In Between Us || Zhanyi

Echoes of Past

The night was quiet, save for the soft hum of the AC in Yibo's room. He sat at his desk, staring blankly at the wall, his mind swirling in a haze of memories and emotions that had been long buried but now surfaced in painful clarity. Zhan's sharp reprimand from earlier still echoed in his head, the hurt fresh and raw, but what stung the most wasn't just the words. It was everything behind them.

Here lets have a flashback of the story.............

Yibo had always believed that love lies in approval and he had to earn it with hard efforts. As a child, he learned that lesson early on. After his parents' sudden demise, Yibo had been placed in the care of his uncle and aunt. For them, he was never more than a duty, an extra mouth to feed, a responsibility they begrudgingly accepted. 

From the day he arrived at their home, there had been a clear, unspoken divide. His cousins were treated with warmth and affection, their birthdays celebrated with grand gestures, their successes praised. But for Yibo, there was no such warmth. No celebration, no acknowledgment.

Yibo existed in the shadows of their lives, always trying, always hoping for just a sliver of affection, but it never came even Yibo tried. He worked hard, tirelessly so, in school and in life. He thought that maybe, if he achieved more—if he got better grades, if he was obedient and quiet—they might look at him with the same pride and love they had for their own children. 

But no matter what he did, it was never enough. They never saw him, not really. His efforts went unnoticed, his quiet achievements forgotten. His birthdays came and went like any other day, his milestones in school were met with silence. As the years passed, Yibo began to internalize the idea that love was something that he was not entitled to receive or he was not worth enough to have that. He was born just to survive through relentless effort, through self-sacrifice, and through enduring whatever life threw at him without complaint. He must be always obedient in order to be not left alone. He must be always grateful to people who even did the bare minimum for him.

So, when his aunt and uncle approached him with a decision that would once again alter the course of his life. They wanted him to get married. Yibo had nodded silently, just as he always had. It didn't matter who they chose. It didn't matter what his feelings were—those things had never mattered before. So why would they now? His answer was automatic, an instinctive response conditioned over years of living in quiet submission......"Yes" 

The details of the arrangement weren't explained to him, and Yibo didn't ask. The family they had chosen for him was wealthy, reputable, and that was enough. They made it sound like a transaction more than a union, and Yibo accepted it as such. He had no expectations, no dreams of romance or love. He had given up on those long ago. It wasn't until the day of the wedding that he learned the identity of the person he was marrying. 

Yibo was walking towards at the altar, feeling the weight of the moment press down on him. His hands were cold, and he tried to suppress the nerves that had been slowly building in his chest. He had no idea what to expect from this marriage, from this new life that was being forced upon him. 

Yibo's heart pounded in his chest as he took one slow step after another toward the altar, each step feeling heavier than the last. His mind was blank, void of any thoughts other than doing what he always did—obeying. He had accepted his fate without question, because questioning wasn't something he did. It never mattered who his groom was, as long as he did his duty, pleased his uncle, and fulfilled the arrangement. That's all there ever was. 'Don't make a mess!!! Don't create trouble!!! Stay put!!!'.................Yibo consoled himself