Chapter 28
Peng sat on the bed of his cousin Jin watching a music video on Jin's smartphone while the teen was rummaging around his desk searching for something.
"It was here. How can it just disappear like that?" Jin complained moving all the sheets on the corner of his table, separating them all one by one.
"What are you looking for?" Peng asked rolling his eyes back at the older boy.
"One envelope I promised Yi's dad to give it to her on her birthday. I'm actually very late, but I kept forgetting it every time I was with Yi and now that her birthday is today, I remembered it" The Chinese boy explained placing his hands flat over the desk rolling his eyes around his desk irritated. "How can I lose something I know, where it was?" Jin complained, then noticed near the edge of the table, where his laptop was a white A6 sheet looking out a little bit from the computer, then Jin facepalmed and moved the laptop up to find there the envelope he was looking for and he picked it up.
"What's in there?" Peng asked the cousin curious, which shrugged his shoulders.
"Yi is the one, who had to read it. I'll hand it over to her. She already knows that I've forgotten to give it to her on her supposed birthday"
"Okay, are you going up to see her?" Peng asked earning a nod from Jin, that walked beside his bed to the night table to take a small black box, that had written Yi's name with a white coloring pencil and Jin grabbed it looking at it with a smile. "Is that Yi's present?" Peng asked earning a nod from the boy.
"Yeah" Jin answered.
"Are you going to ask Yi out with that gift?" Peng questioned making Jin shake his head.
"I already did that almost two months ago. I just never talked any of this to anyone yet"
"Why not?"
"We haven't talked about it, yet"
"Okay, so you won't be coming back here after you' went up?"
"Just after dinner" Jin answered earning a nod from the child, then walked out of his bedroom, heading to the exit and went upstairs to the door leading to the roof, where he passed by a table, which was set for a special occasion. Jin noticed the small shack had the lights in it turned on, then he followed his way to the shack to spot Yi sitting on a wooden box looking into a blue book. Jin knocked on the metal board beside him getting Yi to look up and see Jin at the entrance.
"Come in" Yi invited the boy, which took a seat down on the box.
"How are you?" The boy asked looking at the girlfriend, which had a book with pictures in front of her.
"I'm good" The girl answered. "I've been looking at the family album of my family. Remembering precious moments from my childhood…..look at this one, where my father taught me how to ice skate" Yi pointed at an image of herself as a child while being held from behind by the father, watching her practicing.
"Really sweet" Stated Jin watching Yi turn over to the next page to see the next pictures. One of the pictures showed the younger Yi holding her father's violin trying to play a tune on it, with him beside her watching her doing so, then a tear had fallen on the picture and Jin looked at Yi passing her hand to clean her eye. Jin looked at the envelope he held on his hands, then placed his hand over Yi's shoulder watching her looking up at the boy. "I know I delivered your father's letter a little late, but maybe it could make you feel better," Jin said earning a short nod from the girl, which picked up the letter from the boy opening it up to open the full hand-written letter from her father.
"Dear Yi" Yi began reading the first lines. "Happy birthday. You're probably wondering why I asked your friend Jin to keep this for you until your 16th birthday. I want to explain to you something, that I felt would be safe if it would be in someone else's hands until your birthday. I was diagnosed many years ago with a heart problem. Your mother wanted me to tell it to you soon enough to spare your pain from the truth I've been hiding for so long. But I know you well. I know you would rather spend all the free time you had with me as long as I was there and you would miss your childhood, where you were allowed to be free. So your mother and I decided to keep this a secret and only reveal it to you when you were old enough to understand it. I hope you understand my choice and forgive me about it," Yi read out loud the first paragraph of the letter, therefore she raised her head surprised about her discovery.
"I can't believe he was ill during all these years" Yi mentioned looking at Jin, which gazed sadly at the girlfriend at hearing her story. "I have noticed he had a couple more appointments at the doctor, but I thought they were just check-ups. I literally don't even know anything about them of how they went or anything" Yi remembered followed by Jin placing his hand on Yi's shoulder for comfort.
