from skybluescramble:

and so, thank you amethyst-ice22, for proofreading this chapter.

still, this chapter is dedicated to Irrevocable Truth.

credit goes to all readers and reviewers as well: RoadyChrome, chiharu-tanaka, cainat06, violintantei-sama, Shanaa12, phoebemonique, redeyes143, Seirin, James Birdsong (long time no see (: ), B.A.K11, yoorim-ah, Genius-sama, hikarihayashi-chan, H.H.C, SnowCharms, and kurukurupa.

here's the update.

i love you all.

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DISCLAIMER

Standard disclaimer follows this story.

CCS is CLAMP's.

:: The Proposal::

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SUMMARY:

He would accept nothing less. And he knew she got his message.

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CHAPTER #18: All Their Pretenses

"READY?"

"Wait a minute." Daidouji Tomoyo said, her voice was an octave higher than the one she usually used to respond if someone talks to her. She was walking here and there in a hurry, and by the looks of it, she was clearly tracing back all the spots she had gone to. "Not here, not here, not here…"

A sigh.

"Calm down, Daidouji. Calm down," she shut her eyes, breathing deeply. "You didn't step out of this room. It's definitely still here."

And she continued searching.

Eriol followed her movements with huge interest. He liked watching that raven-haired, certain woman no matter what she did. He liked how her hips swayed in every step she took, how her eyes flared with emotion when she was angry, how peaceful she looked when she was sleeping, how her delicate fingers ran through her hair in frustration when he teased her…

Well, Tomoyo's accusation against him was right.

He was a freaky stalker.

Um… sort of.

At least when it came to her, he was.

It was fun seeing Tomoyo this desperate, but his sympathy kicked in.

"What are you looking for?" he asked. "Come on, let's go home."

"I cannot find that."

"What's 'that'?"

"My binder notes. I have everything written there. The newly found ideas for work, the sketch for Sakura's wedding decorations, the design orders from customers… I cannot lose it." While she explained, her eyes became red as though she was about to cry. "It's my fault for losing an important thing so carelessly. I don't even remember when the last time I have it with me."

"Tomoyo."

"If you don't like waiting, you can go home first."

"Tomoyo."

"I'll check this room one more time."

"Tomoyo."

"What?" She snapped, finally paying attention to his words. She still didn't look at him though; instead she walked in circles around the center of the room, trying hard to think where she could possibly leave her binder.

"Do you mean this thing?"

Turning around to look at him, Tomoyo felt her eyes widen as a shot of relief washed her mind, right after she spotted a familiar blue binder in his grip. Not wanting to waste more time, Tomoyo dashed towards one of the most powerful Sorcerers, almost unable to speak.

"W-where… when… why…"

Eriol put it into her hands without ceasing his smile.

"H-how?"

"If you recall thoroughly, you lent it to me."

Stunned, Tomoyo stood still on her feet as a part of her memories resurfaced in her mind. Yeah, she did. It was about an hour ago or so, when he called her from a corner of the room where she put her notes on a small wooden table. He asked her if it was okay to borrow the notes and take a look inside.

And she said yes without thinking.

Blushing with embarrassment, Tomoyo muttered a simple "Thank you".

"You're welcome," Eriol responded warmly. "Let's go."

They walked side by side out of the ballroom, which was now perfectly decorated. Today all the preparations had been done for tomorrow would be the H-day. Since Sakura called him that afternoon, everyday Eriol came to the hotel around lunch time with delicious take away package from an expensive restaurant and stayed until she was done, even though it meant he had to wait for more than five hours.

Not that she complained.

It was like nostalgia. Having his company all the time and going here and there as they spent the day together. Just like last year.

And it seemed that Eriol didn't mind it.

Good god, sometimes his ambiguous acts confused Tomoyo. Whenever another part of her brain began to wonder if there was any possibility that he truly loved her like he had said last year, she stubbornly reminded herself that they were just… friends? It was obvious that Eriol cared about her; he always did since their childhood days. After all, why would he go through all the trouble in helping her when she was pregnant? Why did he give her his name card back then in the cruise ship? It would be much easier for him to run away from responsibility, right? Hiiragizawa Eriol was never a bad guy from the start.

Were they really just friends?

Did she silently hope their relationship was more than that?

'A friend wouldn't touch you the way he did', another voice in her head whispered. 'A friend wouldn't make your heart pound every time you get close.'

'That's because I love him', Tomoyo debated inwardly. 'It may be a one-sided reaction.'

'A friend would not send a chill up and own your spine every time you are alone with him.'

'I told you, it's just me who feels that way.'

'Didn't he say he loves you, in front of Sakura, Touya, and even Uncle Fujitaka?'

'That… that was so last year! And he might do it only to defend my feelings… I was torn apart that time.'

'Is that so?'

'Yes.'

But she began to quiver. Is that so…?

