"You have fallen in love, darling. Try to deny it as much as you want, but you're in love, sweetheart… this is love." — Yibo
~***~
"I'm coming, Aunty."
Zhan said to Aunty Shui, who was waiting for him so they could open the calculator and continue their accounting. He turned and walked into the bedroom, feeling his heart pound hard against his chest, but he brushed the feeling aside. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he dialed Yibo's number.
The call rang once… twice… then disconnected.
Before Zhan could even blink, his phone rang again. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry, and answered, lifting the phone to his ear.
At the same time, Yibo leaned back in his chair, tilting his head and closing his eyes. He was seated at a quiet, upscale restaurant, having stepped out to eat after returning home. A plate of untouched food sat in front of him; the only things he had managed to finish were three bottles of water.
Today had been difficult....emotionally exhausting in a way he hadn't felt in years, so long that he'd almost forgotten what this kind of inner turbulence felt like.
From the moment he left the road, arrived in Beijing, returned home to gather every piece of evidence he had collected, and then went to meet the Professor to explain everything....he couldn't tell which moment had made his heart race the hardest. All he knew was that through every step, he held onto one hope: that the Professor would understand him. He hadn't even allowed himself to imagine the possibility of things turning out differently.
He would never forget the way the Professor had looked at him after listening to everything. With a calm smile, the man nodded.
"If you trust this young man that much, Yibo, then I see no reason to doubt him....documents or not. Everything I've seen shows that he knows exactly what he's doing. I'll speak to the CMO and have him called back on Monday to resume work. If the ministry contacts me, I'll let them know the issue has already been resolved."
For several seconds, Yibo couldn't find his voice. He simply stared, then quickly bowed his head and nodded.
"Thank you, sir. Thank you so much."
The Professor nodded in return, still watching him closely.
"I should be thanking you. Just like I did days ago.....your dedication, the effort you put into this work even when it caused you discomfort. That sincerity, that persistence of yours… that's what I value. I don't believe there's anyone else who would handle this job the way you do."
Yibo said nothing more. He only nodded, eyes lowered, still feeling the weight of the Professor's gaze....the same gaze he had known for years. There were words the Professor had never been able to say aloud, words blocked by invisible walls built long ago. Words he had whispered fifteen years earlier:
"Please… you can ask me anything, and I'll answer. But don't ask where they are. Don't ask about my parents. Some things are too heavy to be spoken."
He knew those old words were the reason the Professor didn't press further back then. And yet, one question still came, striking something deep in his chest.
"So… who is that nurse?"
Yibo shook his head immediately.
"I don't know him. We just work together."
The Professor nodded, smiling faintly.
"But I admire him. Anyone who earns this level of loyalty from you must be doing something right."
Yibo didn't smile. He didn't respond. He didn't want to give the wrong impression about feelings he hadn't fully understood himself. His thoughts drifted instead to words A Bo had once said to him years ago.... years shaped by time and quiet change.
Everything has its place.
"Banxia was asking if I like her?"
The memory returned vividly....A Bo sprawled on the floor of their room, lifting weights during his nightly routine. Each movement made his tall body twist and flex, defining muscles that even their male friends admired and envied. He wore nothing but shorts. You wouldn't have guessed it was early January, cold and sharp outside, because even with the windows tightly shut, a faint, icy draft still slipped through the room, brushing against his skin again and again.
He remembered sitting at the foot of his bed, holding a bowl of spicy soup his mother had made and practically forced him to eat for the cold he was battling. He had refused to take medicine, insisting it made him sleepy. When he finally looked up at A Bo, when he just finished wiping his nose with a tissue, he said nothing.....A Bo simply kept talking.
"I told her that since she said she only loves me, we should stay like this, why would she corner me with questions about whether I like her too…?"
Yibo only shook his head, rubbing his nose again with another tissue.
"Please, Bo…"
He called him by the nickname their mother always used.
"Let that girl grow up a bit first. She's way too young for all this."
