he needs time to clear his head."
He smirked. "Well you know… maybe since he's out you can sneak in."
She laughed at his proposal and quickly replied. "Um… let me think about it. No!"
She wasn't too sure on his word of behaving on vacations but nonetheless she looked for places inside the magazine that would inspire her to visit them. She turned another page when she noticed a drowsy Feimei walking over to her rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"I thought you'd be in the office by now…" she said.
Sakura went back to look at the magazine. "What's a good place to spend some relaxing time for a vacation? The Caribbean, Bali, Hawaii?"
"Oohh tough choice… The Caribbean sounds nice. When are you going?" she asked as she walked towards the coffee machine in the corner of the room.
"I'm still thinking about it so I'm not sure yet."
Then Feimei's automatic question came out as usual. "Are you going with my brother or alone?"
Sakura naturally kept passing the pages of her magazine. "What does that has to do with anything?"
Feimei smirked. "A lot actually. If you're going with my brother then pick a place that's more romantic. If you're going alone then pick a place that is more adventurous."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "I need a place that's relaxing whether I go with your brother or not."
Feimei laughed. "Fine then, I will assume you're going with my brother so I'll say the Caribbean sounds like fun. He hasn't been there yet."
Sakura nodded. "How are you feeling about your father?"
Feimei sighed and sat down next to her. She took a small sip of her coffee before replying, "I'm just a little shocked. He's so young to be having his first heart attack now."
Sakura nodded. "Well thankfully it wasn't a massive one and Xiefa acted quickly in bringing him here."
Feimei nodded. "Will you be telling brother?"
Sakura closed the magazine and sighed. "Actually, I'm trying to avoid your brother till I can tell him everything including the time your father will get released from the hospital."
"Syaoran has never been patient." Feimei commented.
Sakura looked at her. "Syaoran has a game tonight. I'll tell him afterwards."
Suddenly Yelan came in walking inside the room. Sakura and Feimei both got up from their chairs. Xiefa, who had been animatedly talking on the phone quickly hung up and headed over to her mother. "How's father?"
Yelan sighed and smiled a little. "He's fine. The results came back and everything was under control. The doctor told him he needs to start minimizing his work load. They'll keep him here tonight as a preventive measure and he'll get released tomorrow morning if nothing happens."
"Some pictures were taken when the medics were getting him into the ambulance. I've been trying to get a hold of all of them but I'm not quite sure that's possible." Xiefa said.
Yelan nodded. "I see. Then all we can do is get as many as possible out of the media until tomorrow and hope nothing else happens. Once he's out of the hospital we can handle everything better." Yelan said before turning to Sakura. "You're going to have to take care of the office and his meetings till he's well enough. I'll help you in any way I can. Do you think you can handle this?"
Sakura nodded and confidently answered, "I'll take care of it." After all, she hadn't been Xian's apprentice for nothing these past seven years.
~ o ~
Just as she had told Yelan, she left the hospital with means of making it as quick as possible to the office. No reason to stay any longer if nothing could be done about the situation. She stopped for a moment at Feimei's apartment, took a quick shower, and prepared herself before heading into the office. Reaching the large modern building, she parked her car in her usual spot and headed upstairs to the office.
The first thing she did once she arrived was to visit her old assistant in her new office. She walked right in to her office and closed the door behind her.
Suri watched from her desk as her old supervisor stood in front of her. "Sakura! Is everything alright?"
"What I'm about to tell you is top secret for now. President Li will be taking a leave of absence probably for a couple of weeks."
"What?" Suri asked surprised at the news. "But the tournament is currently on… Is that wise?"
Sakura made a sound to clear her throat before saying, "It's mandatory. I'll be taking charge from now on until he comes back therefore I need a list of his calendar and every meeting he has set for this week and the next couple of weeks as well. And I need you to take care of this with me."
Suri curiously looked at her. "I thought our last project together was the tournament…"
Sakura shook her head and casually smiled before replying, "Nope. From now on it will be this and the tournament." As she was about to walk out she decided to heed a final warning to her currently re-appointed assistant. She turned from her door and looked at her. "Suri… this stays between us."