'Then why did he rip your contract back then?'

'I-I don't know', Tomoyo sighed, suddenly feeling so tired. 'I don't know!'

'A friend would not kiss you, Daidouji Tomoyo. Not the way he did to you, at least…'

Tomoyo reluctantly admitted her defeat. Another voice in her head was too right to be opposed.

But no matter how bad she wanted to make sure about what he thought of her and who she was to him, Tomoyo knew she couldn't push the topic to the handsome incarnation of Clow Reed. Not when she was also clinging on indecisiveness.

"COMING IN?"

Caught off-guard, Eriol wasn't prepared with an answer. He simply stood there, in front of Daidouji Manor's door and looked at the young lady before him, almost forgetting to blink. He didn't expect her to ask him so casually; she always went inside just like that after thanking him for the ride.

"Are you not coming in?" Tomoyo repeated, opening the door wider as a sign of invitation. "Today you accompanied me since the morning. You must be tired… and not to mention, you're stinky," she added with scrunched nose, but the corner of her lips betrayed her by creating what looked like a suppressed smile. Today, he helped the hotel stuffs arranging tables, chairs, and all stuffs needed. His shirt must be full of sweat; she knew he perspired a lot.

Eriol still didn't move.

Tomoyo huffed. "Okay, I invite you in for dinner. Nakuru and Spinel will come tomorrow, right? So I think why not spend some more time and having a good chat? You won't decline, will you?"

He was persistently quiet.

"Good god, Hiiragizawa, I think you must take a shower right away, you smell like—"

Pause.

She knew he waited for the continuation.

But Tomoyo didn't finish it.

"Anyway, step in." She pushed the door to open fully and he could see her servants were already lined up to help her prepare things she needed. Tomoyo turned her head to one of them and said sweetly, "Can you please prepare dinner for us? And open father's room for me, I have something I need there."

"Understood, Miss Tomoyo."

Her servants were gone in a second, and Eriol couldn't help but grin. Seeing Tomoyo being treated as the only heiress of Daidouji Company was one in a million kind of chance, for she was stubbornly living alone in a rented house when they had their first reunion last year.

Something in her words a moment ago got his attention.

"Your father's room? Is it locked?"

Tomoyo nodded as she went upstairs, giving him a code to tail her. "Yes. My mom never lets me go there, saying there was no interesting stuffs I could find. Perhaps because the room contains everything related to my father, and it hurts her if I ask anything about him." They had reached the second floor and Tomoyo led him to a long corridor which was decorated elegantly with several dim lights. "After her death, I broke my promise to her, though."

"What promise?"

"That I will never try finding out about my father more than what she had told me. I entered his room and opened all the books, diaries, and photo albums she didn't want me to see." Tomoyo stopped in front of a beautiful door with impressive patterns engraved on the wooden surface. "We need to find clothes for you to change in. My father's clothes will suit your size, I assume. They're still in good condition, by the way. No need to worry."

They entered the room together, but he stopped to lean his body against the doorframe as Tomoyo opened the wardrobe and began choosing over some selections. Finally she pulled out a pair of dark jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt.

"Jeans never get old," she said, putting all of them in his hands. "You can use the guest bathroom. I'll show you the way."

Having directed by Tomoyo to the guest room, Eriol closed the door behind his back and sighed. Finally he had some personal space. It's not that he didn't want the certain, young lady's presence around him, but what she didn't know was to him, she was a sweet torture. She could be an annoyingly stubborn woman one moment and then change entirely into a normal good girl with shyness hinted in her actions. When Eriol thought he had known every side of her, Tomoyo still surprised him with the depth of her gaze when it came to fashions. Not to mention the motherly side within her that appeared when she was with children. What he always curious about was the fact that no matter what Tomoyo did, she never failed to do it gracefully. That woman surely had an irrefutable charisma.

Even today.

Really, since morning, Eriol had to restrain himself from doing things he might regret later.

Frankly speaking, he loved to watch her.

Daidouji Tomoyo was a beauty.

True, there were so many beautiful girls all around the world, and plenty of them were more strikingly attractive than her. However, for a reason he didn't get to understand… it was Tomoyo who couldn't make him feel bored. He simply couldn't stop staring at her with observing eyes from a distance.

And during those observations, he started to notice small details.

Yes, details. Such as…

"I need a very cold shower," Eriol mumbled, stopping his mind from spacing out further as he tossed his dirty outfits into the laundry basket and shut the bathroom door.

"OH MY GOSH. Tomoyo, what the hell is this room?" Eriol asked in curiosity when he spotted Tomoyo busying herself in a room beside her own bedchamber. Clothes littered everywhere until he was sure every square inch of the carpeted floor was covered. They had finished dinner thirty minutes ago and Eriol wanted to tell her that he was going home, but thoughts of it disappeared in an instant after seeing the huge mess. So he approached her and stood on the threshold instead.

