I'm In Love with a Plumber
Rule Number Seven:
Daydreaming about your boss is never a good thing,
Especially when you talk in your sleep.
oOo
Sakura threw herself onto the couch as soon as she came falling into the apartment, throwing her heels across the room and flinging her purse wherever it would land on its own. She couldn't give a rat's ass what her so-called roommate thought of her "lady-ness". She was too tired to give a care of what his impression of her could be. He was the reason behind her suffering after all. He should be apologizing for treating her this way. A lady like herself, if she should say so upon her behalf, was not brought up to do manual labor.
She might not be a descendant of an aristocratic family, but her family was still above the average norms, considering her father's position in society as a respectable archaeologist. She shouldn't have to be treated this way. Pushing and hauling refrigerators, fixing and installing gutters, drains, and pipes—not to mention working on other people's toilets—this wasn't her ideal job. She wanted to be a secretary, and she applied to be a secretary.
"Oh, Kami-sama, I can't feel anything anymore..." she groaned.
"Stop whining."
Whining? Who was whining? She was just simply expressing her pain—was that so wrong to do?
She didn't bother replying him, and he didn't say anything after that either. Sakura closed her eyes and endured the silence—too silent. "Syaoran...?" she called out.
"What is it?" he answered.
At least she knew he was still in the room. "Nothing," she replied in return. "What are you doing?" she added shortly afterwards, feeling bored herself. For some reason, it didn't feel right at all not being able to hear his voice. It was as if she had gotten used to hearing him. Strange but at the same time, it felt normal.
"Looking at some things," he said.
"Porn?" She couldn't help but crack the comment—it just came out.
She heard him snorted slightly. "I'm not a pervert all the time, you know."
"So you admit of being perverse?"
"I'm a man after all."
She didn't argue with him there—he was a man after all. She decided to brush the subject off and pushed herself off the couch. "I'm going to go take a bath," she said.
"Before you go—what do you want for dinner?" he asked.
"Chinese," she casually threw an answer at him. He was mumbling things to himself when she was leaving the room.
zZz
Sakura sighed in relaxation after the long, very long bubble bath. A relaxing bath was a woman's answer to all her exhaustion, especially if the woman worked for a work addict, who happened to be her good-for-nothing roommate as well. Sakura quickly put on her nightclothes. She made sure not to wear something 'revealing', considering who she was living with. There was no need for her to cause any unwanted reaction from him—that would be Hell... or was it Heaven?
She washed her face and applied her night-time treatments. She had one for everything—acne, moisturizer, wrinkles, anti-aging, and et cetera. Thank Kami-sama for these miracle workers. They were simply the answer to every woman's worries in life. Too bad Sakura's problem couldn't be solved with miracle in a bottle.
As she continued to brood over her insecurity, Syaoran's words suddenly came into her mind. He simply remarked that she was being too paranoid about these things—he also said that beauty came naturally, not bought with money, and it didn't come inside a bottle.
And how did he even know about her problem?
He caught her envying this woman that was flirting with him. Well, not so surprisingly, most of his clients were females and ninety-nine point nine percent of them flirted with him. Sakura was too busy grumbling to herself that she didn't see him coming back to the car, and he overheard her saying something along the line of 'stupid big boobs' and how 'God was so unfair' over in the women industry. He kind of laughed and advised her to get a stress ball rather than 'mumbling' to herself. And if she should mumble to herself, then she should learn how to do so without letting other people hear her.
After the embarrassing event, Sakura made a mental note to buy a stress ball as soon as possible. She wondered if she could custom order one in the shape of Syaoran's head.
Sakura glanced at the clock on the wall, surprised to see that she had been in the bathroom for nearly two hours. She quickly gathered herself and walked back outside to let her roommate know that she didn't drown in the bathtub. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it when she saw the brown haired man sleeping on the couch, hugging a pillow to his chest. Sakura forced herself to hold down her giggle. He looked... erm... cute sleeping like that. Just like a baby, she thought.
Her eyes quickly glanced at the plates of foods on the table. She blinked speechlessly. He cooked dinner?
She had thought that he was going to order dinner from some Chinese restaurant or something like that. She didn't know he was actually cooking their dinner. Was he waiting for her to finish her bath?
Sakura sighed, running a hand through her hair in frustration. It was happening again. She was getting mixed thoughts about him all over. Just when she decided that he was a jerk, he did something absolutely sweet and... and... words couldn't come to her to describe it. All that she could think of was: Why...?
