Location: Li residence
Time frame: Evening
Point of View: Syaoran

She likes him.

With only the streetlights lighting the streets outside my window providing the slightest illumination, I sit in the darkness of my apartment; and with the spoon of cold noodles meeting my lips, I realise that my thoughts have again wandered off to thoughts of the particular girl I want, but can't grasp onto. I've done many things, and shown her many things, but her heart is stubbornly with the guy that I have lost to.

What else can I do to change it?

Location: School
Time frame: Lunchtime
Point of View: Sakura

My thoughts had been filled with so much of Li since that evening he kissed me that I even dreamt about him. I don't understand dreams much and what they mean, but I believe that when someone enters your dreams for the very first time, something deep down has changed; and this has only given me more unsettled thoughts and feelings that I wish I didn't have.

It was not a smart thing to do, I now realise. Why I had kissed Li back like I did, I don't know. After coming home that Saturday night from a late night movie with Kansuke (it was an action movie which Kansuke chose—a movie which got my mind of the events of the night for that length of time), that scene replayed in my head so many times that I had to slap myself that many times to get rid of it, but I couldn't; and I couldn't stop thinking about how stupid I was to do what I did.

I avoided him; it was the only thing I could do. I couldn't handle the questions I was sure he'd ask me: why I kissed him; what I felt; if I felt anything for him. So, I avoided him; dashed out of the room; changed topics during idle time in Phys-ed class; or pretended I didn't hear him.

This lunchtime, I made my way to the fields to a quiet spot behind the music building where it was far from the rest of the school and it provided a decent amount of sun on a cold autumn day.

I was spending it by myself today. Everyone had somewhere to be: Tomoyo and Eriol had a meeting with the school administration to discuss school matters; Chiharu and Yamazaki were spending some time alone; and my other friends had club gatherings. Kansuke, on the other hand, was away from school. I don't know the reason though. Afraid that he had come down with something, I called and messaged him many times throughout the morning, but I couldn't get through; and even till now I still haven't received any replies from him.

As I made my way to my lunch spot, I was stopped by a call.

“Hey,” someone said.

I searched long and wide, but I saw no one. After a second or two, I continued on.

“Look behind and up,” he told (apparently) me.

I did: I turned behind me and looked up. And there, up and through the thick foliage of one of the school's large and lofty trees, I saw Li sitting relaxed on one of its thick branches; he sat many metres above me; so high that my neck craned and bent fully backwards. Li stayed there for several seconds looking down onto me before he descended down the tree. For some moments, I was struck with amazement as I watched his descent. Never have I seen anyone move as effortlessly down any tree as he did, especially one of such height; he descended the tree with solely his legs, jumping from one branch to the next, like gymnasts on balancing beams.

But I had an uneasy feeling in my chest after that moment: as I stood watching him approach me, I wanted to run away, but my mind didn't provide me that instruction. I continued to stand there and he continued to come, before finally he stood before me.

“Hey,” he said. Those eyes that peered down at me had the same warmth as that moment he was about to kiss me that night. I freaked out and quickly asked:

“You spend a lot of your lunchtimes up there?”

“Yeah, it's very peaceful up there.” His lips then curled upwards. “It gets quite lonely up there, though. Maybe you could join me up there some time and provide me some company, Kinomoto.”

I stiffened and I wondered if my ears heard right. Li smiled before he asked me where I was heading for lunch. He said he was going to join me. I wasn't so sure that it was a good idea for Li to join me for lunch; I didn't want to talk about that night, but a side of me also thought that this was an opportunity as good as any to sort things out with Li. Apprehensive as I was of the idea, I agreed.

We arrived at the spot and sat ourselves down at one of the benches by the back wall of the music block. For quite some time we ate our lunches in silence. I ate my sushi roll as I looked beyond the school's fence to the bicycles, the occasional car, and pedestrians that passed the school by. It was all very peaceful and calming if only I didn't have the thought of Li in the back of my mind.

“Do you have any assignments coming up?” Li asked after a while.

He didn't begin talking about that night. I was grateful and I wished small talk was all we were going to do this lunchtime. Most probably not, I knew.

“A couple,” I replied, after I swallowed the bite from my sushi roll.

“For modelling?”

“No, for school.”

He nodded. “What about modelling assignments then?”

