Zhan, Yibo and their parents finally went into the house, where Zhan's parents and Zhan gave the guests a tour of the house. "It's really nice here and so much space." Yibo's dad marveled.

"We'll help with everything while we're here, of course." Said Yibo's mom.

"Of course you'll help. More people means more work. And in two days, we'll prepare the property for fall, or rather for winter." Said Zhan's mom.

"Sure, we're happy to help. Especially now that our sons are a couple." Said Yibo's mom with a big grin. Zhan turned pale, his dad stopped abruptly, Yibo's face began to glow like Rudolph the Reindeer's red nose and Zhan's mom automatically stood in front of Zhan.

"You're what?" Zhan's dad asked with a look that almost scared Zhan.

"Don't worry about it. Our son is a secret agent and very capable of taking care of and protecting your son." Yibo's mom explained.

Zhan's mom slowly pulled Zhan with her and looked around in panic. "Secret agent? Relationship? Son? What did you forget to tell me? What happened to my sweet innocent son? Didn't we have an agreement?" Zhan's dad asked, walking slowly towards Zhan and his mom.

"Uh but dad. It's not like that..." Zhan thought about it. Shit, it was exactly what his dad thought. What should he say? "So listen, Dad. I'm going to be 27 soon and I'm perfectly capable of..." Zhan stopped as his dad took on the look of an angry bull about to charge. "Daddy, I love you." Zhan said with the sweetest look he could ever manage. Zhan's last attempt to appease his dad and save his own life.

Zhan's dad pushed past Yibo and his parents, panting. He put his hands on his wife's shoulders, pushed her aside as well, and walked towards Zhan, who had continued walking backwards until a wall stopped him. "Daddy?" Zhan asked with an innocent, frightened look.

His daddy grabbed Zhan by the hand, pulled him towards him and wrapped his arms tightly around Zhan. Sobbing, his dad said, "I'm so happy for you." Zhan's tension and fear eased immediately. He hugged his daddy and cried with joy, just like his daddy. And then Zhan's mom joined in and the three of them cried together for a brief moment. Yibo and his parents found this extremely confusing, but also kind of sweet.

After the tears of joy had dried, they went upstairs, where they showed Yibo's parents the guest room. When they went back downstairs, Yibo asked, "Um, where am I sleeping?"

Zhan's dad turned to him, looked at him for a while and then said, "At Zhan's. Where else? You're a couple, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are." Yibo replied, smiling from the bottom of his heart.

"Well, then it's clear that you're staying at Zhan's. But if you want, you can of course have your own room."

"Um, no thanks. I'll stay with ZhanZhan."

"ZhanZhan." Zhan's mom giggled, put an arm around Yibo and asked him, "My son is great, isn't he?" Yibo nodded immediately and beamed all over his face. Then they went to Zhan's room, where Zhan and Yibo put their bags down before they all went downstairs to the kitchen and Yibo's mom offered to cook for them all.

As soon as they were in the kitchen and Yibo's mom was getting acquainted, the familiar clanging and clattering that Zhan and Yibo had heard earlier that morning began. While Zhan, Yibo and Zhan's parents watched in amazement as this little woman in the kitchen made a noise to rival even a commercial kitchen just preparing for cooking, Yibo's dad wanted to know what they could do to pass the time until dinner. What he meant was where the TV was that he could sit down in front of and have some peace and quiet. As Yibo knew.

They walked into the living room, Zhan's dad turned on the TV and Yibo's dad shut himself off, staring at the TV. "Shall we go outside?" Zhan's mom asked.

"Sure." Said Zhan's dad. Yibo and Zhan agreed and so they went outside, where they first fed the chickens and then the cats. Then they sat down on the veranda.

"It's really nice to sit here and relax like this." Yibo said, letting his gaze wander over the beautiful, large property.

Zhan's dad confirmed this and explained that they sit on the veranda every evening for at least an hour and enjoy the view, then he asked Yibo: "So you're a secret agent who only pretends to be an idol?"

"Yes sir, that's my undercover identity." Replied Yibo.

"So you infiltrated the show business."

"Yes sir, as well as my best friend and his boyfriend. Oh yes, and Jackson Wang." Yibo didn't know why he was betraying his friends and colleagues like that. Somehow it just slipped out.

"I understand. And how long will you maintain this undercover identity?"

"As long as it lasts, sir."

