When their mother introduced them to her future husband and their stepfather, he was only 16 years old and Xiao Lu was 18... He still remembers the day when everyone gathered around the round family table. Everyone had a happy smile on their faces, everyone was really happy that they finally had a big family. Little Yibo, who was only 10 at the time, was also happy and lit everyone up with his bright smile. That childish laughter will probably never be erased from his memory, because that's when Wang Yibo came into his life.
Growing up without a father and not seeing a father's love Xiao Zhan and Xiao Lu, then thought that their family finally began a white streak. But the happiness didn't last long... In an instant, they were all outside the walls of the orphanage. Betrayed, abandoned, behind the cold wall of the stone barrier called "happiness". The barrier they had to overcome in order to really catch that happiness... Pain and disappointment burned their souls. Xiao Zhan must have cursed his "parents" more than once then, who had treated them so cruelly, not even sparing little Yibo, who from that day on had forever withdrawn into himself. If he knew-if Xiao Zhan knew that he shouldn't have been allowed to do that...
Fortunately or not, no one took them away from the orphanage. Years passed and when Xiao Lu finally turned 20, she left the walls of that home, stepping into a harsh life where you had to not just try to live well, but to survive. Study hard, work hard, forget about hanging out with her friends. After all, her brothers would soon follow her... And two years later, Xiao Zhan also followed his sister. After a few months, they were already able to take custody of their didi.
And so the three of them became one family.
As the years passed, Xiao Zhan tried to work several jobs at once so that they had enough money to live on, but in parallel he also did a perfect job in his studies, being a role model in the mouths of the medical university professors.
Fortunately everything was behind him... but it seemed the troubles didn't want to end there. Yibo was psychologically traumatized after his parents left his life. He tried so hard to forget and erase from his life the day he was abandoned that he began to have memory lapses. He could forget what day it was, what he was doing a few minutes ago, whether he had breakfast in the morning, where he was going, and who he was talking to.
Eight years had passed since that time, and Yibo's illness continued to this day. During that time, Xiao Lu was already working as a sales manager for a good company, and Xiao Zhan was one of the best surgeons at Luoyang City Hospital. They took him to various psychologists, trying to improve Yibo's condition somehow, but he kept closing himself more and more, saying that these sessions were useless and he was fine as he was...
So today, Dr. Ma voiced the same words that Xiao Zhan had heard more than once:
- I think we should stop the treatment. He's not ready to go through this himself...
Once again, it's as if they're facing a dead end, just like when they first found out eight years ago what was going on with Yibo in the first place.
- I have a notebook, ge. I write down everything about you and Lu-jie in it. Important moments in my life. So in case I forget, I can read it. I don't want to see any more shrinks. Enough, please.
Xiao Zhan must have listened to these words several thousand times and memorized them by heart. Before every session, before every visit to the doctors, every time the conversation was about his illness... almost always Yibo spoke these words. Xiao Zhan understood that Junior was really tired of all these therapies or doctors' instructions, but he couldn't look at everything calmly. After all, he knew...
- Or do you think my illness will worsen? - Yibo voices his thoughts and Xiao Zhan freezes for a moment, understanding what he heard.
- Everything will be fine, - he only replies, looking at those puppy-dog eyes, who was full of hope that he would hear good things from the lips of his gege. And Xiao Zhan swallows the words that almost popped out in a moment when he wasn't thinking about anything.
Yes, he was afraid of it. But what he was most afraid of was the thought that Yibo might forget him forever... and not remember. So while he had a chance to prevent it, he wanted to cling to every opportunity and cure his didi... he had to do it.