She went to grab a blanket from the closet and gently put it over him. She listened to his tempo breaths as she observed him quietly. He must've been really exhausted, even more exhausted than she had been. Now that Sakura looked back on the day, she felt ashamed and guilty for blaming her pain on him. It wasn't like he didn't do anything, and had enjoyed watching her work her ass off. He helped her by taking on the heavy jobs... and the easy ones. Okay, so all Sakura did was chat with the customers and look pretty. She carried his toolbox, which was anything but light—that counted as doing something, right?
Sakura wanted to slap herself in the face so bad for acting like a whiny brat.
He didn't say anything though. Even when she said things to him that he didn't deserve, he didn't say anything and just smiled while she complained on and on about how unfortunate it was to work for him.
Sakura sat down and tried to remember all the words she had said to him exactly. Oh, god... she remembered some of the not-so-nice words she'd used. I am such a bitch.
She felt disgusted with herself. She always said that she hated people who judged other people based on their first impression, yet, she poorly treated the man because of her first impression of him. It was more like her second impression rather than her first impression that had led her to her own assumptions that he was nothing more than a perverted jerk.
She didn't even try to get to know him better. Yet, even through the unkind words she expressed towards him, he still put up with her.
I am such a horrible person.
zZz
"Okay. Did someone kidnap the old Kinomoto Sakura and replaced her with someone else, or am I still dreaming?" was Syaoran's reaction when he woke up to find Sakura making breakfast for them. It wasn't any old breakfast either—she'd made big fluffy omelettes and she prepared him a glass of milk. Just the other day she almost killed him because he drank her milk, and today she was giving it to him? The world was going to end soon.
"What do you mean 'did someone kidnap the old Kinomoto Sakura' huh? What's wrong with the 'me' before—wait..." Sakura paused mid-sentence. "You dream about me?"
Syaoran cleared his throat. "I never said that."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well, are you going to eat it?"
He just stared at the plate of omelette like he was debating whether to eat it or not. Sakura sighed in exasperation before adding, "I didn't poison it."
He smiled kindly. "I wasn't thinking that," he said. "I'm just... surprised."
"Why?"
"You're being nice."
"Am I a mean person?"
"N-no, I didn't mean it like that," he continued. "It's just... normally you aren't so nice towards me, like you hate me."
Sakura kind of cringed at his words. Was that what he thought—that she hated him? She'd never meant to give him that message at all.
True, she didn't like the man as much, but she never hated him per se. Take her and Eriol for example. Now, that man really pulled her nerves but she didn't hate him—she just loathed him with a strong passion. Wait... don't those two words mean the same thing?
Ah, screw it.
"But thank you," he said, sitting down at the table and taking a bite of the omelette. "God. I wish you are nice like this all the time. Then I'll be eating delicious omelettes every morning."
Sakura smiled slightly at the comment. "Hey, Syaoran..." she started saying slowly. "I just want to apologize."
He stopped eating and looked at her, confused. "For what?"
"The way I've been acting towards you yesterday," she said. "I was being a whiny brat."
He laughed. "I can't agree more."
Sakura tried hard not to glare at him. "I'm trying to be civilized you know."
"I know," he remarked. "And I'm being honest. You were being a brat."
Sakura rolled her eyes. She gave up—they would never agree on anything. "I'll try to be less bratty from now on."
"Try adding paranoid to that, too."
"You're pushing your luck, ."
He smiled slightly. "Didn't hurt to try," he said.
"You know... you aren't such a bad guy," Sakura commented casually.
"You just realized that?"
Sakura couldn't help but roll her eyes... again. "You are so full of it."
"You mean my hotness?"
Sakura grabbed the glass of milk from him while he was reaching for it. "Cocky Syaoran doesn't deserve Sakura's milk."
He raised his eyebrow. "Sakura's milk?"
Sakura rubbed her temples. "You are so perverted."
"And you know you love me for it." He gave her a quick wink and took the glass of milk out of her hand.
Sakura sighed quietly. He wasn't one hundred percent wrong. Don't take her words the wrong way—she didn't love him, if that's what you are thinking. Heck. She didn't even think she liked him that much.
"So..." she started changing the subject. "What are we going to do today?"
"It's a misfortune that I can't work today." Sakura suddenly jumped up from her seat and screamed 'Oh, mama!' very loudly. "I prefer 'Oh, daddy'."
Sakura tried not to let his comment ruin her moment of celebration. "Why aren't we working today?"
"I have some things to attend," he continued. "Pointless appointments here and there... you know. I don't know why you are so happy though. I just said that I can't work today, never said anything about you not working."
Her expression turned into a frown. "You're kidding, right?"
