Author's Note: The first real chapter, I guess. And thank you SO MUCH to those who reviewed and everything! It means a lot to me, really! Honestly! Ya'll are great! It really was your motivation that pushed me to write this! heehee ^^
Anyways, please enjoy!

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The next day, Syaoran was again at the cafe, an he was taking a sip from his mug when he saw a well-proportioned female body clothed in the cafe's uniform standing by his table. He looked up to see Kinomoto Sakura standing there with one of the cafe's smaller cakes in her hands. He rose an eyebrow in a questioning glance, setting down his cup.

"What's that?" he inquired, glancing down at what was clearly a cake.

"It's a cake! Isn't that obvious? I thought that I should repay you for yesterday, so I got this!" she explained cheerfully, extending the cake to him.

He grinned. "You don't have to do that, Kinomoto-san," Syaoran berated, putting up his hand to stop her from giving him the cake.

Sakura frowned in contemplation. "Ah, but Li-san, I already bought it, and I can't eat it all by myself. So please, I'd be very happy if you ate it. You can take it with you when you leave, if you like..." she argued.

Syaoran sighed. "I guess I have no choice then," he said, taking the chocolate cake. Then he smiled brightly up at her. "Here, why don't you eat it with me?" he suggested.

Sakura glanced around. "But, I'm at work. I really can't..."

"Sakura-chan! Come over here for a minute!"

Sakura turned to see her friend and coworker, Naoko, waving her over. Giving Syaoran an apologetic smile, she hurried off to Naoko.

When she got there, she gave Naoko a confused look. "What is it, Naoko-chan?" she inquired.

"Sakura! How can you so easily turn down an offer from a gorgeous man like him? And he's rich, too!" Naoko admonished, motioning with her head to where Li Syaoran sat, casually sipping his coffee.

Sakura glanced at him for a second before shrugging. "I don't know him that well," she stated simply.

Naoko rolled her eyes. "Well then go get to know him better," Naoko urged, spinning Sakura around and shoving her back towards Li Syaoran's table, causing the emerald-eyed waitress to blink in surprise.

"But-"

"Don't worry, I'll cover for you," Naoko interrupted, and Sakura sighed, being left with no choice but to walk back over to the man.

"Um...I guess it's alright if I ate it with you..." she explained as he looked up at her curiously.

Syaoran broke into a happy grin, trying hard to contain his increasing excitement. "Great! Take a seat!" he invited, motioning to the seat across from him.

Sakura giggled. "But, Li-san, we need plates and cutlery first. Wait here a moment-I'll just go get some from the kitchen," she chided, turning away and walking over to the kitchen as she'd turned back to head to the front of the cafe, and heard, for the millionth time that day, the chime of the front door. Working here, she'd quite grown used to it.

Syaoran sighed as he watched her leave, a content smile resting lightly on his face.

It wasn't long before Sakura was back with the cutlery and two plates, taking her seat across from Syaoran. She gave him the needed utensils, which he took kindy.

"Thanks, Kinomoto-san," he said, and Sakura nodded with a polite smile.

"You take the first piece, Li-san. After all, I did give it to you," Sakura urged, and Syaoran rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"What kind of man would I be if I didn't let a woman have the first piece?" he retorted, and continued to cut the chocolate cake.

"Ah, but I couldn't! Li-san, please! I gave it as a gift, so it would be rude of me to take a piece for myself before you have yours!" Sakura exclaimed, her features growing more uneasy.

Syaoran let out an amused chuckle. "Well, seeing as it belongs to me now, I get to decide who gets the first piece. So, Kinomoto-san, no more objecting," he returned triumphantly, and Sakura sighed in defeat.

"Fine then, but I'm waiting till you have your piece before I start eating it-that's common courtesy," the auburn-haired woman responded, letting Syaoran serve her a piece on one of the cafe's small plates.

She thanked him as he handed it to her, and then cut himself a piece as she waited.

"So, Kinomoto-san, your house yesterday...it was quite large," Syaoran offhandedly brought up as he picked up his fork. They both said the normal "Itadakimasu," before beginning to eat and continuing the initial conversation.

"Oh, that's owned by my friend, Tomoyo-chan. She inherited a lot of money from her mother's company, and that's one of her family's homes. Because it was the best offer for me at this point in my life, I'm living with her. But I assume it's nothing much, considering you yourself are a rich business-owner," Sakura replied, taking a bite of the cake with a blissful smile.

Syaoran shrugged. "I guess so. But I was just a little surprised, considering you're a waitress. I was curious at how you'd afford it, that's all," he explained.

Sakura smiled. "I guess it is a little interest-peaking."

"Is it only you and your friend living there?" Syaoran inquired. He hadn't really expected anything. In all the days he'd been coming here, he'd never seen any man come in to pick up or drop off Sakura.

