Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Card Captor Sakura, neither have any stakes in the teams and soccer leagues mentioned in the story. I sadly just own the plot. Names and places may exist but nothing in the story is veridic. The whole plot is just a concept/product of my imagination.
Chapter 6
Turmoiled Waters
A plain glass vase was placed in the middle of their dining table as Sakura started arranging some blue orchids in it along with other small green and white flowers to accompany them. It was the centerpiece she had prepared for the long-awaited housewarming party she was preparing for Syaoran. Since it was his day off, she had taken care of arranging everything from the food to the décor they would have ready for when their guests arrived. Unlike his teammate's birthday party, she had organized this one placing a dress code for their guests. She didn't want a repeat of that disastrous weekend once more between her and her boyfriend or the unwanted thoughts that came with it. Although they still hadn't talked too much about it, she was certain he was a hundred percent in accord with her decision on this even when she hadn't asked him about it. Having that week for herself in China helped her arrange some things out in her mind and at the same time, since Riversky was still in the development stages, she had some extra time to plan this house-warming party aside of working on her project. She had called Hito, Syaoran's chef, to make all the dishes for the party, then she reached out to Choi to help her invite the people she put on a list, and finally she prepared the small decorations on the house so they could have a good time and have fun.
A couple of hours later, their friends started arriving at his house. Contrary to Sakura, Syaoran didn't completely understand why all the decorations since he had agreed with her on only making a small get together type of thing as a house-warming party that consisted of only their closest friends with their respective partners, but maybe this was her way of finally embracing the whole 'their house' feeling as he wanted her to. Kyu was the first to arrive with Meiling on his side. Like Sakura, she had just landed yesterday before the game from her photo shoot in the Caribbean. For some reason, after she had accepted his marriage proposal, he had found himself being more at ease with her modeling career decisions even if that involved bathing suits. "Syaoran!" he happily greeted his friend with a hug before handing him a gift bag he had been carrying on his hand.
Syaoran smiled. "Hey man!" He nodded his way to Meiling before giving her a hug as well. "Cousin!" Looking at Kyu's extended hand with the bag he frowned. "What's this?"
Kyu smirked as he watched his girlfriend stepping into the house and leaving them at the foyer to greet Sakura who was taking some snack trays outside to the table near the pool. "Courtesy of Meiling. She said we had to bring you a gift since this is your house-warming party."
Syaoran chuckled. "You didn't have to."
"You better take it without complaining." Kyu said keeping his forced smile in his face though his expression could easily say he wasn't in the least bit happy about it either. "The odyssey I had to spend to find you the perfect gift at the store with your cousin should tell you enough." He ended saying in a low voice as he watched his girlfriend happily greeting Sakura and waving at them.
Syaoran smirked but opened the gift in front of him and frowned. "A blender?"
Kyu sighed putting his hands on his pockets. "Apparently her time in the Caribbean showed her a new love for fruit shakes. She thought you might enjoy them one day as well."
"How thoughtful." He sarcastically said eyeing the blender as if it was one of the weirdest gifts he had ever received in his life and not really knowing how to feel about it. Leave it to his cousin to find a gift like this even after knowing he barely use his kitchen. He walked into the kitchen with the gift in hand and set it down in a corner of the countertop next to the fridge. He watched his girlfriend walk over to them and open the fridge to take another tray of small cold cuts to set it up outside. Her silence towards him was a clear indication that there was still something bothering her but they would have to let it go for now until the party was over.
Kyu followed him looking around his friend's new house. He nodded to some of the changes he had done to the kitchen. When he had first bought the place, they had white countertops and he decided to change them into black which gave the kitchen a more elegant look than it had before. "This is nice. You really got yourself a pretty good deal on this house." Looking around he saw some of the kitchen utensils were in a different place than when he had them before and frowned. "Are you staying with Aishla? I think Choi mentioned something about fixing her schedule to add your house on it." Kyu asked.
Syaoran quickly looked at him and slowly shook his head trying to warn him not to bring up the subject. As far as he knew, they had talked about it and he had told her about his decision of keeping Aishla on the pool. Going back to this would only ruin what was left of the day for him.
Sakura closed the fridge door and looked at Syaoran. "First name basis? Even with friends?" She sarcastically asked before giving him a look that let him know they would definitely talk about this again before turning around taking the tray of small cold cuts into the pool area.
Kyu frowned. "She doesn't like Aishla?"
He scoffed shaking his head. "She doesn't like the fact that Aishla is a young attractive woman."
Kyu chuckled. "Ah women… it kind of reminds me about the time Eriol hired the chef, remember? Before he had to hire Ed?"
Syaoran smirked. Oh, he remembered alright. It was hard not to remember when the first time Eriol and Tomoyo decided to have this argument about having a woman as a chef had been in the apartment he used to share with Eriol years ago. He didn't remember how or where he had spent most of his night, but that morning had hit him as if a truck had run all over him on a highway. The pounding headache he felt that morning only got worse with every word Tomoyo uttered angrily from her lips as her voice kept getting louder and louder until he heard the breaking of glass and then the loud sound of the door being shut by a raging woman. "Oh, how could I ever forget? I got blamed for that one too…"
Kyu smirked and laughed. "You were guilty of that one too and slept with the woman as well."
Syaoran shook his head and chuckled. "In my defense, she did cook well." Suddenly the door bell rang. "That should be Eriol."
Kyu nodded. He watched as Syaoran stepped out of the kitchen and walked over to open the door.
As Syaoran opened the door all of a sudden he saw more than just a couple of cars he didn't recognize parked in front of his house. At the same time some of his teammates started to get out of them as Mark smiled and greeted him on the door with a half hug. Admiring the place as he walked in he said, "Man, this is a nice place you got here."
Syaoran frowned. That he knew off, Sakura had only invited Kyu, Eriol, and the girls. She hadn't said anything about anyone else coming. As the thought ran through his mind, the rest of the players followed Mark in congratulating him and he greeted them at the door as if he knew all along they were coming. Most of them entered the house accompanied by their ladies. Others, like Jaxon, were accompanied by several women but nonetheless he welcomed them. Not wanting to be the one to start a discord between his teammates especially after last night, he simply let them all in taking note of finding Sakura and ask her about this little 'get together' as she had called it when she planned it.
He walked around to the pool area and found her putting the last trays on the table. He walked towards her and in a low voice asked, "I thought the get together was only between our close friends. Why are the rest of my teammates here?"
She smiled at him and said, "oh, after I saw how your teammate Ricardo celebrated his birthday party, I thought this would be more fitting for a famous soccer player, especially one who just won a World Cup. You know… sort of following the trend among all of you athletes out there. Don't worry, it's not so extravaganza as his, but at least it should help you enjoy some time with your teammates after last night."
He stared at her. For some reason he couldn't shake off the feeling there was something else going on here. "I didn't ask to spend more time with my teammates Sakura. In fact, I'm certain I don't need to spend more time with them aside from the one I already spent with them on the field last night."
She smiled coyly at him. "Just enjoy the party Syaoran. I'll be with the girls if you need me." She looked around before happily waiving towards a person inside. "Oh! Tomoyo is here!" She happily said before trying one of the snacks she had just put out on the table and grabbing a glass of champagne from the side before walking inside leaving him behind.
He definitely couldn't understand her. One minute she was mad, the other she was all nice and happy to have everyone in the house enjoying the time with them. After last night's game, being with his teammates was the last thing on his mind and yet still to this day he couldn't deny her anything. Accepting the inevitable, he grabbed a glass of champagne as well and started chatting with some of his teammates.
