Chapter 1: I bet red would look good on you.
Chapter Text
There was a very good reason Xie Lian became head nurse at Over the Clouds Specialty Hospital. Probably. Rumors about his background flooded all five floors of the building since the very first day he was introduced by the general director, wondering how someone so young and clueless acquired such a position without any prior experience working there or anywhere else for that matter.
The older nurses had been lucid that such an important job had been given to someone who hadn’t worked in a big hospital before and suspected nepotism as the main cause, talking about how he was probably the son of a board member or influential doctor. The younger generation of nurses spoke about how pretty he was and how he probably slept with a bunch of the staff to get the position for himself, and complained loudly to his face about how hard they had to work to even get an internship there while ‘others’ chose the easy way. Surgeons were mad that they had to rely on a youngster for taking care of their patients and purposefully made his work harder by not giving him the proper paperwork to try and make him make a mistake that would get him out of their hospital.
The first year was the hardest, but Xie Lian never complained and kept doing his job as best as he could. Against all odds, by the third year not a soul had anything bad to say about him. For someone so young, he had incredible medical knowledge that sometimes surpassed that of some surgeons. For someone so gullible, he always noticed whenever a patient was lying and caught some nurses before they made a mistake. For someone so small looking, he was strong enough to contain the unruliest of patients along with their families and friends. In just five years Xie Lian had proven himself perfect for the job, but gossip about his background was still a hot topic during lunch time and between staff lockers.
During the five years Xie Lian had worked at the hospital dozens of people had asked him about his previous jobs, his alma mater or any information on his past that would explain his situation, but no one had been able to get anything more than a smile and a ‘it’s a long story’ from him yet. Thus people came to their own conclusions, placing bets on their guesses and hoping to one day uncover the truth about the ‘scrap nurse’, a silly nickname spread by a janitor who had seen him multiple times taking home damaged goods from the hospital.
There were countless conspiracies about his background, with the most famous being that he came from a family of famous doctors and had treated patients since he was a toddler. Another one said that he came from a poor family but was scouted for his smarts and was too ashamed to tell the truth, explaining why he usually took things home. The most outrageous one spoke of how he was the lover of a board member whose family had caught them in the act and was forced to hide himself far away to avoid further trouble.
“It’s such a stupid conspiracy, how could you be someone’s lover when you’re still a virgin at 36?” A bubbly nurse in green scrubs said while gathering their long hazel hair in a tight bun, facing a mirror that had been placed inside of their locker.
“Qingxuan, could you please not expose me out loud? People are free to think what they want, but you’ll give them an excuse to keep making out stories about me.” Xie Lian answered from his locker beside them, storing his old sneakers inside to change into more comfortable shoes.
“Sorry, but those hags piss me off every time I hear them speaking of you. Like, they’re all nice and shit when talking with you but will say the craziest things behind your back. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“Not really. I’m used to it anyway.” Xie Lian sat on a bench to put on his shoes and answered without looking back.
“Well it bothers me. I can’t have them talking shit about my friend like that. Next time I’ll report them to HR, see if they like that.” Qingxuan closed their locker with a loud thump and turned toward Xie Lian.
“Please don’t do that. Everyone likes you and I wouldn’t want you to get on their bad side because of me.” Xie Lian stood up from the bench and straightened his white scrubs.
“I’ve heard some of them call me slurs before, I don’t need fake people to like me. A-Lian, where's your hair tie? Want to borrow one of mine?” Xie Lian’s dark chocolate hair fell freely down to his shoulders, not nearly as long as Qingxuan’s but still long enough to be bothersome while working.
“Thanks, mine broke yesterday.”
“And you only had one? I’ll give you a new pack next time, and some scrunchies too. You tie your hair too tightly, it’s going to break again. Here, let me do it for you.” Qingxuan arranged their friend’s hair in a half ponytail, just like he would usually wear it, but finished it with a white silk scrunchie that matched Xie Lian’s perfectly white scrubs.
“You should wear more colors. Walking around the hospital at night in all white will make you look like a wandering spirit, it’s going to scare the life out of someone someday. You can borrow some of mine, I just bought some in the prettiest pale pink.” Both friends exited the locker room on the second floor and headed towards the elevator.
“I appreciate it, but I don’t think they would fit me like they do you. I’ll stick with white.”
“Shame. I bet red would look good on you.”
“I don’t know about that…”
Night shift at the hospital wasn’t that different from the morning shift as the white neon lights illuminating the building were bright enough to make you forget what time it was outside, but it was definitely a lot more quiet. Xie Lian liked having the time to do his paperwork in peace to avoid making any mistakes that could hinder his colleagues' work. The nurse station on the third floor was the largest and was usually crowded by the younger nurses playing upbeat music, so Xie Lian preferred working on the one on the second floor to avoid butting in on the latest hospital gossip, much to Qingxuan’s dismay.
Thankfully there weren’t many patients at the moment, so Xie Lian was able to finish his charts quite early. He made his rounds, double-checked his elderly patients, shared a coffee with Qingxuan and before he knew it 7 a.m. came with the end of his shift. While most nurses at the hospital worked three days a week, Xie Lian as head nurse worked monday through friday from 7a.m. to 7p.m., but volunteered to work weekends on night shifts to help sort out everything before the start of the new week. Technically, the extra shifts (which were approved by the higher ups, somehow) should equal a handsome pay at the end of the month, yet Xie Lian still wore the same white scrubs and old snickers every day. And just like his nickname hinted, he would take ‘scraps’ of damaged goods from the hospital’s storage in a box every saturday after his night shift.
Now there was a perfectly good reason for this as well, and a couple of people did know the story behind it. HR representative Ling Wen knew about it since she had to give her permission, Shi Qingxuan knew since they wouldn’t stop asking about it, the higher ups knew about it, and finally care coordinator Yushi Huang knew about it. In his second year working at the hospital, Xie Lian met Yushi Huang while helping out on a rather unfortunate day when most of the ER staff caught the flu and they were in dire need of helping hands. As Yushi Huang could only communicate through sign language and Xie Lian knew the basics, they quickly became friends that had much more in common than one would think, and through this new friendship Xie Lian started helping her by collecting medical equipment and other basic products for the local homeless shelter she volunteered at.
Which is why as soon as Xie Lian clocked out of his shift, he made his way over to the storage unit to collect the usual box of discarded goods in order to carry it over to Yushi Huang’s truck which was parked to the side of the staff parking lot. The morning sun felt nice on his face, the scorching heat of summer finally making way for September's cool breeze. As usual the petite doctor was waiting outside of her 4x4 truck, enjoying some music with her outdated cable earphones. As soon as she spotted him Yushi Huang took them out and greeted Xie Lian with a warm smile.
“Good morning doctor! I’ve brought this week’s box from the storage. I think I saw some electrolyte powder in there, which I’m sure will be very helpful.” Xie Lian said cheerfully while placing the box on the back of the truck.
Yushi Huang signed back, thanking him for the information and commenting on how she was going to bring some vegetables from her garden on Tuesday for him to take home.
“You are as thoughtful as always, thank you. Take care on your way home.”
She signed a ‘goodbye’ back and got into the truck, making her way to the shelter as she usually did any time she could. Xie Lian waited until she had left and made his way over to the back street of the hospital, avoiding the morning crowd at the front and taking the long way to the subway station.
Over the Clouds Specialty Hospital stood proudly at the center of the city’s most exclusive area, surrounded by skyscrapers and fancy restaurants. Clean streets filled with carefully trimmed greenery led all the way to high end apartments and expensive residential areas, and further down you would arrive at a crystal mall filled with brand stores and lots of entertainment for the richest residents of the city.
But Xie Lian didn’t take this way home. Instead, he took a couple turns south where the streets turned smaller and alleyways turned darker, the bustling of the city swapped with an eerie silence that most people avoided. There was a subway station closer to the hospital, but Xie Lian liked walking all the way to the next one as it was less crowded. Usually, the walk there would take him 15 to 20 minutes at most, but just as he was nearing the station a loud crashing noise made him stop and look into a specially dark alley.
The morning sun didn’t spare much light to the alley, old trash bins hiding half of its contents from sight. Logically speaking, the noise could have been a cat looking through the bins or a rather large trash bag being discarded, but what really took Xie Lian’s attention was a quiet groan coming from behind the bins.
As a healthcare professional he felt the need to check if someone needed his help, so Xie Lian carefully made his way over to check the dark alley. Walking around broken bottles and empty cans, he spotted the silhouette of a person sitting by the end of the alley, seemingly crouched on themselves and gripping one of their arms.
“Hello? Are you okay there?” Xie Lian wasn’t afraid of the person sitting, but knew from years of experience that it was a good idea to announce himself before approaching. The person sitting seemed to react to his voice, straightening themselves and looking over to the person calling. Another groan told Xie Lian it was a young man struggling to get up, probably afraid of being caught by him.
“I’m a nurse, it’s okay. Do you need any help?” Xie Lian kept walking over to the man, and his calm demeanor seemed to do the trick as the person didn’t make further attempts at getting away from him. When he was about a meter away, the familiar metallic smell of blood filled his nostrils along with hints of gunpowder. Could the man have been shot by someone? If so, were they in danger of being shot by the same person or persons? Alarms rang in Xie Lian’s head, worried for the safety of the man gripping his arm and so he quickly made his way over to kneel beside him.
Even in a dark alley, being this close to someone would allow Xie Lian to examine their face and features, but instead he was met with a mess of bloody hair covering most of the man’s face and neck. Fresh blood oozed out of the man’s left shoulder, and more spots of blood could be seen around his body. The man had seemed ready to flee at any given moment, but as soon as a dark eye peeked at Xie Lian from strands of bloodied hair he relaxed a little bit, probably realizing he was indeed a nurse.
“You are bleeding a lot, were you shot? If so, did you get shot anywhere else but your arm? I’m going to place a tourniquet around your shoulder, it will hurt a little.” Xie Lian spoke without waiting for an actual answer, raising one of his sleeves and untying a silk bandage from his right arm and using it as a makeshift tourniquet around the man’s upper left arm, successfully stopping the bleeding for now.
