A quarter after one at a four-star cafe sat Mrs. Yu and Mrs. Wang, enjoying their afternoon tea that occurred on a monthly basis. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that they treated each other as in-laws since they had high hopes for YiXiao to get married someday. It was fairly common for them to bring up this topic, but today, Mrs. Yu arrived with a mission. Since her discussion with Cheng Xiao, she had decided to set the event in motion with Mrs. Wang.
"Yibo came by yesterday," Mrs. Yu commented.
"He did? About time, that child of mine! It's been a while since he pays his respects to you and Mr. Yu."
"Cheng Xiao sprained her ankle during filming and Yibo brought her back home afterward."
"Oh~ those two. My son may be cold, but he has his sweet moments too. Especially towards Cheng Xiao."
"They are reaching a good age for marriage. Now that their careers are stable, I think we should start planning for it. If we keep leaving things to them, I'll never see any grandkids before I die."
"Don't say that you're still young. There's plenty of time for you to see a grandchild."
"Of course you're not in a rush, you already have two thanks to Hai Kuan."
Mrs. Wang laughed at Mrs. Yu's jealousy. She was grateful that Hai Kuan presented her with two grandchildren, but it doesn't mean that she wasn't expectant towards Yibo. With their goal of becoming grandmothers set, the two ladies decided to push YiXiao towards marriage by doing all of the hard work for them. They figured that the two were too busy to plan for a wedding so the ladies will just figure everything out and present the options for YiXiao to decide. With this plan, a baby ought to smile at them within two years' time! No one should underestimate the power of grandparents.
~~~~~
While one plot was rolling in action, the target for that plan was establishing his own agenda: chasing after Xiao Zhan.
It took a few days for Ji Li to provide Yibo with ideas on what to gift Xiao Zhan with. Once he heard the information, Yibo realized that he knew most of it already through his phone conversations with Xiao Zhan. At first, he was planning to spend more time with the man to build their relationship. What this made him realized was that most of the road has already been paved through their casual interactions. For the first time, Yibo admitted that he was a fool. A fool who didn't realize his feelings while acting in such manners. Then, a part of Yibo wondered if Xiao Zhan was the same way.
Once Yibo decided on a gift, he sent Xiao Zhan a message, smiling at how he imagined Xiao Zhan would react once he read the text.
[WYB: Zhan-ge, I want to send you something. You can decide to receive it at work, or tell me your address]
This little kid, was Xiao Zhan's first thought when he read the message. Before he could reply, Yubin appeared behind.
"Who are you texting?"
Xiao Zhan unsmoothly shut down the screen and shoved his phone in his pocket, causing Yubin to narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"What are you hiding?"
"Nothing. And it's none of your business," Xiao Zhan replied and walked away.
"Sassy," Zoey stepped up next to Yubin. "And suspicious."
When Xiao Zhan stepped off the elevator to his apartment's floor that evening, there was a large bouquet of lotus flowers. At a loss of words as to why Yibo would send him a gift, why flowers, and why lotus flowers, Xiao Zhan simply picked up the bouquet and entered his apartment.
Instead of texting Yibo, Xiao Zhan decided to call and figure out what Yibo was scheming. Perhaps Xiao Zhan was too lost in the moment, but the moment the call went through, Xiao Zhan voiced his thoughts without saying a greeting. "Are you...pursuing me?"
Yibo has been waiting patiently all day for Xiao Zhan's comment once he saw the bouquet. However, he wasn't prepared for him to be so straight forward. After all, Xiao Zhan has always carried himself well and never lost any manners in front of Yibo. "Hahaha, is it too obvious?"
A pause of silence, "Why Lotus?"
"I thought roses were too cliche and lotus were... Well, you took care of me when I was injured and according to Ji Li, you're the first to melt this 'ice-prince' so," Yibo lowered his voice towards the end in embarrassment.
*** Lotus flower has the meaning of rebirth, a new beginning, or overcoming obstacles. It originates from the fact that this flower can bloom in the most tarnish soil (as Wei Ying planted the flower in Burial Mounds). I chose this to connect with the novel, but also that 1) XZ brought WYB back to health 2) their love brings them new beginnings.
Xiao Zhan first felt embarrassed then became shocked, and finally started to laugh loudly at Yibo's words.
Yibo couldn't control the smile that spread on his face in reaction to hearing Xiao Zhan's melodic laughter. "So? Is it working?
"Thank You for taking an interest in me, but I'm not that great."
"Give me a chance. Let me pursue you. Let me do the chasing. Then you'll see how great you are."