An hour had already gone by and his teammates were all having a good time at his house. Some of them brought second clothes to go into the pool while others simply decided to stay outside chatting. The doorbell rang once more as he was talking to some of his teammates and was surprised to see Aishla walking inside the house after one of the guests opened the door. She was dressed much different than her usual maid uniform with a short mini casual white dress and high golden heels. Her makeup and jewelry a giveaway that let him know she had been completely prepared for this get together which could only mean she had been invited and by the look on his girlfriend's smirking face from a distance he deducted the final piece… by her. He watched as she proudly raised her glass in his direction before drinking some of her drink as a form of toast. He sighed.
Kyu came over and put his arm around Syaoran's shoulder. "My mind must be playing tricks on me but, is that Aishla?" he asked.
Syaoran shook his arm off a little bothered at the scene but not showing it much as he turned to Kyu, "Shut up."
Kyu in turn chuckled at his friend's predicament. "She still knows how to get you good, huh?"
As he turned his head back towards her, he thought Kyu was right. Sakura had always been sneaky. The whole issue with Aishla definitely wasn't over. Her mere presence here was just a confirmation of it and Sakura's way of letting him know this was far from over on her part. In fact, after seeing her in the house he could deduct this little issue was something she wasn't going to let go off. He was even wondering, how did Sakura get her number to invite her, but that was something he would definitely have to find out later.
On the other side of the room a group of girls where animatedly talking when all of a sudden Tomoyo looked twice towards the entrance and asked, "is that Aishla?"
Meiling looked towards her friend's stare and frowned. "What is she doing here?"
Sakura simply finished taking her sip of her second Champagne glass and looked at them. "I invited her."
This time, Tomoyo frowned curiously at her answer and turned towards her. "Why?"
"Oh… you know. Syaoran insists on keeping her as a maid, so I felt the need to know her a bit." she casually said not minding her friends shocked face as her response. Putting her best masked face, she excused herself with her friends and walked with a smile on her face to greet her "guest of honor". Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, it's what Feimei had said. She could clearly see the girl had good taste when it came to dressing up. Her confidence as she walked inside the house a clear indication that this wasn't her first time assisting one of these events. Sakura kept analyzing her as she left her empty champagne glass on a tray being passed around the guests, took two new glasses of champagne, and walked towards the girl with a smile on her face. "Aishla! So glad you could make it." She handed the glass to the girl who in turned looked at her and smiled accepting the glass. Sakura touched her glass with Aishla's before drinking a little from it.
"Wow, this is really nice. Thank you for inviting me Ms. Kinomoto." Aishla said.
"Oh, nonsense. I've been little by little meeting people the whole afternoon, but I wanted to apologize for the other day when Syaoran and I were in the pool. So I'm very glad you could come. Please take this as my apology."
Aishla flipped her free hand as if discarding whatever Sakura had said to her. "Oh no, I totally understand why you acted that way. I mean, if it was me I would've probably acted the same way."
Sakura kept eyeing her while keeping her feelings at bay. 'If it was her…?' She could accept a lot of women thinking this way since Syaoran wasn't just any guy, but his maid…? A woman who constantly came in and out of this house…? Dealing with this had suddenly become priority number one before going back to China at the end of this week. From the corner of her eyes she could see someone approaching as she looked towards her side and found none other than Syaoran approaching and she felt her smile turning into a small smirk.
"Love!" Syaoran reached her and put his hand around her lower back to bring her closer. "I was looking for you."
Sakura felt his lips on her temple and smiled still not taking her eyes off Aishla. "I've been here. Did you see who made it to your house warming party?" This time she looked at him smiling though she could easily see he was reading her like a book just like she had intended from the moment she had invited Aishla till the moment he found out she had come.
"OUR house-warming party." He corrected her with the same smile she was giving him before he looked at Aishla. "Welcome. I'm glad you could make it. Please make yourself comfortable and enjoy." He courteously said before looking at his girlfriend one more time.
She nodded and smiled. "Thank you Syaoran." She said before walking past them towards the table with the munchies served outside in the pool area.
'Syaoran…' that first name basis again, but this time spoken from the maid's lips towards him, had her blood starting to boil once more, but she contained her anger within her masked face perfected by years of working for his father as she followed the maid's steps with hawk eyes.
"I know what you're doing and let me tell you love, you will not win this one." Syaoran simply said to her ear so that only she could hear what he was saying.
She turned with the same smirk on her face towards him. "Do you think this is a game?" She moved provocatively closer to him almost in her tip toes so she could also talk in his ear as well and said, "If you think it is, let me remind you history is on my side baby. There hasn't been a game known you have ever been able to beat me at." As she separated a little from him, she saw her challenge was actually working. His intense stare made her smirk once more before she said, "enjoy your party, LOVE." She teased him with a quick kiss before taking a sip from her glass never taking her stare from his eyes before she turned around and walked back towards the girls.
He watched her walk away back to the group of girls and sighed. This woman was driving him crazy. He turned around to walk back to the guys as a thought bothered his mind. Sakura had changed. It wasn't that he didn't know she probably had when he had asked to rekindle their love, but he hadn't expected it would be this much. For some reason he thought the whole issue with the maid had been over after their last talk on the phone. Even after last night he thought everything between them was back to normal and yet… he couldn't quench the idea this whole party had a whole different meaning to her. She had asked him for time to adapt, was this part of her new way of adapting?
He had a sip of his drink before reaching the group of guys.
"Just ignore it Syaoran. I'm sure she just did it to piss you off." Kyu said
"Yeah" was all he said to appease his friend's thoughts and try to keep enjoying the day though his thoughts were completely different from his friends. Although Sakura had spent her childhood in Japan with her family, she had grown most of her adulthood with his family. Plotting, secrets, planning was never far behind when it came to his family. As he looked at her from afar one last time, he wondered how much she had learned from his family in those dreadful seven years they were apart as she stared at his maid while at the same time talking to the girls.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room Sakura was happily talking to her friends while throwing looks at the maid from time to time. After talking with Feimei, she agreed this would be the best course of action to take and this party was just the perfect opportunity to learn more about this woman. In here, she could simply watch the other side of her without having to ask around. Words could be misleading after all, instead she opted for a more direct learning process of this woman. She had read before you know people through their actions, this was just simply a perfect opportunity to know the maid's behavior when dealing with other soccer players. Yes, this would indeed work.
"You know my cousin will not be happy with you after this." Meiling simply stated.
She looked at Meiling and raised a brow. "Why? Because I invited the maid to our party? He was the one that said nothing has ever happened between them."
Tomoyo chuckled. "It hasn't.
Sakura looked at her. "Are you both on his side?"
Tomoyo shook her head all knowingly. "Sakura, trust me, Syaoran will not go anywhere close to another woman that is not you."
"That's not what this is about" she simply said before turning her gaze once more to the maid interacting with one of the players before looking back at her friends. "You guys have had your chances of knowing who this girl is. Me, on the other hand, well let's just say I want to know her as well."
