Hello again! I'm updating this fic as an early Valentine present. Enjoy the fic, and Happy Valentine's Day, evryone!
Chapter 12 : We're friends, right? (Part 1)
Yuji is about to leave the office. He's fixing some papers on his folder when he heard a noise coming from the other room. He thought that it was some utensils fell to the floor that's why he assumed that it came from the training room. He also remembered that Tomoyo was inside that room. "Tomoyo..." He felt worried because the noise was too loud so he rushed in to the training room to check Tomoyo.
Meanwhile, inside the training room, both of them were lying on the floor. Eriol's arm were wrapped around Tomoyo's body, as if he was hugging her. "What happened..." she asked herself, then she realized that she was lying on top of him. She tried to rise just to check if Eriol was okay, but as she tried to raise her head to get up, she didn't realized her face was so close to his. Tomoyo felt her heart beats fast as her lips had almost touched his lips. Then, she slowly stood up and looked at Eriol's face. His eyes were closed as his head hit the floor. Her heart beats faster as she look closer, and tried to touch his innocent face. All of a sudden, he starts complaining that his head hurts. "Eriol!" She was confused on what to do as she tried to wake him up. "Are you okay? Does your head hurt?"
Yuji entered the room. "Tomoyo! What's happening?" He finds Tomoyo behind the center kitchen . But he was stunned when he found her, because Tomoyo was on top of Eriol.
Tomoyo and Eriol were in the nursing area. He was lying on the bed, while she was sitting beside him. Yuji was outside waiting for Tomoyo, but he couldn't hear anything from the inside. The nurse-on-duty had already told them that there's nothing to worry and he's okay albeit he hit his head on the floor because of that incident. The nurse also gave him some medicines to take if the pain insists. She also suggests that he should take some rest before going home if his head still hurts. The nurse then leaves as the two were left in the room.
"I think it's not good for you to leave as of yet." says Tomoyo. "I will call your father to tell him that you'll be late. You stay here until the nurse tells you to that you're good to go."
"We don't have a landline... and father doesn't know how to use a mobile phone... and Sakura...Sakura is the only contact person I have..." Eriol replies.
"Is that so?" Tomoyo asked. "Then, I'll call Sakura to notify her. Can I have her phone number?"
But Eriol wants to go home and have some rest there. "Um... M...My head still hurts a bit. I'm okay now... don't worry..." he said. "I want to go home and rest...Besides, I don't want Sakura and my father to worry about me... "
Tomoyo is still worried, for she knew that his head hits the floor so bad. "Are you sure? Could you stand on your own?"
"Yes... I can stand on my own..." he answered.
Tomoyo sighed with relief. "That's good. Okay, since you've said it, I guess I'll have to bring you home, though. I'll ask the nurse to see if we could bring you home now. I'll give you a ride, and don't refuse okay?"
"Yes... I won't." he said. Tomoyo stood up. She is about to call the nurse, but then, he called her name. "Tomoyo..."
"Why?" she asks. Eriol bowed his head, as he stuttered. Tomoyo approached him. "Don't be shy. What do you want?"
"N...Nothing..." Eriol said.
"Why did you called me, then?" She asked her. Eriol just shook his head. "If you don't want to say something, then, that's okay. I'll just call the nurse and ask her if we can bring you home." As she turned her back, Eriol spoke.
"T... Thank you..."
She looked back at Eriol. "Ah... what did you say?" says Tomoyo.
Eriol slightly raised his head, but he looked shyly at Tomoyo. "Aside from Sakura and my father... you're the only person who have been nice to me...See, I don't know why you're doing this...I also don't know how to repay you...But I do thank you. T...That's all."
Tomoyo held his hand, and she just gave her a sweet smile. "I didn't ask you to repay me. Besides, I'm just keeping my promise that I will take care of you while you're working with us. I don't know why you're telling me that only few people loves you. You gained a lot of friends here because you're nice and sweet. Isn't it enough for you to know that there are so many people who loves you?" Then, she ruffled his hair. "You cute little thing! I'm the one who should be thanking you because you bring the best out of me. But if you really want to repay me, then I just want to see you smile a lot. That's how you could give back."
"I... bring the best out of you? What do you mean by that?..." He curiously asked.
Tomoyo got choked. She had a slip of a tongue and she doesn't know how to explain what she said. "Ah... How should I explain this..." Eriol just stared at her, as he tried to comprehend with what she said. "Well, Like I've never shown my soft side to other people..." She explains. "I have a tough job and I set high expectations to myself. You see, I'm a workaholic person, and I have to be serious on all the things I do. I rarely smile when I meet our colleagues. I rarely meet our employees and our trainees. But since you came, that changed. It's like I realize that being a boss isn't just sitting with clients and do some paper work in the office, but its also about being with those people who helps us build the company. So I guess I'm a changed person because of you."