A Bo turned to him with the familiar grin always on his face. He picked up a comb beside him and tossed it at Yibo. Yibo dodged it just in time, and A Bo laughed.
"That's your problem....you always pretend you don't see anything. Like you don't notice how that girl keeps chasing me."
"And you're the one encouraging her. If you ignored her, she'd have dropped this nonsense long ago."
"That's because I'm kind. I've got a good heart, Yibo....you wouldn't understand. The way she obsesses… if I don't pay her some attention, what if something happens to her? Like taking her life becouse of me?"
The look Yibo gave him made A Bo burst out laughing. He put down what he was holding, stood up, and walked over to where his shirt lay on the floor.
"You don't know how loving someone works. When your heart goes crazy, you don't see or hear anything else but the person you love. You think about them all the time. You feel like you can do anything for them, go anywhere for them. You don't even think about the days when you might not be together. Haven't you seen how Dainue Gege is obsessed with that Situ girl Mahai' cousin? Everyone knows she's trouble, yet he does everything for her....and she still says she won't marry Haotu."
He said it with a laugh, looking at Yibo.
That was where the thought froze.
The memory stopped right at the moment A Bo turned, laughing... while Yibo's heart caught on two things at once.
First, A Bo's joke about Banxia dying because of him. He had said it lightly, jokingly, never imagining it could happen. Yet it did....Banxia died in their hands, and neither of them could save her.
And then the rest of what A Bo had said....his description of what it feels like to love someone. For the first time in his life, that was exactly how Yibo's heart now felt about Zhan. What he couldn't understand was why. Why would he feel this way about him? Why loving someone who hadn't always been part of his life? How could his heart accept something it had never known before? He had believed his heart had long since hardened, worn down to the point where it couldn't hold anything anymore.
That was why, from the moment he returned from Hong Kong until now, he decided he needed to understand whatever was happening to him first....before letting his thoughts run ahead of him.
So now, sitting quietly and calling Zhan, the moment he heard Zhan's voice in his ear, he instinctively closed his eyes, lifting a hand to the back of his neck before hearing Zhan's voice softly again,
"Good evening… I'm sorry. I wasn't near my phone earlier, I didn't know you called."
Zhan spoke again, and Yibo leaned back, resting against the chair.
"It's fine. Did you see my text?"
Zhan nodded before answering.
"Yes. I saw it before I called."
"Then let's celebrate…"
Yibo heard him smile.... a smile maybe he hadn't planned.
"Thank you so much. Thank you for...."
"I didn't do anything special. I just did what was right."
"But without you, no one would have brought me back."
"And without me, you wouldn't have left in the first place."
"No… maybe you think...."
"Shh…"
Yibo cut him off gently.
"Just let it be. I can't wait to see you on Monday…"
He paused, then added softly,
"So I can be sure you're really back."
Zhan smiled, his voice warming.
"I will be."
Zhan hadn't planned to ask, but the words slipped out anyway.
"You're back already? Back in Beijing?"
"How did you know? Did I sound close?"
Zhan answered immediately,
"I can't really tell over the phone. I was just asking."
Yibo ran a hand through his hair.
"I got back this afternoon."
"Welcome back. You must be tired."
"Yeah. Thanks, Zhan."
Zhan went quiet for a moment. Yibo noticed a waiter passing by, lifted an empty water bottle to signal for another, adjusted his seat, then said,
"We'll celebrate this on Monday, okay?"
Zhan paused, as if processing it, then replied,
"Alright."
"Rest well."
When they hung up, a short message of thanks came through almost immediately. Yibo turned off his phone and set it aside, his gaze drifting to the untouched food in front of him.
In his head, he started counting how many hours were left until Monday.
✨✨✨
I don't know what has happened to my heart… It was just here, and now it's lost.
— Zhan
Monday…
Just like that, the driver dropped him at the hospital entrance. He had personally promised to bring him, saying he would also help him celebrate being reinstated after the suspension. After the night Zhan spoke with Yibo, an email had arrived the very next day, officially stating that he was to resume work on Monday.....exactly the same way the suspension notice had once come.