"I used to sew here," she replied calmly. Grabbing a big cardboard from the corner, she began to put some neatly folded clothes in. By the looks of it, Eriol knew that they were the costumes Tomoyo made for her best friend, back in card-capturing and transforming days.

"What are you going to do with them?"

"I'll give them to my friend's little sister." Tomoyo cut some rubber tape and carefully patched them on the cardboard in order to make it perfectly sealed. "He said he wants her wearing beautiful clothes and I guess Sakura won't need these anymore."

"'He'? That friend of yours is a male?"

She let out a small laugh, turning her head towards his direction. "Is that jealousy, Hiiragizawa?"

"What's his name?"

You're avoiding the topic, Tomoyo spoke mentally and packed more costumes into another cardboard. "Jake Bosworth. I met him a few days ago in Central Park."

Not knowing that the opponent she talked about was only a ten year old boy, Eriol felt his possessiveness start to grow. He didn't like the image of her hitting on some random guys for fun, even more for sex.

"I'm not hitting on random guys, Hiiragizawa." He could hear her snap, "What's wrong in having friends with the opposite sex? I'm not that slutty to befriend your kind only to get laid."

Oh. Did he say his thoughts out loud?

"So you're the type who is against intimacy." He moved closer, his feet swept away some clothes that were in the way.

Her laugh filled the air, crisp and fresh. "I'm not being a hypocrite, Hiiragizawa. Craving for intimacy is a sign which proves that we're human. We have needs and feelings. We need to love and to be loved by someone. But to make this clear to you, I personally separate having sex with lovemaking. For me, those are two different things."

She turned to look at him, almost as if daring him to continue arguing with her.

"How on earth are they different?"

"In my dictionary, the sex you do with a stranger in a bar or clubhouse can never be considered as 'lovemaking'. Something you do just because of physical attraction."

Tomoyo immediately rose up and straightened her wrinkled clothes. And then she scanned through the huge wardrobe in an attempt to find more costumes. Sakura no longer needed them. Besides, she wanted to see Jake's happy smile again, like the one he showed her after receiving the kendama.

"Can you help me put them in a plastic bag, Hiiragizawa?" Her finger pointed to piles of clothes piled on the marble floor. "They are not good. I cannot give them to Jake's sister. Maybe I'll just discard them."

"I refuse to help."

"Why? So you're planning to stand there forever and watch?"

"Not literally forever, but yes."

"Gosh. What's so difficult in helping me pack up things?"

"I don't like this Bosworth guy."

Silence came in as a pair of amethyst orbs looked at him in disbelief. "Huh?"

"…but I dislike the way you care about him more."

Tomoyo threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "You're impossible, Hiiragizawa. Really."

She stepped forward to pick some more things from the wardrobe. Her mind was too preoccupied with what she's doing, making her neglect the surroundings. Eriol's motion to stand behind her went unnoticed until she turned on her heels and her face almost bumped into his solid figure. Tomoyo gasped in shock, reflexively retreating to prevent collision with Eriol's steady one, but her heels hit the base of her wardrobe and she stumbled. Quickly, she reached out for support; however all she could grasp was his sleeve.

"Oh…" Tomoyo blinked.

She let out her grasp awkwardly, not daring to raise her face. The raven-haired girl could feel her heart was ramming violently against her chest, so loud until she was afraid he might hear it. Tomoyo tried her best not to gulp down the sight of his firm torso that was only some inches before her nose, and her eyes automatically began to wander elsewhere.

Big mistake.

God, how could this man be possibly human?

He was almost flawless, and it made her go insane just by the thought of the undeniable fact that Hiiragizawa Eriol was a normal human, flesh-and-blood. He could be Adonis, one of the Greek gods. Her cheeks suddenly became too warm. She found herself gawking at his strong arms. And his well-chiseled abdomen that could be seen through the white fabric he wore. Then… his hips. She turned away quickly when she realized that her gaze was beginning to creep from his feet to his knees up his thighs…

No, no, no. Get a grip, Daidouji.

"Do you want to explain who the hell this Bosworth is?"

He hadn't dropped the topic.

Thick-headed man.

"Jake is just a friend! Sheesh... how many times must I tell you?" Her exasperation made Tomoyo raise her head to counter his eyes, but when her lilac-shaded irises met his, she knew she was gravely mistaken in thinking that she could win the battle. Those mesmerizing deep blue orbs were staring at her with such intensity that made her knees buckle. She hurriedly braced her hands against the wardrobe.

Tomoyo felt something in his darkened eyes.

Arrogance.

And… possessiveness.

Why was he acting this way?

Why was he being possessive?

They weren't officially dating… right?