Eriol continued asking her. "B...because of me?"
Tomoyo slightly scratched her cheek. "Well... sort of." she answered. But then, she was surprised with what she said that she covered her mouth.. "Oh, crap! What did I just told him?!" She told herself.
Eriol starts asking questions to her. "W... what do you mean with that?" .
"Well, let me explain! I mean, it's not only you! There's my secretary, Syaoran. Then, my parents and friends. Then, my colleagues. All of you brings the best out of me!"
"But you said it rarely happens to you until I came..."
"Why do you keep on asking those questions?" she asked him. But then, she noticed something from the way Eriol ask his question. "Wait a minute... Don't tell me you're putting malice on what I'm doing?! Hey! To tell you honestly, I only think of you as a brother and that's it!"
Eriol reminded her on what happened that evening when she visited his home. "If so...H...how about the kiss?"
Tomoyo was shocked. "What kiss?"
"T...the kiss you gave me. Remember? Y...You visited my place...yo kissed me here..." pointing at his right cheek.
Tomoyo reacted. "That kiss? It's just a friendly kiss and nothing else! I always do it to my friends, especially Syaoran!"
"So... you always kiss Syaoran... but you're not in love with him?"
Tomoyo is about to become inpatient as she think of a good excuse. - "Oh my gosh, we're getting out of context here! Aren't you getting it?! There are so many kinds of kisses, goodbye kisses, romantic kisses... But what I did was just a friendly kiss! I do get that a lot, as well, sometimes from our clients! " She kept quiet for a moment after her banter. "Oh, wait... Don't tell me that I'm your first kiss?..."
There was a bit of silence in the room. Tomoyo just stared at him as he finally admits that she was the only person who kissed him so far. "S...sorry." he told her. "I'm such an idiot... All I know is you... you kiss someone you loved romantically...and... I... I've never been kissed by someone aside from you."
- Tomoyo then realized that he's acutally dealing with Eriol. "Well... Now that you said that, I might have given you a wrong impression. I was just overwhelmed that time because I found a new friend in you."
"Maybe I misinterpreted the good gesture that you're showing me..." says Eriol.
- Tomoyo replied "But I gave you the motive, and I'm very sorry for that. Don't worry, I'll be more careful next time" She then grabbed Eriol's right hand. "This might sound childish, but I seriously want to keep my promise. Do you know how to do a Pinky swear?"
"Yes, I do." he said. She then made a pinky swear by hooking her little finger to his. She swore that she will take good care of him. "I always have this swear to my friends. I promise you that I'll be you best friend. Like your father and Sakura, I want you to be happy. So whenever you need me, I'll be there for you. I also promise that I'll be more careful in showing my feelings towards you. But of course, there is something that I want you to do in order for me to keep my promise!"!"
"W... what is it?" he asked her.
She answered. "I want to see you smile." She then pinched his cheek. "Frowning doesn't suit you. It makes you look grumpy!" Tomoyo giggled, and Eriol gave her a slight smile on her face. "See? You look cuter when you smile! Always do that, and who knows? A very lucky woman will fall in love with you!"
Eriol nods. "Yes, I will... I'll try to be happy every time! I promise you that"
Keeping up with their promise, Their Little fingers were tied on each other. But Tomoyo did noticed it's getting dark. "It's 6:30 now! Time flies fast. I'll just ask the nurse so that we could bring you home."
Tomoyo drover her car and brought everyone home. Eriol was on the front set while Yuji was at the back. She did sent Eriol first.
"Take those medicines that the nurse gave you. If you cannot go to work tomorrow, notify us and be sure to have a check-up. But of course, if you can, go to the nursing area first. And don't forget - Don't be late, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am." Eriol replied.
She reacted "Huh?!" Then Eriol remember that Tomoyo wants him to call her by his name. "Um... Sorry for that... Tomoyo." he said.
"That's fine." She said. "See you tomorrow, then! Good night, and rest well!" Eriol closed the car's door from the outside. Tomoyo looked at the side mirror as the cars moves, and she saw Eriol's smile while waiving his hand to say goodbye.
Tomoyo, together with Yuji, is now driving in the middle of the road. She then recalls that Yuji should have been home earlier. "I'm sorry that this happened." she said. "I know you'll have meet your mother as early as possible, but I made you worry because of that incident. It's not my intention to send you home late."
But Yuji told her not to worry. "That's okay, I'll explain to them why I was late, they'll understand for sure. Besides, I'm not a kid anymore. For as long as I'm not drunk, mom won't scold me if I went home late."
"That's good to hear." she replied. there's been a bit of silence inside the car, but then, Yuji changed their topic."By the way, Tomoyo..."
- "Yes, what is it?" she asked.
