daomingsi, dongshancai.

dream sequence ✩

Stuck.

Drowning.

Helpless.

She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

Instead, freezing water flooded in and Shancai choked, clutching at her neck and trying to push herself up to the surface. She kicked her legs up and down, side to side, trying wildly to somehow glide up, but the pressure underwater that deep was too much for her body to handle. Anxiety overcame her as she realized what would happen if she didn't get oxygen immediately.

Her cheeks felt like they were on fire, and she tried desperately not to open her mouth for air. Shancai felt even colder than the ice cold water around her, when she suddenly felt the thick, bulbous surface of some kind of sea plant, which was what was presumably keeping her stuck.

In a last ditch attempt, she gave a fierce kick, and finally managed to free herself from whatever was holding her down. Everything started to seem blurry, and bright spots appeared in her line of vision as her chest burned and she tried not to inhale more water.

Shancai started to lose consciousness as she floated to the top. She felt something familiar and warm surrounding her, but couldn't tell what.

The last thought that raced through her mind before everything went blank was his name.

Daoming Si.

___

"Is she still out?"

"Yes," Ximen replied grimly.

Meizuo bit his lip, then burst out as if he couldn't bear to hold it in any longer. "It's goddamn scary! I just asked the doctor, and he told me she's been like that for the last few days, writhing and gasping all the time. It's like. . . like she can't breathe, even though she's connected to the oxygen tank through that tubing. . ."

They were quiet for a few moments, gazing morosely at the girl who was currently situated in the hospital bed in room 32B of Shanghai East International Medical Center.

A soft voice broke the silence. "Where is he?" Lei looked calm, but the other two had known him long enough to recognize his tells of panic: his usually serene voice had an unnatural tremor, and he was shaking.

Ximen's expression turned ominous. "Well, he. . ."

"What? Tell me, Ximen."

Ximen and Meizuo looked at each other. It was silent, again. Uncomfortably so. Lei could almost hear the frantic beating of his heart, as none of the three besides Shancai in the room moved a muscle.

Finally, Meizuo answered him, haltingly. ". . . he doesn't know."

Lei swore.

"Are you serious." It wasn't a question.

Meizuo nodded slowly, not meeting Lei's eyes. Ximen stared up at the ceiling.

Lei took a deep, calming breath to keep himself from blowing up. "And is there a reason for this?"

Meizuo nudged Ximen, who gave him a dirty look, but continued. "We. . . we were kind of hoping. . . you'd be the one to tell him his girlfriend got. . . captured. . . by a sub gang of the mafia that's in control of Daoming Feng's rival company." He said the last part extremely quickly.

"Captured—! You—!" Lei forced himself to breathe again, then turned to face them, looking dangerous.

". . . is that only what happened? Or. . . is there more? Which, for some reason that is beyond me, you only tell me now, days after this happened to her?"