Suri only knew what her words could mean… no one was to know about this. Not even her new assistant Kira. She wondered why the sudden change but never dared to ask. She assumed in the long run if she could know what was going on Sakura would tell her. She dropped everything she was doing and started with the task on hand.
Typing quickly in her computer like the pro she had become thanks to Sakura's teachings, she called Li's secretary and asked her to forward the president's entire calendar. She looked through it and started organizing everything to Sakura's likings. As it was custom with them, she highlighted the most important meetings of the day with one color and the rest of the to-do-list with other colors depending on the priority of the tasks according to her.
After spending some hours having everything set, she headed to Sakura's office to discuss everything with her and get her approval.
~ o ~
Astonishingly, he had been able to convince Mark that whatever was happening between his cousin and him would not affect the team in this game. Along with his argument he had promised him that he would talk to him again after the game so that Mark conceded on not saying anything to their coach yet. It was true that he would have to find a way of fixing this but nothing came to mind and as he did his pre-game warm up something else occupied his mind.
The entire day he had this feeling that something was off. Something at the back of his mind kept bothering him. His pre-game time at the lockers hadn't been like usual. He had tried to concentrate on the game ahead to no avail. Even touching the field minutes ago and warming up on it before the game started hadn't helped. He looked once again like he had done so for the past thirty minutes of warm ups towards the VIP room and didn't see her there.
He kicked the ball towards one of his teammates and jogged towards the other side. When he reached his destination he looked once more to the room… Nothing. He took a deep breath to try to control his temper inside the field since the game was about to start. He needed to concentrate.
~ o ~
Her eyes were glued to the TV in front of her. The last meeting of the day had taken longer than usual and she was late for the game. She had made sure to put the game on the limo so that she could at least start watching it with Suri on their way to the stadium.
"Mark receives the ball on the left side exercising an amazing control over it. He's running forward. I think he just spotted Kyu on the middle. Yes, he did. He passes the ball to Kyu who turned towards the right and passes the ball to Eriol. Eriol receives the ball. He's moving quickly with it. Two guys are defending their side. Wow, what a nice turn! He just left one of them behind. He kicks the ball towards the middle and… Spain is able to get the ball away from their goal side."
"Ugh!" Sakura grunted.
"Spain is a hard team to beat. I don't know if they'll be able to do it even if they're playing good." Suri commented.
Sakura ignored her comment. She was almost dying from having to watch the game on TV instead of live. Her nervousness impeded her from talking her thoughts out loud and she kept staring at the screen afraid that if she blinked she would miss an important play.
"This China team seams a lot better than how they played their first game. With every play they seem to be connecting better and better. I have to say Tai, they now look more like the team that was able to beat South Korea on the FIFA qualifiers."
Sakura had her fingers tight down with each other. Any person who didn't know her could think she was praying and yet she was keeping her hands together trying to avoid a nervous breakdown. This game was too close and too intense for her to be watching it from a TV.
"How much longer till we get to the stadium?" she asked.
Suri looked at her watch and then to the screen. "We'll probably be there by the second half."
Syaoran had been playing this game from the very beginning. After talking to him the other days his body posture seemed to be more composed and at ease inside the field. If he had or hadn't been able to solve things with his cousin it was unnoticeable in the field. He was slowly going back to being that confident player she knew which helped her ease her nerves.
"Xiun steals the ball from one of the defenders. What a superb turn. He quickly passes the ball to Eriol who responds well with a quick pass to Kyu. Kyu turns and already spotted Li running forward through the middle. He's calling for the ball! Kyu found the space between two midfielders! He passes the ball to Li with a great ball through. Here comes Syaoran running forward two defenders on his back. Santos reaches him but he gets away from the defender to the right and here's the shot! He scores! One to zero in the twenty third minute of the game."
"Ah!" Sakura screamed. Not being able to contain her excitement she started jumping in the car while screaming 'Yes!' It was a shame she hadn't been able to watch it live but at least she didn't missed it.
Suri smiled excitedly as well and started clapping.
The broadcasting station showed the play once more for those who had missed it and Sakura released a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding up to this minute.