With nothing more than the white sleeves of his sweater, Xie Lian wiped the man’s face as best as he could while looking for wounds, and was met with a dark eye and foreign features, a black eyepatch covering the man’s right eye. While this man’s frame was larger than Xie Lian’s, his face revealed he was very young, maybe early to mid twenties, and very handsome. A slender face with high cheekbones and a straight nose, thin black eyebrows adorning an eye as black as night. There was something in those features that captured Xie Lian’s gaze, a wild aura peeking from long black locks. And he must have been staring too much not to notice the stranger speaking until seconds later.
“I’m sorry.”
“?” Xie Lian wasn’t exactly sure of why the person was apologizing, his face showing his lack of understanding.
“Your clothes. They were a pretty white, but now they are dirty because of me.” Xie Lian looked at his sleeves for a moment and then gave a warm smile to the stranger.
“That should be the least of your worries, but I don’t mind. Besides, someone told me today red would look better than white.”
Chapter 2: Who could it be?
Notes:
im so so so sorry i took so long to update, I have a million excuses but basically life happened-
i promise i'll be updating weekly as promised please dont hate me TTwTT
Chapter Text
Xie Lian was a very capable man, and seldom asked favors from anyone. Hence why Shi Qingxuan came freaking out, running like the wind through the hospital corridors down to the storage door when they got a text from Xie Lian asking for help ‘taking care of a discrete matter’. They didn’t really fit in the ‘discrete’ category, but they cared deeply for their friend and was very professional when needed, and their friend needed them right now.
It wasn’t uncommon for Xie Lian to be seen at the hospital on days he wasn’t scheduled to work, but it was strange for him to come back right after leaving for his house, so Qingxuan started thinking of worst case scenarios: maybe he got mugged while trying to buy some random person a pass for the metro? What if he tried to stop another fight and got stabbed? For all Qingxuan knew, he could have attempted to perform a blood transfusion from his own blood in the middle of the street with a pen and a napkin trying to save someone.
“There’s no way he’s that dumb, he probably fell and scraped his- WHY ARE YOU DRENCHED IN BLOOD OH MY GOD.”
“Calm down, it’s not mine. Can you help me get this young man to one of the empty rooms? He doesn’t seem to be a local and there is a gunshot wound on his shoulder with several lacerations through his torso. He’s been unconscious for about 7 minutes and needs immediate treatment.”
It was only then that Qingxuan noticed a huge red and black bulk, well, person, lying on Xie Lian’s back. How they didn’t notice such a large body casually passed out on Xie Lian’s back was probably because of the shock of seeing their friend covered in blood, but there was indeed a very tall person with his head covered in what was probably Xie Lian’s formerly white hoodie. With practiced control over their emotions, Qingxuan came out from their shock after a minute and immediately helped Xie Lian carry the wounded man to one of the empty rooms on the second floor, taking advantage of the morning’s chaos to hide the fact that they were carrying an unidentified person with shot wounds inside and not to the ER like they usually would.
Grabbing the first stretcher they could find and covering the person with a clean sheet that was quickly turning red, both nurses made their way over to the elevator, inwardly praying to any God that could help them just smuggle this person into a private room.
The second floor was usually empty as most patients preferred the bigger rooms located in the upper floors, so Qingxuan opened the first empty door they saw and tried calling for a doctor as soon as they placed the stranger on the bed, but was quickly stopped by Xie Lian.
“Don’t, I’ll treat him. Just... help me identify his blood type for a transfusion.” Xie Lian pleaded while grabbing his friend’s wrist to stop them from calling a doctor that would most probably get them in trouble.
“A-Lian, his wounds are pretty serious for just first aid, and you know we have to call the cops when we spot gunshots. What if he wakes up and tries knocking you out to escape?”
“He doesn’t seem like that kind of person, and if he wakes up and realizes we called the police he might try escaping before we can treat him out of fear. Please, just this one time, keep this secret for me.”
Qingxuan looked puzzled as to why their friend was trying so hard to keep this person safe. If found, they could potentially be suspended or even lose their jobs. Xie Lian never spoke of his past and was very closed about his personal life, making for a very mysterious person. But mysterious didn’t mean bad, and Qingxuan knew that better than anyone. Maybe this guy was someone he knew? Ultimately they had no reason to doubt their friend’s intentions, so Qingxuan took a big breath and resigned themselves to comply with Xie Lian’s request.
“Fine. But if he tries anything funny or if anyone comes looking for him I don’t know shit. Now hush before he bleeds out, I’ll be back with supplies.”
For the first time ever Shi Qingxuan saw Xie Lian go full doctor mode, almost as if he was used to it. Xie Lian quickly and methodically treated three gunshots, stitched a deep forehead cut and two stab wounds around the torso and stabilized the stranger’s vitals in record time. Once he placed the man on fluids he brought a basin with clean water and carefully wiped the grime and dried blood from the man’s long black hair, revealing a sharp face with unusually pale skin, and found what seemed like an old scar over his right eye covered by a frayed eyepatch.
“Well, the others are probably wondering why I disappeared during rounds so I should get back. You should get changed and catch up on some sleep, you worked all night after all.” Shi Qingxuan stretched their back and made their way to the door so they could go back to work.
“Thank you, I really appreciate you helping me today. I’ll stay here until he wakes up, but I’ll see you around.” Xie Lian said gently as he started gathering used gauzes to dispose of them.
“Happy to help, but you owe me a coffee. An expensive one. Call me if you need help with anything else.” Qingxuan stopped for a moment. “Unless it involves HR or the police.”
“Ha ha ha, I’ll buy it for you next time.” Xie Lian gave an awkward laugh and said goodbye to his friend.
Now that it was only Xie Lian and the young man in the room, Xie Lian locked the door and grabbed an object hidden underneath the used gauzes. It was an old knife, shaped almost like a dagger stashed inside a leather sheath. The black leather was bare except for the golden stitching keeping it together, but the dagger looked pretty old. While it was obviously very carefully tended to (if the very sharp edge was anything to go by), the engravings of what seemed like butterflies and flowers around the handle lost shape from constant use.
The craftsmanship was very unique, and it didn’t look quite like anything you could find on the market. It was long and slender, sort of resembling the young man resting on the bed. The metal was dark and shiny, and had a red bead of sorts decorating the center of the handle. Deciding it was probably a very important thing for the patient, Xie Lian hid it in his bag just in case anyone decided to search the room later on.
Turning back to the young man, Xie Lian changed the water on the basin and took his time cleaning him up for good. With gentle hands he changed the man’s clothes for a clean hospital gown and started collecting his belongings to safely store them away: a thin silver necklace, a pair or long red earrings, a silver ring, a leather wallet, a locked iphone, a car key, the frayed eyepatch, and a very old dog tag used as a bracelet around his left wrist.
Upon finding the dog tag, an uncomfortable sensation ran through Xie Lian’s body, almost like a shiver. Putting such emotion aside, he curiously tried looking for a name on it, but it was so old and worn that the letters made no sense at all. Unable to find what he was looking for, he placed the personal items aside and rearranged the pillows on the patient’s bed so that he could rest more comfortably.
The young man’s hair was very long, soft locks reaching his elbows and spread around his head on the bed almost made him look like he was wearing a cape. Deciding it could get tangled, Xie Lian took off his white silk scrunchie, letting his own hair down and using it to tie the young man’s hair into a side ponytail.
Finally happy with his job, he checked the patient’s vitals once more before fatigue finally hit him like a truck after working all night and carrying a person double his size right after. It was now sunday morning and Xie Lian didn’t have a shift until monday morning, but he couldn’t just leave this person on their own and he definitely couldn’t ask Qingxuan, or anyone else, to look out for him, so he decided to grab a chair and just share a small space of the hospital bed to rest his head for a little bit. Still curious and a bit anxious, Xie Lian fell asleep by some random person’s feet on a hospital bed in a locked room which he wasn’t supposed to be using.
Pain. Pressure. Fucking pain everywhere. Before he could even open his eye, Hua Cheng felt his entire body cry in pain as if he had been beaten and thrown down a long ass flight of stairs. Now that he remembered, he had been shot a couple of times so it made sense, but there was also pressure on one of his legs. A sudden sense of dread assaulted him, did that motherfucker manage to break one of his legs?
Needing to know the state he was currently in, Hua Cheng opened his eyes to a room full of white, the sound of beeping machines somewhere on his right and a window with the shades drawn just enough so that the light wasn’t too bright on his face. A light breeze grazed his right eye, which meant it was uncovered. Almost on instinct, he tried going for the bracelet on his left wrist for comfort but felt a sharp pain going all the way to his shoulder. It took him a second to realize that’s where he had been shot, and looking at his left arm heavily covered in bandages confirmed it. Maybe because of all the bandages he couldn’t see his bracelet, and anxiety overpowered the pain. He tried sitting up to look around when his eye spotted the pressure he had felt earlier in the form of a sleeping man by his left leg.
Hua Cheng couldn’t see the person’s face from his angle, but the beautiful dark chocolate hair and pristine white scrubs evoked a memory of bright hazel eyes and the most gentle of smiles surrounded by a sea of fire. The memory left as soon as it came and was replaced by the concerned face of a nurse trying to help him in a dark alley, and the hope and happiness that he had felt when he saw the nurse’s face came back a tenfold. So this person helped him as promised, not that he had expected anything less.
The anxiety of losing his bracelet was washed away in a sea of beeping noises and the softest of snores coming from the nurse in white by his side, the pain still coursing through his body dampened by relief and a sense of tranquility Hua Cheng hadn’t felt in years. He couldn’t move his left arm, but using all of his strength he reached with his right hand to try and pet the nurse’s head just a little bit. With just the pad of his fingers, Hua Cheng grazed a soft strand of hair before retrieving his hand back, scared of being noticed.
