17. Storm

And suddenly you wake up in the middle of the night and you know you're not the same young man you were a few days ago, the one who promised his parents to take his time with everything. Because when I opened my eyes, I saw the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And it lay sleeping, smiling and caressing my abs in my arms. My angel Zhan!

At that moment, when I looked at my sleeping angel, I knew, now it doesn't matter what is coming, now nothing can separate us. All my thoughts, worries and fears were gone and there was nothing left but love. Just as I had dreamed for six long years. And also the question "What now?" was gone. I don't need to know the answer because, from now on, Zhan and I are walking our future together as a couple.

After six years, I finally have what I have been longing for. I can hold my dream man in my arms. And everything else comes naturally. From now on, Zhan and I can plan together. And at that moment, when I was really, really aware of it, I finally felt that feeling of happiness that I thought would make me feel like I could fly.

The feeling of happiness spread throughout my body as I put my arms around Zhan, placed a kiss on his forehead, and whispered, "Finally. Finally, we're together." I closed my eyes again, thought of the night ahead, and fell back asleep with a smile.

Around 10 am we woke up as a violent thunderstorm passed over us. It thundered so loud and strong that the whole house vibrated slightly. And as I was used to, I wanted to get up immediately. But Zhan held me tightly, pushing me back onto the bed with his body, lying on top of me and whispering, "Not so fast." And then kissed me.

I held him in my arms, spun him around, and then lay on top of him, whispering, "I'll handle it from here."

Zhan grinned and replied, "It's about time. I'm looking forward to tonight."

"Me too. Now let's get up and all have breakfast together before Emma leaves."

"Oh yeah, there was something." Replied Zhan.

I know he's still mad at Emma but, somehow I hope they can make up before she leaves. I don't know what she was like before she came here and jealously watched the man she's in love, get into a relationship with another man. But there must be a reason that she became Zhan's best friend.

And who knows, maybe someday she will be able to overcome her feelings and we can start all over again, as friends.

The thunderstorm was right above us, crashing and flashing incessantly. I have never experienced such a strong thunderstorm before. Therefore, Zhan and I also refrained from taking a shower and washed ourselves so thoroughly before going to the women who were sitting in the living room. And at that moment when we arrived at them and Suri explained that there was a thunderstorm warning, the power went out.

It thundered so incredibly hard that one of the four small windows on the front door shattered. The glass fell to the floor with a clatter. The wind was so strong that it pushed open a window and the lightning was so bright that it hurt my eyes.

I connected my cell phone to my headphones, turned on the radio on it and set it to loud. The news was advising residents and guests in this region to stay home and not leave unless absolutely necessary, as the weather is expected to worsen. All flights have been canceled until the afternoon and how things will go from there would remain to be seen.

We walked to the porch door and looked out to the sea. Dark black clouds covered the sky. The waves were incredibly large. Lightning shot along the black sky and every now and then one would go down. It was so dark outside that we could even see the light of the lighthouse in the distance.

Never before had any of the four of us, ever seen anything as powerful as this thunderstorm. This storm which even caused flooding in some parts of the country. Which made the waves so big that it looked like they could almost reach the house.

While Emma called her driver and told him he didn't need to pick her up until the planes were allowed to take off again, Suri and I called the landlord of the beach house to inform him about the broken window. We cut out a piece of cardboard and taped it in front of the opening.

We then sat in the living room listening to the radio on my cell phone, I held Zhan in my arms, Suri was on the phone with her boyfriend and Emma was playing a game on her phone.

And then around 1 pm everything was over. The storm dissipated, the black clouds dissipated and revealed a bright blue sky. As if nothing had ever happened, the sun shone strong and hot. The birds chirped and the seagulls wandered along the beach, looking for anything edible that might have been spit out by the sea and left on the beach.

An hour later, the driver came to pick up Emma. Zhan took her in his arms and told her that he hopes she will one day find a man who will appreciate her love and return it. And he also said that she will always be his best friend and he hopes that soon they can have contact with each other again as such.

Emma reached out her hand to me and said, "I apologize to you for my behavior and I hope the next time we meet again that we can forget those days and start all over again, as friends."

"I hope so too Emma. Get home safe and take good care of yourself. I'm sure we'll meet again." I replied. Then she got in the car with her driver and was gone.

And then Suri confessed to us that she too will be gone in an hour, because her boyfriend was able to take Spontaneous vacation at his part time job, is on his way here and wants to go camping with Suri for a few days. "He's taking me home on Sunday, too. Mom and Dad know about it, so don't worry about it. And the two of you, hopefully you'll take advantage of the days together and have a lot of fun."

