Chapter 11 - The Day After...

When Yibo woke up, he found himself in his bed and had no idea how he had gotten there. All he knew was that he had a terrible headache and his stomach was churning. He was so nauseous that he jumped out of bed, ran out of his room, ran to the bathroom and threw up.

After throwing up twice, he brushed his teeth, took a shower, and slowly walked back to his room. He sat down on his bed, took Zhan's picture in his hand, held it above his head, and asked, "Do you know how I got into bed? All I can remember is how Youn and I went to my room because I wanted to show it to him. But then total blackout. Did I go into the room with him and then immediately fall asleep? Tell me. I need to know."

Since the picture of Zhan didn't give him an answer, Yibo decided, "I'd better go and ask Zhan myself. I wonder if he's awake yet? I'll go and see. And you stay here nicely and watch my room, okay? I'll be back soon." He put the picture back on his nightstand, put on clean clothes, and left his room.

He saw Zhan sitting in the kitchen at the table bent over a hot cup of tea. When Zhan noticed him, he looked up and smiled, "You're awake." He stated unnecessarily.

"Mhm. Been awake for a while. Do we by any chance have any headache pills here and something for the stomach?" Yibo replied. Although he couldn't remember anything. But when he looked at Zhan, his heart suddenly started beating excitedly in his chest.

"I have everything here. Tea for your stomach is in the teapot and pills I have here. Do you have a headache like mine?" Zhan rubbed his stomach. His stomach was rebelling. But it got better when he saw Yibo. His heart also began to beat fast and excitedly in his chest.

"Yes. We shouldn't have drunk it all mixed up. Tell me Zhan, do you happen to know how I got to bed?" He sat down on the chair next to Zhan, poured himself some tea and took a pain pill.

"Me, no. I totally blacked out. I woke up in the living room in front of the sofa. I don't even know why I was in the living room. But there were two glasses of red wine. I don't know who they're from. What do you remember Yibo?"

"I just remember going to my room with Youn to show him. But from then on, I don't remember anything."

"For me, I've blacked out from the moment our mothers suddenly heard a song on the radio and sang it along loudly."

"Did they really do that? I have no idea."

"Mhm they did. Our dads were still joining in. Your dad held one of my wooden spoons like a microphone in front of your mom's mouth. And my dad clapped along to the beat."

"Too bad I don't remember that."

"You didn't miss a thing. Our moms just sang loud and crooked. It wasn't a listening pleasure."

"I can imagine. One time when my mom was singing in our backyard, she couldn't hit the high notes. I thought a cat was dying."

"Oh yeah, that's what it sounded like last night too."

"Thank goodness I don't remember anything about it. But everyone must have really enjoyed the evening. Youn wrote me a message saying the evening was great and to thank you for introducing him to Wooseok."

"Ah yes, I do remember something. You rapped with Youn."

"I did?"

"Yes you did. And I have to say, you're really talented at it. And so does Seungyoun."

"Thanks. So for now, I won't touch any more alcohol. It was really too much yesterday. I've never had a blackout before."

"My last blackout was a long time ago."

"Do we have any plans for today?"

"Not really. I thought we could get cozy at home today. Maybe we could go ahead and put up a Christmas tree and decorate it. And we could put some Christmas lights on the windows."

"Sounds good to me. I'm in. But not until my stomach settles."

"My stomach's still rebelling, too. You know what? Let's take our tea and go to the living room. There's enough room on the sofa for both of us to stretch out."

"Oh yeah, that sounds good."

"I'll get two more blankets in a minute. And there's a fairy tale on TV right now."

"Which one?"

"The Salt Prince."

"Okay. I haven't watched fairy tales in ages."

"I try to watch the fairy tales every year at Christmas time."

"That's what I'm going to do now. You and I could make it our tradition."

"Yeah right, that's a good idea Yibo."

"Thank you. Now come on already. I want to go to the sofa and snuggle under a blanket, drink tea and watch the fairy tale."

"Go ahead then. I'll quickly get the wool blankets."

"All right." Said Yibo and hurried into the living room. He put down the two teacups and lay down on one side of the sofa. Zhan returned only a moment later with two wool blankets. He also had apple chips, roasted almonds, and coconut chips with him. He covered Yibo with one of the wool blankets and then lay down on the other side of the sofa, pulling the wool blanket up to his chin.

They lay head to head watching the fairy tale, drinking their stomach tea and eating the Healthy Snacks. "Are you feeling better?" Zhan asked after a while.

"My head still hurts. My mom used to rub my head when I had a headache. I wonder if I should call her to come here and scratch my head."

"What for? I'm here, aren't I?" Said Zhan. He reached his arm out from under the wool blanket and ran his hand through Yibo's hair. Yibo closed his eyes and visibly enjoyed the affection.

Yibo turned onto his stomach after a few minutes and looked at Zhan, "Say, how do we actually celebrate Christmas? Together? Or separately?"

"Which would you prefer?"

"Definitely together."

"I'd prefer that too Yibo. I'd say Christmas Eve we both stay home. We'll spend the first Christmas Day with your parents. And the second Christmas Day with my parents."

"Okay. But if we're with my parents, it's better if you cook Christmas dinner. Unless you're into stomachaches and heartburn."

"Huh?"

"My parents aren't really good at cooking. Simple dishes like that, yes. But not major ones. Six or seven years ago they cooked a Christmas dinner that gave us food poisoning! Instead of spending Christmas comfortably at home, we were in the hospital on IV drips with horrible stomach pains, vomiting and diarrhea!"

