Throughout the entire meeting, Sasuke couldn't stop thinking about Sakura.
He was even more pissed off at her than ever. She slapped Karin. She argued with him. She didn't even attend this meeting. She went with Gaara.
It was just anger after anger after anger. He swore he would explode from all the emotions he was feeling.
After the meeting was over, he called in Fugaku's office, leaving a message that he'll be taking a day off from the company. Sasuke went out to his car and proceeded to drive home.
Just as he was starting to drive, his phone rang. (A/N: it's his extra phone since his cellphone was left at Karin's house ;) ). He looked at the caller I.D. and immediately answered it.
"Karin?"
"Sasuke...can we hang out today?"
"But...last night, we already..." Sasuke bit his lower lip, unable to say it.
"Ugh, I just want to spend the day with you. I know it's still early and the paparazzi could be following you anywhere, but I want to see you. Can we just meet somewhere in private?"
"Karin...it's not that I don't want to, but I just have a lot of things on my mind. I can't meet you right now," Sasuke sighed.
"Fine! I see how it is!"
"Really, I'm stressed out and I need a break right now. Besides, we just saw each other this morning..."
"A break? From me?"
"You know that's not what I meant..."
"Then meet with me!"
"Karin-,"
"At my house, ok? It's the safest place." she hung up.
Sasuke groaned and rolled his eyes. It's not that he didn't want to meet her...it's just...well, ok, he really didn't want to meet her right now, considering how things were going lately, but what the h*ll...he had to.
"Ah, geez..." he sighed in frustration and drover to her place.
Sakura blinked a few times. Did he just really ask her that?
"Gaara...I.I don't...I don't think I can answer that.."
"Why? Is it because you really in love with him?"
Sakura shook her head. "No...it's just...I don't know yet."
Gaara frowned. "There's supposed to be no-,"
"-love in this marriage," Sakura finished. "But I know that I care for him more than I should.. and I really don't know what these feelings are. I don't want to know,"
The light turned green and Gaara stepped on the gas.
"...if you don't want to know...then I'm not going to stop."
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "What?"
"I'm not going to stop," Gaara repeated. "Until you're mine...I'm going to keep pursuing you until the end of this marriage,"
Sakura blushed. "Why...?"
Gaara just smirked, "Well, obviously, Sakura...because I like you,"
Sakura gulped and looked away nervously. Wow. He just admitted it like it was nothing.
Gaara hesitated, but slowly, he reached over and grabbed her hand.
Sakura was too nervous to move, so she stayed frozen, looking outside the window.
Seeing that she made no move to pull away, he made a small smile and entangled his fingers around hers.
Sakura couldn't help but think of Sasuke. She remembered the first few times they've held hands and how he had made her heart race. She wondered how life would be like when the marriage ended...she couldn't even imagine it anymore...she couldn't imagine a life without Sasuke. It's like, fiction had become a reality; like he really was her husband; like this marriage was real.
'But it's not...' she reminded herself. '...because it's all going to end in less than 2 months.'
Gaara averted his eyes to her and noticed her troubled expression. It seemed like she's been so stressed out and distant ever since this morning.
'If I were Sasuke...I'd make you smile every day. I could treat you better than he does..' he thought and parked as soon as they reached the cafe. He gently let go of her hand and got out of the car, walking over to her side.
He opened the door and closed it when she got out.
Sakura hung her head low and dug in her bag for her sunglasses and scarf.
Gaara watched in amusement as she put the sunglasses on and wrapping the scarf around her neck, covering her mouth.
"This way, people won't really know it's me.." Sakura explained and smiled.
"Ah." Gaara nodded and reached out his hand to her.
Sakura was hesitant and grabbed her hand anyway, dragging her with him.
"So...what do you want to drink? or eat?" he asked as they both sat at a table with two chairs.
"I'm not really hungry." Sakura shook her head.
Gaara raised an eyebrow. "...Sakura..."
Without warning, he reached over and pressed his palm on her forehead.
