It's been 5 days since his breakup with Zhan and the weekend is upon him. Yibo wondered about himself that he had really managed to completely avoid Zhan, Alessia and his other friends for five whole days. It was very difficult for him and he had to call himself to order again and again when his eyes wanted to wander back to Zhan. But somehow he managed and now he was looking forward to the weekend.

Much to Yibo's delight, he would not spend the weekend exclusively at the academy this time, but in the city. He would finally participate in a competition that had nothing to do with the Keno Academy and for which he would have to spend the entire weekend in a fancy hotel downtown. He received the invitation for it on Wednesday from the director, who handed him the papers personally.

He had immediately talked to his uncle about it right after he received the documents. He checked everything and agreed that Yibo should take part in the competition. He told Yibo that he would put some men there to watch over him. Although Yibo was not really comfortable with this, because he just wanted to get away from all of this and behave and feel like a normal 19 year old again, he also knew that it would be safer. After all, caution is still better than indulgence.

In the afternoon, Yibo finally made his way to the hotel and was impressed with his large room on the 9th floor. A big room in a four star hotel with full board and even everything Yibo would take from the minibar would be paid for by the host. That's how he imagined heaven.

After a two-hour rehearsal in the late afternoon, Yibo had time for himself and his own activities. He decided to go downtown for a bit, do some shopping, and maybe have a cappuccino with lots of foam and cream somewhere. Or maybe two?

He put on his favorite clothes, a pair of black skinny jeans and a beige knit sweater and headed for the elevator. He got into the elevator, the doors started to close and suddenly someone put his hand between the doors, they slid open again and Yibo thought he didn't see right. How was he supposed to avoid Zhan when they were in the same hotel and just in the same elevator?

Yibo took two steps back and stood in the corner of the elevator. He was so nervous that he even forgot to breathe and coughed violently when he remembered it. Zhan turned to him and looked at him with concern. "Are you all right?"

"Don't talk to me!" Yibo replied, still coughing. The elevator doors slid shut and now the two of them were in the elevator together. And there was no way out.

"Okay, whatever you say. I was just worried."

"You don't have to be. Worry about yourself."

"I do."

"Good."

Zhan looked deep into Yibo's eyes and replied, "I know you're mad at me. And rightfully so. But do you really have to be like this?"

"What am I like?"

"You're mean."

"I'm mean? Lying to someone for weeks, or even months, that's mean!"

"You know that I'm..." Abruptly, Zhan stopped as the elevator suddenly bucked violently.

"What the hell was that?" Yibo asked with his heart racing. For a moment, he felt like the elevator might crash into the ground.

"I don't know."

"I..." Yibo winced as the elevator stopped with a sharp jolt. The lights went out and a small red lamp came on. "Don't tell me we're stuck in the elevator."

"Looks like it." Replied Zhan. He pressed the alarm button several times in succession, but nothing happened.

"This is not good. For sure this is your fault Zhan!"

"My fault? How am I supposed to have done this? I'm trapped here with you."

"Earlier when I took the elevator, everything was fine. And as soon as you're in here with me, it stops."

"That doesn't mean it's my fault."

"Yeah right. I'm sure you agents have devices like that that you can do this with. You must have hidden it in one of your jacket pockets."

"I didn't hide anything. And even if we have such devices, I would have had to rig the elevator first. And I didn't."

"I don't believe you. I'm sure you did."

"I didn't."

"Then let me search your pockets."

"What do you want?"

"You heard me. I want to search your pockets."

"You can forget it!"

"Aha, so you do have something to hide!"

"I don't Yibo."

"Then why don't you want me to search your pockets?"

"Because you have no right to. I haven't done anything."

"Let me see..." Said Yibo and walked up to Zhan. He tried to get to Zhan's jacket pockets and reach inside. But Zhan kept fending him off. 

"Let it go." Said Zhan, pushing Yibo away from him.

"No! I want to see what you're hiding!" They continued to wrestle in the elevator until Yibo actually managed to slip a hand into Zhan's right jacket pocket and pull out the contents. But it was only the room key and Zhan's cell phone. He dropped both and now tried to get to the left jacket pocket.

"Yibo leave it!"

"No!" Yibo roared, pushing Zhan's arms aside with his body and reaching into the jacket pocket. He pulled out the contents and looked at it. "What?" He asked when he saw a picture of himself and Zhan's badge. Meanwhile, Zhan picked up his cell phone and room key as well.

"Are you satisfied now?" Asked Zhan.

"Why do you have the picture of me with you?"

"Because I always have it with me when I'm not at the academy. Can I have it back now, please?"

"What do you need the picture for? Is it for your agents?"

"For?.. No Yibo. It's my picture. I took it of you the night of our date."

"I know."

"And I've always had it with me since you broke up with me. I um..."

"Yeah?"

"Forget it. Will you give it back to me?"