"Well, there's my friend's husband and the kids..." Sakura replied, her voice fading as she spoke. She hoped that he, along with many others who'd posed the same question, would assume that she was speaking about Tomoyo's and her husband's kids. "But never mind me-what about you, Li-san? Are you living alone?" she questioned, diverting the attention from herself.

Syaoran nodded. "Yeah, I live in a pent house near my company. My mom and one of my sisters live in Hong Kong; another sister in Beijing; one in America; and another who travels a lot," he replied.

Sakura nodded. "You have four sisters? Neat. I only have a brother myself-oh, and his wife, so I guess you could say a sister-in-law," she said, and Syaoran rose an eyebrow. He'd expected her to be a little more surprised at the four sisters thing. Most people were, unless they came from large families themselves, but she'd said she only had a brother.

"Yeah. They're Feimei, Fanren, Fuutie, and Shiefa," Syaoran said, Sakura nodding along.

"My big brother is Touya. His wife is Kaho, and they have two wonderful kids, Hikari and Akito," Sakura said wistfully, thinking of her niece and nephew and their parents and bit forlornly. Not that she showed it to Syaoran.

"Three of my sisters are married. I feel sorry for their kids," Syaoran joked, shuddering as he thought of it. He loved his sisters, but they could be, at times, a little...over-excitable? To say the least.

"Why is that?" Sakura questioned, cocking her head to the side.

Syaoran shook his head. "You don't want to know. If you ever were to meet them, you'd understand. They can be a mite bit eccentric..." he responded, and Sakura's light laugh filled the air around them. Syaoran almost closed his eyes and laid back in delight, but Sakura was beginning to speak, and he had to concentrate immediately on what she was saying so as not to make a fool of himself.

"Li-san, I live with one very eccentric woman. I'm sure it couldn't be very much worse than constant cries of 'Kawaii! Kawaii! Kawaii! You're so kawaii, Sakura-chan!' Really, that girl finds me to be the most cute woman out there and she's not afraid to shout it to the world!" Sakura ranted, and Syaoran chuckled. He could see where Sakura's friend was coming from, really.

"Take that times four, and you'd get my sisters," he replied, and Sakura's eyes widened in surprise.

"My, wouldn't that be hard to deal with? I feel sorry for you, Li-san!" Sakura said sympathetically, but her eyes twinkled in amusement.

"Hey, it's not funny!" he exclaimed, his cheeks growing warm as Sakura gave way to loud giggles at his dispense.

"S-so-sorry, Li-san! Really, I meant it when I said I feel bad for you! It's just...funny at the same time!" Sakura apologeized through her laughs.

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he playfully scoffed.

"So, what about your father? You didn't mention him before," Sakura asked when she'd calmed herself.

Syaoran's smile fell from his face, and he looked down at his plate. "My dad died when I was still in high school," he replied quietly.

"Li-san, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. My...My mother died when I was three," Sakura said remorsefully, and Syaoran looked up at her now-sad form hunched over her plate.

"Kinomoto-san, it's not your fault! And, I'm sorry about your mother, as well. That would have been very hard for you as well."

Sakura smiled brightly up at him. "It's all right! I got over it a long time ago. Um...thanks for letting me eat with you," she said, glancing at her watch before standing.

"Oh, do you have to go back to work?" Syaoran questioned, sensing that that wasn't the only reason for her leaving.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. I guess I'll see you later, then, Li-san," she said, before hurrying off to continue with her job. She didn't like bringing up the subject of deaths among her family and close friends. It brought up too many painful memories for her to handle at this moment.

Sakura had been working at the cafe till noon that day, and Tomoyo had said she'd come pick her up. Sakura was still in her uniform as she sat waiting near the front door in one of the booths.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura turned to see Tomoyo standing beside her table, a large smile on her face.

"You'll never know how happy I am that your manager let me design the cafe's uniforms!" Tomoyo swooned as she looked over her friend, who was sweat-dropping over the statement she'd heard a million times before.

"Yeah, yeah, Tomoyo. But let's just go," Sakura said, standing and waving goodbye to her coworkers as she left with her long-time best friend.

"Of course! I know you miss being home! Ah! But I didn't have a chance to ask you about that man who drove you home yesterday!" Tomoyo said as the door closed behind them and they walked towards Tomoyo's black Porsche.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Of course that's what Tomoyo wanted to talk about. Whenever a mysterious man who happened to be kind to Sakura appeared while Tomoyo was around, there was always a questioning between the two females. Sakura opened the passenger side door with an exasperated sigh.

"His name is Li Syaoran. He's someone who's a regular at the cafe. Accidentally, he spilled his coffee on me yesterday, and he felt bad about it, so he drove me home. I got him a cake for thanks today, and I ended up eating it with him," Sakura explained as the two ladies got seated in the car.