Xiao Zhan's heart quivered. His eyes were burning and vision was getting blurry. Xiao Zhan has been trying to live an independent life so that he doesn't trouble other people. With that comes the price of loneliness and fatigue as the stressors of life tried to suppress him down. Hearing Yibo's words, his compliments breaking Xiao Zhan's wall as it reminded him that his hard work was worth it. Perhaps Jie-Jie is right, I need to learn to rely on someone too.
"Ok," Xiao Zhan whispered. Ok.
~~~~~
Yibo kept to his original philosophy of 'pleasing a man with his appetite' and began his onslaught of food deliveries. After his conversation with Xiao Zhan last night, Yibo placed an order at the coffee shop that he visited before since Xiao Zhan enjoyed the tea latte. When Xiao Zhan walked into his clinic, he was greeted with smiling faces from the staff and several boxes of drinks/desserts on the counter.
"What's the occasion," he asked.
"You tell us, Dr. Xiao," the receptionist answered. "This arrived fifteen minutes ago under your name."
Confused at her comment, Xiao Zhan doesn't remember ordering the food nor why anyone would order it for him."
"Xiao Zhan," Zoey called and lifted up her cup, "doesn't this logo look familiar? Didn't a certain someone brought you a drink and deserts the other day?"
Registering the logo and then seeing the drink with his name on it, Xiao Zhan really wanted to face-palmed himself at that moment. He really didn't think that Yibo would be this active at pursuing him! Noticing Zoey's questioning eyes, Xiao Zhan grabbed his drink and scurried to his office. "Not today Zoey."
Not affected by Xiao Zhan's authoritative tone the slightest, Zoey yelled at his fading back, "Tomorrow it is!"
In his office, Xiao Zhan pulled out his phone and sent Yibo a text.
[XZ: Are you going to do this every day?
WYB: ...
WYB: if you like it that much then sure
XZ: no!
XZ: No
XZ: You don't have to this Yibo. Once in a while is enough
WYB: you don't like their food anymore?
XZ: it's not that. The desert, especially tea latte is delicious. But you don't have to send me gifts like this
XZ: ...
XZ: it's embarrassing. Everyone, especially Zoey, won't leave me alone if this keeps happening
WYB: why won't she leave you alone?
WYB: does she pester you a lot?
WYB: she knows that I sent you the food right?]
Xiao Zhan stared at Yibo's replies for a moment. Why does this sound interrogative, like he's jealous? Then Xiao Zhan remembered that Yibo had a misunderstanding between him and Zoey.
[XZ: yes, she knows it's from you. The food arrived before I entered the clinic so everyone knows. She's just a nosy friend who has too much interest in my love life
WYB: love life?]
Xiao Zhan slammed his phone face down on the desk and covered his face in embarrassment. That's not what he meant, it was just a common phrase. Of course, Wang-er Gonzi would interpret it that way.
[WYB: 😸]
Glimpsing at the new message, Xiao Zhan decided to ignore Yibo for the rest of the day. Otherwise, he doesn't know what foolish things he'll blurp out and then be used against him.
That decision, however, was not in Xiao Zhan's favor because he never clarified with Yibo on how he would like Yibo to change his pursuing strategy. So. The next afternoon, Xiao Zhan was greeted with a living, smiling Wang Yibo holding two large bags of food.
Xiao Zhan stared at him, gaping like a fish.
Yibo stared back with a mischievous smile, silently saying, since you didn't like someone else delivering the food then I'll bring it myself.
What came out of Yibo's mouth was, "I'm in charge of dropping the kids off for their group project so I figure we can have lunch together?"
Once Yibo mentioned the kids did Xiao Zhan expanded his field of vision, taking in the sights of the F4 who smiled back at him.
Guo Cheng looked excited about the food and practically drooling. Jun Xiang can't believe he was being used by his uncle like this. Pei Xin neither understood Yibo's intention nor did he care at the moment. Fan Xing felt embarrassed for being used and sorry for standing on the 'enemy's' side.
Yubin threw out a very audible whistle. Zoey leaned on Yubin, controlling her laughter. And the rest of the staff just looked back and forth between the two handsome men.
The scene came to a standstill as the lens focused on YiZhan who continued to stare into each other's eyes while some dramatic OST playlist played in the background. See you in the next chapter!
*** Author's Note: Finished this chapter fairly quickly since it made me happy writing mushy-ish stuff. I also had a productive day which motivated me to complete this ASAP. Finally learned how to add emojis in google doc so now the text messages can be more fun! More mushy stuff will appear now that the two admitted to their feelings. However, the drama will also increase so brace yourself.