"What a brilliant pass by Kyu. He didn't need much to think about that one. As quickly as he looked up to see Syaoran sprinting forward he simply kicked the ball through finding enough space to set the play into motion and with Syaoran's speed inside the field it was almost impossible to defend against that finish."
"Totally agree with you Tai. First Eriol's magic with his turn to keep the ball possession, then Kyu's quickness to execute a plan, and finally Syaoran's definition to finish the play. This is why when these three are on site together they form one of the most frightening soccer trios history has seen."
~ o ~
She had finally arrived at the game a little earlier than Suri had estimated and quickly walked towards the VIP room. She wasn't early enough to catch the last few minutes of the first half but at least she was already inside the stadium. After getting inside the room she greeted all the major sponsors and partners just like Li would do if he would've been able to come to the game. She took advantage that it was half time to get a small snack and a drink to sit down and talk with her friends who she hadn't seen for a couple of days.
"You finally made it!" Meiling said.
She smiled. "I know. For a minute there I thought I wouldn't be able to get here. There was so much traffic in the road."
"Mmm… well it's nice to see you finally got here. You may want to know that Syaoran hasn't stopped looking for you." Meiling said.
Tomoyo shook her head. "True. He has been looking over every time there is a stopped ball."
Sakura listened and sighed. "There's not much I can do. My line of work has these types of day many times." Nonetheless she smiled at them and looked at Tomoyo. "Have you spoken to your fiancé?"
Tomoyo nodded. "Though his answer won't please you at all."
Sakura took a bite of her dumpling before asking, "What did he say?"
Tomoyo shrugged before saying, "Something along the lines of not believing him."
Sakura swallowed her bite before looking at her. "Come on Tomoyo… He's his cousin. He made a mistake and he apologized for it."
Tomoyo sighed. "Yeah well that may be true Sakura but I can't defend Syaoran anymore."
She could've sworn she heard a hidden message in Tomoyo's way of answering. Bewildered by it, Sakura looked at her with questioning eyes. "This is not about defending him it's about smoothing things over between them. Eriol has always listened to you."
"A lot of things happened while you were away. This is something they need to fix on their own." Tomoyo said before getting up and walking away to get a drink for herself.
Still puzzled by Tomoyo's behavior, Sakura watched her back as she walked away.
Meiling sighed. "You may or may not know this but she's right. A lot of things happened while you were away, one of them been Syaoran breaking Tomoyo's trust."
Sakura looked at Meiling and patiently waited for her to continue.
"He used to room with Eriol. Still does whenever there's an official soccer event but even when they went to college they used to live together as roommates. It has been like that all their lives until he started bringing his play things to their apartment. Tomoyo would get furious every time Eriol would defend him and Syaoran ended up apologizing time after time. Yet, several weeks later another one of his play things would still wake up in their apartment. So you can say losing Tomoyo's trust was entirely his own doing. Apologizing means nothing to her right now."
"But things are different now, aren't they?" she asked.
Meiling looked at her and smiling a little nodded. "They seem to be. But that doesn't change the past Sakura. I'm glad Kyu wasn't involved in any of Syaoran's mischief. I don't have the same patience to react the same way Tomoyo did to deal with those sorts of things."
~ o ~
The game had been won by China 2-1. Spain had been able to tie the score after the break comeback and it had been close for most of the second half till Kyu landed the goal that defined the game. It had taken the other team by surprise since most of them were expecting Syaoran to make the goal but after fighting for a while to break through the strengthened line of defense from Spain Syaoran decided on the last minute to pass the ball to Kyu. Not having too many defenders against him Kyu had been able to maneuver the winning play without too much effort. It had been an enjoyable game to watch from the moment she had started to look at it on the limo till she ended up watching it on the stadium.
But now back to reality, just like she had promised Feimei she was on her way to speak to Syaoran about the latest news on his father. She walked into the hotel but stopped mid way. As she looked towards the waiting tables in the reception she saw her cousin looking at her watch and drinking a sip from her water bottle. She looked towards her left to one of the security guards and nodded for him to walk over to where she was. After the guard arrived she simply said, "Follow me." With stern determination she walked over to the waiting table.