It was all for naught though as the nurse’s snores came to a stop and he started to wake up from his slumber. Stretching his arms above his head, Xie Lian woke up from his five hour ‘power nap’ feeling refreshed before looking up at the young man he had saved earlier that day looking right back at him.
Realizing the nurse had woken up, Hua Cheng shyly covered his right eye by quickly removing a piece of his hair from the white scrunchie it had been tied with and immediately sat up straighter, smirking a little bit when the nurse finally looked back at him.
“You’re awake.” Xie Lian said between a question and a statement, impressed that the young man had managed to wake up after so little.
“Good morning to you too, I hope you rested well.” Hua Cheng answered playfully, his smirk turning into a smile.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to sleep here, but I couldn’t leave for, well, reasons. How are you feeling? Are you in pain somewhere?” Getting into his nurse role Xie Lian stood up and started checking the bandages around his wounds.
“I’m great actually, considering the state you found me in. Thank you for helping me out. How should I address my savior? I think you said you were a nurse?” an undertone of mischievousness could be heard in his words, but he thanked him wholeheartedly.
“I’m nurse Xie Lian, and there’s no need to thank me. It’s my job to save lives, so I’m very happy you look so good after all you’ve been through. Can I ask for your name and details? How did you end up there?”
“Are you saying I look good even if I'm all beaten up?” he said jokingly, making the nurse blush.
“I-I didn’t mean it like that!”
“Hahaha, I know, I’m just messing with you.” Hua Cheng laughed heartily before answering. “They call me San Lang, since I’m the third brother in my family.”
All things considered, Xie Lian knew that it had to be a fake name, but for some reason he didn’t feel like pressing for the truth right now. There was something about this man that made him feel at ease, like he could trust him.
“As for how I got there, well-”
Tock tock
There was a knock on the door.
Chapter 3: Generosity isn't an inconvenience.
Notes:
TW for this chapter:
-mentions of blood and injury
-mentions of substance consumption
-mentions of death (not anyone in particular, but will be a recurring theme in this series)I'll try and add trigger warnings every chapter, please let me know if there's anything im missing
enjoy ^^edit* i messed up with the floors... it's the 6th not the 5th!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
There was an old saying in the hospital stating that catastrophes came in threes. If it was anyone else in Xie Lian’s shoes right now, they would have surely recalled such saying while counting everything that had gone wrong today.
Good thing it was Xie Lian out of everyone else.
For head nurse Xie there was no such thing as a ‘catastrophe’ unless someone lost their life, as everything but death can be fixed in this world. And what a rough he had. If Xie Lian were to start counting every single bad thing that happened to him on a daily basis, the ‘catastrophes come in threes’ theory would turn into ‘Murphy's law’ and make him the unluckiest person on this planet. Yet he managed every single day to turn any bad situation into an opportunity to improve, learn and help others. Head nurse Xie was a very strong man, both physically and mentally, never impressed by what he saw or heard when doing his job.
Now you might be thinking that he would be cautious of the person knocking on the door, or afraid of the very obvious victim of gang violence sitting behind him. But it wasn’t fear nor anxiety that had Xie Lian currently covering his face with both hands, but rather shame.
“It’s not that bad, she’s going to forget about it sooner than later.” The patient sitting on the bed tried comforting Xie Lian, but the situation was so utterly silly that even his honest comment seemed like a joke.
“I’m going to be the topic of the month between the nurses, oh God…”
Things had gone very differently from what anyone would have expected. When nurse Xie and ‘San Lang’ heard a knock on the door, they figured it had to be a doctor or security guard coming at them for using the facilities in secret. Truth was, it had been a young nurse who was asked by Qingxuan to bring a meal for them in secret. Which, by itself, wasn’t really an issue, quite the opposite actually. The problem had been Xie Lian himself. Oblivious to the young nurse’s very stiff poker face, he had spoken with her for a minute explaining a little bit of what was going on and asking her to keep the secret while thanking her for her time. It was only when he closed the door after she had left that he caught his reflection on the door’s small window.
Xie Lian wasn’t by any means a heavy sleeper, but laying in a weird position with his hair down after sweating so much had given him the biggest bed hair of his life. It was bad. It was hilarious.
“Just put some water on it and it’ll be fine. As head nurse you can scold them if they say anything about it after.” Hua Cheng couldn’t help feeling all tender inside looking at Xie Lian blushing over his hair. “You didn’t strike me as someone who would care for such things.”
“I don’t mind them talking about me any more than they already do.” The implication of people bad mouthing Xie Lian didn’t go unnoticed by Hua Cheng. “But you spoke with me all this time and didn’t say a word about it. You must have been laughing at me.”
“Hey, don’t say that. You just saved my life, how could I make fun of you? I just found it a little… cute.” So he was embarrassed because of him ? Interesting.
“You’re lying.” Xie Lian finally uncovered his face to look at the younger man.
“You won’t find a more honest person than me.”
“... Fine, I’ll trust you. Tell me then, how did you end up in such a bad situation today?” Xie Lian tried changing the subject to avoid feeling more awkward around San Lang, all the while trying to tame his unruly hair.
“I was chasing a cannibal when some thugs found me first. I was winning alright until a sneaky bastard managed to inject me with some sort of sleeping drug, and that’s when they shot me. Somehow I made it far enough to lose them, but the effects of the drug wore me down so much I ended up almost bleeding out on a random alley. When you approached me all in white I thought for sure it was an angel taking me to the afterlife, but your voice brought me back to consciousness.” Hua Cheng spilled matter of factly, as if he was talking about the weather and not the reason he almost transcended to a different plain of existence.
Xie Lian stared in disbelief at San Lang casually eating from what had to be a very bland hospital salad while he explained his part of the story. It was so wild he couldn’t have made it up on the spot. Cannibal? Wait, he was drugged not that long ago so how was he so lucid? And Qingxuan’s words from last night kept playing on his mind: ‘wearing all white is going to scare the life out of someone someday’ . His nurse instincts kicked in as Xie Lian approached the young man to try and examine him.
“Wait a second, you were drugged? How come you didn’t mention that first? I need to run some tests and find out what they used on you, are you lightheaded? Nauseous or disoriented? Let me check your eyes for trem…ors-”
Oh no, he had made a mistake. Big screw up. It wasn’t ‘eyes’ but ‘eye’. San Lang unconsciously turned his head away from Xie Lian, hiding his right side behind silky strands of loose hair. His expression didn’t change, but the playfulness he had shown before escaped from his sight.
It was obvious San Lang didn’t like others looking at the old scar where his right eye used to be. Xie Lian had taken his eyepatch away, touched his face and examined him without his consent, and while it had been done with good intentions it must have given San Lang a bad aftertaste. Feeling ashamed of his bed hair now seemed silly compared to what San Lang must have felt when he woke up in a random place knowing some strangers had looked through his body and his things.
Just as quickly San Lang’s expression changed back to a playful grin, as if he could control his emotion on command. Not wanting to make Xie Lian uncomfortable, he turned his head to the nurse once more and kept on talking.
“Don’t worry about the drug, while I have an idea of what it could have been, its effects are long gone by now. I’m pretty resilient to drugs, you see? It’s nothing new.” He was still in a lot of pain though, but he didn’t feel like worrying Xie Lian any more.
Xie Lian could tell by the way San Lang’s back hung every now and then that he wasn’t ‘alright’, but the implications on his condition took priority on his mind. It was not unusual to receive patients under the influence of all kinds of drugs, being recreational or controlled, but it was usually those individuals who took them often and in big amounts that suffered the most during the detoxification period. This San Lang didn’t look like someone who did drugs for fun, but then again he was a suspected gang member who was allegedly looking for some cannibal and ended up being shot by gangsters.
All this to say, Xie Lian wasn’t prejudiced against drug users. He knew better than anyone that life wasn’t as simple as saying yes or no to most situations, and people with all kinds of upbringing could lose themselves in the woes of a harsh environment. He was, though, concerned about the effects of whatever substance was used on his patient and the aftermath of any other substance he could have taken beforehand. Drugs and medicine were one and the same after all, in different concentrations, and usually didn’t mix well.
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but have you consumed any, substances, before you were attacked today? I- I just need to know, for medical purposes.” The conversation had turned a little sour since the eye comment, but it was Xie Lian’s job to take his patients' well-being seriously.
“If you’re asking about today, then no.” Hua Cheng didn’t elaborate. Xie Lian didn’t ask.
“Hn. Okay. I still think we should run some tests in case there are any side effects. You should drink lots of water for now, I’ll bring you some later.”
“Don’t you work here? Shouldn’t you be checking on other patients? I’ve kept you here all morning, I wouldn’t want you getting in any trouble because of me.” Hua Cheng changed the conversation smoothly, the image of Xie Lian sleeping by his side still present in his mind.
“About that… Well, I had a night shift yesterday and I’m off today, so you shouldn’t worry too much. I can’t really call anyone else to look after you either, since they would be calling the police according to hospital protocol because of the gunshot wounds on you. And I feel like you wouldn’t like that.”
Hua Cheng had an unreadable expression on his face, and while his body was still very lethargic, his mind was in shambles upon hearing this. Not only had he ruined his savior’s perfectly white scrubs with his dirty blood, but he had made Xie Lian work way past his schedule while risking his job to treat him. It had been his mistake, he wasn’t careful enough and had ended up almost bleeding to death. And even if this very mistake was the reason he could meet Xie Lian like this, it was unbearable to know he was, to this very moment, inconveniencing this much.
“Police would be bad indeed, more towards you than me I’m afraid. I’ll pay you back twice the price for the inconvenience, and I’ll make sure you won’t be having any trouble in the future. If you can help me find my phone I can leave today.”
“But why would you leave today?” Xie Lian’s answer came in a hurry, a hint of anxiety behind it.
“I never meant to cause any trouble, besides-”
“It’s not troublesome, really. You aren’t an inconvenience at all.” there was no hesitation in that statement, which reassured the anxiety Hua Cheng hadn’t noticed he had up until now deep within him.