"...are you sure you're ok? You're very warm and you look so pale...you looked really tired when you came out of the company earlier, too. If you're sick, tell me."
Sakura just shook her head again. "I'm fine really, Gaara. You said you wanted to talk, right?" she quickly changed the subject.
Gaara sighed, not really believing that she was ok, but he shrugged the feeling off.
"Yea..so..." he paused, thinking for a while. "...about that kiss."
Sakura blushed, recalling the kiss she and Sasuke shared in front of everyone.
"You didn't pull away that time, and I swear I even saw you kissed him back. Was that kiss really just to show your 'relationship' or was it...real?"
Sakura gazed down at her lap. "It was just to show our relationship..." she answered quietly.
"Really?" Gaara could tell she was hiding something. "Tell me the truth, Sakura. You don't have to lie about anything."
She bit her bottom lip and wasn't even sure if she should say it. She wasn't even sure about it. Sasuke said that kiss meant a lot..but he didn't answer what he meant when he said that because Karin called and interrupted. She was growing to dislike Karin the more she thought about it.
Seeing how she had no intention of answering, he decided not to talk about it anymore.
"So, anyway...when this marriage ends..." he stopped for a moment, trying to think of the right words.
"...I'd like you to consider giving me a chance."
Sakura looked up at him with a confused expression.
"As I've said so many times...I won't stop until you're mine. So after this marriage, if you don't mind, I'd like you to consider going out with me. But because you probably won't be able to contact Sasuke again after the divorce, I'll respect your decision if you choose to treat me as a stranger. We'll be in different worlds once you divorce Sasuke. You'll be just another normal girl and Sasuke will soon be the CEO of the company, he'll be collaborating with me and the others, being the heirs in our respective companies."
Sakura had never thought about that. It was true. Once this marriage is over, she would be completely gone from their lives and they would be gone from hers. She would just be another girl they passed by on the street.
Thinking about that, she didn't want to end the marriage now. Be ing friends with Suigetsu and the other guys she didn't want to lose them and Sasuke's parents, as well...they were like her own... she couldn't possibly just leave them. She didn't know if she could bear seeing Mikoto crying once she divorces Sasuke.
Speaking of Sasuke, she knew she would never forget him even if they divorced.
Everything was so complicated now.
Sakura closed her eyes tightly when the sudden throbbing of her head came back. She let out a small gasp and took off her sunglasses, placing her hand over her forehead, trying to massage the pain away.
Gaara immediately stood up and leaned down towards her. "Sakura?" he placed a finger under her chin and raised her head up so she could look at him. His eyes widened when he saw tears at the corner of her eyes.
"My...my head really hurts.." Sakura stuttered.
'I knew it. Something was wrong.' Gaara looked at her worriedly and helped her up.
"Take me home..." she whispered and winced when it felt like the insides of her brain was getting punched.
Without wasting a second, he just suddenly swept off her feet and carried her over to the car, not caring that everyone was looking at him.
He put her in gently and rushed over to the driver's side and drove to Sasuke's house.
Sasuke looked around before getting out of his car.
He walked up the steps and knocked on the door.
As soon as the door opened, Karin jumped out and hugged him.
"What took you so long?"
"I just had to make sure the media wasn't following me," Sasuke replied and looked at her, noticing there was a bandage on her cheek.
"Aaah, I see. Come on...I already told one of the cooks to prepare lunch for us. I feel so bad for you since you have to wake up so early to work at the company, and keep up with school at the same time," Karin linked her arm with his and leaned on his shoulder.
"....so...what did your wife say after I left?" she scoffed.
"Sakura wouldn't apologize. She said it wasn't her fault....she said that... you threatened her. You didn't do that, did you?" Sasuke stared at her.
"Why would I do that?" Karin blinked innocently. "You know I would never do anything like that...don't you trust me, Sasuke?"
Sasuke hugged her shoulders.
"If you say you didn't do it, then, of course, I believe you. I know you wouldn't do that. I just wanted to confirm that she was lying to me." he paused. "So then, why exactly did she slap you?"
