Sensei, I Love You

Chapter 31

“He’s not here?” Sakura asked. “But how can he not be here? This is his company, isn’t it?”

 The receptionist at the lobby frowned at Sakura as if she had just uttered an expletive. “I assure you that this company is owned by the Li family and our Li-sama is the current CEO, leading the company to greater heights. He’s currently away on business trip. Perhaps you would like to leave your fan mail with me so that I can pass it to him when he returns?”

 “F-fan mail?” Sakura sputtered. “I’m not one of his stupid fans. This is crazy… Even the CEOs have fans nowadays? Are they idols now?”

 “If you are not here on corporate business, I’m afraid we cannot entertain you any further,” the receptionist said with a sweet smile and turned her attention back to computer screen, clearly dismissing Sakura.

 “So I guess this is how you treat guests at Li Corp,” Sakura said but the receptionist did not even bat an eyelash at her. “Do you know when he will be back?”

 “I’m sorry. We are not allowed to entertain fan girls.”

 Sakura wanted to bang her head against the marble tabletop out of sheer frustration but it looked so expensive that she was afraid the surface might crack upon impact. “Look… I’ve been trying to contact him for the past few weeks but he isn’t answering his personal mobile. Is there any way that I can talk to him? Do you have his overseas office number?”

 “Miss, I must ask you to leave before I call the security,” the receptionist said and reached for the phone.

“Wait! Wait!” Sakura was frantic. It would be disastrous if she were to be evicted from the building because Li Corp was her last hope of contacting Syaoran. Initially, she wondered why he wasn’t picking up her calls and thought that he wanted her to concentrate on her studies. However, she has already graduated from high school for a few weeks. She even got into her ideal choice of University and will be starting her classes soon. Why wasn’t he back with her? The more she thought of it, the more unsettled she became.

“Hello? Security? There’s a girl here…”

“Fine! Okay? I’ll go!” Sakura shouted and waited until the receptionist ended the call. The receptionist raised an eyebrow when Sakura remained standing before the front desk. “Alright… Since Li Syaoran isn’t available, how about Hiiragizawa-san? And Meiling-san? I’m sure either one of them is around. Could you… call and check? I really need to speak with someone. Please? Call them and tell them Kinomoto Sakura is here. I’m 100% sure they will recognize my name.”

The receptionist’s poker face was unreadable as she picked up the phone again and punched some numbers. Even as she was conversing with the other party, her eyes kept darting back to Sakura as if trying to figure out how a mere girl knew about high profile employees of Li Corp.

“You must have some kind of connection,” the receptionist conceded after the call ended. She withdrew a visitor pass from a drawer not visible from Sakura’s position and passed it to her. “Take the lift on the extreme left and head to the second last floor. Hiiragizawa-sama will see you there in his office.”

Sakura’s face fell immediately. “So it’s Hiiragizawa-san eh? I was hoping Meiling would be the one seeing me…”

“You have no idea how lucky you are that Hiiragizawa-sama is willing to see you. Hardly anyone got the chance to go up to the upper most floors in the building.”

“He’s a grumpy man,” Sakura said and thanked the receptionist for the visitor pass before she dragged herself over to the lift as instructed. When the door opened on the thirtieth floor, Eriol was standing outside with his arms crossed. He looked as if it he was happy to see her and from the amused expression he has on his face, Sakura deduced it couldn’t be anything good. “Um… Hi? Thanks for seeing me.”