After a relaxing weekend at his parents' country house, Zhan had a relaxing week at work. Neither this woman nor her assistant Isko showed up at his office. Zhan had sent her the new logo by e-mail, along with an invoice, and she wrote back to him to say that she liked the logo very much and unfortunately couldn't make it to see him in person for scheduling reasons. Zhan was relieved to hear this. She also informed him that she had transferred the money. Zhan checked his business account and saw that he had received the money from her.

With each passing day of the week, Zhan's excitement and anticipation for Wang Yibo's concert grew. He would finally be able to see him live and nothing could stop him. Even if he suddenly fell ill and had a fever of 40°C, he would get there on all fours or crawling if necessary. Because nothing was more important to him, at least at the moment, than seeing Wang Yibo live. He even bought a pair of binoculars to use in the concert hall so that he could see Yibo better on stage. He could also look at the large monitors. But that wouldn't be the same for him.

On Thursday evening, Zhan was so excited that he could hardly concentrate on anything other than his anticipation of the concert. He had Wang Yibo's songs playing up and down in the office all day and as soon as he got home, he started his "Wang Yibo playlist" and danced around his apartment. Well, at least until his doorbell rang and his elderly neighbor complained about the "jungle music". From then on, Zhan continued listening to the songs on his Bluetooth headphones and almost didn't notice when the doorbell rang again. This time, however, it wasn't his neighbor, but his cousin Yanli and his cousin Cheng. Both were in town visiting their family and didn't want to miss out on a visit to Zhan.

After Yanli had talked about her work at her husband's law firm and Cheng about his studies, Zhan talked about his work and the many jobs that had finally earned him enough money to put into a savings account. "My loans are finally all paid off. I no longer have any installments. And I've already been able to prepay my office rent for the next 12 months." Zhan explained proudly.

"And tomorrow night you're going to that big concert by Wang Yibo, aren't you?" Yanli asked, after praising Zhan profusely for his great successes.

"Mhm. I can hardly wait. I'm not working tomorrow and can rest all day to be really fit for the concert." Zhan replied, beaming with joy.

"I saw on Top Star News last night that there's going to be a surprise for three fans at the concert. You wouldn't happen to know which surprise that is, would you?" Cheng wanted to know.

Zhan, who had no idea that there was going to be a surprise and didn't even know that Top Star News was reporting on the concert, shook his head. "I didn't know anything about it. Great, now I'm even more excited."

Cheng searched for the relevant article in the Top Star News online media library and showed it to Zhan. Cheng then asked: "What do you think the surprise could be? Has this happened before?"

"I don't know if it's been done before. It would be new to me. But it's also the first time for me to be at a concert. And I have no idea what the surprise is. Maybe a fan package or something. So with fan articles." Zhan replied.

"You'll find out tomorrow evening. How about we order a pizza now and watch a movie afterwards? I rarely get to watch a movie. My dearest husband is often still working at home when he has a court case to prepare for and then he needs absolute peace and quiet. So all I can do is read. Or going to sleep." Yanli said. Zhan and Cheng agreed to her suggestion, ordered a large pizza and then watched a movie, which Yanli fell asleep halfway through.

Shortly after one o'clock that night, Cheng and Yanli left again. Although Zhan had offered them the guest room and the sofa in the living room to spend the night, they both wanted to go home to their parents as they would be leaving after breakfast. As they said goodbye, Zhan promised them both that he would visit them in Shanghai soon and when they had gone, he went to bed after a quick shower. 

Zhan was only able to fall asleep shortly before four in the morning. His thoughts were constantly revolving around the concert and Wang Yibo, which kept him awake until he was so tired that he was finally able to fall asleep. He slept until midday, had a coffee, showered, got dressed and left his apartment. After showering, he looked in the mirror and realized that his hair had gotten way too long and he wanted to have it cut. (A/N: Hey seriously now. Zhan and Yibo really need to get a haircut! I personally think the long hair they currently have is horrible. Of course, you don't have to share my opinion. Well, I just had to get that off my chest.)

After the hairdresser, he passed a fashion store, went in and bought a new pair of jeans and a matching shirt, then he walked on and stopped at a shoe store, where he immediately bought two new pairs of shoes and in the next store, an accessories store, he bought a shoulder bag for men, which he wants to use at the concert for his cell phone, camera and wallet.

Zhan took a break at an Italian restaurant, ate pasta Napoli and drank a Coke, then went on to the optician, picked up the new glasses and contact lenses he had ordered two weeks ago and moved on to the specialty store, where he bought two rolls of wrapping paper, fridge door magnets, parcel tape, two rolls of bin liners, a washing line and a pack of cable ties. The sales clerk looked at his purchase and Zhan winked at her. "That'll be our secret." He said with a grin. The sales clerk stared at him in horror and then lowered her head with a red face as Zhan explained: "That was a joke, okay? I need the cable ties to tie my bike basket to the luggage carrier. I need the clothesline for my washing so that I can hang it up on the balcony while the weather is still nice. I need the parcel tape for two presents I want to send to my parents."

After shopping, Zhan drove home, unpacked everything, put it away and laid out his new clothes for the evening, including a new pair of shoes and his new shoulder bag. Then he wrapped the presents for his parents for their wedding anniversary, put them in a larger box and taped it shut. He then flopped down on the sofa and fell asleep again.

When Zhan woke up two hours later, he heated up a pack of mini corn dogs in the hot air fryer while he cleaned himself, brushed his teeth and put on his new clothes. After eating the mini corn dogs, he packed his bag. It contained his camera, binoculars, cell phone, wallet, concert ticket and a 0.5 liter bottle of water. Then he made his way downstairs to his car.