'Sh*t' Karin cursed. She didn't think up of an excuse to tell him.
"Um...I...I just told her that you spent the night at my place. She argued that since you're her husband, I have no right to just meet up with you, whenever I like, and I said that you are my husband to be exact... and actually.." Karin had an idea.
"....Actually...she was the one who threatened me. She said if I don't stay away from you. I'll regret it. She'll do something to me if I keep meeting up with you and I didn't even have the time to answer before she slapped me. I just tried to defend our relationship, Sasuke."
Sasuke glared. "Are you serious?"
"Yes! Why would I lie?" Karin crossed her arms. "Besides, you even saw her slap me! I'm telling you the truth! Sasuke, it would be better if you end the marriage sooner. I mean, the news and media will be all up in your business, but they'll calm down within a week. It'll be no big deal."
"I...I can't do that. I have to stick to the original plan. It'll only be 2 more months... just bear with it, Karin."
Karin narrowed her eyes. "Why do you have to?! I bet the only reason why you're not divorcing her sooner is that you probably don't even want to, huh? You want to stay with her instead of marrying me because you don't even love me-,"
"Karin!" Sasuke glared coldly at her.
Karin just let out a pout and rolled her eyes at him
"You know I love you. It's just that things are too complicated right now. I can't just divorce her after I proved our relationship was going fine. It'll be big chaos if I do it too soon. You just have to wait, ok?"
Karin just ignored him and turned away from him.
Sasuke sighed and hugged her from behind.
"Please? For me?" he replied gently and kissed her head.
Ugh...Karin hated it when he did that. She rolled her eyes again, but turned around and pecked him on the cheek.
"Fine,"
"Good..." Sasuke smiled at her as they both went inside the house.
Mikoto told Gaara to bring Sakura into the living room and hurriedly closed the door.
'It'll be bad if this gets out to the public..' she thought as she quickly ran over to the living room.
"Sakura, honey? Are you ok?" Mikoto looked at her worriedly. She looked a little too pale...there wasn't any color on her lips.
"Gaara, how did this happen?"
"I don't know. She looked a little weary when she came inside my car. We went out for some coffee and after a while of talking she just said her head was hurting really bad...so that's why I rushed her over here." Gaara explained, holding Sakura's hand tightly.
Mikoto sighed and took out her phone. She called Sasuke. (A/N: Sasuke's original phone)... but he didn't pick up.
"Where is he? My husband said he'll be home because he wanted a day off, but he's not even here yet."
'Probably with Karin..' Gaara thought and shook his head.
Mikoto called a few more times, but gave up and knelt down beside Sakura.
"Sakura? Why are you so sick? You look so weak," she stroked Sakura's hair softly.
"I...I just didn't get any sleep last night...and...I haven't eaten anything all day-," Sakura inhaled when an excruciating pain went through her head. Gaara held her hand tighter when she whimpered a little.
'D*mmnit, Sasuke...why aren't you answering?' he was texting to Sasuke on his other hand.
"Watch her, ok? I'll go tell the chefs to make some soup-,"
"She needs to go to the doctor. If her head is hurting this much, just a little soup won't help," Gaara suggested.
"Ah, alright," Mikoto agreed and nodded her head. "Take her to the hospital first. I'll call my husband and try to find Sasuke."
Gaara nodded. He picked up Sakura and held her tightly when she grasped onto his shirt.
"Gaara, I don't need to go to the hospital. I'm fine..." Sakura murmured.
"No, you're not. I'm taking you to the hospital whether you like it or not." Gaara simply replied before walking out.
Sasuke waited in the living room while Karin was preparing the dishes for lunch.
'Tch. Sakura's probably having fun on her little date with Gaara...' Sasuke thought scornfully.
He wanted to divorce her because of all the things that are happening.. but there was a part of him that didn't entirely want to part from her yet. He didn't know what that feeling was, and he wasn't sure if he even wanted to know.
Sasuke stood up and was taken by surprise when his foot hit something. He looked down to see his phone placed underneath the couch.