"Li Syaoran? You mean that CEO of Li Corps? The one from China?" Tomoyo inquired, her voice peeking in curiosity. Sakura rolled her eyes to herself. Tomoyo would know who Li Syaoran was, seeing as she was the vice CEO of her husband's and her own company.

"Yes, that's the one," Sakura confirmed, nodding.

"He's quite the gentleman, isn't he? We've met him fleetingly at a few business parties, and he was certainly kind," Tomoyo said as she backed out of her parking space.

"Tomoyo-chan..." Sakura warned, her voice rising with a frown.

Tomoyo sighed. "Sakura-chan, I know. I'm just worried about you. It's not good for a-"

"I know, Tomoyo-chan. But it's only been two years. Please, you know how I feel about that subject. Li-san and I are just friends," Sakura snapped, cutting off her friend. Tomoyo pursed her lips and focused on driving, pretending not to notice the tears rolling down her best friend's face.

The two were silent for the rest of the ride home.

Sakura was working for most of the next day, on request of her boss. He said there were some important customers coming at noon, and he'd need her there to help, seeing as there were a few waitresses out sick and they would need the extra help.

So, here Sakura was, working her butt off, at eleven fifty-five in the morning, which was, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the time she got there for work. She didn't exactly mind working the extra hours, especially since they were paying more.

Sakura heard the tinkling of the bells signaling that the front door was opening, and spun around to face the door with a wide and practiced smile.

"Welcome of Cherry Blossom Cafe!" she greeted, and then saw she recognized two of the faces in the large group of men dressed in business attire. "Ah, Takashi-kun! And Li-san, welcome! Good to see you here!" she said, smiling.

Li-san rose an eyebrow. "You two know each other?" he inquired, glancing between his good friend and the waitress.

"Yeah. I was going to tell you a couple days ago, but you told me to shut up, so..." Takashi said, grinning.

"Li-san, Takashi-kun is my friend Chiharu's boyfriend," Sakura explained.

"Mihara Chiharu?" Syaoran questioned, quirking his brow once again at Sakura.

Sakura nodded. "Yes. Oh, that's right! She said she got a job as the CEO of Li Corps' secretary! That would be you! Funny, we've been connected through our friends all this time, Li-san," Sakura mused lightheartedly, and Syaoran nodded in agreement. He shot an irritated look at Takashi, but the other man didn't seem fazed by it in the least.

"Sorry, I should let you all get seated," Sakura said, turning back to the menus she was preparing.

"I called your boss earlier, Kinomoto-san, and he said he'd be sure to reserve us a seat in seclusion," Syaoran mentioned, causing Sakura to look up again.

"Oh, so you're the customers he was talking about. Alright then-follow me," Sakura said, turning and walking to the table farther into the cafe that was reserved for occasions like this, where the parties involved wanted the most privacy possbile from the public.

Sakura let them sit down, and waited a few moments before taking their orders. There was a total of six men in the group, and Sakura headed off to the kitchen with their choices from the menu in mind.

Sakura took the orders of a few other people before the orders of Syaoran's group were all ready. Just by a few glances at the reserved table, Sakura knew that it was an important business discussion they were having.

She carried their orders on a tray, making her way carefully over to the group.

"Here you are, everyone," she called out brightly, handing everyone their orders. She had gotten quite at memorizing who ordered what over the year and a half she'd been working here...too bad that this was where her good-memory stayed. Unfortunately, it didn't work quite so well others times outside of work.

The group of men all chorused their thank-yous, and Sakura replied with politely.

She turned back to head to the front of the cafe, and heard, for the millionth time that day, the chime of the front door. Working here, she'd quite grown used to it. But what was different this time, was that the sound was blended together with the light voices of young children. Sakura immediately knew who was there, and broke into a large grin as two near-identical five-year-olds ran up to her, followed by a slightly older girl and boy, and then a young girl holding on to the hand of an older boy, who looked to be about ten. Finally, in walked a man and a woman, the woman carrying the youngest child, who couldn't be older than two-years-old.

"Mommy!" the five-year-olds cried, jumping on Sakura, who'd bent to greet them.

Sakura grinned, wrapping the two up in her arms as the others caught up as well.

"Hello everyone!" she greeted, and Syaoran wasn't the only one staring at the pretty waitress in shock at the revelation.

A/N: Yay! Her kids are here! I know I haven't specifically identified all of their ages and none of their names yet, but I can guarantee it'll be in the next chapter! Once, more, a huge thanks to all who reviewed! Also to those who read, but it makes me happy when I hear encouraging words in the reviews.

Thanks for reading everyone!

~*~Malaika Anystazya~*~