Chapter 1

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Taking Yuan in his arms, Zhan got up, the person to whom Yuan had hit, spoke " Is your child alright? I'm sorry " he apologized, Zhan smiled " It's alright, it's just a little scratch, you don't have to worry " and that's when Zhan looked at the person and his eyes grew big in shock, he stood frozen in his spot, the person in front of him stood with a shocked expression as well " Zhan ? " the person asked as Zhan blinked trying to say something, but words refused to come upto to his lips, after Yuan pulling Zhan's shirt Zhan had come back to his senses " Yibo ? " he asked as well. While Yuan looked back and forth at his father and the new guy standing in front of him.

" Yibo ? Weren't you supposed to be in Guangzhou ? " Zhan asked confused of the guy who stood in front of him, Yibo shook his head " I... What ? " Yibo was confused why Zhan would ask such a thing to him. Zhan lifted Yuan and smiled " Never mind, nice meeting you once again  Yibo, I have to go now " he said walking away from Yibo, but Yibo sprung around and stood there watching Zhan leave, at that exact moment he wanted to stop Zhan, but he feared he might get angry, so he decided to just call him " Zhan ! " Yibo called him in a low tone, Zhan stopped walking and turned back at Yibo " What is it ? " Zhan questioned, Yibo smiled as his fingers nervously fidgeted " Would you like to have some coffee with me ? " Zhan smiled at Yibo's question " No, I have some work to do " he said taking Yuan along with him.

Yibo sighed as he figured Zhan might still not be ready to talk with him after what had happened three years ago, Yibo sighed once again as the day started off with such a pleasant surprise with meeting Zhan once again but it didn't end well since he knew Zhan was not ready to talk with him, just yet. Meanwhile Zhan on the other hand, went home locking his apartment, he made Yuan lay of bed and closed his bedroom as Yuan had drifted off to sleep after spending the day playing around in the park. After making sure Yuan was put to bed, Zhan came to his own room and laid of the bed starring at the ceiling. His thoughts roamed around as Yibo certainly had bought back some old part of memories which he didn't like to discuss anymore. 

" I think Zhan's gay " Zhan who was climbing up the stairs to give the box of lunch that he had prepared for Yibo, stopped when he heard these words, he made sure he hid himself so that he could hear what they had to say about him " What makes you say that ? " asked another guy to the first one who said the statement. Zhan leaned in to listen carefully what they had to say " Have you not seen the way he behaves, I mean no offense to being gay and all but the society will assume we are also gay because we are friends with one " Zhan turned around as he felt the words hit him in he heart. He didn't expect that his own friends had those words to say about him.

" But doesn't Yibo the one closer with him, maybe we should warn Yibo, you know cause we don't our friends life to be spoiled because he was closer with someone who's gay " said the first guy to which everyone hummed agreeing to his point. Zhan held his chest as he felt as though his heart was about to come out of it if didn't hold it. He dropped his lunch box and ran down the stairs. Running past the lobby he ran not topping at anyone calling him, he wasn't ready to face anyone after them knowing the truth about him and moreover not ready to accept him. He wasn't ready to tell Yibo how he felt anymore, as he felt they might be right about what they had said about him and Yibo. Just because he was gay he felt it wasn't right for him to drag Yibo along with him.

Zhan ran out of the faculty building not stopping anywhere. Just as he passed his faculty building, Zhan heard a very familiar voice call his name " ZHAN ! " the voice screamed trying to catch Zhan's attention. Zhan sure heard his voice but he wasn't ready to stop " I'm sorry Yibo ~ " he said to himself and continued run. And yes of course it was the last day he had seen his friends, his college or Yibo for that matter. Because that was also the day his sister and his brother in la had died in the accident. Because he had to take care of Yuan, he had to drop out from his college and work to support himself as well as Yuan.

