-26- Stories

Two whole days have passed since the attack and only now, Yibo and Zhan finally had time for each other and were all alone. Since today Yibo and Zhan live in a small house near the edge of town. Behind the house there is even a small garden and behind it there is a large piece of forest, which also belongs to the Xiao family's property.

At first Zhan's father wanted the family to stay together, but Yibo's uncle convinced him that Zhan and Yibo need time for themselves, without other eyes and ears. He also said that it was already time for the ceremonial mating, which is equivalent to a wedding. So they took Zhan's mother from her hiding place, she had woken up before Zhan's father reached the hiding place, and then a small ceremony took place in the basement vault.

Weeks ago, Yibo had already talked to his uncle about wanting to have this ceremony as soon as Zhan returned. And apparently his uncle saw that as well, and he promised Yibo that as soon as Zhan was back, the ceremony would be held immediately. And now the time had finally come.

The family came together, and of Yibo's family only his uncle and Wangji were there, but he didn't care. An elder let the two repeat a few sentences, some blood was taken from them, put into a bowl and mixed and then they both had to drink from it. The families also spoke a word and blessings and that was all of it. Yibo had imagined it to be bigger. But maybe it usually was.

Only this time it just had to go faster. And even though it was over quickly and Yibo expected much more, he still liked it and was happy to be officially Zhan's mate. Of course, he had been before, but this important ceremony rounded everything off.

During the celebration that followed, Zhan's family told some stories about Zhan and Yibo. Stories that even Yibo couldn't remember, so he was even more excited to hear them.

So Yanli told: "Yibo was really obsessed about Zhan as a toddler. No one was allowed to get close to Zhan. Before he could speak, he always hissed and growled at us whenever we tried to touch Zhan. Or he tried to bite our hands. When he could speak, he always said, "My ZhanZhanYi, you can't have him, this is my ZhanZhanYi."

"Sorry to interrupt you. But, why ZhanZhanYi?" Asked Wei Ying curious.

"Oh haha. Very simple. ZhanZhanYi, because it's Yibo's ZhanZhan. We once tried to tell him that ZhanYi is enough, but he didn't like that. He got angry and with big tears in his eyes he said, "It's called ZhanZhanYi." Yanli replied laughing.

"I remember that until he was two years old, Yibo immediately started screaming when Zhan was not around. Zhan wanted to play hide and seek with him once. But unfortunately Yibo couldn't find him and so he sat down in the middle of the room and screamed at the top of his lungs. And as soon as Zhan came out of his hiding place, he punched him with his tiny fists and scolded Zhan." Told Zhan's mother.

"I still see the horrified face of Zhan before me, when Yibo simply marked him. Zhan didn't know how to react at all. And then everyone demanded that he had to mark Yibo as well, because Yibo had already marked him as a mate. But since Yibo was still so small, Zhan could of course not give him a mark on his neck. We had to find another place. And so, oh God it makes me laugh again when I think about it, so we bathed Yibo and Zhan had to mark his butt cheek. Everybody expected Yibo to cry out, because it hurts a little bit. But instead of crying and screaming, Yibo started laughing out loud." Told Zhan's father and laughed tears.

Cheng also had another story to tell. He giggled and then told: "Once Zhan and Yibo played with toy swords. Zhan wanted Yibo to be happy and pretended that Yibo had defeated him. He pretended to be dead. Everyone waited for Yibo to be pleased. Instead, he suddenly had huge tears in his eyes and began to cry bitterly. It had been truly heartbreaking. Zhan quickly opened his eyes and told Yibo that everything was fine and that he was well, but Yibo got scared, he hit Zhan on the head with the wooden sword and Yibo cried even worse. When he slowly calmed down again, he told Zhan that he was an evil ZhanZhanYi and hissed at him angrily. After that, he chased Zhan around the house with his wooden sword until he couldn't anymore. Then he just threw the wooden sword to the side, pulled up his arms and shouted at Zhan that he wanted to cuddle. Zhan lifted him up, Yibo snuggled up to him, and fell asleep immediately."

Wangji tried to hold back a grin and asked Zhan, "What is it like? I mean, with a baby as a mate?"

"Phew, difficult to explain. On the one hand, it's nice. Because I could watch him grow up, at least for a few years. We did everything together and sometimes it felt like I was his brother or father. Just with stronger feelings. And sometimes it was also very difficult. Anyone with a mate knows how hard it is when the mate is there, but there is nothing you can do. And that's the way it was the whole time. But still I enjoyed this time very much. For me there were more important and beautiful things than mating." Zhan explained.

"I guess that's true. You taught Yibo many things and raised him. And he listened to you. But only to you. Yibo was really obsessed with Zhan from the first moment. He cried and cried as a baby. All the time. His parents were totally desperate, because he always cried whenever he was awake. But then he saw Zhan and was very quiet. And two months later, Yibo made him his mate. And from then on, there was only Zhan for him. He ran after Zhan like a possessed boy everywhere and when he couldn't run anymore, he put up his arms and Zhan had to carry him. It was really astonishing that even as a baby he recognized his mate and immediately knew what to do. I mean, he was 8 months old and still knew how to make Zhan his own, how to marked him. That showed us how strong the bond between the two of them was and would become. And when I look at them now, I see their love for each other the same way I did then. Only today it is much stronger than then. We all knew that their bond is something special and finally they can live it out." Said Zhan's father.

"I want to say something too. Almost everyone here knows what my mother did back then. After she killed my father and nearly wiped out the entire clan, she had me hypnotized so I can't remember Zhan. Still, I always felt that something important was missing in my life. When my mother was killed, it was Zhan who saved my life and I felt that there was something special about him. But through my grief, I didn't even think about it. That came afterwards, so I wondered who he was for 10 years. That left me no peace. And then I met him again one night in the park and felt this connection to him. I had no idea why, but from that moment on, I couldn't get him out of my mind and wanted to see him again. I wanted him to be mine and he became mine. And after I learned who he is and what our shared past is, I finally understood why I immediately felt that I could not live without him." Yibo said.

Zhan took him in his arms and whispered, "From now on it's just you and me, and nothing can keep us apart anymore." Yibo nodded.

After the celebration, the family members and the elder brought the two to their house and said goodbye to them. Yibo had to hold back a grin when he thought about the fact that he and Zhan would now be undisturbed for three days and three nights. He was very excited to see how it would feel now when Zhan slept with him.