Sensei, I Love You

Chapter 22

Sakura lost count of the number of times she packed her belongings to shift to a new place. She was just too glad that she didn’t have too much things with her so it only took her a while to settle down in the empty guestroom in Yukito’s small apartment.

She slumped on the sofa in the living room with a sigh. “What am I going to do for my one week suspension?”

“You’re supposed to be good, remember?” Yukito asked back. “But I still have to go to school, considering that I just started my employment and can’t apply for leave for the first few months.”

“It’s going to be really boring being alone at home.” Sakura pouted.

Yukito remained silent as he cleared up the soapy mess she created in his kitchen sink. It was a few minutes later when he spoke. “So, what’s going on in school?”

“Why are you asking me that?” Sakura asked warily, thinking that it was some kind of trap question that he was putting her through. She couldn’t be too careless.

“I want to know why Li Syaoran is hovering all over you,” he replied. “I don’t believe a single thing that you told Kaidou-kouchou. I’ve been with you for a few years when you were young. Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on in your mind. Come on, confess.”

“There isn’t really much to tell,” Sakura protested. “Li-sensei is only worried about me.”

Yukito rolled his eyes. “Don’t think I didn’t hear him call you muffin. I doubt a teacher will give their students endearments, Sakura.”

“Well, aren’t you calling me by my first name as well?”

“That’s totally different!” Yukito exclaimed. “I know your family. I know you. That makes a big difference.”

“There’s nothing going on between me and Li-sensei,” Sakura said, gritting her teeth in irritation. Why couldn’t Yukito just take her words for it? “He’s just a concerned homeroom teacher who has a kind heart.”

“I sense that there are still some things that you are not telling me.”

“How can it be?” Sakura asked, feigning innocence. She wasn’t about to blurt out the things that she and Syaoran did when they were living together in his house—certainly not the part where they were kissing and certainly not the part where he kicked her out so that he could bring home some pretty woman.

Yukito sighed and gave up his interrogation. Sakura won’t be divulging her secrets anytime soon. “I will get to the bottom of this sooner or later.”

Sakura grinned, relieved and happy that she won’t be forced to tell her secrets. “I wish you good luck then.”

“Today is one crazy day,” Yukito remarked off-handedly. “First, there’s the crazy wild chase for a misbehaved student, then I found out that I finally found you and to know what happened to you. It’s too much of a shock for me.”

Sakura turned solemn at the change of subject. She leaned forward on the sofa and clasped her hands on the tops of her knees. The thought of her family often upset her. She should have gone with them, not live on without them. She blinked in surprise when Yukito suddenly knelt in front of her and took her hands in his bigger ones and gave them a reassuring squeeze.

“Yukito-san…”

“You still have one big brother who will dote on you,” he said gently. “I’ll continue Touya’s job in protecting his baby sister.”

Sakura chuckled through her tears. “I’m not a baby anymore, Yukito-san.”

He grinned. “You are—to me. “ Sakura sniffed, willing her tears to stop. He pulled some tissues from his coffee table and used it to pat her tears. “You made me want to cry too.”