"Hey doc."

"I'm not a doctor Yibo. I am only a volunteer." Xiao Zhan corrected. He was serving the food for the two. Another development, that Yibo now wouldn't mind if they eat together. Xiao Zhan couldn't be more thrilled.

"Same thing."

"Yeah, is something bothering you?" Xiao Zhan cautiously asked and seated close to Yibo.

"How long will I stay here?"

Xiao Zhan took a gander at him. He appeared to be indifferent but Xiao Zhan could tell, that he braced himself to say this much.

So, he gave him the answer fairly, "I don't know. You tell me, Yibo. How long do you want to stay here?"

How long would will you keep telling yourself that you can't do it? How long could you stay away from the things you love? Would you throw away your life just because it was unfair? Or would you fight back and take charge?

Xiao Zhan was not the one with the answers. He never was and he would never be.

Wang Yibo looked at the elder. His eyes were full of doubts, uncertainty – hesitating even. But he still whispered,

"One month..." I wish to go back.

To go back home. To the zeal of music. To the pulse of each beat. Every fiber of his being thumped with fervor and he wanted to stand up and dance to each moves, just like he used to before. Just like he was meant to do.

The curves of his lip turned slightly up, the tender smile reassured,

"One month it is then."

The keys to all the locks are in your heart, only in the misery, comes a new start.

. . .

Something was definitely up. Wang Yibo could. Whenever Xiao Zhan carried that playful grin, Wang Yibo knew, he was going to do something eccentric.

"...What is this?" The bewildered kitten asked. Having been handed this object.

"It's mirror." Xiao Zhan answered, still with that jolly smile.

"I can see it's a mirror. I meant what's it for?" The annoyed kitten demanded.

What exactly the elder was planning?

When Wang Yibo told him, he wanted to get better, he expected a rigorous foot training waiting ahead but this...he couldn't make sense of what the other was trying to do.

Xiao Zhan giggled and sat right in front of him. That mischievous smile meant trouble. Wang Yibo could feel it coming.

"It's pretty simple, all you have to do is, look straight into the mirror and say 'I love you.'"

"..."

"Come on."

He finally lost it, hasn't he?

"There's no way in hell I'm doing that." Wang Yibo announced, making his attentions very clear.

"I knew you would say that." Xiao Zhan chuckled and went to his seat to read a book.

"..." Weren't they supposed to watch more videos?

Wang Yibo observed the elder. He didn't appear to be in a bad mood or anything. Will he not eat with me today?

Seeing that the elder had no intention of granting him attention. Wang Yibo could only bring his focus to the object at hand.

He just has to say 'I love you' to himself. How hard could it be?

He looked in the mirror. He had no idea he had gone this thin after the incident. He used to something equivalent to 6 packs and now he was all bones and skin.

The more he stared at himself, the more repulsive he felt.

How hideous.

Next couple of days followed the same pattern. Xiao Zhan would tell him the same thing and when he refused, Xiao Zhan simply went to his seat and read silently with a smile.

It was too irritating that Wang Yibo wanted to break the mirror into pieces.

The more he was asked to look in the mirror, the more ugly he felt. After all, what was there to love in himself?

"I disobeyed my parents at every order, the friends I had were bought by my father. I ride the bike even though I'm not legal yet. I curse whoever and wherever. Do I still have to say that I love me?"

His eyes were fixed on the reflection in the mirror. He could see the pale skin and dead eyes.

Pathetic.

Someone as pathetic as him, didn't deserve any love.

"Did you mean to do it?" Xiao Zhan asked, his voice was calm. "Did you mean it every time when you swore at someone? Did you like it when you disobeyed your parents?"

"..."

The weight of everything brought his head down.

"They didn't let me dance...they didn't listen to me."

"But you still never condemned them deeply?"

He didn't. He never once wished them anything bad. But each burnt came out in the form of resentful words. And now he truly believed that he had lost too much. He was beyond the point of no return.

A light melodious voice granted,

"Everyone deserves to be loved, Yibo." Everyone deserves a second chance.

This time, when Wang Yibo looked back in the mirror, instead of ugly monster, all he could see was a lost child. Begging for help.

. . .

The scent of the wind indicated the season of rain. Xiao Zhan loved the rainy days, he was more than eager to welcome the spring. It always made him giddy seeing so many colors in this season.

"Good Morning Xiao Zhan, you are a little late today?" Caihong greeted. She was always the first person to greet everyone.

"I got distracted by the scent of rain. Do you think Yibo would love rain?" Xiao Zhan pondered.

"You two have gotten so close. I almost can't believe, it the same Wang Yibo was swearing at every breath." Caihong recalled, it still felt surreal.

"He needed a little time that's all." Xiao Zhan said. Though he was proud of himself for being the first true friend Wang Yibo had. They were friends right?

"Xiao Zhan, thank god you're here." An Bai came from the room.

"Is something the matter?" Xiao Zhan asked.

She sighed and said, "It's just Wang Yibo, he's not listening again."

Was he too soon to celebrate?

Xiao Zhan shook his head in disbelief and went to check on the juvenile kitten.

"Yibo what are you doing?" Xiao Zhan asked taking a gander at the younger.

"Can't you see, I'm trying to move my legs?" Wang Yibo replied deadpanned.

Xiao Zhan put his bag away and went to Wang Yibo. He folded the trousers of his legs.

"W-what are you doing?!"

"Relax. I'm just going to massage your legs."

"What for?"

