As soon as they finally arrived at the parking lot, Zhan was in a hurry to get upstairs to his apartment. On the way home, he and Wen Rouhan had stopped at a cell phone store, where Zhan bought a new cell phone and signed up for a new cell phone contract, which was activated immediately. And as soon as he got upstairs, he wanted to use his new cell phone to call Yibo.

But as Zhan sat in his armchair with his new cell phone in his hand and Yibo's cell phone number already typed in, his mind went blank. He had thought carefully about what he wanted to say to Yibo the whole way home. But all the words he had prepared had now disappeared from his mind. And so his hands were shaking when he finally tapped call and put his cell phone to his ear.

It rang once, then twice, a third and fifth time, then an eighth and ninth. But Yibo didn't pick up. Zhan tapped end and wondered if Yibo just didn't answer because he didn't know the cell phone number. In the end, Zhan decided that this must be the case. And so he wrote Yibo a message: "Hi, Zhan here. This is my new cell phone number. Get in touch as soon as you read this."

Not even 10 seconds later, Zhan's cell phone rang and a surprised Yibo spoke before Zhan could say a word more than hello: "Oh God. It's you. I was wondering who was calling me. Thank you for getting in touch. How are you? Have you been able to recover a bit with your parents? And by the way, I'm sorry about what happened. I shouldn't have let myself get distracted."

Zhan's head buzzed from Yibo's frantic words, shaking his head and laughing sweetly. "I'm fine. I was able to recover really well with my parents. And I think as much as my mom forced me to eat, I must have gained 5 kilograms. And I'm sorry too. I was unfair to you. But I have to admit that I was completely wrecked that day and couldn't think straight."

"It's all right, Zhan. I really do understand. And I think five kilograms more wouldn't hurt you."

"Hahaha, I don't see it that way. How are you doing Yibo?"

"I'm better now. I was really worried about you and sad because you said you hated me. I was afraid you really weren't going to talk to me anymore."

"I um... Oh yes, Yibo. If you should have time, could you come to my place? I have Mrs. Isari's letter here and I'd like to open it in your presence." Zhan somehow didn't manage to respond to Yibo's words.

"Of course I'll come. I'll be right there." Yibo said, ending the conversation without saying goodbye and leaving Zhan frowning at his cell phone. Just three seconds later, there was a knock on Zhan's apartment door. He went to open the door, thinking it might be Wen Rouhan, and was totally surprised when he realized his mistake and saw Yibo standing in front of him.

"But how..." Zhan didn't get any further. Because Yibo grabbed him, pulled him towards him and wrapped his arms tightly around Zhan. At that moment, Zhan simply forgot his question and also put his arms around Yibo. They just stood there hugging for about a minute before they released their embrace at the same time and walked into Zhan's apartment with red faces.

They went into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Mrs. Isari's letter was on the table. "Okay, are you ready?" Yibo asked as he lifted the envelope and handed it to Zhan.

Zhan nodded and looked at the seal on the back of the envelope. It was a wax seal with the lawyer's emblem. But somehow it looked strange, which he only noticed now. "There's something wrong with the seal." Zhan said quietly, pointing at the red wax seal.

"What is that? Has it been replaced? It looks like the seal has been renewed." Replied Yibo.

"That's what I thought. I hadn't noticed that before. Mhhh..." Zhan broke the seal and opened the envelope. "What the hell?" He asked and pulled out two blank white sheets of paper. He handed the two sheets to Yibo, who looked at them carefully.

"Well, I'm sure that nothing has been written there with secret ink. These are just two blank sheets of paper."

"Damn! Do you think the lawyer opened the letter and then took the letter and simply replaced it with the two blank sheets?"

"That's what it looks like. Since Mrs. Isari gave him the letter, it could only have been him."

"What a load of crap! Where can we find the right letter now?"

"I doubt it still exists, Zhan. If it did, my colleagues would have found it for sure. After the murder of the lawyer, they turned everything upside down."

"That means we'll never know what was in the letter?"

"Yes, and we'll probably never know if there was anything else in the box you received."

"I can't believe it. I hope the USB stick is at least genuine."

"You have it?"

"Mhm. Wen Rouhan and I wanted to take a look at the contents. But everything on it is encrypted."

"Where did you put it?"

"Hidden. Wait." Zhan said. He got up from the sofa and went to his living room cupboard. He pulled the cupboard forward a little and took out the USB stick. It was hidden in a cable strip. Zhan closed the cable strip again, pushed the cupboard back and handed the USB stick to Yibo.

"Give me your laptop." Yibo said. Zhan handed him his laptop and Yibo tried to read the USB stick. But just as Zhan had said, everything was encrypted. "Well, I only know one person we can trust with the USB stick and who can decrypt the data on it."

"And who?"

"Youn's boyfriend Wooseok."

"His boyfriend?"

"Yes. He's one of the best hackers I know. And above all, he's trustworthy."

"All right. Then we'll give him this."

"Yes, but not today."

"Why not?"

"Because maybe we should go to your grandparents first?"

"Oh, right. I hadn't even thought about them."

"What? How could you forget your grandparents?"

"It's quite simple. I was with my parents and I was really able to switch off there. Besides, when I'm with my parents, they look after me so lovingly that I quickly forget everything else."

"Me too?"

"Um, no. Of course not."

"Then I'm reassured. So? Shall we go to your grandmother's and then to your grandparents'?"

"To be honest, I don't feel like it today. I just got back today and would like to relax a bit more."

"Okay. So we're not doing anything?"

"Well, we could go to a musical in the evening."

"An um... musical?" Yibo asked skeptically. That's not the kind of music he prefers.

