𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝐷𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑂𝑓 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑒

A familiar shadow

Yibo woke up to find himself all dressed up in loose clothes that especially had Zhan's smell on them. He hugged himself, enjoying the sweet fragrance of his Zhan. It surely had to be Zhan who had helped him get dressed.

Just then, he found Zhan entering the room with something to eat.

"Zhan... how am I gonna hide my hickeys, huh?" Yibo said, complaining.

"Oh, c'mon. I have something, and I'm pretty sure it will make them go away. Now, here, have something to eat, beauty," Zhan said, smiling before giving him a sweet kiss.

"Where is Taehyun?" Yibo asked.

"Oh, he went to play with the kids. You know he loves playing with them," Zhan said.

"Yesterday, you were really something," Zhan said with a smirk.

"Oh, c'mon, Zhan, stoppp ittt," Yibo said, blushing and trying to hide his face.

"Zhan... come here. I wanna hug you," Yibo said, calling Zhan towards him.

"Yeah, sure, beauty," Zhan said, hugging him and feeding him at the same time since Yibo wasn't eating and was too busy talking.

"I'll come next week since the whole week I'm busy with work, you know, Zhan," Yibo said, trying not to sound sad.

"Okay, no problem. But remember, you're mine, beauty. No one can touch you," Zhan said, leaving another mark near his collarbone.

In the morning, Yibo left after giving Zhan a sweet kiss, with Taehyun sleeping peacefully in his arms. Before they left, Zhan gave Taehyun a kiss on the head and said, "Take care."

Yibo couldn't help but feel lucky that his son was in Zhan's care.

When he reached home, he saw his wife and started talking about the case. He needed to talk to her after putting his son to sleep.

"Yibo, you're back. How was yesterday?" his wife asked while making breakfast. She knew that whenever Yibo was home, he spent most of his time with their son and usually came home late, so it wasn't unusual that he had arrived late today.

"Uhm, yeah. It was a good night with Taehyun. We went to play, and I took him to many different places. He really liked it," Yibo said, remembering everything that had happened the previous night.

He talked to his wife about her friend's murder. Instead of being sad, he noticed that she seemed worried. He asked her why she was getting so worried, but she said nothing, which was obviously suspicious to Yibo.

He knew something was wrong with his wife. After hearing that most of the people she had been close to were dead, he started noticing a connection. Somehow, one incident could trigger all of this, and he was sure that this had all been planned.

He knew the murder had happened at the gallery since it was mentioned in the letter. His wife loved the gallery too, and she had invited him to come along with her because she had been begging him to join her so she could, in a way, show off her husband.

"This is my husband, Wang Yibo," Shan said to her good-looking friends.

"Hi, how are y'all?" Yibo said. He hated talking to people when the conversation wasn't necessary, but he was forced to do it this time.

"Y'all look so good, like a perfect family, and you even have a beautiful, loving son," one of her friends said.

"Oh yeah, we are so happy, especially after marrying Yibo," his wife said, smiling.

He was tired of hearing this again and again and wondered why his wife kept going on about it.

He remembered the day when his parents told him he was getting married by force. He had tried to argue, but there was no use. He was only nineteen and wanted to experience life, get a job, and do lots of things. But his parents never really cared about what he wanted.

That was why he wanted to give all his love to his son.

"Yibo, you're getting married, and I hear nothing about it," his dad said strictly.

"But, Dad, I'm just nineteen! I wanna do everything. I wanna get a job and do lots of things. Dad, Mom, please, I don't wanna get married," Yibo said, begging them.

But Yibo's begging that day didn't change their minds, and he was married to Shan, who was in the same position as him.

At the start, they didn't even talk much. But somehow, within a few days, they started to warm up to each other and surprisingly enjoyed each other's company.

Finally, when their son came into their world, Yibo was beaming with happiness. The same went for his parents and his in-laws.

He and his wife had become victims of their families' plans to combine their companies. Their families didn't care that they were young or about what they actually wanted. They simply did what they thought was right because, in the end, all they wanted was power.

At the gallery, everyone was carefully looking at each painting, sharing their emotions through the artwork.

But from Yibo's point of view, it was boring. He had only come because of his work. Otherwise, he would have been with Zhan, his love.

On top of that, everyone kept congratulating them for being the "best couple."

Yibo was getting so angry that he finally left Shan alone and went to the other side of the gallery. He didn't want to hear it anymore or make a scene because it was making him sick.

While walking towards the other side, he suddenly felt someone hold his waist.

He felt Zhan's familiar breath and scent against him.

He was so sure it was Zhan.

But when he turned around, there was no one there.

He looked around and noticed someone's shadow in the distance. He tried to convince himself that he was simply missing Zhan and imagining things.

But somewhere deep in his heart, he knew.

It was Zhan.

The way he held him, his familiar scent, even the feeling of his presence—Yibo knew Zhan better than anyone.

He made sure that his son was kept safe with a nanny who looked after him. The nanny went home when they returned home, as usual.

And right after his son was born, Yibo had already made plenty of arrangements for where his son would stay, along with properties and other things.

Because if anything ever happened, he knew he had kept his son somewhere safe.