Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, Clamp does. But I do own this story.

Pairings: Syaoran x Sakura, Eriol x Tomoyo

Okay, some people seem to be confused as to what I said in my author's note in the previous chapter for some reason.

Let me clarify, I FINISHED WRITING this story, yes... BUT I haven't finished UPLOADING all the chapters yet.

You'll know if it's the end because there'll be a distinct "- THE END -" at the bottom when that happens (like all my other stories).

Chapter Fourteen

"Express"

"Engaged?!"

"Engaged?!"

Sakura and Syaoran simultaneously held their cell phones away from their ears. They looked at each other and laughed.

It was Christmas morning and they were in Syaoran's place. Sakura was preparing coffee in the dining area while Syaoran was on the counter, sitting on a stool while he read the day's paper.

"I'll take this in the bedroom," Sakura mouthed to Syaoran before giving him a peck on the lips. She didn't want to disturb Syaoran's conversation with Eriol, and she thought it was only safe to have her conversation with Tomoyo in private.

Syaoran watched as she made her way down the hallway until he heard the door of his bedroom shut close behind her.

"Yes, engaged."

"Are you joking? If you're joking, this isn't a very nice joke. It's Christmas, not April Fools'."

He rolled his eyes at this. "It's snowing outside, I'm well aware that it's Christmas."

"Wow… Engaged…"

"Is it really that surprising?"

"Well, not really, especially with how you've been with Sakura. It felt like it's bound to happen eventually. I just didn't expect for it to happen this soon."

"If it feels right, it's right."

"I don't want to hear that from you. Not a year ago, you thought women weren't worth your time."

Syaoran shrugged and didn't say anything. He knew this could hardly be helpful since Eriol couldn't even see his reaction but he knew Eriol knew what he was thinking anyway.

"But surprise aside, congratulations."

"Thanks," he replied and couldn't help but grin at himself. "I was worried she might say no seeing as it was all so sudden."

"Looking at the two of you, it'd be more surprising if she had said no. So, when's the wedding?"

"I only got engaged yesterday, Eriol."

"True. Huh… Engaged… Had she been hinting to you that she wanted to marry you?"

This question was a surprise. "No, should she?"

"I don't know, was just wondering. What made you want to be engaged anyway?"

"After that incident at the restaurant."

"Good Lord, you got engaged out of insecurity?!"

Syaoran rolled his eyes at the incredulous tone Eriol had. "No, of course not. Who would want to get engaged with that kind of reason? It's just that the incident made me realize I can't do without her anymore. I did feel uneasy that time, but after it happened, it made me realize that she really is the woman I want to spend my life with. I've been considering marriage earlier on but this incident just sealed the deal for me. And I didn't see a reason for me to hold back and wait when I knew exactly what I wanted to do."

As he said this. He was met with silence. Syaoran had to look at the screen of his cell to check if the call was still open.

"What's with the silence?"

"You."

"What about it?"

"I never thought I'd live to see the day where you'd talk like a lovesick school boy."

"Goodbye Eriol."

"Wait!"

"Oh, and Merry Christmas. That's the main reason why I called. See ya."

"Merry Christmas! And wait! I have something else to say."

"What is it?"

"Ask Sakura for me whether she prefers policemen or firemen."

"Huh? Why?" he asked, bewildered at this random request.

"For the stripper I'll be hiring for her bachelorette party! It'll be my wedding gift. Tell her I-"

Eriol's voice cut off as Syaoran ended the call.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh…"

Sakura waited as Tomoyo continued her trail of "Oh my gosh" which lasted until she settled herself on the edge of Syaoran's bed.

"Sakura, oh my gosh, congratulations!"

"Thank you," she replied with a laugh to her voice. "It still feels so surreal."

"How's the ring? Is it gorgeous? Is it huge?"

"It's perfect, yes, and yes."

"I'm so happy for you! When's the wedding? I better be a bride's maid! I can't wait!"

Sakura giggled. "Tomoyo, I only just got engaged! You're going too fast."

"But don't you see? Isn't this fate?"

"Fate?"

"Yes! I mean, I know you decided to just forget about your dad's money and all but you're engaged now. If you get married within the next three months, the conditions can still be met!"

