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[3 days since original incident]
Trapped in what seemed to be an eternal cycle of endless agony, Hua Cheng’s life felt as if it was slowly melting away. Soon, he will not differ much from the waxy residue left from Xie Lian’s burning candles.
His hospital room appeared bleary through his tear-filled eyes. It was only three days ago he was admitted, yet it felt like an eternity. Not being allowed contact with the outside had left his sanity hanging by a thin thread.
He was sat on his bed, bandages itching against raw skin as he flipped open a journal to absentmindedly doodle.
Xie Lian had promised to visit him today.
Trusting that Xie Lian would keep to his promise, Hua Cheng occupied himself with his scribbles, which mostly consisted of Xie Lian’s name. Though maybe a little cheesy, Hua Cheng really missed him.
When reaching to his face to carefully wipe away his fallen tears, he noticed something on his cheek.
It was a patch of... those things growing. The fungi.
Hua Cheng felt panic surge through his body faster than when he first noticed the fungi beginning to grow three days ago. He felt a sob inch its way up to his throat before he could bite it back.
They said it would work.
Cutting them off was supposed to be a viable treatment option! That’s what they told him! He was supposed to be getting better.
Greatly overwhelmed, Hua Cheng let out a sob. Tears freely streamed down his face as he scratched and grabbed at his own face, trying to forcefully pull the fungi out of his cheek.
His mind felt fuzzy as he tore them out. Blood spilling down his fingers and onto his journal. Dripping down onto the doodles of Xie Lian’s name like it was mocking him.
It hadn’t been long before someone barged into the room. A nurse, he presumed. He didn’t have the energy to fight back, not that he would’ve, he tore the fungi out. It’ll be okay now. It was probably just a one-off thing and he was now back on track to going home to Xie Lian.
Yeah, that sounded nice.
[12 days since original incident]
Since his breakdown over the fungi, Hua Cheng had been put on watch by the hospital staff. He guesses that it’s fair but now he can’t do anything about the abundance of fungi growing all over his body.
It seems every time the doctors cut them off, more start to grow. It was frustrating. Hua Cheng was very tempted to just rip them out himself again, but that wouldn’t be very smart of him.
Putting that aside, Xie Lian hadn’t responded to any of the messages he had the nurses send him. He didn’t end up visiting the day he promised either, even though Xie Lian takes promises very seriously, especially ones he makes to Hua Cheng. It simply wasn’t like him to break promises, but he might be busy. That was his hope at least. The nurses have been telling him to focus on his own recovery rather than what Xie Lian is doing.
It frustrated him to no end, he just wanted to know how he was doing. Hua Cheng huffed lightly, rearranging the bandages on his arms before standing up and stretching. Thinking about the staff at this hospital was putting him in a bad mood.
Recently, the doctors have gotten bad at hiding their concern for his condition. He wasn’t as dumb as they thought he was. He knew he was getting worse despite their constant reassurances.
The fungi weren’t going away. It wasn’t hard to see that they were growing and spreading faster than ever. He had patches of raw skin and wounds all over his body, it made him hideous. He wasn’t sure Xie Lian would even want to look at him anymore when they reunite. But, it’s okay. He can hide behind a mask and clothes. Anything for his gege.
As frustrating as his whole situation was, he still had hope that one day, if he kept cooperating with the staff, he’d be back with Xie Lian and everything would be fine…
He would wait hundreds of years for that day if he had to.
[25 days since original incident]
This was his breaking point.
Hua Cheng had finally be let on the internet after weeks of being isolated. It was going fine, but he wanted to check on Xie Lian. It took a few minutes for Xie Lian’s social media page to load as the hospital’s wifi wasn’t very good.
Once it did load, however, he found himself wishing it hadn’t.
What he was greeted with was a fucking obituary. The last post on his page.
Xie Lian was dead.
He had been dead for a while, that was weeks of Hua Cheng being blissfully unaware of his love’s pain. Xie Lian’s cause of death turned out to be the same disease Hua Cheng had... and wasn’t that just a stab in the chest?
Why couldn’t death have taken him instead? Xie Lian had so much more to offer to the world, so why was Hua Cheng alive instead of him?
His guilt nearly ate him alive as he stared at the post. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be, why couldn’t have Xie Lian been brought here instead of him? Did Hua Cheng get him sick without realizing it?
After staring blankly at the screen for a while, a nurse had informed him that it was time to go back to his room. Hua Cheng felt sick. The only way now was to meet Xie Lian in the afterlife. He knows that he will be mad at him for it, but he had to now.
And so, Hua Cheng acquiesced.
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