“Yeah. I have one in about a week from now.”

“Plenty on your plate then.” I nodded.

Quietness resumed again. Out of discomfort, I stole a glance in Li's direction, but he caught me and turned also. I quickly snapped back to the front and concentrated on the sushi roll I barely ate. Before bumping into Li, I was hungry, but I didn't have an appetite now. I only ate to fill time.

“You've been avoiding me.”

I didn't look up to see his expression, but the flatness in his tone, I immediately stopped eating. Embarrassment and guilt ran through me. I knew he would notice that I had been avoiding him, but I didn't realise how rude my actions had been until he spoke those words to me and in that tone. I saw myself as such a bitch at this moment.

“I'm sorry,” I offered. I kept my gaze towards the ground.

“Kinomoto,” he said. His hand entered my line of vision and it was heading to an area between my neck and chin. I jerked away from it, looked up and at him, not wanting the hand to get any closer. I was unsure of what would happen if he reached me. Li returned his hand to his side: “if I haven't made it clear to you that night, I like you a lot.”

“Mm,” looking away briefly, I said.

“I want to know your thoughts.”

I like Kansuke, that much I knew, but him?—I wouldn't mind if someone told me my thoughts for me, because I didn't understand them myself when it came to him.

“You kissed me back that night,” Li said.

“I did.” Then directly looking at him, I told him, “But Kansuke also kissed me that night, too.”

His jaws clenched and he had a look of anger before it dropped some degree to something like disappointment. “Why?” he asked. I didn't understand his meaning and asked for an extension of the question. He elaborated, his jaws clenched again: “Why choose him, Sakura?”

My ears perked to the last word; it didn't settle well with me. “You shouldn't call me that...” I told him.

“I'm not following,” he replied, his brows furrowing.

“You called me Sakura...”

He opened his mouth as if to respond, but closed it again. His eyes left me as he looked out onto the fields. “You don't feel anything for me at all?” It was my turn to look out onto the fields.

“Ashida Kansuke,” he began again. I had to gather additional strength to hold his piercing gaze when I returned. He resumed: “is who you want?”

Want was not in question; even if it was, ‘Want' and ‘Li' was never in the same sentence. The matter was not who I wanted, it was rather who I was with.

“I am with Ashida Kansuke,” I told him.

It took him a few seconds to respond, but he nodded then said “I understand”. He swung his bag strap onto his shoulder before he rose to his feet. He said goodbye to me.

In the several days that went by he acted cold towards me. It felt as if it was annoying for him to be around me. I know Li is human too, but I never thought that he could be angry—angry with me. To say the least, it was unnerving to find him not turn one bit in my direction to acknowledge me when I made a move to greet him, like I had done so in yesterday's History class; and Wednesday's phys-ed session, he spoke a total of five words and they were all curtly said.

He was again curt and unresponsive when I encountered him in the library this lunchtime. I spotted him at one of the library computers when I was at the issue desk returning a romance novel I had borrowed several weeks ago. I decided to head over to him to say “hi”, but when I saw him looking busy I decided to head back out. However, I ended up staying because Li caught me—literally. He banged into me and was heading towards some table and chair to the side of me before he managed to catch me in time. I saw he was worried about me for a bit as he asked me if I was alright, but after that brief appearance of the nice Li the cold one returned. Although it was my fault to have stayed, to have chosen to stay even when I knew he would not be very pleasant to me, I endured some five minutes of his wrath.

“It's dangerous to stand so close to someone,” harshly, he told me. “Next time, make sure you make a noise so I know you are there.” The usage of that tone was so common these days that I took it and nodded.

He left to the study table behind me to grab a pen from his pencil case before he returned to the computer.

“Are you spending lunchtime here today?” Li didn't look at me when he asked that. His eyes remained on the computer screen.

“No, I'm just returning a book I borrowed,” I answered. “I'll be heading to the common room for lunch in a while.” Li nodded; eyes still remained on the computer screen as he did so.

Like so many previous ones, this conversation was quickly ending, if not already ended. However, I hesitated to leave. I knew I was asking for more of the same from Li, but I wanted to see if I could do anything more so that he'd act a little less cold and distant towards me.

“What are you searching for?” I asked.

“I'm looking for some things on UK and London.”

“ UK and London ?—are you planning to take a visit there?”

