Wahaha chapter 10! Oh yea snow-angel-anna has already updated, so remember to go check it out…oh and I have started a shared blog with her, http://-wings-of-freedom-. and we will be posting our updates on our fan fiction there, so do check it out from time to time. Thanks to my reviewers again! Especially those who stood up for snow-angel-anna and me. On to chapter 10.
Chapter 10- Celandine (Joy to come)
Kaede walked down the corridor towards Lyn's room, and was surprised when she opened the door to an empty room. She scratched her head in confusion before heading down to the dining room.
"Hey sleepyhead. Finally decided to join us?" Hao asked, smiling gently at her as she entered the dining room. Kaede looked around the dining room for Lyn and Ren, and frowned in confusion when she didn't see them.
"Where are Ren and Lyn?" Kaede asked, looking at Daisuke and Hao in confusion. "They left earlier this morning…" Daisuke told her, a strange expression on his face, as if he was upset about something.
"You forgot?" Hao asked, raising an eyebrow at her in amusement. Kaede shook her head, then sat opposite Hao. She hadn't forgotten. She had just wanted to check if Lyn was alright before they left. For some reason, she just couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad had happened, and that Lyn wasn't as happy as she made herself seem.
Kaede took a seat across the table from Hao, and looked at Daisuke and Hao, who were discussing current global issues. Kaede smiled a small smile. She was glad that her father and Hao were getting along so well. Just then, the maids walked into the dining room from the kitchen, setting plates of pancakes in front of them, and Kaede began eating slowly.
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"Lyn…Hey…Lyn…wake up…we're at the airport…" Lyn opened her eyes drowsily as a gentle hand shook her awake, and gave a small start when she saw Ren's concerned face close to hers. She felt her head leaning on something and she felt her cheeks heating up when she realised that she was leaning on Ren's shoulder.
"Sorry!" Lyn cried, jerking her head from Ren's shoulder. Ren smiled gently at her, shaking his head kindly. "It's fine…I saw how comfortably you were sleeping so I didn't wake you up. You must be tired because you didn't sleep at all last night…"
"Well…I nearly fell asleep two times, but every time my eyes closed, images would start appearing before me, so after the second time, I didn't dare close my eyes again…" Lyn said, smiling weakly.
"Images of what happened yesterday?" Ren asked concernedly. Lyn nodded slowly, then feigned a cheerful smile. "But I'm fine now! I didn't have any nightmares just now while I was sleeping…"
Was it because…you were there by my side?
So I felt protected and safe in my heart.
What is this new feeling in me,
that I do not comprehend fully?
It cannot be love, it shall not be so
For love is a weakness I scarce can afford
It simply is friendship, a closeness with you
That gives us a bond, like siblings do.
Ren nodded slowly, then tilted his head towards the exit of the plane. "Well, lets get going. You need to rest after a sleepless night, so the sooner we get to the En Inn, the better…" He said, standing up and swinging Lyn's backpack onto his back before taking his duffel bag.
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"Kaede…hey Kaede…are you alright? You looked quite out of it during breakfast, as if you were worried about something." Hao asked, waving a hand in Kaede's face to get her attention. Kaede shook her head with a start and nodded. "I'm fine…I just get the feeling that something bad happened to Lyn…"
"I'm sure it's just your imagination…" Hao told her, smiling encouragingly, although his face was doubtful when he turned to walk out of the dining room.
Just when Kaede had walked out of the dining room, Daisuke came running down the stairs, pulling a tie on. "Kaede dear…I'm terribly sorry but something cropped up at work, so I can't spend the day with you…" Daisuke said, patting Kaede on the head apologetically.
Kaede bit her lip and held her tears back. She had been looking forward to spending the day with her father, but now…
"I hate you…I wish Mum had been the one who won custody of me." She muttered under her breath before running up the stairs to her room, swallowing a lump which rose to her throat.
Daisuke looked at Lyn's disappearing back helplessly, his shoulders slumping. Hao stood staring at him in a stunned silence for awhile, before reaching out to pat his shoulder. "Don't worry…I'll talk to her…"
Daisuke nodded slowly, and Hao pushed him down onto a chair, before running towards the stairs after Kaede. Hao paused at the foot of the stairs and glanced at Daisuke, who had his head buried in his hands. Hao let out a heavy sigh before running up the stairs to Kaede's room.
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"Give me a sec…you wait there with the bags while I make an important call…" Ren said just as they were walking out the exit of the airport. Lyn nodded, looking at him curiously as he walked away and took out his handphone. "Yoh? I need you to do me a favour…"
"Alright…I'm done…Let's get going…" Ren walked towards Lyn and ruffled her hair. Lyn smiled up at him gratefully. She knew that he was trying to cheer her up. But she was fine. She had to be, or he would only use it to his advantage.
"Umm…I wanna head somewhere else first, so why don't you head back first…" Lyn said, looking out in the distance thoughtfully. "Am I welcome to join you?" Ren asked, smiling amusedly.
Lyn looked at Ren for a moment before nodding somewhat happily. She blinked in surprise at what she had just done. For some reason, the thought of Ren being there with her brought a surge of joy within her, unlike the thought of being there alone.
"So where are we going?" Ren asked, casually putting a hand on Lyn's shoulder. Lyn stared at his hand in surprise, but let it be. "It's quite close to the En Inn…so I guess we can drop our stuff off first…"
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Hao knocked on Kaede's room door, and then waited patiently for a response. "Go away! Just leave me alone!" Kaede shouted in reply, her voice slightly muffled. Hao sighed, then knocked once more. "I'm coming in whether you like it or not, so I'm giving you ten seconds to get ready!"