"Yes. The Phantom of the Opera is playing tonight. Normally it's hard to get tickets on the same night. But one of my good friends works in management there and has offered me two tickets for a loge. If I asked him, he could let us in through a side entrance just beforehand and we would be alone in the box. No one would be able to recognize you from downstairs either."

"That sounds like you've already thought it through."

"Well... I mean..."

"That's all right. Let's do this. Let's go to the theater tonight and see the musical. I don't know it. To be honest, I've never seen a musical before. But I'm sure it'll be fun with you." Yibo replied gently. He had no desire to watch a musical at all. But for Zhan, and he had become all too aware of this in the last few days, he would do anything to make him happy.

Zhan jumped for joy and then immediately set about calling his good friend and discussing everything with him. Shortly afterwards, Yibo and Zhan were standing in Zhan's bedroom by his closet, where they picked out two beautiful, elegant black suits. One for Zhan and one for Yibo. And although they still had plenty of time, they showered, dressed and styled their hair one after the other. Then they set off, stopping twice on the way.

Their first stop was at a flower store. There they bought several small and one large bouquet of flowers. After the performance, they would both have the honor of going backstage and meeting the performers. Something that Chuyue arranged for Zhan and which Zhan was looking forward to almost as much as the musical.

The second stop was at an Italian restaurant. Zhan also knew the owner and they got a table in the VIP area. It was actually a beautifully decorated Italian-style room. They sat down at the table, nibbled on a few sesame sticks and waited for the surprise menu, which consisted of calamari. This was squid with a tomato and garlic sauce, salad and a couple of stuffed dumplings.

After the meal, it was actually time to make their way to the theater. When they got there, there were only 15 minutes left until the official entrance. Peng Chuyue let Zhan and Yibo in through a side entrance and took them to the box via the staff corridor after getting them drinks and a snack.

They took their seats and then watched as the theater slowly filled up. Excited voices could be heard, flashbulbs went off. And the performance hadn't even started yet. Yibo had no idea what to expect that evening. Sure, he had heard of the Phantom of the Opera. But he had never heard a single song about it. It simply didn't interest him.

Yibo could see Zhan's growing excitement the closer they got to the start of the performance. Secretly, Yibo wondered if he could perhaps sleep a little in secret. Like many men who accompanied their wives to the theater and had as little interest in a musical or an opera as Yibo? But wouldn't that be too rude to Zhan?

And finally everyone was seated and something happened on stage. It started. And Yibo, surprisingly, felt a little excitement himself. A performer began to speak and Yibo was surprised, as the musical was obviously in English. Fortunately, he spoke the language almost as well as his own mother tongue and could therefore understand everything well. It was about a chandelier covered under a large sheet that was to be auctioned off.

Yibo listened to the performer's story and suddenly Zhan was all jittery and lightly slapped Yibo's forearm several times. Zhan whispered excitedly: "Here we go!" Yibo thought it was really cute and was happy to see Zhan like this.

https://youtu.be/PhFWBvUVco4

And then the overture started and within the first two seconds, Yibo got goose bumps that ran from his head to his feet. The audience cheered and clapped. Yibo moved forward and saw the chandelier being uncovered and slowly pulled up. "Wow." He whispered, not even realizing it himself.

Until the first break, Yibo was completely fixated on what was happening on stage. Fascinated, he watched everything and more than once got that goose bump that felt really good to him. And more than once he felt a tingling in his stomach that he had never experienced before. And even after the break, Yibo was completely mesmerized by this musical.

After the performance, Chuyue took the two of them downstairs to the American performers, to whom they gave the bouquets of flowers and told them how wonderful the musical was. And, unsurprisingly for Zhan, many of the performers also knew Yibo and asked him for his autograph. The two were even invited to a drink by the performers. They gladly accepted the invitation.

They went with the actors to a restaurant, the door of which was marked "Closed to the public today", then they went in, had a barbecue, drank with them and asked each other countless questions. Only sometimes Zhan felt a bit like an outsider when they talked about their careers in show business. But he was soon to leave them all, including Yibo, speechless.

In the best of moods and very drunk, they all decided that they wanted to do karaoke. The owner of the restaurant had a room for this and they all went there. One after the other, they performed the previously selected songs in perfect pitch. When it was Zhan's turn, Yibo and a few of the performers told him to sing calmly and that they wouldn't laugh if he missed a note. After all, Zhan is not a professional, like all the others in their cheerful group.

And then Zhan started to sing and everyone present stared at him with their eyes and mouths wide open. And then Peng Chuyue also took a microphone and the two of them sang together. Afterwards, Chuyue went to each of them with his cell phone and showed them a video of Zhan, himself and 7 other young and exceptionally good-looking men singing.

Yibo asked Zhan: "You could have made a career in the music industry. Why didn't you do it?"

Zhan smiled and explained: "I needed a solid foothold. What if the music career hadn't worked out? No, I wanted to have something I could earn my living with. A solid job. And now we'll end this topic, okay?"

Yibo nodded. He could understand Zhan. In the course of his career in show business, he had seen many young musicians rise and fall just as quickly. So Zhan was right. A solid job had been the right decision for him. However, Yibo believed that Zhan could have tried the music career after graduating and working in the industry for a year or two. He even believed that Zhan could have been one of the few who could have become as famous as he was.

Around three o'clock that night, the party slowly started to split up and the performers went to their hotel. Zhan and Yibo had a cab called for them - they had drunk too much alcohol and were therefore no longer able to drive themselves - and then had a ride to Zhan's apartment. The cab driver, who obviously recognized Yibo, seemed nervous and quite agitated.

When they entered Zhan's apartment, Yibo was overcome with a strange feeling. He simply had to hug Zhan and thanked him for a wonderful evening. Zhan nodded silently and snuggled up to Yibo. How much he wished... Suddenly Zhan paused his thoughts. Could it be true? Was that really true? Was Yibo kissing him right now?