"I need you to stay home and make phone calls for me," he said.
Sakura's frown deepened. "Tell me you're kidding."
He swallowed the last drop of milk and put the glass down on the table, patting his stomach quite contently. "You're the secretary."
Man. She should have poisoned the omelette, but her damn conscience had to get in the way.
Just. So. Freaking. Wonderful.
zZz
"Miss Yoko?" Sakura said into the phone. "Hi, I'm Mr. Li's secretary. I'm calling to let you know that he can't come today, but he will come as soon as his schedule will allow him. I'm sorry for the short notice."
She quickly hung up the phone, leaving the woman on the other line no time to throw questions at her about her stupid boss. Sakura learned the lesson the hard way. When dealing with clients and ninety-nine percent of them are single or divorced females, say what you need to say fast and escape their clutches as quickly as you can.
Sakura looked at the list of names on the notepad and groaned. She had about a little more than a quarter left to go, which was probably going to take another two or three hours. She had spent all morning making and answering calls that she was sick of looking at the phone.
When was the agony going stop?
If she had to hear the voice of another woman asking about Li Syaoran, she was going to yank her head off and feed it to a shark or something. What was so great about him anyway? He was obnoxious, perverted, rude—sure, he was exceedingly good looking, and he could be sweet at times, but that still didn't make up for all of his bad qualities. Those were his bad qualities, right? ... Did he even have any bad qualities?
Sakura, what are you saying to yourself! She mentally slapped herself awake.
Although, she was a little curious as to what those women saw in him. What could they possibly fantasize in their mind when they saw him?
Sakura leaned forward on the table, resting her chin on her hand as she tried to imagine what those women could possibly think of with Li Syaoran standing before their eyes. Each and every one of them wanted him—they didn't just want him that simple—they WANTED him.
She glanced at the clock and sighed lightly. It was only twelve something in the afternoon. She rested her head on the table, slowly closing her eyes, and let out a soft yawn. "I still don't see anything in him," she mused to herself.
Sakura fell backwards onto the bed, grabbing Syaoran by his collar, and pulled him down with her as well. He opened his mouth to say something, or he tried to say something, but Sakura didn't let him have the opportunity to. She used the chance to pull him towards her, closing the gap between them. He smoothly ran his tongue over her lips.
"Oh, Syaoran..." she moaned softly. "Syaoran..."
"Well, isn't this something?"
Sakura's eyes snapped open. Then realization hit her right in the face as she stared with open mouth at the man standing before her. "Kami-sama..."
"So you do dream about me?" he grinned cockily, advancing towards her.
"D-don't you come any c-closer!" Sakura panicked, standing up and taking a step back.
He smirked. "Judging from how you have moaned enjoyably in your sleep, I think that you want more... Sa-ku-ra." She felt her knees trembling just hearing him say her name like that. "You wish that it wasn't a dream, don't you?" He came closer. "You desire for..." And closer. "You lust for..." He cornered her until she had nowhere else to go. "You want me."
"Don't make me kick you there again!" She warned him.
Syaoran disregarded the threat and pinned her to the wall, gently trailing kisses down her neck. He stopped at the nape and slowly moved his way back up. "Don't deny it, Sakura..." He said and started sucking on her earlobe tenderly.
He slid a hand under her shirt, feeling the softness of her skin, while his other hand travelled down to her waist outlining all the curves of her body. Sakura felt somewhat vulnerable.
She felt her heart beating faster and her body aching for a certain something. She wasn't sure what it was that she longed for, but it seemed as though her body was responding to his touches on its own as it asked for more.
She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "... please..." she said breathlessly.
"Sakura?"
"Hm..."
"Wake up, baka!" a voice suddenly screamed at her from out of nowhere.
Sakura opened her eyes to find herself looking up at a very annoyed Syaoran. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the time—6:37 PM? She fell asleep for six hours? Kami-sama, that meant...
"Hoeee... it was a dream!" she cried out.
Okay. What was wrong with her, or was she actually disappointed that it was only a dream?
"What were you dreaming about? I could hear you moaning from outside in the hall—actually... don't tell me your dream," he said. "Unless... of course, I was in it."
He winked at her cutely.
Sakura groaned and smacked her forehead.
Ohh, you have no idea. She thought to herself exasperatedly.
How could she dream of him? And it wasn't just any normal dream. To dream of wanting him in a dream was bad enough, but nooooo! She just had to dream that she wanted him in a dream that was inside another dream.
Is this the effect he has on women? Sakura thought to herself as she watched his back retrieving to the bathroom.
If so then...
Hell. I'm in big trouble.