"We found Basco standing in front of everyone. He had gathered the people to speak to them. Iso introduced me to him, saying he had brought a literate boy who would be very useful to him in many ways.
The word "educated boy" surprised me, and I stared at Iso in disbelief. He said it so confidently, as if he had known me for a long time, even though we had only just met that day.
Basco turned to me and asked my name.
"I'm Yibo," I told him.
He slapped me so hard that I almost fell to the ground. The pain and shock left me dizzy. Then he told me that I must hide my real name and choose another one...that was their rule. But in my heart, I knew I could never abandon the name I had grown up hearing my mother call me every day.
So when he asked again, I repeated, "Yibo."
He slapped me again. Despite the pain, I refused to change my name, i am furious so i started beating Basco, Iso and another man named Malo pulled me aside. Malo told me that if I wanted to stay with them, I needed a nickname. He called me Lion and said that from that day on, my name was Lion.
He went back and apologized and told Basco and the others, and only then did Basco accept me.
It wasn't the first time I had met Malo. I had encountered him when I had barely spent two days in the city...he had tried to steal my bag, but I didn't let him. From that moment, I gradually became part of their group, until I completely drifted into their world.
Every bad things was happening in that place Zhan, but I chose only one role....car theft. I mastered it in a short time. Any car I decided to take, I could open, start, and bring straight to Basco in minutes, unless the owner was planning to stay very close. Soon everyone knew me, and Basco grew fond of me, especially because I never complained about the small amount he gave me from selling the cars.
As long as I had something to eat every day, I was satisfied. The only problem Basco had with me was that whenever I stole a car, I delayed from stealing another one. No matter how much he ordered or begged, I would only bring it after I had spent all the money he gave me. That made him stop giving me much, because he realized the more he paid me, the longer I delayed working.
Many people offered me drugs, even Basco himself. He always said they would erase the sadness he saw in my eyes, but I never felt tempted...not even once. Not long after, Basco was killed in a fight with rival gangs.
Everything scattered, and everyone went their own way.
The hardship I had escaped returned. I didn't know where to sell the cars anymore, and I had no plan for what to do next. My money ran out, and life hit me again. By then, it had been almost a year since I left home...one year since A-Bo died.
Then fate turned another page.
I met a man who had been looking for me after hearing I was good at stealing cars. He said he needed a specific car and would pay me two hundred thousand. It wasn't a joke. It was urgent and dangerous. If I failed, I wouldn't even have money to eat that day.
He gave me the car's location and told me where to deliver it.
And that was the day my feet first stepped into PrimeCare Hospital.
He said the hospital's name and turned his eyes toward Zhan, who was staring at him in shock. After the surprise, he noticed something else in Zhan's eyes....a faint shimmer of tears. His lashes trembled, revealing his vulnerability.
At that moment, Zhan looked unbearably beautiful to Yibo.
Not the usual beauty that always made his heart ache in silence, but a fragile beauty touched by pain.
Yibo couldn't blink. He felt as if Zhan's eyes were reaching straight into his heart, tearing down the last walls he had built around his past, exposing everything he had tried to hide.
His chest felt tight, heavy with emotions he couldn't name.
Why do Zhan's eyes feel like home?
Why do his tears feel like a wound inside me?
Zhan quickly raised both hands and wiped his eyes, then continued looking at Yibo. Yibo was still looking at him too, with an expression Zhan couldn't quite understand. It was as if the tears in Zhan's eyes had opened something inside him. Zhan could read what was on Yibo's face...pain, a deep kind of pain that should have been caused by the story he was telling, not just from looking at him.
But even so, Yibo was the first to look away. He slowly withdrew his gaze from Zhan's, not in a hurry, but very slowly, like someone struggling with his own thoughts.
He cleared his throat once, twice, and then began to speak.
"The car that man told me to steal didn't belong to just anyone....it belonged to Professor Fan Shutong, the owner of Primecare Hospital. I still remember the day I went to the car. It was raining heavily, and I made sure no one was around before trying to open the door with the small metal tool I had. But before I could open it, I heard the Professor's voice behind me. He directly asked me if that was really what I wanted to do with his car. Even after I turned to look at him, I didn't realize he was the owner until he took off his rain-soaked coat and told me to stop. I took it from him without thinking he could harm me.
