Chapter Twelve : The Marriage Demand
The nagging sound of water running was playing through her head. Each drop sounding like it was a cannon, coupled with the acerbic aftertaste of vomit her mouth and Sakura knew she’d gotten well and truly drunk.
Rather than give into the temptation to simply snuggle back into the covers and try and sleep off whatever after effects her night of heavy drinking had produced, she pulled herself up and looked groggily around the room.
She did a double take.
This wasn’t her room.
It didn’t look like her room in any way.
In fact it looked like a very spacious hotel suite.
With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach she rubbed her eyes trying to rid herself of the image.
Looking again she silently cursed. Still there.
Well it looked like she was going to have to wait to find out what the hell was going on. Deciding to order some room service while she waited seemed like a good idea.
Reaching for the phone she stopped staring at her hand.
“Oh fuck no!”
I I I I I
An hour later the bathroom door opened. The shower had stopped forty-five minutes ago. Random cursing could be heard half an hour ago, around the same time the cursing stopped room service had arrived and it had begun again. Hastily signing for the meal and ushering the attendant out of the room Sakura had decided that she felt like screaming.
When the door had finally opened, Sakura had already started on her breakfast, making her way through the abundance of scrambled eggs, extra crispy bacon, danishes, pastries, fruit and juice and chocolate milk.
She’d been quite happy to order more food than they would eat, her own personal punishment for the man who had stepped out of the room. Even with the knowledge that a costly feast such as this wouldn’t even dent his bank account.
“Syaoran.”
He glanced at her, annoyance cutting his features like a blade. His gaze didn’t remain on her however, instead flicking down to the table full of food before wandering over.
“Nothing to say?” Sakura queried deceptively lightly.
She was fuming, the arrogant jerk had gotten her drunk and then taken advantage of her and now he was sitting there refusing to talk.
He glanced at her nonchalantly. “I don’t think there’s much more that can be said, do you?”
“So we’re-?” She cut off, unable to voice the thoughts that were currently swimming around in her head.
A cool dispassionate stare met this outburst and the voice behind it was equally dispassionate as he finished her previous thought. “Married? I’m afraid so.”
Nervous and frightened beyond belief Sakura blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I want an annulment!”
His face tightened at this statement and he waved a careless hand in the direction of the bed, “I don’t think that’s possible darling, you left behind a little present for the hotel staff to gossip about.”
Face flaming Sakura hid in the only thing she had left, her anger. “How the fuck did this happen!”
“We got very drunk Sakura.” Noticing her expression he sneered, “Or did you think that I would say that I had drugged you in order to have my way with you and instead found myself to be deeply in love and thus inclined to marry you?”
With the disturbing flash in his otherwise calm expression Sakura refrained from telling him that it was exactly what she had thought, although not in so many words.
Standing she decided that a bath was what she needed in order to calm down slightly.
“We’re leaving here after breakfast.” He called behind her back.
Rolling her eyes Sakura settled herself into the bathroom with her clothes and towel, locked the door, and settled down to wait.
I I I I I
“Did you have to make it sound so intimate!” Sakura demanded following closely behind the already fuming Syaoran, “Couldn’t you have just told them the truth?”
He whirled around, his patience long past the breaking point. “And what was the truth Sakura, my wife is having a bitch moment and refuses to leave the hotel!”
Neither of them were paying attention to the fact that they were currently fighting it out in the main hall of the house, or that a large group had assembled to watch the fight.
“If you had just waited instead of being so pig-headed!”
Oh yeah, Sakura was extremely pissed.
“That is enough!” the voice cracked out like a whip.
Sakura glanced over to be met by the intimidating figure of Li Yelen, Syaoran’s mother.
A blush spread instantaneously across her features as she gazed at the regal looking woman.
“Mother.” Syaoran responded stiffly.
The woman sent them both an accessing look before throwing a careless hand in the direction of the living room and saying sharply, “Sit, both of you.”
Closing her eyes in remorse for a moment Sakura wandered into the living room after Syaoran, careful to take a seat on the opposite side of the room to him.
“Now.” Yelan commented, sitting in the armchair facing them both, “You are going to sit down and work out what you can do to fix the mess you’ve managed to get yourselves into.”
Syaoran was the first to break the icy silence that had fallen upon their gathering, “We’ll get a divorce.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort.”
Sakura turned to gaze at the old woman incredulously.
“I will not have this family made a mockery off by your irresponsive behaviour. There will be no divorce for the moment. Instead you two are going to sit down and take responsibility for your actions. If in a month you haven’t managed to figure anything out then we will consider the issue of divorce.”
She couldn’t believe her ears. She was being forced to stay in a marriage that she couldn’t consent to with a man who all but hated her.
Before she could open her mouth to force out the denial that she would do anything of the sort Yelan spoke once more.
“I do not care about your private issues, or your feelings. You made this mess, your actions have consequences and now you shall deal with them. Is that understood?”
Silence reigned again for a moment that seemed to last far too long before Syaoran finally spoke.
“Yes mother.”
Face falling Sakura echoed his remark, watching as all the pieces of her carefully constructed life began to fall apart.
I I I I I
Syaoran stayed behind to receive the full lecture from his mother privately as Sakura was lead away by one of the maids so that she could be placed in her new room.
