Yibo sat smiling happily in the pavilion of the house's communal garden and watched Zhan and A-Yuan. The two of them were sitting in the sandpit of the small playground, building sandcastles and sand figures and having a lot of fun. Every now and then they looked over at Yibo, waved at him and then turned back to their game.

Yibo opened his laptop and started writing an e-mail to his uncle, with whom he has been in contact again for a year and has been writing to him regularly ever since.

>> Dear uncle, I'm writing to you again today. I have decided to write you a summary of my life. There's still a lot you don't know. And to be honest, I have no idea what else I could write to you today.

I live a life that I can describe without any doubt as perfect. A few former classmates I met at a recent reunion might disagree with me, because they believe that there is no such thing as a perfect life. But I would still insist that my life is perfect! Simply because it is perfect. I have the perfect husband. And I have a perfect son. I am very happy. Even after almost six years of being in a relationship, or rather marriage, with Zhan, I am still very much in love with him and he with me. I have my mini market and I love my work. Our families are doing very well. I have great friends who I see often. What am I actually writing here? My life is perfect and that's it!

Sometimes I think about writing a thank you letter to the registrar. After all, I have him to thank for the fact that I can now lead this life. If he hadn't been drunk back then when he registered my and Lara's marriage and made the mistake of registering my marriage to Zhan, I wouldn't be living this life today. However, I heard that the registrar no longer works there. So I wouldn't know where to send the letter.

Maybe I could ask the judge? After all, she has enough power and contacts to be able to find out where this registrar is and how I can contact him. But I think that would be going too far. And the judge probably wouldn't approve either. I don't even know why I still call her a judge. We've been good friends with her, her wife and her daughter ever since. We probably meet up once a month and do something together. Last month, for example, we went to an escape room. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to free ourselves in the prescribed time. But it was definitely fun.

My brother, with whom I've had a fantastic relationship since we started talking, looked after A-Yuan that evening. He lives with Meng Yao, his boyfriend, in the apartment above us in the house. The two of them recently decided that they wanted to get married in America. They can't officially register the marriage here, but I don't think that both of them mind. They want Zhan and I to be their witnesses because Zhan brought them together and I'm his little brother. A-Kuan said that he couldn't think of a better best man than me.

Seungyoun married his Wooseok a year ago. They were in Paris and did it spontaneously. Two Frenchmen they met in a restaurant the night before were their best men. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to Seoul because Youn was offered a well-paid job there and Wooseok wanted to live closer to his family anyway. However, they are still here in Beijing at least twice a month and always come to visit us.

We haven't heard from Lara since she left A-Yuan to us. She actually wanted to check in regularly to see how A-Yuan was doing. After all, she is his mother and we offered her the chance to keep in touch with him if she wanted to. She said she would get in touch, but nothing has come from her since then. She has even broken off contact with her parents. The last information they received was that Lara had moved abroad after finding a job there. But where exactly she moved to, in other words which country, they don't know.

Eva, who should have been Zhan's wife if the registrar hadn't been drunk, is living here in the street with her own little family for two years now. She is married and recently had her second child. She now has a son and a daughter. Her son is often with us and plays with A-Yuan. They are good friends and even go to the same class at pre-school.

My parents have been living in Zhan's parents' house for about three years now. The four of them have become very good friends. And wow, my parents volunteer at the counseling center for gay youth. They even wrote a guidebook for homosexual teenagers with Zhan's parents. And from the money for my parents' house, it was sold quickly and for the amount they wanted, they had a youth center built where they take care of the gay youth. There are even a few rooms there where the young people can stay if they have been thrown out at home. 

Since Zhan and I became a couple, my parents have changed a lot for the better. I realize that I have my parents-in-law to thank for this. Since they have been friends, my parents have learned so much from them. Sometimes it feels like they've become 20 years younger. Just a few weeks ago, my dad and father-in-law took part in a big bike ride. They rode around 80 kilometers in a large group. In the past, my dad wouldn't have been able to keep it up. He was already panting just taking out the garbage. But now he's active and has lost all his extra pounds. He's much healthier. And so is my mom.

My mom is totally absorbed in her volunteer work. She loves looking after the young people. And the teenagers all call her Mummy and are grateful that she is there for them. Last month, she was in Dubai with my mother-in-law. They spent two weeks on vacation there and want to do it again next year.

So you see, it's not just my life that has changed thanks to Zhan and the incorrectly registered marriage, but also that of our parents and all those they have already helped and those they will help in the future. Without this mistake by the registrar, none of this would have been possible. So yes, I am absolutely grateful to him for being drunk that day and making that mistake.

Our A-Yuan is an absolute sweetheart. He is sweet, smart, polite and has lots of friends. He makes us happy every day and makes us laugh every day. At preschool, his teachers are thrilled with him. His class teacher said that he was already much more advanced than his classmates. She said that we shouldn't teach him so much already because otherwise he would get bored at school. That made us laugh. Because A-Yuan learns all these things on his own.