'Did I leave it here last night?' he reached down and picked it up, only to find it was shut off.
'Probably out of battery...?'
He turned it on and realized that the battery was still fully charged.
'Then...why was it off?' he narrowed his eyes.
He checked his phone and gasped when he saw 10 calls from Sakura yesterday and 25 texts.
'So, she wasn't lying...' he was feeling really guilty now. Maybe Sakura was telling the truth after all?
Sasuke continued checking and realized there were 8 recent calls from his mom and 5 texts from Gaara. He dialed Gaara's number and called him
'I wonder why everyone's calling me lately?'
"Sasuke?"
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, rather harshly. He was still a little irritated at Gaara.
"Where the h*ll are you?"
"...I'm with Karin, why?"
"Tch, I knew it. You need to get over here, now!"
"What are you talking about? Why the h*ll would I want to be there with you and Sakura spending time together-,"
"We're at the hospital!"
Sasuke froze. His lips trembled a little.
"W...why?"
"Because it's all your d*mn fault! Sakura just told me everything... you spent the night with Karin and you even did it with her! You're really despicable, you know that? She waited all night for you, she hasn't eaten or drank anything in the last 17 hours and she's even refusing to eat the hospital food. She looks so pale right now and the doctor said she's experiencing really excruciating migraines from the lack of sleep and food intake. Plus, the stress of all the work from the company is building up on her, and adding on top of that, school work, too. She's not used to it, Sasuke!"
Sasuke remembered how she almost fainted earlier at the meeting room...so that wasn't fake? She was really sick.
"Gaara, I'll be right there."
"It's all your f*cking fault. You don't deserve someone as good as her!" Gaara hung up.
Sasuke's hands were shaking as he put down his phone. Without another thought, he turned to go, but someone grabbed his arm.
"Where the h*ll are you going?" Karin narrowed her eyes at him.
"Sakura's at the hospital. I need to go, right now," Sasuke replied quickly and tried to take her hand off his arm.
"She's just probably faking it! Think about it! Right after slapping me, she just suddenly starts getting sick and now she's at the d*mn hospital? That's a little too fake, don't you think?" Karin glared at him.
"I'm sorry Karin, but I have to make sure she's ok," Sasuke once again struggled to go.
"D*mn it, Sasuke! She's faking it!" Karin wouldn't let go of him.
"She's sick because of me! I have to see her!" Sasuke exclaimed.
"If you leave, then I'm breaking up with you!" Karin threatened. She sighed in victory and loosened his grip on him when he suddenly froze.
Sasuke swallowed. Karin's eyes widened when he jerked his arm away from her.
"I'm sorry, Karin..." he replied before running out the door.
Karin stood there in disbelief. Did he just really do that? That was basically saying that it was ok for him if they broke up!
She clenched her hands into fists and glared at the ground.
"...I'll make that girl disappear...just watch, Sasuke.... you two will be broken up very soon..."
Sakura tried to sit up, but Gaara gently pushed her down.
"You need to rest, Sakura..."
Sakura pouted, but she obeyed and leaned back on the bed.
"You have to eat-,"
"I'm not hungry," Sakura interrupted.
"It doesn't matter. You need to eat something," Gaara scolded.
"I don't want to."
"Sakura..." Gaara picked up the food tray. "....I'll feed you if I have to..."
Sakura just shook her head. "I really don't want to eat. Just...leave me along for a while, please?" she closed her eyes and turned so that her back was facing him.
Gaara was about to argue, but he just decided to let it go. She was tired and needed some rest after all... he wouldn't disturb her.
"Then I'll be waiting outside the room," he replied and set the food tray back down before exiting the room.
As soon as she heard the door close, Sakura opened her eyes again. She overheard Gaara's conversation on the phone with Sasuke. She was pissed off that he was with Karin again.
'He probably won't even come..' she thought and fluttered her eyes close when her head was throbbing a little.
'I should...just sleep a little..'
Gaara sat on the waiting chairs with his hands clamped together. He looked at the time and realized it was already 20 minutes after he had made the call to Sasuke.