Zhan spent the entire day celebrating, with people congratulating him nonstop. Even Nainai, who showed her happiness at first, later began to complain when it felt like he was taking things too far.
She warned him that this time, she wouldn't tolerate the way the job had drained him before....she could tell he had been pushing himself too hard.
"Honestly, thank goodness it's only six months, Zhan. If it were longer than that, I wouldn't have survived the stress. At least now you're already halfway through."
Zhan said nothing. He simply continued with his preparations, making sure everything was in place before this morning. The next day, he called Aji to tell her the news. She was overjoyed and even promised to cook what she proudly called her "delicious" food....after all, that was her strongest point.
So now, as the driver dropped him at the hospital entrance, a wide smile spread across Zhan's face....nothing like his first arrival here, when he had stood in awe, staring at the place in disbelief.
"Good luck, Nainai's boy," the driver said.
Zhan turned, waved back at him, and thanked him before the car pulled away. He adjusted the strap of his bag and headed inside the hospital. At the entrance, the security guard in charge of movement, Jamil, stopped him briefly to welcome him back. He said it had been two days since he last saw him with Aji and asked her what had happened.
Along the way, before reaching the SRRI section, Zhan greeted two people and carefully navigated through the busy crowd moving in and out. As soon as he entered his unit, he ran into Mama Beng, one of the cleaners. Among all the cleaners there, she and Aji were the ones he was closest to.
"Well, well… so it's true....you really are back," Mama Beng said as he stopped to greet her.
"Niuren was just telling me this morning that you'd be resuming today. He was so happy."
"Thank you so much, Mama. How has work been these past two days?" Zhan asked.
"Work is work....we're managing as usual. At least you got some rest, even if just a little," she replied warmly.
Mama Beng's words faded in Zhan's ears when his eyes caught sight of him....
Yibo.
Or rather, Dr. Yibo, as everyone knew him here.
He was walking out from the direction of his office, straight ahead. It looked as though he might pass by them, but his eyes weren't lifted
...he was focused on his phone as he walked.
From his shirt to his trousers, his clothes had the sharp, clean look of a suits, though he wasn't wearing one....just a crisp white long-sleeved shirt, perfectly ironed. Even if they weren't new, the way they fit him made Zhan painfully aware of how much he had missed seeing him during the days they'd been apart.
Yibo suddenly slowed and stopped near the reception desk, just a short distance away. He leaned slightly toward Anwei, speaking to him quietly. Anwei nodded in understanding, turned to retrieve whatever Yibo had asked for, while Yibo continued tapping on his phone.
"Aji hasn't arrived yet," Mama Beng continued chatting beside Zhan. "But Dali and the others are inside. You probably don't know them....they joined after you left."
Zhan nodded politely, though his attention drifted back toward where Yibo stood every few seconds. He glanced once… twice… three times. Anwei still hadn't returned, and Yibo remained focused on his phone.
"They're good workers, really. Your workload will be easier now. You won't have to chase after Nurse Saleh like before. This time, you can relax and work properly."
Zhan nodded again, but he barely registered her words.
He was starting to lose patience. Part of him wanted to go inside already, even though Aji hadn't arrived yet. He pressed his little fingernail lightly against his lips, biting it as he debated silently with himself....Should he turn back and look at Yibo again…
or should he not?
For a split second, he couldn't decide whether to listen to Mama Beng or to the restless whispering of his own heart. In the end, he turned his head fully and looked over.
What could possibly happen?
The moment he turned, his eyes collided with another pair already fixed on him from a distance. It seemed Yibo had just lifted his gaze from his phone, and his eyes had landed straight on Zhan.
Zhan blinked once, then slowly closed his eyes, only to open them again, still looking at him from where he stood. What surprised him even more was the smile that appeared on Yibo's face....a smile that instantly transformed his expression. In that moment, he no longer looked like the familiar Dr. Yibo everyone knew. He looked like someone else entirely, someone new, someone whose presence felt unfamiliar yet striking. Zhan was certain he wasn't the only one who would notice the difference....others would too, if they saw him like this.
