My Husband’s Wedding
Witch-Mistress-Animaru
A/N: Yay, I'm officially sixteen just yesterday. And I got my wish gift: A set of Tarot cards from my indulgent big brother. (Love you kuya! Ha-ha, as if he'll be reading this...) Anyway, thanks for the wonderful handful reviews of last chapter. Lemon again, ha-ha. But this chapter is quite safe... (Sorry to disappoint lemon-lovers out there...) Here goes my litany!
Thanks to: Sakura-Jr17, Black-Kat-585, VcChick, insanity ward, firegoddess372, Crystal Butterfly, Anime-Lover-Forever2007, ori-chan,cherriblossomxz, MistressMizu, meow-mix23, Lil LoveStar, Sakuralover, Wolfblossom89, animefreakkagome, MizUnapproachable, kianvelez, Musette Fujiwara, thereviewergirl, Miyu, bellcicle, Lauren, coriel, NekoKahime, TRC3T, Kogome-cutie, teenureen, Lyphta, Filipina-baller09, neogalaxy, Hikari Blaze, J. F. Mitchell, ashley-chan, syaoran101, and pollyhi5.
Note: My Husband's Wedding will have a sequel. And I'm warning you that a character will die in this story to give way to the sequel. It just...came to my mind. Kaho is 5 months pregnant in the chapter that she shows up again. Okay, okay. I give in. The sequel will be Touya-Meiling. Get it? And it'll be totally independent of this fic, and vice-versa. But I'm including connections in the story every now and then. The epilogue of this story will also be the epilogue of that story. Just watch out for it, after I'm through with this one.
Endorsement! Please Read and Review my other fanfic, Beloved Enemy. It's really my first fan fiction ever made (Even before this one), so please help me with it...
Now onto this chapter!
19: Troubles Again
Trouble started a month after Sakura and Syaoran made up.
Syaoran started to go home late again, and was barely home during weekends. And though he wasn't really cold to her, he wasn't really warm either.
At first, Sakura didn't really mind, although of course it affected their still-thriving relationship. She wanted to confront him, but insecurities got in the way. What right did she have to reprimand him? She was, afterall, just an 'excess baggage,' to put it simply. Okay, given the fact that their relationship was almost normal again, it's most probable that he is only making the best of the situation, ergo, their bargain. And she certainly didn't want to argue with him anymore.
It was a week after the start of this change in Syaoran that she accidentally overheard Yelan Li's conversation with the Elders.
She was about to enter the drawing room when she heard the agitated voices of the Elders, so nearly shouting.
"...Don't know what he is doing, Yelan. Your son is very much unpredictable." Elder Kai's voice floated quite clearly to her. She froze.
"Elder Kai, if you please. We must not jump in to conclusions. I must say,if Xiao Lang is hiding anything...we will know, won't we?"
"Yelan, Yelan,Yelan...do not be so naive! He has hidden his marriage from us a good six years!"
"But...this is different..."
"I must impress upon you the seriousness of this! What of his wife? His son?" Elder Kohashi interjected rather calmly. "I must admit I'm beginning to like the poor girl, and if he's cheating on her --"
Sakura couldn't bear to listen anymore. She walked away as fast and as quietly as she could from the room, her eyes brimming with tears. She went to her son who was playing in the garden.
"Xiao Chen, would you care for a walk?" She asked him, and when he nodded, she took his hand and walked out of the mansion.
She didn't know where to go, and she just decided to go to the mall and go shop, to take her mind off things. Syaoran had given her a credit card of her own that she has never used before now.
'Must not jump to conclusions...' she kept muttering to herself like a mantra to stop her from bursting to tears then and there, at the center of the mall.
She tried out quite a number of dresses but immediately brought them back to the rack when she learned their price. Finally, she settled on a pink floral dress that was on sale and a pair of white sandals.
She bought Xiao Chen a pair of cute pants and a shirt with the picture of his favorite cartoon character. She also insisted a pair of shoes before he dragged her off to the toy section.
As they made their way to the toy section, a familiar and unpleasant voice called her name, dripping with sarcasm.
"Sakura," she turned in time to see Keira approach her with cold black eyes and a sarcastic smile on her lips. She was suddenly anxious, but not afraid. Keira will not dare make a scene in such a public place.
"Keira," she acknowledged her stepsister with calculating eyes, her tone indifferent but wary altogether. Her hands had clasped instinctively on Xiao Chen's shoulders protectively. She felt her son shudder under the gaze of Keira. His last meeting with her was nothing short of torture; she was extremely nasty with him.
"So..." Abandoning all pretense, Keira's voice became a low menacing hiss. "So, you found fit to go and live with my Syaoran, huh, bitch?" Her face contorted to a furious snarl that made her suddenly ugly. Sakura actually wanted to cower away from her, but she stood her ground.
"I didn't ask him for it, Keira." She said, almost stuttering, hoping they weren't attracting attention.
"Oh, yeah, you didn't. But showing him your son was more than an invitation, as you well know, clever stepsis."
"Listen, Keira, and listen well." She bit back. "He was mine first, as you well know. And we are married." She said the last word with relish, as if gloating on that fact when she was actually shaking inside. But she will never give Keira the satisfaction of knowing that she was afraid of her.
But instead of her expected indignant reply, Keira let out a harsh laugh.