"Tch. He probably won't even come if he's with Karin.." Gaara shook his head.
He admitted that he was a little jealous of Sasuke. Sakura waited all night for him to come home...and it was all his fault that Sakura was like this.
He was sure that he'll beat Sasuke up once he saw him. He was so irritated about the fact that Sakura knows Sasuke and Karin slept together.
'That bastard... I'll make him pay for hurting her like this...'
Gaara was torn from his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming really fast in his direction. He looked up and was surprised to see an exhausted and worried-looking Sasuke, panting for breath.
"Is she ok?" Sasuke asked immediately.
"So you really came." Gaara stood up and grabbed his collar harshly.
"I'll never forgive you if you do this to her again..." he whispered coldly.
Sasuke didn't pay attention to him.
"You can beat me up all you want later. I admit it's my fault, ok?" he grabbed Gaara's hand and pushed him out of the way.
"I just want to f*cking see her!"
He didn't waste any time as he burst into the room.
Sakura nearly jumped and turned around. Her eyes widened when she saw Sasuke.
Sasuke walked over to her and gazed at her worriedly. Gaara was right...she looked so pale and weak.
"Sakura....?" he bent down slightly and reached for her.
Sakura shivered at his touch when he gently cupped her cheek and caressed it with his thumb.
Meanwhile, Gaara was observing both of them at the back, clearly irritated by the scene, but judging by the look on Sakura's face, he knew she was glad that Sasuke came. Gaara sighed and just closed the door, deciding that it'd be best not to disturb them.
Sakura couldn't believe he actually came. "I...I thought you were with Karin..."
"I was. But I came after I got a call from Gaara. I didn't know that...that you were really sick...and it's because of me...and...." Sasuke was too guilty and was at a loss for words.
"I'm fine, now, Sasuke. You didn't have to come." Sakura replied, but deep down, she was jealous that he probably didn't want to leave Karin.
"Yes, I need to!" Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"I accused you of faking a faint at the meeting room earlier... and...and I didn't even take it seriously when you told me that you hadn't slept or eaten all night...and it's just all my fault..."
Sakura gazed at him and felt his fingers shaking.
"I'm...I'm sorry..." Sasuke looked at her apologetically. "....I would never intentionally hurt you, Sakura....ever..."
Sakura could feel her heartbeat rising. That loving look he was giving her...it couldn't be real. She didn't believe it. It was too good to be true, and she didn't want to be naive and deceive herself.
She grabbed his hand and took it off her cheek.
"...the one hurting....is probably Karin. I was the one who slapped her. You're probably happy I'm in this state. I deserve it for hurting her like that." she replied quietly.
Sasuke didn't know what to say.
"She probably got mad because you came, right? I'm fine now, so you could go back to her and apologize...Gaara's taking care of me anyway." Sakura forced a smile on him "It's not your fault. It was my own stupidity because I waited for you...and...I shouldn't even be angry because you slept with her... after all, she's going to be your real wife."
Sakura ushered him to go and gently pushed him away.
Sasuke hesitated to go, but he turned around and placed his hand on the doorknob.
Sakura looked away and let out a shaky sigh. She honestly wanted to burst out saying that she wanted him to stay...that she didn't want him to go back to Karin...but then, seeing him give her that worried look, she couldn't bear to see it again. It made her feel so pitiful that she made him feel guilty.
Sasuke slowly turned the doorknob, but stopped and glanced back at her. He gazed at her and completely went stiff when he saw her tears drip down from her eyes.
'She's...she's crying....'
He took his hand off the doorknob and turned around to face her.
When Sakura saw him at the corner of her eyes, she looked up, surprised that he didn't leave yet.
Sasuke gazed at her and slowly, he once again reached for her, but this time...he wiped away her tears.
Sakura opened her mouth to say something but gasped when Sasuke suddenly pulled her into an embrace.
"S...Sasuke...?" she blushed.
"Don't cry. I'll stay with you..." he paused, not believing that he's even saying this right now.
"...because right now, you're more important than her."
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