In between love and death《Yizhan version》

Chapter 15

Xiao Zhan's POV

The bell rang again while I was busy cleaning the next day, I opened the door to see Haoxuan at the doorstep once again.

"Haoxuan, what are you doing here?" 

"I wanted to talk to you, you got a minute?" He walked straight to the living room, opening a briefcase on the coffee table before I could even ask anything he opened it to show a thick stack of cash.

"I didn't know you and YIbo are in the mafia."

"It's not for Yibo, it's for you," I looked at him and then back at the briefcase a few tines.

"Are you crazy! I said that as a joke!"

"I am not crazy and this is not a joke, just be my housekeeper and this is all yours," this again! 

I took a deep breath, not wanting to hurt his feelings this time, Ḧaoxuan, I'm really grateful you put this much effort into hiring me, but . . ."

"If you want more money, I can give you more,"

"This isn't a question of money! I just don't want to work for you, I'm already happy working for Yibo! Please, I hope you understand my request . . ." Haoxuan fell silent for a long moment.

"Haoxuan . . . Are you okay?" 

"WHY AM I NEVER ENOUGH!" I jolted up at his sudden outburst, Haoxuan took the briefcase and stormed out of the house without another word, I moved to go after him, but a hand stopped me, I turned to see Yibo's pained expression.

"Let me go! I have to go after him!"

"You shouldn't do that just let him cool off first," I sat down on the floor after Yibo's words, hugging my knees close, why did everything go wrong again? 

***

I moved on autopilot for the rest of the day, I kept thinking about how to apologize to Haoxuan, but nothing came u, the doorbell rang again, and this time Yibo opened the door.

"Yibo you have to help me!" Haoxuan's voice had me standing up from the sofa.

"Haoxuan, calm down, what exactly happened?" My heart broke a little seeing him so distraught and near to tears.

"T-They . . . They threw away something important!" I shifted my attention back to Haoxuan.

"What? What was it!" Haoxuan was still too shaken to say anything.

"Yibo, bring him inside, I will make some tea!" 

***

Yibo led him to the living room, and Haoxuan is silent for a moment, taking little sips from the mug, he only started to speak again once he stopped shaking.

"The maids did some spring cleaning around the mansion today, they found my box of old stuff, they probably had thought it was old junk and threw it away while I was gone," Haoxuan let out a deep sigh, burying his face in his hands.

"What am I going to do . . . ? I just lost something I'll never get back . . ." The shakiness in his voice was heartbreaking to hear, it reminded me of how I felt so long ago . . . 

I was snapped back to reality when Haoxuan placed the mug back on the table, "I guess I can't do anything now, I'll just have to accept it's gone," I know we fought earlier, but I couldn't stand seeing him so sad . . .

"Wait a minute, don't they always put the garbage bags in the basement first?" I looked up from Yibo's voice which broke the silence in the room.

"Oh yeah! The garbage truck only comes in the morning!" I turned my attention back to Haoxuan who sounded delighted, and I couldn't held back a small smile.

"Then that means it could still be in the basement!" Finally, some words were spilt out of my mouth and they both looked at me.

"Alright, I'll go grab my car keys, dress warmly, you two," Yibo pointed at Haoxuan and me while standing up with a small smile playing on his lips. 

In a few minutes, we were out of Yibo's penthouse and driving towards the mansion of Haoxuan.

***

Sure enough, just like they mentioned, there were trash bags everywhere in the basement.

"W-Wow, this is a lot of bags . . ." And just like that Yibo spilt my thoughts.

"I didn't expect there to be so much junk," and when I looked at Haoxuan I saw the flickering of happiness from a moment ago fading while he looked at all the bags of trash.

"Don't feel so discouraged soon guys, we can do this!" I had no idea where that came from, but I hoped it would help.

"Oh yeah, what are we looking for exactly, Haoxuan?" Yibo and I both turned to him while he looked somewhat startled?

"Eh? U-Uhm . . . Urm . . ." Haoxuan turned away awkwardly, we could definitely see his cheeks reddening, and somehow I felt like teasing him, but I reminded myself to be not too evil.

"We won't know what we're searching for unless you tell us," I looked at Yibo while he looked at me and together we looked back at Haoxuan, again.

"Better tell us now or you'll have to search through all of this yourself," I held back a stifled laugh from Yibo's words, and I heard Haoxuan muttering in annoyance.

"Some help you guys are . . ."

"So are you ready to confess?" It was as if Yibo and I shared the same thoughts, the only difference was that he said them out loud, and I did not.

Haoxuan took a deep breath, muttering something without looking at us . . .

 "Sorry, we didn't catch that . . ." This time it was me who spoke up, and I saw he Haoxuan's checks even went into a brighter shade of red.

"It's a teddybear, alright! I lost my precious teddy bear! Happy now?!" He exploded suddenly while Yibo and I looked at each other, trying to stifle our giggles.

"I will not hesitate to choke any of you two if I hear a laugh," Yibo forced a deadpanning expression.

"Why would we do that, Haoxuan? This is serious business, right Zhan?"

"Pfftt . . . Right, it's very serious business, so let's get down to work," Haoxuan eyed both of us suspiciously before opening his mouth to talk, "great! I brought two idiots with me!"

Word count: 1080 words