Begin Again

Chapter 09

Over the following months, Zhan continued taking his last few online courses. It was his final semester and everything was going well. Ziyi and the baby were doing great. He continued to go to every ultrasound with or without Xuan. Xuan was now working a lot again, but Zhan had stopped getting upset.  He knew that it was to make more money for the baby.  And luckily Xuan still hadn't figured out money was missing from their account to pay for the last remaining college courses. Zhan had also finished setting up the nursery, mostly by himself.

Zhan also hadn't talked to Yibo since the day at the restaurant. It hurt him that Yibo hadn't tried to contact him. He figured that he probably did end up dating that waitress, and every time he thought about that it hurt him.

Since Zhan was alone most nights, he found himself thinking about the kiss he shared with Wang Yibo, but he quickly tried to shake it off feeling uncomfortable that he was thinking about that 18 year old. Sex with Xuan was mostly non-existent. Zhan had given up on making the first move and he realized that if it wasn't for him, sex would have never happened. 

Zhan was still a good and devoted husband though. He still woke up every morning to cook his husband breakfast, even though they never ate it together.  He still packed his lunch everyday and ignored the fact that when Xuan came back his lunch was still in the lunch bag intact. 

At the end of April that spring, Zhan and Xuan would have their 5th year wedding anniversary. He wanted to recreate their wedding night at Cloud Recesses Hotel before baby Yanli would take over their lives. And he wished it would fill the cracks that were starting to form in their marriage. 

One morning after his husband left for work, he headed to the hotel. When he arrived he looked in all directions hoping not to bump into the two hotel owners. Luckily it was a quiet morning a few people were walking around. He was about to walk to the counter when someone stopped him. A young man with milky white skin and black hair smiled before him and asked, "Good morning sir. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Zhan stared at him in awe. The young man before with was breathtakingly beautiful. He had a beautiful smile, perfect milky smooth skin and the kindest eyes.

"Sir?"

"Yes. Sorry. I want to reserve the honeymoon suite for my husband and myself."

The man before him smiled and motioned him to follow him to the help desk. He began to start on the reservation asking for his name and details.

"And how many days would you like to stay with us?"

"2 days. This weekend," he said excitedly.

"Okay Mr. Xiao Zhan. I'll just need your card to finalize the reservation."

Zhan took out his wallet and handed over the credit card he shared with his husband. The young man took the card and swiped it. When the information came up on the screen, the young man looked at the card and then at Zhan. Something in his face had changed. The smile was gone.

"Is there a problem?" Zhan asked when he noticed the demeanor change in the young man.

"No nothing, I just saw that it was a different name than yours. No problem at all," he replied trying to force a calm smile.

"I see. My husband and I share our accounts," Zhan added with a smile.

The young man printed out the receipt and walked over to the printer shakily. Zhan continued to notice the change in the young man, but didn't say anything. The man walked around the counter and handed him the receipt inside a beautifully decorated blue envelope and with a shaky voice said, "Here's your reservation. We'll see you this weekend." He quickly bowed. When he did that Zhan got a whiff of the man's cologne. It was the same cologne he had tried on at the Chanel store. The same cologne that penetrated his husband's clothing.