~ o ~
"Oh! It's such a shame we can't stay with you guys. I mean, most of the guys already have girlfriends. I still don't get what's so bad about letting you guys stay with your partners…" Meiling complained to her boyfriend.
Kyu chuckled. "Babe! I don't make the rules. You know that." At least their coach had allowed them to have visitors in the hotel till nine. He had been talking with his fiancée for the last hour and sadly the time had come to say goodbye for tonight. He was about to get up when he saw an interesting sight before him. "Wait! Don't leave yet."
"Mmm…?" Meiling looked at him and curiously turned her sight to whatever he was looking at. Apparently Sakura was walking with two guys behind her. By the looks of their uniforms she could tell they were two guards and she was purposely and firmly walking towards someone. When she followed her line of sight she understood the meaning behind her boyfriend's words. "Is that who I think it is?"
~ o ~
"Did you honestly expect to go unnoticed by me? That I wouldn't find out that you were staying here?" Sakura asked. Behind her, a couple of security guards followed her till she reached her cousin in one of the waiting tables.
"Sakura!" Her cousin quickly stood up and turned around to face her. She stared at her and took a deep breath before saying, "I'm not looking for any trouble."
Sakura raised a brow after hearing her but kept her composure. "If you truly didn't wanted to have any trouble you should've picked another hotel to stay in."
"My boyfriend loves this hotel. He made all the reservations. When I found out the name it was too late to change it. Everywhere else was full."
Sakura smiled a little. "Is your pathetic excuse supposed to be enough reason for me to allow you to stay? Is that what you thought it would happen? I'm guessing he doesn't know about your past history."
Sayuri kept looking at her. Her cousin had indeed changed like she had mentioned to Syaoran earlier on. There was no trace of that sweet little girl that used to live in Tomoeda, Japan anymore. She couldn't deny that this new Sakura was indeed a little intimidating to deal with but she needed to find a way to stop this. "I know I haven't been good to you in the past but believe it or not I have moved on."
Sakura didn't show one bit of emotion in her face. Years of practice had shown her to mask her emotions when dealing with problems. "I will give you two choices. You either walk out of here right now on your own or security will accompany you to the door."
"Sakura I-" her cousin started but couldn't finish what she was about to say.
"I didn't say you had seconds to think about it and I hate repeating myself but I believe the word I used was right now."
"What is going on here?" Mikael said arriving at the scene.
Sakura looked at him emotionless, the same way she had looked at Sayuri. "Your girlfriend is not permitted in this hotel."
Mikael scoffed. "What do you mean she's not permitted? She's my girlfriend! Off course she is permitted and I can have you fired for this."
Sakura smirked. "Security, take this woman out. She's not allowed to set foot in this hotel again." She said looking straight at Sayuri then she turned her eyes to Mikael and said, "As for you, when you tell your father about this incident let him know Kinomoto, Sakura was the person that gave the order. He knows perfectly well who I am."
~ o ~
"Dang! Well that was quicker than I expected." Kyu casually said while looking at Sakura walking towards the elevator and a pretty pissed off Sayuri walking towards the entrance doors of the hotel followed by the security guards. He was a little shocked to see that Sakura hadn't even glanced back after dealing with her cousin. Instead she had confidently waited for the elevator before getting inside when it arrived.
Meiling watched as the security guards escorted Sayuri out before turning towards her boyfriend. "You knew she was staying here?"
Kyu looked at her wondering if he had just made a mistake or not. "Well, we saw her yesterday. Apparently she has a new boyfriend. I'm guessing that's him over there."
Meiling sighed. "And you didn't care to mention it to me?"
He sheepishly smiled at her. "Would you have said anything to Sakura?"
"Kyu!"
He put his hands up giving up on this argument. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. To be perfectly honest I forgot about it until now but I guess someone else must have told her she was staying here."
Meiling shook her head. "I still can't stand her."
"She looks different if you ask me." He commented.
"Ugh! You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. She's still the backstabbing envious whore she was in the past if you ask me."
Kyu smirked and chuckled. "Babe, you have such a mesmerizing way with words..."
