Mizpah《Yizhan version》

Chapter 6

Present time . . . 

"Who are you, Yibo?"

"I am just a human with feelings, like you . . ." Yibo averted his gaze, before going further with his story, the night was long and cold.

***

Fourteen years ago . . .

He waited.

Zhan had been waiting under the mistletoe since the moment his dad had left his room, even after the clock struck twelve he kept his hope while sitting under the mistletoe, holding back an upcoming yawn of the tiring day that passed like a blur.

After all, he was still not used to celebrating Christmas without his mother he quickly shook the thought away while letting a small yawn escape, his eyes luring out of the window, searching for a silhouette through the darkness.

Unknown to Zhan, Yibo had been standing outside in the cold weather, watching Zhan through the window while having a thoughtful look, Yibo had been watching Zhan under the weird kind of branch, not sure if he should approach Zhan or not, so Yibo kept waiting and waiting.

The tower clock that struck twelve, in the end, made him decide to go in and see what Zhan had been doing under that weird branch hanging above his head like clouds.

Slowly he climbed through the window, and while he did so he saw Zhan smiling brightly, but different from normal Zhan did not move away from his place, as if he was insisting keep standing under that weird-looking branch thing with a bright red ribbon tying it together.

"Zhan?" Zhan smiled while Yibo approached him, still eyeing weirdly at the thing above his head, "Zhan, what is that weird branch you've been sitting under, right now for like three hours without moving? Did you perhaps got possessed by that thing?" Even though Yibo was around the same age of Zhan, he learned less than Zhan because Yibo couldn't attend school, above all, there did not exist something like a ghost school while Zhan heard the story of mistletoe with Christmas from friends and wanted to try it out.

Zhan's eyes bulged out at Yibo's words, trying to suppress a burst of laughter from escaping, inside his heart Zhan acknowledged he was older and understood more things than Yibo, but he did not expect the younger not to know what a mistletoe was, after all, Zhan learned it from a young age when his deceased mom told him it was the way she fell in love with his dad.

Yibo cocked an eyebrow at Zhan, slowly coming closer while Zhan tried to hide his blushing face behind his hands, "Zhan? Are you sure you're okay?" Zhan nodded while not looking at Yibo, actually not daring to look at the other, not knowing if he should reveal to Yibo what the meaning was of mistletoe, but if Zhan wouldn't explain and wouldn't get a kiss from Yibo, it would mean bad luck like his mother once told him, right?

"U-Uhm . . . So . . . A-Actually . . ." Zhan's voice trailed off while he slowly let his hands go down, not able to hide the growing redness on his face anymore, and Yibo slowly sat down on the opposite chair of him, his eyes still fixated on Zhan with curiosity burning inside them.

"S-So, when my mother was younger like in middle school she had a Christmas party once a year, and uhm . . . My mom went there that day all alone because she hadn't had a boyfriend or anyone my mom particularly liked, so she went there dressed elegantly, and while my mom watched everyone including her closest friends dancing, and without her own realization she stood under a mistletoe, or actually the only mistletoe on the party. And my dad was standing next to her and ended up giving her a small peck on the cheek, that's how they end up falling in love . . ." Zhan scratched his nape awkwardly while trying to avert Yibo's burning gaze that was fixated on him like a perfume you couldn't wash away no matter how hard you try.

"Okay, so you actually planned this whole thing for me to kiss you, but in the end, you failed because you thought I didn't know what a mistletoe was?" Zhan nodded at Yibo's summary before looking into Yibo's eyes with question marks in his eyes.

"What do you mean by I thought you didn't know what a mistletoe was? You didn't know it . . . Right?" Yibo chuckled, and Zhan speechlessly stared at him, at a loss of words.

"Zhan, bunny, did you really thought I would be that stupid to not even know what mistletoe is? I just wanted to know to which extinct you would go to explain this al," Yibo laughed again, and it was a fresh and soft sound, like the autumn breeze touching your face, Yibo looked so beautiful while laughing.

Before Zhan even got the chance to answer Yibo's sudden secret he felt something soft landing on his lips, Zhan closed his eyes, it was Yibo's lips, and they collided softly, one second felt like one century, and before Zhan was able to drown into the sweetness of the endless kiss, the source of warmth was gone.

Zhan opened his eyes again, blinking a few times to let himself adjust to the darkness, and he saw how Yibo smiled while a strand of hair fell in front of his eyes, and before Zhan proceeded what happened, he already took the bit of hair and put it behind Yibo's ear while leaning so close that Zhan was sure Yibo heard him breathing next to his ear.

Though Yiboknew he wasn't able to blush anymore, he still felt that unexplainable source of happiness blooming inside him, as if thousands of butterflies were flying through his stomach and tickling him, and Yibo wasn't able to do anything more than just smile idiotically.

After all, both of the youthful boys knew thousands of reasons to not smile, but they still ended up to think of a million reasons to why to just smile, and so they did.

Zhan took Yibo's like always cold hand into his and dragged Yibo to lay next to him, he placed his head on Yibo's shoulder while pulling his blanket higher, yet sharing it with Yibo at the same time.

This time Zhan did not withhold the yawn that came, and when Yibo saw his beloved one yawning, he placed his hand over Zhan's and with a soft blow the small flame of the candle went off, and so did the streets became deserted with no lights visible anymore . . .

Before Zhan fell asleep, which happened quite quickly because he was tired of the long day that had passed, he carefully whispered four soft words that Yibo would whisper back, but only when he was sure Zhan fell asleep on his shoulder, "I love you, Yibo . . ."

"I love you too my dearest beloved bunny Zhan . . ."

And the silence engulfed them into a storm of darkness . . . 

Word count: 1160 words