Instead of hurting me, he dragged me into the hospital and straight to his office. He wanted to know my story, but I couldn't tell him anything, even with the kindness he showed me. He told me he didn't see the word 'thief' in me....only a young man who had taken the wrong path just to survive. So he gave me money and told me to go eat, then come back after two days.
When I took the money, I honestly had no intention of returning. My only goal was to eat and continue my life. But on the day he told me to return, something struck my heart, and I felt an urge to go back. From that moment, I believed God answered my mother's prayers through the Professor, because from that day on, he became the wall I leaned on to cross into a new life, with all the support a father gives his son.
He helped me in ways I can't even count, Zhan. He first got me a cleaning job at a private foreign company that paid very well....jobs like that aren't easy to get. That was the beginning of my separation from Malo's place, because with my first salary, I rented a room and moved out without anyone knowing. From there, I decided to start saving money to repay everyone whose cars I had stolen. I kept records of every car and tried to find each owner. The Professor kept sending me money from time to time, even though he knew I was earning, and within one year, I managed to repay three car owners. Luckily, each of them forgave me, just as I had hoped.
Every month, after receiving my salary, I would come to this station and give Mr. Tang something. At first he accepted, but later he told me to save my money and improve my life. Even when he refused, I still left the money for him and walked away. Not long after that, he passed away. That was when the Professor insisted I return to school, since my life had started to stabilize."
"After I got my high school graduation exam results, I told him I wanted to study medicine for two reasons: to show him my gratitude for all his kindness, and because studying medicine would keep my mind busy and away from overthinking my past.
He handled everything for my admission to Zhejiang University. While preparing to leave, I realized I needed a phone, since I'd be going far away. So I saved and bought one just to call Tao-ge.
He was so happy that day he answered my call, as if he would jump out of the phone. He told me everything that had happened after I left—how Banxia's relatives insisted on finding me after the grief of their deaths eased, how our father kept telling everyone he had disowned me long ago and that even if I was arrested and taken to court, no one should contact him. That made Banxia's relatives and even her father back off from me.
He told me how worried Mom was all the time. I knew he was hiding about eighty percent of what was really happening so I wouldn't be too stressed, but I was still shaken, especially hearing how troubled Mom was.
From then on, I've been hearing everything that happens in our family from Tao-ge and Danue-ge. Both of my siblings' marriages, all the grandchildren that were born...nothing is hidden from me. Even things about our father. Not once did they ask me where I was or beg me to come home; they only advised me about my studies.
That made me respect them even more and strengthened our relationship."
I worked various jobs while studying in Hangzhou, until I finally settled for a position at Xiaoshan International Airport. Since it was a night-shift job, I would finish school, pack my books, and go straight to work. That was how I managed to pay for my education and even save some money. From time to time, I also received financial support from my professor. Seven years passed like that until I completed my studies. I didn't waste time after graduation....after finishing my housemanship, I went straight into residency for about four years, where I specialized in surgery.
It was during my housemanship that I met Duan, your sister Zhan's husband, and since then, our relationship has continued until today.
After completing my residency, I felt the urge to move away from the cities of North China. So, over the next two years, I visited about four cities in South China....Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, and Hong Kong. I didn't stay long before returning to Beijing and heading to PrimeCare with my job application documents for Prof.
He didn't even look at the documents. He had an office assigned to me and my name added to the hospital schedule immediately. I started working there, and everything settled down. My life began to stabilize, I kept a low profile, and things started to come easily for me. But all the worries and memories from my past returned when Tao-ge and the others came to Shenzhen looking for me. They even came to my house, and when Mom didn't find me, she collapsed on the spot.
I personally took charge of all her treatment and care at the hospital and also arranged for their return home. Even after she recovered, my heart couldn't rest. The anxiety and thoughts that haunted me continued, despite all the steps I tried to take to cope.
It was during that time that the SRRI program was introduced. Prof added my name, and I refused. He called me to his office and insisted I must go. I tried to make excuses, but he said something I could never argue against. He tied me down emotionally and said that if all his explanations were still not enough to make me accept the offer, then I should repay him for all the help he had given me in the past. That was the reason I started working there… and how I eventually met you, Zhan."
At that moment, Yibo reached out and held Zhan's hand. Zhan stayed silent, staring at the hand Yibo was holding.
"I won't lie to you, Zhan. From the first day I saw you when you walked into my office, I felt something change in my chest. On the second day, when you stood in front of me in that same office, that feeling began to settle somewhere deeper, somewhere I didn't understand.
