Rue [YiZhan]

3

A bag is on the floor while the other is already on Wang Yibo's shoulder. The short stay in the Xiao family has ended faster than Wang Yibo would even think of. He doesn't know if the time was really just fast or he didn't get to enjoy most of it during the stay. Regardless, what could he do but pack his things and bid his farewell to the elderly.

He saw how Xiao Zhan smiled at Mrs. Xiao sweetly and hugged her. Then, he heard him mutter, "We have to go."

Mrs. Xiao hugged her son back even tighter while caressing the son's back, nurturing her last moments with her son for this month, "Come back soon."

While the mother and son are having their farewell, Wang Yibo couldn't help but steal a side glance to Mr. Xiao just beside Mrs. Xiao. He felt his heart about to jump out of his mouth when he saw Mr. Xiao already staring, no, glaring at him. He immediately lowered his head and just played with his fingers.

He is sure his heart did stop beating when he heard a low voice call him, "Yibo, can I have a second with you?"

Wang Yibo didn't look at Mr. Xiao's eyes but he did look up, "Yes."

Before he could follow the elder man, he heard Xiao Zhan ask his father, "What for?"

"Nothing." Mr. Xiao didn't turn around but did reply the son, "Come, Yibo."

"S-Sure."

Xiao Zhan just followed the two men walk towards outside where he couldn't see nor hear the two. He looked at his mother holding his hands, "Don't even bother asking me. I don't know either."

Xiao Zhan pouted and looked at the floor, "Because you love Yibo more than me that's why you're not telling me."

"Stupid. Of course not, I'm just respecting your friend's decisions. I don't want to ruin his plan."

"What plan?"

"I don't know. Just sit. Let's wait for them, mn?"

It only took Wang YIbo and Mr. Xiao five minutes to have a private conversation before they came back to Xiao Zhan's sight.

Xiao Zhan looked up at Wang YIbo and stood up, "You good?"

Wang YIbo simply nodded. Then, he turned to Mr. Xiao, "We're leaving."

Mr. Xiao nodded to Wang Yibo before he looked at his son behind Wang Yibo, "Take care."

Xiao Zhan smiled and bowed, "Mn. Thank you."

Then, Xiao Zhan picked up his bag from the floor and looked at his mother, "We're going now."

Mrs. Xiao nodded and hugged her son for the last time, "Take care."

Xiao Zhan smiled and hugged Mrs. Xiao back using his left hand while his right hand is gripping on his bag's straps, "You too."

They broke the hug and Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo finally did their last bow before leaving.

It took them hours before finally reaching Xiao Zhan's apartment. Unlike the usual, Wang YIbo didn't go with Xiao Zhan back to his apartment and went straight back to his own shared apartment with Cho Seungyoun.

Xiao Zhan is supposed to feel joy as he could have more time to have a me-time but unlikely to him, he felt empty. The feelings he felt back from Chongqing came back to him and he felt suffocated.

He's lying on his bed with his clothes unchanged. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and exhaled. Just what was the thing Wang Yibo has been keeping from him?

He took his phone out from his pocket and opened it. He swiped and tapped until he came into his senses. He has already typed a message to Wang Yibo and is only about to press the send button. He read the message, "Yibo, come over."

He cringed and deleted his message before browsing on his contact list before pressing on Li Qin's contact and dialing it.

Li Qin is a friend and a classmate of him at the same time. They have known each other for at least five years. Wang Yibo also know Li Qin and has a good relationship with her as well. Xiao Zhan would admit, he admires and adores the woman. If only he's brave enough, he would actually court her and ask her out but how funny, he couldn't even give her a free snack.

Not a minute had passed when his call was answered.

"Li Qin here, what do you want?"

"Are you available?"

"For what? I'm still editing some files before submitting our project. Are you going to help me?"

"No, never mind."

"Boring. What do you want? Just tell me. I'll decide after."

"No. You can finish them."

"Whatever. Bye."

Xiao Zhan couldn't do anything but only look at the phone call being ended. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair and whined. He is exhausted but still not sleepy so what could he do? It's already eight in the evening but he fell asleep during the flight. He decided to open his room's window and look outside. There, he saw someone from a neighbor's yard.

He wasn't supposed to have another conversation with anyone but the person, a woman, looked up to him and using the light of the street lights and also the moon's, he saw the young woman smile at him. He could do nothing more but smile back.

"How are you?" The woman below asked as she pulled the gloves of of her hands, "I saw your apartment having no lights at all so I assumed you were perhaps on a vacation."

Xiao Zhan saw how the woman wipe something off of her forehead. He assumed it's sweat, "Xiao, it's almost eight in the evening, what are you still doing at this time?"

The young lady smiled brighter to Xiao Zhan. All Xiao Zhan could say is this young woman looks just the same age as Wang Yibo, is she? Xiao Zhan can't really remember.

"Xiao-ge, I was away for the whole day due to some, you know, private concerns with family so I wasn't able to cut these growing wild plants on my garden. It was scheduled to be trimmed today but I wasn't free so I decided to cut them off tonight. Don't worry, ge. I'm about to finish them anyway." The young girl explained.

Xiao Zhan simply nod his head and didn't respond.

The girl seem to notice that Xiao Zhan don't have any interest on answering so she decided to continue their conversation, "Looks like you didn't enjoy your short vacation. You should go and rest, Xiao-ge. I also left some newly harvested fruit just on your footstep just this afternoon."

The girl seem to  have tiptoed to look at Xiao Zhan's main door, "Looks like you didn't notice them. Anyway, I have to head out. Today was a tough day. Good night."

Xiao Zhan smiled and nodded, "Thank you. You too."

He looked at the image of Cheng Xiao stepping away from his sight to her home. That's when he remembered her words. How can a woman like her who is a student and a part-time worker could also take care of her plants and even have her own vegetable garden? Is it even possible to have a vegetable garden inside her lot?

That's when he decided to go down the stairs and look at the fruits the girl was talking about earlier.

He opened the door and the girl was indeed right. A basket full of different kind of fruits like grapes, apple, mango, and lemon. He also saw a card and read it.

"To my dearest neighbor and his boyfriend. I hope this would keep both of you healthy. Have a good day."

What boyfriend?

Xiao Zhan was in shock, Was she pertaining to Wang Yibo? Do they really act like boyfriends?

He wanted to knock on her gate and explain to her how he and Wang Yibo are only friends but he realized, that would make him defensive and the girl would think he's overreacting and not believe him at all. But not clarifying the matter would also make her believe that they are indeed dating.

But I'm not gay. So is Wang Yibo.