"That guy...Eriol, right?"
- "Yes, that's his name. The one you called weird?"
"I guess so... Anyhow, it's seems like you're close to him."
- "Yeah, he's a good friend of mine."
"Are you sure?"
- "Why? Do you think I'm not sure?"
"Because it looks like you're so close to each other."
-"Why? I am close to all of my friends, is there something wrong with it?"
"Well, I frequently see you together with your friends, but it's the first time I saw you together with another man. Plus, he's one of our trainees so I'm so curious on why you're close to him. How long have you been friends?"
- "What are you talking about? Syaoran used to be my secretary, and we've been together for so long so it's not the first time that I've been close to a man! Besides, there's nothing wrong if I interact with my trainees. of course, I have to know them personally because it's a part of my job."
"Then how about him calling you by your name?"
- "Don't tell me you're having problems with it?"
"The trainees call you Ms. Daidouji."
- "But I want my friends to call me by my first name. We've been friends for so long but did I ask you to call me Ms. Daidouji? And by the way, you're asking me for how long we've been friends? You know what? If I was allowed to nominate the most stupid question on earth, that might have been your question."
"I'm just asking since it's the first time I saw you two together."
- "Yuji, does it really matter to you if for how long have you been friends with other people? Because as for me, I don't care if they've been my friends for days, or weeks now... What matters to me is that they are my good friends, and they're genuine people. Anyways,I know him for some time now, and I'm telling you, he's a nice guy just like you." Yuji stopped asking her about Eriol. But Tomoyo thought maybe something's wrong with him. "Anyways, Yuji... I'm not sure why you're asking those questions to me... Are you jealous?"
"EH?!" Yuji shouted.
- "I know you, Yuji. You have never asked anything about my female friends. So what's the purpose of asking me about my relationship with Eriol?"
Yuji defended the way she asked questions to Tomoyo. "I'm not jealous, I just want to know why you're so close to him..."
Tomoyo felt irritated. Still, she politely asked Yuji to stop from speculating. - "I'm telling you right now, we're just friends. So please stop asking those questions because I'm driving and I cannot focus on the road." And so, Yuji stopped asking her about Eriol. "We're almost there at your house. Just give your mom and your sister my regards." She said.
Meanwhile, Sakura just got home from visiting Eriol. She's having a dinner with her father, Fujitaka, and Touya, his brother.
"So how's Eriol and Touru doing?" Her father asked. "I heard you and Eriol went to the hospital two days because Touru because of his arthritis attacks."
"The doctor gave him some medicines to ease the pain due to arthritis. But the weather is getting colder so his arthritis is getting more severe and more frequent." She replied.
Fujitaka shook his head "Tch-tch-tch... That is terrible. I heard that Green Tea is effective to reduce the pain due to arthritis. Good thing Mr. Tachiyama gave me 3 sacks of green tea leaves this afternoon. Touya, go to their place tomorrow and give Eriol's father the two bags of those."
"Sure. I'll do that first thing in the morning before I leave for work." Touya told his father. "But dad, I think it'll be much better if Sakura and I will together since she goes there early, too!"
But it seem like Sakura doesn't want to go with her brother. "Dad, just let me bring the green tea leaves to them. I don't want brother to be late."
Touya had some doubts on what she said. "You don't want me to be late, or you don't want me to see both of you together?" He said, referring to Sakura and Eriol.
Though siblings, Touya would usually bully his little sister. That's why Sakura gets irritated with what he said. "Dad! Brother's pissing me off again!" she told her his brother didn't listen as he continues to bully her. So, Fujitaka intervened and scolded Touya in a soft-spoken manner. "Touya, stop that already. You should take good care of your little sister instead of you bullying her. You're no longer kids."
Touya stopped teasing her. "Serves you right." Sakura whispered to herself.
Then, Fujitaka changed their topic. "Oh, by the way, someone will rent one of the rooms that we're not using."
The siblings were surprised. "Huh?! We're renting it?" Sakura asked.
Fujitaka didn't inform the sibling about his plans to have those unused rooms rented. "I haven't informed you about it yet. As you can see, our house is pretty big and there's more than enough room for us. Besides, neither of us is using it so I guess it will be much better if we allow other people to rent it, just like a dorm. I've posted some ads on the internet for that about five days ago."
Touya recalled that they offered those room to Eriol's family "But aren't we suppose to let Eriol and Mr. Touru live with us?"
"Well, I would love too." Fujitaka continues. "We've been friends with them for so long, and they're like a family to us so I don't see any problems if they stay with us. I tried to ask them if they could stay with us so that they won't have to rent that apartment. I tried to offer them the room on several occasions but they refused. Touro said that the help they get from us is more than enough, and they don't want to be a burden to our family anymore. So I thought, maybe we could let someone rent it instead. No one's using those rooms in the first place, and we could give some of our earnings to their family. So, I'm so sorry if I just notified you about it. "
But the siblings liked their father's idea. "Well, I think, it's great!" says Touya. "I agree that this house is too big for us, and I guess we'll make those rooms more productive if we have them rented."