He swivelled around slightly towards me and replied, “I want to study there,” before he reached over to a box of pre-used, cut-up A4 paper situated on the next computer on the table. He returned and noted some more titles.

My cell phone then sounded. I excused myself and took a few steps back. Kansuke's name was on the display screen.

“Hey,” I said to him.

“Hey, the football meeting has finished. I'm in the common room now.”

I was supposed to wait for him to finish his football meeting in the common room before we had lunch together there.

“Okay, um—” I spotted Natsumi. She noticed my look and gave me a smile and a wave; I returned the gesture and waved to her. She then went to Li. I returned to Kansuke on the phone. “I'm just in the library talking to a couple of people. I'll be there in a minute.”

“I bought some food, don't be long, Babe.”

“Alright. Bye.” I clicked off.

I returned my attention back to Li and (now) Natsumi. The two were flipping through a couple booklets I saw Natsumi come in with when I was on the phone. It was some travel magazine as the word was written across the front cover. Natsumi seemed to be helping Li with his search.

“Hey, Natsumi. Bad weather today isn't it (it was pouring rain outside)? Spending lunchtime here, today?”

Natsumi gave the magazine she shared with Li to him before she responded to me. “We're just going to be here for a bit longer before we head off to the English classroom to have lunch. But yeah, gosh the weather is not nice today.” She lifted her right foot and pointed to it. “I accidentally stood on a puddle on my way here; now my socks are so wet and uncomfortable.”

“Bad luck, huh?” I said. At this particular moment, I thought about the ease of talking to someone who didn't hate my guts.

“Yeah, I know. If I didn't worry so much about getting wet, I wouldn't have gotten wet.” She chuckled to the funniness of her own statement before she squeezed the sides of her foot. She tried drying the foot a little more, but she became unsteady. Li had been looking at the computer when he extended her a hand upon this. I believe the pigment in Natsumi's face changed as he helped her; she was blushing: does Li realise that he affected her in that way? It didn't seem so as Li returned his attention back to the computer after he was happy that Natsumi was safely upright again.

“I'm sure that I'd be soaked from head to toe by the time I get home,” I said to Natsumi. “I didn't bring my umbrella today.”

“You can ask Ashida to take you home—he drives to school, right?”

Unknowingly my gaze moved to Li, afraid of his reaction to the mention of Kansuke. I thought I saw his head jerk a bit at the mention of Kansuke, but I wasn't sure; I may have imagined it.

“I guess I could...”

She nodded; and with nothing else said, the conversation between Natsumi and I came to an end. I had wanted to talk to Li a little more during this time, but it didn't seem like he wanted to talk as for the time that Natsumi and I spoke, his attention was towards the things on the computer screen with an occasional look at the pages of the magazine he placed on the computer table. He had no interest; I had no choice but leave him and Natsumi to it.

“Anyway, I should head off,” I told. “I'll see you in Music class, Natsumi.”

“Yeah, see you in class. Have a good lunch, Sakura.”

Although Li's back was to me, I wished him luck: “Good luck with your search.”

He swivelled around and told me, “Enjoy your lunch,” before he turned back to the computer.

It was fruitless to try to get him to talk to me. I tried.

I made my exit as Li spoke to Natsumi a moment I had. I couldn't help but listen:

“This might take me a while. You should go have lunch,” he said. Unlike the curt tone he used with me, it was soft—it was normal—when he spoke to Natsumi.

“Um, I'm not really that hungry.” I heard hesitation in Natsumi's voice. “I'll... skip lunch and help you search.”

There was a particularly lengthy pause.

“I'll do this later. Kojima: let's head off to lunch now.”

Upon that, I realised that I had stopped walking. I quickly resumed, not wanting Li to see that I was still here.

I had been nervous when I first stepped out onto this five-or-so metre platform elevated above an audience made up of city goers, passer-bys, people in their cars, and many other occasional onlookers in their offices and shops in the city's central business district, but soon nervousness became excitement. I drew energy from the boisterous crowd below me and the vibrant atmosphere of this eventful Saturday.

The magazine was holding a promotional event and my job was to showcase some of the most beautiful clothes out to this evening's enthusiastic crowd. After twenty or so minutes going out onto the runway and then back into the changing area backstage, I was finally on my final run. My last outfit was a casual, yet classy, one piece, white and moss-green dress with a white, knee-length cardigan and winter boots.

