Rule Number Thirteen:
Selfishness always lead to something.
Paper can't wrap fire.
Sakura walked out to the living room after setting her sister's suitcases in her room, finding Syaoran packing his things together. He turned to look at her with a soft smile when he detected her presence.
"Hey... are you alright?" He asked, quickly dropping the shirt he was holding to walk over to her. "Come here."
Sakura walked into his arms. "I'm sorry..."
"For what?"
"For making that stupid request earlier... and for this," she said.
Syaoran rubbed her shoulder gently. "It's okay, Sakura. It's better if I leave you two alone. I'll just be next door. If you ever miss me, just drop by."
"You wish I'd miss you," she said jokingly.
"Where's your sister?" he asked.
Sakura looked up at him, confused. "In the shower. Why?"
He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. "You don't have to go to work. Take the time to be with your sister," he said.
Sakura suddenly felt ashamed of herself.
"Syaoran, why are you so... caring?" she asked softly.
"Because you're my girlfriend."
That's right... I'm his girlfriend, Sakura thought. He was all hers; but she wasn't all his—and Sakura felt ashamed of that.
"Sakura?" They quickly pulled apart when Nakuru entered the room. "Oh, I'm sorry... I haven't introduced myself to your roommate yet," she said.
"Actually... I'm just her neighbor." Syaoran said before Sakura could open her mouth. "I had to remodel my apartment, and bunked here for awhile."
"Oh, I see."
Sakura watched as Syaoran went back to gathering his things. "I'll see you ladies later," he said when he was done. "And I'll see you this weekend." He whispered softly into Sakura's ears as he walked by when Nakuru wasn't paying attention.
This weekend—Eriol's party.
She walked him to the door. "I'll see you in the morning," she mouthed to him quietly.
She waited for him to enter his apartment before closing the door, letting out a heavy sigh.
"He was cute," her sister said.
"H-Hoe?!"
Nakuru smiled. "He looks familiar though. Can't remember if I've seen him already."
"He's a friend of Eriol," Sakura explained. "Probably seen Syaoran with him before."
"Syaoran... that's his name?" the older woman tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Does he have any older brothers?"
"Nee-chan!" Sakura screeched. "Don't tell me you're looking for a different husband already!"
Nakuru smiled sadly. "I have to start somewhere with my life, Sakura..."
Sakura sighed and sat down beside the woman quietly. She knew that Nakuru wasn't really looking for a different husband—heck, the woman was hardly looking for anything! She just wanted to try to get her mind off the subject of divorce for a bit.
"What happened?" Sakura asked. "Why did you and Onii-chan decide on this all of a sudden? And why didn't you two come home?"
"Your brother and I had a great time on our second honeymoon. Everything went great. I really enjoyed every second of the vacation."
"Then what happened?"
"We started fighting again—the usual. We came back to Japan early, but we didn't want to alarm you and Otou-san so we went to a hotel instead." Nakuru spoke slowly. "There was not one decent conversation between us—there was not a single hello or goodbye that didn't ended with us yelling at each other. It was just constant screaming and cursing from one another. I've had all I can take, Sakura..."
So Nakuru was the one that wanted the divorce.
Why?
Sakura knew for a fact that Nakuru didn't want to have a divorce. She could tell that her brother and the woman were very much in love with each other, but what was causing problems between them?
"I've been married to your brother since I was eighteen—ten long years of my life," she said, folding her hands neatly in front of her. "My friends and family constantly ask me if I regret my decision. If I regret throwing away the most important years of my life to become a bird in a cage, trapped by a thing called marriage."
"Do you?"
"No. I don't regret marrying your brother. I married him because I loved him... but time changes a lot of things, Sakura. Even though love never changes, the person can change."
"Touya still loves you a lot."
"Yes... but he has also found another kind of love—work. All my life I've only dreamed of becoming a mother. I'm not growing any younger, Sakura. In the beginning, he wanted to wait until his work has settled down. We waited. One year turned into two years and two quickly turned into eight."
"You can always adopt," Sakura said. "If children are what setting you two apart—"
"It's not just children. I just can't live my life like this anymore. I've had enough." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "For once, I want to enjoy life and not have to wait for someone to make things happen. I want to make up for the years I lost."
"Nee-chan..."
"Your brother and I agreed that time apart might do us some good."
"So you're really getting a divorce?" the woman nodded. "Nothing I do or say can change your mind?"
She nodded again. "Touya and I already broke the news to Otou-san before I came over here."
"How did he take it?"
"He trusts us to decide what the right decision is."
Sakura hugged the woman tightly. "You will always be my 'Nee-chan."