Meiling smirked and chuckled. "Right…"
~ o ~
She played with his ring between her fingers thinking about the maid problem. She had heard Kyu clearly. There was no mistake about it. Syaoran's face after only confirmed her suspicions that they knew this girl from before and, not just that, but they were all comfortable around each other. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing as she had thought from the beginning. Maybe it was just like they all said, she was just their maid. But then again… that first name basis confirmed to her that this wasn't the first time they had spent time like this in an open environment away from her being just the maid. He had said he hadn't slept with her but that meant nothing right now much less after hearing his name coming out of her lips earlier tonight. She didn't feel comfortable in knowing they had known each other from way before when his infamous years were in full bloom. No, she had to take care of this before it was too late. It had already happened before. When Katherine decided to mess with her she had ended up retaliating in a way he hadn't been happy with her at all. If she didn't take care of this in time, she felt this girl wouldn't be any different. And this time she knew what she had to do. She needed to play her cards differently.
With determination in her mind, she stood up from bed. Putting her red satin robe around her body she walked through the bedroom door with means of finding him. It was one in the morning and he hadn't walked into the room probably still pissed off at the fact this little get together had turned into a much larger house-warming party than they had talked about. She walked downstairs and turned to the right in search of the game room where she knew for sure he was still playing poker against a digital enemy from the electronic table. She noticed a half full glass of whiskey lay at his side on the table never missing the view of his toned back imprinting itself on his black tank.
She slyly walked towards him masking her steps silently. Reaching him, she softly traced her finger through the middle of his back in direction to his neck taking in the way his back tensed at her touch. She watched as his breathing changed with her touch and it made her smile wickedly loving the effect she was having in him. "Are you winning?" she asked him with a sultry voice.
He softly took her hand to stop her approach knowing full well what she was trying to do, kissed it and intertwined his fingers with hers keeping it around his neck but not pulling her close. He would wait for it. Sakura had always been devious. "I am."
She walked around him and reclined herself against the poker table. "Is the game going so good as to keep you from coming to bed?" Looking at him, she took his cup of whiskey with her free hand and drank slowly from it making sure not to lose eye contact with him.
He listened to her words and stared at her drinking from his whiskey cup. He loved this woman. A half smile started showing on his face as he carefully watched her movements. "I'm not changing my mind on the maid, Sakura."
She almost smirked at the way he had caught her game even before she could utter a word about it. "I have a proposition for you regarding that dreadful subject."
He chuckled. Leaving his full hand of cards in the table he stood up from his chair and took the glass from her hand. "I'm listening." He said before taking a sip of his whiskey.
"You want to keep the maid? Fine keep her, but schedule her to come on days you're not home." She said.
He made a face as if he was thinking on her words before saying, "there better be another side to that proposition for me to consider it, love."
She knew he was talking about Jun and, although she thought it was a lot harder in her case since she was working on his project, she could only hope this was enough for Syaoran to accept. "I will never be in the same room alone with him. I will always have someone else beside me."
"Not just anyone." He added. "Someone from the office."
"Will Michi do?" she raised her brow and asked. A sudden resemblance to his father came to her mind and she wondered from what moment in his life he became so through when making deals.
Giving a small nod to her question he took the last drops of his whiskey before putting the glass down never breaking their eye contact. "Deal."
His eyes an intense prologue of what was to come for the night had her legs trembling with anticipation though she wouldn't show it. From the moment she had walked into the room she had known he would have his way tonight and inside she was kind of hoping he would. She had taken away his enjoying moment that morning after starting that fight about the maid, she had teased him enough at their house warming party earlier tonight, and he had deliberately stayed away from their bedroom tonight waiting for her to come to him instead. She watched him as he got in front of her and in a quick move picked her up to settle her on the poker table her legs straddling his stomach. She didn't have time to completely smirk at his actions as she felt one of his hands on her neck and his lips passionately moving against hers. In a swift movement her back was already on the poker table as his fingers had started tracing her bare navel and his lips had moved down towards her neck. She hadn't even noticed when he had opened her robe nor when he had backed her back against the table but as he moved his hand down her waist, she closed her eyes and moaned knowing the rest was history.
~ o ~
Morning came and she was feeling a lot better than yesterday. Having solved the maid issue with Syaoran made her feel like a milestone in their relationship had just been achieved. She could only hope this whole arrangement would work for the entire season he would be playing in England otherwise she had already decided she would step in and take matters into her own hands even if he didn't like her way. As she looked at her side, her boyfriend was still peacefully sleeping next to her. She smiled and decided to surprise him this morning. This time it would definitely be different than before.
Silently, she grabbed her phone and walked out of their room into the kitchen. She set her phone on the kitchen island and put some music on while opening one of the upper cabinets to take a pan out. According to his chef, Syaoran always liked to eat healthy and watched what he ate meticulously so she decided to do some scrambled eggs with ham and veggies for him. She started dancing to the rhythm of the music as she took out the eggs from the fridge and started to mix them in a glass bowl. Cutting the ham and veggies in small pieces, she added it to the mix and started mixing it once more. She put in a pinch of salt and kept mixing everything through. When she turned around, she stopped abruptly as she found none other than a smiling Syaoran looking at her from the kitchen island. Surprise ruined…
She frowned. "Is there really no way to surprise you with breakfast?"
He smirked. "I told you I'm a light sleeper but by all means don't stop on my account. You look cute dancing in the kitchen."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're not even offering to pretend this time," she said as an afterthought as she turned around to keep mixing in her ingredients.
He chuckled. "Where's Hito?" he asked as he walked around the island to reach where she was. He embraced her in a hug from behind while looking at the mix in her hands.
She smiled. "I texted him letting him know not to worry about breakfast. I would be making it today for you."
"Mmm… don't put cheese on it." He said.
"You don't like cheese with your eggs?" she asked.
"The eggs are enough protein." He said as he softly kissed her shoulder.
She closed her eyes and enjoyed the touch of his lips on her skin. After last night, there was no denying his kisses still had a strong effect on her. He moved his lips from her shoulder to her neck and she felt her hands trembling a little as the bowl almost slipped from her hands. If it wasn't because Syaoran moved quickly enough to catch her slip, their breakfast would've been in the floor by now.
"Careful! I already spoiled the surprise, wouldn't want to spoil our breakfast too." He softly said to her ear.
Hearing the playfulness behind his words, she opened her eyes and nudged his stomach with her elbow playfully. The worst part of it all was that he knew exactly what his kisses did to her. She could say they were her weakness when it came to him.
He faint a blow to his stomach as he chuckled and stepped away from her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
She turned around and smiled at him. "Staying away will help."
He shrugged before smirking. "Are you sure that's what you want? It almost feels like you want quite the opposite."
She smirked back at him already planning her way of getting back at him. "Now that you mention helping, why don't you do the juice since you like to have natural juice with your breakfast?"
His smile slowly started leaving his face. "You're serious?"
She smiled triumphantly as she nodded. "Oranges are in the fridge, the wooden board is right here, and the juice maker is on the bottom drawer to your left."
He couldn't believe it. Shaking his head, he moved towards the fridge. "You know… this is the first time I actually touch my kitchen since I started playing pro."
She smirked as she put the egg mix on the pan and started cooking their scrambled eggs. "There's a first time for many things, isn't there baby?" She looked towards him and laughed when she saw him take the entire bag of oranges which had almost twenty oranges in it out of the fridge. "Syaoran, just six or seven will do."
He looked at her a little lost at this whole new ordeal of making juice and nodded. Putting the bag inside the fridge once more, he took seven oranges out of the bag and set them on the counter. He sliced them in half and took the juicer out. While preparing the juice he said, "you seem happier this morning."
She smiled while carefully turning the eggs around on the pan. "Doesn't that work to your advantage?"
He chuckled. "How's your project going? Were you able to get everything done before coming here?"
