I'm In Love with a Plumber
Rule Number Ten:
It's human nature that when someone was hurt in the past,
You do not want to hurt them again.
oOo
Sakura woke up the next morning with a weird feeling in her stomach. Was it all a dream? She remembered something about Syaoran asking her to be his girlfriend, and then... Oh Kami-sama!!! I agreed to be his girlfriend!
She was so screwed.
Hoeeeee!
She buried her head under the pillow and screamed as loud as she could, letting out her frustration.
"Sakura?"
She glanced over to the door and found her boyfriend standing in the doorway with a spatula in his hand. "Good morning," she said, weakly, forcing up a smile.
He gave her a weird look, but decided to shrug it off. "Breakfast will be ready soon."
Sakura sighed heavily when he was no longer in sight.
Did she say that she was so screwed?
She was so screwed.
"Oh, Kami-sama..." she groaned.
Sakura decided that God was most unkind to her because he gave her a defective conscience. Where was her stupid conscience when she needed it most? Where was her stupid conscience when she decided to evacuate Syaoran's apartment? If her conscience had stopped her like it was supposed to—which it did not—then she didn't have to live with the man. If she didn't live with the man, she wouldn't have fallen for him. And if she didn't fall for him, then she wouldn't be lying there and blaming God.
Curses on her conscience.
zZz
Sakura walked out into the living room, taking a seat on the couch, and observed Syaoran closely with a special attention towards everything that he did—from flipping the eggs to washing the dishes and all that. She wanted to know what was going through his mind; but so far, she got nothing.
Unlike the man, she wasn't born with extrasensory perception.
"Syaoran, how old are you exactly?" she found herself asking.
"Thirty-three." She almost choked upon hearing his answer. He was twelve years older than she was?! "Does age matter?"
"No, b-but..."
He laughed. "I'm twenty-five, Sakura."
Sakura sighed in relief. That sounds better—much better.
"Syaoran, about what you said last night, are you sure...? Like I mean... we are moving kind of fast 'cause we've only known each other for like a week and all of a sudden, we're dating?" Sakura started babbling without taking a moment to breathe. "I woke up this morning and everything seemed like a dream to me. I could hardly believe it... I mean... I've never pictured myself getting together with a guy like you before."
"A guy like me?"
"You're like a hot dog and bun that every woman dreams of having!" Syaoran turned to give her somewhat of a weird look.
Okay. So maybe she shouldn't have used that analogy.
He took off the apron, and walked over to where Sakura was, taking her hands into his and sat down in front of her. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable, Sakura—just tell me what you want to do, and I will respect your decision."
"I'm not really uncomfortable," Sakura said. "It's just I'm not used to the idea of having a boyfriend and all at the moment. You're my first, you know... I guess you can say that I'm just... erm... nervous about the whole dating thing cause I don't have any experience."
"You're my first, too."
Sakura smiled lightly when she was reminded of the little information. "I'm like far from the first girlfriend you thought of having, right?"
He chuckled softly. "Well, you're definitely far from the girls I usually pick up."
Oh, yes. He just had to remind her that he had a lot of one-night stands and flings with lots of women. Wonderful.
Note to self: Pry him into telling the number of women he had 'been with' later on... in the future... soon.
"But you're special," he continued. "And just who I want to be for my first girlfriend."
Sakura just kind of stared at him with a goofy smile on her face. She was really touched by his answer. But she wasn't sure what to do or how to respond. Should she hug him or kiss him—how did he expect her to respond?
What would he have thought if she hugged him? Would he have thought that she didn't like him as much or what? Was it too early in their relationship to kiss him? After all, they had only been together 'officially' for about six or seven hours. On the other hand, he’d kissed her before—but did that mean she could kiss him?
Why in the freaking world was relationship so freaking complicated?
Who in their right mind came up with such things as hugging, kissing, and holding hands anyway? Couldn't they have stuck to the simple and ever so easy to use expressional phrases, also known as 'I like you' and 'I love you'? Some people just loved to complicate everything.
"If we're done talking," he pulled her up gently. "Breakfast is getting cold."
They sat down at the table and started eating their breakfast in silence. Sakura would glance at him every chance that she thought he wasn't paying attention. The silence was killing her. They were a couple. They shouldn't have to eat in silence. They should be having lively conversations! But it was hard to have a conversation when she had nothing in her mind.
Hm. He chews with his left side, then right side, then back to his left side, and then he swallows.
Okay. Why was she paying attention to his chewing pattern? Don't ask.
She watched as he bit a piece of his bacon. Left, right, left, and swallow.
He bit another piece of his bacon, and the routine started all over again. Left. Right. Left. Swallow. After a few more minutes of watching him eat and admiring his 'chewing', Sakura started to discover a pattern in his drinking too.
Wow, she thought. Everything he did had like a pattern or something.
It was kind of amusing actually.
Sakura tried to force down the urge to giggle; but unfortunately, her attempt failed miserably, catching the attention of her companion. Syaoran looked at her strangely, his eyebrows hiding somewhere behind the bangs hanging over his face.