“You still need to rest, and I still owe you a new pair of scrubs.” Hua Cheng’s tone changed from apologetic to mischievous once more, alleviating the tension in the room.
“I can go and rest in the nurse’s quarters if needed. And I can just wash my old scrubs, no biggie.” Xie Lian’s mood seemed happier now, more relaxed.
“Tell me then, how can I pay you back for everything you’ve done for me?”
“Don’t feel like you owe me, I just felt like helping you.” The ‘it’s also my job’ was lost on Xie Lian’s tongue, as he didn’t feel it was an appropriate answer. He had felt the need to help him not out of duty, and for some reason didn’t want San Lang to think so either.
“I’ll just have to think something on my own then.” San Lang had been responding pretty well up until now, but it was becoming more and more evident that his body wasn’t matching his mind as his eyelid kept closing more and more, his back slouching more by the minute. How he had managed to look so sturdy for so long was for Xie Lian to wonder.
“You should sleep some more. I’ll go bring some water for you, and I’ll make sure to place your belongings close to you so you can check for your phone.”
“Thank you doctor, and sorry once again. You should rest too, I promise nothing will happen to me here.”
“I’m just a nurse, but feel free to call me by my name.”
“Thank you, nurse Xie.”
“You are very welcome, San Lang.”
“Have you heard about the patient from room 513? She was pronounced dead today, and one of the nurses heard from the surgeons that she was missing a big piece of her liver, almost as if something had eaten her from inside.” a nurse with short black hair and purple scrubs whispered.
“Stop it, you know we get scolded when we talk about the patients on the sixth floor.” a tall nurse in navy blue scrubs with a goatee answered.
“I know, I know. But isn’t that like, super weird? What if it’s a new flesh eating bacteria or some sort of zombie virus.” the first nurse replied.
“No way in hell you believe in those things. And if it was a biological hazard we would have seen people in suits all around.” a pretty nurse in green scrubs shot back.
“I heard her family wanted her dead to inherit her company, maybe they paid someone to make it look like a disease.” a third nurse in pink scrubs and a long blond braid chimed in.
“Whoa, you scared me. Keep it down, or all three of us will be on geriatric ward today.” the tallest nurse replied.
“That’s not so bad. At least the old ladies are nice to us. I don’t want to do paperwork though.” the blonde nurse seemed disappointed.
“If you keep gossiping here, all of you will be sent to clean the supply room.” Xie Lian came from behind the nurses, his dark hair pinned in half a ponytail with an old black elastic.
“Head nurse!” said the nurse in purple.
“Head nurse Xie!” screamed the blonde nurse.
“H-head nurse!” the nurse in blue stuttered.
“Jesus Christ Xie Lian, you scared the shit out of us!” the nurse in green, Qingxuan, said while putting a hand on their chest.
It was Monday morning, and it was early enough that most of the morning staff was still tidying themselves before the 7a.m. shift. While there were still 10 minutes left for their shift to start, head nurse Xie needed to make sure the other nurses didn’t keep their dilly dally for too long unless they were late for their morning rounds.
“I was here all along, you just didn’t notice.” he replied while the other nurses took the opportunity to escape him.
“You could’ve said hi. Anyway, A-Lian, how’s that ‘pet’ of yours doing?” It was obvious who Qingxuan was referring to, not wanting anyone else to discover their secret patient.
“San La- I mean, uh, he is doing a lot better. He spent the last two nights where we put him, and no one has come to ‘claim’ him as of now.”
“So still in there? At least alive I suppose.”
“You can go and see him if you want. He’s very charming.” Both friends kept their voices low, in case anyone asked about said ‘pet’.
“No thank you. I don’t do well with violent dogs, got my brother already. But nice to hear he’s doing okay. Keep an eye on it though, we wouldn’t want him to bite someone.”
“He doesn’t bite.” Referring to San Lang as a dog seemed extremely rude, but they had to be careful of their surroundings.
“He does bite, just hasn’t shown his fangs yet. I can tell. You should be really careful, else he might take advantage of your generosity.”
“Dogs don’t usually bite the hand that cares for them.”
“Until they are hungry again. Just make sure you don’t get into any trouble.”
“I can take care of myself.”
Now this had Qingxuan staring at their friend. Xie Lian was a lot of things, but he was never mean. Why he was acting all protective of this random dude he found off the streets was a mystery, and not how their friend usually reacted. Deciding to keep quiet for now, Qingxuan made it their mission to go and find out just what was going on with this stranger.
Notes:
I know some of the character interactions might be OC, but im doing it to fit in the plot~
this is probably the last chapter introducing the plot and everything, we're getting action and drama starting next one!
thanks to all of you leaving comments and kudos <3
Chapter 4: The hidden patient in room 208.
Notes:
im so sorry i disappeared once again TT.TT its not that im dropping this, its just that I realized I cant be trusted with chapters so im just writing the whole thing in one go. Adding this chapter to announce this as well, but from now on i will take more time but publish like 3 or 5 chapters at a time!
TW for this chapter includes
mentions of drug use
mentions of past violence
mentions of addiction
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Monday morning came with a ton of new patients, documents to be checked and labs to be examined. As with almost any other job, people came in tired from the weekend, bored out of their minds with the thought of working another week just to wait once more for the weekend to come, for the cycle to repeat. But Xie Lian didn’t share this mindset.
It was common knowledge that Xie Lian enjoyed doing his job more than virtually anyone in the hospital, but this morning he came in even more excited than usual. His whole existence had always been an enigma that no one could decipher, so nobody asked why he seemed too happy to be delegating tasks first thing in the morning. Of course Qingxuan wasn’t everyone: they knew exactly why head nurse Xie was seen almost skipping through the halls. The hidden patient in room 208 .
Because it was a secret that only they knew of, Qingxuan couldn’t just go and ask around and see if this stranger had done anything weird while they weren’t on duty, nor could they go directly and ask the man to give them context on what was going on between them. Asking Xie Lian was out of the question since trying to get information out of him was like trying to ask a wall why it stood straight all day. But then again, Qingxuan wasn’t just anyone.
Gossip had always been their favorite hobby, speaking with as many people as needed until they got the full story with pictures and receipts. Meaning they had their way to get the information they wanted, whenever they needed it. The only problem was they needed to be extra careful this time, since any leaks on their hidden patient could result in either one of them losing their jobs or the patient attempting an escape which would ultimately lead to them being fired after.
Which takes us to the HR office, 12.p.m. on the dot while everyone else had their lunch break upstairs. It was common sense to see doctors and nurses anywhere anytime in a hospital, and truth be told it wasn’t uncommon to see nurse Qingxuan in HR for some minor complaint or disturbance involving them or their brother, who worked here as well as a surgeon. But it was definitely weird to see them here on their own accord.
“If this is you trying to warn me of an incoming lawsuit I swear to God I’m quitting today.” HR manager Ling Wen spat from her seat without taking her eyes off her computer, typing in a speed only seen on college students the night before a final assignment or kids online cursing each other.
“Hahaha no way, I just came to have a chat with you, ha ha ha… ah.” Shit. I mean, if things went down bad it would probably end up in a lawsuit. Which they were currently trying to prevent.
“If it’s not a lawsuit, did your brother ask you to investigate who stole your grandma’s pictures from your house? I already told him it wasn’t me.”
“The stolen wHAT? I mean, shit, I wasn’t aware of that! Who would steal those?”
“Not me.”
“Fuck! No, that wasn’t what I came here to talk about. I just wanted to ask you some things regarding, uh, current events?” They would get to the stolen pictures later.
“Then ask. What do you need, Qingxuan?” Ling Wen finally stopped typing to look at Qingxuan’s face. As always, Ling Wen tried and failed miserably to hide her dark circles with makeup, a lovely purple eyeshadow on her upper lids a heavy contrast. She wore a dark gray suit and white undershirt, golden high heels on the shorter side to accommodate her hectic work schedule.
“I just heard this rumor about a shooting that happened near the hospital. Apparently lots of people heard the shots but no one came to us to be treated, just wanted to know if you knew anything about it. Just out of concern you know? Since it was, apparently , very near the hospital.”
Of course, no one had said a word about a shooting near the hospital since no one even knew there had been one so close by. According to what Xie Lian had gathered from the stranger, he had been the only one shot but not the only one injured, so it would make sense that a person who knew everything that happened around the hospital and other hospitals nearby would know about this incident. So Qingxuan asked as casually as possible without giving away any hints that they already knew what happened.
Ling Wen seemed thoughtful for a moment before answering.
“I don’t know about recently, but there have been some shootings near the area these past six months. We don’t see many gang violence victims in this hospital, but I heard from an old friend working on the outskirts that they have been getting an alarming number of gunshot and overdose cases. The weirdest part is that they haven’t been able to identify the substance these people are getting high on, or are maybe forced to take.” This woman really had eyes and ears everywhere in the city. Hopefully she wouldn’t catch on to the rumor of the handsome patient in room 208.
“Do you think they are moving closer to us? I don’t know about new drugs, but we seldom hear about gang violence in this neighborhood.” Qingxuan asked in a concerned tone, thinking about asking Xie Lian if this new dog of his knew anything about the drugs. Hell, they should ask if he consumed them too.
“I don’t think you should concern yourself with this matter any further unless it becomes a problem in our workplace. I know you love gossip, but as a family friend let me advise you against sticking your head in places you shouldn’t, Qingxuan. As they say, curiosity killed the cat.” That meant she knew a lot more than she was letting on, very interesting.
“And what he found brought it back to life! Don’t worry about it, I was just curious. Anyway enjoy your break-” the bubbly nurse took a quick look at the mountains of paperwork Ling Wen had on her desk. “-your shift, take care!”
“You too. And tell your brother that I didn’t steal those pictures.”
“SHIT I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THAT! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?”
Hua Cheng should have been more careful, should have known this motherfucker would use cheap tricks just to get back at him. But he had underestimated him, and that could have cost him his life. To be fair, it had been 5 against 1, and they were all carrying guns while he only carried his usual dagger. Hua Cheng racked his brain thinking of everything that went wrong that day and what he could have, should have done differently. Look for blindspots through the alleys, spot possible hideouts, bring more people… He wouldn’t carry a gun though, he never did.
