17th Chapter: GLEAM

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Enjoy, my loves!😘
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A week have gone by and Yibo was sitting on his couch, holding and staring blankly at the invitation Yuta's sister handed to him while listening to the deafening silence of the whole living room. He recalled a few days back, when he saw Keiko at the parking area excitedly giggling while ambling her way towards him, he didn't know what to feel at first. His hand was stuck on the car door, feet were glued to the ground and mouth dropped a little when he saw her, waving at him from afar. Seeing her again after a year or so, suddenly recollected what had occurred a couple of years ago when her, his brother Haikuan and their Uncle came to tell him that Yuta didn't make it.

And it's not like he doesn't want to see her personally, Yibo was glad but, he just simply sees the past in her making it harder to forget it even more. On the side of that, he felt a bit hurt when she left.

His heart screamed bitterness but managed to hide it well with his emotionless eyes, offering her a forced smile instead when she was finally just a few steps from him.

The woman extended her arms and gave Yibo a tight hug, something she is comfortable doing since, in her heart, both Zhan and he are like her little brothers and continued to feel so even though she was hurt herself. Keiko felt a flinched when she hugged him and waited for the man to hug her back, but realizing that he was surprised and hesitant, she whispered at him with a most pleasant voice while caressing the man's hair;

"Hello, my Bo Di..your Oneesan missed you.."

Yibo's shoulders began to loosen when he heard the word Oneesan and closed his eyes, realising that she really is still, and always will be, a big sister to him. He hugged back the woman which was enough to release a smile on the other's face.

Back at the moment, Yibo sighed a sluggish one as he puts down the invitation on the table, laying his head next on the back pillow while massaging his forehead with both his hands. He closed his tired eyes and tried to relax his drained body for he only got back from work, nearly fainting because of exhaustion if not for his manager, Ji Li who convinced him to go home already and rest. He was feeling squeamish the moment he woke up that morning but still chose to go to work because of two reasons; one, he couldn't sleep the night before thinking about Xiao Zhan who hasn't texted or replied to any of his messages for a week now and wanted to get rid of the stupid thoughts as to why and two, he didn't want to waste his time at home doing nothing and nobody was there to take care of him anyway so, even though he was feeling nauseous and all, he pushed himself to function properly as much as he could.

His eyes started to droop but before it fell fully into the darkness, Yibo got up and trudged to the kitchen urging himself to eat something and to take medicine before he completely loses his senses. He didn't even bother to switch on the light and only a little brightness coming from the living room was its only source.

Feeling weak and felt like he was floating, he managed to grab a biscuit from the fridge only to take a small bite then filling a glass of water before going upstairs to get the medicine from the bathroom cabinet. It's been so long since he fell ill and in days like this, he would miss Yuta even more. His immune-boosting chicken and rice soup, the way he would freak out when he is too sick to even stand up and Yuta staying up until daylight, taking care of him. All of it, just a distant memory now.

Instead of going to his room, Yibo went on to the other one which used to be Yuta's and sat on his long-unused bed, took out the medicine from the bottle and popped it inside his mouth, sliding it down with some water hoping to ease the discomfort even a little. Like a little kid, he lay down on the empty bed and curled up like a ball while hugging Yuta's pillow and tried to sleep it all off.

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