"It's not your fault Yi" Jin whispered earning a nod from Yi. "I think if they really would have told you about his disease it would have been worse for you. He didn't want this to happen to you" The boy explained earning a nod from the girl.
"Yeah" Yi mentioned looking down at her letter, that had another longer paragraph in it. "He wrote more here for me" Yi mentioned earning a nod from the boy. "I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with you in our free time. I enjoyed the times we played Mahjong together, sometimes we went together to the Zoo or the aquarium to see all the various animals, the warm evenings we spend in our little shack on the roof planning our family trip across China. What I enjoyed the most was that one day you got interested into knowing how to play on the violin and I taught you a few tunes, months later you've improved and turned into a great violinist just like me," Yi finished reading then moved the page to see more text on the other side. "Your mother and I knew each other since we were kids. I've told her everything the few months after we started dating after high school was over. But I told her she didn't need to worry since everything was stabilized and I just tried at least to be able to go to the doc to check my health. I wrote the letters months ago, I've told your mother about it too just for her to know if I wouldn't make it give it to your friend to keep it for you. I believe it was hard for you to manage to lead with my dead and so it was for your mother. I know you two manage to move on with your life. Don't ever let your head down just because of my absence. You have your whole life in front of you. Make the best out of it, every day. I love you very much, my darling. Love, your father," Yi finished, then smiled holding the envelope close to her. Jin smiled at the girl's feeling after reading the letter and patted her on the thigh.
"He just did that, because he didn't want me to miss my entire childhood, because of his disease" Yi mentioned making Jin nod.
"You still could spend various occasions with your father as long as he was present. And he surely enjoyed all the seconds of his life" Jin stated earning a nod from Yi, who lied her forehead on Jin's shoulder. Jin glanced down at the pockets of his pants, then moved his hand down and took out the black box he took from his room, then looked at Yi and held it in front of her eyes.
"What's that?" Yi asked gazing at the boy, which shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know" He responded. "It's a gift for you,"
"Cool," Yi answered picking the box from Jin's hands.
"Happy birthday" Felicitated the boy earning a smile from Yi, which opened the box to find in it a silver-colored chain with a yeti-shaped symbol attached on the end, with dark-silver colored paws and light blue points on the face, to imitate the eyes.
"I was the other day at Miss Burnish because of the bill and she had shown me Mr. Burnish's yeti-inspired hall and it had some of these hanging. I know you're not really a fan of makeovers and accessories, but I thought maybe you would like this" Explained Jin watching Yi take the necklace out of it, gazing at it.
"It's really pretty, Jin" Yi complimented. "It's…..like a mini-version of Everest"
"Pretty cool, huh?" Jin asked gazing with an amused smile at the girl, which looked back at him and nodded. "Shall I?" Jin asked earning a nod from Yi, watching the boy grab her necklace, opening it up and take it around her neck to fix it. Yi placed her hand under the yeti admiring it, therefore she looked up at her boyfriend again.
"It's perfect" Jin stated, making Yi giggle shortly and reach her face close to Jin to peck him on his cheek. "Thank you"
"You're welcome" Jin answered followed by her placing her arms around him for a hug. "If you don't mind, could you scratch me there?" Jin asked jokingly, followed by Yi clapping him with one hand on the back making him chuckle. "I was kidding"
Yi shook her head smiling cheekily at the boyfriend, then leaned her head up approaching the boy for a kiss, then Jin approached the girlfriend with his head to share a kiss with her.
"Happy birthday!" A voice shouted causing the two friends to stop and look up at the entrance of the shack to see Yi's school friend Alex stand there with a present under her arm. "And oh is that Jin?" The pink-haired girl asked surprised earning a nod from the raven-haired girl.