Nakuru returned the hug, a smile appearing on her face. "So, Sakura... the picture on the bathroom wall..."
zZz
The next morning, Sakura made sure to wake up extra early to run an important errand. She took a quick shower, slipped into an outfit for the day, and quietly tiptoed out of the apartment; making sure not to wake up her sister-in-law (or soon to be ex-sister-in-law). She glanced around in all directions before looking behind a flowerpot outside Syaoran's apartment, remembering what he had said about an extra key to his apartment.
Sakura almost had the key when suddenly...
"What are you doing?" a voice said behind her.
She jumped, hitting her head into the wall. "Hoee! That hurts..."
Nakuru looked at her strangely. "What are you doing out here, Sakura?"
"I was... er... going to take a walk around the um... neighborhood then I saw a cockroach and I was er... trying to um... look for it."
And she won the award for coming up with the lamest excuse of the century.
"There are cockroaches in this place? We should complain to the health department," said Nakuru.
Great.
Yue was going to kill Sakura for her excuse.
"N-No, it's okay. Let's just go." Sakura headed towards her apartment.
"But I thought you're going to walk around the neighborhood."
Sakura turned back and headed for the elevator. "Y-Yeah! I am."
"Great! You can show me around, and then we can get lunch together!"
"Yeah... great." Sakura muttered quietly.
zZz
The next day...
Sakura poured herself a glass of milk while looking at the message on her phone. She quickly gulped the glass down and grabbed the garbage bag she had beside her on the floor.
"I'm taking out the trash, okay?" she called out to her sister.
"Okay!"
Sakura practically ran out the door and down the hall to the elevator, getting in just before the doors closed.
"You could've waited!" she sneered at the other man.
"That's for not showing up yesterday."
Sakura sighed. "I was looking for the key, and my sister showed up. Then she dragged me all around town, and we didn't get home until after dark."
"Were you tired?"
"Yes." Sakura answered. "Syaoran, we haven't pressed a button yet."
"You're right." He suddenly pressed the twelfth floor button. "What do you know? Clumsy me."
Sakura giggled. "You are so corny."
"And do you know what that rhymes with?" he smirked.
"Syaoran, don't you dare—!"
He reached over from where he was standing to grab her hand. "I'm just kidding, Sakura." He said as they held hands, separated by a garbage bag between them. "What should we do next? You can't take out the trash every day."
"I'm doing the laundry tomorrow." Sakura said just as the elevator stopped moving and the doors slid open.
Yue stared at the two with a weird look before noticing the garbage bag on the floor. "This is the twelfth floor," he said in a monotone voice. "The garbage bin is on the ground floor."
Syaoran smirked. "We know."
The silver-haired man snorted and stepped into the elevator.
"Yue..." Syaoran muttered. "Take the stairs."
And with that, he pushed the other man out of the elevator before closing the doors.
zZz
The day afterward...
Sakura and Syaoran stood beside each other, each with a different magazine in their hands as they waited for their "laundry" to be done.
"You know you're only washing a pair of socks." Sakura said to him behind her magazine.
"Was too lazy to gather my dirty laundry," he replied. "And Yue wouldn't let me in if I didn't have anything to wash."
He pointed to his bare feet.
"You're really something."
"How's your sister?"
"She's actually taking the situation a lot better than I thought she would." Sakura sighed. "If you don't count the crying at night when she thinks I'm not around, I say she's doing pretty good."
"Why don't you try talking to your brother? Tell him to persuade her."
"Because knowing my brother, he's probably miserable right now. And because they're both hardheaded chumps, they won't listen to anybody. Otherwise, my Otou-san would've talked them out of it, but he knows how stubborn they are so he didn't."
"Everything will work out. Don't worry." Syaoran assured her quietly.
"Yeah..."
"Eriol's party is tomorrow." He said while flipping through his magazine, looking for the good stuffs. "Meiling wants you to come over for dinner tonight."
"Got any ideas for excuses?" Sakura asked.
"If my socks just happen to get mixed up with your laundry, it's only polite if you return them to me... right?"
Sakura glanced down at his feet. "You're barefooted."
"If you want, I can just wash my pants or shirt and we can use that instead of my socks." He said. "Then all these women can gaze at my naked chest or my underwear."
"On the other hand!" she quickly said. "You have plenty of spare socks left."
Syaoran grinned. "And when you return the socks to me, I'd thank you by inviting you to stay for dinner. It's foolproof."
"Man, you two are pathetic!" Yue was standing behind them all along, listening into their conversation and trying not to laugh his ass off. He walked off, snickering to himself.