"You can't move your legs right away, everything needs to be done in order." Xiao Zhan said and rolled up his legs. They were clean, like radishes. If Xiao Zhan were to compare his legs, he would say they resembled the hairy carrots.

He laughed inwardly at his own joke. And begun to massage his legs.

Wang Yibo couldn't feel a thing at first, but slowly, slowly, as the elder brushed his slender fingers against his bare skin, he couldn't help but feel heat rise to his face.

"Are you alright? You look red." Xiao Zhan asked when he spotted the flushed cheeks on the pale skin.

"I-I'm fine."

Xiao Zhan still got up and joined their foreheads. It startled Yibo as he looked up to see the person in front.

"Sorry, my hands are covered in medicine." Xiao Zhan apologized and closed his eyes to feel the temperature of younger through his forehead.

A mole.

Wang Yibo noticed the mole under his lip immediately. But he didn't know that the elder had another mole near his eyes.

Oh, there's another one. And one more.

He stared sternly at the volunteer. Scanning every inch of that face.

Beautiful!

Wait what?

Wang Yibo pushed those thoughts away, respectively Xiao Zhan pulled his forehead away.

"Thank fully, you do not have fever."

"Mn."

Xiao Zhan went back to massaging his legs. He massaged for sometime and then moved the legs to have them exercised. An Bai would always do this right after Wang Yibo fall asleep. Poor girl was too afraid to step in the lion's den.

After the activity of 2 hours, Xiao Zhan cleaned his hands and served him the food.

"Do you mind, if I open the window?" Xiao Zhan asked.

"Go ahead."

Xiao Zhan opened the window and breathed in the moist rain. He absolutely loved the rain. The damn air against his dry skin, it was like the perfect moisture. He was going to ask his earlier thought, if Yibo loved the rain or not but Wang Yibo questioned him first.

"H-how do I do it?"

"Hmm?" Xiao Zhan turned around gave his full attention to Yibo. His small frame clutched the sheets. His trembling voice asked,

"How do I love myself?"

How do I acknowledge myself? How do I be, the best of me?

Xiao Zhan smiled a hearty smile and went to sit right next to him. He ruffled his hair, a gesture Wang Yibo couldn't say he disliked. Tenderly Xiao Zhan wheedled,

"By not telling, how much you hate yourself."

The beauty of being you comes only from you.

If others are Good that doesn't automatically make you bad. If others are succeeding, it doesn't mean you are losing. Live don't just breath. Accept all of you and take back your self which you have given to others, way too much.

"It is your world. You make the rules."

The breeze from the open window, swirled his hair, the white color of his shirt made him glow even more.

Wang Yibo was encapsulated, each word out of him felt like feathers that tickled his insides. The heaviness he carried, seemed to have be lifted somehow. He felt light. He felt he could do it.

. . .

The night was at its peak and so was the sudden chilliness in the room. Wang Yibo opened his eyes and realized that Xiao Zhan had forgot to close the window.

That dummy.

The cold wind was a sure sign of rain. And the cool breeze always made it hard for him to breath.

'You can't dance Yibo. You know what the doctors said.'

He was not a fan of the cold. Nor was he the fan of the feeling it brought. He remembered that An Bai put the blanket on the self, next to the window. He leaned forward and it was there. He just had to get that.

Wang Yibo looked at the time, it was after midnight. Although there were many nurses on the night shift, but Wang Yibo wanted to do it himself.

He found the remote of the wheel-chair, and drove it towards the bed. Carefully, he slid himself to the edge of the bed. It took him more effort than he expected but he managed to move himself to the wheel-chair.

Once on the chair, he drove to the shelf and picked up the blanket.

"Yes! I did it Xiao Zhan." Wang Yibo whispered in triumph. When he turned around to move back to the bed, the corner of the covet got stuck into the sharp kneel that was sticking out. Wang Yibo pulled it but it tore the blanket from the side.

"It's okay it's just a small tear." He assured himself and pulled again with full force. This time, he used too much strength that he nudged the infusion stand and it fell.

"..."

Now Wang Yibo had to take the longer route to the bed. He turned the remote to change the direction of his wheels but they bumped into the infusion stand and he collapsed on the floor.

"Aish!" He growled in pain. The wheel chair landed on top of him. He tried to move the chair but realized that the wheels were entangled with the wires of the iv drip. He could see the cuts on his legs but couldn't feel the pain. At least not yet.

He tried to push to the wheel chair away but it was so terribly tangled with the infusion stand, he couldn't move much.

"Damn it." He tried to crawl, to reach at the button to call for any nurse. There was abrupt sound of thunder. It startled him to say the least. He looked through the open window and sure enough, the pitter patter of the rain begun.

What added to his misery was that he was directly in front of the window and the rain, it came inside. Inclining straight to his face.

"Arg."

He tried to move, he tried to wiggle his way out but one after another, things seemed go against his will. But he wasn't ready to give up yet. No, he wouldn't. His eyes landed on the mirror which Xiao Zhan gave him to practice. Wang Yibo tried to reach out for it,

"Come on, just a little more."

He stretched his arm as far as he could while trying to crawl away. The tip of his fingers reached the mirror.

"Almost there."

He kept wiggling his fingers, bringing that mirror closer and closer. And finally he got it.

There was small space between the floor and the door. And that was what Wang Yibo targeted. He casted the light through the space, creating a reflection on the wall in the hall outside. Someone will see it for sure. And when they come close enough, he would shout for help.

He waited. He waited on the growing wet floor. He waited in the wail of crisp storm. He waited against the slow hand of time.

That night was a cold one.

- - -

Sorry for errors and Thank you for reading.