After one Kiss! [YiZhan FF]✔️

37.

37. POV Yibo

When I came out of the mask, I heard a familiar voice. I didn't have to listen twice to recognize it. It was clearly the voice of Zhan.

I was standing right behind his door, I heard him telling an employee to book a flight, something about artifacts, customs and another museum and his employee called him Boss.

So Xiao Zhan is a boss now. He made a good life for himself here in Hongkong for the last three years. While I was suffering and my feelings were trapped in a time warp.

When Zhan wanted to close the door to his office, I decided to be brave. I opened his office door further and as he stuck his head out to see who was blocking the door, he looked at me with big eyes and totally horrified.

At that moment I was just angry. He had been here for three years, living his life as and apparently had forgotten me completely. Comes out big as an artist and is deputy director in the museum.

Not that I don't begrudge him that. I would even be happy for him if he hadn't trampled on my feelings for it. And talked to me.

Zhan and I are staring at each other. It's suddenly very quiet around us, but I don't care about that at all.

"Boss, you okay?" Ask him his employee.

"Uh, yes. Everything is fine. Don't worry about it and go back to work." Reply Zhan.

Before I even realized what I was doing, I had to think about how to act towards him.

Last night, when the show ended, I followed both men, Zhan and this other guy. He had picked up Zhan in his car. I followed them and waited for Zhan to get out after they reached a residential area and stopped.

I sat in my car for minutes, a little further behind their car. Nothing happened. No one got out. What took them so long? Ah, I'd rather not know. Anyway, after over 10 minutes, Zhan finally got out of the car.

Only to be greeted by a woman holding a small child in her arms. Zhan took the child from her and they went to another car before they went to the hospital.

Does Zhan have a boyfriend? Or is he perhaps with this woman? Could they be, like, married? Do they have a child together? I got so confused I had to stop at a bar first.

I would have liked to go to the hospital afterwards, but then I would have been seen and probably recognized. In the evening I was already having trouble that Zhan couldn't see me when I was at the exhibition. Luckily there were no screaming fans at the location.

In the bar I first had a shot. That had been quite a lot for one evening and if I hadn't been there by car, I would have had a third or fourth one after my second shot. Or I would have simply shot myself down and then come to the museum for the photo shooting with a hangover.

And it didn't stop with the shock of the last evening when I heard Zhan just now and learned that he's a boss here.

Should I pretend to be over him for a long time now? Or should I ask him angrily why he left without saying goodbye, without explaining anything? My head is spinning and it's really hard for me to think straight.

"Um, do you wanna come in?" Ask Zhan and point to the area behind him, to his office.

"Yeah, sure." Do I hear myself say and wonder when I have given my mouth the permission to speak without my consent.

I climb over several pieces of equipment from the photographer and stand directly in front of Zhan. I can perceive his perfume as I walk past him and into the office. He still has the same smell as he did then.

This smell of Old Spice Lionpride. How I loved it. He used it all the time in the university, which is why I bought a bottle of it one day. Every now and then, when I missed him a lot, or when I have to think about him, I sprayed some of it.

When he spent his first night with me and took a shower in the morning, he used exactly this scent. Of all the deodorant sprays and perfumes in my bathroom he used Old Spice Lionpride and I remembered the time in university when I saw him for the first time.

Back then, when he walked past me with a book in his hand, very close to me and I stood there speechless, unable to move or think. I just looked at him and I could smell his scent. My heart was pounding in my chest and in my belly had been this tingling sensation. I knew at once that I had fallen in love with him instantly, at first sight.

And now nine years later, he still has the same scent about him. He looks even better than he did then. Him, with his ability to turn my brain into Jell-O. To melt my heart.

I sit in an empty chair in front of a desk crammed with files, papers, all kinds of stuff. There's a picture frame on his desk. For a moment my heart threatened to fail me as I imagined it was a picture of this man or maybe the woman with the child. But then I saw it was a picture of his sister.

Zhan sat down on his chair at the desk and smiled. "Give me a moment, I have to make two quick phone calls." So he says.

And while he's talking to somebody on the phone in English, he hands me a bottle of water and a painkiller. I look at him questioning and Zhan whispers, "I see you have a headache." How does he know that? Why does he care?

Oh, my soul, what am I going to do? I'm angry with this man, I'm disappointed, I'm sad. At the same time I'm obsessed with him. Just can't get away from him and his smile, his sweet bunny teeth, his scent.

Why am I sitting here in his office? What if he tells me he has someone new on the side? How am I supposed to process that?

"How are you doing?" Ask me Zhan after he finished his phone call unnoticed by me. I was far too busy looking at his face.

"Um, good. And I see you are, too." I reply. I could have said, The Internet always knows how I feel. But let it be.

"I see you've done a lot since then. You' re a boss now, you' re known as an artist." Says me.

"How do you know that?" Ask me Zhan.

"I was there at his art exhibition. I saw you." I reply. Spare me the addendum, though, with this guy.

Zhan looks at me thoughtfully and then nods his head. "I see. Hae Jin has sent out many invitations. But I didn't know who he send them to. It must have been a shock to you."

"A shock? Well, I was surprised." That's a complete lie, but I'm certainly not gonna tell him that.

So his name is Hae Jin? That guy from last night who dared to put his arm around his shoulder. His name is as Hae Jin. But what exactly does this Hae Jin mean to you?