She placed two plates on the side of the stove to start putting the breakfast in. "I was actually able to get the bid I requested from CC Construction which sets me up to begin everything next week when I go back."
"That's good then." After he finished making the juice, he separated it in two glasses and set them up in the table. He waited for her to bring their breakfast as well and smiled after seeing his plate.
"I do hope it pleases your palate." She said while sitting next to him.
He smiled and took his first bite. "I could get used to this, you know."
She smiled as well. "Don't even start." She took a bite of her breakfast as well and smiled. The scrambled eggs tasted perfect. "I was thinking that maybe after your practice we could go to the art museum. You remember I told you about the art festival they have this week?"
He nodded. "Sounds good. I'll call you when I get out to pick you up."
She smiled and nodded.
~ o ~
While Syaoran was at practice, she decided to take a look at some of the design items her assistant had sent through email for the project. Although the project was in its early stages, the more ahead she planned the better. So knowing she had just a couple of hours before having to get ready for the museum visit, she took advantage of the time she had away from him to work on looking at some tile options and window coverings for the different units of the project.
While going through her work she heard her phone beep signaling she received a text message. Interrupting her work, she looked at her phone. It was no other than her friend and boyfriend's sister Xiefa. She opened the message to find the most unthinkable message she could ever think of receiving right now. 'Thought you might want to know' read the letters as she saw a picture of her cousin enjoying the streets of England. She narrowed her eyes and closed the message. Hadn't she settled this back in China? She set it aside and kept working.
Two hours and a half went quickly when she looked at the clock and decided to start getting ready. After her first week visiting Syaoran, she had already timed his practices to last around four hours. Then it would take him half an hour to reach their home. She took a shower, arrange her hair, and put a nice casual but elegant lose navy jumpsuit on, sleeveless on the arms and with long palazzo shape for the legs that covered her white heels whenever she was standing but showed the heels as she walked. She put golden jewelry on to match her style but nothing too fancy. As she heard the door, she smiled while grabbing her white purse and going downstairs.
"Sakura!" he called from the hallway. "I'm home." He said as he put his bag out. Since they had planned on going to the museum since this morning, he had taken long jeans and a white polo shirt to dress himself after taking a shower at the locker room. He smiled after seeing Sakura walking down the stairs to greet him. If only he could enjoy this sight every day he'd be the happiest of men.
"Hey babe." She said while giving him a quick kiss to greet him.
"You ready?" he asked.
She nodded.
As soon as they walked out of their house, they got into the car and Syaoran drove them towards the museum.
"How was practice today?" she asked.
"Well… you'll be happy to know I apologized to the team for my behavior." He said while turning into a street.
She chuckled. "It was the right thing to do after all."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… Jaxon didn't apologize for his stupidity, you know…"
She laughed and caressed his hair from the passenger side. "Don't be downgrading yourself to his level, please."
He smirked and looked at her shaking his head before turning his face back to the road. She received a text from her work stating the approvals they were waiting for had finally being received and answered quickly. By the time she finished writing the text they had reached their destination. He paid to leave his car in the multi parking space and grabbed Sakura's hand to walk into the museum. "This place seems to be quite big" he said as he looked at the chart in front of them which had a list of more than six exhibitions being shown in the place for today. "Which gallery do you want to see first?"
"Um… maybe we can start with the artwork. Then, if we have time, we can do the design one, and last the photographs." She suggested.
"Okay." He agreed and led them to the first gallery room. They started walking around the room and enjoying the different artwork presented in the room.
"Have you been to this museum before?" she asked him.
He shook his head. "I haven't had much time to come. With the renovations of the house and our season, it was hard to visit."
She nodded. "But you wanted to come?"
He shrugged a little. "I don't mind coming. I enjoy watching pieces of art from time to time."
She could easily believe that. Syaoran had always had a curious mind for everything, she thought as they kept walking through the museum. Sometimes they took a little longer to see some of the pieces currently in display since Sakura liked reading the name of the artwork on a little note aside from it, other times they just looked at the artwork and kept walking. Analyzing art was something she had definitely acquired from her father since he had taught her a lot about history which was very often portrayed inside these paintings.
As they walked into their third room, Syaoran noticed there was a group of teenagers with their teacher in the room animatedly explaining to them the importance of the artwork they were analyzing. He guessed it must have been one of those school trips art teachers made during the year to keep their students motivated. At first, he didn't mind as much since they were in a museum and just kept walking around with Sakura but suddenly he saw one of the kids recognized him. He tried to stay cool and kept looking at the art, after all he wanted to keep enjoying his time with his girlfriend but something about the kids made him feel a little uneasy. As he looked again at them, he saw the same kid taking a picture of him while the kid aside from the one taking the picture waved at him. He looked at Sakura and smiled as if nothing was happening.
"Excuse me?"
Sakura looked at their side to see a blond little teenage kid wearing a school uniform. "Yes?"
The kid looked at Syaoran and smiled. "You… you are Li Syaoran, aren't you?" the boy with that distinguished English accent asked.
Sakura looked at Syaoran. At his lack of answer she smiled at the kid. "Do you want a picture?" she politely asked the kid after understanding the situation.
The kid nodded. "You don't mind?" he asked her.
She shook her head politely smiling.
Syaoran sighed but nonetheless smiled. He turned towards Sakura and said in a low voice to her, "call Choi. Tell him where we are and tell him to get us now."
She frowned and looked at him. Something had suddenly bothered him. She couldn't understand why his demeanor suddenly changed or what he found so wrong about taking a picture with a fan as he unlocked his cell phone and gave it to her. "Don't ask Sakura, just do it please." He turned around and smiled at the fan while posing to take the picture.
Sakura walked a little away from them and called Choi as he requested. While she waited on him to answer, she saw five more kids coming over to take a picture with Syaoran.
"Yes?" Choi answered.
"Choi, this is Sakura." She said.
"Oh hey Sakura. I apologize, I thought it was Syaoran calling me." He said as he looked at his phone once more. Maybe he was going crazy but he thought he saw the name Syaoran on the screen when he picked up. Nope, he confirmed his phone read Syaoran. "You have his phone?"
Realization hit her as she saw more and more kids going towards him to take pictures and asked him for his signature but this time it wasn't only kids from the school group anymore. There were more kids and teenagers entering the gallery room they were in and encased him to ask for pictures and his signature. "Um, Syaoran asked me to contact you because we are in the art museum. He told me to ask you to pick us up as soon as possible though I'm not sure why. We brought his car."
"Shit!" Choi cursed. "Sakura, can you get a hold of a museum manager?"
She looked around noticing a guy in one of the sides of the door leading towards the next room dressed in a wine uniform and answered. "Yes." She walked away from Syaoran towards the man whose tag name read Richard just like Choi had instructed her.
"Ask the manager to please close the door of the gallery and to have both of you moved to a secure location. I will text him once I arrive."
She hung up the phone and greeted the man in the corner. "Hi, are you by any chance a manager in this museum?"
The guy nodded. "What can we help you with madam?"
Madam sounded so old but nonetheless she concentrated on her task. "I need you to close the gallery doors and moved us to a secure location. My boyfriend's agent will come pick us up in a couple of minutes."
By the incredulous look on the man's face she could deduct the man didn't believed her but smiling politely he still asked, "your boyfriend?"