"Um yeah." Said Yibo, handing the picture back to Zhan. Then he took a closer look at Zhan's badge in the dim red light. "Special Agent Xiao Zhan. Well, I was right that at least your name is real."

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

"I never intended to hurt you."

"I know."

"You do?"

"Yes. After I talked to my uncle, he explained it to me. I understand now why you lied to me and why you kept so many secrets from me."

"But?"

"But it's better if we don't have anything to do with each other. My uncle told me it's better."

"That's right."

"Does it work, then?"

"What?"

"Well, because of Alessia? Does she now think I'm not a competition for her?"

"Yes."

"What did you tell her? That we had a fight and you stood up for her?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"I suspected."

"You could make a good agent."

"Mhhh, my uncle said that too."

"Are you still mad at me?"

"No. But I had to break up with you. I had to find out the truth and I knew you would see right through me if we had continued to be together."

"So you only broke up with me because of that?"

"Yes. I didn't want to get caught again. I did suspect that you were working for an organization. But I wasn't sure if it was for the good guys or the bad guys."

"I see."

"Yes. And after you caught Youn and me spying on you, I didn't want to get caught again, so I asked my uncle for help."

"I know my baby."

"How did you know we were in the garbage container?"

"I knew you were following us the whole time."

"How? Were you tracking my cell phone signal or something?"

"No. It was just very noticeable that a cab was following us into this deserted area. And after Alessia called me to ask me if I was with you and Youn because you were no longer at the academy, I figured it out."

"Then how did you know where we were hiding?"

"The security cameras at the house aren't the only ones. We monitor the whole area there."

"I see, and would your colleagues really have killed us?"

"No. They just wanted to scare you guys. But that was Cheng's fault. He sent them out to you guys and asked them to put on a show."

"Wow, what an asshole."

"Baby, I want to apologize to you again."

"Why?"

"You know, when we took this mission, my only goal was to bust the Milan Mafia. But then I fell in love with you and at some point I just couldn't escape my feelings for you. I wanted to be with you even though I knew I couldn't be honest with you. I demanded a lot from you, expected a lot from you and that only because I was so selfish and wanted to be with you. You have to know that I've never been in love before and..."

"I get it Zhan. Really. My uncle told me that if they had found out about me, they would have taken you off the case. Is that true?"

"Yes."

"And is that why you preferred to keep lying?"

"Yes. But my boss knows about you now."

"So?"

"And he'd like to talk to you. At our secret base."

"About what?"

"Well, I think it's about us, Alessia, your uncle. And probably about you not revealing mine and Cheng's true identities."

"I would never do that."

"I know. Otherwise you would have done it by now."

"Right."

"Baby, I'm so sorry about all this."

"Mn. You said that already."

"But I can't say it enough."

"Zhan?"

"Yes?"

"What's the next step?"

"With what?"

"With us. With your mission. With Alessia."

"I love you and I still want to be with you. I have to fulfill my mission. I have to keep pretending that Alessia is the only one for me. Only then will she trust me and only then will I hopefully manage to uncover her crimes."

"How can I help you?"

"By not putting yourself in danger."

"No, I mean, how can I really help you?"

"I already told you."

"Zhan. Do you realize that Alessia loses her composure very quickly and then uncontrollably says things she doesn't mean to say?"

"Yes, I do. But why do you ask?"

"Because the only person who can drive her to the point of completely freaking out is me!"

"No, no. You can't..."

"Why not? I talked to my uncle about it and he thinks I could be a good decoy. And besides, I'm not done with her yet!" It wasn't the first time in the last few days that he had come up with these thoughts. Because if anyone could provoke Alessia to such an extent that she lost her composure, it was him.

"I don't think it's a good idea. What if she hurts you? Or worse? I can't lose you. Because I can't live without you anymore."

"Zhan... trust me. I can do this. You just said yourself I would make a good agent. My uncle thinks so too. And I know you would protect me."

"Yibo..." Began Zhan. But Yibo interrupted him. He put Zhan's badge in Zhan's hand and shook his head.

"I can do this. With your help, I can do it." Said Yibo. He took another step toward Zhan and now stood directly in front of him. He put his arms around Zhan, closed his eyes and kissed him. "I can do this. Let me help you."

Zhan wrapped Yibo in his arms and kissed him long and tenderly until the elevator lights came back on and the elevator continued its ride. Before they left the elevator, however, Zhan said, "We'll talk to my boss. Then we'll see."

"Okay. When can I talk to him? How about right now?"

"If you want, we'll drive to his place. You could wait at the front of the street. I'll come there in the car."

"Yes. Let's do that." Said Yibo with a smile. He and Zhan slid apart again and acted as if nothing had happened. They even put on a grim expression so that anyone who might see them coming out of the elevator together would think they didn't like each other.

While Zhan went to get his car, Yibo went to the meeting place on the street and waited there. One of the agents his uncle had assigned to protect him approached him and asked him where he was going. Yibo told him that he wanted to talk to the boss of Agent Xiao's organization. The agent nodded and went on his way.