"You think that I don't know that? Oh, I do, stepsis." Her voice gained that poisoned-honey (Think: Dolores Umbridge of HPOP) quality again. "But may I ask you...Is he really yours to keep?" Her black eyes glittered maliciously as she laughed yet again.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't intend to hand him back to you that easily. Savour your precious moments with him, you know? It's just borrowed time you've got."
"I don't think so, Keira." This time her voice quavered slightly.
"Oh, I think you do," Keira said with triumph. "Really, honey, will he stick around with you when he can have other — fresher, I might say, women like me in his midst?"
"Stop those bitter lies, Keira, they won't get you anywhere!" She said, now positively trembling.
"They aren't lies, Sakura, but they are taking me somewhere indeed." Keira's eyes were positively dancing with mirthless joy. "Somewhere, indeed...I have touched a sensitive nerve. But, then...it's true, isn't it? Poor, poor Sakura...shunted to one side when Syaoran comes running back to my arms. Left out...without a son...without a family...left with no one. No one at all." She said cruelly, her mouth twitching in an unpleasant smile. "Just as it should be."
"No, he won't do that — he promised me!" Sakura nearly shouted the words. Suddenly, all her insecurities went back to her, making her more vulnerable than ever.
"And you believed him, his empty words of assurance? How naive you are. He was just coaxing you to give your son to him without fighting him." Keira looked so gleeful that it hurt. "I know all this, since he trusts me enough to tell me his plans for you. And it'll be soon, you know? Trust me."
"Get lost, Keira!" She spat out and she began to walk away, Xiao Chen's hand in hers, before her tears threatened to fall. The memory of the conversation she overheard kept coming back to her.
"...Don't know what he is doing, Yelan. Your son is very much unpredictable."
"Elder Kai, if you please. We must not jump in to conclusions. I must say,if Xiao Lang is hiding anything...we will know, won't we?"
"Yelan, Yelan,Yelan...do not be so naive! He has hidden his marriage from us a good six years!"
"But...this is different..."
"I must impress upon you the seriousness of this! What of his wife? His son? I must admit I'm beginning to like the poor girl, and if he's cheating on her --"
"...if he's cheating on her..."
"...cheating on her..."
"...cheating on her..."
"...cheating on her..." It rang and rang, like an annoying clang of the bells...
No! It can't be...
"I pity you, Sakura," Keira's voice called on her back. She didn't turn. "Never did Syaoran love you. He only took pity on you, and now, I must say I also do. If I were you, I'd try and salvage the only thing that you will be left with...your pride."
She just kept on walking.
"You won't let him hurt you again, will you? Or are you a masochist, waiting for him to throw you out? I told you, it's only a matter of time. Go! Before he turns you away...Then at least you'll have your pride left..."
She didn't hear Keira anymore. She hailed a cab out of the place.
She tried to stop the tears from falling. But they did anyway. Xiao Chen looked most distressed and tried to comfort her in his own way. But she wouldn't be comforted. The moment they were in the front of the Li Mansion, she paid the driver their fare and ran in to the house with Xiao Chen beside her.
Wei was stationed at the door to welcome them, but he looked definitely concerned on her distress, and almot made to follow her when she ran upstairs, leaving Xiao Chen downstairs.
Yelan Li followed her with a worried frown on her face.
Sakura, meanwhile, started to pack her things in haste, carelessly throwing her clothes to the bags. Tears streamed down her lovely face. She was so absorbed with what she was doing that she didn't notice her mother-in-law's presence in the room.
She was already zipping the bags when Yelan spoke.
"What has caused you this distress, Sakura?" She asked in a gentle motherly tone that made her cry even more. "Why are you leaving?"
She only shook her head in response, and Yelan Li sighed.
"Why not wait for my son to go home? You can't just...just leave, like this. You know you can't."
"No...I can, Mrs. Li, and I will...please, Mrs. Li..." She said as she choked a sob.
"Please call me Mother." Yelan said, trying to hold Sakura off as Wei phoned her son downstairs.
"It doesn't matter. I'd like to thank you, ma'am, for being kind to me the past month. It was wonderful — I almost had a family. But now I've got to go..." She was now scribbling furiously in a sheet of paper. After a minute or so, she folded it carefully and placed it underneath the lamp along with her credit card.
"So...I guess this is goodbye then... Mother..." She felt her throat constrict at the words but she swallowed the painful lump that formed there. "Take good care of Xiao Chen...and yourself." She carried her bags out and walked downstairs to the door...out of the mansion.
And Yelan Li's heart broke for her.
-----
Syaoran
He sat in his office, doodling over work, but his mind was somewhere else. His face flushed with excitement.
Tonight, he will finally say it to her. He has overcome his fears and he will tell her what he feels.
How much he loved her. How much he cherished the past month with her. It was all ready. Even the surprise he has been preparing to show her all week long.
Suddenly the intercom rang and cut off his thoughts.
"Sir?" His secretary's voice said hesitantly. "Mr. Wei is in the phone. Shall I put him through?"
"Okay, you do that." He said, frowning. Why the hell is Wei calling him during office hours?
"Wei?" He asked as soon as he heard Wei's voice. Dead silence, then Syaoran began to pale. "What!" He screamed to the receiver. "Why did you let her go?" Tears began to pour from his eyes as his voice broke. "I'll be home right away." He slammed the phone to its receiver and ran out of the office, uncaring for the astonished looks of his employees, seeing his tears.
'No! I won't let her go! Even if she doesn't love me anymore...'
Why did you leave, Sakura?
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