Yibo's pov~

"You are so handsome, Yibo." Yanli said as she looked at me, which made me a little shy, "Thanks." I replied.

"Are you ready?" Cheng spoke, "Has Zhan given you a briefing of the family?"

I looked at Zhan, and he shrugged, while Cheng said, "Let me tell you about the characters you are going to meet today."

Yanli chimed in, "And you can tell him all that while on our way to the house."

"Exactly," Zhan said before we all got into the car.

"So" Cheng began, "We have the 'patriarch' as he calls himself the grandfather, who is a little bitchy, and then our sweet grandmother, then my father and my mother, who adores Zhan and are excited to meet you, then there is my younger sister Lucy who is an influencer and my youngest sister A-Xiang, she is in school, my aunt Nara who is Yanli's mother and her husband Max, who is a little... " 

Cheng paused trying to figure out the right word while Yanli gave him a side-eye, "Um...like our grandfather..." I assume he means bitchy, "and then we gave Danny Yanli's younger brother who is an asshole. Yup, that's all."

"I see." It's going to be a quiet night.

"And here we are," Zhan said after a few minutes as he stopped the car in front of a house, we got out of the car and I sighed as I observed the structure in front of me. I was nervous, like really nervous.

Zhan came beside me and held my hand before we walked towards the door.

"Zhan." an old woman answered the door and hugged Zhan, then Yanli and Cheng before she finally looked at me, her eyes lit up as she held my hands, "You must be Yibo, you are so handsome."

With that, she dragged me inside and I was surrounded by three other women, who introduced themselves as Nara and Audrey, Zhan's aunts, and A-xiang, his youngest cousin. I already knew Nara though, since I had seen her ten years ago, she was older now.

"Come sit with us, Yibo." Aunt Nara asked.

A-xiang added, "I have so many questions."

"Would you like something to drink?" Aunt Audrey asked and I only asked for water.

I stared at Zhan, who only smiled at me, however, his smile suddenly vanished when he saw someone, and not only he, but even Cheng and Yanli looked a little annoyed when they saw someone, I looked in the direction they were looking, and saw a man and a woman.

I recognized the woman as Lucy, but I didn't know about the man with her, however, my face fell when I saw the bottle of alcohol in the man's hand.

I felt my throat become dry and my hands became sweaty, and I glanced at Zhan who came near me, "Is everything okay? You look pale," he asked.

 "Zhan, I can't drink alcohol. " I gently whispered.

"It's okay. Do you want to leave?" Zhan asked.

"No, it's fine, but I will not be drinking."

"It's okay I'll handle that."

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Yanli spoke as she came beside us.

"Lucy must have brought him." Cheng replied, "look at that fucking creep staring at Zhan. God knows what my sister sees in him, every time I see his face I feel like punching him."

Zhan spoke, "it's alright, as long as he does not try something funny, I can tolerate him."

"Who is he?" I asked and Zhan replied, "Lucy's boyfriend, Jessie"

From the looks of it, it seemed like these three had a problem with Jessie, and they surely didn't like him, not just him, everyone seemed like they weren't thrilled to see him.

Lucy ran in our direction and hugged Zhan, before she smiled at me, "You must be his boyfriend... I am so happy to finally meet you, I mean, we all had given up hope on Zhan, my grandmother was so worried about him, we all thought that he might be single forever. You are the first person he has brought home. Or like the first person he has dated."

"It's true." Zhan said as he grabbed my hand, "he is the first person I have ever dated, and also my first love."

Lucy's eyes widened, "the ring guy?"

Looks like everyone knows about the ring, and it being associated with Zhan's first love.

Finally, the Jessie guy came forward and extended his hand toward me, "Jessie here, Lucy's boyfriend."

I shook hands with him, however I felt like his grip was a little tight and I felt hostility oozing out of him or maybe I was overthinking, "Yibo, Zhan's boyfriend."

"Yeah, I know that," Jessie said as he stared at Zhan, Alright, I wasn't overthinking this guy was creepy and the way he stared at me and Zhan was not at all friendly.

After that handshake, Jessie didn't even look at me, which was fine by me.

"Dad and grandpa are here," A-xiang spoke.

Zhan's uncle walked in and came towards me, I gave him a gentle smile while he came forward and hugged me, which took me by surprise, "How are you, Yibo?" he asked.

"I am fine, I am glad you remembered me." I said, he gently patted my cheek, "My brother had told me about you, and Zhan has also told me a lot about you, besides, I met you ten years ago too, I am glad to see you all grown up now, I really want to thank you for taking care of Zhan back then."

I smiled, "it was nothing. And you and Aunt Nara were the ones who helped him for real."

He just gave me a smile, "Let's have a chat at the table, I would love to know how you've been all these years."

I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat and I finally looked at Zhan's grandfather with him stood Max and Danny, I greeted them too, but they didn't say much to me while Danny didn't even look at me, didn't take a good look at me from head to toe, before moving on.

~~

"So Yibo," his grandmother began, "what do you do for a living?"

Alright, here come the questions, I have already prepared myself for this.

"I am a branch manager for Imperial Trust Bank."

Aunt Nara spoke, "That's a pretty good job, I heard that you have to crack an exam to get into this position, and it's a pretty tough exam."

