Zhan's pov
Uncle and Aunt took care of all the arrangements. All I had to do was just be there.
I couldn't even cry anymore since all my tears had dried up, I felt so numb right now.
I wanted to go back to my home and collapse on my bed, go to sleep, and never wake up.
I felt a squeeze on my hand, which brought me out of my thoughts, Yibo stood beside me.
People came and gave their condolences, I didn't even know half of these people but I had to greet them and acknowledge them, thank them for coming to my father's funeral.
Several of my father's colleagues came, they were crying and hugged me, they seemed genuine they told me how much of a great guy my father was.
Everything that I already knew.
Nothing new here.
"Zhan." my uncle called me out, "I want you to meet someone," he said and then I saw an older couple and a few young children. I recognised two of them one was Yanli aunt's daughter and the other was Cheng, my uncle's son.
They were good people I have met them before.
"This is my father, your grandfather, and this is your grandmother." my aunt said.
I just looked at them and nodded, unable to say anything, my grandfather looked at me up and down, while my grandmother was crying as she came forward and kept her hand over my face before she hugged me.
I knew my uncle and aunt wanted to talk to me, about what would happen next.
~~
"We want you to come with us." My uncle said, "Your father wanted this, and Zhan you should get to know your family as well."
Currently, I am sitting in front of my uncle, aunt, and grandparents, my grandfather hasn't said much to me but my grandmother has tried to talk to me. She even made me something to eat, her cooking was great but nothing like Yibo's mother.
My grandmother sat beside me and gently held my hand, "I have wronged my son, I wasn't there in his last moments, please dear, please give me a chance to correct my mistakes. I want to be there for you, I want to make it up to him by being in your life.
Please, son. I promise it will be your house too."
"Can you give me some time to think?" I urged.
"Sure." Everyone said.
~~
"They want me to go with them," I said to Yibo, I was lying with my head in his lap, as he caressed my hair.
"That's a great idea, I have looked up your grandfather and uncle they are quite wealthy...now you can go to college, be the man your parents always wanted you to be, and make them proud of you.
And since your father entrusted you to them I am sure he had your best interest at heart."
"Hm... you may be you are right."
"You know we might be able to go to college together, and you know do a lot of things together in the future, we can even start a business together."
I thought about this for a while, I had already lost my parents, and Yibo was the only one I had left, he was my family, he was important to me, and I wanted to be someone worthy of him, this was a good chance to become someone useful and powerful.
I can't lose Yibo, I don't want to lose Yibo, I will not lose, and I will do anything to keep him in my life even if it means going with my aunt and uncle.
Just for him
After my discussion with Yibo, I told my uncle and aunt about my decision and they were happy, they asked me what college I would like to go and I said hazelwood academy since that was the place Yibo wanted to go and I wanted to go there as well.
My aunt and uncle started the process, the tickets were booked, and the packing was started, I would soon leave this city.
But I would not be alone I would be with Yibo.
It took a few days to get everything settled, I hadn't had the chance to see or talk to Yibo these days, and he wasn't replying to my messages or calls, I assumed that he was busy, so I decided to reach out to him later, after all we'll be together soon.
~~
It was another Monday morning when the doorbell rang, I looked at the time and saw that it was 5 in the morning, I wondered who it was, I was a little surprised when I opened the door and saw Yibo over there.
"Yibo what are you doing here?" I asked.
He smiled at me before he took out a box and said, "Happy birthday."
I smiled when he opened the box and I saw the cake, inside it.
"I forgot that it was my birthday."
"Don't worry." Yibo said with a smile, "Come with me let's blow the candles." he said as he lit the candles on the cake, "make a wish."
I closed my eyes and thought of something, the only wish I could think of was that I wanted to be with Yibo.
I blew out the candles before I cut the cake, I fed the first bite to him.
I felt a pang in my chest when I realized that it was my first birthday without my parents and I was officially eighteen now, an adult.
"Here." Yibo said, "I got something for you, I know you don't like it when I give you something but this is special."
He said as he gave me a ring, I laughed when I saw it, "Are you going to propose to me or what?"
"Should I?" Yibo said with a smile, "I really liked this ring, when I saw this ring in the store, I thought that it would really suit you, please accept it."
I smiled as I forwarded my hand, "Why don't you put it on." he happily did that.
"You know what? just wait here." I said as I marched back inside my house and got something, I ran back outside, "Here." I said as I grabbed Yibo's hand and put a ring on his finger as well, "This belongs to my dad, I want to give this to you.
"As a token of gratitude for being there for me, for being my support, thank you so much Yibo for being there for me. I don't know what I would have done without you. You are a very important person to me Yibo, you are a blessing in my life.
I know I should have said all of this before, but I didn't get the chance. And now you are my only family, the only person closest to me, someone who I know I can always count on, I hope you will stay by my side and never give up on me I promise I will be better. If it wasn't for you I might have tried to... end it all."
Yibo blinked before he smiled and looked at the ring, "I know that this means a lot to you, Zhan, thanks for trusting me with this ring, I promise I will take good care of it. I will head back now."
"So when will I see you next?" I asked. Yibo paused and said, "Soon." he gave me a smile before he turned and walked away.
~~
As the day progressed I got a little bored so I decided to go out for a walk.
"Zhan."
I looked around to find the person who had called my name, it turned out to be one of my classmates Max, why was he calling me?
"Did you hear about Yibo, it's so sad what happened, did you see him, how is he?" Max asked.
"Hear what?" I spoke, I just met him today.
"Wait you didn't know?"
"Knew what?" I asked becoming a little agitated, a pit started to form in my stomach, as my heart started to beat faster.
"His mother committed suicide, a few days ago."
I felt thunderstruck, the ground vanished from beneath me. I nearly lost my balance and stumbled back. My throat felt tight, my chest ached and my eyes became teary.
I turned around and started to walk, I increased my speed and soon I was running, I ran all the way to Yibo's house.
When I reached his house I desperately knocked on the door, I called out Yibo's name, but the one who opened the door was not Yibo, it was an old woman, "Who are you?" she asked.
"I... I am Yibo's friend, I am here to see him."
"I don't know where he is." she said, "He ran away from home."
I felt like someone had stabbed me with a knife and was twisting it.
"Ran away?"
"Yes, we don't know where he went but he left a note behind telling us not to look for him." the old woman said, "are you Zhan?" she asked and I nodded.
She then walked inside the house and came back with a letter, "he left this for you, it has your name over it and your address, and with this there was a note, asking to be delivered to you."