~ o ~
Eriol sat down in the couch that was on the living room portion of the room. He turned on the TV and started watching the game that was on. France was beating Italy. If the game lasted fifteen more minutes this way it was a given they would be playing France in the semifinals qualifiers. They would probably start watching film by tomorrow night and then play them over the weekend.
He looked towards his back looking for his cousin. Although he still hadn't lifted the silent treatment off (like he used to call it) towards his cousin he found it weird Syaoran hadn't even taken a look at the TV when they arrived. This tournament meant a lot to him, a lot to all of them but to Syaoran the more prepared you could be against a team the better. It was the reason he was so good at scouting teams whenever they needed to play against them and watching games was on top of his priority list when it came to building a winning strategy. Not seeing him walking towards the TV, he turned around and concentrated on watching the game.
Meanwhile in the other side of the room…
Syaoran called her again for the twelfth time today and still got no response. Agitatedly, he threw his phone to the bed in anger before he heard a knock on their door. He walked over to open it but saw Eriol had beat him to it. Walking inside their hotel room was none other than the culprit of his bad mood today. He furiously looked at her. "Where have you been? I've been texting you all day and received no reply from you. I called your office and no one knew where you were. Did you lose your phone?"
There was something frightening in his eyes as she stared at him. He was in a foul mood and with reason but what she was about to say would definitely explain her disappearance and probably change his mood in a second. So she stayed as calmed as possible and didn't flinch at his infuriated demanding tone.
Eriol saw immediately where this was headed. He quickly tried to excuse himself before he stuck himself in the middle of an inevitable fight between these two. "I'll leave you two alone."
She quickly looked towards Eriol who was already opening the door. "No. Don't leave. This has to do with you as well since both of you are family."
Eriol stared at her but nonetheless listened. Following her advice, he stayed inside and closed the door. "Want to tell us what's going on?"
She looked back at Syaoran and as calm as possible said, "Your father had a heart attack."
Eriol was the first to react as he softly asked, "What?"
She looked at him and back at Syaoran. "He's fine now. Just woke up a couple of hours ago. Your mother is with him so you don't have to worry."
"When was this?" Eriol kept asking.
"Early in the morning today. I received a call from Xiefa that she was at the hospital. Feimei and I quickly woke up and went there. When we got there Yelan was already there taking care of him. Xiefa's trying to make sure this doesn't burst out to the media but when something like this happens it's almost impossible to cover up. So it's most probable that the news will hit tomorrow morning's highlights if they don't tonight." She turned to look at Syaoran once more. He hadn't uttered one single word since she delivered the news and this worried her.
"Who found him?" Eriol once again asked.
"Xiefa." She relayed what happened to him just as Xiefa had explained it while keeping in mind Syaoran's lack of emotion hearing it. His silence was never a good thing. "He must have gotten the attack close to when she found him because the doctor praised her quickness in accessing the matter. It definitely helped them to keep him conscious."
"Is he still in the hospital?" Eriol asked.
She nodded. "They'll keep him in observation. If by tomorrow morning nothing else happens then they'll release him."
Eriol nodded and took a deep breath. He looked at his cousin and sighed. Although they were still not on speaking terms he could tell the news was affecting him more than what he was letting them know. He opened the door and looked at Sakura. "I'm going to take a walk. I'll be back before curfew."
She nodded and waited for the door to close before approaching Syaoran. She caressed his cheek and asked, "Are you okay?"
He softly took her hand away and walked to his bed. Sitting down, he ran his hands through his head before putting them on his knees and sighing. "Is he really okay or are you hiding things from me?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, "Are you doubting my word?"
He sternly looked at her and demanded her answer. "Are you hiding something from me Sakura? Just answer me. I don't want to argue about this. Not right now."
She kept looking at him. "I'm not. He's fine. He's still in the hospital for observation purposes but he's fine. So far nothing else has happened and your mother is taking care of everything in there."
"I want to see him."
She sighed and looked away. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to leave the hotel to go to the hospital right now."
He stood up and walked up to her. "This is not up to you."
"Syaoran-" she tried to reason with him but he interrupted her again.
"He's my father Sakura!" He said a little louder than he intended.