"I don't see anything wrong about that, too." says Sakura. "For as long as the one who will rent those rooms isn't like brother's"
- "I wish that person is like me so that someone will tease you whenever I'm not around!"
"I'll throw that person out of this house!"
- "No, you couldn't!"
Fujitaka tried to stop them. "Okay, okay that's enough. Just eat your food and after that, let's have some rest because we still have work tomorrow."
Tomoyo and her family were all gathered in the dining table. She took her ood slowly as she though about what happened that afternoon. When Eriol tried to catch her from falling. That time when she tried to get up, but realized that they were so close, her lips had almost touched his. Her grandmother had noticed the way Tomoyo takes her food. "Tomoyo, darling, are you okay? Did something bad happened while you're at the office?"
Tomoyo stuttered. "Oh... no, it's nothing. I'm fine. It's just that I've been thinking so much like I'm on a rush because we'll open our new restaurant a month from now." Then, she continues eating her food.
Sonomi was worried about her daughter. "Tomoyo, I know that our new restaurant will open a month from now. But it's not good if you drag yourself from work that much. Just take a look at you. You attend so many meetings with our clients, and you have to supervise our employees training. Now, you rarely have enough sleep. I think you should get some rest. "
"I agree with your mom." Tomoyo's grandfather said. "I think you should get a day-off. You could visit our ranch in Okinawa and breathe some fresh air. I'm telling you, it will definitely help you in relieving your stress."
Tomoyo gave them a sincere look, and smiled as she thanked them for worrying about her. "Grandma...Grandpa... Mom... Thank you so much for your concern. I do believe that I should get off from work at some point. But from the time you've given me this position in our company, I swore that I'll give my best to help you manage the company. I think I'll give myself some off after the opening of our new restaurant."
Sonomi sighed. "But Tomoyo..."
"I can handle myself, Mom. You know me, I'm stress-proof." She told her mother. The three stared at each other because they really want Tomoyo to have some rest from work. But they realized that she's also a hard-headed person that's why they don't have a choice but to let her do what she wants. Then she took her food like she had regained her appetite. "This clam chowder is good! I love it!"
It was a solemn evening, and Tomoyo is about to sleep. After taking a bath, she dried her long, curly hair and wore her night gown. She then laid down onto her bed, and tried to sleep. But it wasn't that easy because she recalls Yuji's doubts about her relationship with Eriol. "Hmmm... Maybe mom was right. I just have to take some rest."
She gets back and tried to fall asleep. But as she closes her eyes, Eriol appears on her mind. His innocent glare that gives her an unsual feeling, his warm attitude, his smile.
Meanwhile, Eriol his also lying on the floor, trying to fall asleep. He closed his eyes, but he recalled what Tomoyo had told him. That she will take care of him no matter what, that she will be his good friend. Those things were playing on his mind. Having difficulty in sleeping, he sat down on the floor and he thinks about their pinky swear together.
"F... friends..." he told himself while looking at his little finger
It's been more than thirty minutes and Tomoyo just couldn't stop thinking about Eriol. She finally gave up and sat on her bedroom. She just couldn't stop thinking about him. "What am I thinking?" she said.
"Eriol's nice to me since we met. I just want to imitate his kindness that's why I want to be friends with him. But now, I'm getting confused with what I feel towards him...
... Do I only consider him as a friend?"
And that's the end of the first part of this Chapter. For those of you who doesn't know what a Pinky Swear/Pinky promise is, is the entwinement of the little fingers "(pinkies)" of two people to signify that a promise has been made. (Thanks, Wiki!) it's also called yubikiri in Japanese (Thanks again, Wikipedia! Hahaha!)
Just some response from your reviews :
UnitedOsprey1991, Thanks for your feedback. Right now, Meiling might be mean but soon enough, you'll find out why she's like that as the story progresses. :)
L-Elf, Thank you. I'm trying my best to provide more extensive chapters. But right now, I'm just putting each chapters into parts because that it gives me more time to think of the next chapter.
La criticona, thanks for your feedback. We're not yet in the middle of the series so I assure you that I'll do my best to put more effort on this fic. And of course, I'll add more relevant scenes for them. Right now, I'm just trying to balance everything on this fic because there will be a two-way love triangle. (You know what I mean.)
Thank you as well, James Birdsong. Never head anything from you for a very long time. How are you?
That's all from me today! Keep an eye because Syaoran and Sakura will get even closer to each other. (SPOILER ALERT!) Have a nice day, everyone!