On the way to the concert hall, Zhan got himself in the mood by listening to his favorite Wang Yibo songs and singing along loudly. Shortly afterwards, he reached the parking lot in front of the concert hall, parked his car and walked to the long line at the entrance. And just as Zhan got in line, the entrance began and the excited girls screamed happily. If Zhan had been a girl and barely older than 15 or 16, he would have shrieked too. But as it was, he played the adult and only shrieked inwardly.

When it was his turn to be let in, someone checked his concert ticket, tore a strip off it, then a security guard checked his bag and he was allowed to go into the concert hall. His seat was further back than he had expected. But luckily he had come prepared and had his binoculars with him.

While the hall was still slowly filling up, Zhan began to take pictures. Especially of the stage, which he could still easily reach and from which the security staff had not yet sent him away. But as the hall became more and more crowded and it got louder and louder, he returned to his seat. He sat down on the chair that he would certainly not be sitting on during the concert and waited until the pre-show began. In this case, it was a group of musicians that Zhan didn't know and had little interest in.

But then, half an hour after the support act had left the stage and cleared out, the lights in the hall went out and a countdown from 60 began to count down on the stage's LED screen and the large monitors hanging from the ceiling. Immediately, the many girls began to scream ear-piercingly loud, which was a bit too much even for Zhan.

When the countdown reached zero, the hall was dead silent until music started and Wang Yibo appeared. He sang one of his new songs, danced and was perfect as ever, Zhan thought. For the next dance, Yibo took off his jacket and Zhan let out a "Damn, he's sexy.". Which earned him a weird look from a teenage girl standing next to him. Zhan stuck his tongue out at her and cheered "Wang Yibo" - "Wang Yibo" along with all the other girls.

During the first break, Zhan took a moment to look around. He saw a few other men who were older than him, but who were only there as escorts for their daughters. Zhan had thought that if anyone asked him why he was there, he would just stick to the truth and admit to being a big fan of Wang Yibo. But after seeing that there was no one his age or without a daughter, he thought he could also say that he had a niece who couldn't come because she got sick and asked him to take lots of pictures and videos for her, so he had to go to the concert. But even as Zhan was making up this cheeky lie, he knew that he would never lie. He couldn't do it. Because he had always been bad at lying and always betrayed himself.

Once, he remembered, he had skipped a day of school. He just didn't feel like going to school and had gone to his favorite place in the forest instead, where he lay on a rock and bathed in the sun. When he came home and his parents wanted to know how school was, he lied and claimed he had done this and that in biology. His lie was immediately exposed because his class timetable, which was always stuck to the fridge, proved that he hadn't had any biology that day. What's more, his parents knew his class schedule by heart. When his parents asked him if he had biology because another class was canceled, he stuttered, looking for an excuse instead of simply saying yes. And that revealed him! As punishment for skipping class, he was grounded for 2 weeks and as punishment for lying, he was spanked by his father.

When the break was over and the second half of the concert began, Wang Yibo's manager entered the stage with the concert organizer. She explained: "Let's get to the surprise you've all heard about. We thought we'd give three fans a present today. It's a big bag full of fan merchandise. A voucher for Yibo's new album. And a VIP meeting with Yibo in the backstage area. You're probably wondering how we're going to draw this. Well, that's why we have the sections from your concert tickets. On these sections are numbers that are also on your concert tickets. We draw three of these sections and say the number on them. And you check your tickets to see if they match your numbers. Those whose numbers match, please come to the side entrance of the stage after the concert. Of course with the concert tickets so that we can compare and check the numbers. And then you will find out who has won which prize. Good luck." Then she pulled out three of the narrow sections and read out the numbers twice each.

Zhan read the number from his concert card and compared it with the three announced and almost cheered out loud when he realized that his number was one of those drawn. The girl next to him also seemed to have been lucky. Because she looked at her card, clenched her fist and said quietly, "Yes! I won!" Then she glared spitefully at Zhan, he grinned, waved his concert card in front of her, put it away and she grumbled: "You shouldn't win anything. You're already too old to be Yibo's fan." Zhan just shrugged his shoulders and looked back at the stage.

After Yibo had sung his last song, the fans were sent out of the hall. Only the three lucky winners remained and lined up at the side entrance of the stage. A woman checked their ticket numbers against the numbers from the sections and then did the following. To the girl who had been standing next to Zhan, she pressed a large bag of fan merchandise into her hand with a bored: "Lucky you" and then sent her outside. She gave another girl a voucher for Yibo's new music album and sent her outside as well. Then she gave Zhan a backstage pass and took him to the back.

Zhan was downright giddy with happiness. He was going to meet Wang Yibo! The idol! The superstar! The handsome Wang Yibo, for whom Zhan's heart beat twice as fast whenever he thought of him, saw a picture or video of him or heard a song by him. He was so happy that he felt like he could fly.

Zhan had to stop in front of the changing room, which had a sign with Wang Yibo's name on the door. A bodyguard stood in front of it and scanned Zhan from head to toe for any weapons. Then his shoulder bag was checked and taken from him for the time being. "You are not allowed to take your cell phone or camera inside. You'll get everything back after the meeting." Explained the woman who took him to the door.

The door opened, Zhan's heart was really racing now, Zhan stepped into the room, walked three or four steps and stopped. He looked around at the woman in confusion. Because there was no sign of Wang Yibo. The woman closed the door and Zhan heard the door being locked. Horrified and confused, Zhan went to the door and tried to open it. But it was locked. He knocked on the door and shouted to be let out. But no one responded.

For minutes, Zhan paced back and forth in the small, narrow room, more than close to panic. What should he do now? What did this mean? How was he supposed to get out of there? Was this all planned by them? And who were they? Where is Wang Yibo?