Tomoyo let out a subtle shriek when she felt him touch her arms, creating a trail from the upper part down to her wrists. Her skin that came in contact with his was burning. Eriol brought both of her hands on either side of her head, his long fingers playing with her shorter ones, not quite intertwining.

"As far as I know, you're never this attentive to your friend." Eriol said, noticing how the female in front of him trembled. "I've been watching, you know."

It was obvious that he missed to see it by his stupid stalking mirror when Tomoyo met Jake in the park. And if only she was in a different circumstance, Tomoyo would laugh at him for being jealous over a ten year old kid.

"Why do you speak like I'm your possession?" Her voice was unexpectedly shaking and breathless. The nearness of his body succeeded to disable her in speaking properly. "Jake is just a child! He's only ten, Hiiragizawa. Don't be silly."

Tomoyo made another two mistakes.

Great ones.

The first was mentioning 'possession' under his nose. If she watched closely, his eyes turned into midnight black right after she said the word and his figure stiffened a bit—which she failed to notice. Her second mistake was calling him 'silly'. Tomoyo didn't know how it affected his male pride.

"…What if you are, Daidouji?"

Dumbstruck, Tomoyo found her reply caught in her throat, resisting to be spoken up. Eriol chuckled a little. It brought slight movement to his broad shoulders and Tomoyo felt her guard immediately going up. She wanted to step back but his strong grip kept her in place. Moreover, he had smartly trapped her between his own body and the half-empty wardrobe. She was perfectly cornered. Eriol leaned in close until their breaths mingled with each other.

"Let me prove it."

Tomoyo knew what would happen next.

He closed the small gap remain between them, pressing his lips against hers in a kiss. It was neither tender nor gentle. If anything, she would say it was a bit rough and filled with desperation. She felt something ignite within her, overheating her body. Everything disappeared. Everything dropped away. Everything, leaving only Hiiragizawa Eriol in her mind—his musky scent, his aura, his strong hold on her wrists, and how his soft lips glided sensually against hers. She could only respond to him. Although she tried not to be washed away by all the sensations he awakened deep within her, Tomoyo knew her legs would give out at any moment. When his tongue slid against the seam of her lips, she jerked forward in surprise as she opened up for him, making the tip of her breasts brush lightly on his hard chest.

Eriol groaned.

He didn't mean to draw her closer, but the latest contact of their body erased every control he had desperately built up. Releasing her wrists, he linked his arms around her waist and crushed her body against his. He took in the scent of her, which reminded him of honey and lavender. Instinctively he tightened his hold as if telling her of his possession.

She was his.

He would accept nothing less.

And he knew she got his message.

Tomoyo had her hands fisted on his shirt. But as seconds passed by, they opened on their own accord and her palms moved upwards to rest on his shoulder blades, his muscles rippled and twitched under her touch. She was almost out of breath; she had to steal her chance between his kisses which seemed to go on and on. Or else, she would suffocate.

It wasn't fair.

How the hell could he still manage to breathe?

Eriol's hands glided down along her body in a slow, torturous motion. One hand moved under the hem of her silk blouse and he came in contact with her bare skin. Tomoyo gasped as her stomach fluttered stronger, and he used the opportunity to invade her sweet cavern one more time. Their tongues tumbled. He was stealing over her good sense and judgment. She didn't even realize when his hand crept up further until his thumb brushed the underside of one of her breasts.

Her eyes shot open.

Dear God.

She was wearing a strapless bra. And she knew he noticed that because for some reason, Eriol grunted low in his throat. He nibbled her earlobe, making her shiver before dragging his sinful mouth downwards. He was going lower… and lower…

To her jaw line…

Her neck…

Her scapula…

Tomoyo threw her head back, her eyes shut close again. She couldn't bear the tingling sensations that tickled her inside. She could melt right away. She felt so feverish; heat flooded every fiber of her being. She was going to explode.

"Eriol…"

Suddenly her hearing caught a faint, clasping noise.

And then she felt a strong tug, causing something to fall on the carpeted floor. Her heartbeat accelerated. Eriol pulled her closer as his hold became tighter than ever, she was sure his hands would leave marks on her skin. Tomoyo bit her lower lip harder in slight fear and to restrain from moaning out loud. Both of them knew that the only materials that separated their upper body were two layers of thin cloth—her blouse and his shirt—and Tomoyo shuddered with anticipation. A place below her abdomen was burning.

His other hand dove into her long tresses, bunching it, tilting her face up as his hot, moist lips made their way back to her lips. Tasting her while his right hand worked its magic, exploring her bare skin beneath the silk she wore. When Eriol finally lifted his head and looked straight in her eyes, she found those piercing eyes almost black. His voice was low and dangerous, seeping into her veins, enveloping her like a flaming blanket.

"If I want to make love to you… will you let me?"

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to be continued.

*P.S:

alright, calm down. the rating for the later chapters will NOT change, if that's you're worried about :p