She nodded and pointed towards where Syaoran was surrounded by a group of people who were already obstructing the door from one side. The guy immediately recognized who he was as soccer was a pretty big sport in Manchester. He nodded and started giving orders in his microphone. Sakura saw as both doors were been closed while some of the people on the other side of the room started protesting. Then suddenly, two guards arrived to their room. They made their way towards where Syaoran was signing an autograph and started carefully moving people away so that no one would get hurt. Another guard came over and started moving Syaoran out of the crowd that had formed around him.
"This way." The manager said.
Sakura followed the manager into a room in the far corner of the museum and waited. Seconds later Syaoran walked into the room followed by the guard that had escorted him there.
He looked at Sakura and calmed down as he walked towards her and hugged her. "Are you okay?"
"Me?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
He looked at her and smiling nodded.
"Choi is on his way." She said. She gave him his cell phone back as she started hearing the people protesting outside becoming louder and louder. She didn't know what to make of this. Usually coming to a museum was a nice way to spend a quiet and soothing afternoon while looking and analyzing artwork. Apparently, that experience was not something that she would be having with her boyfriend any time soon or maybe ever again. "He's going to text you when he arrives."
He nodded and kept hugging her.
She couldn't avoid thinking about this. Would they have this problem over and over again when they wanted to do something as a couple? When they went hiking they didn't have a problem because no one was around them that day but, what about when they wanted to go out as a couple to a public place full of people? Would they have the same problem? They had also been able to go to that café the last time and, although his fans followed them to it, they never got so bold as to encase him to get autographs or pictures. The same thing happened when they went to dinner with their friends last time. Although she saw some people did recognize them, they weren't so bold as to ruin their moment instead they all had kept their distance.
Syaoran felt his phone vibrate. He took his phone out of his pocket and saw the message from Choi stating he was outside. "Come on." He said as he took her hand and walked towards the door. He turned towards her and said, "whatever happens Sakura, don't let go of my hand."
She looked at him a little worried after hearing his words but nodded. When the guards opened the door, four bodyguards were waiting at the other side of it. Syaoran quickly moved Sakura to be close to him as the bodyguards slowly helped them walk towards Choi's car. She noticed a lot of people started pushing in to try to get to Syaoran and she stumbled with the forced of them but never let go of his hand. In the middle of the turmoil, she could see a black SUV with tinted windows. The car door opened and Syaoran pulled her strongly to move her in front of him so she could get in first then followed her inside the SUV. After both of them were in, Choi closed the door and gave the instruction to his driver to carefully drive away making sure none of the people that had followed him to the car get hurt.
"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" Syaoran asked her.
"I'm fine." She softly said as she looked away. Outside their window, many kids mixed in now with adults surrounded their car and were trying to push the bodyguards away so they could get closer to the car. She watched as many of them where still throwing pictures while others were screaming Syaoran's name.
Choi narrowed his eyes at him. "A museum Syaoran? Really? You know better than that."
He sighed, shook his head and closed his eyes. "Not now Choi." He knew she was shocked. He could sense she was anything but fine right now. "My car is on the parking lot."
"Give me your keys." Choi said. "I'll have someone pick it up for you."
The drive to his house had been a silent one. After Choi dropped them into their front house, she walked inside, set her purse into the kitchen island before taking a deep breath and facing him. "Is it always going to be like this? Does this happen often to you?"
He stared at her. "No."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "This has happened to you before though. You knew exactly what to do the moment you saw that first kid approaching asking for a picture."
He sighed regretting his lack of judgment and walked towards her. "This has happened before but it won't be happening every time we go out." He stood in front of her and caressed her face. "This was my mistake. I was careless today. I thought the museum wouldn't have that many people. This is why I agreed to it without saying anything."
She shook her head before placing her forehead in his chest. "What if we want to go to see a movie at the theater, or have dinner at a restaurant Syaoran? Those places are full of people as well."
He didn't need to ask… she had been scared. He put his hands around her. "We can still go Sakura. The only difference is that I would have to call in first for them to set us in a secluded place or a place where they can provide security. I'm telling you love, it's not a problem. Today was just a slip, it won't happen again. Trust me, I'll be more careful from now on."
~ o ~
After the incident, Syaoran decided they should just have dinner at home. He wouldn't want a repeat of what happened in the afternoon to take place in a restaurant on the same day and, even though he could call to reserve, he preferred not to leave it up to chance. Knowing how Sakura loved red wine, he asked Hito to make them steak this time with veggies so they could just pair the food with her favorite wine. He prepared the table outside by the pool with means of enjoying the sunset with her and looking forward to making her forget this afternoon's event. He still felt guilty about it. He had a talk with Choi who, as accorded, brought his car back to his house a couple of hours later. While Syaoran was used to these things happening to him, after talking with Sakura the other day he knew she felt a little skeptic about his lifestyle. This incident no doubt added to her list of things she needed to find a way of adapting according to her. He was just grateful she was trying to cope with it instead of running away from him again.
Sakura came downstairs after changing into a casual plum colored short dress since she was in the house now. After the transpired events, she was still feeling a little bit shaken up and was thankful Syaoran decided to just have Hito come over to make them dinner. She now understood why Syaoran having Hito was definitely a better option than just going out and instantly came to appreciate the chef more. She looked at the table he had set up by the pool area and smiled. Opening the sliding door, she happily walked over to the table where their food was being served by Hito and a bottle of wine was placed in the middle.
"Candles and all?" she asked.
"For when the sun sets." He said smiling.
She hugged him from behind as he took the bottle of wine and uncorked it. "Mmm… I could definitely get used to this." She said throwing his words back at him.
He chuckled and served the two glasses. She sat in her seat and thanked Hito after he finished serving them. Syaoran waited until they were alone and said "I wanted to apologize for this afternoon."
She smiled. "I'm already past it."
He shook his head. "You told me over the phone to give you time to adapt and I feel like you may think it's hard to be with me but it's not Sak. I mean, I assure you as long as we're careful it's not."
She took the first bite of her food thinking on how to respond to his sentence and once again she had to give kudos to Hito for such an amazing job cooking their dinner. "I received an interesting text this morning." She said casually.
He frowned at her change of subject but went along with it. He cut another piece of steak and ate it. "From who?"
Ignoring his question, she simply said "my cousin seems to be in town" while studying his reaction.
He continued biting his steak slowly as he looked at her, "how is she?"
"Why don't you tell me?" she asked.
He swallowed his steak and started turning on the candles to buy a little more time. The mere mention of her cousin in one of their conversations was still a sore subject for both of them. That he had slept with her in the past was definitely the worst mistake he could've ever done or, if it wasn't the worse, it was definitely up there on his 'Top Ten' list. He knew this was bound to happen, yet he hated having to go through it. "She only texted me for some tickets."
She stared at him. She had thrown in part of what she assumed could've happened but she never expected it to be true since she had clearly told her cousin not to contact Syaoran anymore. "I didn't know you were still in contact with her."
"Sakura-"
"How is she? Did you get to talk to her for hours to catch up?" she sarcastically asked as she grabbed her wine glass and drank a little from it.
He sighed. "She just texted me for the tickets. Her current boyfriend is a fan of soccer. That's all."
She took a bite of her steak as well and swallowed. "You even know who her current boyfriend is? From what I hear, if it's the same boyfriend she had when the World Cup was on, she shouldn't need tickets to get into the game. Her boyfriend can cover the tickets and more."
He took a deep breath and calmly said "babe, I don't feel anything for Sayuri. When I told you about what happened between us in the past, I did so that we could move forward as a couple. I already told you I wasn't in a good place when it happened. Mentally, I wasn't stable and it never happened again. It still won't happen again." He said as he sipped once more from his wine glass.
