Yibo stood confused in the evening under the large oak tree of the gateway and looked again at the note he had received in the afternoon. A student who was in charge of the mail that day and distributed it to the other students as soon as they came to the dormitory handed him an envelope in which he found a note. "Meet me at 8 pm under the big oak tree by the gate entrance. XOXO"

He had no idea who this note was from, nor why this particular person used XOXO instead of a signature, a legible name. Unfortunately, the female student also could not tell him who had this note placed in his mailbox, as it had already been there when she had started her "volunteer" work that day.

Now that it was already after 9 pm and the mystery note writer didn't show up, Yibo wondered if he should just go back to the dorm and his room. He was tired, in a bad mood, cold and didn't feel like having company anyway. Nothing had gone as it should and that since this one Saturday. He was simply fed up.

The Saturday before last, Zhan and the other students of Paradise Academy arrived 7 hours late, then Alessia immediately grabbed Zhan before Yibo could even address him. On Sunday morning, already looking forward to seeing Zhan on stage at least in the afternoon, he received a call from his father. Yibo's mom had an accident and was injured. She fell out of the upstairs window when she was cleaning it.

His father told him that she was unresponsive and he had to call an ambulance. She was immediately taken to the hospital where she underwent surgery. Yibo was told to come as well. "The family needs to be together and pray together for your mom." His dad had said. Yibo had immediately contacted one of the supervisors, who then drove Yibo to the hospital in his private car.

When Yibo arrived at the hospital, his mom was still undergoing surgery and no one knew what her condition was. His dad, big brother, and he sat in chairs in the hallway outside the surgery area, prayed and kept silent, prayed and kept silent. Hour after hour passed, at least that's how Yibo felt, when finally a doctor came to them and said, "Her condition is still Critical. She is in a coma. She had severe internal injuries and we had to resuscitate her twice. In addition, it is possible that she could be paraplegic. But at the moment we can't say for sure. If she survives the night, her chances of survival increase."

No sooner had the doctor left than two police officers arrived to investigate the accident. They found it "strange" that his mom suffered such severe injuries. Even the doctor confirmed that for falling from a height of about 3 meters, she was much more seriously injured than one would expect. This gave the police officers the idea that someone might have "helped" it along.

They took his dad to the police station and questioned him for hours while Yibo and his brother waited in the hospital, worried about their mom and now their dad, for them to be allowed to visit their mom. When they were finally allowed into her room and looked in shock at all the tubes, wires and apparatus, they felt sick to their stomachs. So sick that Yibo just made it to the small bathroom of the patient's room and threw up noisily.

Afterwards, his brother held him in his arms and said, "Everything will be okay. Mom is going to make it. She's stronger than you think." Yibo nodded, but still shook all over. After all, it was his mom lying there. Even though he had told himself he could handle it if he never saw her again after he left the village, he felt at that moment how much he loved her and how much he had missed her and how much he wanted her to wake up, wrap her arms around him and kiss him like she had thousands of times before.

But his mom didn't wake up and continued to lie in a coma. Motionless with a swollen face. Her left arm wrapped in plaster and both legs with screws and some kind of metals firmly mounted to her bones in her legs. "She must have landed on her feet. Her bones were literally shattered." Had Yibo heard the doctor say to one of the police officers. But also, "But from that height from which she supposedly fell, she couldn't have sustained such massive injuries." 

Yibo believed the doctor and so did his brother. Even Yibo's dad, who told how he came home from work and saw her lying flat on the floor in front of the house, didn't believe that she was just cleaning windows and had fallen out of the window. Although the window was open at the top and her cleaning supplies were also there, he still doubted that she should have fallen out of the window.

And ultimately, Yibo had a horrible idea of what might have really happened. There were three other wives of his father, filled with hatred and super jealous, who had been rebelling against Yibo's mother for a couple of years, because she did nothing about the fact that their common husband spent more time with her and did not take care of his other wives and children. It came already several times to violent quarrels, where there were many scratches, bruises or sometimes a black eye.

Had these jealous women now finally enough and let their hatred now at Yibo's mom out? Now that Yibo was also no longer living there, his mom was much alone and no one was paying attention anymore. Could Yibo have prevented it if he had not gone to the Keno Academy? Assuming it were really the other women?

It wasn't until the next morning, with Yibo and his brother sleeping in their mom's room, that their dad came back from the police station and told them that there was going to be an official investigation, but that they didn't suspect him anymore after his boss confirmed how long he had been working and after the police officers calculated how long it took him to get home. He was clearly out of the question.

According to police officers, as Yibo's dad explained, this was not an accident. They investigated the scene and found some discrepancies. Such as that she had supposedly cleaned the windows, but there was no water in the cleaning bucket and the cleaning rags were also dry. The bottle of window cleaner that was next to it was still unused and an empty bottle was not found in the trash. In addition, the way she allegedly fell out of the window was also atypical. With the legs first and not head first.

So it was now clear that someone had done this to her. But who? Was it his father's other wives? Or just one of them? Had any woman done it at all? And what would happen to his father now that he had to confess to the police that he had a polygamous marriage? Yibo could hardly think straight.

If it had been up to him, he would have liked to go to the village and deal with one after the other until he found out the truth. But his dad and brother stopped him and reminded him that his mom needed him more urgently and that he should leave it to the police. So he let it go and stayed with his mom. At Keno Academy, he was excused for the days he spent in the hospital with his mom.

