“No, I’m not coming, the siblings need some time together without me intruding.
Oh, this box is from the hospital, it  contains your sister’s belongings that they should  have given to your family , but in the end they gave it to me. No need to take it with you back to the hospital, but I’d better bring it to your home later.
Go now, see you later, and thank GuangYao for being my friend!”

So that being said, Yibo took the subway, deciding to stop by at home, before going to the Jin residence. It was a matter of respect  to take a shower and change his clothes for joining that wonderful family’s dinner.
He couldn’t deny that it crossed his mind to simply vanish in thin air and forget about all this complicated drama  he involved himself into, after all the Jins know only his name, not where he lives. And even if they would find him, what could happen, except…But he shook away this thought when Nainai’s image popped into his mind, holding her chest while looking disappointed at him.  No, he couldn’t have the heart…GuangYao is right, he will keep acting and  lying until after New Year. Besides, until then MianMian will hopefully get better and the family will be too happy with her recovering, for getting upset with a nobody who lied to them.

He bought two bouquets of flowers for the ladies and a bottle of wine from the supermarket around the corner of his block, even though he knew that the  cashier would get him again on his nerves. But there was no time to look for another store.
The cashier was the daughter of the building manager,  living one floor higher than him, who was always asking him with no shame to be her boyfriend.

“No, Cheng Xiao! My answer is the same, please stop asking me, and start looking for another man to date!”, he answered as politely as he could, while hurrying to pay and escape from her insistent nagging.

 

After  finally finding the house, he pressed the front door ringbell, not stopping from marveling about the huge size of the house.
That did not seem to be a regular  house, but rather a luxurious mansion! 
Hmm, about  how much money a uni professor and a kindergarten teacher make these days anyway?
He would have never believed that Jin is such  a rich family.

“Mama, he is here, you scolded Yao Ge on the phone for nothing!
I told you that he will come!”, the teenager, Jin Ling on his name,  shouted after opening the door for Yibo.

“Wang Yibo! I am so happy you came!
Come inside quickly, your jacket looks pretty thin for this windy weather!”, Missis Jin Sanren popped up from behind her son and pulled Yibo into a tight hug,  melting his heart with her care.

The family was already gathered around the dining room table from the first floor,  full of all kinds of goodies, less GuangYao who was still at the hospital with his older brother.

“Oh my, I forgot to bring the box!”, Yibo exclaimed while handing over the bottle of wine to Mister Jin GuangShan, and the flowers to the two ladies.

“No problem, you will bring it tomorrow! Did you forget that tomorrow is Christmas?
No matter if your religion is different from ours, I hope you are not bothered to celebrate Christmas with us. Take it as a regular  celebration dinner, just a bit fancier and with a  gifts addition, ha, ha. God, I love  these cheeks of yours  so much!”, NaiNai pinched Yibo’s cheeks, after he explained what box he was talking about.

“Thank you, NaiNai, I love you, too!”, Yibo couldn’t resist not to hug lovingly the sweet  old lady.

And this was not an act or a lie!
Wang Yibo was loving this family for real.
Everything was exactly  how he imagined a normal family could be, a normal family he never had and  dreamed of having! Even the fact that the mother scolded her son on the phone or the way NaiNai slapped her grandson’s  hand when he tried to steal a piece of meat from the plate was endearing! Oh, how much he would have wished to have a mother  to scold him!
“I love you baba, please don’t misunderstand me!”, he whispered in his mind.

After talking on the phone in the lobby, Mister Jin GuangShan announced to them that “the boys had just called, they were on their way, and the hungry JinJin would be  finally allowed to ruin the plate’s arrangement that his mother worked so hard on.And the dinner could finally start.”

Yibo excused himself and went to the lobby  to take the call from his colleague. Jiao Jie called him to invite him to spend Christmas evening, tomorrow,  with her family, knowing that he would be alone.

Yibo  had just ended the call while sitting down on the steps of the  indoor stair, when the front door opened
 

 

“Wang Yibo, I was so glad when Mama told me that you came!
I was really worried, especially that I forgot to ask for your address or at least for your phone number!”, GuangYao spoke while climbing up the stairs.

Yibo figured out that there was another person behind GuangYao, but he couldn’t see who, yet.

