I'm in Love with a Plumber

Chapter 16

Rule Number Sixteen:
You can't really explain why you like somebody,
You just like them because you do.

oOo

"Hey..." he said.

She was surprised to see him. "Taguchi-san?"

He kindly smiled at her.

zZz

Sakura stared at the cup of coffee sitting in front of her, asking herself what she was doing. She was having coffee with her ex-boyfriend's friend. What would that look like if someone saw them together? Kind of awkward...

"Were you looking for Syaoran?" She decided to break the silence. "He walked in when I was walking out."

The black head continued to smile. "Yes, I saw him while I was waiting outside for you."

"What?"

"I want to apologize to you in person, Sakura," he started saying. "I should've came to talk to you earlier, but I lost myself in work."

Sakura couldn't believe it.

He wasn't saying what she thought he was saying, right?

"Your father informed my mother about the engagement."

"Y-you're Shun?!"

"Eriol and Syaoran call me by my family name," he answered. "Taguchi Shun, ex-fiancé."

Suddenly, Sakura felt embarrassed sitting before the man—and it was for many reasons, too. One, she cheated on him and he caught her red-handed. Two, he chose work over her. Even though she had no feelings for the man; but being a woman, she didn't want to hear any man (especially her ex-fiancé) say that he put her off for work. Telling that to a woman was like saying to her face that she was fat.

No wonder Eriol said he loves work more than himself.

"B-but that time when you came to see Syaoran," she said; confused. "Why didn't you...? I mean... you obviously knew that I was cheating on you."

He chuckled. "I wouldn't call it cheating when you and I have no intimate feelings for each other, not to mention that we hardly know each other. I don't know if we should call it coincidences or fate. When we met in person, I realized how wrong my informations were."

"Informations?"

"The things my mother tells me about you to get me interested. To tell you honestly, Sakura, I've been against this engagement since the beginning. It's not you. It's just that I don't feel the need to settle down," he said. "I suppose Eriol and Syaoran told you that I'm a workaholic?"

She nodded. "They're addicted to work also."

"I have the worst case of addiction." Sakura didn't quite understand where their conversation was going. One moment, they were talking about the engagement, and the next... "That's why I was quite happy to see you and Syaoran together."

"W-what?"

"My mother wouldn't let me call off the engagement," he explained. "I'm quite the mama's boy. So my only hope was for your side of the family to call off the engagement. That's why I keep postponing our meeting date, to try to annoy you and all. When I found out that you were Syaoran's girlfriend, I thought it was great. Seeing how close you two were, I knew you'd call off the engagement."

"Being a little selfish to let me do the dirty work, ne?" Sakura teased the man.

He smiled nervously. "I was preparing to talk to you about our engagement, but..."

"Work?"

"A new project," he answered. "I was going to talk to you the day after Eriol's party, but I found out from him the next morning that it was too late."