Xiao Zhan was just about to exit the company's building when a hand sneaked under his arm, stopping him in his track:
"ZiZi? 
What , why, what are you doing here?"

"Hello, ZhanZhan, long time no see you! 
What am I doing here? Obviously, I was waiting for you. 
Come on, don't stand there like a lifeless statue, let's go!
It's still pouring outside, your mom said that usually you don't take your car to the office, so I will give you a ride."

"My mom?", Zhan asked, still in shock at the surprising visit. 
She never paid attention to him, never called him, never looked for him, much less to visit him at his working place. 
Not talking anymore about the way she was touching him! 
Her hand nesting inside his palm, asking to be held, and her left pushing against his arm?!

"Yes, your mom. 
I met her at a hair salon, and she told me about how happy she is that finally you have somebody in your life. 
Erm, who would have thought?"

"No, no, ZiZi, you, I mean, my mom got it wrongly! BoBi  is just my flatmate and my... trainer!"

"BoBi? 
Trainer?"

"I mean Yibo, his name is Yibo! Wang Yibo!
And he is a , a, a fitness trainer..."

"ZhanZhan, please calm down, you don't have to get so disturbed and defensive, I am your childhood friend, I would never judge you!
Just that it took me by surprise and it got me curious. 
I would really like to meet this BoBi of yours, your mom said that she likes him very much.
A fitness trainer...hmmm, I would have never expected it from you...hmmm..."

"No, no, ZiZi please believe me, BoBi, I mean Yibo, is just a new friend."

"So, are you busy right now, can I meet this...friend of yours?"

"Actually, I'm not gonna lie to you, we are a bit busy  at this very moment.
BoBi's brother needs him, and I must give him a ride to get to his brother's place asap.
But you can meet him tomorrow. Oh, yes, it will be a great opportunity, as we scheduled a clothes shopping session for tomorrow afternoon."

"You? 
Shopping session? 
Who are you? 
I'm even more curious now, about the guy who  changed you that much!"

"It's not for me, I need to buy some clothes for him, I mean..."

"I get it what you mean...", the girl laughed, winking at the bewildered Xiao Zhan who forgot even how to open the car door.

"I would like to meet you two, tomorrow then, you know how much I like shopping, I even could help in choosing  the fitting clothes to look good on him!", the girl clapped excitedly, before starting the engine.

Zhan went completely silent the whole short car ride, to his home. 
He was aware that he was in deep ! 
Now, what chances does he still have with the love of his life?

After  Yang Zi dropped him in front of his block, he just stood there, unmoved, for long minutes under the cold rain, reflecting at...
At nothing...
His brain and his whole being was confused and angry at...he had no idea what he was angry about, actually, but he was fuming!
 

Like it was not enough, when he was about to  open the stairwell door, a loud boom got him startled like hell.
His first thought was that it was a strong thunder. He didn't even have time to look up, as his vision  got blurred not only by the heavy rain, but by a huge, unclear multicolored wave of water that  dropped on top of his head.
What the?!!!
When he looked up while  unsticking from his face and hair the flowers (flowers?) and leaves...he saw his flat mate standing in the frame of the opened window from his living room. He was waving his hands and shouting something, but he couldn't hear because of the pouring rain. But he could see from his apologetic facial expression  that he was the reason for all those flowers sliding down his  drenched hair and clothes.

 

 

When he stepped inside the apartment, his flat mate's beautiful face welcoming him with that annoying bright smile and his warm embrace, was the last thing his heart needed in the ocean of disturbing turmoil he was struggling in.

"ZhanBi, you're here!
Oh my god, look at you, you are soaked!
I am so, so, sorry! I didn't mean to! I can explain!
But you should take a hot shower first. Then I will tell you why the vase got broken. I don't know why the windows were not perfectly shut closed and the wind  pushed the window open...And then the window slapped the vase down
Oh, god, luckily the vase  didn't fall on your head, but only the flowers! I am so sorry, I just wanted to show you why you shouldn't hate flowers...I am sorry. You're not going to believe it from where I got the flowers! But I will tell you after you shower.
Now go, while you will shower, I will warm your dinner. I hope you'll like my special recipe, it's my personal creation!
JiJi loves it and a chef where I worked once praised me, and..."

 

  

"Could you shut up sometimes? 
You give me nothing but headaches with your constant blabbering!
You don't have to tell me to take a shower! 
You're not my mother, nor my wife, nor... 
Actually you are nothing but just...the cause of all of my troubles!", Xiao Zhan snapped out, pushing away the startled boy's arms from around his waist.

