A/N 2007: I keep saying this, but again minor adjustments. Again a small name change. Nothing crucial.

Hey guys! I'm back with chapter 4! Well not much to say this time. Except for the usual disclaimer and stuff. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 4

"So Syaoran is here."

"Indeed he is." With much effort Sakura was able to keep her emotions in check as Mei Lin gave her a searching look.

"Alone?"

"With Hao."

"Hmmm... He must miss his mother terribly."

"I guess so." Sakura began to fumble with her napkin. "According to his father he's going through some difficult times. He's hoping that this summer at the lake will mend his sorrow."

"And Syaoran? What do you think about him?"

"Hard to say."

Mei Lin looked at her friend questioningly.

"He is..." Sakura tried to find the right words to describe Syaoran's attitude.

"Mourning over his loss?" Mei Lin said helpfully.

"After the death of his father he was also mourning." Sakura folded her napkin. "But even then he was nice." Nice? He was THE nicest person to ever walk the earth those 3 days before Eriol and Misha messed everything up.

"He was kind enough to me."

"Yeah that guy can be very kind if-"

"Syaoran."

"What?" Sakura looked up, surprised.

"Syaoran." Mei Lin poured her another cup of coffee. "His name is Syaoran. You can pronounce his name, can't you?"

"But I don't want to!" Sakura blushed at her answer. It sounded so childish. 'What's wrong with me? I'm 25 years old, not a 17-year-old teenager whose feelings are hurt.' She stood up. "Mei Lin, about the cottage… I thought I knew what I wanted this morning, but now that he's here, I'm not so sure anymore. I need more time."

"For what?"

"To figure out what his plans are. If he's going to come here every summer... Well the situation would be unbearable. With he avoiding me. I can't relax that way." Her voice faltered. Quickly she went to the window to look out on the lake.

"You like to come here just as much as I do." Mei Lin said. "Listen here Sakura. Don't make any hasty decisions. I can stay the whole summer while I'm here."

"Mei Lin!" Sakura said alarmed and turned around to face her friend. "I told you I can't possibly-"

"Sakura, Sakura," Mei Lin soothed, "You don't hear me saying that you should stay with me the whole summer, do you? Just come here whenever you've got time. You told me that Syaoran would stay the whole summer with his child. Well then this is the perfect opportunity to get to know my little cousin!"

Her eyes sparkled the way they used to sparkle, before she broke up with Hiroshi and Sakura felt a pang of guilt. It was her who matched them together. She never knew that he had someone else back in America. She recalled what Mei Lin said that happened the day that he left.

FLASHBACK

"I'm sorry. I have to go back to America."

"It's okay..." Mei Lin's eyes were brimming with unshed tears as she stared at the floor. "I'll wait here for you."

"Mei Lin, I... I might not be coming back." Mei Lin's head shot up looking him straight into the eyes. It's best... if you don't wait for me."

"Why?" the tears were rolling of her cheeks now.

"Because... there's someone waiting for me in America. She can't live without me."

"I... I... I u-under-s-stand." Mei Lin managed to choke out and she looked at the floor again.

Hiroshi lifted her head up and wiped away her tears. Slowly he pressed his lips against hers, for a soft last kiss.

"Last call. Passengers of flight 885 going to America boarding right now. This is the last call."

He broke the kiss and turned away to get on board of the plane. Looking back, just to see her one last time he noticed that she had disappeared.

END FLASHBACK

She had comforted Mei Lin as much as she could, but her work had always come first. It started back then to block out her painful memories- the work made her forget about it for a while- of Syaoran and her. Now she realized that she could have told Mei Lin about her secret. After all she kind of experienced the same thing. Maybe she would have understood.

She walked towards Mei Lin and hugged her tightly.

"You're right. I can't just decide it right now. And I can't just let my decision depend on my neighbour. I can't promise to be here every weekend, but I'll come here as often as I can." She broke away from the hug and managed to look cheerful."Well, what about it?"

"I think it's an excellent idea."