She quickly looked back at him defiantly. "I know he is but you need to think before you act." She knew her next words would probably piss him off more than what he already was but there was no choice. "You're not a normal person and neither is your father. Your mother is taking care of everything and your sister is trying to mitigate as much of this incident as possible. You going to the hospital right now will nullify their efforts."
"So your suggestion is do nothing? He's my father and I want to see him."
She hated when he was stubborn about things. Although part of her knew he had every right to visit his father the other half of her knew it wasn't the correct choice. "Fine! What if I call your mother through face time? Would that be enough for you?"
He stared at her. "Call her then."
She sighed and took out her phone. After pressing her number she waited until finally Yelan appeared on the screen of her phone. "Sakura! How's everything in the office?"
"I'm actually with your son. He wants to see his father."
"Oh!" Yelan cheerfully smiled. "Well put him on."
Sakura sighed and gave the phone to Syaoran.
Syaoran grabbed the phone and greeted his mother. "Mother, where's father? How is he?"
"Dear how have you been? Your father is fine." She turned the camera to show Xian on the bed.
"Son! Help me! Your mother has taken over the hospital and has me in chains!" He moved his hands so he could clearly show the shackles locked on each side of the hospital stretcher.
"Oh nonsense! Stop complaining love!" She turned the camera back to herself to speak with Syaoran with a smile on her face. "Don't listen to your father's complains sweetie, I'm only doing just what the doctor prescribed."
He frowned. "Mother, you literally chained him to the bed?"
She easily shook off his question by replying, "Doctor's prescription sweetie. He can't do any office work for now. All he can do is rest but since your father is stubborn…" she turned to glance at his father and quickly went back to looking at the screen. "I had no choice."
He narrowed his eyes at the scene. For some reason he couldn't shake off the feeling that somehow his mother was actually enjoying this.
"Don't worry about your father sweetie. I've got this all taken care off. He'll be back up in no time and from now on he'll live a healthy life. A long healthy life." She emphasized her last words before finishing them with a conniving smile.
He could see his father's grimaced face at the back of the camera after hearing her words and chuckled. He could only imagine what 'a long healthy life' meant for his mother. "Alright. Well I just wanted to see how he was."
"Is everything okay with you? Are you sleeping well? Eating well? If not I can have the chef changed."
He sighed and shook his head. Sometimes his mother truly liked to go overboard with things. "I'm fine mother."
"Are you sure? Sakura is there and she can have anyone removed if something is bothering you inside the hotel."
He looked at Sakura before looking back at his mother. "It's fine mother. Everything's fine. I was just worried about father."
"Okay then. Pass the phone to Sakura dear."
"I'll see you later." He comply his mother's request and handed the phone back to Sakura.
"Call me when you get back to the apartment."
Sakura nodded before hanging up. She looked at Syaoran. His mistrust in her had hurt her and she couldn't deny it when she asked, "Are you satisfied?"
He stared at her and calmly answered, "I am, for now."
She heard his answer but couldn't contain herself any longer. "Do you think I would lie to you?"
He confidently smirked at her. "I don't think you would lie to me but, hide things from me? Yes. You have done so in the past to keep me from worrying about anything else but this tournament. Tell me, would you have said something if reporters wouldn't have caught wind of this?"
She stared at him. "If you can't trust me then there's no point in trying a relationship at all."
He watched her walked by in front of him to reach for the door but he grabbed her hand to stop her. "Let's talk."
She shook off his hand. "There's nothing to talk about."
He reclined himself on the door to stop her from leaving. "You're obviously pissed so there is something we need to talk about. I'm not naïve enough to think you would never hide anything from me Sak but family is off limits. When you do hide something from me I trust you take well care of it."
She took a deep breath before saying, "I didn't hide your dad because of the reporters."
He grimaced a little before saying, "I'm sorry about that." He caressed her face but she turned to avoid his touch. He smiled a little but not too much that she would notice. She was obviously still hurt by that comment which he knew it was uncalled for. He got closer to her enough to coax her into hearing him softly whisper, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I was already a little pissed about you not answering your phone and it just came out."