"S-sorry," she bowed her head in embarrassment. "D-Do you think you can chew again...please?"
And she officially lost her mind.
"Okay," Syaoran put down his fork. "What's so amusing? You've been staring at my face and trying not to giggle."
"N-nothing," Sakura said. "I was just bored out of my mind because of the silence."
"And you found entertainment on my face?"
She smiled innocently. "It's not on your face really..."
"What is it that's entertaining you?"
"It's your chewing," Sakura answered, feeling very stupid for telling him that.
"My what?"
"Your chewing," she said again. "You have like a pattern to it. You chew on your left side, then the right side, left side again, and then you swallow. You do that every time."
"And that entertained you?"
"For a while..."
Oh, Kami-sama... he must think I'm some weirdo now.
Wonderful.
His first girlfriend is a freak who observes his chewing.
Of all the time she could've been utterly crazy and stupid, she just had to be a weirdo that morning. She was surprised when he started chuckling and went back to eating his breakfast.
"You better start eating so I can find some sort of pattern in your chewing as well," he said.
Sakura giggled. "Good luck with that."
"I will find one... eventually."
"Does this mean you will be staring at my face all the time while I'm eating?"
He smirked. "Oh, I don't think I'd mind looking at you all the time."
Sakura blushed at the slightly hinted meaning behind his comment.
Day 1 being Li Syaoran's girlfriend note one: Oh yeah... he's definitely a charmer.
zZz
"Good morning. How may I help you today?"
Sakura followed Syaoran into the small bakery from earlier, wondering why he took her there. After breakfast, he mentioned something about 'having their first date'. This was what he meant by their first date—going to a small, rundown bakery down the street?
"Syaoran, you're a little late this morning," said the old woman. "I thought you wouldn't come today."
"I had to wait on someone." Sakura felt embarrassed when he suddenly looked at her teasingly. When he told her that they were going on their first date, she had to get ready—and she meant that she had to get ready. It took her at least half an hour or so to choose something nice to wear and put on her make-up.
Whoever said being a woman was an easy thing? It was not easy at all.
"Hi, there! Welcome back," the old woman greeted her.
Sakura bowed politely to her. "T-thank you."
"Have you two met?" Syaoran asked.
"I was here yesterday when you bought the cake," Sakura answered. "Come to think of it... you were the rude jerk who bumped into me and walked off!"
"That was you?" Syaoran rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oops."
Sakura scoffed at him.
The old woman looked at the two with a lost expression on her face. Syaoran put an arm around Sakura's shoulder and said with a smile, "This is Sakura. She's my girlfriend."
Judging from the tone of voice that Syaoran was using, Sakura guessed that he respected the old woman a lot and thought she should do the same thing. She bowed to the woman again—this time much more polite than last time and with her full respect towards the old woman.
"Oh, Syaoran, this is wonderful news!" the woman cried in joy, quickly giving Sakura a warm hug. "Syaoran, take your girlfriend to the back while I prepare the tea."
Sakura exchanged a quick glance at Syaoran as if asking him what was going on. "I'll explain in a minute," he whispered and led her through the back door. She followed him into a small cozy room that had many pictures hanging on the walls. "I come here every Sunday morning to have tea with Otaka-san," he said. "It has been a tradition ever since Meiling and I came back to the country."
"Meiling lived out of the country, too?" Sakura asked as she looked at some of the pictures hanging on the walls.
"Remember when I said that she was a runaway princess?" he said. "Ran away from home and followed me to Japan."
Sakura giggled lightly. "Have to admire her will. Are these pictures of you as a child?"
"Some were taken before my mom and I moved to America and some were taken in America."
"What is your relationship with the owner of this bakery?"
"She used to be my nanny," he answered. Sakura noticed a slight change in his voice. He didn't sound as happy as he was a moment ago. "She was with me most of my childhood years, and she watched over me after my mother's death. She moved back here when I entered college."
"She's very nice," said Sakura. "I'm amazed that she's running this place all by herself."
Before their conversation could have continued any longer, a very hyper black head ran into the room while screaming, "Obaa-san told me you brought your girlfriend over—Who!? Who?! WHO?!"
Syaoran tried to pry his arm away from the girl, and pointed over to where Sakura was standing with sweat drops down the side of her face.
"H-hello," she greeted nervously.
"Y-you two are d-dating?" the black head seemed speechless. "R-really?"
Sakura nodded. Syaoran held onto Meiling's ponytail before the girl could attempt to smother the breath out of Sakura. "You're forbidden to have any sweets this morning," he said. "Getting too hyper for my liking."
"Aren't you a stick in the mud?" the smaller girl remarked, and the cousins engaged themselves into a friendly argument.
Sakura decided to ignore them and went back to looking at the pictures on the walls. She tried to suppress her giggles while looking at some of Syaoran's childhood pictures. He had went through a lot of changes since he was a little kid—although, he still had that enigmatic look in his eyes that she couldn't seemed to understand. Most of the pictures were of him and his nanny; there were some of him and Meiling also. The girl definitely hadn't changed at all throughout the years. She still wore her hair in two ponytails, and her liveliness still showed in her expressions.