"Yeah" Yi responded. "We spent together a lot of time as his cousin Peng went on a…..school trip and we've came closer to each other and here we are now"
"That's great Yi. You two totally make a cute couple, that I have to admit" Alex confessed making the two laugh. "Here is your gift, by the way," The girl said handing the best friend her gift out.
"Thanks" Yi answered smiling at the friend.
"Shall we go out?" Jin asked. "I think dinner is almost ready"
"Your mother told me before, they would come up in five minutes" Alex mentioned, then the three left the shack in the same moment as the door to the building opened up and Peng came out carrying two plates with food followed by Yi's mother, which brought bowls in her place.
"Did Nai Nai also make pork buns?" Jin asked earning a nod from the girl. "Yummy"
"You have to taste my grandma's pork buns. They're delicious" Yi mentioned placing her hand on her roommate's shoulder.
"Take your seats" Yi's mother asked seeing Alex sit on the end of the table, then the woman placed down her bowls and before pulling a chair back to sit down, Jin did the woman the favor making the woman smile and sit down, followed by Yi, where the boy also did the same gentle deed and shove her in front to the table and sat down vice versa to the girl.
"You must be really tired of the trip Alex" Yi's mother mentioned making the girl shake her head.
"Not at all. At least at the moment"
"Yi told me, if you don't mind you could sleep on her bed while she sleeps on the couch"
"It's fine, I don't mind sleeping on the couch"
"No come on, you're our guest. You sleep in my bedroom" Yi said earning a nod from her mother, which formed her mouth into an O as she noticed Yi's new necklace.
"Wow, where did you get this necklace?" The mother asked.
"It's from Jin" Yi answered making the boy smile.
"It's nice. Makes me think on this necklace I've got here. He gave me on my birthday on the first year we were dating"
"Yes and mom, you probably don't know it yet and I hope you're okay with it. Jin and I are going steady with each other and that on the day we arrived Shanghai"
"I already knew that" Yi's mother mentioned surprising the young couple.
"What? Both asked surprised.
"You were sitting on that evening like here and you two couldn't stop gazing at each other smiling," The woman told making Jin sank his head onto his shoulders embarrassed at the notice of the woman.
"So you're okay with that?" Yi asked earning a nod from the mother.
"Of course. I know Jin is a great young man and your best friend. You two don't need to ask for anything,"
"Thanks, but I'm not that perfect"
"I know, I meant just your friendship" The raven-haired woman explained, then Nai Nai appeared carrying a large bowl with the buns, placing it in the middle of the table.
"He fits well. It would not be bad to have one man in the family" Nai Nai added making Yi roll her eyes amused at her grandmother's comment. "Everybody dig in"
All started to eat soon the people heard Peng and Jin moan enjoying the pork buns making the others laugh.
"No one in the world can make better pork buns, than Nai Nai" Peng added earning a nod from Jin.
"Well said Peng" Jin agreed making Yi's grandmother smile at everyone enjoying the meal.
"I could eat the whole bowl in one go" Peng mentioned finishing the first bun, then taking out another from the bowl in front of him.
"Well, we've got one friend, who can do that" Yi mentioned earning a nod from Jin and a curious look from Nai Nai.
"Who?" She asked making the whole family laugh. "What I'm serious?" Nai Nai stated watching them laugh again, then Yi looked up at the dark sky seeing all the small stars and three of them lightened brighter than the others, making Yi smile and she looked back at her bowl to continue the dinner followed by the three lights blink one after the other.
The End
That's was the last chapter of my fic. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much I enjoyed writing it. This fic got finished quicker since I was for a month unemployed and my new contract was going to start only at the beginning of March and I had plenty of time to continue it, otherwise I was doing other things when I couldn't continue it. I don't have at the moment any plans, what to continue. Usually, at the ends of all my fics I announce it but I somehow end up doing things I didn't promise in the first place :D
I rather leave that out to not create empty promises, that don't happen or happen way later. Feel free to review this fic and maybe I'll be able to write something more for this fandom when I get something.