Chapter 6: Alone in the Park
"So how's the basketball team this days?" Touya asked Syaoran. Li, the Kinomotos, Yukito and the Daidoujis were all having Sunday lunch at the Kinomoto house. Sonomi went whenever she's not in a business trip.
Wei, Li's valet, spends his Sunday with his sister who lives just an hour away from Tomoeda. When Fujitaka found out that Li spends his Sundays alone he insisted that Li eat lunch with them. His reason is that no one should spend Sunday alone, as it is a family day. Same with Yukito.
"We still need a small forward to complete the team," Li replied.
It seemed to Sakura that the only civil conversation her brother and her boyfriend has is when it is about basketball. She sighed. Boys. She suddenly thought of something.
"Why don't you invite Eriol on your team Syaoran?" Sakura suggested.
"Hiiragizawa? No way, I would rather stand wearing only a cowboy hat in the middle of the road than let him be on the team."
"I should hope you're not really planning on doing that," Sonomi commented.
Li flushed. "I'm sorry, President Daidouji I don't mean that." Li looked apologetic.
Tomoyo giggled. He was always nervous around her mother. She knew that he thinks that she doesn't like him for Sakura, which is not true. She treats Sakura like her own daughter and is of course also very protective of her.
"Sakura, why didn't you invite him over for lunch?" Fujitaka asked.
"I did. He's said that he's still busy around his house"
After dessert, a delicious blueberry cake that Sonomi baked, the grownups went to have coffee at the living room.
Li cleared the table and Sakura and Tomoyo began to wash the dishes.
"You still have no idea who have been sending those roses to you Tomoyo?" asked Sakura.
"No, I still don't know."
"What roses?" Li interrupted.
"Someone has been sending Tomoyo lavender roses for almost two weeks now," Sakura replied.
"Sakura!" Tomoyo exclaimed.
"Why? Is it supposed to be a secret?"
While the girls argued, Syaoran was deep in thought. It seems that he have to visit a certain Eriol Hiiragizawa today.
Eriol was sitting in his piano. Not playing. Just thinking. Remembering that day when everything became clear.
After an exhausting flight, they found the house in unlivable condition. Even though he promised that he would never use magic again, he made an exception this one time. With a flick of his hand, his room is back on the way it was before. He would just deal with the remaining sixteen rooms later. Then he proceeded to get his much needed sleep.
He woke up the next day feeling absolutely rested. He found Nakuru downstairs trying to put some sense of order in the kitchen.
"Hi Master Eriol! You finally woke up. You already missed your morning jog, it's already afternoon," Nakuru said when she noticed that Eriol's wearing his jogging outfit.
"I'm still going jogging. Need to stretch my muscles a bit."
"Alright. I'm just going to deal with this mess alone," Nakuru said pointedly.
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon."
Children holding balloons with their harassed looking parents behind them. Young mothers pushing baby carts. Family having picnics. The usual scenes in the park every Sunday.
Amidst all this happy scenes, he saw her. He felt his heart skipped a beat seeing her after all this years. He was about to call her name when he felt intrusive, interfering something personal.
Sitting alone on the swing, he felt that he never saw anyone lonelier in his life. She was so deep in thought that she never felt his presence nearby.
"Papa, Mama," she said. Longing is very evident in her voice. Eriol understood what she feels. The yearning for one's parents is something he can relate. Who can better understand than him?
At that very moment, everything became clear. Why he came back to Tomoeda. Kaho told him to follow his heart. Which he did. And it led him back to her.
"Master Eriol! The Chinese boy is downstairs. You might want to rescue him from one of Nakuru's hugs," Spinel said, interrupting his thoughts.
Even after Spinel Sun's warning, Eriol still took his time going downstairs. Eriol has a feeling this would be a very unpleasant visit.