There was a loud knocking on the door. Sakura turned her head to the door and saw Syaoran standing in the open doorway. 'Damn!' she thought. 'How much did he hear from our conversation?'

While Sakura tried to remember what she said exactly, Mei Lin went to Syaoran.

"Hi, Syaoran!" Her voice sounded happy and she gave him a hug.

"Mei Lin! You look great!" He pulled himself out of the embrace and looked in her ruby-red eyes. "It's great to see you again. Hao..." He pulled the boy out, who tried to hind behind his back. "This is Mei Lin, your aunt."

Mei Lin looked at the boy. After a while she nodded her head and said: "Yes, he's a real Li. Good." She saw Hao edging towards his father again and laughed. "Don't worry, I don't bite. And I won't hug you either unless you want to. You know girls like to be hugged. Anyway how would you like to call me?"

"You're my Aunt Mei Lin." The boy said as a matter of fact.

"Then Aunt Mei Lin it is." She smiled. "You already met my friend. Sakura Kinomoto is-"

"Daddy already told me that she's my mommy's cousin." Sakura could hear by the way that Hao was talking she would probably be called 'Miss Kinomoto'. Quickly she said: "That's right. My grandmother had 2 children: Nadeshiko and Kyo. Nadeshiko married and had a baby: me. Kyo married and had a baby: your mother. And because I don't have any cousins and I'll never get them either I would like it if you called me aunt Sakura."

She knew it would be rude if he refused. One look on his face told her that he knew what she was doing. A smile tugged at corner of his lips.

Mei Lin walked towards the table and poured a new cup of coffee while chattering away.
Sakura waited for a reply of the boy.

"When I first saw you on the beach I thought you looked like mommy." Hao's eyes glittered with mirth. "But now I see that I'm wrong." Softly so that she could only hear it he said: "You're prettier than my mom," he blushed, because he said that she was prettier than his own mother was, "but my daddy loved her very, very much."

"Thank you for the compliment. And yes, I know your father loved her dearly." Sakura felt the need to wrap her arms around him so she could comfort him. It was clear that the boy was suffering from his loss. 'Does Syaoran realize how hurt the boy was?' she hoped so. For his and the boy's sake. "Hao," she played with a lock of her auburn hair, "I think that there's an old photo-album with some pictures of your mother in it, lying around here somewhere. Would you like to look in it?"

"Now?" His glasses slipped a bit and he pushed them back up.

"Why not?"

"Sakura." Mei Lin touched Sakura's arm. "Shall we drink some coffee outside? The weather's too nice to be sitting in this cottage. Here." She gave Hao a glass of lemonade. "Try it. It's my own recipe." She nudged the boy softly out on the patio.

Syaoran waited for Sakura but she shook her head.

"You can go already." She said in a flat voice. "I promised Hao to show him some old pictures of Misha." After a short hesitation she decided: "It'll do him good to be with Mei Lin. She's good in getting along with the children. She thought that she could see Syaoran's eyes soften a bit, but it was gone before she could confirm her thoughts.

Syaoran folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "You know what I want to know?" He suddenly asked.

"What?" Sakura asked, not really wanting to know.

"How can you be so sure that you'll never have any cousins?"

"Oh you mean that." Sakura looked at a cabinet filled with porcelain cups and old photos. "Well I don't have any sisters or brothers-"

"You know what I mean." She could hear by the way he was talking that he wanted her to look him straight in the eye. She refused to do it. "If you marry you can have lots of cousins or children for that matter."

Children. Once, she wanted children from Syaoran. That dream was over though.

"I don't plan on marrying." She said forcing herself to meet his gaze. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get Hao that album." She turned away and left the kitchen. He didn't follow her.

What would he say if he knew it was because of him that she never wanted to marry? Because she never met anyone who could stand in his shadow, let alone replace him. She tried, really she did, but all that was left were 2 failed relationships. She blinked a tear away. How would he feel if he knew she loved him, just as much as he loved Misha?