"Well, don't bother with the sir. Call me Ling. Or father, for my sake. Or Mr. Xiao. But not always sir."

"Yes, sir. I mean..." How on earth was Yibo supposed to address him now? He was for Ling. Or even better, for Father. But was that a serious offer? "Father." Yibo said, took a deep breath and prepared himself for, well, what?

"Good, then that's settled. Now tell me, are you really serious about my son?"

"Oh yes. Without a doubt. I love Zhan. I want to be with him and stay with him."

"Good answer son." Said Zhan's dad and Yibo rejoiced.

"You don't have to worry. Our son has always held on to everything that was and is close to his heart." Yibo's mom explained, coming out with a tray full of glasses. She handed everyone a glass of lime juice, then went back inside.

Zhan's mom stared at the lime juice and asked, "What's that red stuff floating in there?"

"Looks like chili powder." Zhan said, took a sip, grimaced and coughed. "Oh damn, it's sour! And yes, it's chili powder.

"Damn, my toenails are curling upwards at the taste." Zhan's dad cursed quietly after taking a sip.

Zhan's mom shook her whole body after tasting it too and said, "I think she squeezed all my limes and only added a drop of water."

Yibo laughed and shook his head as the three Xiao's looked at him, expecting him to take a sip as well. "I'm not crazy enough to try it. My mom used to make me these lime juices back then. So I already know them and how awful they taste."

They poured the juices on the ground next to the porch. The guard dog, a German shepherd named Rexus Lexus, came running up, sniffed it and ran off with his tail between his legs, whimpering. The mama cat also wanted a noseful, but stormed off too. The four of them laughed, put their glasses on the veranda railing, sat down again and watched the sun go down.

An hour and a half later, Yibo's mom called for dinner. There was salad with a greenish slimy dressing, rice with peppercorns, slightly burnt fish in a watery lime sauce and only half-baked bread rolls. Nobody even wanted to try the food. And luckily, Yibo's dad had volunteered to sacrifice himself by saying: "What kind of food is this? Who's going to be able to eat it?" Then he looked at his wife, saw that his words got the desired reaction and ran off. And while Yibo's mom chased her husband through the house and across the property, Yibo and the Xiao's disposed of the food and hurried to prepare another dinner.

"Zhan? You take care of the rice. Honey, you take over the frying pan and cook us five-minute steaks. Yibo? You'll wash the salad and I'll do the side dishes. Everyone went to their station and got started. Without making any noise, Yibo washed two fresh heads of iceberg salad and cut them into mouth-sized pieces. Zhan's mom added peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and grated cheese. Zhan's dad had two frying pans on the stove, each with 4 5-minute steaks. Zhan took the ready-made rice out of the fridge, put it in a large bowl, put it in the microwave and then divided the reheated rice into several bowls.

When Yibo's parents came back into the kitchen, completely out of breath, they found a ready meal waiting for them. Yibo's mom didn't say anything, she sat down at the table and began to eat. Yibo's dad grinned at the Xiao's and Yibo. He was the big hero of the evening. He had sacrificed himself so that the four of them could save the dinner. And luckily, Yibo's dad only suffered a slightly swollen cheek.

After dinner, everyone cleaned up the kitchen and then went outside, where Zhan's dad built a campfire. They sat around the fire and listened to nature. At least until Yibo's parents ran into the house in panic when they heard the howling of a few wolves from the forest. But as no one followed them into the house, they soon came back outside. "Aren't you scared of the wolves?" Yibo's dad wanted to know.

"Not really. They rarely come out of the forest. And when they do, they always stay at the edge of the forest. They don't want anything to do with us." Zhan's dad explained.

"And what if they do come here because they're hungry? You have animals here, like the chickens." Yibo's mom wanted to know.

"They don't come here. Recently a fox tried to get one of our chickens. But our guard dog chased him off immediately. But the wolves themselves don't come here for a few chickens. Besides, there are enough animals in the forest for them to hunt and eat." Zhan's mom explained, while Zhan's dad fetched a few glasses and a bottle of his homemade moonshine.

"This is blueberry liquor." Zhan's dad said and poured some into everyone's glasses.

Yibo looked at his dad, frowning. "Um dad, you better not drink that. You know you can't handle alcohol."