Sakura would be lying if she said that this thought hadn't occurred to her. The moment she woke up with a clear head this morning, the thought about everything working out did occur to her but she couldn't help but push that thought to the back of her head.

No person should get everything, right? And she felt like if she hoped to have both Syaoran and her father's money, one of those are bound to bite her in the ass at some point.

It was all too good to be true if everything went without a hitch.

"I don't know about that," she finally said. "If it somehow works out, then that'll be good. But if Syaoran doesn't want to have the wedding any time soon, then I don't mind either."

Tomoyo made a somewhat agreeing sound on her end.

"At least we both know where your priorities lay. You really do love Syaoran, don't you?"

"Very much. If only you saw it Tomoyo. Last night was just… amazingly perfect."

…

But it wasn't an "amazingly perfect" world.

Although Christmas morning was spent with Syaoran, lounging at his place as they bask in their happiness from being newly engaged, by the afternoon they had to start heading out to attend a Christmas party held by another of Syaoran's business partners.

Sure it all went without a hitch… at first. Parties of this magnitude and with this kind of guest list meant the attendance of media. A lot of them. And although Sakura made sure to hide her hand which had her engagement ring in it as they entered the building where the party was held, she was much more relaxed after they escaped indoors.

There were official photographers inside without her or Syaoran's realizing and it got out midway that Sakura had a very eye-catching piece of jewelry resting on her ring finger. After that, it was mayhem. Talk immediately spread like wildfire amongst the guests about Syaoran finally getting engaged and from there, it got out.

Sakura didn't know but she can only guess it was because of the younger crowd in the party gossiping away to their friends or to social media.

"These times I wish Eriol was here," Syaoran muttered under his breath as he and Sakura finally escaped the barrage of people who had been coming to them nonstop to congratulate them and to get a good look on the engagement ring itself.

"Why Eriol?" Sakura couldn't help but wonder to which Syaoran grinned.

"He may not look like it but Eriol's pretty good at crowd control. He can be a pretty useful chatterbox when he has to be. And considering who he is and his position in society, of course it'd be rude to ignore him in the middle of his sermons."

She couldn't help but giggle as she imagined it.

"I'm sorry about this though," Syaoran suddenly said, looking more serious. "I know you don't care much for media attention."

"That's true. But it's fine. It'll die down eventually, right?"

"Probably. Though I have to admit, I'm glad the world knows you're officially mine," he admitted looking quite happy.

Sakura smiled and held his arm even tighter in reply to this.

"Ready?" he asked.

They were both standing in the entrance hall of the building, behind the tinted glass of the entrance doors. People outside were clearly in a frenzy as they waited for their targets to exit the hotel. Syaoran was only one of many they were hoping to get a shot of from the party but it was safe to assume that he and Sakura were the main attraction for that night.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She took out her left hand from the fluffy hand muffler she had worn going inside the building earlier that night. It was how she hid the ring in the first place. "May as well have them see it this once so they'll never pester me about it, right?"

Syaoran grinned down at her before nodding his head at the men in uniform standing by the doors.

When the doors were opened, their eyes were immediately attacked by the flurry of flashes and their ears were assaulted by the flurry of questions thrown at them.

The walk wasn't far from the entrance to Syaoran's car where one of his bodyguards was waiting with the door open for them after Syaoran contacted him to wait out front for them.

"Mr. Li! So is this all true? You're engaged?"

"Ms. Kinomoto! Let us see the ring!"

"When did you two get engaged?"

"Has a wedding been scheduled?"

"Ms. Kinomoto, what can you say to the rumors going on about you only after Li's fame and fortune?"

As much as Sakura tried to mute out the media's badgering, this last question was hard to ignore. How dare they say such a thing and with Syaoran next to her?

She had just turned around, ready to shout down whomever the questioner was in a very rude manner but Syaoran already beat her to it.

Everyone around them immediately went quiet as Syaoran scanned their faces before turning to look down at Sakura. He took her hand in his and held it up for everyone to see the sparkling diamond ring clearly and with his other hand held her closely by the waist before planting a kiss on her lips.

Sakura was shocked but she let herself by pulled in regardless.

The kiss didn't last more than three seconds before Syaoran pulled away to look at their audience.