She knew what he was doing. In the past, it would have worked every single time. He was softly trying to calm her down and make her give in easily but she wasn't a little kid anymore. She would make him beg for this one. She dismissed him easily with her hand and walked a few paces away before turning towards him. "What? Now you will say I was ignoring your calls as well? Are we talking about that one too?"
He smirked and cross his hands. "Well, that one you could've at least texted back 'good morning'."
Dang that cocky smirk of his. He looked so irritatingly hot whenever he made his stance with this attitude. It was almost impossible to fight against him when he looked this good. "I was busy taking care of things. You know, it wasn't a normal routine day for me."
He stood up from the door and walked confidently towards her. As soon as he reached her he dipped his head and pecked her lips.
She looked at the intention in his eyes and looked away making him miss his second kiss. "I'm being serious."
He chuckled and put his hands around her waist to bring her closer. "I know." he whispered on her ear before softly kissing her neck. He kissed several times till he felt her relax in his arms which let him know he had just luckily won this fight. He formed a trail of kisses on her neck till he finally found her lips again and kissed her.
When the kiss ended, Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "Manipulation, total manipulation on your part."
He chuckled then softly said, "Stay with me tonight."
"No." she said as she looked away from him again. "You don't deserve it."
He smirked and arrogantly got close to her ear before whispering, "Is this a challenge to convince you?"
She put her hands on his chest and narrowed her eyes once again at him. "Stop. I'm being serious."
He chuckled but nonetheless moved his hands up to get her closer, his anger all forgotten as he embraced her in a warm tight hug. Just having her in his arms was enough to calm him down. "Are you in charge of the office while my father recuperates?" After talking to his mother he didn't need to listen to her answer to know it was true but nonetheless decided to ask.
She simply couldn't let go of the fact that this guy truly drove her crazy. From the moment she saw him re-enter her life she had tried to put space between them knowing perfectly well how hard she had fallen for him before. "I am."
"Are you okay with it?" he asked.
He had probably been worried all day because she hadn't answered a single text or call from him. It was a decision she had made thinking that it would be best for him to just hear everything than having him worried by telling him the news piece by piece throughout the day. She tried to show a strong front while simply replying, "I'm fine."
"You can tell me if it's not."
She put her hands on his chest to put some distance between their bodies and looked at him. "Where you worried?"
He hesitated before truthfully answering, "I'd be lying if I say I wasn't."
She softly smiled and she wrapped her hands around his neck. "I'm sorry. It's been a hectic day. A little crazy here and there but more stressful than any other day I've had so far. And that is saying a lot considering I should be used to planning events."
He chuckled and kissed her forehead before breathing her flowery scent in. "I thought something happened to you."
She smiled while tracing the round logo on the top right corner of his shirt. "To me? Like leaving you again?"
He smiled. "Along the lines adding a few other bad things."
She looked at him and smiled. "Well I'm fine. You can stop worrying now." She said before kissing him softly. She had missed him terribly today. What she had said about her day had been all true. It had been one of the most stressful days she had ever had in her life mostly because she hated having those meetings with investors but all in all she was glad at least her day was ending in a good way.
~ o ~
Eriol finished talking to his fiancé and headed back to his room. According to his watch it was 9:55 at night already and he was just in time before curfew started which was a good thing. He had relayed his uncle's information to Tomoyo who to his surprise already knew about it but little Miss Sakura made her promise not to say anything to them. So apparently Syaoran wasn't the only one that ended up having a little argument tonight but now he had joined the team.
He opened the door to his room and found them both inside the living room. They were still holding each other although he could guess they were probably doing something else right before he opened the door. He narrowed his eyes at Sakura and simply said, "It's so good to see you're still here. I have such an interesting story for you."
Sakura questionably looked at him and waited for him to continue.
He took a bottle of water from the counter, opened it, took a sip from it, and then set it back down. "It so happens that my fiancé already knew about my uncle since this morning. You want to know what the interesting part of this is? Unlike you, I've spoken three times already with my fiancé throughout the day. Do you see something wrong with that equation?"
