Xiao Zhan's POV
"Yibo?" He slowly leaned forwards with the napkin in his left hand as he swiped the side of my mouth. A smile, tugging at the corner of his lips as his eyes got locked with mine.
"Hmm?" I took a bite of my hotpot as his intense gaze was lingering on me, "have you ever wanted to die?" As the words rolled off my lips, I saw how Yibo almost choked on his water, his eyes widening.
"Why do you ask so?" I pouted, shaking my head, "I mean, there have been times that my life was at a low point, of course, I didn't want to end it as I always had Zhoucheng and my little sister, Xiao Hua, to depend on, but still, there have been dark edges around my past that I wish to erase." I played with my napkin, not daring to look up as Yibo placed his hand over mine, caressing my thumb softly.
"It's okay; I mean, everyone has had dark edges; it made you the person you are today, be proud of that, yeah?" I nodded, looking up as Yibo gave me a slight smile.
"But, sometimes, I feel worthless, I mean, I write, but it's not even good; how am I ever going to make the people in my life happy if I can't even make myself happy?"
"Zhan," he muttered my name under his breath as he gripped my hand tighter, "don't say that, do what you like as life is short." I held my head oblique, giving him a slight smile and a nod before stuffing his mouth full of hotpot again.
"So what about you?" I drunk from my water as I put it down, looking at him as he sighed, "same as you, life is just about ups and down we need to win from." I stared at Yibo, not able to imagine a person like him going through the same as me.
But we should never judge a book by its cover; after all, the Yibo in my universe also just tried to help me, and suddenly my chest tightened at the memory, regretting how I acted.
"What are you thinking?" Yibo looked up at me, his face showing no emotion as suddenly a smirk appeared, "I will tell you my thought-" This didn't sound good.
"In exchange for one of yours." My mouth dropped; as I mumbled, "childish." Yibo just laughed, shrugging a bit while leaning backwards.
"So you don't wanna play?" I bit my lower lip and pouted, "I never said I didn't want to play it." Yibo chuckled.
"But you said it was childish, huh?"
"That doesn't mean anything, meanie," I mumbled the last word taking a sip of my water.
"Okay, so I'll start; I was thinking about how beautiful you still look when you stuff your cheeks full of food and how we indirectly shared a kiss." I blushed before his sentence hit in, "indirect kiss?" I raised an eyebrow as Yibo shook his head with a laugh.
He pointed to my glass of water, "Zhan, that is my glass of water that you took, so we indirectly shared a kiss." I looked away, feeling all the blood rush towards my cheeks as I tried to avoid his lingering gaze.
"You're so childish-"
"But you like it, don't you?" He lifted my chin to look at him, and my heart skipped a beat as if a thousand butterflies were messing up my stomach.
"Your turn, Zhan; what were you thinking?" I hastily took a sip of my- I mean, Yibo's water, but accidentally choked as I started to cough loudly, hitting my chest.
Yibo quickly sat down next to me, patting my back, helping me to get air again, and when I finally stopped coughing, our eyes interacted; he stared at me as his face slowly came closer and closer.
Our nose was almost hitting each other, as I could see the dancing freckles inside his eyes, I was about to close my eyes, expecting him to kiss me when I suddenly felt that invisible pull again.
I cursed inside my mind as I tried to grab Yibo's hand, but I couldn't, almost as if I was a puppet whose master was tugging the strings.
"Yibo." We were back in the shop, "hmm?" I was about to answer him when someone stepped inside the shop.
An elegant young man, who wore an expensive suit, he looked around in the shop, and my heart skipped a beat as I realized what was going to happen next; it was all written by me, after all.
In silence, I prayed that it wouldn't happen, but I saw how he fished out his phone, texting someone before exiting the shop again.
"Zhan? Zhan?" I woke up out of my daze when I realized Yibo had been calling me, "sorry, I was thinking about something." He laughed, and my heart couldn't take it; a telepathic laugh was so beautiful, like rain on a sunny day, refreshing and new.
A young boy entered the shop, the same boy as the first time when I woke up here, besides him was a young lady; I suspected the mom because she was the same lady from last time.
As the lady went to look at the clothes, the young boy walked closer to me, his eyes inspecting me, not in a way someone would look at an animal in the zoo, but more like I was sudoku he was trying to solve.
He came closer, his warm hand touching my cold hand, his eyes looking into mine before he turned his head towards Yibo, still holding my hand.
"A-Yuan!" The young lady called his name as the boy immediately turned around, so the boy was named A-Yuan.
"A-Yuan!" The lady called again, and the boy- A Yuan turned away from me, looking in the direction of the lady, still holding my hand "seems like someone has a crush on you, bunny." I groaned at Yibo's reaction, only receiving a laugh.
"A-Yuan!" The little boy turned around to me, his eyes suddenly looking too serious for his age, his expression showing nothing, "see you next time, ge ge." He murmured the words quietly but loud enough for me to hear as I internally frowned.
"Bye." He let go of my hand, waving to Yibo and me before running towards the lady; what a weird kid.
"Definitely in love with you, Zhan ge~"
Zhan ge my ass!
Word count: 1156 words
***
Sorry for the late update, I was caught in a project, so didn't have time to update, this book will form now on be one my second book priority to finish as it will be done within a few chapters, as I said this would be a short story.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if so, don't forget to comment and vote!
