Innocuous (YiZhan/ZhanYi)

Chapter 13 If Our Love Is Wrong

Author notes: English is not my first language, so please forgive my mistakes and awkward writing. This is NOT for profit. I don't own them. AU (as in Alternate Universe) and maybe OOC (as in Out of Character).

Author notes 2: My eternal gratitude to @JJSin2020 for editing this.

Author Notes 3: The song is If  Our Love is Wrong by Calum Scott

Thanks for the votes and comments! They really encourage me.

Yi Bo arrived at Zhan's apartment building holding a flower bouquet in his hands. He tried to look nonchalant, to hide how jittery he was. He knocked on his door, but nobody answered. He stood at Zhan's door for thirty minutes, knocking occasionally and then just waiting. A neighbor opened her door and looked at him, taking pity on him after looking at the despair that had begun to show on his face.

"He's not there. I saw him leave on Saturday. I haven't seen him since that day," she told him.

He nodded his thanks to her and got going. If Zhan was not feeling well, where could he possibly be? Was he sick enough to be in a hospital? He tried calling him, but the call rang and rang and Zhan never picked up. Well, that was to be expected.

He went back to the office, there was not much he could do for now. It was not as if he could ask Lulu for Zhan's whereabouts. That would have been unnecessary callousness. He was not that much of a jerk.

Without any other option at the moment, he decided to wait and see if Zhan would be back the next day. Unfortunately for him, Zhan didn't appear on Tuesday either. He was losing hope. What if Zhan decided to ditch the entire project? What would he do then? How could he get a hold of Zhan? He didn't know.

A call from his mom took him out of his musings. He was in such a state of turmoil that he didn't feel centered enough to deal with his parents at the moment. This was especially true for his mom. He loved her to pieces, but sometimes, she could get on his nerves. Especially if they were talking about Lulu. After staring at his phone for a few seconds, he grew some balls and took the call.

"Hello mom," he said as soon as the call connected.

"Hi dear, how are you?" she greeted him in a cheerful tone. He felt anything but cheerful, but she didn't really need to know that right now. He just wanted to listen to her and get over with whatever she wanted or needed. He was not feeling particularly patient at the moment.

Unconsciously, he took a blank piece of paper and starting doodling on it. He caught himself writing Zhan's name, his brain telling him what was really on his mind at the moment.

"I'm fine mom. Is there anything you need?" He went directly to the point. Small talk had never been his forte, but right now he was too weary to pretend to care.

"Don't be like that Yi Bo. I taught you manners!" was her no-nonsense response.

"Of course madam," he changed his tone to show respect. Not because he was feeling particularly respectful at the moment, but because he needed to appease her.

"We haven't seen you in a while. Come home and have lunch with us tomorrow," she said in a much happier tone.

"Tomorrow?" He let the question roll out of his tongue without thinking. This was really not the time, he was so worried about Zhan and his whereabouts that he forgot to hold his tongue.

"Is it not a good time for you?" the acerbic tone of his mother's question brought him back to reality. Fuck it! He thought.

"I'll be there at the usual time mom," he assured her. They said their goodbyes in a perfunctorily way and he cut the call.