Hospital (1)

As soon as the curtain closed, Fen Yichen rushed out of his seat to go check on Mingze back stage.

There was a crowd around Mingze while he was groaning in pain. His feet was bleeding and the thumbtacks was deeply in his feet, imagining pulling it would result in serious bleeding.

"Let's bring him to the hospital, there would be a chance of it getting infected."

One of the person in charge suggested, there was no time to get angry nor find the culprit. What's more important is to take him to the hospital.

It was a surprise he managed to act with that pain. Xie Mingze had a strong will power to perform in this condition.

Cold sweat could be felt rolling on his back as he tried his hardest not to shout in pain while on stage.

He even managed to sing like nothing was wrong.

"Hang in there"

Fen Yichen gently soothed Mingze as he decided to carry him bridal style and hurried to the parking lot where his car was located.

"It hurts so much Yichen." Mingze complained as he clutched his shirt, crumpling it in his hands.

Mingze hates pain the most, he's a scaredy cat pretending to be strong most of the time. The only reason he managed to stay on stage was because of shame. He was afraid people would talk about him getting off the stage and he would be embarrassed.

It's a bit extreme, but he felt that it's scarier to be the talk of all the gossip compared to just taking the pain like a man.

"Shhh it's gonna be fine. You would be fine." He put him in the passenger seat and inclined the seat backwards so he could half lay down.

"The car would get dirty."

"You're worried about something useless, stay seated properly."

The show was a success but at what cost? If this is the payment they had to pay for a successful show then it would be better to just fail all together.

He needs to find out who was the one who put those in.

"I hate pain, I don't want to go to the hospital."

"Then you should've said something the moment you felt something was wrong. That is if you really hate pain."

Mingze sniffed and looked down at his already numb feet. "It's embarrassing to get out in the middle of the show."

The hand holding the steering wheel tightened. Because it's embarrassing.

"You get embarrassed by useless things Xie Mingze."

***

It was supposed to be a fun night, Mama Xie prepared a feast for his son. The dinner was his favourite braised pork and spicy tofu.

There was a knock on the door and Mama Xie was the first one to open the door smiling from ear to ear.

"Oh Zheyan, where's Ming and Yichen? I prepared a lot of dishes tonight. You can join if you want."

Seeing the festive atmosphere at the Xie residence made it far harder to say the truth. Still, he couldn't delay telling them the news.

"Ma'am, your son is in the hospital."

"What?!" Her shock was understandable.

Hearing Mama Xie's shout, Papa Xie shut the TV and approached them.

"Stop shouting, it's already night."

"How could I not? Our son is in the hospital!"

Mama Xie could not control her emotions and grabbed Papa Xie by the collar of his shirt. This time it was his turn to shout.

"What?!"

"I'll explain on the way, please bring whatever you need. I brought a car with me."

Realising that it was an emergency, they grabbed their savings bank card and some IDs before following Zheyan to his car.

The Xie parents was at least glad their son have such nice friends to help him get to the hospital.

***

In the ER room.

Mingze couldn't help but cry as the thumbtacks stuck in his feet were pulled one by one. It hurts so much he wished he was dead.

"Here hold my hand"

After Yichen offered his hand, Mingze kept on squeezing it as he continued to cry. His eyes turned red and his nose felt clogged.

It felt weird to be crying when he was already this big. But if it hurts then it hurts.

"You should be careful when putting on your shoes next time. Double check it before anything else. I'll give you some antibiotics and some crutches, you can't walk for at least three days. Let the wounds heal first."

"Dr. Can he be discharged?" Since the patient was still out of it then Yichen decided to do the talking.

"The patient could be discharged as long as the paperworks is done, don't forget to take your antibiotics on time."

The doctor said his piece and left them alone to tend to other patients. Fen Yichen pulled the curtain to get some privacy.

Initially he was angry at Xie Mingze. How could he continue the show in that condition? He was angry at him for pushing it through even though he was clearly hurt.

The moment he started crying he couldn't help but soften though, he felt sorry for him. He wanted to make him stop and make it hurt no more.

Now that things had settled, he had a moment to think on how to catch the culprit who put those things in his shoes. It was a theatre prop, so putting it on would have been easy while everyone was busy with the show.

The only problem was that since they left the scene early, the culprit could destroy the evidence.

The moment he prioritized leaving with Mingze, Yichen knew he lost the chance to catch the real culprit. Someone would just be the scapegoat for everything.

"Don't tell my parents." After feeling a bit better, Mingze plead with him. He felt a bit sorry, his cheeks was wet with tears, his nose was red and he painted a sorry picture.

Fen Yichen wanted to follow his whims, but it was already too late. He had asked Hai Zheyan to tell the Xie family what happened.