I made my way down the runway. Upon reaching the edge, I stopped; I posed; and then, this being my last run, I had a little fun: I snuck in a small smirk and cocked an eyebrow before I headed back down the platform and returned backstage.

Waiting backstage for me was Tomoyo. Her eyes widened; her lips lifted up and formed a big smile; before she ran fast towards me, with arms opened, and gave me a big bear hug.

“That was so exciting!” she exclaimed. “You were so great out there. I can't wait to see it all again on video!”

I hugged her back too then released and thanked her, before I asked, “So you are finished filming for the day?”

I hoped she would say she was, for I preferred not to be filmed, especially when Tomoyo would edit it and show it to everyone and make praises about me which I always found embarrassing. But of course, hoping was all I could do. She said:

“No, we must film you in the next part when you get some of the crowd to come up on stage.”

The elementary age Tomoyo was what I pictured in my head right about now. Conversation of this kind in the past always ended up like this: she would persist on filming and I would give up and give her a false smile of compliance. I was doing that now.

I then moved on and asked, “Kansuke arrived yet? I didn't manage to spot him in the crowd.”

You see, I hadn't been able to see Kansuke at all today. He and I were supposed to go together to the city, but he called me an hour before we had to leave the house that he couldn't get me to this event because his sister needed a ride to her friend's place, so I had to take a ride with Tomoyo (and Eriol and her two attendants, or rather filming crew).

Tomoyo nodded, “Mm, he managed to come just before I came backstage. He didn't miss much.”

“That's good he made it. You think he's enjoying the event so far?”

She smiled then told me, “His girlfriend is up there on the stage in beautiful outfits...“ She paused then with conviction, she completed, “without a doubt!” She paused then added excitedly, “Oh! I instructed my filming crew to get Ashida to do a little talk on film especially for you. We can watch that when I finished editing!”

I was taken over by curiosity as I wondered what Kansuke might have said on film.

“Miss Kinomoto...” I exited my thoughts and turned behind me. The events organiser, Ms. Kawano, had called me. “Please change quickly. You are needed out there,” she informed.

Ms. Kawano Aiko, she was a young and extremely talented individual. I was not certain of her age, but I guessed she was in her early twenties. I have been told that she's already married and has a husband who's almost ten years older than her. I do say I am slightly intimidated when I'm in her presence: she was extremely beautiful—tall and slim with beautiful expressive eyes—and held great authority. Intimidating she was to me, but she also had a kind heart. When I asked if I could have Tomoyo backstage with me for support, she allowed it.

I immediately obliged and excused myself from Tomoyo. Quickly, I got changed into a more casual ensemble and waited for Ms. Kawano's instructions. My final task for the night was to put the spotlight onto those in the crowd with confidence, pizzazz, and attitude.

“You're on, Miss Kinomoto. Remember to turn it on when you get out there.” I nodded and headed out onto the stage.

For the many times tonight, I walked out onto a crowd of several hundred. Those closer to the platform stood, while many further back took a seat on the lawn area the event was held on. The pace now a little more relaxed, I took the time to take in the crowd. I searched for Tomoyo, Kansuke, and the gang. After two sweeps, I found them. They were quite far in the back, several metres from the water fountain in this small city central park, but I could still see them. Even from this distance I could feel Kansuke's strong aura. He could stand simply in a crowd and still be the centre of attention. As I looked in his direction, I hoped he could see the smile I was giving him.

And then I returned to the crowd and began:

“Good evening everyone! I hope it has been fun so far! Are you all enjoying everything so far?”

I allowed response from the crowd. The crowd acknowledged with claps. “That's great to hear! We'll have more live music playing later in the evening, but right now I have a request from the female part of this crowd...” I took the scripted pause as I scanned the crowd. “Mm-mm, what a good-looking bunch we have this evening! I see a lot of beautiful girls and hot guys out there...” I smirked before I winked at several guys who caught my attention. “Because backstage we have some clothes left that we haven't shown to you all yet, I have a request: can I have several female individuals come help me model them? Are there any hopeful models out there?”

The crowd seemed shy.

“Come on, don't be shy! You will be one of the first people to try out some of the newest designer clothes,” I tempted them.