Even after three years the memories of that articular day remained fresh in his mind as though it had last night. Zhan rolled in bed trying to shake off the memory that he had tried to bury them inside of him. He knew it was no use thinking about them, as past is past and you can't go back correcting it. Zhan rolled over once again checking the time in his phone " Damn seven pm, I should get up to make some dinner " Zhan said getting up at once. " Yuan ~ " Zhan walked over to Yuan's room, to wake him up as he wanted to go to supermarket along with him. Yuan who rolled on his bed shaking his bed hair blinking his eyes he looked at Zhan confused " Yuan ~ I'm taking you to supermarket " as soon as the words supermarket came out of Zhan's mouth, Yuan began to jump on the bed happily.

Zhan laughed at Yuan's action and lifted him " Someone is really energetic now ~ " he said tickling him while carrying him in his arms " Let's get dressed " he said to which Yuan nodded his head " Yes baba ~ I want to wear that blue cap " he said pointing to the cap which Zhan had bought the morning, Zhan took the cap and made Yuan wear it. Smiling at Yuan one last time, he twirled him around walking out of his room.


In the supermarket ...

" What else should we buy? jam ? " he asked showing Yuan two jam " That one baba ! That one ! " he said pointing to one of the two jam in Zhan's hand. Zhan nodded placing the jam in the cart. " What's the next thing we should buy ? " he asked pushing the cart, Yuan looked around to see if he wanted to buy anything else " Baba ! Baba ! Baba potato chips ! " he said jumping up and down seeing his favorite packet of potato chips, Zhan laughed at Yuan's action and placed the potato chips in the cart. He looked around pushing the cart trying to think if he had missed anything else for dinner " What else should we buy Yuan ? " he asked checking the list of thing he had written in phone, but it had been quite some time and Yuan hadn't replied anything making Zhan look down what Yuan was doing.

" Yuan ? " Zhan looked around to see if Yuan was anywhere around him as he wasn't standing beside him " YUAN ! " he called Yuan's name again in hopes of finding him " YUAN STOP PLAYING COME HERE AT ONCE ! " Yuan had the habit of often hiding from Zhan so he thought Yuan must have done the same. But even after calling his name for more than ten minutes he hadn't returned, making Zhan worry " YUAN ! " he left his cart and ran around searching for Yuan. Zhan was about to cry by this time. This had never happened and he was hoping that nothing bad had happened to him, Zhan looked around showing the picture of Yuan to strangers asking them if they had seen him " Have you seen this little boy ? " he ruffled hi hair as he was about to break down an cry.

His chest tightened as though he was about to get an heart attack, he was ready to go to announcement room to report Yuan missing. But that's when he heard his name, with a familiar voice. Actually two familiar voice " Zhan ~ " Zhan turned around to see Yibo holding Yuan in his arms. Yuan who had been crying the whole time, started crying even more seeing Zhan in front of him. Zhan who was out of words of what he was feeling ran towards Yibo and took Yuan in his arms and cried as though there was no tomorrow. He had experienced every kind emotions under the time scale of ten minutes. Zhan who kept hugging Yuan kissed his cheeks due to the happiness of him being safe and sound.

Zhan looked at Yibo and cried " Thank you ~ " he said wiping his tears with his free hand while he took a tissue out wiping Yuan's tears as well, Yibo smiled " It's alright ~ " he said patting Yuan's head " I found him near the counter, figured he might have ran away from you, so I began searching for you around the store " he said smiling trying to make Zhan smile as well " Thank you so much, it was as though my soul had left my body, I was ... " Yibo hummed nodding head " It's okay, I know the feeling of someone leaving us without telling us " it was as though the words had targeted for Zhan, he looked at Yibo who looked in Zhan's eyes searching for some emotions from the words he had said just now. But Zhan looked away putting Yuan down.

Zhan looked at Yibo and smiled " Thank you once again ~ " he said walking along with Yuan, Yibo called him once again " Zhan ! " he looked at him curiously of what he had to say " Can we have dinner ?  " both the men looking at each other. Neither of them saying to break the silence once waiting for the answer and the other waiting for, well waiting for a reply to be devised by his mind.




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To Be Continued ...

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