Although I was really tired when I went to bed and just wanted to sleep, I lay awake for a long time thinking about that stupid evening. For me, Emma is to blame for everything and now I also know what my mother meant when she told me to be careful.

When I woke up, I wasn't asleep very long, everyone else was still in their beds. Not wanting to wake any of them up, I went to take a shower, got dressed, grabbed my camera and went outside to the beach.

I felt strange. Even though Zhan apologized and I wasn't mad at him anymore anyway, I still felt so incredibly disappointed. But, not by Zhan. But, of myself. Not only did I fail to stop my best friend from having a huge fight with her big brother, I also made my great love, my dream man cry. I even feel ashamed about it.

Not knowing what to do, I even called my mother and told her what had happened. And her answer was, "Kick that Emma's butt so hard that she makes her first braking attempts in the Arctic and then gets stuck there somewhere between the glaciers." I really had to laugh at that.

In the end, she said, I have no reason to be disappointed in myself and I have nothing to be ashamed of either. "You reacted just right and showed that you don't put up with everything and are perfectly capable of making a real announcement so they take you seriously."

"But mom, he was crying," I said.

"No but my son. I'm sure he was pretty upset himself yesterday because of everything that had happened, and then when you talked him into it, I'm sure he unloaded everything that had built up over the day and evening. And you took him in your arms and comforted him, so you don't have to blame yourself. Today is a new day, forget what was yesterday and start again. And if that Emma keeps causing trouble, let me know and I'll come to you with my witch's broom and turn her into a little rat so everyone can see who she really is." My mother replied, which made us both laugh heartily.

I walked along the beach for a while before I put my feet in the water near our house and just enjoyed the fresh sea air. And then Emma came!

In a snarky tone, she said, "Yibo, I need to talk to you."

"Go ahead." I replied, already getting ready for a fight inside.

"I want the sleeping situation to stay like last night. You sleep with Suri in the room and I sleep with Zhan."

"And I want you to get out of my sun. Why are you telling me this? Talk to Zhan about it."

"He'll be more likely to agree if you go along with my opinion."

"Well, I won't do that. You can't expect any help from me."

"Oh yeah? So you want him to know you have a secret crush on him?"

"Secretly? I don't think it could be more obvious than that. And just as an aside. I don't have a crush on him, I love him. There's a big difference."

"So what? I don't care. The fact is, you'll never have a chance with him anyway. You see, he's not into men. Besides, he had a girlfriend when I met him back then. Only it didn't work out between them because they went different ways after university."

"And you're telling me this because? And just by the way, it's weird that apparently only you knew about this relationship. Zhan, who tells his parents everything, hid something as important as a girlfriend? Mhhh, it's strange, don't you think? Why don't you just admit that you see more in him than just a best friend and are therefore even willing to spread lies about him just to have him to yourself. But you know what? I'm smarter than you and I'm certainly not going to be impressed by that."

"You shouldn't be so disrespectful to me. And stay away from Zhan."

"First, I'm certainly not going to stay away from Zhan just because you want me to. And second, you don't deserve respect. Or did you forget during your little show interlude yesterday that Suri is Zhan's little sister? That she last saw him over four years ago and was crazy happy to be able to see her brother and spend time with him? While you could see him almost every day for the past few years. And one more thing. If Zhan would see in you more than his best friend, why hasn't he ever tried anything with you in the past few years?"

Since Emma obviously couldn't say anything to that, or didn't know what to say, she lifted her nose to the sky and stomped off in a huff. What a stupid bitch. Did she really think I would believe her lies or just give up on Zhan? No way!

I took another little walk and even found the little bay Zhan was talking about. It's really small and very beautiful. Protected from both sides, you could lie here without being watched from the sides. I took a few more pictures of the bay and the surrounding forest. And then I also saw a few deer, which looked at me cheekily. I didn't even know there was a forest here.

Since I've always loved walking in forests, I walked along the trail and even found a Motocross track. And... I found a sign on which is the advertisement of a rental company of Motocross machines. Hehehe, I know what I can do to really get my rocks off. Oh I like that!

I headed back again, also because I need to charge my cell phone battery so I can call the motocross rental company. I entered the house, somehow the way back seemed very long, and suddenly Zhan came running towards me, throwing his arms around me and saying, "Thank God there you are. We were worried about you. Damn where have you been? It's already 4 pm and Emma said she last saw you at 11 am."