While it was in his nature to go over and over every single thing he did wrong to try and fix it in the future, he was still lethargic from bloodlose, sore in muscles he didn’t even knew he had before, and was starting to feel the pain where his right eye used to be. He felt a headache coming and debated if calling Yin Yu, his personal assistant and right hand man, was the right choice.
Hua Cheng was a very strong young man. Stronger than most, but also weaker than most. There were things and situations humans could learn to live with, could control over time or even overcome altogether, but there were also things that no amount of willpower could overthrow. Pain and anxiety had been part of his life ever since he could remember, and his environment hadn’t helped in managing them. If God was real, he had given Hua Cheng every reason to hate him.
Born poor and in the middle of a coup d’etat, his mother had been too sick to care for him and his bastard of a father too busy losing his mind over any drug he could get his hands on to even remember his name properly. As soon as he could walk, Hua Cheng had been roaming the streets in search of food and shelter, begging for money and stealing from soldiers in order to survive. He was no stranger to looks of pity and disgust, to pain and hunger, and ultimately, to drugs.
He wasn’t anything like his father, he would never be, but there is a point when hunger and cold are too much for a child to bear. So when some foreign soldiers had spotted him trying to steal some bread from a local store they had given him a choice: cut his hand for stealing, or selling drugs for them to earn his own bread. Looking back it hadn’t really been a choice, for any path would have led him the same way, but he was way too young and hungry to comprehend. Not only had this given him the opportunity to buy some soup for his sick mother every other week, but he also started inhaling the powder that quenched his hunger and kept him up all night working his ass off. The soldiers kept providing more drugs, kept trashing his neighborhood, kept ruining his life.
It was painful to remember, but the missing dog tag on his wrist made him reminisce about the past and every choice that had brought him here today. The only silver lining was finding nurse Xie, being saved by a literal angel and being cared for in this way. Which made Hua Cheng rethink his idea of calling Yin Yu. Asking for his ‘medication’.
It would be too obvious if he took something now, Xie Lian would notice. But if he didn’t take his dose he would also notice the excessive sweating, the constant biting of his lips, the restlessness. It had been years since the last time Hua Cheng had gone days without his drugs, and his body was dealing with both withdrawal and his injuries. The headache was hitting already, and the room felt too cold and too hot at the same time.
Almost unconsciously he started texting his assistant, letting him know why he had been missing for two days and where he was so he could bring over everything he needed. And nurse Xie came back to his mind, the things he was doing to hide him, to protect him, and how he could fuck him over if he wasn’t careful. Instructing Yin Yu to be no more than a shadow and avoid being seen, he sent the message and threw his phone back on the bed, unbothered of where it landed. It was early, too early to be awake, but Hua Cheng couldn’t sleep any more that day.
Xie Lian had woken up that morning earlier than ever. He couldn’t wait to be back in the hospital, to go and check on how San Lang was doing and make sure he was still hidden from the world. He still didn’t understand why he felt such a strong need to protect a man that was clearly able to take care of himself, but he needed to be there. Xie Lian had slept about 8 hours in the last 3 days between his weekend night shifts and caring for San Lang during the day. He had finished last night at 3 in the morning, and was now getting ready for his 7a.m. Monday shift.
He showered, ate a simple sandwich and quickly made his way to the hospital. By 6:25 he was already there, way too early to start and too late to take a quick nap in the staff rooms, but perfect time to go and secretly check on San Lang. Merging in with the night shift nurses and avoiding making himself known, he quickly made his way to room 208 on the second floor.
He wasn’t expecting a nurse coming out of the room as he was getting near. Panic surged within him, his fight or flight response unsure if he should call out to the nurse and make use of his position to silence them or if he should just hide and wait for the perfect moment to sneak San Lang out of the hospital.
Logically speaking neither were good ideas, but the second option quickly became a no no when he reminded himself of the extent of San Lang’s injuries. So he took a third option and quietly followed the nurse. Xie Lian tried to guess which nurse he was, but looking carefully he realized he didn’t recognize this person at all. And he wasn’t going to the lockers nor the nurse station, but downstairs into what seemed like the storage room. Thanks to the charity work he did every week with Yushi Huang, Xie Lian was very familiar with the storage room, just not at this time. He knew some of the younger nurses came here every now and then to escape the chaos of the ER, and that some janitors smoked by the door whenever it rained, but at 6 in the morning it should have been empty. ‘ Should’ being the key word, as it was, in fact, not empty.
Because he was afraid of being caught Xie Lian had kept his distance from the alleged impostor nurse, and had lost him at some point after he had entered the hallway that led to the storage, but now that he had gotten close to the door he heard noise, footsteps and voices from more than one person. It was too risky going in, mainly because once again he didn’t recognize who these voices belonged to.
There were at least 4 different people speaking, but Xie Lian couldn’t make out what they were saying. After about five minutes the voices stopped and footsteps could be heard again, some of them coming towards the door. Quick on his feet Xie Lian stepped back and hid behind some laundry carts, just in time to see a completely different staff member walk by. It was clearly someone working upstairs, as Xie Lian had seen those who worked on the sixth floor showcasing an air of superiority. He didn’t have the time to guess who the person was when he realized no one else came out from the storage room.
Steeling himself Xie Lian decided to go into the storage room and find the nurse who had been in San Lang’s room, and see if he wasn’t telling on other staff members hidden in there. He quietly opened the door, looked around and found himself once again shocked to find no one at all. No sign of people anywhere, no more noise, nothing. It was bizarre, as if he had seen ghosts and not people. Dumbfounded, he inspected the door that led to the parking lot and for the nth time that day, found nothing.
What the hell was going on? Who were these people? And now that he thought about it, was San Lang okay? What if the person wasn’t a nurse, but an enemy disguising himself to come and finish the job? Considering his current situation, there was also the possibility of them being a friend of San Lang, a lackey of sorts. Calming himself, Xie Lian made his way back through the staff lockers to get the hidden charts he made of San Lang from his backpack before rushing to his room. Xie Lian was almost out when he heard Qingxuan gossiping with some nurses…
Notes:
im not sure if i did this correctly, but the first part is supposed to happen last chronologically~ in case anyone had trouble understanding, i apologize for my writing skills!!
props to those who understood the stolen pictures reference, i couldnt help myself adding a bit of comedy relief hereedit:changed some words about the drugs for it to make sense
Chapter 5: Games of Luck
Notes:
Oh boy its been a while. Long story short life happened, but I have made it my goal to finish posting this fanfic latest november 2025. I tried having my boyfriend beta this but since its already 16k words I'll just fix things along the way.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“What do you think I do for a living?” Xie Lian looked at San Lang from across the hospital room, processing the question carefully before answering. He had come into room 208 as soon as he finished his morning tasks as head nurse, anxious to check on his patient after witnessing a stranger coming out of the same room just an hour before. That same morning San Lang had been asleep, no hints of anyone coming into the room either. After checking his vitals and making sure he was okay, Xie Lian had gone back to complete his rounds and looked once more for the strange nurse he saw that morning to no avail.
“Probably a leader of sorts.” It was a smart answer, not stating anything in particular but hinting at something deeper.
“That I am. And to answer your previous question, the person you saw coming out before was one of my lackeys. Not a great one, if you managed to see him, but decent enough that he shouldn’t give you any further trouble.”
Xie Lian hadn’t beaten around the bush when he came into the room. Seeing San Lang watching TV on his bed as if he had not a single problem in the world told Xie Lian that nothing bad had happened while he wasn’t aware, but noticed that his patient seemed to have improved out of nowhere. San Lang wasn’t sweating nor shaking anymore, and seemed to be in very high spirits compared to the past few days. It should have been great to see this person getting so much better, but once again, Xie Lian was a very smart person.
San Lang hadn’t asked for more pain relief medication, even though his injuries were obviously causing him a lot of pain all over. Because there was no infection he was only hooked to an IV for hydration, no further chemicals entering his body. So why did he seem so fine? The answer was kind of obvious, and the lackey coming in this morning further confirmed his suspicions: San Lang had taken some sort of ‘medicine’.
The room went silent as Xie Lian’s brain connected the dots, his eyes deeply embedded in San Lang as if trying to read his very soul. Hua Cheng’s confidence seemed to falter for a moment, realizing he might have been too obvious in his wrongdoings. Expecting the worst, he steeled himself to be thrown out or at least scolded by the nurse, but Xie Lian remained calm by his side. No harsh words were directed at him, but something akin to pity filled Xie Lian’s gaze. Hua Cheng then realized he much rather be scolded by the nurse, for he now felt like the child he once was, weak and pitiful. Hua Cheng was so very used to being feared that he forgot what it felt like to be the weaker person in the room, the one standing on the lower ground, and it honestly hurt.
This silent exchange of gazes went on for only a minute, but to Hua Cheng it felt like reviving a life he thought forgotten. His face must have shown his soul hurting, for Xie Lian tried changing the topic soon after.
Xie Lian knew, but he wouldn’t judge. He couldn’t judge him. For a second, Xie Lian’s mind brought him back to a past he didn’t want to remember, of tearful children and wrong decisions, of betrayal and self destruction, and unbeknownst to him his expression filled with deep sorrow. The machines beeping in the room brought him back to the present, and he had to remind himself once more that everything was in the past, and the past couldn’t hurt him anymore, so he forced himself to forget and concentrate on the things that stood in front of him, or in this case, the person sitting in front of him.
“If you have any more friends, or ‘lackeys’, coming to see you they can just call for me up front. It’s not unusual for people to come find me for various reasons, so it won’t raise any suspicion. We can’t have them asking directly for you, so it might be a good idea to think of a code or secret name for you.” Xie Lian brought a finger to his mouth and wondered for a minute before continuing. “Something like ‘I came to see my little brother in red’!”