They were still too shy.

“Well you give me no choice then. I'll have to bring some of you up here myself. Guys, will you lend me a hand,” I said as I looked to the two security personnel just below the stage. “Please find some volunteers from the crowd.”

The two security personnel just below the front of the stage obliged. I watched one look for a volunteer in the front row as the other walked further down. A girl, who looked to be around my age, who stood some distance from the main bunch of the crowd, caught my attention.

“Excuse me—Mr. Guard-sir...” I called the security guard standing by a small park tree at the back of the crowd. The guy didn't hear me. “Excuse me, the security guard at the back.” Finally he came around and found my gaze. “Yes you, Sir. Can you help me bring that young lady near you up here?” I pointed to the left; he gestured to a young lady in pink. “No, the one wearing a maroonish jacket with the black fur collar, but bring that young lady up as well.”

He asked the young lady in pink. She shook her head and waved both hands; she didn't want to come up. After some strong resistance from the girl, the security guard gave up and went onto persuading the one I had picked out. She also didn't want to come up, but she wasn't as resistant as the first girl. It took a little persuasion before she gave in and was making her way to the stage.

The two security personnel at the front found a volunteer each too, and after some minutes all three girls were up on the stage with me. Finding that all three had looked nervous, I tried to put them at ease by initiating small talk, but it didn't relax them too much more. I took them closer towards the centre of the stage and brought the girls closer to me so I could see each of them. In doing this, I discovered that I knew one of these girls; the one I had personally picked out from the crowd was actually Li's friend from Hong Kong, Jinwei.

And I was shocked to see her here. After the show, I got her to join me as I made my way to meet my friends at the water fountain.

For a while, the city streets and the cars that drove by filled the silence between us before I decided to initiate a conversation.

“Sorry for picking you out like that,” I said. “If I knew it was you, I wouldn't have made you come up onto the stage.”

Jinwei shook her head. “No, it's not a problem. Besides, in the end I had a lot of fun,” she replied with a smile. She held up the bag of sponsored goods that she and the other girls got for their participation. “Also, I got free stuff out of it, too.”

“I wanted the free stuff too, but I'm not allowed.” Jinwei chuckled. “But I'm glad you had fun up there.”

“Do you do this all the time?” she asked.

“I'm a part-time model for the magazine.”

“You're a part-time model for this magazine? That's really great,” she said with surprise.

“It's gets a little overwhelming at times, but I think it's great that the magazine is giving me this opportunity also.”

Jinwei then asked me how I got the job and I told I was scouted when someone saw me at one of Tomoyo's fashion design competitions. She asked about Tomoyo's fashion design and a little more about my job. A brief silence entered before I resumed:

“It's strange to see you here at this time. School's still in over in Hong Kong, isn't it?” I asked her. Her appearance at this time in Japan was unusual to me.

She nodded, “I'll be flying back tomorrow night. I'm here to surprise Syaoran.”

“You're here for a special occasion?”

“I'm not over here for any reason, really. I just wanted to see him.” I found warmth in her tone, and I found it strangely curious. I dismissed it as another question dawned on me:

“So, you came to Japan by yourself?” I asked her.

“Yeah.”

“And your parents aren't worried about you coming to Japan by yourself?” I asked, surprised.

“No, my parents are fine with it. They know I'm here to see Syaoran.”

I wondered what relationship Li had with Jinwei's parents. But by the sounds of things, Jinwei's parents trusted Li a lot.

“I gather you haven't met up with him yet, then?” I asked.

“No, not yet.” She brought her right hand up and looked at the display screen of her cell phone. “I landed in the country around lunchtime, and I spent it sightseeing for most of the afternoon before coming here where I met you.” I smiled when she gave me one. “Syaoran gets off work at ten I think, so I'm going to head back to my hotel around eight-thirty or nine. I'm going to try and get to his place before he does.” A mischievous grin then appeared on her lips. “Because you see, I can. He doesn't know this, but the last time I was here, I made a copy of the key to his apartment, so I could use it anytime I want!”

I chuckled as she chuckled. “That's really smart, Jinwei.”

“Yeah, I think so too!” she said. Her expression then straightened as she became serious. “But I really do hope that Syaoran won't mind me stay at his place. He does seem to like his space.” I agreed to the fact with a nod. “I guess I could just book out another room if worse comes to worse.”