"Yes, it is."

"So what University did you go to?"  Zhan's grandfather asked.

"Lakeside University," I replied.

"I never heard of that University before." Jessie spoke, "Is it even real?"

Zhan gave him a death glare and even Yanlin and Cheng stared at him but Jessie didn't seem to mind, I replied, "Yes, it is very much a real university, it exists."

Jessie spoke, "Oh I see, you know Zhan went to Hazelwood University and I thought you might have also gone to some good university as well, but it seems like you are not that ambitious."

Fuck this guy. Everyone stared at him now.

Before anyone could say anything, Aunt Audrey spoke, "How did the two of you meet?"

"We knew each other since we were eight, and we went to the same school, I fell in love with him when I was around fifteen but I never confessed back then, since we were too young and there were a lot of other things going on," I said.

"Aww that's so sweet" A-Xiang spoke, "And Zhan when did you fall in love with him?"

"I think I have always had strong feelings towards him, and I was maybe eighteen when I realized that what I felt towards him was love," Zhan replied.

Lucy squealed, "Oh that's so cute. Why did the two of you separate then?"

Jessie added, "Yeah, even I would like to know that, I mean everyone knows that Zhan is a lovestruck man who waited for his one and only for years, who left him all alone, if you loved him so much then why did you leave? Was it because you found someone else?"

What the fuck is this guy's problem?

Zhan gently held my hand and said, "You don't have to answer that."

I nodded and Zhan spoke in a deep voice that left no room for argument, "That's not anyone's business what matters is now that we are together."

It was quiet before A-Xiang spoke, "Yibo, you are also wearing the ring, on the same finger as Zhan."

I looked at the ring and smiled, "Zhan gave me this ring ten years ago, before we separated. It was his father's ring"

Zhan smiled, "I gave him this ring to show him my appreciation and also as a token of gratitude and love, after all he was the most precious person to me, I am glad he kept it."

"Of course you kept my ring too."

We smiled at each other.

"Cringe." I heard Danny said in a condescending tone, but no one said anything to him.

Zhan's uncle said, "That ring looks familiar, can I see?" 

I showed him the ring before he said, "Zhan, did you know this ring was given to your father by your grandmother when he had graduated?"

Zhan looked at him before he said, "really? I had no idea, my dad always wore this ring."

His aunt also looked at the ring and said, "I am glad he had kept the ring."

His grandmother asked for the ring as well, and I gave it to her, it felt weird taking it off. His grandmother looked at the ring and became a little emotional before giving it back to me.

Zhan's aunt and uncle consoled her while Jessie said, "You gave such an important ring to him? It was your dad's ring, you should have kept it and given it to someone important."

Zhan spoke, "Well, he is important to me, Jessie. He is my life. Not that you will even understand what love is, so I will drop it."

It became quiet again.

Finally, his uncle asked, "So, Yibo, how are your parents? I remember meeting your mother once at your and Zhan's graduation."

Zhan once again looked at me, but this time I reassured him that I was going to be fine, "my mother passed away soon after my graduation, and my father is alright, he is a data scientist."

After several other questions, the dinner was finally over, other than Jessie, Max, and Danny, everyone else was rather friendly.

"Let's pour some drinks." Zhan's grandfather said, and I became a little uneasy.

"I won't drink, since I have to drive." Zhan said, "And Yibo doesn't drink either."

"Why? Does he have to drive too?" Jessie asked.

Zhan said, "No, it's because he doesn't like to drink?"

"Why? I mean come on he can drink one glass, he doesn't have to be such a snowflake, come on Yibo, just a sip." Jessie said as he poured a glass and pushed it towards me.

Now Zhan was pissed as he got up and stood before me, "You can also just shut the fuck up and mind your own business, you don't have to be such a douchebag."

"Jeez, relax it's just a drink, no need to get so aggressive."

"And I was just telling you to be within your limits."

His grandfather spoke, "Is this how you talk to guests now? This generation really has no manners."

Zhan looked at him and said, "Well, guests who can't take no for an answer, yes, that's the way I talk to them. And I don't know about your generation Grandpa but in my generation, it's a basic decency not to force others to do something they don't like."

Yanli added, "Exactly, there was no need to make backhanded comments, that's a red flag, Lucy"

Cheng spoke, "But some people are just way too entitled and spoiled to realize that."

While it felt nice that Zhan was ready to fight for me and Yanli and Cheng were there to support him, I didn't want a fight to happen because of me, so I held Zhan's hand and moved closer to him, "calm down please."

Zhan calmed down a little as he held my hand, I was relieved to see that he was calm, however, my eyes suddenly fell on Jessie and I saw him looking at me and Zhan with such intensity that I felt off.

"That's enough." Zhan's uncle finally spoke, "Sit down kids," he said, facing us, and then he looked at Jessie, "Jessie, the adults are present here to ask questions and make judgment, someone who has met our family only once does not have the right to meddle so much.

You should worry about your own relation. And dad," he said turning to his father, "for once can you behave."

Zhan's grandfather seemed like he wanted to say something but Zhan's uncle gave him a death glare which made him stop, and the conversation resumed.

And finally, after some time, the dinner finally ended.