When Zhan woke up after Yibo's stormy and very intense greeting, Yibo was still fast asleep next to him. Not wanting to wake him, he quietly got out of bed and went to take a shower. Afterwards, he went downstairs to the kitchen and instructed his cook to make Yibo's favorite meal, which he should get when he woke up again.

Zhan was about to go to his office when his brother came through the front door. Cheng wanted to talk to him. In order to do so without being disturbed, the two went into Zhan's office and sat down on a leather sofa there. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, first of all, I wanted to apologize to you. I really confused Yibo with my thoughtless remark."

"It's okay. He's calmed down again."

"Still. The way he suddenly ran away, his brother and I were really scared that something would happen to him."

"Yeah that was stupid. But luckily everything went well."

"Tell me, don't you think it's strange how he reacted, even though you only have a friendship plus? Not even his big brother knew him like that."

"Actually, I'm not surprised at how Yibo reacted."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mn. I think he's about to fall in love with me."

"Wait a minute. For real? And you're still going to let him stay?"

"Sure. He's my baby."

"Your baby? What if he just wants your fortune? You know how he grew up and how he makes his money."

"Mn. You just said it yourself, how he reacted was strange. You called me worried and said Yibo just ran away from his brother's apartment crying because you said that stupid thing. If he were only after my fortune, do you think he would have rushed here so desperately? And Yibo doesn't work as an escort anymore, he's doing professional dance training."

"Well, maybe he was desperate because he was afraid of being replaced and being left without anything again."

"Possibly. But I doubt that very much. Yibo isn't like that. Sure, money is important to him. Which is normal, after all, he never had any because he only ever earned enough money to survive and to pay the installments on his parents' debts. But I tell you, Yibo is not with me because of money. Someone who falls into my arms with big rolling tears, crying and afraid I've gone out with someone else, he has other reasons than money to react like that."

"So you're assuming he's falling in love with you?"

"Yes. He's always seeking my closeness. Wants to cuddle and kiss all the time. He clings to me tightly in his sleep. His eyes light up when he looks at me. He smiles all the time."

"Okay, okay. I see. So he's clingy. And I think he's a little too possessive, too."

"Why wouldn't he be? He's never been with a man before me. He's experiencing something completely new and rediscovering himself. He enjoys being with me. I think he's just afraid that he might lose that, or me, actually."

"And how do you feel about that? How do you feel about him? From what I remember, you didn't want to let anyone else into your life, let alone your heart."

"You know Cheng, I realized something. I can't control my heart. It does what it wants. I know I never wanted to be in a relationship again. But Yibo is so cute, so wonderfully different, that I want him near me. I was feeling sick with worry when I didn't reach him on his cell phone for two days. My heart almost exploded from the overwhelming feelings for him as he fell into my arms crying. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't escape Yibo and my feelings for him."

"So you love him."

"Yes. I didn't realize it before. I mean sure, I was very attracted to him from the beginning. But there were no feelings. They came up very slowly, without me really being aware of it. I realized what I was feeling for him, though, when I was in Prague and missed him terribly."

"And now? Are you going to confess your feelings to him?"

"No. Not yet, anyway. He still needs time. This is all new to him and I don't want to rush into anything."

"Would you really be ready for a relationship with him?"

"Good question."

"After all, he's only ever been with women. His brother told me that he had constantly changing relationships. And that he was a real womanizer."

"Doesn't that remind you of something?"

"Of what?"

"Of me!"

"Oh right. You were like that, too."

"Mn. I've always had changing relationships with women, too."

"Up to a certain point."

"You mean when I married father's business partner's daughter?"

"Yes."

"I was only 19 years old at the time. She and I agreed to marry. We got along well and eventually feelings developed with us. But I mistook affection for love."

"Mn. And I also know what happened next."

"Sure you know that Cheng. But you just don't know everything."

"Then tell me."

"A year after we were married, I realized I didn't love Lucy. And she didn't love me. But we didn't want to get divorced either. Because of our fathers and because it would have been embarrassing at university. So we decided to give each other freedom, to be able to date others. And sometimes we went out together. Once she and I went to a bar together with friends. We didn't realize until we got to the bar that it was for gays and lesbians. But we were having fun with our friends, so we didn't care."

"Yeah, okay. So?"

"We drank a lot of alcohol and when I went to get another round of drinks for us, I saw this cute Japanese guy sitting at the bar."

"Ten?"

"Mn. It was Ten. We chatted briefly while I waited for the drinks. That's all it was. A week later, the bartender from that bar called me and said Jerry was there, dead drunk and didn't have any money. I drove to the bar to pick Jerry up and pay for his drinks. There was Ten again, offering to help me. At that time, Dad still had the apartment in the city, in case it got too late and he couldn't make it home. And I was going to take Jerry there."

"Sure, I would have done that in that case too. And Ten came along?"