She took a sip from her wine never taking her eyes off of his. "You are wrong about one thing though… being with you is not something easy to do and you just proved my point. When I told you I needed time to adapt, I meant it but that doesn't mean that something like what happened today is going to make me leave your side. When I said I needed time to adapt I meant these are things that are new to me. Well… I mean except for my cousin" she said as an afterthought and rolling her eyes which made him smile before continuing "but, I want this to work as much as you do, Syaoran. I haven't felt this way about someone in a long time and it's scary sometimes but I don't want to walk away from it. Instead, I feel like even though it's hard, I want to walk this road and see where it leads us. This is also what I meant when I said I needed time to adapt."
He smiled after listening to her. "I still hate that you have to go through this because of me."
She shrugged. "You make me go through other things because of you too and I can assure you baby they are quite the opposite of this" she said as she took another sip of her wine and smiled. "I'm going to the mall tomorrow with the girls while you're at practice in the morning but I'm guessing we'll be in for more than just a couple of hours. So, it's probable that, when we get out, we just head straight to the field for the game. Meiling mentioned something about needing a new dress which could easily become a change in her whole wardrobe for fall season."
He cringed at the mere mention of the word 'mall' but said nothing about it. "You can use any of my cars on the garage."
She chuckled thinking that probably all of his cars were built with manual transmission. "No need. Tomoyo is picking me up."
He nodded.
Suddenly her phone beeped signaling she had a text message. She looked at the side of the table where she had placed it and, after seeing the text had come from her assistant, decided to open it.
*Sakura, plans were updated as you requested. I sent the revised file to your email so that you can approve. CC Construction wants to start construction of the first building base and needs your approval.*
She first took a look at her email to confirm she had received the file and then started to write back her reply.
"Do you need to do that now?" he asked.
She stopped writing the reply and looked at him. "Do what?"
"You did the same thing on the car last time you came Sakura." He said trying not to sound too annoyed at the fact that she was checking her cell phone right now.
She frowned. "What are you talking about?"
He narrowed his eyes. "The phone. We're spending some alone time together and suddenly you start writing on your phone." He said.
"I need to send some emails for my project." She simply explained.
He stared at her and calmly asked, "can you do that later though? I doubt it can't wait. It's too late over in China to resolve anything plus we're eating right now."
She stared at him for a couple of seconds. Didn't he understand how important this project was for her career? Suddenly her friend's words came to mind 'whenever we didn't agree on something I was always conscious that I had to pick which fight I truly needed to win in order to make the relationship work' She took a deep breath and put her phone down once more before saying "fine."
~ o ~
As she had accord with Syaoran, Tomoyo came to pick her up in the morning after he had left for practice. Usually on game days they had a very short practice in the morning just to loosen up their muscles and then did their game match routine in the afternoons where everything started with them having a pre-meal before getting ready for the match. Since it was usually a day where she would spend very few hours with Syaoran, the girls decided to use it to their advantage and just have some girl fun at the mall.
With five bags already in hand, she kept looking around to buy something for Syaoran. She had already bought enough outfits for herself along with lotions, makeup, and not to forget her sexy underwear, but she wanted to get him something as well. She kept looking around but, in all honesty, she couldn't find anything she thought he needed. I mean, he had enough watches on their closet already, he didn't wear too many ties, he had shirts of every color… what could you possibly buy someone who already had almost everything? She never thought this would actually turn out to be so hard for her. She kept looking around until suddenly she saw a black feminine face mask covered by feathers around the sides and next to it she saw the male version of the mask which was black as well but didn't have the feathers on them. They both had a satin string of the same color to attach them to the face of the person wearing them. Intrigued by them, an idea came to mind. She smiled as she grabbed both of them and paid for them.
Like she had told Syaoran, their trip to the mall had taken more than just a few hours and they ended up going straight to the game after going shopping. They had arrived early to the game since Tomoyo didn't want to miss even their warm-ups.
"So, Sakura are you guys coming to the party after the game?" Meiling asked.
"What party?" she asked back.
"Syaoran didn't tell you?" Tomoyo asked. "The guys want to go to a club around the corner from the field after the game. It's just opening tonight and they wanted to check it out though I think we'll probably go for an hour or so. Eriol looked tired this morning."
She looked at the field where her boyfriend was warming up for the game with Eriol as his partner and took a deep breath. Obviously for some reason they were already having communication issues. He had gotten a little annoyed last night when they were having dinner but she didn't know it was to this extent. "Syaoran didn't mention anything about a party. Maybe he's not interested in going."
Meiling frowned. "He was the one that came up with the idea."
She narrowed her eyes at her friends and smile to hide her annoyance at the fact that her boyfriend had casually forgotten to mention this to her. "I see. So, how about we just go after the game and meet them there?"
"That's not a bad idea." Meiling said.
"I'll tell Eriol then to leave with Syaoran." Tomoyo said.
Sakura nodded. Taking her cell phone out, she texted him.
*The girls just told me about going to the club after the game. We'll all be going with Tomoyo and see you guys there.*
She knew he wouldn't be able to see the message until after the game but still she sent it to him now. 'We definitely need to talk' she thought as they all sat down to enjoy the start of the game.
~ o ~
As per their coach instructions, he was to sit down on this game. The repercussion of his little outburst on the last game had him sulking in the bench as he watched his teammates playing in the field. He definitely wasn't accustomed to be on the bench when there was a game. He saw Eriol running from the right side of the field bringing the ball inside the middle. He passed the ball to Kyu who started sprinting towards the goal net through the middle. Jaxon accompanied him running on the side but, as he saw the last opponent's player, he noticed his teammate was in an offside position. Kyu probably had noticed as well since he kept dribbling the ball through his feet waiting for his teammate to get into position so he could pass him the ball, but his teammate didn't get the message. Syaoran rolled his eyes. He had to remind himself that for the first time in many years he wasn't in the field at Kyu's side which probably made it a little more difficult for him to find the space needed to score. Usually with Syaoran he didn't even have to look twice… he knew his best friend would understand the message within seconds.
Syaoran watched as Kyu kept dribbling the ball until he decided to run past two of the defenders he had in front of him and, sprinting forward, was able to get a clean shot at the net. Without hesitating, he took the shot and scored.
Finally the game had ended in them winning one to zero. He walked towards the locker room already pissed off at the whole 'having to seat the entire ninety minutes' as he watched his teammates play without him on the field. Taking his phone out, he saw a message from his girlfriend.
"This definitely has been one of the most tiring games ever." Eriol said as he sat down next to Syaoran and started getting his cleats off.
Syaoran grunted as he read the message. With everything that had transpired last night he had totally forgotten to tell Sakura about the club and worse, he actually didn't feel like going to the club anymore. After a game like the one they just had, he truly just felt like going home instead or go somewhere away from his teammates. Nevertheless, he thought about her leaving in a couple of days and decided to just go with the flow on this one.
"I guess I'm going with you then." Eriol said as he also read his message.
"What are you talking about?" Syaoran asked.
"Tomoyo texted me to grab a ride with you. She'll meet us at the club." Eriol said.
Syaoran stretched his neck before saying, "fine, but I'm hitting the shower first." Even though he hadn't played this game, he needed to take a shower.
"You don't sound too excited." Eriol said.
"I'm not." He simply said.
Kyu smirked. "Since when do you not want to party after a game?"