The days in the hospital wouldn't end. Each additional day seemed longer than the previous one and nothing changed. His mom was still in a coma, it was still unclear how serious her injuries were, and it was still unclear whether she would ever wake up again or perhaps die. In these days Yibo didn't waste any thoughts on the Keno Academy, his training, his friends or even on Zhan. His worry about his mom was just too big.

On Thursday night, after almost two weeks, there was the first hope when his mom moved a hand and her eyelids fluttered a little. Her brain activity had increased and the doctor announced she was about to wake up from her coma. On Friday morning when Yibo woke up after a restless night, he felt someone gently gliding over his hair.

Yibo lifted his head and his mom looked at him lovingly. "My dear son. My dear, dear Yibo. It's so good to see you." She whispered.

"Mom, Mom." Yibo cried, bursting into tears. He pressed several kisses to her still-swollen face and gently pressed his head to her uninjured shoulder. They both cried and then all four of them when his dad and brother also realized what was going on.

Immediately the doctor on duty came into the room with several nurses and they examined her. Fortunately she was able to move her legs, although with great effort and pain. And it was not long before the police officers came to ask her a few questions. Since she was still very weak and needed rest, the doctor let the two police officers talk to her only briefly.

Yibo's mom testified, "I don't even know what exactly happened. I had just bought everything for my husband's dinner and was putting it away at home when I heard someone in the house. I thought it was my husband and that I just hadn't seen his car. But when I got upstairs where I heard the noise, there was no one there. I was about to go back downstairs when suddenly I got a blow to the back of my head. I don't remember anything after that, and I woke up here with my son sitting by my bed holding my hand and sleeping."

"Apparently, you surprised a burglar. Our forensics determined that someone broke into the house. The lock on the back door had been broken. And the jewelry box was also empty and some drawers and cabinets had been rifled through." Explained the one officer, whom Yibo referred to in his mind as the fat one because he looked like a round barrel and even gasped when he talked.

From their questioning, they had hoped that his mom could give information about the perpetrator, but that was not the case. The doctor who had also stayed in the room said, "The fractures on the legs could have been from a car. Maybe someone threw her out the window and hoped it would be enough to kill her. And because she didn't die, they drove over her with the car. Hence the fractures and internal injuries." Yibo felt sick again when he heard that.

But this time he didn't run to throw up. His dad had been faster. He threw up several times before coming out of the bathroom with a pale face, wrapping his wife in his arms and crying bitterly. Just the thought of what had been done to his beloved wife turned Yibo's dad into a heap of misery, crying bitterly and holding his wife, promising again and again to protect her better from now on.

After another night in the hospital, his dad brought Yibo back to Keno Academy at noon on Saturday. His mom was doing better and would recover. Time for Yibo to get back to his life and get back to his things. His education and his love for Zhan.

The only problem was that Zhan would only be there until Sunday afternoon, as Youn had written to him. Cheng was out of the hospital, but was still not at the Keno Academy, but at home with his parents, where he was to recover for another week. So Yibo had accomplished nothing, absolutely nothing in the time Zhan had been visiting the Keno Academy.

Yibo calmed himself with the thought that he would get another chance already in 8 weeks. And he thought that maybe he would somehow get to talk to Zhan in the remaining one day.

Back at the academy, it was already afternoon, Yibo received his mail and also the note that lured him to the big oak tree at the gateway that evening. But the person who wrote him that note hadn't shown up and Yibo really didn't feel like waiting any longer. After all, Yibo wasn't even sure when the note came by.

After all, the person could have left it there on any other day in the past 14 days. Amazed at his own stupidity in not having thought of it beforehand, Yibo went back to the dorm, where he saw Alessia and Zhan, of all people. Alessia had clung to Zhan's arm and they walked together to the dorm.

Yibo hid and watched the two of them. They talked for a while longer, but Yibo couldn't understand what about. He had been too far for that. And then the two hugged each other and for Yibo's feeling, a moment too long to still interpret it as a friendly embrace.

Driven by jealousy, Yibo emerged from his hiding place and took large strides toward the dorm and the two hugging once again, bumping Zhan rudely with his shoulder. "Get out of the way! Do that shit somewhere else! You fucking disgust me!" He snapped at the two, angrily slamming the door to the dorm as soon as he was inside the building.

Enraged, Yibo went up to his room, took his pillow and held it in front of his mouth. He screamed as loud as he could into the pillow and then there was a knock on the door of the room. He went to open the door with a red face. Alessia looked at him aggressively and asked, "What was that all about? Are you a little jealous because I replaced you with someone better?"

"Are all the lights still burning in your brain? Haven't you figured it out yet? I DON'T WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU! And I never wanted anything from you. I don't even like you. You are nothing but an arrogant, lying, fake and scheming snake! I don't understand why anyone would want anything from someone like you. Now get the fuck out of here!" Yibo shouted. His veins on his neck stood out clearly and his face was now almost dark red with rage.

Alessia pretended not to care what Yibo said, wiped her hand through her hair so that it flew, and then walked away with her nose up. Yibo slammed his bedroom door and cursed into his pillow. He kept screaming until he was exhausted and slowly calmed down. Then he just dropped onto his bed and fell asleep as he was, with his jacket, trousers and shoes on.