"Yes, I'm engaged to Ms. Sakura Kinomoto. I asked her to marry me last night and she fortunately said yes. This is not a hoax and we're marrying each other out of love. That is all. I hope everyone will have as merry a Christmas as I have. Good night to you all." And with that said, he helped Sakura into the car before sliding in after her. There were continued flashes and shouts of questions behind them even while Syaoran's bodyguards were trying to dispel them.

But it didn't matter since their voices were immediately silenced as soon as the door was closed.

Eriol watched as Tomoyo continued to talk animatedly with a couple much older than themselves. She was a natural when it came to handling conversations and entertaining people and it was something Eriol was eternally grateful for considering the number of events such as this that he had to attend.

"Ah, thank you Eri," Tomoyo said as she took the bowl with small cut fruit from him before placing it on the standing table in front of her.

"Dr. Hiiragizawa, your girlfriend really is such an engaging woman!" complimented the older man with a smile that matched his wife's.

"Thank you Dr. Fukuhara," Eriol grinned before resting his hand on Tomoyo's slim waist. "I think so too."

This was how their evening went. The party was attended by many renowned doctors and researchers across Japan and almost all the people had been taken in by Tomoyo. This was favorable for Eriol as a hospital director, but also favorable for him as Tomoyo's boyfriend.

"You're a hit," Eriol whispered into her ear as soon as they were alone once again.

Tomoyo leaned against him and smiled. "I was nervous half of the time. There are so many people whom I only knew from seeing them on the news," she admitted.

Eriol chuckled. "You're doing great. By the time all this is over, I'll have all the men in here jealous for having you as my woman."

"Oh shush you," she scolded halfheartedly but smiling all the same.

"At any rate, you seem to have been in a good mood all night. May I inquire as to why?"

To this, Tomoyo grinned even wider. "Oh Eriol, I've just had the most amazing news earlier."

Eriol raised his brows. If she were this happy, somehow he already knew what it was about. "You're pregnant!" he exclaimed in jest but quite loudly.

Tomoyo swatted his arm to keep him quiet but he laughed instead. The music overhead was loud and so were the conversing guests, he was sure his earlier outburst wasn't heard.

"I'm kidding," he said with a cheeky smile before wrapping his arms around her waist. "So what's this amazing news?"

"It's Sakura, you know, my best friend."

"Oh?"

"You really have to meet her soon Eri. I'm sure you will eventually at any rate. Anyway, Sakura's engaged!" she said rather brightly with the most pleased look on her face.

"Oh! What a coincidence," he said with the sincerest smile he could muster. "A close friend of mine just got engaged too."

"Really? That's wonderful to hear!"

Now Eriol started to feel bad. Tomoyo had the most genuinely happy smile on her face after hearing his own news. "Err… So, about Sakura. That's good to hear. Make sure to give her my congratulations."

"I think you two should really meet though. Then you can tell her yourself, right?"

He nodded at this. If only she knew. Eriol had wanted all the details of his relationship with Syaoran and Sakura to be out in the open for ages already. But he just didn't know how to bring it up.

It was hard enough that time when Eriol finally admitted to Tomoyo that he wasn't only a doctor but also hospital director and that his family owned Madoka General. She didn't talk to him for almost a full week because she felt lied to.

Eriol cringed at the thought of what she might do now if she found out he was hiding a secret of this magnitude from her. And it involved her precious Sakura.

"If you only knew Eri," Tomoyo continued with a look on her face as if she was in a world of her own filled with nothing but rainbows, smiles, hearts, and Sakura Kinomoto. "Their relationship didn't start as anything simple, that's why I'm so happy they actually ended up engaged."

Eriol gave an indistinct sound as he took a sip from his wine glass. When Tomoyo was in this state, she tended to tune out everything else, including him.

"Sakura had trouble at first trying to get noticed by him, you know? I mean, she was almost desperate because of that will thing from her dad. But that doesn't matter anymore!" Tomoyo gave a giddy giggle at this. "Sakura really does deserve this happiness. That's why I'm so happy for her!"

A frown was on his face at this point. Will thing? From Sakura's father? What was that about? And how does that have anything to do with Sakura and Syaoran's relationship?