He regretted in the very next moment his bursting out,  and gulped at  those hurt doe eyes, shining now not from the usual lively happiness, but from hot tears.

Wang Yibo's faded voice, whispering: "I'm sorry, ZhanBi,  I mean I'm sorry Xiao Zhan GeGe, so, so sorry! I will fix it!", was like a knife stabbing his guilty heart.

He reached out a hand to wipe the tears rolling down the puffy cheeks he adores so much, trying to crack a smile:
"No, BoBi, you have done nothing bad, I am the one who's sorry. 
You shouldn't mind me, I just had a bad and long day at work, and on top of that, a bad thing has happened related to ZiZi.
Please, forget and forgive my stupidity!"

"No, Zhan Ge, you are not stupid, actually you are the most intelligent person I have ever met. 
You were mean yeah, but not stupid. 
Maybe you're right, I'm not good for your life, but as I said I can fix that."

 

 

 

"What do you mean, you can fix that? 
BoBi, Yibo, what are you planning to do? 
I already said that I'm sorry! 
Please BoBi, let me in!", Zhan shouted, punching desperately the  door of Yibo's room, where he locked himself.

Zhan crouched in front of the door and listened for a while at the muffled crying and the rustling sound, indicating that  he might have been packing his clothes.

 

 

"Please, BoBi.
Wang Yibo, please don't be stubborn, where are you going? 
It's still raining outside, please let's talk!", Zhan tried to stop the hasty boy who was already in front of the elevator,  nervously pressing the calling button.

Zhan managed to sneak along with him in the lift cage and to grab the small suitcase from  Yibo's trembling hands.

"Zhan Ge, go back in the house, you are drenched and you will catch a cold.
I'm going to...my brother needs me, and don't worry about me, I'm a tough guy!
Please don't feel guilty or bad about anything, maybe someday we could become friends, maybe someday I would be able to make you proud of me.
Right now I am just a big nothing, you are absolutely right!
But, Zhan Ge, I promise to try everything in my power to change this fact, and when I will accomplish it, I will look for you and ask for your friendship, only if you would agree!"

"From all the words my stupid mouth had uttered , I will repeat only two, SHUT UP!
Shut up and listen to me!
You are nothing close to NOTHING to me!
How can you be nothing when you have changed my whole life, my whole being, my whole heart?
Please, BoBi, all I want from you, besides your forgiveness, is to give me some more time for me to get along with this  different me!
I desperately need you to help me in understanding and knowing  myself.
Please, stay with me!" 

When the elevator reached the ground floor, Zhan sighed in distress watching Yibo stepping outside the lift cage and heading to the exiting door.
But he calmed down a bit when  he spoke:
"Okay, if you need me, but now  I still want to go to JiJi and see with my own eyes if he's alright."

"Alright, wait here, I'm going up to take the car keys and we will go together.
Give me your suitcase, and BoBi, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I promise I will make up to you for hurting you like that!", Xiao Zhan shouted, earning some suspicious looks from the old woman walking in the hallway, especially when he lifted the  other boy in his arms and pecked his cheeks loudly.

 

 

Wang Yibo was sitting on the back seat of Xiao Zhan's car, wondering why did he stop the car and where did he run again, telling him to wait for a few minutes. 
At least he took an umbrella with him.

He was back in a few minutes indeed, with a small bouquet of red roses:
"Sorry, it's all what they had at this late hour, the roses don't have long stems.
They had only these buds with short stems, but at least they were  red and roses.
And look what I also bought. It's a teddy dressed in a red roses dress! You love teddies and you love red roses! Don't even  ask me how I managed to convince the flower shop owner to sell the store mascot to me!
But why are you still sitting in the back seat and not here next to me?"

"Zhan Ge, you hate flowers and find them useless!
I sit here, because I am still a bit upset, and when I am upset I need to be by myself.
But thank you for the teddy, it's really adorable. For the flowers  too, they are beautiful and mnhaa, they smell so good."

 

 

 

 

"I already told you that you changed my life, the old Xiao Zhan hated flowers, but not the new, changed ZhanBi. 
He loves flowers, especially the red roses, BoBi's favorite. 
By the way, why don't you call me ZhanBi anymore? Well, actually I don't mind you calling me however you want.
But alright, sit there, I will not push you in any way, take your time into forgiving me, but don't be upset anymore, and please give me at least one from your beautiful smiles."

