~8~ All together

~8~ All together

There was a knock at my room door at seven o'clock in the morning on the dot. One of the employees shouted through the door, "Sir, Mr. Xiao Zhan. It's 7:00 am and time to get up." However, my very personal wake-up service was immediately driven away from the door.

Instead of the young woman, I then heard Yibo: "What are you doing here? Get out of here. If anyone is going to wake Xiao Zhan, it's me." For real? Are they arguing about who gets to tear me from my dreams?

Just a moment ago I dreamt about how I found a sick cat as a little boy, which I was allowed to take home and nurse to health. This is the second time I didn't dream about Seo Joon. And then you get ripped out of your dreams like this?

I crawled out of the oversized bed, went to the door and opened it: "Good morning. Just in case it is customary to wake guests with arguments outside the room door, I would like to plead not to be woken up again. I also have an alarm clock that works well and makes less noise."

Yibo looked at me and said, "You don't need to set an alarm, I'll wake you up in the future."

"Why?"

"Because I'm always up early anyway."

"That doesn't explain why you want to wake me up."

"Because it's nicer to be woken up in a friendly way, not by a loud alarm clock."

"Is that so? I mean, my alarm clock doesn't make as much noise as you two do."

"That was only because there was a misunderstanding."

"Mm. Sure."

"Really. I promise, tomorrow it'll be different."

" Clearly Yibo."

"Yes, you will see."

I went back to my room and Yibo followed me. He kept trying to explain to me that he wants to wake me up gently. Uh, whatever that means.

Since Yibo obviously didn't intend to leave my room and I wanted to take a shower, I started to undress. And suddenly Yibo was silent. He stared at me with eyes wide open and mouth open.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him.

"Uh, I, well, I mean. Um..." Stuttered Yibo.

"Have you lost the ability to speak?"

"No, just the words."

"What words?"

"Which I was about to say."

"Oh, yeah? How come?"

"Um, well, I, actually..." Stuttered Yibo with bright red cheeks.

"Hey, if you're uncomfortable seeing me naked, you'd better leave the room."

" Uncomfortable?"

"Yeah, you know what it's like. When you're not comfortable with something."

"ZhanZhan?"

"Mn?"

"Doesn't it bother you that I see you naked?"

"Why? Should it?"

"No, I mean. I have no idea what I mean. I'd better go downstairs. Come down when you're done." Said Yibo and disappeared quickly towards the door. What's his problem? We are both men, I have nothing else like him. Well, maybe he's shy.

After the shower, I went downstairs where the three Wang's were waiting for me with breakfast. Wang Mina told me she's giving Yibo and me the rest of the week off. Because of his wrist with which he cannot do anything and I because of my neck.

The table was again richly set but nobody really ate anything. Except me, because I was ravenously hungry. I saw that Yibo was just sipping a glass of hot soy milk and I was not excited.

"Oh, he rarely eats breakfast." Said Wang Hao.

"Such a waste of food. There are so many institutions that would be happy to have even half of it." I mumbled as I cut up a bun and covered it with a piece of sausage.

I put the bun on Yibo's plate and told him, "Eat it." Yibo stared at me and I said, "Don't stare, eat. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And besides, your employees have worked so hard to prepare all this. So you can thank them by eating a little bit of it."

"But I'm not hungry."

"I don't care. At least eat this one bun."

"All right. Do I get a reward if I eat this?"

"Your reward will come from your body, which will thank you with energy."

"But I want something else."

"What do you want?"

"I want us to do something together."

"For that, you must eat at least two buns and a yogurt."

"Then I'll do it." While he ate the first bun I gave him, I prepared a second one for him.

"Wow, you made our son have breakfast. He hasn't done that in years." Said Wang Hao.

"Well, you should eat something too. If you eat together, it will taste much better." I say and pass the basket with the bread and buns to the two of them and they also had breakfast.

The employees thanked me with a smile and a nod.

After breakfast I wanted to know from Yibo what he would like to do. He said, "Let's go to your university and represent your first meeting today."

" Unfortunately, we can' t do that."

"And why not?"

"Because it's raining and when Seo Joon and I first met, the sun was shining."

"But we can still recreate everything."

"No, we should wait until the circumstances are right. Because if they are, then everything should fit together. All together, as it was then. Otherwise it would only be distorted."

"Sounds more like you don't want to do this."

"Actually, I don't want it either. Because I don't feel like poking around in the past. Besides, I never wanted to come back to this campus again. Because it only brings back painful memories."

"Painful memories of the day you met your true love? How is that possible? Shouldn't you like to remember that time and like to return to the place where it all began?"

"Maybe."

"Not just maybe ZhanZhan. It's important to remember the good feeling of that time. After all, that was the moment you fell in love with him. That was a positive thing and shouldn't be devalued by his death."

Well, I think he has a point, and I think he won't rest until we reenact it anyway. Although I don't really understand why he's so desperate to re-enact it. Because I don't believe him when he says he didn't understand my explanation.

So we got dressed and we're on our way to my former university.

Today I realized something. I was always the scared type who hid and avoided any problem. Seo Joon changed that. But after his death I had become the old scared one again.

But with Yibo I'm not and strangely enough I always defy him, which led to several small discussions. And he is not just anybody, he is my boss. I mean, what normal person starts an argument with his boss, about some trivialities, and even finds it good?

"Have you ever been to Gusu Lan University?" I asked Yibo in the car.

"No, I've heard a lot about the university, but I've never been there."

"It's just a small university with a few students. So less than 100 students."

"Then how can this be a university?"

"Why shouldn't it be a university? At the time, my professor had told me it was never any different than today. They never had more than 100 students a year. I thought it was good. I mean, because there were no overcrowded classes, the teachers and professors could really focus on us students and encourage us individually."

"And yet you only studied art and design?"

"Not quite. Actually, I majored in business administration and minored in art and design."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I'm excited about your university. Do you think we could sit in on a class for an hour or two and listen?"

"Maybe. We can ask when we get there."

For the first time, Yibo and I are talking in peace and quiet without arguing. Very interesting that there is another way. Maybe Yibo and I can become friends after all.