"Come over at eight."
She nodded lightly. "Oh, and Syaoran?"
"Hm?"
"Did you have to bring a bikini magazine to read?"
zZz
"Hey, Sakura, let's go out tonight!"
"W-what?"
"Let's go out tonight!" The woman just had to pick one minute before eight o'clock to suggest the idea. "C'mon! Let's go eat meals cooked by someone else."
Sakura sighed. Forty-five seconds until eight.
"Okay... let's go." She gave in. "But I have to return something to Syaoran."
"What?"
"His socks mixed with my laundry this afternoon." She said, holding up the pair of socks.
"We'll just drop by, give it to him, and go!" Nakuru was dragging Sakura out the door before she could say anything.
The women stood outside in the hall as they waited for someone to open the door after ringing the doorbell. The door opened up and Syaoran was seen with a look that said 'What the hell is your sister doing here?' to Sakura.
"Can I help you?" he said instead.
Sakura smiled nervously. "Your socks mixed with my laundry this afternoon."
Syaoran took the socks from Sakura. "Thank you." What he really meant was 'So do I still invite you to dinner?'.
"You're welcome." And what she meant was 'I don't know'.
"Sakura, aren't you going to come in?" Meiling came to the door.
Sakura quickly looked at Syaoran as if telling him to do something before her sister got suspicious.
"Why don't you two join us for dinner?" he asked.
Meiling was confused. "Didn't you tell me you already invited—" Syaoran quickly put a hand over her mouth.
"We were just planning to go out to eat," said Nakuru. "We wouldn't want to intrude on you..."
"It is not a problem at all!" Syaoran pushed Meiling into the kitchen and invited the women in.
"May I use your restroom to wash my hands?" Nakuru asked politely.
Syaoran directed the woman to the bathroom and waited for her to be out of sight before pulling Sakura into the kitchen. "What happened?" he asked.
"She suggested we go out to eat all of a sudden!"
"Who is she?" Meiling asked.
"My sister-in-law."
The black head made an 'oh' shape with her mouth. "What's the problem? Doesn't she know you two are going out?" Sakura and Syaoran both looked at the floor. "You're not serious!"
Syaoran threw a hand over her mouth. "She's going through a divorce."
"What?"
Sakura nodded.
"I still don't see why you two aren't telling her though," the black head commented. "Not like your relationship is causing the divorce."
Sakura knew that Meiling brought up a very good point. She looked at Syaoran closely, finding a strange expression on his face. He gave her a soft smile and said, "Let's just eat dinner. I hardly saw you this week, let's not worry about things that just aren't important."
Forcing up a smile, Sakura walked over to the round table and sat down beside Syaoran. Nakuru walked into the room a few seconds later and seated herself between Sakura and Meiling. "Thank you for inviting us," she said.
Meiling smiled. "I'm not much of a cook. I hope you won't mind."
"My name is Akizuki Nakuru," the woman introduced herself. "I don't think I've introduced myself properly."
Nee-chan... Sakura thought. She used her maiden name.
"Li Meiling. I'm Syaoran's cousin."
As if reading Sakura's thoughts, Syaoran reached under the table to hold her hand reassuringly—letting her know that everything was going to be okay.
Sitting beside her then and holding her hand was a man that had never failed to bring a smile to her face—but yet, she was lying to him, and she was lying to her family.
What was wrong with her?
She was always panicking, afraid that her affair would leak out. She was always worrying about herself. Even when her own sister-in-law had come to her with a problem, she hardly did anything to help. She had only worried about being caught.
Was she that kind of person—the kind that only worried about themselves?
She didn't stop to think about how Syaoran—her boyfriend—had felt, just because he didn't say anything. She knew that he was probably wondering why they had to keep their relationship a secret—they didn't have a reason to.
She took his silence for granted, thinking that he was okay with everything. But it wasn't until she had stopped thinking about herself for a minute to look at him and realized how disappointed he was.
She felt an aching pain in her heart when she saw the smile on Syaoran's face.
"Sakura, is everything okay?" Meiling asked. "You haven't touched your dinner. Is the food bad?"
"N-no! That's not it!" Sakura quickly regained herself together. "Nee-chan...?"
Nakuru looked up from her dinner. "Hm?"
"I don't think I introduced Syaoran properly to you," she said. She felt a squeeze from Syaoran as if saying she didn't have to do it. She turned to look at him. "It's okay."
Syaoran looked at Nakuru and nodded politely.
"Nee-chan, this is Li Syaoran... he's my boyfriend."
Nakuru fell out of her chair.