All of the pictures intrigued Sakura, but one in particular captured her eyes immediately. Sitting on a small table by itself in the corner was a framed picture of Syaoran and another woman, whom Sakura guessed to be his mother. The thing that really surprised her about the picture was that Syaoran and his mother were standing at least a foot apart from each other. She didn't feel any warmth between the two, and Syaoran's eyes were darker than usual. There was no smile on his smile, and a smile wasn't visible on his mother's face either.
For a moment, Sakura felt as though they were trapped within themselves. She had never seen Syaoran looking like that before—the Syaoran that she knew was always smiling or flirting. Was this another side to him?
"Tea is ready!" Otaka-san carried a big tray into the room, setting the cups of tea and plates of sweets onto the table. "It's wonderful having you over this morning, Sakura."
Sakura smiled politely and took her seat beside Syaoran at the table. "Thank you for having me. I hope it's not causing you too much trouble."
Meiling snorted. "Oh, please stop with the politeness! You don't have to suck up to Obaa-san just because you're dating Syaoran."
The girl's remark earned a smack from both her cousin and Otaka-san. "I told your parents they shouldn't have spoiled you too much."
"I'm not spoiled!" the black head pouted childishly.
Syaoran stuffed a doughnut into her mouth. "This should keep you quiet for at least five seconds."
"They act like kids all the time," Otaka-san turned to say to Sakura.
"How long have you had the place?" Sakura asked, looking around the room. "It has an antique appeal to it."
The old woman smiled and said, "I've lived in this place as long as I can remember. The business was passed down from my great-grandparents to my grandparents, then my parents, and then my generation." There was a long pause before she continued. "And then I will pass it to Syaoran to carry on the tradition."
The room suddenly turned into stilled silence, except for Syaoran's voice. "Just sell the place," he said impassively.
"I will do no such thing!" the old woman cried out immediately, outraged that he even said such a thing.
Syaoran didn't say anything after that, and neither did everyone else. Sakura sat uncomfortably in her seat, looking between Syaoran and Otaka-san as she felt tension brewing in the air.
Silence continued to fill the atmosphere of the room, and Sakura didn't dare to make any sort of conversation, afraid that she would say the wrong thing. One moment, everyone was smiling and drinking tea; then the next, they were either looking at their feet or the ceiling—were the objects that interesting?
The tension eased up a bit when Syaoran excused himself after Yue called and asked him to fix his cable. Sakura offered to go with him, but he said he would just leave the women to their talk—not like there was a conversation in the first place. Otaka-san left a few moments later also, saying that she had to tend to the shop.
"Sorry about that," said the remaining girl. "You must've felt really uncomfortable about that, right?"
Sakura smiled lightly. "A little bit. Do you mind me asking what that was about?"
"Syaoran and I come to this place every Sunday morning to have tea with Otaka-san—that much he probably told you already." Sakura nodded. "Otaka-san is Syaoran's real grandmother, but he refuses to call her 'obaa-san'. It's not that he refuses to acknowledge her as his grandmother. It's just that he can't accept that fact... yet. Syaoran's mother—my auntie—became pregnant while dating his father..."
"Then he left her, right?"
The black head nodded slowly. "Otaka-san forced her son to leave Syaoran's mother after she found out about the pregnancy. Auntie's parents disowned her, calling her a disgrace to the family, and she was left to have the baby on her own. Syaoran's father died about a year after. After his death, Otaka-san was willing to take Syaoran and his mother in, but she made a clear statement that she will never accept the woman as her daughter in-law or the child as her grandson. She said that she was merely doing charity by taking them in and feeling sorry for them."
"But then she grew to love him?"
"Yeah... a lot."
"When did he found out the truth?"
"After his mother's death. She died when he was fifteen."
"Is that his mother right there?" Sakura pointed to the picture on the small table in the corner.
Meiling nodded with a smile. "Wasn't she pretty?"
"Why are they so...?" Sakura couldn't find the exact word to describe what she wanted to ask.
"Distant?" the other girl offered a hand. "Auntie was more of a coach figure than a mother figure to Syaoran. She was very strict on him. Growing up, Syaoran looked at his mother as an authority figure, but he also respected her—and as much as he denied it, he loved her. After his mother's death, Syaoran was lost for a long time... He didn't know what to do with his life because there was no one to give him orders or tell him what steps to take and how many steps he should take."
"Didn't help much when he found out the truth, right?"
"Yeah..." Meiling said. "He forgave his grandmother, but he couldn't accept the fact that her actions separated his parents."
"If I didn't hear these words from you today myself, I would never have thought that his life had been so hard."
"Syaoran came a very long way to get to where he is today... Sakura, can I ask you a favor?"
Sakura gave the girl a warm smile and a gentle nod. "Anything."
"I've seen him getting hurt in the past, and I love this cousin of mine..." the girl continued slowly. "Please, Sakura..."
Sakura wasn't sure what the girl was asking her to do. "Meiling...?"
"Promise me you won't hurt him... please."
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