"Uh okay. I'd really better cook Christmas dinner then."

"Better. Last year my mom just heated up a bunch of ready-made meals from the freezer and put that on our table. Brrr, that was so gross."

"Last year for Christmas, Eva and I were in Ireland."

"Oh, so you went on a trip together, too?"

"That's how it turned out. Eva's mother is originally from Ireland. They still have relatives there. Eva traveled to Ireland to celebrate Christmas with her great aunt and a few other relatives. Unfortunately Eva had an accident and broke her leg. Her relatives were already too old to take care of her. Her parents spent Christmas in Rhodes, Greece. So only I was left. I had to fly to Ireland and stay there for a few days until a doctor allowed her to fly home. There was a risk of thrombosis with her at that time. So we had to wait."

"Well, she was lucky to have you around to take care of her."

"Well, we always got along well and took care of each other. It wasn't like Lara and you."

"Mmm, I know. And you guys had never gotten intimate? Not even a kiss at the wedding?"

"No, nothing like that. When they said I could kiss the bride, Eva and I raised our hands in front of our faces and just pretended to kiss. Eva claimed afterwards that she was embarrassed to kiss in front of others, so she insisted that we cover our faces."

"You really were in cahoots and planned it all out, didn't you?"

"Mhm. We did."

"All I know is when the registrar said I could kiss Lara, I panicked and gave her the High 5. How do you think everyone stared at us?"

"I can well imagine."

"Anyway, it was Mega Embarrassing and Lara got really upset afterwards. But I didn't care."

"Were there also good times with you guys?"

"Yes, of course. We did activities together now and then. Every now and then we went to the movies or the theater. Or we went out to eat. There were also evenings when we were at home playing cards or board games. Not everything was bad with us. She changed only in the last year to this unbearable person. Before that we got along quite well. Sure there were arguments. But most of the time we made up again quickly. She often came to me when she was not feeling well. She cried her eyes out at me when yet another date ended disastrously."

"And what made her change so much?"

"I suppose she started to change slowly when she got the job at the big company and then met her fiancé. I can only assume that's when she noticed what she was missing in our loveless marriage."

"And why was Youn never allowed to visit?"

"Because they couldn't stand each other. From the beginning, Youn was against this marriage and he said so openly. Lara always feared that if I spent too much time with Youn, he would eventually manage to persuade me to leave her and end the marriage."

"So she's keeping a wedge between you out of selfishness?"

"Yes, in a way. At least that's what she's always said. But I also know that she was in love with Youn for a long time. And when she confessed it to him, he brusquely rejected her. But I only found out after the wedding. I hadn't realized before that they had known each other for a long time."

"Why didn't Youn tell you?"

"I asked him the same thing. And he said because at first he thought I was in love with Lara. He said he wanted me to be happy. But then when he found out about the wedding and the reason, he almost freaked out. I guess he was just telling me part of the story. I don't know Youn as quick-tempered and angry as he was at the time he found out about the planned wedding. Well, now he's finally reassured that Lara is no longer a part of my life, though."

"I know he mentioned that. He cares a lot about you."

"Mmm. But now another topic. After we put up the Christmas tree, do you want to watch a movie or something?"

"Yeah sure. But I thought we might as well watch your videos of your motorcycle racing."

"Oh yeah! I'd love that."

"Good, let's do that then."

"Oh dear, do you want me to tell you something Zhan?"

"What?"

"I'm getting hungry."

"Hungry? Well then, I'll cook us something that's not so heavy on the stomach. A soup maybe."

"Oh yes yummy. Can I help you?"

"Sure, help is always welcome. You could clean and peel the soup vegetables."

"I'm even happy to do that. Now my stomach is feeling much better too."

"Yeah, mine is, too. And how's your head? Does it still hurt?"

"No, not anymore. The head rubs have helped."

"I'm glad." Said Zhan, running his hand through Yibo's hair.

The two of them finished watching the fairy tale and then went to the kitchen where they cooked chicken soup together. Afterwards, they set up the Christmas tree and decorated it. Then they ate the soup and put strings of lights in the windows. When everything was ready, they turned on the lights from the tree and the windows together. They enjoyed this beautiful sight for several minutes before going back to the sofa and watching Yibo's videos.

Late in the evening as Yibo lay in his bed, he again took the picture of Zhan from the nightstand and told the picture how his day was. And before he put it away and closed his eyes, he said to the picture, "I remembered something from last night earlier. Namely, what I told Youn in my room. And now that I'm sober again, it strikes me that what I said to Youn sounds like from someone who's about to fall in love. What do you think picture Zhan? Am I falling in love with Zhan?"

In the other room, Zhan was lying in his bed. He asked for a picture of Yibo, which is now on his bedside table. Zhan lay on his side in bed looking at the picture while keeping his hand on his chest. "I remember having a conversation with Seungyoun for a moment. Yibo was dancing with our mothers at the time. Youn asked me if I could open my heart to Yibo too. And I told him that I am long in the process of doing it. Which, in my opinion, means that I'm probably about to fall in love with my cute husband. Isn't it? But don't worry. I'm not going to rush into anything. We need to really get to know each other and see what develops between us. But I think we're on a good path. Because I'm almost sure Yibo feels the same way I do." Zhan smiled, turned off his bedside lamp, and closed his eyes.