They saw their coach enter their locker room to congratulate them on their win. He talked about the positive and negative points of the game before letting them know they had rehab and a low intensity practice tomorrow. Usually they didn't practice after a game but since they were also playing during the week the coach wanted to keep them touching the ball each day before the game. After their coach left, Syaoran grabbed his clothing and went straight to the shower.
~ o ~
After reaching the club, the owner greeted them and let them go in through the VIP entrance as usual. Loud music was pounding through the club's speakers as he looked around through the people dancing in the middle of the room in search of his girlfriend. Not finding her, he quickly took out his cell phone and started writing her a text but got interrupted by a couple of people who recognized him as soon as he walked in. He put his phone away on his pocket without realizing he never hit 'send'.
"Syaoran!" a blond man called. "What's up man? I haven't seen you in a while."
Syaoran greeted him shaking his hand followed by a small pound on the shoulder. "Everything good, all good. How's the restaurant coming?"
"It's coming out very nice. I'll let you know once we open. You have to come. The chef we hired is magnificent. I'm sure you'll love his food." The guys said.
Syaoran chuckled. "You know I'll be there. Text me once it opens."
"I will send you an invitation for the opening. Listen, congratulations on your win. I heard you guys have a very good team this year. Are you finally winning that Champions League trophy?"
Syaoran smirked. "Working on it."
The guy laughed and padded his shoulder. "Bring it home! Baby! I know if anyone can bring that trophy home is you, no pressure intended off course."
Syaoran laughed. "Thanks man!"
Most of his teammates had already arrived. Their VIP room was already packed with women as usual. He looked around for his girlfriend once more but still couldn't find her. Eriol approached him and said, "I just got off the phone with Tomoyo. They had to stop to get some gas but they'll be here in a couple of minutes."
Syaoran nodded before going straight to the bar to get his first drink of the night. After sitting an entire game in the bench for his unjustified unsportsmanlike attitude towards Jaxon, a drink sounded really nice by now.
"Syaoran!"
He turned to the sound of a woman calling his name and smiled. "Eloise!" he said and smiled as he greeted the beautiful brunette.
~ o ~
The girls were a little late. After stopping to get gas they had to wait in line for the valet to take their car in order to get into the club. Since Meiling was a known model, they were able to pass through the entrance door quickly, but they were on the first floor. The VIP room was on the second floor so they would have to find a way to let their boyfriends know they had arrived so they could get them into that room.
"I already texted Eriol." Tomoyo said loudly so the two of them could hear her.
Sakura nodded. As they walked inside, she took in the place as she looked around. Neon lights that moved along the rhythm of the music beat moved all around the dark room. A techno/pop song was blasting through the speakers as a bunch of people where dancing in the middle of the floor. Thankfully, unlike the last soccer party she attended, they were better dressed people attending this one. She looked towards the second floor where the VIP room was and narrowed her eyes. Her mood suddenly dropped when she found a skinny brunette standing very close to her boyfriend talking animatedly next to him, giving her the impression that for some reason this wasn't the first time Syaoran talked to this girl.
Tomoyo, who had her phone out, had accomplish getting noticed by her boyfriend as she waved at him and he nodded moving without a doubt downstairs to get them. "Eriol is coming!" she said.
"You girls go right ahead. I'm going to get a drink." Sakura said.
"There's a bar upstairs." Meiling mentioned.
Sakura smiled and said "I'm getting one in this bar." She walked away from her friends leaving them wondering about her sudden mood change. After reaching the bar she smirked and sat down in one of the chairs as she asked for her drink.
~ o ~
"He always knows how to get them. I put a thousand down on her falling for him first." Mark said from the VIP room upstairs as he looked at one of his teammates attempting to woo a woman on the bar downstairs.
Ricardo and Kyu looked at each other and smirked. "Two thousand on her making him fall for her first." The two of them said at the time. They were celebrating their latest victory at the club and they were watching as Jaxon started approaching a new woman at the bar. Since the moment they had started knowing their teammates they all knew Jaxon was quite the player, but his little plays often backfired on him. He would try to play with a woman then in the end he would be the one calling them back to repeat the night and getting stood up by them. Therefore, his teammates, as a joke, started a little betting pool each time they would see him approach a new woman at clubs and bet on who would fall first for the other.
Syaoran, who was just not interested in playing these ridiculous games as he called them, had agreed on watching the spectacle while talking with his friend and his wife. They were a nice young couple he met on his first days here in Manchester who had taken some of their precious time to show him around and after that they became friends instantly. Charles was a financial advisor who loved watching soccer so when the opportunity presented itself, he jumped straight at it knowing perfectly well who Syaoran was. His wife was a young brunette stay-at-home mother of two who enjoyed cooking and spending her time with her kids. As he drank from his glass while listening to them on top of the loud music, he watched the whole spectacle and narrowed his eyes when the woman moved her hair out of her face and looked very familiar to him. He finished his drink in one swallow. Putting his glass down, he excused himself, and started walking downstairs.
"What's the matter with him now?" Mark asked.
"Shit!" Kyu said as he also recognized the woman but it was too late to stop his friend from reaching his intended destination.
Syaoran walked quickly downstairs with all the intention of reaching the bar immediately. He started zig zagging between the people dancing in the middle of the dance floor to reach the other end where the bar was at. Apologizing to the people he abruptly interrupted, he finally reached his final destination.
"Don't you know how to get your own woman Jaxon?" Syaoran menacingly asked.
Jaxon arrogantly smirked. "I don't see her minding and by the looks of it, you weren't either."
"I can easily make it so the doctors can write you up a prescription for your eyes since it's obvious you're going blind." Syaoran quickly retorted.
Sakura watched the little spectacle and smiled internally to herself. She gambled with the thought that perhaps this part of Syaoran hadn't change during the years… she had been right. Smirking, she decided to step in before it was too late. "An honest mistake, you did seem surrounded by pleasant company."
Syaoran gave Jaxon a last look making sure he understood the meaning behind his stare. This was his last warning. He turned and looked at Sakura who simply matched his stare. "If this is what you want, then by all means let me know and we can call this done, sweetheart."
"I'm merely saying it was an honest mistake since you seemed to be in very amiable company, baby." She sarcastically replied.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "You know better than that."
"You told me I wouldn't have to worry." She simply said.
He took a deep breath. She was indeed not backing down from this. "Fine, let's go home."
"No" she simply said while getting up from her seat. She took a step towards him and when she was close enough she said, "I actually came to the club to enjoy and have some fun tonight. Talking… is the last thing I have on my mind. I think I'm going to follow my night with dancing." She walked passed him and headed into the dance floor.
Deep breaths didn't help him anymore. He was furious as he watched her walk provocatively towards the dancing floor in the middle. Eyes roamed from everywhere as other guys watched her noticing the way her hips swayed from side to side on that black short dress with confidence to the rhythm of the music. Syaoran didn't like this one bit and he was one hundred percent certain she knew this as well. She had purposely talked to Jaxon knowing this would piss him off and was now making sure everyone knew the decision was his. Although with this second one he would never have a problem with it. He loved showing everyone else she was his girlfriend and he wasn't willing to share.
He walked towards the dance floor as well and hugged her from behind swaying his hips at the rhythm of hers. "Let's go home Sakura. I'm not in the mood for this little show of yours."
Her little show!? The nerve. She flirtatiously smiled as she turned her face half way and said, "Then step aside. I'm sure others are in the mood for dancing and having a good time."