From that day on, every time I came to work and saw you, the anxiety inside me lessened. And when we weren't together, thinking about you replaced that anxiety.
That's why, when that mistake happened and you were suspended, I panicked in a way only I can understand. That's why I did everything I could to bring you back.
But after we started talking on the phone, I began experiencing a different kind of feeling about you....something I didn't understand at first. Later, I realized that I was just… deeply rooting for you. For the first time in my life, my heart experienced the kind of love I'd only seen in others.
But once I realized that, I started denying it. I told myself it was impossible. My life is broken, and my only hope was to survive peacefully without dragging myself into anything else. That's why, if you remember, there were times I avoided you. I blocked every path that could bring us together, trying to force my heart to forget you.
And in the middle of all that… fate brought Malo into my life again."
A strange chill crawled up Zhan's spine to the back of his neck as the voice continued explaining everything in detail… How Tahir had stepped in at that exact moment, forcing him to set many things aside and decide to marry him… how everything had spiraled from that day until now… and how, little by little, everything inside his mind began to clear. Everything.
He understood all of his reasons, his efforts, and the many risks he had taken with his own life, all because of him. And strangely, he didn't feel angry anymore about the way he had been married. The reasons behind it were heavier than any anger he thought he should have felt.
Oh God… why hadn't his mind considered even the slightest possibility of this as an explanation when he first heard about it?
There was no accusation his mind hadn't thrown at him, no judgment his heart hadn't passed...without knowing that he was carrying a wound he had never imagined.
He closed his eyes, still feeling Yibo's hand in his. The man he had believed had married him only for some hidden purpose, not out of love, was sitting in front of him now, telling him everything he had sacrificed in his life because of him.
Because he loved him.
Because he wanted to protect him.
Tears gathered in his eyes again, moved by all his words and the life Yibo had endured. Everything he felt for him twisted and settled deep in his chest with a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding.
He suddenly felt so small in front of him.
Filled with shame and regret for all the things he had allowed his heart to believe about him in recent days.
For the first time in his life, he felt the urge to do something he never imagined he would want to do....pull him closer, hold his face, tell him that he could let go of all the burdens he had carried for so many years, even just once, to release the weight he had been holding and feel human like everyone else. If he could, he would embrace him completely, whisper something into his ear that would bring peace and ease to all the places life had shattered him....because he had spent too many years falling apart alone.
But before his thoughts could fully form, before he could move, his voice called his name, in that tone that pierced something deep inside him.
"Zhan…"
The sound of his voice came softly, heavy with words he had kept locked in his chest for too long.
"I'm tired of living a life built on mistakes. I'm tired of living on something I know will never give me a good life."
He exhaled slowly, still looking at him, while Zhan held his gaze with all the calm he could gather.
"I married you the wrong way… I married you through deception and lies. That's why I never let my heart open in our marriage. You already know everything that happened between us. I never let you understand what I truly felt. I ran. I pretended. But now…"
He paused before continuing.
"I want to fix everything from now on. I want us to have a real life together, a real marriage, and build many years upon it."
Zhan felt him tighten his grip on his hand as his mind struggled to understand what he meant.
"I want you to give me a chance, Zhan. I want the chance to start again and fix everything from the very foundation."
He went silent again, trying to steady his voice, while Zhan continued to stare at him without saying a word.
"If you agree… I will divorce you properly. I'll let you go the right way. Then I'll go back home. I'll return to my parents, I'll seek my father's forgiveness with everything I have, until I gain his approval before I come back to you."
He bit his lip lightly before continuing.
"You deserve a marriage built on truth. Not on secrets. Not on lies."
He fell silent again, his eyes fixed on Zhan's now completely stunned gaze.
"If you agree, Zhan, I'll go back and rebuild my life, fill in all the gaps I left behind, and return to marry you the proper way...in the purest, most respectful way, with every right a man deserves. I'm not asking for an answer right now. I'll give you all the time you need. I won't rush you. I'll wait as long as you want."
A deep silence fell between them. A silence so heavy that Zhan felt it echo inside his head, as if nothing else existed in his mind at that moment—as if his head hadn't been overflowing with thoughts just moments ago.
And to his surprise, Yibo suddenly stood up and stretched out his hand for him to rise. When Zhan didn't move, he bent down, held his hand again, and pulled him up gently. He looked straight into his eyes and said,
"I brought you here so you could understand everything I told you, so I could show you something real. I felt that if I told you all this at home, you wouldn't believe me...you'd think I was just making up stories."