"Oh no. It's only one sip and I think I can handle it." Yibo's dad replied, finished the sip, put the glass down in front of him and tipped aside. He lay on the floor and slept. One sip of alcohol and he was gone. Zhan's dad and Yibo carried him into the house and upstairs to the guest room.

"I've never seen anything like it." Zhan's dad wondered.

Alone with the father of his beloved, Yibo wondered if he shouldn't take the opportunity to ask him an important question. Apparently, Zhan's dad noticed that something was going through Yibo's mind and asked him to just say or ask what he wanted. Yibo rubbed his chin and asked, "Has Zhan been trained by you? I mean, like special agents?"

Zhan's dad looked at Yibo thoughtfully for a moment. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, I've noticed a few times now that Zhan isn't like a normal civilian. To be honest, I don't even know any agents who are like Zhan. He always remains calm and level-headed. He pays attention to things that no one else would notice. In dicey situations, he keeps a cool head and takes control. He can even distribute tasks and calm others down. And in certain situations where others would freak out, Zhan quickly regains his composure and knows what to do. That's not a normal civilian. He's even better than some of our best agents!" Then Yibo remembered the situation in the kitchen earlier, when Zhan's mom took control and distributed the tasks. Was she perhaps a special agent too?

Zhan's dad sat down on the back of an armchair and looked at Yibo thoughtfully. He exhaled deeply and finally said, "I don't know how to explain this to you. Zhan is who he is. And if he doesn't want to tell you anything more specific, you should accept that. But he's not a secret agent. If that's what you're thinking. But he's not a normal civilian either."

"But what is he then?"

"I can't tell you that. He has to tell you himself. And he's obviously not ready yet."

Yibo was now even more confused than before, but accepted that he wouldn't get an answer from Zhan's dad. So they went back outside, where Yibo's mom had taken the bottle of blueberry liquor and drank it straight from the bottle. And since the liquor was quite strong, she was drunk quite quickly. And in her drunken state, she dropped a bombshell that left Yibo completely speechless. "My BOTH sons are gay and it doesn't even bother me. What do you say to that?"

"What was that just mom? Your two sons? Do I have a brother I don't know about?" Yibo asked, shocked.

"Oh yes, you do. He's six years older than you and grew up with his father. I was just too young at the time and not ready to be a mother to him. And two years after I left his father, I met your father." She explained slurring her words.

Yibo squatted down in front of her and asked her, "How come you never told me about him?"

"Are you crazy? Even your dad doesn't know about Haikuan."

"MOM! You can't just hide something like that! I have a big brother and I wish I'd known. Does he even know about me?"

"I met him a few weeks ago. Or rather, he came to me to confront me because I left him back then. And that's when I told him about you."

"That means you didn't even know if he was okay all these years?"

"Not really. I did care about him. But I just wasn't ready to be his mother. And no, I had no contact with him or his father. Even though I always wanted to know how Haikuan was doing. But I left his father and my son without saying anything. And therefore I had no right to demand contact with my son."

Zhan's mom jumped up and walked around the house. She sobbed quietly as she walked past Yibo. Zhan hurried after his mother. Yibo followed the two and saw Zhan hugging his mom and his mom saying that she couldn't believe how a mother could voluntarily just leave her child that she loves behind. "She just left. Without saying goodbye and without ever contacting him. How could she do that?" Zhan's mom asked, crying.

Yibo walked over to the two, she looked at Yibo, wiped her tears and gently stroked Yibo's cheek. "You're a kind boy. And it makes me sad that you only found out about your brother now and then in this way. I hope you can make contact with him and get to know him."

Without thinking, Yibo wrapped his arms around Zhan's mom. He simply felt the need to do so. And she returned his embrace. "Thank you." Yibo said and immediately felt much lighter around the heart.

"My mom's a good hugger, isn't she?" Zhan asked with a smile. Yibo nodded and then he and Zhan hugged each other too. And as soon as they released the hug, Zhan's dad came over and gave Yibo a big cuddle.

"I'm sure you needed that." Zhan's dad said with a grin and Yibo nodded. "Your mom just went in and upstairs, by the way. She's really drunk."

"Okay. I'm glad she went upstairs. I don't want to see her right now." Replied Yibo.

"I can understand that, kid. Now come with me. We're going back to the fire. I'll grill us some corn on the cob in the fire." Zhan's dad said and put his arm around Yibo's shoulder in a fatherly way as they walked back to the campfire. The mood was relaxed for the rest of the evening.