“I'm sure he won't mind,” I offered. “You flew all the way from Hong Kong to see him, it would be rude if he didn't allow you to.” She nodded before her expression filled with slight concern. I didn't know if she would have trouble with accommodation by the end of the night; all I knew was that I had a spare room. I offered—

“Well, if you are really stuck on finding a place to stay, then you can try me. We have a spare room that used to be my brother's.”

“Really? Is that really okay?” surprised, she said.

I affirmed with a nod. “My dad should be okay with it.”

She extended me a gratuitous smile. “That's really, very nice of you. Thank you, Sakura.”

I saw the water fountain a couple of metres ahead of us and a part of Tomoyo's person.

“Hey, my friends are just by the water fountain over there. We are going to hang around here until the event ends. Do you want to join us for a while? That way I can give you my number and address. Also, you can fill your time with us until you go and meet up with Li.”

“Yeah, sure. That'll be good actually. Thanks.”

I got my friends' attention with a call and a wave. Tomoyo and Chiharu spotted me first and they hugged and congratulated me on a job well done. I then introduced Jinwei to the gang before we all moved to a sitting area and sat down. As promised, I gave Jinwei my contact details before I felt a pair of lips on my right cheek. I turned in that direction and met up with Kansuke. He handed me a paper bag and a bottle of drink.

“I thought you might be hungry, so I bought you something to eat,” he said.

It was times like these that I just loved; and he guessed right: I was hungry; and a little tired as well, but that was probably because I was hungry.

I opened the bag and found a pottle of miso soup and a tray with salad, chicken omelette, and shitake mushroom on rice. The bottle of drink Kansuke bought me was iced green tea. I thanked him with another kiss before I dug into the food.

As I enjoyed the food, my friends talked to Jinwei. The girls asked questions I had already asked: her reasons for visiting Japan; length of stay; and questions about Hong Kong. The guys were much quieter, but Eriol did praise her for her bravery of going up on stage and modelling. “I'm no where near as brave as Sakura,” Jinwei said in response; then added, “I think the guts to do that again ended at the end of that runway.” My other friends agreed with Eriol and told her that she was brave and had done a good job.

After the conversation about Jinwei and her modelling looked to be finished, Kansuke entered his thoughts on it: “You looked good. You should try doing that again,” he said. That surprised me; and for some time, it went around in my head, wondering why he said it; and so seriously, too. But after a while, I decided to let it go; he was only being nice to someone who had just done a good job on their first go of modelling on stage.

The end of the event finally came at around quarter to nine and my friends and I were going our separate ways. Chiharu, Yamazaki, and Eriol said that they were going to continue the night by hitting the clubs; Tomoyo was going to head home to edit the footage she captured this evening so that she could get it ready for me when she came over to my house tomorrow; and Kansuke and I decided to spend some quiet time at his place.

Before Kansuke and I could do that though, we had to drop Jinwei off at Li's apartment. The hotel that Jinwei stayed at and Li's apartment were both on the way and I asked Kansuke to offer her a ride.

After dropping by the hotel Jinwei stayed at to gather her gear, check out of the hotel and then driving for twenty minutes, we finally reached the familiar lofty white building Li's apartment was in.

“Hey, Sakura: thanks for helping me direct towards the end,” Jinwei said as Kansuke pulled the handbrake up. She gave a laugh in embarrassment. “I forgot how to get to Syaoran's place. I'm glad you know the way.”

“No problem, I just know the street very well, that's all,” I replied, disposing any questions that might arise about how I knew how to get to Li's place.

She unbuckled her seatbelt before she gathered her belongings. She had a small luggage bag, a bag of drinks, the bag of sponsored goods, and gateau. She slid her left hand through the handles of the bag of sponsored goods and the bags of drinks before she balance the gateau on her right palm of her hand. She reached for the car door; grabbed her luggage bag; then made her way out of the car.

But she stopped midway and turned back towards me. She said:

“Actually Sakura, do you think you can help me bring my luggage up? I'm afraid that I might drop the cake on the way with all this,” she said as she grinned sheepishly.

