In It To Win(win) It

19 - Idiotic Meds and Boyfriends

Yuta handed Si Cheng a cup of water, the latter struggling to hold it. "Here, you need to drink more."

"It hurts to hold it," Si Cheng whimpered, his hands trembling. Some water was spilling over his blanket.

"Okay, okay, here, give me a second." Yuta took the water cup back from Si Cheng and set it on the counter, opening the plastic bendy straw that was given to them. He put the straw in the cup and held it in front of Si Cheng, who now took a sip. "Drink as much as you want."

Si Cheng leaned forward and took a long sip from the straw, gulping as much water as he could. "Thanks," he said when he pulled away.

"No worries," Yuta said when the doctor came into the room, two adults following him.

"Si Cheng!" The woman yelled, running straight to Si Cheng and pulling him into a hug. "Are you okay?"

"Renxi, please, you're choking our child," the man said, who Yuta assumed to be Si Cheng's father. He turned to look at Yuta. "And just who are you?"

"Father, leave my boyfriend alone," Si Cheng said, gasping for air as his mother continued to crush his lungs. "Mom!!"

She let go of him. "Sorry, Si Cheng, we've been so worried, the police told us everything, Si Cheng, we're so sorry-"

"Yeah, I know." Si Cheng tried to sit up straighter, his hands wobbling. "They talked to me."

"They already gave us a court order date, and we want to talk to the witness-"

"Renxi, please, not now," Si Cheng's father said to her. Then, to Si Cheng, he said, "You just worry about resting, we'll handle the whole issue."

"Kind of hard to rest with mom squeezing me."

"Excuse me for being a parental figure."

Si Cheng rolled his eyes, used to his mother's banter. "How did you guys come so fast, anyways? Wenzhou isn't exactly close."

"We were in Beijing for your father's work and came as soon as possible. Besides, it's one am."

Si Cheng's father turned to look at Yuta. "Did he call you boyfriend?"

Yuta bowed. "Nakamoto Yuta, I've been seeing your son for a while."

"You better not be a bad influence-"

"Xin Liu, not now." She bowed down in front of Yuta. "I hope you've been taking good care of our child."

Yuta thought it was probably a bad thing to say considering the situation, but thankfully, the doctor came in and interrupted the family.

"Dong Xin Liu and Dong Renxi?" he asked the two adults coming in. "I came here to tell you the results of Dong Si Cheng."

Renxi reached out to grab Si Cheng's hand, squeezing it. "How is it looking?"

"Aside from the bruises and gashes over him, a knife wound on his shoulder blade required some stitches," the doctor explained. "He went through X-rays, CT scans and MRI scans, revealing him to have a displaced tibia fracture. Surgery was performed to insert metal screws and rods to hold it in place, and he'll be in a cast for the next few months."

Yuta looked at Si Cheng. The latter was supposed to have his traditional dance competition some time after the dance-off Yuta was performing at. Si Cheng had some routines that he had been practicing for class. Yuta wanted to take him clubbing and partying over the weeks to try something other than their ramen and studying dates.

And now he wouldn't be able to.

He suddenly felt very bad for making fun of Jaehyun's injury all the time.