Mizpah《Zhanyi version》

Chapter 7

Present time . . .

"Yibo, would you believe me if I told you I loved you?" Yibo's eyes were dark, and the first few streaks of dawn fell through the window, yet the streets were still quiet as the dead.

And he did not answer Zhan's question . . . 

***

Four years ago . . .

He sneezed.

Yibo sneezed while Zhan was climbing through the window with a chuckle leaving his mouth when he heard Yibo's cute sneeze.

"When you sneeze once it means someone is saying something good about you behind your back or it means someone is thinking about you," Zhan soft voice almost startled Yibo, almost.

Yibo turned around with a pout, "so yesterday I woke up with a sneeze around 3 am, was it you who was thinking about me?" Yibo pouted again while Zhan sat next to Yibo on his bed.

"Am I not allowed to think about you anymore?" Zhan pouted back but ended up laughing when Yibo kept frowned.

"I was sleeping so well, why did you need to think about me, hmpf," Zhan was sure that no matter how long he would listen to Yibo he would never get tired of his cute little lion cub, so Zhan patted Yibo's head with a big smile plastered on his face.

"What were you dreaming about yesterday?" The teasing undertone of Zhan made Yibo sulk while turning his back to Zhan, and besides the fact that Yibo was already in early puberty he still acted like a baby, and Zhan couldn't help himself, but to adore the small bunny.

"I was dreaming about flying on a unicorn, happy?" Once again, Zhan chuckled of his lion baby's mean behaviour, and he hugged Yibo backwards, placing his head on Yibo's shoulder while his breath got right heard next to Yibo's ear.

"Zhan . . . ?" Yibo's voice was back to steady without any a hint of the teasing, and there was something in his tone from which Zhan couldn't place his finger on as if Yibo was worrying about something, so Zhan just nodded as an answer.

"Can you tell me a story?" Zhan heaved a deep breath at Yibo's request while starting to ponder what story to tell Yibo, he didn't want it to be sad either too happy, it needed to be . . . Nostalgic.

"Okay, but then you need to listen very carefully, Yibo," Yibo nodded, nuzzling his head against Zhan's chest with a deep sigh escaping both the children's mouth and so Zhan began his story . . .

"There once was this boy, he was lonely, it wasn't his choice to be isolated, but his parents had never had the time to play with him, they where work-alcoholic, and he didn't have friends, all because he was shy and quiet. So one day, his mom told him he would go abroad with his dad because of business matters, and because they couldn't find a babysitter for him while the boy was around ten years old.

He went with his father, and when they arrived his dad abandoned him by his sister who as the boy's aunt, and he had never met her before, she was a young woman in her mid-twenties, and he took care of the boy.

The aunt took him in and took care of him like he was her own son, she bought clothes for him, took him out to a restaurant, KFC, McDonald's, burger king once or twice in a week, and she was always kind and a more mother figure to him than in the ten years his mother was to him.

The boy at the time sometimes had his own doubts, thinking she must be paid to be so kind to him, but deep in his heart, he knew otherwise.

So the moth his father had business flew by like an arrow, and the day the boy needed to leave, came sooner than expected, and he didn't want to leave, he didn't want to go back to his lonely and quiet life instead the boy wanted to stay there with his aunt who did care about him, but the boy knew he was young and hadn't any saying in adult stuff.

At the end of the week he ended up going back to his miserable life, carrying the memories of his aunt deep inside his heart, it was put away in a small box in his unconscious mind to remind himself, there was still something good left of humanity. And that night, after a long month of being away from his home he fell asleep with a wish, he wished to one day see his auntie again, and thank her, thank her for everything she had done for him because sometimes, even the smallest gesture can make someone's life different . . ." Zhan ended his story with a small lonely tear trickling its way down his eyes without Yibo's notice.

When looking at the two boys one would easily say that Yibo fell asleep, but that wasn't true, he was awake, trying to find a heartbeat in Zhan's body while knowing he had none, so he listened to Zhan's calm breathing when his story ended before slowly opening his eyes.

"Zhan, this wasn't a story, was it? This was a memory of yours . . ." Without looking Zhan in the eyes Yibo had known it when he ended, the boy Zhan talked about in his story was Zhan himself, this all because Yibo had been in Zhan's position to countless times, he knew when a thing was a story or a remembrance of the past.

"Yibo, every memory is a story . . . But yes, it was one of my most vivid memory of the past . . ." My only beautiful memory the words weren't spilt yet both of them knew it hung in between them in the air.

Yibo, softly snoozled his nose against Zhan's crook, inhaling Zhan's sweet scent that filled the room, it smelled like burning sandalwood mixed with rose water, and Zhan felt sleepy, yet he tried to resist the urge that was trying to dance with him.

"Zhan?" Without words Zhan started to sway Yibo softly in his arms, knowing he wanted to sleep, Yibo needed the sleep after such a long restless night, he deserved it just like, he deserved all the best from the world, and just like he deserved a happily ever after . . .

Gently Zhan started to hum a lullaby that he remembered, and the lullaby was also one of the fewer things he still remembered before the blackness in his mind, so he hummed, hummed softly and quietly.

He hummed for Yibo, for the howling wind outside, humming for the animals who were listening in peace while sleeping in the cold of the winter night, and above all, he hummed the lullaby to remind himself he would be okay as long as he would keep hope with him along his path.

And as the night fell as a cloak on the two loveable youthful kids who were seeping in each other's arms, as if there was nothing that could've hurt them, unknown of the danger lurking on the edge of faith, waiting for the perfect moment to attack the lovers of Christmas night . . .

Word count: 1182 words