"Yeah, Ten came along. He helped me. When we got Jerry into one of the rooms, I offered Ten something to drink. We talked for a long time and I forgot everything around me. I don't even know how it happened that we suddenly kissed. I only know that we kissed and he asked me if I wanted to sleep with him. I was against it at first, after all I was only interested in women. But after that night, that kiss, I couldn't stop thinking about him. I went to the bar the next night, he was there again and I drank up my courage to kiss him again. The kiss was long and the sudden desire for each other was really intense. So we went to dad's apartment and that night I slept with him. We started a friendship plus. But at some point it wasn't enough for me to be able to meet him only once in a while. I wanted more. So I asked him out on dates and I realized I was falling in love with him."

"But then how did he get into your house?"

"That's what I was about to tell Cheng. The relationship between us became more intense. I told Lucy about him and she said he could move into our house. Then he and I would be closer. I offered it to Ten and he agreed. For him it was perfect. Because his university was close to the house and he didn't have to share his dorm room with 3 others anymore."

"I remember when I first met him. He was quite shy."

"Mn. Well, anyway, he lived in the house with us and Lucy got along great with him. But we told our fathers he was just a subtenant of ours. So they didn't care that he lived with us."

"You spoiled Lucy back then, but also Ten. You didn't want Lucy to feel left out."

"True. A year and a half later, we were a well-rehearsed trio. The relationship between him and me was going great. But, he wanted more and more to not just be my secret boyfriend anymore. He wanted it to be official and not just be called a subtenant or roommate anymore."

"Sure, after a year and a half, no wonder."

"I wanted that too, so I asked Lucy to let us talk to our fathers and get a divorce. The timing just wasn't good. Because her father had just lost his fortune. She asked me to wait to get divorced. Ten didn't want to wait anymore. And then Dad got sick. He was diagnosed with cancer. As you know, he was sent to this special hospital."

"Yes. I'll never forget that. One minute he was fine, and not two days after he was diagnosed with cancer, he just keeled over."

"Yeah. So I was having emotional stress at home because I was torn between the two of them. I wanted to help Lucy so she wouldn't be left without anything and I wanted to finally officially announce Ten as my boyfriend so I wouldn't lose him. Because he said he would break up with me if I didn't stand by him and us soon. I was not even 22 years old, still in the middle of my studies and Dad was suddenly incurably ill. On top of that, Dad ordered me to this clinic because he wanted to explain everything about his organization to me, since he had always wanted me to take it over someday. So I had to leave Lucy and Ten behind for a week and listen to Dad."

"And then when you came back, was it super stressful?"

"When I got back, the first thing I wanted to do was go say hello to Ten. I went to his room and heard him and Lucy talking about me. About how I hadn't realized for a year and a half that they were having an affair and were just taking advantage of me. Lucy said she was glad I was so stupid and didn't get it, that she set up the meeting between Ten and me. Ten then said that he had a lot of fun with me and that he was already sorry that they stole all my money and wanted to disappear with it. It made Lucy angry that Ten felt sorry for me. Ten said it was never planned to rob me financially. Besides, he had feelings for me, even if they weren't as strong as they were for Lucy."

"Shit."

"Exactly. I yanked open the door and they both froze in shock. I told them both they were welcome to keep the money, but to pack up and leave immediately. Ten asked me several times for a private conversation, I refused. I told both of them either pack or I would let Dad's men dispose of them. For a week, Ten kept coming to the house and wanting to talk to me. I always refused. A week later, Ten's body was found in a hotel room. He had hanged himself and written in his suicide note that he couldn't live without me and that he was very sorry for everything. I did not believe him. I thought Lucy was just taking advantage of him, too, and now he was looking for someone stupid to take advantage of."

"Oh, I didn't know he had hanged himself."

"I found out through the police because they came to me and told me about it. They also showed me his suicide note. But I was still way too angry to believe he was sorry. Anyway, from then on I decided not to let anyone get close to me anymore. Not to give away any more trust and just to have fun."

"And fun you've had a lot in the past eight years."

"That's right. But ever since I first booked Yibo for an evening, I didn't want to have random fun anymore. I just wanted to book him. And I'll even admit that I tested him on how much he really cared about money."

"How so?"

"Well, I offered him 5 million yuan for a night with him. He kept refusing. He said he was faithful and didn't sleep with men."

"Okay. So money is important to him. But not important enough to forget his principles."

"Exactly. He's been very honest with me from the beginning. Even about things that didn't make him look so good."

"So you trust him?"

"I trust Yibo."

"So what now? How shall it go from here?"

"I'll give him time. Like I said, he's falling in love with me. I want to give him the time he needs to figure out what he really wants. I don't want to pressure him. And I think Yibo is worth waiting for."

"Since I know you are good at judging people and I know from his brother that Yibo is a kind-hearted person and I also saw how upset, horrified and sad he was when I said that stupid line, you have my blessing. I hope it works out with you two."

"I hope so too." Said Zhan with a smile.

Cheng was about to say something else when there was a knock on the office door. It was Yibo, who was looking for Zhan. He came to the two in the office, sat on Zhan's lap and kissed him. Cheng then grinned and secretly gave Zhan a thumbs up.

Even though Zhan doesn't know if Yibo will eventually choose him, he wants to wait and give Yibo enough time to figure it out for himself. However, it already looks to Zhan like Yibo wants to stay by his side.