Who are you? [ZhanYi FF]✔️

-16- Insight

-16- Insight

Yibo was already crying for ten minutes in his father's arms when his father said: "I think you should..." And did not finish his sentence. Suddenly his father was silent. Yibo opened his aching burning eyes and saw someone standing next to him and his father. Dressed in a long black coat.

Only very slowly Yibo raised his head to look up at the person. His heart fluttered in his chest as his gaze went up. But even before his gaze reached the top of the face, the person he immediately knew that it was Zhan, squatted down beside him, put his arms under his body and lifted him up. Yibo wrapped his arms around Zhan's neck and laid his head on his shoulder while Zhan carried him to the sofa.

Zhan sat on the sofa and Yibo sat on his lap, clinging to Zhan and sobbing. Yibo's father got a chair and sat down next to the sofa. "Are you his mate?" He asked Zhan.

"Yes, I am." Zhan replied, stroking Yibo's back.

"I see. And could you explain to me, an unknowing person, what that actually means?" Yibo's father wanted to know.

"Well. No one of our species knows exactly why there are mates among us, since we get along very well on our own. Well, until the moment we meet our mate for the first time. Then you suddenly feel an incredible attraction to him or her, it doesn't matter for us, and you can't imagine being without your mate. They feel the same, they are always together. To separate them is, how shall I say, oh yes, torture. Like someone drowning you or burning you, and that again and again." Explained Zhan.

"And at what age do you usually find your mates? I don't suppose it was normal with Yibo at his age. Right?"

"Usually a few years after we became full vampires. But like me, it can take much, much longer. And no it's not normal, Yibo was actually an exception."

"And you could feel the same thing as him?"

"I felt his presence even before I saw him. I felt that he was there and that he was not well. I went into the room following my instinct and saw him, as a baby, pressed to the cold body of his mother, crying. The window was wide open and cold air came through. I knew immediately he was freezing."

"Did you know at once that he was your mate?"

"I knew it at once."

"Then why did Yibo tell me you didn't want to finish the ritual?"

"Oh, that's when I met him the second time and he just bit me. I was totally stunned because I didn't expect it at all. Actually, you only mark your mate with his permission. But Yibo was too small to ask. And I didn't want to finish the unplanned ritual at first because I thought he might want to live with his parents for a few more years. He was only 8 months old and hardly knew his parents. But, he didn't want to be with them, he never wanted to. One of the elders said that Yibo had probably felt my closeness from the day he was born. His parents and their clan lived only a few miles away from us. The elder said it was unusual but not impossible for a newborn to feel his mate from the moment he was born. He also suspected that Yibo cried incessantly because of this. Because he could feel me, but I was not with him."

"And then? You were put under pressure to complete the ritual, weren't you? Yibo's mother told me that."

"Such a ritual is celebrated in front of the families. To be honest, I wasn't prepared at all. And knowing that my mate is only eight months old was not easy. Because it is in our nature to unite with our mates as soon as we have found him or her. Of course, this is not possible with a baby. And I was afraid I wouldn't be able to handle it."

"Did you love Yibo then, as he loved you?"

"I loved him from the moment I felt his presence. I was just afraid it was too soon for this ritual. But finally I gave in. But not because I was pressured by everyone, but because I knew that we belonged together and I just had to wait until we could unite."