Neither Zhan nor I really knew what to say to that, except that we wished her lots of fun too. But there was one more thing I needed to know from Suri. "How far along are you with your boyfriend?" I asked her.

She pulled something out of her pocket, I realized it was her anti baby pill and she said with a wink, "So far, that I shouldn't forget this here." I wonder more and more when, between college and all the time she spent with me, she then had time to meet a man and already be so far along with him, without me noticing or her telling me anything beforehand.

But I guess this topic we will save and discuss when we are back in Beijing. She's my best friend and she's keeping something like this from me? No, this needs to be cleared up.

It's strange to think now, that I only wanted to be friends with her until I could get closer to Zhan. But, that was four years ago and a lot has changed since then. And I know today that she will always be my best friend and that I will always be grateful to her for always being there for me, never saying a bad word to me or about me and even helping me get closer to her brother.

And yes, without the fan fiction, he wouldn't have noticed me, so it's clearly thanks to her. And I will be forever grateful to her for that, forever. I really love her with all my heart and I'm glad she's my best friend.

Then when her boyfriend came to pick her up, unfortunately they were in a hurry, I would have liked to get to know her boyfriend a little bit. And I guess Zhan would have liked to let the big brother hang out too. Just so her boyfriend knows who he's dealing with, should he dare to hurt Suri.

We said goodbye to Suri, went back into the house and it was suddenly very quiet. After the last few excitement filled days, it was almost eerie how quiet it was in this house. I held Zhan in my arms, we kissed each other and the silence became something beautiful. But then suddenly we had electricity again, the TV came on, highest volume and we were so scared that we went to our knees and, that even after five minutes our heartbeat had not normalized.

We took a shower, got dressed and went to the small town to buy some groceries and look for a pharmacy where we wanted to get everything for tonight.

And who did I see first when we arrived in the small town? That's right, my archenemy. As if she had been waiting every day at the parking lot for me to come back. She saw me, grinned and said, "Well little man, there you are again."

"Oy, old lady, I think you need a new pair of glasses. Cause I'm still taller than you." I replied.

She raised her fist with a grin and called out to me, "You please me, I like you."

"For breakfast? Lunch? Dinner?" I asked her, grinning broadly.

"What do you think? I'll cut you into three pieces and have some of you for every meal. I'm old, I can't eat that much at one time you know?"

"Mhm already clear. But I'm afraid that's not going to happen today. I already have other plans."

"With your boyfriend what?"

I looked at Zhan, grinned, and replied, "Yeah, with my boyfriend."

"Good for you. He's cute."

"Thanks, I know." I said proudly.

I extended my hand to the old woman and politely introduced myself to her. She laughed when I told her, she gave me the creeps when she stared at me like that when we were in that cafe.

"Oh boy, I'm old but that doesn't make me miss looking closely at two such handsome young men. But my eyes aren't so good anymore and that's why I had to open them wide and look focused."

"That looked really creepy. Maybe you should get a new pair of glasses."

"I already ordered one. So where are you two pretty ones going? And where are the two women?"

"The women have left because they have other plans. And we want to go shopping and we're looking for a pharmacy."

"Mhhh, the pharmacy is just behind the supermarket, you can't miss it. Well, don't let me stop you. I have to go home and feed my witch."

"Witch?"

"Yes, my cat. My great granddaughter named her."

"Ah I see. Well, have a nice day." I replied. We shook hands in farewell and left.

Zhan looked at me with a grin and asked me if she was still my archenemy. I nodded and said, "I'm not blinded by her. Did you see that flash in her eyes?"

"You mean when the sun shone on her glasses?"

"No, that wasn't the sun. That was pure evil in her." I replied with a laugh.

We walked to the supermarket and this time no one stared at us. Probably it was because of Emma's outfit the first time after all. Luna was sitting at the checkout again and she recognized us right away. She looked around us, exhaled with relief and then served us.

After that we went to the pharmacy and bought a pack of condoms, Zhan insisted on a big pack and a tube of lube. And the pharmacist gave us a sample pack of massage oil on top.

We then went to the cafe again and this time I ordered a fresh salad with tuna and a roll. Zhan ordered the same. And we both drank a hot chocolate with it. It was very relaxing and before we went back to the beach house, we also got ice cream again. But this time we stopped at the ice cream truck and ate it there.