After GuangYao high fived his friend, he intended to wrap an arm around his shoulders and lead him back to the dining room.
But Yibo removed his arm, mumbling, while staring in shock at the man standing at the foot of the stairs:
“Xiao Yang? (A/n: Xiao Zhan’s nickname in his highschool years and it means “little guy” in  Chinese)
 

 

“Not Xiao Yang,  but Xiao Zhan! Oh my gosh, I am so stupid,you’re right! I almost forgot that you two don’t know each other.
Let me introduce you, he is Xiao Zhan, MianMian’s brother from Spain, and he is Wang Yibo, MianMian’s fiance!”, GuangYao smiled at the two men who were shaking hands.

“No, he is not!”, Xiao Zhan shocked his brother and scared the out of Yibo.

 

 

“What do you mean he is not?”, GuangYao the helpless Yibo’s shoulder while stealthily  muttering to him ”I got you, don’t worry.”

“I am sure that he can’t be…because…because…MianMian sent me a few pictures about the apartment she moved into, and in one picture there was a boy who  helped her with the luggages. And when I called her to ask if it’s safe to be alone with that guy, she told me that he is her old time crush and now finally her boyfriend.
And I am pretty sure he looked completely different from you!”, Xiao Zhan said, startling even more Yibo than he already was, when grabbing his face with both of his hands and staring at him with suspicion in those huge  penetrating eyes of his.

 

 

“GeGe, what the heck are you doing? Why are you embarrassing the poor man? And your MeiMei too? 
Maybe MianMian didn’t even tell him about that crush, a crush that it’s part of the past now. Don’t forget that Wang Yibo is more than a pathetic crush or a simple boyfriend, he is her fiance now!”, GuangYao jumped to Yibo’s rescue.

“You’re right, I am so sorry, please accept my apologies lao Wang Yibo, I must be tired from the flight and stressed from MeiMei’s awful accident!
Just look at me, embarrassing you instead of falling on my knees before you!
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my precious MeiMei’s life!
Thank you and once again, please forgive me!”, Xiao Zhan kept bowing before Yibo who didn’t know what to do with himself, what to say or what to do.

Luckily he was saved, this time by Missis Jin Sanren who pulled her so-missed son in her arms, crying and laughing all together, while kissing her beloved ZhanZhan’s face, whom she didn't see for six months already, as she kept wailing about.

“I missed you, Ma, so so much!
I missed all of you!”, Xiao Zhan  pulled his mother in a bone crushing embrace.
“Where is my NaiNai? Oh here you are, my beautiful NaiNai!”,  he giggled when the old lady jumped up from her chair as soon as he stepped inside the dining room.

“I brought presents to all of you, but I’m going to give them to you  only tomorrow to get into the  Christmas spirit.
Now, let’s eat, I  hear from here LingLing’s growling stomach!”, Xiao Zhan said after coming back from his room.

Wang Yibo’s mouth was on autopilot, eating by itself, as his eyes and brain were focused only on the man sitting across the table!
He couldn’t believe his eyes that it was really him, the love of his life, sitting just a few inches away from him! He could reach out his hand and actually touch him!
He couldn’t believe his eyes that Xiao Yang  hadn't changed at all after all these years!
He couldn’t believe his eyes that he, Wang Yibo,  is grossly lying and deceiving the man he was in love with ever since! 

“I am so proud of our MianMian for finding such a wonderful man to fall in  love with!
I’d wish for our ZhanZhan to find his happiness too, he is such a fine, handsome, smart and educated man. I don’t understand why he isn't married yet, or at least engaged.
 My dear Yibo, maybe you have some girl friends or sisters of boy friends to introduce them to ZhanZhan!”, NaiNai giggled, not missing the opportunity to pinch again Yibo’s cheeks after  bringing her famous eggs cake to the table.

“I must excuse myself, I need to go to the bathroom.”, Xiao Zhan stood up, probably because disliking the topic, as Yibo assumed.

“It’s a good idea, I could give it a try.”, Yibo answered politely, trying to not get NaiNai upset.

“By the way, how did you and MianMian meet? What made you notice her for the first time? What made you  fall in love with her?”, Mister Jin GuangShan asked Yibo, savoring a full mouth piece from NaiNai’s cake. 

“I was…we were…”, Yibo stammered. God, he hates so much  to lie to these wonderful people!
 

 

“Yeah, I am interested too  in the answers to these questions!”, Xiao Zhan popped up in the dining room door. 
Xiao Zhan, with that  accusatory expression  written all over  his pretty face, was like the incarnation of a judge condemning Yibo’s  criminal lies.
 

 

But it was no turning point by now, Yibo had to keep it up with his lies, especially after seeing NaiNai taking her pills.

Therefore he told them how he fell in love! Without mentioning with whom:
“The first