Requital hope

Fifty-nine

Yibo's POV

Several weeks passed and summer rolled in. It took a few days, but Xiaos got used to Zhan and me being a couple. Nothing really changed between us. It felt wonderful knowing that he and I could be together with no one being upset, other than my father, anyway.

During the many days Yanli stayed over, she and Sarah became superb friends, despite them having such unique personalities. The yelling and profound language echoing from her room as they played video games put a smile on my face. Sarah didn't have many people she was close with after the incident, so it made me happy that she and Yanli got along. Yanli eventually had to leave, though. She had her own life away from her old home. Sarah continued to come over and hang out, though. The Xiaos were more than welcoming to her, so it made her feel at home, even more than her own. That's what she told me, anyway. She said she knows that her parents only want what's best for her, but the way they go about doing things is very unconventional.

The past couple of weeks, we started hanging out with Cheng as well. It was sort of Zhan's idea. One night while we were laying in bed I was expressing my gratitude for everyone's help, but I didn't know how to repay Cheng. That made Zhan wonder why we hadn't hung out with him more often.

The following morning, Zhan had Jang search for Cheng's address since he's skilled at things like that. Not too long later, he was handing Zhan a slit of paper. It was a tremendous help since we didn't really know where to start. After Sarah and I got off work, we all hopped in Zhan's car and headed for the address. Since it was summer, our work schedules changed. Allowing us more time in the day, but of course, work got a lot more hectic, too.

We reached a cozy neighbourhood, trying to find the right address. I looked up to a house that was fenced off with stone walls and a gate. I looked at the address plate nailed to the stone wall and it matched.

"Hey that's it!" I pointed in the direction.

"You're right." Zhan said, noticing the address plate. He pulled into the curb and shut off the car engine. Xichen being the energetic human that raced out the car before everyone else.

All of us stood at the gate while Zhan walked up the narrow stone path leading to the porch stairs of the house. He softly tapped on the door and waited for a response. Sarah took a seat on the stone fence and conversed with us while we waited.

Mid conversation, the door popped open, revealing the black head of hair that belonged to Cheng. He had his head back as he pulled open the door. He seemed to talk to someone.

His eyes widened when he saw all our faces hanging out outside his house. "I wasn't expecting company." He said, surprised.

"We thought we'd drop by and ask if you wanted to hang out." Zhan said. Just when I thought it wasn't possible, his surprise seemed to grow, only it faded as quickly as it appeared. He stepped out of his house and shut the door behind him, biting his nails.

"Guys, I'd love to hang out with you, it's just...... if my parents found out, they'd have my head." He explained, disappointed.

"They don't have to know." Zhan smirked.

"I'm still grounded for pulling that stunt at school." Cheng dolefully explained. "The consequences would be dire." I couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Sorry, this is my fault." I apologised, lowering my head.

"Don't apologise. I did what I did of my own free will. It was the right thing to do." He assured me.