"You cheesy bastard, I trained you well, I bet  that your woman will be delighted to  listen to your words. 
Speaking of her, what bad things you were saying  happened today, related to her?"

"It was nothing, I fixed a meeting tomorrow with the three of us."

"A meeting, not a date? 
And why with all three of us and not just the two of you?"

"Actually she wants more to meet you, than to meet me."

"Oh? Why?"

Xiao Zhan didn't know what to answer, so he changed the topic:
"I should call A-Xian to tell him that we are on our way."

After talking on the phone with his friend, Yibo noticed that they were riding the same streets in circles:
"ZhanBi, what's happening, why are we wasting time and not going to WuXian Ge's home? 
I hope that everything is alright with My JiJi GeGe! 
Don't you hide it from me, tell me the truth, right away!"

"BoBi, BoBo, don't panic, everything is alright with your brother, as a matter of fact everything is alright with both of them. 
Just that A-Xi8an asked me to be late for one more hour. I suppose that you figure out why, he, he.",  Zhan chuckled, watching in the rearview mirror, the flustered and embarrassed cutie.

His eyes remained glued to that enticing image, luckily the car was waiting for the traffic lights to change, so he didn't need to focus on the driving.

 

 

Xiao Zhan pulled the car into a small outdoor parking lot.

"We will wait in the car for a while.
I need to drink some water, are you hungry or thirsty? 
There is a small store behind the corner. 
What do you want me to buy for you?",  Zhan asked, opening his car door.

"Water is fine, take the umbrella with you!", Yibo shouted , but too late as Zhan was already running under the still heavy rain.

"Can I sit here, next to you? 
I didn't buy sandwiches, just some peanuts, because I want to  enjoy that dinner you've promised to me, when we'll get home.",  Xiao Zhan said, climbing in the car on the back seat,  after  coming back from the store.

They munched  peanuts in silence for a while, until Yibo  playfully  flicked a peanut onto Zhan's cheek.

"Do you realize that this was our first fight?
We fought like two...two idiots...two best friends, or...ha, ha, ha!", Yibo laughed when Zhan collected the peanut from inside his shirt, where it fell, and shoved it in his mouth.

"Or like two lovers fighting for the first time...", Zhan whispered, turning on one side and staring at  his seat mate's perfect profile.

"Yes, like two lovers.
You, know, sometimes I feel envious with  Yang Zi Xiǎojiě (A/n: Miss in Chinese), even though I don't even know her.
But it's enough for me to know you, you will be a great boyfriend and husband for the lucky one.", Yibo smiled,  locking their eyes in a profound stare, while touching his cheek lovingly.

Xiao Zhan took the hand from his cheek and planted a lingering kiss in his  big, yet soft palm:
"Not greater than you. 
The one loved by you , will be the luckiest person from the whole universe, only your smile will be enough to brighten up anyone's life.
Wang Yibo, you are the most beautiful human being I have ever met, from all points of view, not only physically.
I feel blessed that I met you...atchoo, atchoo!", Zhan sneezed loudly, spitting munched peanuts crumbs all over Yibo's face, and  pathetically ruining the romantic moment.

He  desperately tried to wipe the crumbs from Yibo's cheek with his hand and the back of his sleeve, and kept apologizing, especially when Yibo almost choked from laughter.

"Don't worry, ZhanBi, don't apologize, I still consider your future lover as the luckiest person. 
You are not at all the cold, insensitive man I met for that first time. 
You really know how to charm someone, and how to be romantic." 

"I'm so sorry BoBi.
Yeah, I am romantic like hell, spitting  you like that.
I am so romantic that I think I will end up marrying myself!",  Xiao Zhan pouted, still wiping the other's cheeks which had already become red from too much rubbing.

His eyes enlarged at the size of two tennis balls at  Yibo undressing his green sweater:
"Wha, what...what are you doing?"

"Leaving the joking aside, you have sneezed! 
I  told you to take the umbrella, you are drenched, you walked the whole day in that cold rain, and on top of that I dropped a whole bucket of water onto your head, that vase was an enormous size, by the way! I'm sure that you  have already caught a cold. 
I don't care that I'm not your mother, nor your wife, nor nothing, but please listen to me and remove that wet shirt and that damp coat of yours! And take this sweater. It's old and worn out, but at least it's thick and warm."

"Yes, mom, or wife, or whatever! 
I like you