That smile stayed on Yibo's face even when Anwei returned and handed him a tablet. Yibo took it, then looked back at Zhan again, still smiling. Before Zhan could even decide what to do, Yibo nodded at him once and turned away, heading back in the direction he had come from.
Zhan closed his eyes immediately and let out a long breath just as Mama Beng asked,
"Who are you staring at like that?"
Zhan gathered himself, then shook his head lightly.
"It's nothing, Mama Beng. Thank you....I'll head inside now."
With that, he turned and walked toward their office. By the time he reached it, the tight weight pressing on his chest had finally eased.
Inside, he met the two new nurses. They greeted him warmly, and he introduced himself, though they quickly said Aji had already told them everything. Zhan just shook his head, wondering how many people Aji had informed about his return before he even stepped back in.
Before he could finish that thought, Aji suddenly hugged him from behind in excitement, then spun around to face him and hugged him again tightly, almost squeezing the life out of him.
"I'm so happy, I'm so happy! I can't believe it, Zhan. So it's really true? I'll actually be seeing you here again? Since morning I've been telling my husband it feels like a dream....as if you were never really coming back!"
Zhan had to firmly but gently pry her off him, reminding her to be careful of herself and her condition. After exchanging more greetings and laughter, Aji didn't hesitate to stand there filling him in on everything that had happened while he was away. Eventually, Zhan asked about his work equipment so he'd know where to start.
"They're all with Dr. Yibo," Aji replied. "He knew you were coming back, so he didn't assign anyone permanently to your duties. He's been handling everything himself. After he finishes prescribing, he leaves tasks for the nurses to distribute."
Zhan nodded.
"So I'll have to go to him directly, not to Matron Tanga?"
"Oh, Matron Tanga isn't around," Aji said. "She's on pre-maternity leave...she's close to delivery."
"Really?" Zhan asked, surprised. "She was pregnant?"
"We didn't know either," Aji laughed. "She hid it so well."
Their conversation drifted easily from one topic to another, then moved on to the food Aji had brought. The moment she opened it, the office filled with the rich aroma of spices they had once bought together. They talked until Aji finally noticed the time and left him to get started.
When Zhan reached the door to Yibo's office, the feeling returned....that strange mix of tension and anticipation. It felt almost unreal, like he had forgotten how often his feet used to walk into this very office.
Whatever it was, he didn't dwell on it. He pushed the thought aside and stepped forward, knocking once, twice, before gently turning the handle and opening the door.
The cool air from inside brushed against his face as he entered.
His feet carried him in as they always had. And just like before, his eyes immediately found Yibo seated behind his desk, completely focused on the open laptop in front of him.
Without turning around, Yibo acknowledged the knock with a calm,
"Yes, come in."
That gave Zhan a few unguarded seconds to look at him closely. Up close, he noticed the subtle change...Yibo's hair had grown slightly in the two days they hadn't seen each other, even the sides of his face showing faint stubble. A small part of Zhan thought it actually suited him better this way, but he quickly cut that thought short.
Yibo's familiar scent mixed with the cool air, washing over him again.
Zhan stepped fully inside just as Yibo turned from his laptop and looked at him. His expression was relaxed, his eyes clear....real. This wasn't a dream. Zhan was truly standing there again.
Zhan forced his own face to relax and swallowed softly.
"Good morning, sir."
Instead of replying, Yibo stood up. He walked around the desk toward Zhan. Before Zhan could process what was happening, Yibo passed him completely and headed straight for the office door.
Zhan turned to look after him just as Yibo reached the handle. Without hesitation, he turned it....once, twice....and shut the door firmly.
Bang.
Zhan's eyes widened as his heart slammed hard against his ribs, the sound echoing loudly in his ears.
So tell me....what kind of celebration are they having exactly? 😅
Wednesday, 31 Dec.
2026
Zhanxianyibo💚❤️💛