SECRET LOVE/// SULAY

forty-two.

"i'm sorry, yixing, you'll never be able to play football again."

yixing stared at youngjae in shock, not believing his ears. youngjae bursted out laughing.

"i'm totally kidding," youngjae shook his head, "you're gonna be fine. you hit your head pretty hard back when you were injured so you have a very minor concussion, according to the m.r.i."

"will it get me out of math?" yixing asked youngjae, his parents and coach wang besides him.

"yixing," aria scolded. yixing blinked from his hospital bed.

"what? it's an honest question!" yixing exclaimed, "apparently my leg is all jacked up and my brain is being stubborn, so the least i can do is get out of math."

"actually, it'll get you out of just about everything," youngjae nodded, "the concussion is small but any concussion is not a matter to be treated lightly."

"okay. what about prom? can i still go?" yixing asked. youngjae nodded.

"yeah, you should be fine. but if your head starts to hurt cause of the music, step out and find me," youngjae told yixing, "i'll be at the school since people do stupid things on prom night every year."

"oh, cool," yixing nodded, "i didn't know you worked at a hospital too, nurse youngjae."

"i don't. my boyfriend, hoseok, does," youngjae replied, "rest assured, i know what i'm doing. he's gonna put a cast on your leg, which will be covered by insurance of course. after that you'll be free to go, do you prefer a wheelchair or crutches?"

"crutches," yixing said, "hey, coach wang mentioned something to the other players about not talking about the things i said when i was injured. did i say something bad?"

youngjae stiffened.

"no, you just babbled some gibberish out, no one could understand you. didn't want you to be embarrassed so he said for no one to mention it," youngjae lied easily, a doctor walking in.

"hey, youngie," he smiled at youngjae. youngjae smiled back, kissing his cheek.

"hey, hobi. this is yixing, our star quarterback and football hero," youngjae said. hoseok nodded.

"alrighty, let's see about this leg," hoseok said, inspecting yixing's knee and then calf, "okay, you sprained it right here. can you feel that?"

hoseok slightly brushed the spot just below the kneecap, yixing letting out a small groan of pain.

"alright, based on the sound you just made, i'm gonna go ahead and say that it is just a hard sprain. nothing too serious, nothing broken. i'll have you in a cast just to be safe, but only for a week and a half."

"will i be able to get it wet?" yixing asked. hoseok nodded.

"yeah, i'll get you a waterproof one so showering won't be an issue. youngjae told me you got tackled by some pretty big guys, huh?" hoseok asked.

"yeah, but i can't remember it," yixing replied. hoseok nodded.

"yeah, pain fuzzes over your memory like that," hoseok said, looking to yixing's worried parents, "totally and completely normal."

"oh, good," aria smiled, "no amnesia or anything?"

"no, because his memories of the event will not come back," hoseok shook his head, "we did a scan of his brain. he's perfectly fine, perfectly normal, but because of the pain he was in he's psychologically blocked himself from that memory. sounds weird and complicated, but it's actually a really common and normal thing."