It had been two days since she woke up and Yibo had never once come to see her. Knowing his little brother... he should have been here a long time ago. Something in her soul let her know something was being kept from her. This was understandable even to a foolish man, for ZhanZhan avoided her in every way possible, tried to visit less often, changed the subject when it came to Yibo. The two beloved brothers who love her more than life avoided her when she was in this state and it was all for a reason. But Xiao Lu couldn't even think of such an outcome when she forced her friend to tell her everything...
Yibo were taken. Xiao Zhan let it happen...
But how was it possible? Why? The ZhanZhan she knows wouldn't allow Yibo to be taken from him. What happened?
Yibo left on his own...
Xiao Lu didn't understand such an act of her younger brother. She didn't understand it at all. And upon learning that he hadn't even said goodbye to anyone, she was more angry than offended. At least they deserved an explanation. But who knew the younger ones could leave like that, too? Leaving behind only a small piece of paper with a promise to return...
An unbearable pain burned inside. No matter how much she cried, she couldn't handle it. But what drove her most crazy was the way Xiao Zhan began to fade... began to slowly close in on herself, often staying on night shifts, and spending his free time only sleeping. She understood the reason for such actions... thoughts plagued both of them, just the one trying to escape from them, loading himself with work and not giving himself the opportunity for thoughts that could devour without a trace. Which could drive them both insane... They weren't either of them for that. But at least she had Bai Lu by her side to help her distract herself with something else so she wasn't always thinking about sad things. Xiao Zhan, on the other hand, had no one by her side. Absolutely. Trying to support his family, he spent all his time working, that he didn't even have a single friend by his side. He didn't even have time to waste...
One day he came home drunk. This was the first time Xiao Lu had seen her brother like this. Broken... he barely stepped through the threshold and immediately collapsed on the cold floor, and then just burst into tears. He cried for a long time, it seemed as if he was trying to scream out all the pain inside, to get it all out, and as if he couldn't do it. He sat for a long time afterwards, with his head down and still sobbing. And she swears it was the most painful thing she could see in her life. Crying could she, crying could Yibo, but seeing Xiao Zhan like this caused terrible pain... This was the first time Xiao Lu had seen him like this and only then did she realize that it was really bad. The three of them were like a single puzzle that couldn't be complete without each other. Now without Yibo, it seemed like they had all become strangers to each other...his leaving had alienated even Xiao Zhan from her.
She wasn't the only one, and he had tried to contact Yibo... but nothing... he didn't answer his calls or messages. What were they trying to accomplish, though? After all, they knew he had lost his phone and the Chinese number was unlikely to be available in another country. But they couldn't accept it so easily, although there was no other choice.
Yibo had told them to wait, but they both knew he might not remember what he had said in a couple of months. His injury had progressed and no one could be sure he wouldn't forget them... that was probably Xiao Zhan's greatest fear. That must have been the reason for his bitter tears back then.
***
Four years. Just four years... And he would go back. Because he felt disgusting. The worst person in the world for leaving without even saying goodbye one last time. And he couldn't really let that happen, because he knew that if he did so, Zhan-ge wouldn't let him go anywhere. And if he stayed there, his parents would hurt everyone... Being in a completely different country, Yibo had only one regret. No, more like afraid. For the first time, he was afraid of forgetting them... Xiao Lu and Xiao Zhan. Afraid that the expected four years would never come, because he could wake up one morning and not remember anything, no matter how much he wanted to. The psychologist to whom the "father" enrolled didn't inspire confidence for a while, until he finally found common ground with this woman. It turned out that she was not as bad as she seemed at first glance, and she had no connection to his "father."
- You can keep it in your memory if you want to, - she once told him.
- How's that?
- Your condition didn't improve because you were mentally blocking the way to healing, because you had a fear of "being forgotten" by him. So it was that your brain perceived this signal as "not being healed" and didn't allow it. So if you want it, you will never forget your gege....
- Then...
- You don't want to tell your parents about it?
- I want them to think I'll never heal.
- Why not?
- It's just... they have no right to know any truth about me. I'm only here for four years. Then I'll go back to China and be near my family...
"I won't forget."
Those words he heard then gave him such confidence that Yibo really believed it. He would not forget--never let himself forget.
"I won't forget."
He repeated constantly...
"I won't forget."
Believed it...
"I won't forget"
Waiting... he could only wait for the day when all this hell would end and he would be in the arms of his gege. Nothing else would matter then...
It was only a matter of time...