Sakura simply smiled. "Well I couldn't have you saying anything. Plus you had your game I had to take into consideration…" She simply said and added to herself 'not to mention no one wanted to deliver the news to Syaoran so the task landed on me…' She watched him take a deep breath before taking another sip of his water. "But it's actually good to have you back." She looked at Syaoran and untangled herself from his arms. "You both need to talk this moronic thing you have going on in here.
"Stay out of it." Eriol warned her.
"Don't talk to her like that." Syaoran quickly warned back.
"Both of you shut up!" Sakura simply said. She looked at Syaoran who was about to add something to the conversation but at the sight of her glare deferred from saying anything else. "While I'm very flattered and I truly appreciate that you're trying to defend me Syaoran I will remind you that this is something you created." Then she turned her head to Eriol and simply said, "And you. Of all people I could ever imagine you are the least I expected to go down to his level on something like this."
Syaoran stared at her and mimicked a hurtful expression after hearing her words. "My level? I apologized!"
Sakura once again glared at him before looking back at Eriol. "You two are cousins, have been best friends since long before I met you both. Do you think this is something you can't accept his apology for? I am sure he has done worst things than this Eriol."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence. Boy… I'm glad you're not my lawyer." Syaoran rolled his eyes as he murmured.
Eriol smirked to hold himself from laughing. It was evident he had heard his words.
She heard Syaoran mumbling in the corner but kept talking to Eriol. "Honestly Eriol, I'm sure you know your cousin does feel sorry for what he did. Keeping this little kid's silent treatment on is just immature and dull."
"Immature? Ask him why he's apologizing." Eriol simply said while smirking and crossing his hands on his chest.
She sternly looked at her boyfriend and asked, "Syaoran?"
Syaoran, a little irritated by the conversation, sighed and said, "Oh come on! I already said I was pissed off that day Eriol."
Sakura cleared her throat loud enough to grasp his attention.
Syaoran looked at her before sighing. "I'm sorry Eriol. I shouldn't have yelled at you on the game. I was pissed off and frustrated and took my anger on you."
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "And he's sorry that he probably hurt your feelings while being selfish on the way."
Syaoran rolled his eyes sulking about the fact that he had to repeat his apology once more. "And that!"
"You're so lucky Sakura's here." Eriol simply said.
"You could've just said you were mad because of that." Syaoran said.
Sakura smiled. "Good. I'm glad everything is back to normal so I'll be on my way. Leave you two boys to rest."
Syaoran scoffed. "You're really not staying for the night? I'm sure Eriol won't mind, will you?" he simply asked while looking at his cousin. He was glad everything got resolved but he truly wanted her to stay.
She interfered before Eriol could answer and looked at her boyfriend. "Don't ask him! Besides, I'd hate to be the cause of trouble for Eriol if Tomoyo finds out another…" She made a gesture as if she was thinking hard on this. "What was it that they called it? Ah… yes, "play thing" wakes up in your room again while you're rooming with Eriol." She sarcastically said while smirking.
Syaoran was surprised by her answer and quickly looked from Sakura to Eriol narrowing his eyes.
Eriol chuckled as he watched Sakura leave the room with a triumphant smile on her face and waving them goodbye. He burst laughing once the door was shut.
"Couldn't your fiancé keep that one to herself?" were the first words that came from Syaoran's mouth after his girlfriend had left the room.
He turned down from laughing to chuckling once more while shaking his head, "And to think that she only speaks of the ones Tomoyo found in the room. Can you imagine if she finds out about the ones Tomoyo didn't know about?" he asked while laughing once more at his cousin's predicament. He sure was glad Sakura was back in his cousin's life.
Author's note: So… as I was writing this chapter I realized I didn't apologize for the long wait on my last chapter. Sorry guys! I was actually out on vacations and didn't have my computer with me so you can imagine my torture at not been able to write. Once again thank you to all of you who reviewed my past chapter. You're the best! I will appreciate if you let me know how you feel about this chapter. I didn't hear much from my last one so I'm not sure if you guys liked it or not. What did you guys think about the game? It was one of those scenes that since it was the first time I actually write it I was curious to hear from your reaction about it. Does it need more action? More movement? More players involved? What do you guys think?