-10-
The weekend in the mountain cabin passed somehow much too fast. That's why we decided to go there again soon for a whole week. And then best of all, when it's not snowing all the time. Because we couldn't do anything because it was snowing all the time and in addition there was this crazy storm that really whipped the snowflakes into our faces.
When we arrived at the hospital on Monday for our late shift, we also have the same shifts, Zhan was expecting several new patients. And as usual in the last few months, I accompanied him to all the patients. We came into room 2.22 and I stood frozen as I saw the patient and his visitors.
My big brother is a patient in our hospital. And his visitors are my father, and my three stepmothers! My brother looked at me apologetically and I read from his lips: "I am really sorry."
Zhan looked at me with concern, came back to me at my side and whispered, "I am with you. You are not alone. Let's handle this like professionals. And if they annoy you, I'll throw them all out." I nodded and stayed close by Zhan's side as we walked to my brother's bed.
My father and my three stepmothers looked at me in amazement, they probably didn't expect to see me here. My father's main wife was the first to speak to me and said, "After years I finally see you again and I see you are doing well."
And my father then said, "That's very fortunate, then I can introduce you to your other two mothers." It was like Zhan wasn't even there.
"Uh, I don't need that, thanks." I said it calmly.
"What do you mean, you don't need to? They're your moms and you should meet them!" My father scolded.
Zhan took my hand, held it and said, "If Yibo doesn't want to meet your wives, you have to respect that! And if you can't, I'll order you out of this room."
My father looked at Zhan angrily and asked him, "Why are you two holding hands? Is he a baby or what?"
Zhan smiled at me and said to my father, "If anything, Yibo is my baby. Yes, my baby. And if you upset him, it upsets me too. And believe me, it's better not to upset me."
"Your baby? Are you a couple?" My father asked.
I looked my father deep in the eyes and said: "Yes, Dad, we are a couple. And you know what? I'm happy about that! I've never been happier than I am now with Zhan."
"And you think I accept that my son is in a homosexual relationship? I don't care what anybody else does. But I won't let my second-born son be with a man. We'll see how long you're a couple when the hospital management finds out about your relationship!" My father said.
Zhan stepped right up to him, he is almost a head taller than my father. He looked deep into his eyes and said, "Oh you can go complain. Yibo and I came here extra one hour earlier today to inform the hospital management about our relationship. And you know what? They congratulated us and are standing behind us. Oh, and if you're going to complain, please mention that you are Yibo's father and have several wives."
My father suddenly turned pale in the face and didn't say a word. His main wife, however, did not shut up and wanted to know if I was ready to lose my family.
I looked at her angrily and said, "What family? Do you really think I see you as my family? I do not. I am not voluntarily the child of a polygamous family. No one has ever asked me for my opinion. And you don't live like that because it has something to do with your faith. It's because dad is obviously never satisfied. And why is his new wife even younger than me? And I' m supposed to accept her as my stepmom? She's 22 years old, I'm 26 years old, and I'm not going to call her mother."
Apparently I hit a sore spot in my father's main wife, because suddenly I saw emotions in her that I had never seen before. Jealousy! And not only with her. A big happy family looks different to me. And to my astonishment, my big brother clapped his hands and said: "You are right Yibo. It has nothing to do with love in my eyes either. Dad only goes after younger women."
"Are you beginning to sound like that too?" My father asked my brother.
My brother frowned at him and said in an angry tone of voice: "Yibo is right. Nobody asks how we deal with the fact that our parents have a polygamous marriage. And as Yibo said, you are not doing this because of your faith. And another thing. I understand why Yibo hates you. You broke his mother and treated her badly. Who are you trying to tell that you really loved her? Or Mom? What were your words? You felt sorry for her and you told him several times to take her to the doctor and get some help. But instead he preferred to invest his money in his new wife! He had only been with her! And you call that loving, dad?"
Zhan looked at me thoughtfully, took me in his arms and said, "From the looks of it, there may be more victims in your family." I nodded in agreement.
It was the first time I heard such words from my brother's mouth and I saw his mother agree with him. And she also said: "Yes it is true. I told your dad over and over again at that time to take your mother to a hospital. He should take care of her. I begged him. Because I saw your mother just before she died. I came to your house and wanted to check on her, because she hadn't answered my calls for a very long time. She looked so bad that I cried. And I begged your father to help her. But he just went back to his other wife. A few days later, your mother took her own life. And I was so sorry."
My father then said: "You knew that she was pregnant again and how badly she was feeling. I had to help her. I didn't know how bad my Mila felt, otherwise I would have gone to her and helped her."
His main wife grabbed him by the collar and screamed: "I told you so! I told you several times! I begged you, begged you to take care of her. But YOU were only thinking of your new wife while your other wife was suffering and weakening. She took her own life because of you! It is your fault that I have lost Mila!"
That was the moment when I became clairaudient. It sounded strange. Zhan hugged me and asked my stepmother: "You loved her, didn't you? That's why you agreed to their marriage, wasn't it?"
"That's right. I loved her with all my heart. I met her when I was in a cooking class. I wanted to have her near me, even if she never returned my feelings. It was me, I introduced her to my husband, I suggested that they date and it was me who wanted them to marry. I wanted her to be in my house! Not for my husband, but for me!" She screamed.
I looked at her confused and asked her, "Did she ever return your feelings?"
"Mmm, we kissed a few times when she lived with us under the same roof. She said then that she loved us both. But then she had to move out, because neighbors noticed that we were living in a polygamous marriage. And she became totally fixated on the marriage and our husband. She changed totally and after you were born she totally turned away from me." She replied.
When I heard that, I didn't know if I should be angry with her for introducing my mother and father to each other and making everything work. Or whether I should feel sorry for her because she loved my mom so much that she was willing to share her with her husband.
And what I also wondered was, did my mother really have feelings for her once? What would have become of them if they had continued to live under one roof, in one house? Would they have finally become a couple? Would my mother then have been happier and still be alive today?
It's all really confusing and I'm glad that Zhan is with me. Because I think otherwise I would go crazy. Because in the end it doesn't matter who really loved my mother. None of them helped her. And honestly? In my opinion, my mother would not have wanted to be helped either. I am convinced that she wanted to die. She didn't want help. She died alone by poisoning herself. She had already died inside before that.
Zhan must have had enough. He sent everyone out. He silently started to examine my brother and I thought he was mad at me, too. But then he looked at me and winked at me and smiled.
When he had examined my brother, he discussed the values and tomorrow's small operation with him. Then Zhan took me in his arms and asked, "Do you want to go visit my family tomorrow morning?
I think Zhan knew exactly what I needed at that moment. Him and the love of his family. I said, "Oh yes, I'd love to. Too bad we'll have to wait till tomorrow."
"Well, we could call them and ask them to come over for coffee or tea. I'm sure my mother is dying to gossip with you."
"Hehe, yes, I think so. Should I call her?"
"Sure, call her. I'm sure she'd be happy to hear from you." Zhan said.
My brother looked at me and asked, "Have you already met his family?"
"Well, I know his family and they are great. They really like me." I said to him.
Zhan giggled and said, "They not only like you, they love you. You're part of our family."
So I called Zhan's mother and she was actually very happy. Later, she and Zhan's father came to the hospital to visit us. We sat in the cafeteria and had tea together. Zhan talked to his father and I talked to his mother. And with us was my big brother who listened attentively to what Zhan's little brother told him.
Later that evening, my brother told me that he was happy for me to have found such a great boyfriend, with a family that supports and loves him and me. I thanked him. Yes, with Zhan and his family, it's like I hit the jackpot in the lottery.