Chapter 5

I've been working in Zhan's garden for a week now, the progress is slow, but you can already see that a lot has been done. I can't wait to see the final result.

Zhan finished his bathroom in that time and installed the parquet flooring I showed him at the hardware store. He, like me, was immediately thrilled with it. At the moment he is busy with his bedroom. But now that he has to go back to work, he is of course making slower progress again.

Yesterday Zhan even gave me a key for his house. Since I always finish work an hour before he does, I'm here earlier and can get started if I want to.

Zhan has also already ordered various spare parts for my car. I don't have to pay him for them, he gives it to me as a gesture of thanks for my help. I didn't want to accept it at all. But he insists. Next weekend he wants to take care of my car. I am allowed to assist him. He wanted to start this weekend, but I'm helping my brother move.

Whenever I am with Zhan, time flies. Now it's already evening and I have to go home right away. I would like to spend much more time with Zhan. Since I know that Zhan is also gay, it is much easier for me to deal with him than before.

And the more time I spend with him, the more I want him and me to be more. If he had told me he was into women, I probably would have acted like I didn't mind. Just to be able to stay close to him. Inside, however, it would have surely torn me apart. But luckily he is not into women. Again, lucky I would say.

"Zhan?"

"Yes?" I hear him call from his bedroom.

"Um, I'm sorry, I have to go in a minute. I thought you were going to show me your living room lamp." I called upstairs.

"Yeah, wait don't leave yet. I'll be right down. I just need to wash my hands real quick."

"Okay."

Zhan came running down the stairs shortly after and we sat down on his sofa. Whenever I'm this close to him, I get tingly inside and my heart starts beating faster.

"So, here's the remote. You use this to control the lamp. Turn it on, turn it off. Regulate brightness, select lights to be on." He said. He showed me each function and then handed me the remote.

I pressed the various buttons and was amazed. Especially with the function of being able to regulate the brightness. "This is really great. I have a simple light switch, I have to operate it by hand. Haha"

"Mhm, it wasn't cheap, but I think it's worth it."

"Yeah definitely."

I dimmed the lights again and rested my head on the back of the sofa. "Ah that's great. You can sit here, adjust the brightness, and just relax." Zhan put his head on the backrest as well and I looked him in the eyes. My heart immediately resumed a marathon.

Neither of us said anything, we just looked into each other's eyes. And inside I thought, kiss me finally. I'm here, I'm so close to you, why don't you try? And then he stroked some dirt off my cheek with his thumb and came closer to me. I never felt so nervous and all I could think about was that I wanted to be kissed by him.

Suddenly, my heart felt like it was rocket-propelled when Zhan was so close to me that I could feel his breath on my lips. He caressed my cheek and came a little closer to me. He whispered, "Can I give you your first kiss?" I just nodded. "Close your eyes." He said, and I closed them. And the next moment, I felt his lips on mine and my heart transported me to the moon and back with his rocket boost.

Zhan kissed me very tenderly. I was so nervous that I held the remote control very tightly in my hand. He gently took it from my hand, dimmed the lights and my nervousness slowly sank.

He put an arm around me and held me gently in his arm and with his free hand, he caressed my cheek. Never before, have I experienced such a beautiful feeling as I did at that moment. I wanted it to never end.

My first kiss and it lasted more than three minutes. And a second kiss followed. I was so happy at that moment, I can't find words that could even begin to describe what I felt. But unfortunately I had to go home and could only take the memories of that feeling with me.

Zhan walked me to my car, holding my hand as he did so. We both suddenly looked quite speechless and embarrassed. He opened my door from the car, hugged me tightly once again, gave me another little kiss and said, "I want to officially date you Yibo. Think about it, if you want it too. And don't forget to drive carefully. Write me as soon as you get home."

"I'll drive carefully and then write you right after. And about the other thing, I'll think about it." I actually wanted to say, yes I want to officially date you too. But I lacked the courage at that moment.

When I arrived home, I was jumping up and down with joy in my living room. My first kiss and it was so beautiful. I was so excited that I called my brother. "Hai Kuan, guess what? He kissed me." I said jubilantly.

"Oh my god really? So you're officially not unkissed anymore? So how are things between you guys now? Has he said anything?"

"Mhm, he said he wants to officially date me and that I should think about it."

"So, do you have an answer yet?"

"I want to date him officially. But earlier I didn't have the courage to admit it right away."

"It's no big deal little brother. He'll give you all the time you need. See, I told you he'd come to you on his own."

"Mmm. I'm just happy right now."

"You should be. After all, you're even doubly lucky today."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, because of your favorite author, he wrote something online again. Haven't you seen it yet?"

"No. I just got home."

"Oh, I thought you were reading the fan boards in between and checking his social media account several times a day."

"Yeah, actually, I do. But I've been so busy the last few days that I didn't even think about it." And suddenly I felt like I had betrayed Wei Ying. Damn it, why did I suddenly feel like that?

I ended the conversation with my brother, turned on my laptop, I felt really sad somehow, visited the page with his social media account and read: "Great news my dear loyal readers. The last five volumes will not be released at one year intervals as previously announced by Zera Publishing. They will now come out three months apart. And, there will be more volumes with special covers."

And then I saw that my message icon was showing me a new message. My heart almost slipped into my pants as I read. "Wei Ying wrote you a new message."

I took a deep breath, went to the kitchen for a quick drink of water, took another deep breath and opened the message.

"Hello Racer85, (my nickname).

Thank you so much for your message. I read it and was very happy to receive it. Sorry it took so long for you to get a reply from me. But with so many messages reaching me daily, I just get around to reading them. And I liked your message so much that I had to write you back.

To your question if I wrote before Fantasy World, Fantasy Land, I can tell you, you are very attentive and yes, it is true. I did write Fantasy Land. But that was many years ago and I used a different name then. May I ask how you came up with it? The book is hardly available anywhere and is the complete opposite of Fantasy World.

I'd be happy if you wrote me back. You'll definitely get an answer, too.

Wei Ying."

Finally getting a reply to my message after more than half a year really blew me away. And he wrote so nicely that now I feel even more like a fraud. As if I betrayed him because I didn't inform myself about him for a few days and didn't even think about him.

I immediately wrote back.

"Dear Wei Ying,

I received this book as a gift from my brother a few years ago. The content may be the complete opposite of fantasy world. But the writing style is absolutely the same. And, on the cover of the book, which is a picture of Fantasyland, there is an abbreviation. Just really small, but it's there and it's your abbreviation.

Can I ask you if you are really planning to write a new and completely different book?

Greetings from Racer85"

I almost fainted when I suddenly received a chat request from Wei Ying. He wrote to me that he is definitely writing a new book, but that it will take a while to finish.

We then wrote about the five volumes of Fantasy World that I had read so far, and I wrote to him about what I thought of the last volume. And we wrote more and more and finally it had been almost 2 am when he wrote that it was time for him to go to bed.

I was so happy to be able to write with him that I completely forgot the time. Before we said goodbye, Wei Ying assured me that he would write me a message in the morning. I asked him what he was writing about in his new book and he said he would write it to me later.

I could hardly fall asleep then from all the excitement. And when I could, I dreamed of this fantasy world that Wei Ying created in his books. I dreamt that I would meet the author himself there. I didn't see him clearly, because I don't know what he looks like, but, nevertheless, I was completely absorbed and fascinated by him.