He was only four years old when he started reading on his own. He came into the kitchen with a book and just started reading to us. We have no idea where or how he learned this. But we have nothing to do with it. Maybe he learned it in kindergarten? He was in an English kindergarten. He went to a group called "smart mice". They had access to a learning program on the computer and learned to read and write their names. I think he learned to read there. But if he did, the teacher never told us about it.

At the age of 4, A-Yuan could not only read, but also speak English and count to 1000. And he could do small math calculations such as 1+1 or 2+3. However, he learned to do arithmetic from a children's TV show. He learned English in kindergarten and he probably actually learned to count from Zhan and me. Because he was often there when we counted our daily income.

My Zhan hasn't changed. He is still the loving, caring, attentive and respectful man I fell in love with. He reads my every wish from my eyes and makes sure that I am happy every day. But he doesn't have to do much for that. It's enough for him to smile at me and tell me that he loves me. And I'm already happy.

I can no longer imagine my life without Zhan. I don't even remember what it was like without him. I don't know exactly when it was, but there was one evening when we were supposed to go out with friends. A-Yuan was with our parents and we wanted to go to a bar. But unfortunately I got sick, it was just a slight stomach illness that quickly got better, and I didn't want to go out. But I wanted Zhan to go out anyway, so I sent Zhan away and then I stayed home alone.

As I lay alone on the sofa in our apartment, I couldn't think of anything I could do to kill time until Zhan came home. I asked myself what I used to do when I was alone. But I couldn't remember. I turned on the TV, flipped through the channels, turned off the TV. I switched the radio on and off again. I sat down at my laptop and switched it off again.

In the end, and I'm not ashamed of this, I called Zhan and asked him to come home. I missed him terribly. I just wanted him with me. But I offered to bring our friends with us. So we ended up spending the evening together with our friends. And it was a lovely evening. Zhan also told me that he couldn't stop thinking about me and just wanted to go home to me again.

At the recent class reunion, Zhan came with me, we talked a bit about us and our lives and Gina, who I think always sat in front of me at school, asked: "If you're together every day, won't you get annoyed with each other at some point? Everyone needs space sometimes, don't they?" She explained that she goes out every other weekend without her husband because she needs to get away from him.

Zhan replied: "You know, I love Yibo and can't imagine anything better than spending the evening with him. We both have our jobs and work from early morning until the afternoon. Then we take loving care of our son, go shopping, do the housework, cook, wash, you name it. At the end of the day, Yibo and I still have two or at most three hours to ourselves in the evening. Which isn't really much time. At least not for us. So no, we're not annoyed with each other, we enjoy every moment we can spend together."

Anya, another classmate who I know has always sat at the front, asked: "And do you go out now and then? Or are you always at home at night because of your son?"

I took over the answering myself and said: "We meet up with friends twice a month and go out with them. We do different things together instead of just sitting in a bar and drinking. During this time, our son is with our parents, who are very happy to be able to spend time with their grandson."

Li, who always sat next to me, also joined in our conversation. "How often do you actually take your son to the zoo? I'm asking because my wife insists that we take our son to the zoo every other Saturday. Even though nothing has changed. I would understand as soon as the animals have babies. But she also insists on it in winter, when many of the animals can't be seen at all."

Now Zhan answered again. "We don't go to the zoo that often. I think we go every six to eight weeks. But only when A-Yuan feels like it. Because he also likes to do other things. Last weekend we went skateboarding with him. It was more Yibo and A-Yuan who skateboarded and I cheered them on. And he went to the observatory with our parents. He has lots of interests."

The evening went on and on. Someone would ask something and we would answer. It was a nice evening in itself. But as I've already written, I think some of them would say that no marriage is perfect. But what do they know? They don't see Zhan and me as a married couple. They've only spent one evening with us. And they only asked us a few questions and then moved on to the next one.

My dear uncle, I'm coming to the end now. I've already written far more than I intended. But hey, now you really know everything. And you can see why I always write that I accidentally got married to the wrong person, but am still overjoyed. Goodbye my dear uncle and I hope to read you again soon. Your Yibo <<

Yibo clicked on Send and sent the e-mail to his uncle. Then he closed his laptop, got up and went to Zhan and A-Yuan to play with them. He ran towards them with his arms outstretched, A-Yuan shrieked happily and ran towards him, also with his arms outstretched. And then they both ran to Zhan and pounced on him. They tickled him and plastered his face with kisses. They had a lot of fun and laughed until their bellies hurt.

The end

A/N: We have reached the end of the story. I had planned 22 chapters, but now there are even 2 more. I hope you enjoyed this story and that you will continue to be with me and read my future stories. Because I haven't had enough yet and want to come up with more stories to entertain you with. Thank you for reading, liking and commenting. Your Eileen