The Sea Between Us [ Yizhan FF ] 🌊🧜

Chapter 1 | Yibo's childhood and life

For Yibo, the sea and its world have always been close to his heart. He loved watching the raging waves, collecting shells, swimming in the water, and walking on the beach. Yibo and his mother showed a particularly great interest in the coastal world. Because of this, Yibo had a much better and closer relationship with his mother than with his father or grandparents. He grew up with his parents in a huge, spacious beach house.

Each room in the house beautifully reflects the most beautiful colors of the natural ornaments and treasures of the sea and the coast: light blue, softer browns, turquoise, and white. On the shelves and cabinets were mostly white or blue shells in glass, and starfish adorned. There was also a shelf in the living room with the beach ornaments that Yibo had found and taken home after a walk on the beach with his mother.

Yibo could only share this infatuation with his mother since his father was mostly busy with his job and company. Because of this, Mr. Wang spent little time at home and even less time with his family. Even though Yibo knew he could always count on his mother, he was not so happy. He often missed his father's company. Yibo knew that his father didn't hate him, but at the same time, he didn't see that his father cared much for him.

It was during the holidays that only Mr. Wang showed the most interest in getting to know his son better, but it only lasted until his cell phone rang. Whenever this happened, Mr. Wang's paternal side disappeared in no time, and he often left the parties and rushed to work. His wife tolerated this silently, but Yibo struggled with it. As a child, Yibo tried many times to attract his father's attention or seek his company, but occasions, when he succeeded, were very rare. Because of this, Yibo gave up trying after a while and resigned himself to having his mother there next to him.

But as time went on, Yibo became more and more aware of something he hadn't noticed before: his mother's constant sad eyes. Yibo saw his mother most sad, especially during family dinners and breakfasts, and he often heard his mother sorrowful sighs in the evenings when Mr. Wang arrived or left in a hurry to go to work. His mother tried to make Yibo's childhood better and make up for the emptiness so that Yibo wouldn't be hurt so much by the fact that only one of his parents loved and listened to him. But this did not last long.

When Yibo became a teenager, his former world was quickly shattered to pieces. He lost his mother to a serious illness.

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Yibo continued to spend time at the beach after the loss of his mother. But he no longer walked in the daylight or bright weather, but in the evenings or at night. During his walks, Yibo recalled beautiful moments with his mother as he let his tears and pain wash away the sea's waves. But as the months went by, Yibo walked less and less on the beach.

After his mother's death, Yibo's relationship with his father deteriorated even more. The arguments between the two became more frequent and almost always ended the same way: Yibo stormed out of the house and was at his best friend's house for days.

A few years later, they moved to the city. Mr. Wang decided not to sell the house but to give it to Yibo for his birthday. But in this way, the beach house did not remain empty for long, since as soon as Yibo had the opportunity, he left the city and moved back to his former home. After that, the father and son continued to live alone in their apartment. 

Despite the distance, Mr. Wang tried to keep in touch with his son. He often called Yibo, but there were rare occasions when Yibo was willing to take his call. Yibo found his father's sudden interest unusual, but he didn't pay too much attention to figure out what the reason might have been. Yet behind Mr. Wang's change was nothing more than a tragedy that happened to him.

Just weeks after his son moved away, Mr. Wang had a mild heart attack. Luckily he was taken to the hospital in time and no serious harm was done. But Mr. Wang chose to keep it a secret from his son because he didn't want this tragedy to bring them closer. He didn't want Yibo to visit him just because of that.

Mr. Wang, on the other hand, found it more difficult to keep his illness and hospitalization a secret when he met someone in the hospital.

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A few weeks later ...

Yibo was in town to meet his friend. A few hours later, after arriving at his best friend's apartment, Yibo received another call from his father. Finally, Yibo answered the call after a long hesitation. Mr. Wang asked him to visit him because he had a guest who wanted to meet Yibo.

Although Yibo was not in the mood for it, he finally accepted his father's request. He said goodbye to his friend and then headed for his father's house.

Along the way, Yibo thought only of the mysterious guest his father had refused to tell him anything about. Yibo had many people on his mind who his father might also have known. But even he wasn't prepared for the one who was waiting for him.

That night, however, there were far more surprises for Yibo than he thought.

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Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it! 💙✨