"What, what time is it?" I pulled Zhan away from me to look at the wall clock, which he didn't seem to like at all, because he immediately clung to me again.

"Um Zhan, it would be really nice if you could let me out of your bone crushing hug. I need to charge the battery on my phone and make a call."

"Who do you need to call?"

"A rental company of motocross machines. Here's a forest there's a cross track. I really want to try those out."

"Cool, can I ride with you?"

"No way, it's too dangerous!"

"Then I'll just drive myself."

"You can forget it, Zhan. You'll hurt yourself later."

"But I want to do it too."

"I said no Zhan. I don't want you to hurt yourself. Unlike you, I know what I'm doing. And if I get a few scratches, it's not so bad. But I don't want your bones or your skin to get hurt."

"You're acting like you have to wrap me in absorbent cotton."

"I would if I could. Just look at your fingers. You were probably cooking lunch and cut yourself, weren't you? How many Band-Aids do you have there? Three? So you cut yourself three times?"

"That was just because the onion burned my eyes so badly and it made me unable to see properly."

"Zhan, you should have taken a break. Now look at this. You're hurt!"

"Yibo, that heals quickly, doesn't it?"

"That maybe yes. But what if you ride such a dangerous machine and hurt yourself? I won't let that happen. No way, and I'm not going to discuss it with you. You're welcome to watch me and on a straight stretch I'm happy to give you a ride, but when I' m crossing you stay at a safe distance!"

Zhan looked at me with wide eyes and just nodded. Suri stood there grinning and holding her hands in front of her mouth while Emma tried to kill me with a mean look. Doesn't work for bitches like her!

However, before I was allowed to call the rental company, Zhan made me eat. It really tasted very good.

After eating, I looked at Zhan's cuts on his fingers. I put a disinfecting ointment, which also has a healing effect at the same time, on his cuts and put new band-aids on them. And while I was doing that, there was that look again from Zhan that I already saw on him last night. Only, what does it mean? Is it admiration? I don't know.

I called the rental company afterwards and he told me he would come to the track tomorrow with a machine, they are also called a bike. A KTM 450, one for experts. Oh yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. And I'm looking forward to showing Zhan what I can do.

"Um Yibo?" Zhan poked my arm with his hand as he addressed me.

"Mhm?"

"Your suitcase is back in our room."

"Why is that? Who was it this time?"

"It was me. I told you it was just for one night. And your suitcase will stay there now, too. I promise!"

"We'll see. As soon as someone sheds a few tears again, you'll go soft again anyway."

"Certainly not. It's going to stay the way it is. You and I share a room and the girls share the other room."

"As I said, we'll see."

Zhan suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me outside with him. Then he asked me, "Why are you so cold to me today? Are you still mad at me? I already told you I was sorry."

"I wasn't mad at you last night already. I just decided to be myself. And that's just the way I am. And if you want me to act differently towards you again, then I expect you to prove to me that you won't act like you did yesterday again. Then you can hug me and hold me as much as you want. You can do anything you want with me. But not if I feel like you're trampling on my best friend's feelings, or promising something and not keeping it, or doing something that involves me without talking to me first."

"Oh okay. I promise you something like yesterday won't happen again."

"Good. Because the three of you actually managed to make me feel ashamed of myself and disappointed in myself in the end. And that's never happened to me in my entire life."

"Why were you disappointed in yourself and ashamed of yourself?"

"Isn't it obvious? I couldn't stop Suri from fighting with you and I made you cry. And all this after just one day here. I think that's really shameful, because I've never made anyone cry because of what I said, and I never want to again. And I never want to see Suri cry again either."

Suddenly Zhan hugged me again and said, "I'm sorry it's our fault that you felt that way. But you are not to blame. You are the only one who didn't do anything from all of us. So don't worry about it anymore Ok?"

"Mhm Ok. But like I said, if you guys mess up again like you did yesterday, I'm going home. Now let's talk to the others about what we want to do today."

It felt good to have that mentioned and to get along with Zhan again. I just kind of feel like that with Emma, was just the beginning. But I'm prepared! She's not going to defeat me!