Her words were already working its way on his body. "I promise you Sakura, I will make you pay for this one." He said against her ear.
"I'm ready for any of your paybacks, baby." She added the last word with such spite she knew she had won this fight. She felt his hands softly caress her hips as he let the music sway his body along with hers. She grinded her back provocatively against him and was satisfied when she heard him groan. She was indeed enjoying this. She turned around to face him. Putting her hands over his neck, she half smiled at him letting him know she had perfectly heard him.
Vixen… It was the perfect word that described his girlfriend right now. She had known exactly what she wanted from the moment she walked into the club all the way through the moment she would walk out of it. The moment she turned around with that half smile on her face he knew he was a goner. He softly placed his lips against hers before pulling her closer so that their lower bodies would be touching as he deepened the kiss. He didn't care who was watching, he didn't give rats who was writing about it, much less who would take pictures of it. He loved this woman and he wasn't afraid of showing it to everyone.
~ o ~
He trailed a couple of kisses around her neck savoring every second he spent with her after the night they just had hearing her sigh with each of his ministrations. They had just finished making love and although it had been good that had never been one of their issues in the past. Her little spectacle this evening however… before it could escalate into something more, he decided to say something about it. "You know love, I think we need to have a little talk to set our definitions straight baby because clearly your definition of amiable company defers from mine." He said still trailing kisses around her skin.
She moaned a little still feeling the afterglow of the moment around her body and replied, "you can't honestly tell me you weren't having a nice conversation with that blond on the second floor. And then the brunette…"
He chuckled. "I was only waiting for you, though if you would've come upstairs with the rest of the girls instead of jumping to your own conclusions, I would've introduced you to Charles's wife."
"Charles's wife?" she asked while turning her head to look at him in the face.
He smiled and kissed her softly before replying "yes. Charles and Eloise helped me around when I first arrived."
She sighed and looked away for a second not wanting to admit her jealousy got the best of her tonight to his face. This whole long-distance relationship had been hard on both of them, and yet there were things she also needed to set straight with him. She waited for her breath to go back to as normal as possible before saying "You got mad because of the phone thing, and then you didn't tell me about this party. I told you I'm not that little girl anymore Syaoran. I can't be. I'm not willing to be." Feeling his lips against her neck weren't helping her recovery after making love to him.
Somehow, he knew they weren't talking about tonight anymore. "I'm not asking you to be." He gave her a final kiss on her neck before getting up on his elbows on top of her so he could look at her eyes. "When we said we would try this long distance relationship, I asked to see you for a week every month. I don't think I'm asking for much. You're work is important for you, I get it. I can even understand you having to work with that…" he wanted to pull one of his numerous nicknames he used to call Sakura's ex-boyfriend, but wasting his time bringing that name after just been intimate with her didn't seemed right. Instead he turned his head not finishing that sentence and decided on saying something else. "I want to enjoy my time with you whenever you're here Sakura, and you being on the phone for hours dealing with work when I'm with you doesn't seem fair to me. I'm not asking you not to work while you're here, but it would be nice if you do it when we're apart instead of when we're together. And the girls? You know your mind is your worst enemy on this babe? When we spoke on the phone the other days, you told me you needed time to adapt. Fine, I can do that. I can give you that. But you can't expect me not talk to any woman at all. Believe it or not, I do have friends that are women. That doesn't mean I will cheat on you with any of them."
She stared at him. She knew he was right on both accounts. He had just asked for a week a month, it wasn't fair on any of them for her to be doing work on the week she was with him as well. She wanted to apologize but all she did was stayed silent. She heard him sigh as he got off from her, went to the bathroom and closed the door after. A couple of seconds later, she heard the shower going as she took a deep breath laying back to look at the ceiling while thinking about this. She truly was her worst enemy whenever she got jealous. She felt like an idiot and at the same time frustrated with not being able to handle her own insecurities. She had told him she needed to figure this out but so far, what had she accomplished? And also, her project… She watched as he opened the door after finishing his shower and walked all the way to lay right next to her.
"I'm training early tomorrow in case I'm not here when you wake up" was all he said before closing his eyes to sleep.
She had to think about this. While she loved Syaoran, there were too many things at stake right now. Her project was the key to one of her dreams yet being with Syaoran had never been easy. This had happened before but, unlike then, this time he had decided to talk to her about it. She stared at his sleeping form on her side as she thought about it. He was right. As much as she would like him not to be, she couldn't blame him at all. He had being understanding, he had tried to be complacent, but there simply was no way a relationship could last if they both didn't work on it. She would have to find another way of developing this project without affecting her relationship on the way and she needed to trust him more.
She stood up and took a quick shower as well letting the semi cold water roll down her skin helping her clear her thoughts on this. His sister's question echoed through her mind as she thought about this. 'You do know my brother is not Jun, right? I mean, he's like the total opposite.' Taking a deep breath, she finished her shower. After putting her silk robe and getting ready for bed, she opened the door and stared at his calm sleeping form. Softly, she walked right back to bed and sat in her side. Turning to look at him, she asked "are you awake?"
He stirred and turned to look at her. She sat closer to him and said, "I'm sorry. You say my worst enemy may be my mind–"
He interrupted her for a second and said, "is your mind Sakura."
She sighed noting his correction, "Is my mind then, and I'm sorry about that. I just… you're different Syaoran… to me"
He stared at her. "How?"
She carefully thought about what to say. "You're stronger than I am about us, more decisive in everything. And, while I'm trying to cope with everything, I know my insecurities a lot of times get the best of me, and they do because you make me feel different. I'm not saying this as an excuse, I'm just trying to tell you about my feelings on this. I know you don't like to talk about Jun, but I do have to say this so please just hear me out this once. My previous relationship was different than what we have and I'm not saying this to compare. There were a lot of things unsaid between us and eventually it led us to the distance that became our downfall. I was never able to open up completely to him and we ended up falling apart. I don't want to repeat that same mistake with you. You've always been very confident in everything you do, including our break-up back then."
"That's in the past Sakura."
She quickly said, "I know it is, but what I'm trying to say is that while you have always been this confident, I sometimes doubt myself when it comes to us. It's not always in a bad way, I'd say it's more positive than negative, but you push me a lot of times to wake a part of me that's been dormant for a while. And I don't mean the jealousy. It's a part of me that makes me question myself a lot of times whether I'm doing this right, am I on the right path this time, should I do something more for you, have I grown enough to be enough for you?"
The side of his lip started turning upward showing the beginnings of a smile in him before sitting up in the bed right next to her but facing her. He caressed her face before saying, "I love you Sakura. I've had women in the past, yes. My past is not easy to digest, I get that. But none of those women matter to me or were good enough for me to decide on starting a relationship with any of them. I couldn't be myself with any of them the way I can be with you, babe. You tell me I'm decisive, I love you Sakura. Only you love. That's my answer to all your questions."
She stared at him and smile. "I'm sorry."
He caressed her face and gave her a quick kiss before he put his arms around her and laid her next to him. "Now, come on. I need some sleep."
She chuckled but put her arm around his torso as he put part of their blanket around them.
Author's note – So, chapter 6 is done! What do you guys think? It took me a while to post this, I know. Honestly thought it would take me less time to do so considering most of the story is done but I wasn't sure if I needed to add something to this chapter before posting or not. Add to that your everyday situations and I ended up posting this chapter a month later from the date I really wanted to post it. *Sigh* Please let me know what you think of it. Feedback truly helps us authors. Until next time! : )