“Little brother in red? Is that how you see me?” Hua Cheng was glad for the change in topic, and even laughed a little with the silly nickname.
“I mean, you’re a lot younger than me, and well, I did find you all covered in red.” Xie Lian laughed awkwardly when he realized how silly of a nickname he made on the spot.
“They do call me something like that on the streets, but no one who values their life would call me little brother. You’re an exception, of course.” Hua Cheng knew he should keep his real identity a secret from the nurse, but given how nicely he had been treated even after his very obvious wrongdoings he felt confident enough to joke on the matter.
“So you are a famous person! What do they call you then?” Xie Lian asked excitedly before he could think of his words. San Lang was actively trying to hide his real identity and must have his own reasons to do so, but speaking so closely with him kind of felt natural at this point.
Hua Cheng didn’t want this person to know who he really was, to hate him for it before getting to know him as a person. He didn’t want to be looked at with the same pity he had felt before, but he also wasn’t able to lie to this person. His nickname was, after all, pretty well known for all the wrong reasons, and if everything up to this point wasn’t reason enough to be wary of him, his title would be the last straw. Could he really say it? Should he say it?
“Do you really want to know?” Failing to hide the uneasiness from his voice, he asked while silently begging for the nurse to say no. The tone didn’t go unnoticed, and Xie Lian thought about it for a second.
“I do, but you can tell me some other time, when you feel comfortable saying it. For now, your secret name will be ‘little red’.”
A wave of relief washed over Hua Cheng, and at the same time his heart felt like it skipped a beat or two. He had really found the last angel on Earth, the one person who made him feel like it was okay to forgive himself even just a little bit.
“I’ll tell you next time, when I get out of this hospital. That's a promise.”
“It’s a promise then. Oh and, San Lang? Could you please ask your friends not to sneak out from the storage room? If three or more nurses are seen at the same time in there they might recognize some of them don’t work here at all.” Hua Cheng was about to answer when something along the lines didn’t make sense. Friends? Yin Yu always worked by himself, and none of his other lackeys knew where he was. Had the enemy already found him here?
“Friends? Did you see more people coming in here?” Hua Cheng tried to keep his tone even, but worry was starting to form in his gut.
“I really didn’t want to snitch.” The nurse said apologetically. “But I got a little worried so I followed your lackey down to the storage room. When I got there I heard the voices of three or more people, but I could only somewhat recognize one of them. I thought they all knew each other.”
“I definitely didn’t call for more people, are you sure they were all together?”
“I couldn’t really see any of them, just heard voices from outside the door. Oh, but one of them really works here. I knew from his scrubs, pretty sure he works on the sixth floor.” The nurse explained. Then as on cue, the implications caught up to him and Xie Lian realized what they could be dealing with. “ Hey, San Lang… could this mean your lackey snitched on you?”
“Impossible. But there’s a high probability someone else might have found me.”
Qingxuan found themselves between a rock and a hard place. That is to say, they haven’t been able to find out anything more about the secret patient in room 208. Between the long hours of their job and the issue with their brother (the pictures were still nowhere to be found) days had passed and ‘little red’ as Xie Lian liked to call him was closer to being discharged than being found out. You would think that after so many days without causing any issues in their hospital they would have enough reasons to prove him innocent, but the same day Xie Lian had spoken so harshly to them they heard from one of the ob-gyn doctors that her car just disappeared from the hospital parking lot. A black car, not new nor old, without any significant features to describe it. The perfect car to make an escapade from the hospital.
Now the man was still lying in his bed as far as Qingxuan knew, but what were the odds of these two situations happening in the same timeframe? Logically speaking, Qingxuan could ask Xie Lian to confront his puppy and ask if he was involved, but Xie Lian would never ask something like that out of the blue and the dog would never tell on his friends.
Qingxuan really didn’t want to ask their brother, but with the dog getting so much better by the day and Xie Lian shutting his pretty mouth like he always did, it was the only option. See, people have this image that doctors are the most uptight of persons, respectful and professional in every way through their lives. Truth is doctors and nurses are just like regular people, rowdy and loud and fucking annoying at times. Qingxuan’s brother was a perfect example of this, ex motorcycle gang member turned surgeon who would still drink himself silly every weekend and wreak havoc with his two equally annoying friends: cardiologist Pei Ming and HR representative Ling Wen. Ling Wen hadn’t been of any help and Pei Ming was out of the question, so Shi Wudu it was.
San Lang was full of surprises. Not only was he recovering uncannily fast, he knew every card game in the universe. From poker to speed, and he was very good at every single one of them. After a week of spending all his time in the hospital, Xie Lian had brought a deck of cards to help San Lang distract himself and move his arm little by little to help recovery, but was not expecting to lose every single time.
“You are getting better, if played properly most card games are just games of luck, and I am extremely lucky. I would need to share some of my luck with you next time.” San Lang stated after the third game of poker he had won in a row. Xie Lian wasn’t sad about losing, but he wasn’t all that happy either.
“And I am the unluckiest person ever. I’m just not good at this, let’s stop for today.” Xie Lan let all of his cards fall to the bed, stretching his back on the chair he was sitting at.
“It’s just a game, no need to call yourself that. Alright nurse Xie, tell me a story then. Anything new from those chatty nurses?” San Lang started grabbing the loose cards and getting them back on their box, his old eyepatch securely around his right eye.
“Well, we got a new doctor. Apparently he is very good, young and promising doctor Luo who just came back from, uh… The States? Germany? I can’t remember. Not sure if you’ll be able to see him, as I am discharging you tomorrow.” Xie Lian said proudly, deeming his patient stable enough to recover at home now that his gunshot wounds have healed for the most part. It will surely be more comfortable to rest at home and not hidden in a hospital room.
“While I am happy to be going home, I am going to miss you dearly, nurse Xie. Where else could I share such wonderful meals with you?” Hua Cheng said, pointing at his very unappetizing soup on the table next to him.
An uncharacteristic blush spread through Xie Lian’s cheeks, the joke on the very bland hospital meals not lost on him.
“We can grab a proper meal sometime, you know, so I can check how you’re doing. And you can always come back for a check up, hopefully not with more gunshot wounds.” Replied Xie Lian, not wanting this to be the last time he interacted with wonderful and funny San Lang. As much as his job took most of his time, he could take a weekend or two to see San Lang again. He very much wanted to.
“Are you asking me to have dinner with you, nurse Xie? While I would be delighted, I think I should be the one inviting you, as thanks for everything you’ve done for me.”
“Please, San Lang, don’t thank me anymore, after all it’s my… pleasure! Whenever San Lang is feeling sick, which I hope isn’t often, I’ll nurse you back to full health.” Of course it was his job, but seeing this young man so full of life and health because of him made him grateful he still had the power to at least help one more person.
“Allright, let me rephrase, then. Would head nurse Xie like to eat with this San Lang on his next day off? Just to catch up, no gunshots or scrubs.”
Xie Lian couldn’t really say no to that, not that he wanted to either. While he was immensely happy San Lang had recovered so quickly, the thought of coming here everyday and not having his little red to check on was a little underwhelming. Very, to be exact.
“Yes! That sounds lovely. Should I give you my phone numbe–”
Knock, knock. A shadow could be seen through the closed curtain on the small window located on top of the door. Now, if it was the young nurse who had been helping them previously, her shadow wouldn’t reach that high nor would her knock be so loud. Then again, you don’t really knock on a room you know is empty.
Both men stood in complete silence for a minute, Xie Lian too preoccupied on coming up with an excuse and Hua Cheng mapping all possible escape routes when a second knock followed by a deep voice resonated through the room.
“Head nurse Xie? This is Dr. Luo, could I have a moment of your time?” His deep voice was barely noticed, as if whispered through the cracks on the door. Xie Lian had barely spoken to the new doctor, and while he hadn’t really felt any red flags coming from him, the younger man spoke too little to show his real temperament. Panicked, Xie Lian raised a finger to his mouth motioning San Lang to stay quiet and approached the door.
Standing between San Lang and the doctor, Xie Lian opened about an inch of the door and peeked at the taller man standing menacingly in front of him.
“Dr. Luo! How embarrassing, you caught me sleeping here instead of working, ha ha… Ah, how can I help you?” Hiding his panic behind white lies, Xie Lian exited the room and closed the door behind him, locking it from inside without the other doctor noticing anything.
“Actually, I just found this… cat, that I need to take care of, and nurse Ning told me you had… a similar situation. What I’m trying to say is, could you help me?”
“A cat? Ah…”
Notes:
Ive probably said this in the past but Qingxuan is my spirit animal
Chapter 6: Short lived rumors, long time conspiracies.
Notes:
TW* PTSD episode, blood, mentions of arson.
I tried my best to write this as realistically as posible, but took most inspiration from the scene were Xie Lian returns to see his parents resting place and the aftermath of that.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Social media ended up being Qingxuan’s savior. Well, not quite: their brother had told them about this person they met online years ago, apparently a hacker that specialized in finding anyone or anything you were looking for. In exchange, of course, of a hefty sum of money.
Which brings us to Qingxuan spending their whole break trying to remember their old discord username, and considering if their bank account was really worth the trouble. They hadn’t seen Xie Lian all day, which was weird considering Fridays were usually super busy and all. Now that they thought about it, it was nearly 6p.m. and head nurse Xie was nowhere to be found. Shit, had something happened? Did that dog finally show its fangs? Or maybe someone finally caught on the secret patient in room 208? Shit, shit, shit! Once more imagining the worse, Qingxuan pulled their hair into a messy bun, meaning business.
Evading patients and doctors in quick strides, Qingxuan made their way from the third to the second floor, scanning with their eyes for Xie Lian or the dog, whichever they found first. But after checking the entire floor and finding nothing, they came straight to room 208, a strange feeling creeping up on them. Steeling themselves, Qingxuan opened the door only to find, well, nothing.
“Huh? Where’s-”
“Can I help you with something?”
All of Qingxuan’s hair stood at the sudden deep voice calling after them. They knew who it was, how could they forget such a pretty face?