He was about to press Tomoyo for details but they were interrupted by yet another couple who had come to give their greetings to Eriol.

The rest of the night went in this fashion and he and Tomoyo never got time alone until it was time for them to leave.

"Hiiragizawa-san, I had the driver take the car out front but I'm afraid there's a bit of an unexpected complication," his assistant informed him as Eriol was helping Tomoyo into her coat.

"Complication?" he repeated, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"The press is in a frenzy outside, demanding to get a word or two from you."

"What in the world for?"

"Eriol?" Tomoyo asked, seeing his surprised face before his assistant could get in another word.

Eriol was indeed well-known in his own right, Tomoyo knew. He was after all the director of the just as well-known hospital owned by his family. But he's pretty low-key compared to Syaoran. The way she saw it, he probably made himself out to be a very boring and uninteresting target over the years which is why the media left him well alone.

During the entire time they dated, they hadn't come across the problems that were now common to Sakura. Although they did get media attention a few times, it was never anything to be considered as a "frenzy" like what apparently is going on now. They spent most of their time indoors and when they did go out, he was always careful of where he took her.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Eriol reassured though without conviction. He hadn't exactly done anything lately. Had he? And as much as he wanted to press his assistant to tell him everything she knew in detail, he decided against it. It might just worry Tomoyo further.

The sooner this was over, the better.

"Let's go?" he said with his usual grin now plastered on his face.

Tomoyo nodded and held his arm just as the hotel doors were opened for them.

"Dr. Hiiragizawa! Dr. Hiiragizawa! Can we have your comment please?"

"You have heard of Mr. Syaoran Li's engagement? What do you think?"

"Is Mr. Li really engaged to Ms. Kinomoto?"

"What is your opinion on Mr. Li's impending nuptials?"

Tomoyo followed Eriol as he led her towards the waiting car. The hotel's security was trying to hold off the hounding press as much as they could but it was clear that they hadn't expected or prepared for something of this sort to happen.

But more than that, Tomoyo was downright surprised and curious as to why these people with microphones, voice recorders, and cameras were pressing Eriol for answers regarding Syaoran's engagement. Why were they even asking his opinion on it?

"Dr. Hiiragizawa! Please give your comment about your best friend's wedding!"

Tomoyo's eyes widened at this and her grip on Eriol's arm tightened considerably.

"Let's get out of this first," Eriol told her and pressed his free hand on her death grip.

"Congratulations, you made headlines nationwide!" Eriol greeted cheerily as he dropped two large stacks of newspapers and magazines on Syaoran's desk, much to Syaoran's annoyance. "It'll only be a matter of time before international news gets wind of this if they haven't already."

Judging by the thickness, there were probably around thirty or so different newspapers and magazines in each stack which were held together by a rope.

"You were even in last night's late evening news," he added before sitting down on his usual spot on the couch. "After Tomoyo and I left the party we attended, we were practically attacked."

Syaoran raised his brows at this. "Why?"

"What do you mean, why? Everyone knows we're close, of course they'd come after me for confirmation. We were ambushed when we left the party we attended last night. You could've at least given me a heads up that you did all that you know."

He was pointing at one of the stacks which had a tabloid magazine at the very top with a photo of Syaoran and Sakura kissing along with Sakura's engagement ring in full view printed on the front cover.

"I could've better prepared myself for it if you had."

"You mentioned yourself and Tomoyo," Syaoran said, ignoring the rest of what he said. "So I'm guessing she knows now. How'd she take the news?"

"Well enough… For Tomoyo."

"That's surprising. I thought she'd have dumped you on the spot for keeping something like this a secret."

Eriol turned to look at him. "Hey, at least give a little consideration to my relationship."

Syaoran shrugged. "It is surprising. Even you should think so too. You know her best after all."

"True. I actually thought she'd freak out or something. I never expected her to find out that way. But she was quite unruffled when we finally got around to talking about it. I had to settle a lot of things with my assistant on our way home and well into the night. I think she had been thinking about it and calmed down quite a bit by then. So I suppose I'm just lucky this time around."

"Take it as a lesson. Don't hide anything from your woman."

Eriol raised a brow at him. "You're giving me lessons on women now?"

"So are you happy or unhappy, make it clear."

"What do you mean?" he asked, surprised.