His room.
While he disapproved of his mothers decision he was well aware of the fact that his choices were now limited in what he could and couldn’t chose to do. It was after all his mistake.
“Xiao Lang.” The murmur was quite enough for him to dismiss it, however coming from the woman seated across from him it was unwise to do so.
“Mother?” he queried suppressing all feelings of physical and mental exhaustion and presenting her with a blank façade.
She regarded him with a measure of curiosity and disappointment before sighing. “I would like to see her wearing a proper wedding ring, and an engagement ring.”
It seemed that his mother had taken offence to the cheap silver band currently wrapped around his wife’s finger and wanted a new one. He thought she was about to continue before she simply sighed and directed her gaze towards his own left hand.
Ah, so she was also concerned by his own wedding ring – or lack thereof.
“I’ll make sure its done mother.”
“Good, make sure that you’re also both ready to attend the formal reception in your honour in two weeks time and the informal reception on Friday.”
Three days seemed a small amount of time to prepare oneself for something of that magnitude but knowing he didn’t really have a choice Syaoran nodded standing as his mother did with the assumption that he would be escorting the woman from the room. When she didn’t move he frowned.
“One other thing Xiao Lang. I heard Jason is back in town.”
“He is.” Syaoran acknowledged.
A slight nod of her head accompanied his acknowledgement and she turned leaving the room.
Letting himself run through a string of curses mentally Syaoran went off to find his new wife.
He found her sitting at the vanity looking remorsefully at the cheap band of metal encircling her left ring finger. When she looked up to him he could see a mixture of emotions flit across her face before she controlled her expression.
“I hate you.” She stated it as calmly as someone would state the weather.
“I assure you, the feeling is mutual.” He responded, turning on heel and exiting the room.
I I I I I
Watching his back as he walked away Sakura moved her gaze to the phone sitting on the table. Well she couldn’t put it off forever…
Picking it up she began to type in a number only to have it go off in her hand. Pressing enter she placed it cautiously to her ear.
“Hello?”
“What the fuck is going on Sakura?”
Crap.
Tracing the forefinger of her other hand across the surface of the table she said hesitantly, “Well you see Touya, I’m kinda – how should I put this…um…”
“Married?” he finished acerbically for her.
Cringing she answered, “So it’s already been on the news huh?”
Distantly she heard the ringing of the doorbell but ignored it, focussing her attention on the delicate conversation she was having with her brother.
“News, newspapers, even fucking magazines Sakura.”
“Oh.” Was her intelligent response, in an attempt to soothe his temper she said quietly, “You’ll come to visit me won’t you?”
Grudgingly he replied that he would and she gave a sigh of relief, talking it through with him a moment longer before switching off the phone and sighing.
A dramatic sigh sounded behind her and she whirled to look at the ebony haired beauty sitting on the bed.
“Moyo.” She stated before bursting into tears and running at the girl.
“Hey gorgeous,” Tomoyo murmured, standing and encircling her in her arms. “Shhh,” she soothed.
After another five minutes Sakura’s sobbing was reducing to a small hiccoughing and she stepped back slightly and looked at the other girl, “Why are you here?”
Tomoyo smiled, “Eriol got a bit disturbed by something he saw on the news and so he booked in a flight for today, knowing that I wouldn’t let him come without him he got me one too.”
“Eriol’s here?” she asked shakily.
“Yup, he’s gone to have a little fun with Syaoran.”
Pulling the other girl to the bed next to her she had Sakura relay the whole story of her marriage.
I I I I I
Syaoran did a double take as the figure standing in his living room doorway looked at him.
“Well you do know how to make a mess of things don’t you Syaoran?” Eriol queried, “Can I come in.”
“No.”
He did anyway, sitting on the chair opposite, a smile plastered to his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“So, when’s the reception?”
“You’re not invited.”
“Aww, now come on Syaoran, play nice.” Eriol whined.
“Why don’t you just piss off Eriol?” Syaoran snapped, not in the mood to deal with the devil today.
The sapphire eyed boy contemplated this for a moment, “No, I don’t think I will.”
“Of course you wont.” Syaoran muttered to himself.
The living room was once again silent until two laughing girls entered, Tomoyo sent a curious glance between Syaoran and Eriol before shrugging.
Looking at her Eriol’s eyes seemed to light up. “Moyo, he was being mean to me!”
“Get over it.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Too bad.”
“I don’t think Syaoran likes me very much.”
“Suck it up.”
“He hasn’t even offered us a room to stay tonight.”
“I don’t care.”
Syaoran watched this exchange with amazement, wondering how exactly the young woman standing before him had managed to tame the devil.
“You are of course welcome here tonight Miss Daidouji. On the other hand, Eriol if you plan to stay here you’ll be leaving in a hearse.”
“Everyone’s so cruel to me,” he pouted.
“You deserve it.” Tomoyo responded, nevertheless she sat on his lap as Sakura sat across from them next to Syaoran.
Syaoran grinned at someone finally getting a one-up in his cousin. Tomoyo had to be the first and only person to have ever been able to tame the man sitting across from him. Oh he was happy to let Tomoyo stay for as long as she liked.
“Oh by the way Sakura, have you called your father yet?” Tomoyo queried.
“…”
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