“Heeeey Dr.Luo. I was just, umm, about to take a nap! Yeah, haha, you know how the nurse’s resting rooms are. Wait, no, you’re not a nurse, of course you don’t, hahaha, ahh great weather today huh?” Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
The taller man stared at Qingxuan, clearly not believing anything they were saying.
“You should know it is forbidden to use the rooms as we please, what is your name again?”
Things were quickly going south, thick drops of sweat fell from the nurse’s forehead and their hands were starting to shake when someone else joined the conversation.
“It’s okay, they know about the, ugh, pets.” Calling patients ‘pets’ was messing up big time with Xie Lian’s mind, but it was the only way they could speak without being found.
“A-Lian! Thank God you’re here. I really thought I was a goner.” Qingxuan fell dramatically in Xie Lian’s arms, wiping nonexistent tears from their face.
“What happened? Was he kicked out? Did he escape? Why didn’t I see you all day? Did Dr. Luo tell on you? Is that why you were hiding? Oh God are we in trouble? I was looking for you like crazy, I almost even paid some random to-”
“Calm down, It’s okay. Dr. Luo is in a, similar, situation to mine, so to speak, so we can trust him. Sa- I mean, uh, little red is gone. We got a little scared when the doctor came back, I think he came to the same conclusion as you and left through the window.”
/A couple of hours before/
“A cat? Ah…” Xie Lian realized what the doctor meant now. Nurse Ning had been very discreet about their secret patient, and for her to let another person know meant they could probably be trusted. Unfortunately for Xie Lian, life had thought him that not everyone who came with good intentions meant to actually act on them, so he couldn’t let his guard down just yet.
“Nurse Xie, have you heard about Heaven’s floor?” Xie Lian knew where this conversation would take them now.
“Rumors are not to be trusted, doctor. I have worked in this hospital for five years, it is a given that some people pass away even when we do our best.” Xie Lian answered. Even he had heard about the strange passing of some patients from the sixth floor, but he always thought it was a way for wealthy people to cover up things they didn’t want the public to know, like hereditary illnesses or overdose cases.
“What if I told you I have proof that they aren’t just rumors?”
Xie Lian’s face turned pale in an instant, his eyes widened to the point where there was more white than hazel, and he felt a cold shiver run through his back. Memories flooded his vision, dust and grime and so, so much fire. People screaming from all directions, loud bangs and the horrid smell of metal clinging to his hands.
“Nurse Xie?” Forcing himself to come back to the present, Xie Lian took a deep breath to calm himself before asking with a voice colder than the hospital walls.
“Are you one hundred percent sure?” The uncanny seriousness in the petite nurse’s tone made doctor Luo answer with the same tone.
“Never have I ever been more serious in my entire life.”
Only after hearing what doctor Luo had to say did Xie Lian open the door to room 208, finding it empty. Not only was it empty, there was no trace of anyone ever being here at all. The bed was pristinely made, the curtains were raised all the way, and there was nothing on the side table.
For a moment Xie Lian thought he had entered the wrong room, but after double checking the number, he realized that San Lang had probably thought they had been found and took it upon himself to disappear. All thoughts of Heaven’s floor left the nurse’s mind, a heavy weight fell on his stomach the moment he realized he hadn’t even exchanged phone numbers with San Lang. Dejected, he sat on the bed facing the window as if expecting the younger man to come back from where he had left.
What Xie Lian wasn’t expecting was the metal sound coming from one of the pillows when his weight dented the bed a little bit, and upon closer inspection he saw something catching the light.
“His necklace!” Bringing the object closer to his face, Xie Lian realized it was the thin silver necklace San Lang had been wearing when he was brought here. Once he took a closer look, Xie Lian realized there was a small locket hanging from it, seemingly containing something inside. Curiosity filled the nurse’s heart, but it really wasn’t his place to be toying with other people’s precious items.
It looked pretty expensive, and Xie Lian definitely had to return it to its rightful owner. Determination growing on his chest, Xie Lian pulled the necklace over his head and carefully hid it under his scrubs, wearing it as a promise. A promise to find San Lang once more, whatever it took.
“So he just left! The guts…” Qingxuan said, now angry for all the wrong reasons. Okay, he was being kept here in secret, but he could have at least thanked them! Did he know just how hard nurses had to work? And for them to make the time and space for a stranger like this only for their efforts to be wasted?
“Uh, sorry. I think it was my fault.” Dr. Luo said from beside them, catching on to what they were talking about.
“Not at all! I was going to discharge him tomorrow anyway, he should be fine. Please don’t worry about us. Qingxuan-” Xie Lian apologized before turning back to his friend. “There is another matter that I wanted you to help me, no, help us with.”
“Please stop trying to get us fired.” The taller nurse said dejectedly.
“We have a more serious matter in our hands, I think you should hear what the doctor has to say.”
“It’s about Heaven’s floor.” The doctor said, and lord, was it all he had to say for Qingxuan to turn their full attention to their words.
All three of them entered the now empty room 208 and locked the door behind them. No one sat down, all three of them anxious to uncover this rumor turned conspiracy-turned emergency.
“Long story short, the first patient I was assigned to seemed to have inconsistencies on his charts. After examining the patient carefully, I decided to redo all of his labs myself, not letting the samples away from my sight even for one second. After comparing them to previous samples, I found abnormally high concentrations of muscle relaxants and other chemicals which, if combined in high doses, would cause even someone like me to faint or have a seizure.”
With each new piece of information both nurses opened their eyes even bigger, not wanting to believe what their ears were hearing.
“I asked nurse Ning for help, and we decided the best thing would be to discharge him for now while treating him outside the hospital in order to avoid anyone else messing with his meds.”
“Wait, wait a second. So you found a patient with weird charts and decided someone was doing malpractice on him and the whole sixth floor?” Qingxuan asked incredulously.
“After that I had a friend from the morgue help us investigate more and he found that there were a bunch of people missing pieces or entire organs. Worst part? All of the patients missing something had stayed on Heaven’s floor. She told me that head nurse Xie could be trusted, so here we are.”
Both Xie Lian and Qingxuan couldn’t believe their ears. Not only had patients died because of someone’s neglect, but their organs were being harvested? Wasn’t this the most luxurious hospital in the country, where only the richest of the rich came to? It didn’t make sense for the black market to be involved in this area, nor for the staff to be doing such things.
“What are you suggesting we do with this information?” Qingxuan asked after a moment of consideration.
“Just play along for now. I’m sure you both know the severity of releasing this information without concrete proof, and just how much power and influence the higher ups have in the city.” Said Dr.Luo in almost a whisper.
“Not just the city, didn’t you see our youngest board director having dinner with the senator last week? Tsk, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have the whole country under their pockets.” Answered Qingxuan, exasperated.
“Alright, it’s getting late for our rounds. Let’s share phone numbers and keep quiet for now.” Said Xie Lian, cutting their conversation short as they had work to do. “Dr. Luo, if there is anything we can help with please let us know. Take care of your patients, and yourself.”
“You too head nurse, take care and make sure to let me know if you notice anything strange, or if someone seems suspicious.”
After exchanging phone numbers and leaving the room one by one in order to go unnoticed, head nurse Xie continued his work as if nothing happened. Yet only Qingxuan noticed the shadow behind his eyes, like he knew more than he let go. It was a look Qingxuan had never seen, and that scared them more than they let go too.
At the end of his shift, Xie Lian didn’t feel like going back home, so he decided to walk with no destination in mind. Not only had he kept San Lang’s necklace, but the conversation with Dr.Luo had left a bad taste in his mouth, both metaphorically and physically. It might be all in his head, but Xie Lian felt a reminiscent metallic taste in his mouth, seasoned with gunpowder and that summer’s scorching heat. A wicked smile, a harsh punishment.
Memories he never wanted to recall started flooding Xie Lian’s mind like ravenous crows scavenging an innocent prey, the coldness of death not a harsh enough sentence to keep the pain away even after all life has been stripped off its body. He thought he had killed those memories, those feelings, but they came back in hot flashes, each one more rabid than the last.
Up until now no emotion could be seen in Xie Lian’s stoic face, but with each quick step he took toward random dark streets, his sight filled with confusion, sadness, and eventually anger. At some point he started running, his usually keen hearing not being able to process whether the sound of hurried footsteps belonged to him or someone else after him. All the hair in his body stood as if afraid of something, of someone, probably of himself.
Xie Lian felt eyes on him, his heart pumping blood to all the muscles on his body in preparation of whatever was coming for him. He couldn’t remember where he came from but the dark streets started feeling familiar, as if he had been there before. The skin of his arms and legs started prickling, each new sensation a hit to his nervous system. It’s happened before, a part of his mind reminded him, but it was too much to comprehend at the moment.
Turning left and right he ended up on a dead end at the very back of what seemed like an abandoned neighborhood. The broken windows covered in rags and scrap pieces of cardboard and metal made him hyper aware that he was uncovered and completely at the mercy of an attack, and panic finally overcame him. Suddenly he recalled a face he never wanted to see in his life again.
It had been 8 years since he had last seen Jun Wu, and 5 since he heard of the man. He didn’t care how he was doing these days, not even the morbid curiosity to know if he was still alive. He was breathing heavily but Xie Lian felt as if no oxygen was getting into his lungs. Almost on cue to his drumming heartbeat a shadow appeared from a nearby shabby house, its whispering falling on Xie Lian’s deaf ears. Placing his back toward a corner, the nurse reached toward his left side as if trying to grab something, and only after coming up with nothing did his mind click.
He had no weapon with him, no comrades, nothing to protect himself with.
“I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU, COME GET ME IF YOU CAN!” Taking his backpack and using it as a shield, Xie Lian yelled at the top of his lungs. The shadow seemed to have disappeared, but the noises kept pestering him, his mind completely lost in the moment.
Just when Xie Lian meant to reach one of the zippers in his backpack to try and produce something to protect himself with, a pair of hands circled his heck and before he could react, his entire vision went blank, along with his consciousness.