"You look like your quite pleased with how everything turned out but it's also clear something's bugging you."

"Have years of friendship given you the ability to read my heart? I'm touched!" Eriol exaggerated with a loving expression on his face.

"I can read your face and your mood. Now what is it?"

Eriol would normally start laughing at this point but even if he forced one at the moment, he was sure Syaoran could tell it would be fake so he didn't bother.

"It's nothing," he finally said before pushing himself off the couch.

This got Syaoran's attention. Something was clearly bugging Eriol and he refused to tell him which was also another unusual thing.

"I'll tell you later once I make sure of it myself," Eriol added. This statement was so vague it only bothered Syaoran further.

"Oi, you can't be serious. Just tell me."

At this point, Eriol really did chuckle. Seeing the annoyed look on Syaoran's face always made him react that way.

"Take this as my little revenge for almost ruining my relationship with Tomoyo."

"Personally, I'm happy for him," Josie said with a fond smile.

"Oh, yes! I'm very happy for them! I like Ms. Sakura!" Genevieve exclaimed quite sincerely to surprised looks from the three other secretaries.

Indeed, Sakura hadn't gone to this area of the building often ever since her relationship with their boss was publicized. But sometimes it was unavoidable especially when Syaoran insisted for her to come up for a drink in his office before they leave the office together.

During those rare times though, as nice a girl as Sakura was, it was clear how wary she was of Genevieve. So it was a surprise hearing from the beauty of her still apparent like for the future Mrs. Li.

Genevieve smiled and took her leave to a connecting room with a pile of documents in hand.

Josie, Tai, and Mia watched her with smiles on their faces. She was indeed a decent woman, and a hardworking secretary much like the rest of them so it was hard not to like Genevieve even with her naturally flirtatious manner.

"I hope Sakura comes up sometime soon, then I can give her my congratulations personally," Mia piped up.

"It still feels unreal that she actually worked in this floor though. Isn't it?" Tai asked.

Before the women could talk about the issue any further though, there was loud bang and Eriol had materialized in front of their boss's office doors.

He was grinning widely at them and already they could tell what exactly took place inside the office he had just vacated. They had worked there long enough to know the kind of relationship Syaoran and Eriol shared.

There was another bang from inside the room.

"Seriously, Syaoran should cherish my gifts for him a little more, don't you think?" he asked quite roguishly to the three women who couldn't help but roll their eyes altogether at him and laugh.

Before Eriol made his visit, they clearly saw the two large, bound stacks he had carried in and they can only assume those were the two loud bangs they had heard collide against the wooden doors of Syaoran's office.

"I'm afraid I just added more work for you ladies. I have to apologize," Eriol said with a bow though the wicked smile on his face was still present. He was referring to the possible job of having to fix up and rearrange Syaoran's office where one or more things would usually end up out of place after every time Eriol visited.

"Not at all Hiiragizawa-san, we're used to it," they replied in unison.

Eriol laughed.

Author's Note:

I just love writing Eriol. He's such a fun character to write. I didn't even intentionally start his character as this kind of mischievous and fun-loving guy. He just ended up this way.

Anyway, as I mentioned previously, I finished writing this story. So the updates of the next chapters until it's all over are gonna come regularly from now on. Not counting the Omake chapter earlier, there's going to be 20 CHAPTERS + an EPILOGUE in total.

I'm so excited! One less story to think about!

My biggest motivation was that I barred myself from continuing any of my other stories until I finished this. That in itself was huge. I sooooo wanted to write something for my other stories. But I really didn't... and here's the result. Ha! *cries a river*

So to other authors out there, take my advice: DO NOT WRITE ANOTHER STORY WITHOUT FINISHING YOUR CURRENT ONE.

The reason why I've been so uninterested with Mending Mistakes was because I've been so focused on two other CCS stories (one contemporary and one historical), as well as two yaoi KnB stories, and one SnK story. I'm even also working on two completely original ones. I know, there's so much and at the same time too. I've been writing paragraphs/chapters for ALL of those in turn depending on my mood these past months. That's why I never finished any of them, including this one. Eek! The mind is an imaginative and busy thing.

That's the sad tale of my being a bad author.

'Til the next update, Ja ne!

Raeny