“Oh yeah sure,” I said. Quickly getting out of the car, I opened the side door and took hold of the luggage bag she passed to me through the door. I waited for Jinwei to come out before I stuck my head back into the car and told Kansuke—

“I'll be back in a bit; won't be long.” He nodded. Jinwei thanked him for his patience before I shut the door and we made our way up to Li's apartment.

A minute or so waiting in the lobby and in the elevator, and arriving on the third floor several seconds later, a short walk down the narrow hallway we stood outside the door to Li's apartment.

I have been outside this apartment door once before and I felt uncomfortable that time. With Li and me not on good terms, it made standing outside his apartment and waiting to go in the more uncomfortable. I was glad that Li wasn't going to be on the other side when we entered the apartment—I don't know how much more I could take of his cold stares and cold comments that he gives out to me.

Jinwei struggled with opening the door as the bag of drinks and the bag of sponsored goods that dangled from her left hand hindered her efforts in putting her key to the keyhole.

“I'll hold onto those two bags for you while you get the door open, Jinwei,” I offered. I took the bags from her and she thanked me.

Without the extra things, this time Jinwei got the key in. The door made an unlocking sound, and Jinwei celebrated as she quietly giggled to herself. She placed her keys back into the pocket of her jacket before she pulled the handle down. Jinwei and I proceeded to go in, but we were stopped; by some thing that was unknown to me at this time. The events which happened so quickly, and what I believed were in this order, were: shuffles of the feet; hollow knock on wood; a high shriek; Jinwei backing into me; I backed up; I yelped; before the gateau box Jinwei held in her right hand smacked into my right eye area.

I recovered moments later as I heard Jinwei say:

“I got cake, Syaoran!”

I peered a little to my left to see why Jinwei had said that. What I saw was Li and his elbow up against Jinwei's chin and neck area, looking ready to crush this intruder who had just tried to enter into his apartment.

It took a moment longer before Li finally registered that it was Jinwei before he relaxed his hold on her. A questioning look appeared on his expression. “Jinwei?—what are you doing here?”

“I was bored, so I decided to give you a visit.”

He still held a puzzled look. “Do your parents know you're here?”

“Of course!” She then slipped through between him and the door as she mumbled, “Gosh, you are home so early. I thought you'd be at work still; I thought I was going to be able to get here before you did...” She then trailed off.

Li was about to answer Jinwei's unhappy mumbles when his eyes found me. An expression of surprise plastered across his face; I dipped my head politely and explained my presence: “Jinwei needed help with bringing things in,” before I showed him the luggage and bags that I had in my grasp. He stepped aside and allowed me in. I didn't look in any direction but towards the ground as I entered his apartment.

Jinwei was putting the cake on the dining table when I stopped by the couch with the luggage and bag of drinks and bag of sponsored goods still in my hands. She came over and took the bag of drinks and the bag of sponsored goods off of me and placed it on the dining table.

“Thank you for helping me and for everything else today,” she said. “I want to pay you back with cake. Stay for a bit; we can have cake together.”

Li came up to me and took the luggage off of me and placed it beside the couch. I thanked him, but avoided looking directly at him. I still felt bad coming into his apartment.

I returned to Jinwei to answer. “Kansuke's still out there waiting for me.” Jinwei made a sound that told me she had forgotten he was still out in the car waiting. “He's probably getting very bored waiting for me, so I think I'll head off now. Thanks though.”

“Okay, but wait for a bit longer,” Jinwei said as I turned to head out. “I'll cut up some for you: one for you and one for your boyfriend. You can have the cake at home.”

Jinwei dashed to the kitchen area and searched around a drawer—for a knife to cut the cake, I believe. She found one, but then she looked to be searching for something else as I saw her go through a cupboard. Jinwei then started to call out the item she was looking for: “Cake container, cake container. Where is a cake container?”

“Syaoran, do you have any containers I can use to store the cakes for Sakura?”

Li was already on his way to help her find one when she asked him. He went through the cupboard beside the refrigerator, but didn't find one. He went to the pantry and finally returned with one. He handed it to Jinwei.

“Thank you, Syaoran,” she sang. His right brow raised as Jinwei returned to the dining table and began cutting up the cake. Li returned to his seat at the couch.

“That's one piece...” Jinwei said as she placed the first piece into the container—a rather large piece, it was, and I wondered how the second piece would fit into the container with the first piece being so large. Another large piece was coming as Jinwei's knife marked out the second piece.