Notes:
Im debating adding more tags since I dont want to spoil the story. Please let me know if I should add something in particular or if Im missing any TWs.
As always, thank you <3To those of you who understand the old pictures reference, I hope you laughed as much as I did imagining Qingxuan in this scenario. To those of you who don't, go look for John Mulaney's 'the one thing you can't replace'.
Chapter 7: Burning Pile
Chapter Text
The whole place was set ablaze, red and yellow reflected on manic eyes. The sound of structures crumbling around him, the scorching heat of the flames licking at his feet. Xie Lian was looking for something, he couldn’t remember what. Cries for help could be heard between explosions, but his legs kept carrying him deeper into hell.
He could feel pain coming from his right hand, but his mind was not paying attention to anything other than finding what was missing.
“...eral? … …”
“...Lian! … … “
Sweat and dirt fell down to his eyelashes, and Xie Lian could barely keep his eyes open because of the heavy smoke around him.
“...eral! Over there! …”
Someone was calling for him, but he needed to find him first. If only he could find him, then everything until now would… Would everything be alright? No, nothing would be the same. But it would have been worth it.
“... Lian?”
Xie Lian’s head hurt, and the voices calling for him kept changing like hundreds of demons trying to take over his body.
“A-Lian!”
“...ge.”
What was that name? No one in the army would even consider calling him that. No one but-
“Gege!”
Xie Lian felt himself waking up in a panic, and before he could process his surroundings his hands had moved on their own to form a chokehold on the person closest to him.
“Ahh! A-Lian, what are you doing?”
It took Xie Lian a couple of seconds for his mind to clear and see everything around him clearly. This wasn’t war, it was an empty room, no windows and two doors with only a table and what seemed like two small loveseats. After further inspection, he noticed it wasn’t empty after all: he could see Qingxuan in regular clothes, light colored jeans and an aquamarine shirt with a v-neck.
Trying to calm down, Xie Lian took a deep breath, only to notice a sweet smell, fresh like summer flowers that came in soft strands to tickle his nose, his arms still holding onto something close by. Another deep breath, and it wasn’t ‘something’ he was holding onto, but ‘someone’.
“...San Lang?”
Only then did Xie Lian let go of the man trapped in his arms. His long black hair was braided and fell to the right side of his face, covering most of the leather eyepatch. His other eye looked at him in a combination of fear and relief, his cheeks slightly flushed from the lack of oxygen. Red fingerprints were flourishing on his neck, proof of the force Xie Lian had unconsciously used on him, and regret instantly filled his chest.
“A-Lian, are you okay? Are you dizzy? Let me check you-”
Qingxuan had been trying to grab his attention to check on him, but Xie Lian’s eyes were glued to the man in front of him. His instincts finally kicked in and, instead of worrying over himself, he sprung on the bed to check on San Lang’s condition.
“San Lang! Oh God, I am so, so sorry. Are you okay? I- it wasn’t on purpose, I was only-”
“It’s okay, really, don’t worry about me. It's you that we’re worried about.” Hua Cheng said while motioning for Qingxuan to help him check on the shorter man.
“But you were just in the hospital! And here I was, choking you…”
“I don’t think he minds a little choking, but from what I’ve heard you were probably having an episode or an anxiety attack. Can you remember what you were doing before waking up here?” The first comment didn’t go unnoticed by Hua Cheng, but he let it slide to prioritize the man on the bed.
“I…” Xie Lian tried remembering what happened, but he could only recall running, escaping from someone and then…
“I think I remembered something I didn’t want to, so I ran to forget it but… Guess it didn' t work, ha ha.” And then Jun Wu came to his mind.
“A-Lian… you know that I love you and mean no harm with this but, that is not okay. Is there anything you want to tell me? Just so that I can help you properly…” Qingxuan started checking on his vitals, his reaction time and his overall condition while asking. Although, that really seem like-
“It’s nothing, really. I was just trying to use some energy-”
“Gege.” And no one had called him that in so, so long. “One of my, uh, friends, saw you running crazy fast. You were saying things that didn’t make sense. He told me about you and I came as fast as I could but…”
“But?” Oh no, he was probably screaming bloody murder and San Lang was just being polite about it.
“But you passed out on the street when I got there. And the marks.” Hua Cheng’s mood darkened considerably, his eye looking straight at his neck. Curious as to what he was looking at, Xie Lian tried checking his neck to no avail.
“There are signs that somebody knocked you out, or choked you unconscious.” Qingxuan elaborated.
What? Was there really someone following him? There were very few people who could sneak up on him like that. But then again, if he was so out of it not to remember then it seemed plausible.
“I… I probably had an episode of PTSD. It’s been so long since I’ve had one, I just didn’t notice in time. It could have honestly been me choking myself, maybe.” Xie Lian said bashfully, almost as if he were talking about missing the last step of the hospital stairs.
Xie Lian didn’t elaborate, only giving the most important details for his friend to calm down. Hua Cheng on the other hand had an unreadable expression, his eye was looking in Xie Lian’s direction but didn’t seem to reach him. The older nurse didn’t want San Lang to look down on him, to feel any sort of way at something so old and annoying as this.
“A-Lian, have you… worked on this before?”
Meaning if he had seen a psychiatrist for it. Xie Lian had seen many, actually, and he did get better after, but some triggers were too much even now.
“I have.”
Qingxuan understood what the short answer meant, so they didn’t ask anything else. Scolding their face into neutrality, the younger nurse gave Xie Lian a small smile and sat on the edge of the bed with him. Hua Cheng had been sitting on the other side of the bed ever since Xie Lian had, well, choked him. Only after allowing his friend to check on him did Xie Lian turn his attention back to the room.
The room was spacious, the bed he was resting on was located at the center, with two black side tables on each side and a larger table on the left side of the room. A basin with clean water stood on the larger table, soaked fabric napkins left to the side of it, probably used to keep his head cool. The bed had simple black bedsheets and a light comforter, black as well. Most things in the room seemed to be black, all but a painting hanging on the wall in front of the bed. Intense hues of red interlocked to form the visage of a person, the only pop of color an almost transparent tear falling from one of its closed eyes.
“Where are we?” Xie Lian asked finally. Because there were no windows he had no idea what time it was, nor where he could possibly be.
“My house. It was closer than the hospital, but I asked your friend to come just in case. How do you feel?” Hua Cheng had noticed Xie Lian looking at the painting, but made no comment on it. And how could this be his house? It was bare, as if no one was really living here. The only thing in this room that seemed used was the bed, as the fresh hibiscus scent Xie Lian had caught earlier lingered on the sheets.
“I thought I was being kidnapped, really. Only after hearing your name did I come here. I’ve never been to this part of the city! My brother will be furious if he knows where we are.”
“You can leave now if you want to.” Answered Hua Cheng with no real bite to his comment.
“I’m not leaving this place alone. Xie Lian is going home with me.” Replied Qingxuan, letting their hair down to re-tie it properly.
“I think gege should rest some more. It’s only been a few hours since we found him after all.” Hua Cheng stood from the bed, placing both hands on his hips.
“I wouldn’t want to impose on San Lang! Oh lord, what time is it? Midnight?” Xie Lian tried getting off the bed, but both Hua Cheng and Qingxuan stopped him from doing so.
“Okay, I hate to say it but what he says is true.” The young nurse took a quick look at their smartwatch. “Right now it is… two in the morning. Two forty five”
“You guys…”
Xie Lian felt remorseful for having these two people awake at such an ungodly hour just for him. Qingxuan had a morning shift tomorrow, well, later today and San Lang… Well, Xie Lian didn’t know exactly where he worked but was pretty sure he must have been tired at this time anyway. Noticing this San Lang replied.
“Gege shouldn’t worry. He should sleep here and skip work tomorrow, to make sure he is okay.”
“But I can’t-”
“Already emailed Ling Wen. We will be fine, A-Lian, it’s just one day. I hate to admit it but I do agree with him. You need rest more than anything. And if you need something you have my phone number.” Qingxuan was putting some things back in their handbag, as if wanting to leave. Before they could go, they looked Xie Lian in the eyes and with the softest tone which they usually saved for children said,
“Please. Call me, even if it’s just an update, or for a chat. Promise me that.”
“I will, I promise. Thank you, Qingxuan.”
“Alright. I need to leave now, otherwise my brother is going to start asking questions. And you” Qingxuan pointed a finger at Hua Cheng. “I know you saved him, but I still don’t trust you. If A-Lian doesn’t answer my texts I’m calling the police.”
Hua Cheng only smirked at the threat, making the young nurse a little angry.
“And I’m posting it on social media. I have a little over half a million followers, your face will be on everyone’s screen in no time.”
“Qingxuan, stop that. San Lang wouldn’t do anything bad.”
“Not so sure. Better safe than sorry.”
After giving Xie Lian a final check up, Qingxuan called for an uber and left the place. Now that the loudest person was gone, Xie Lian let his head fall back on the pillow as the day’s fatigue finally hit him. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm his body once more. Only when he felt a weight to his right did he open them again.
“Hey, how do you feel?” Hua Cheng asked again, worry still visible in his eye.
“I’m okay now, thanks to San Lang.” He gave the taller man a small smile.
“Are you thirsty? I can bring you some water. You also missed dinner, do you feel like eating something?”
At the mention of food, Xie Lian’s stomach made a hungry sound. A little embarrassed, he agreed with his head.
“I don’t think there is anything open at this hour. I’ll be fine with just water.”
“What do you mean nothing will be open? Everything is open late around here. Say, do you like tacos?”
Xie Lian had never tried them, but his mouth watered at the mention of them.
“Tacos sound lovely.”
“Tacos it is. Wait here, I’ll go buy them. And no, you’re staying here. I’ll be quick.”
It was almost 3 a.m. when San Lang left, and 3:15 when he came back with two bags full of food for the both of them.
Notes:
Realistically I would never leave one of my friends with a stranger. Lets not think about it too much for the plot tho~
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