Hao waited until ten seconds had passed, then turned the door knob and opened the door. He closed the door behind him as he entered the room, leaving the room in darkness.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw the figure of Kaede huddled up on her bed. He walked to her bed and sat down on the edge of it, sighing when she turned her back to him, facing the wall.
He sat further into her bed, and as he shifted, his hand brushed past her pillow. It was wet, indicating that she had been crying.
Hao shifted until he was leaning against the wall, then pulled Kaede up so she was leaning against him, head on his shoulder. He slipped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him.
"Kaede…I know how much you were looking forward to spending the day with your father. But that isn't a reason for you to kick up such a big fuss. I'm sure he was looking forward to today as much as you were, if not more…"
There was a short silence before Kaede replied. "Every time he made a promise to spend time with me, something would come up. I thought that it would be better now that I have cleared things up with him, but nothing has changed. He always finds his work more important."
"Still…the fact that he fought so hard with your mum for the custody of you proves how much he loves you…So why don't you try to understand him, instead of saying those hurtful things to him? You know what he looked like when I left him? He looked like a broken man. His expression was that pained…"
Hao took a deep breath before continuing. "Every time something crops up at work and he can't keep his promise to spend time with you, he is probably as upset as you are, sometimes even more…He is torn between his work and spending time with you. But you have to remember. Your dad is the boss of his company. Not some normal worker. He has a responsibility not only to himself, but to every single one of his workers."
Kaede nodded slowly. "I never thought of it that way…thank you for helping me to understand my father more…" Hao smiled at Lyn. "Alright then…let's go down and talk to your father…"
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Ren wrote a poem carefully and neatly on a piece of blue coloured paper, taking care not to smudge the ink when the bus jolted.
"What are you writing?" Lyn asked suddenly, causing Ren to nearly jump out of his skin. He snatched the piece of paper he was writing on off his lap and hid it behind his back. "Nothing!" He said, blushing furiously.
"Oh I see…it must be a love letter of some sort…so which of our classmates are gonna get it?" Lyn asked, grinning mischievously. "You." Ren said, smirking when Lyn flushed slightly. "Wha-whatever…Even if you don't want to tell me who you're giving it to, you don't have to tease me about it…"
Ren waited until Lyn had turned to look out the bus window before he started writing again, casting occasional glances at her to make sure she was not watching. It was not yet time for her to see what he had written on the paper. That would only spoil the surprise he had planned for her.
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"Dad…I'm sorry for being so selfish…" Kaede said, biting her lip as she bowed apologetically to Daisuke. Daisuke smiled in relief and nodded. "I'm glad that you understand…so is there anywhere you want to go to? I can at least send you there…"
Kaede shook her head, but Hao nodded, grinning. "Yes. Could you please send us to the town? I want to bring Kaede to the movies." Daisuke smiled and nodded, walking out the front door.
Kaede looked at Hao in surprise, but he merely grinned mischievously and winked at her. "It's our first date!" Kaede's eyes widened, but she couldn't help smiling blissfully as Hao pulled her out the front door.
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"Is what I asked Yoh to get for me ready?" Ren asked Anna after setting Lyn's bags on the floor. Anna rolled her eyes and shook her head. "What do you think? What you ask for is very hard to get at this time of the year…Yoh has been running around town with Manta and Ryu, trying to find it for you…"
Ren nodded thoughtfully. "Is it for her?" Anna asked, looking at Lyn. Ren flushed slightly and nodded. "Tell Yoh to call me or send me a message when he has gotten what I need. I'll try to keep her out until then…oh and pass this to Yoh. It's part of the surprise. And don't open it, no matter what…" Ren finished, fishing the envelope with the poem he had written out of his pocket.
Anna nodded and walked away from Ren and Lyn, towards the living room where she probably had been watching TV before they had interrupted her.
"Oh…Anna…" Ren called as a sudden thought came to mind. She turned around and looked at him, her eyebrows raised questioningly. "Is it alright with you if I moved in to the inn too?"
Anna looked at him questioningly, but didn't ask any questions, simply nodding before turning around. "I'll help you call Jun and ask her to bring your stuff down, so you just keep Lyn away from the inn until everything is ready…" She called as she walked away.
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"That movie was so sad…I cried at the part where the girl was in a coma and they showed how helpless the guy was…" Hao smiled in amusement as Kaede talked about the movie they had just watched. It had been a romantic movie, nothing like the horror shows Hao normally watched.
Hao looked around as he walked along the sidewalk with Kaede, then stopped and pulled her back when he spotted a flower shop. "Give me a second…I just want to check if they happen to have stock of a certain flower…" Hao said, smiling at her as he walked into the shop.
When Hao emerged, he was holding a mini bouquet of flowers. He handed the bouquet to Kaede, who stared at it in surprise. The bouquet consisted of bunches of pink Sainfoin flowers with a yellow centre consisting of Celandine flowers.
"The Sainfoin flowers symbolize confusion in a relationship, while the Celandine flowers symbolize joy to come. I chose this combination of flowers to tell you that I am confused about my feelings towards you, but I promise you that I will clear my doubts, so that I can give you joy and love you whole heartedly in future."
Kaede blushed when she heard Hao say this, and blushed even more when he leant towards her. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and her eyes widened in surprise. She felt all the blood rushing to her face when she saw him looking at her amusedly.
"Well, let's get going…It's getting late, so I think we had better head back." Hao said, taking Kaede's hand in his and walking towards the town exit.