On his knees

Huobai woke up early again, because of the pain in his knee. When he tossed around in the bed, he straightened his knee to the max and it hurt like hell.

He moaned with pain and massaged it again. Maybe he had growing pains. Huobai didn't want to bother his parents, so he just put up with it.

He got up from the bed and did what he did every morning, the routine that didn't have to be described in detail. He had a shower, skincare routine, meal alone, and then he was taken to school by his personal chauffeur.

He met his friends by the school gate and hissed with pain when someone pushed him. Because as he tried to balance it out, his knee protested with pain.

But what was weird was that it was only one knee. So it wouldn't be growing pains. Huobai frowned as Kai supported him.

"What happened?" Jingyi frowned too. But Huobai just shook his head. He didn't want to bother his friends either. He was perfect; he couldn't have any flaws. Not saying injury.

"Today is the semi-final match. Are you sure you are okay?" Kai asked, they could hear the concern in his voice. Huobai started walking again and nodded.

He would win, he needed to win. If he lost, it would be such a disgrace. Because if he won, only then, his father would praise him. Only then, his mother would come home and stay there for a while again.

"Are you sure you didn't get hurt in the last match? Since then you are not stepping properly on your right knee," Kai pointed out and Huobai flinched. He forgot how attentive his classmates were.

He thought that he was hiding it well, but obviously not when they both noticed it.

"Don't worry about me, it's just numbness. It won't affect my performance during the game. I will go to the nurse to get some ice and ice it during the class," Huobai said to calm them down. He was sure that if he did that, the pain would disappear.

But his friends obviously didn't believe him, because they followed him to the nurse's office. They waited for him to get the ice pack and hated that Huobai ignored her warning to not play and visit the hospital.

He was icing the knee for a long time. And he was right. The pain and even the numbness disappeared, together with the feeling that he has a knee.

In the afternoon he was ignoring all the protest and worried gazes from Kai. And when he ran out from the changing room with his team, he could feel his knee again.

"Don't run around too much. I will help you, however, I can," Kai said and looked in the stance where Jingyi's eagle eyes watched his every movement.

Huobai who felt the pain building up only gritted his teeth and nodded. The warming up wasn't that painful, and he actually felt only a numb pain. Nothing that would stop him.

The game started soon after and Huobai was so absorbed in trying to win and became the finalist, that he ignored everything. He just had to win, by any means. Even if he had to destroy his body. This was his senior year.

"Look at him, he can't run anymore." The opponent player laughed at Huobai. Kai winced. It wasn't something that Huobai should be told. Not now, when he didn't even listen to the coach to sit down and have a break.

"I can't run? They watch me," he gritted through his teeth and got up again.

"Huobai sit down!" the coach yelled, but Huobai just turned around and stared at him. He wasn't saying anything and the atmosphere just got awkward.

"Why? I scored the most points today. I feel fine. You can't just put me on the bench. You would lose without me," he said after a while, and the coach had nothing else to say. Like many others, he was afraid of Huobai's father. And he too wanted to go into finals. It would mean a bonus with his salary.

"I'm taking you down soon," the coach said, pissed because he really had no other choice than to let him play. He took out his phone and called his doctor friend to come in quick, just to be sure.

Huobai was playing even fiercer than before, stealing all rebounds and scoring more points. The pace of the game was even higher than before.

He shot the ball, but it bounced off the basket so he jumped up to get the rebound again. But when he landed on his legs, his knee gave up under the pain and let him just fall down.

His knees bent, and he fell down on the ground. Unfortunately, no one expected him to fall, so Huobai's face met the opponent player's knee.

And he lost consciousness with immense pain.

When Kai saw that Huobai was down, he ran to him as soon as the referee blew the whistle and lifted him up from the floor. He was laying down in an awkward position and his face was swelling from the knee impact.

"I told him to sit down," the coach swore as he ran there too. The doctor that was by the line hurried in together with the doctor.

"His father will be furious," the doctor said and gestured to the side for them to bring stretchers. Xu Kai was really disgusted by this behavior. The first thing they were worried about wasn't Huobai. It was his father.

"Get him out of the court first and call an ambulance. He is unconscious and his head needs to be scanned for bleeding or cracks," Jingyi was already by the line waiting for the stretchers. He grabbed Kai, who was helping with Huobai, and pulled on his hand.

"You have to win this, otherwise he would be impossible to be with. I will take care of him," Jingyi said and smiled at Kai, who nodded.

Jingyi was right. Losing wasn't in Huobai's dictionary. And not saying in basketball, his beloved sport. No matter how injured he was, he needed to win. So Kai would help him achieve that.

He watched as his friend was taken away to the hospital and ran back to the court, determined to win.