He kept looking at him, while Zhan stared back in silence, his eyes glowing faintly in the darkness, as if something deep inside them had lit up.
"Ah, you're leaving already?"
The old man's voice interrupted their thoughts. Yibo turned to look at him, gently pulling Zhan slightly behind him while still holding his hand.
"Yes, we're going." He replied.
"Alright then. May God protect you and keep you safe on the road."
Yibo nodded, already used to his manner of speaking. He reached into his pocket, pulled out some money, and handed it to the old man.
Zhan's eyes followed the money as Yibo handed it over. At that same moment, the scattered thoughts in his mind returned, everything starting to function again.
So… this is what Yibo meant?
He would remove him from his life like this too?
He would separate from him and send him back home?
✴✴✴
12:30 a.m.
He cupped water in his hands and splashed it over his face, again and again, the cold seeping into his nose and skin. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was a mess, still dripping water....he had even removed the ribbon from his head because of how heavy everything felt.
He stepped back into the shower, letting water pour over him from head to toe. But no matter how much water washed over his body, it couldn't wash away what was happening inside his mind. That was why he now stood at the sink again, splashing cold water on his face, hoping to feel some relief.
Divorce.
Divorce…
He repeated the word in his head more times than he could count. Yibo would divorce him?
From the moment Yibo said those words, something inside his mind had frozen, as if his heart had been left somewhere behind. He understood what Yibo meant. He understood his intentions, his desire to fix things with his parents.
But still…
Why would he think divorce was the solution between them?
Why did he think another wedding would be necessary for them to be real?
Why did he think he didn't love him enough to stay, no matter what, even to stand beside him before his parents?
Why did he think something had to be broken before it could be fixed?
Something tightened painfully in Zhan's chest.
They had already lost so much in their lives. Why did Yibo think they had to lose each other too, just to become whole again?
Maybe he didn't know. Maybe he didn't understand how deeply he loved him...especially now, after learning everything about him.
Yibo thought love was something flawless, something perfect, something without mistakes. He didn't know that love was never perfect, that it always came with struggles, scars, and wounds some people never healed.
Zhan exhaled slowly, splashed more water on his face, and stepped out of the bathroom. Just as he came out, he heard a knock on the bedroom door. He hadn't even realized he had locked it until now. He remembered turning the key.
The towel around his waist was short, barely reaching his knees, but he didn't think much of it as he walked to the door and opened it.
Their eyes met instantly.
Yibo stood at the doorway in his usual home clothes....singlet and shorts, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a bottle of water. His expression was still the same as earlier, but when his eyes fell on Zhan like this, something like surprise crossed his face.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize the door was locked," Zhan said, gesturing to it.
He saw Yibo's Adam's apple move as he stepped closer, his gaze slowly trailing over Zhan's body.
"It's fine… I just came to say good night."
His voice was soft, his eyes fixed on the droplets sliding down Zhan's neck.
"And I also wanted to say sorry… for everything I told you, for how you saw me, for everything I made you feel."
Zhan kept looking at him, eyes steady. Then he shook his head.
"You don't need to apologize. You shouldn't apologize. The only thing I want you to take back is what you said earlier."
Confusion flashed across Yibo's face.
"Which part? Which thing I said?"
"That you would leave me."
He fell silent, still staring at him, then continued softly.
"You told me everything today. Your fears, your past, your pain… I heard everything. I understood. And everything you said broke something in me....but it also changed something. It changed how I see you."
His eyes shone as he held Yibo's gaze without blinking.
"I'm not afraid of who you are, Yibo. You don't need to change anything for me. You don't need to become someone else because of me."
His lips trembled slightly as he swallowed.
"I love you like this. Just as you are. The way fate brought us together. You don't need to walk some path you think is the 'right' way for us to stay together. I don't need perfection. I just want to be with you...if you want to be with me too. I'll help you fix every mistake you want to fix. I'll go back with you. I'll face your parents with you. I'll help you repair everything you want to repair. I can't step aside and let you walk away alone. I can't wait for you to burn yourself clean just to come back to me, and....I'm fucking want to sleep with you."
(ZHAAAN!)🫣
He finished speaking without breaking eye contact.
He didn't know how many seconds passed while Yibo stared at him like that. All he knew was that in less than a second, Yibo stepped fully into the room and kicked the door shut behind him with a loud slam.
Zhanxianyibo💚❤💛