It was ironic that Misha never wanted to meet him if Sakura didn't take so many pictures of him. Would it have ended differently if they had never met? Would she be married to Syaoran instead of Misha?

She squatted near the cupboard and got a pile of photo-albums out. She only wanted to get the red one, but she pulled another one out. A green album.

Her eyes became moist when she looked at a picture of Syaoran. The album didn't just fell open on this page. She used to spend hours looking at this picture of him. A smile tugged at her lips as she thought back to the day when she shot this picture.

FLASHBACK

Granny Momoko had baked 3 pies. 2 of them stood by the window, cooling down. Sakura grabbed the 3rd to bring it to Tomoyo and her parents. On her way back she saw Syaoran creeping to the window. 'Ha, got you this time!' Sakura thought as she sneaked into the cottage and grabbed her camera. She was just in time to see Syaoran take the pie into his hands. 1 second before she pressed the button, he noticed something. He looked up and laughed!

END FLASHBACK

When the photos were done and Sakura saw that picture she melted inside. Syaoran's eyes in the picture glittered mischievously, his hair was tousled by the wind and he smiled, as if he liked being caught red-handed. It could have melted the coldest hearts. Her heart wasn't made out of ice, no. It was burning with passion and it was kind of scary for a 14-year-old girl.

She took the photo-album that time when she went to China to stay there for a couple of weeks. Misha was there too. She never went anywhere in the summer because she was too comfortable in her own house. One day Misha came in when she was staring at this very picture.

FLASHBACK

"What's that?" her 16-year-od cousin asked. "Oh, don't tell me you're one of those crazed fans that writes letters to their idols?"

Sakura didn't reply. She didn't want to share her secret with anyone. Her silence only made her cousin curious.

Unexpectedly, she snatched the album away and saw what was written on the page under the photo: "To my little Summer-Sprite. Love, Syaoran."

It was quiet for a moment as Misha processed the information. Then it came: "Syaoran Li." Misha's voice sounded cold. "I heard Grandmother talk about him. Doesn't he own two out of the three Cherry Lake cottages?"

Sakura only nodded.

"Is he rich?"

Sakura shrugged this time. "I guess so. Yeah, Syaoran's parents own the Li Companies. They're really nice though."

END FLASHBACK

The next summer Misha came to Cherry Lake for two months. Granny, Tomoyo, Mei Lin and Sakura were really surprised. Misha never wanted anything to do with the 'primitive stuff' as she called it. Only when Sakura noticed that her beautiful cousin had her eye on Syaoran, she knew what was going on. Still she didn't tell Mei Lin, Tomoyo or anyone else, that Misha saw Syaoran's picture and wanted to know if he had money or not.

"Did you find it?"

Sakura startled when she heard Hao's voice right behind her. With a bang she closed the green album, put it back and gave Hao the red one.

"Here you go." She wiped off the dust that had collected itself on the book over the years. "You can keep it, if you want."

Hao took the album and pressed it against his chest. His mouth opened and closed a few times, like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

His gaze drifted from her face to her hair. He lifted his hand.

'To push up his glasses.' Sakura thought

But, to her surprise, he gently touched her hair, as if he wanted to know how it felt.

Sakura couldn't move. She was touched by his emotions.

'Does Hao remember how his mother's hair felt like?' Misha also had auburn hair, but not as thick as Sakura's. "Hao." she whispered hoarsely and wanted to touch his hand. He pulled his hand back quickly, before she could touch it and ran away, with the album still pressed against his chest.

She thought she heard a muffled sob, but when she came out, on the patio, later he was quietly sipping his lemonade. She looked at him and he looked back coolly, as if nothing happened.

TBC
Well that's it for chapter 4 guys! Review! Otherwise I won't be continuing! Nah, just kidding. I couldn't do that to the faithful readers of the story (if there are any!). Well stay tuned for upcoming chapters, cos very soon I'll spill the secret of what happened that 'faithful night'! And also: thnx for all the people that reviewed this story!