“Syaoran,” Jinwei called as she brought the knife down onto the cake, “can you put my luggage in your room?”

Li didn't reply immediately; he had a strange look on his face. “Put your luggage in my room?” he asked after a moment or two passed.

“Yeah. I'm sleeping there tonight.”

His relaxed posture straightened as one brow rose. “Where am I going to sleep then?”

“I don't care; wherever you want,” Jinwei replied, looking unconcerned, although playful. She finished cutting out the second piece. She placed the knife under the cake and slowly slid it out.

Li remained seated. He seemed to have ignored Jinwei's request, but several seconds later he made his way down the hallway behind the couch with her luggage in hand.

I was taken by the sight: he was allowing Jinwei to have her way and let her take his room? A thought not of the most innocent kind then entered by mind:—or was it that he was going to share his bed with her?

I shook myself off from such thoughts quickly before I went any further down that line of thinking and have unwholesome images float in my head. It was not my place to think about such things. Li came back into the room; he caught me in the midst of exiting from those thoughts; I turned my head away quickly from his view.

“Sorry it's a little squished,” Jinwei said, handing the container to me.

“It's fine. Thank you for this,” I replied. I turned to Li. He was standing beside the couch as opposed to sitting on it as he had done so previously. He looked to be standing in a casual manner, with his hands in his trouser pockets, but he seemed stiff at the same time. “I'll return the container to you on Monday,” I said to him.

“It's not necessary,” he replied. “You can keep it.”

I wanted to say that I will return the container back to him, but I went against the thought and nodded to the preference he had made.

“Here are some drinks as well,” Jinwei said as she handed me two cans of drinks in a plastic bag. “It's my favorite.”

I took it and thanked her again. I then made my way towards the door to head out. Li followed behind. I stood aside when I reached the door to allow Li to undo the keychain. He opened the door for me. I stepped out then turned back.

“Thanks,” I said to him.

“Uh.” Again, he stood like he had done so moments ago: hands in his trouser pockets, casual, yet stiff at the same time. “Thanks for helping Jinwei.” A small smile spread across his lips.

It was so long I saw him smile at me. And even though the smile was small, I was happy. I was about to answer him back when I caught onto a fragrant smell. It had come from Li and I got lost in it for a moment as I tried to decipher the scent. However, it only lingered for that one brief moment. I couldn't smell the pleasant scent anymore.

I returned my mind back to the present moment and answered Li. “It's no problem. We had fun together.” I then held the container with the cakes out. “I'll finish this and return it to you on Monday.”

“Uh.”

I motioned to leave, but he called out and said—“Ashida...” I turned back at the mention of Kansuke. I anxiously, but also fearfully, waited for his reasons for speaking of him. “His car is ready. My boss says he can pick it up tomorrow.”

It wasn't about Kansuke, but his car. Kansuke had taken his car back to the place where he got the door fixed from having had a minor accident on his way to school on the day that I couldn't get through to him. The driver's side door got beat up and was stripped off of some paint after having collided with a right-turning car. Kansuke liked the paint job that they (Li's workplace) did on the door that he brought it back to them to redo the whole car. Tonight Kansuke drove his parent's car.

I relaxed and nodded. “Thanks, I'll tell him that. He'll be very happy to hear that. He says you guys do a very good job.”

“Thank you. We're glad our customers are satisfied with our work,” he said.

“Mm. Anyway, I better be off. See you on Monday.”

”Uh. Have a good weekend.”

“You too.”

I had turned to leave, and I felt the door to Li's apartment shutting, but I couldn't end it here—not just yet. I was not yet satisfied. The way he talked and acted around me tonight was definitely a whole degree better than the other encounters I've had with him so far, but I needed to know—I needed to know in words that he and I were okay. I turned back and quickly called for him before he fully shuts the door on me—

“Li!” I made it in time as there was only a two-inch gap between the door and door frame. Li opened the door again. He stood; then leaned against the brown wooden door with not any particular expression on his face. He waited for me to continue. “Are we... good?”

He stayed expressionless and silent after I completed my question; I wondered if he was going to dismiss it. But a moment more, his expression ever so slightly softened; he gave a small nod before he gently shut the door behind him.

His confirmation of us being okay was small, but it was enough; it was enough for me to be satisfied.