The Wounds

After 15 minutes

Three men were sprawled on the floor, next to each other.

One, with a fair skin with a much robust build, having black colored hair was kicking the second, light-skinned, lean but strong guy in the possible space available.

"You deserve this! I think you should be taught a proper lesson so that you would never do such things again. Isn't it Rong-Rong?"

The second guy, Fang Bai did not block his beatings. He knew he was wrong and scared his friends too much this time, so he properly accepted the punishment. He also had a hint of coaxing attitude.

His friends are more like his brothers. They supported him in everything he does. Maybe they are not used to the idea of such dangerous fights and are also angry because he hid this from them.

"Ouch! Yes, yes. I am wrong. Xiao-Wei, Rong-Rong, I'll explain it to you later. Let's go back now, it's late. Ge-ge would be hungry again."

"We just gave him a packet of snacks before we came here. Don't worry he won't be hungry." It was still Duan Wei who replied.

He really wanted to beat Fang Bai so much that his brain could be back into its place. He did not know how to twist his words to explain himself. If he argued with Fang Bai, he would surely not win.

Growing up in the military, he only had one way to solve his problems, fighting. Each problem could be solved by just an exchange of punches and kicks.

The third guy, Tang Rong, who had an olive-skin with chestnut coloured hair. did not beat Fang Bai for long, like Duan Wei. But his dark face told very well that he was angry too.

Fang Bai quietly let himself be beaten. He started acting miserable in order to gain sympathy from the other two. He pointed at his waist where Duan Wei's kick just landed, and made an expression of pain.

"Ouch, it hurts. Aiya~ I got a big hit at this place. Look, it's swollen too. Aah-"

Fortunately, Duan Wei really did stop this time.

Fang Bai enjoyed his victory, secretly feeling happy that the matter would be passed. But next what happened, was out of his expectations.

Tang Rong quickly approached him before he could respond and picked up his shirt from his abdomen.

Everything turned quiet.

On his abs, up to the waist till his shoulders were deep purple marks. Those marks were crisscrossed all over. Some old scab wounds were there too, which had been peeled by the hits.

The wounds looked extra-scary on his light-colored skin.

All this while, Fang Bai had been laughing and acting normal like nothing happened. He even had the nerve to act miserable and funny. But, his wounds showed how much pain he was suffering.

Actually, Fang Bai really was unconcerned as he seemed about the wounds. Such small injuries for him were just a common thing. He kept them hidden in his full-sleeved tops and no-one would know. They would even heal faster than anyone else and not leave any scars after a few days.

He was used to them.

Sitting on the hard floor, there was a silence for a long time. Tang Rong and Duan Wei were strangely quiet.

Fang Bai could not comprehend the strange and delicate atmosphere which suddenly formed. He wanted to explain but could not find any words.

"Y-you know, these are just superficial wounds. There is no pain in them. All of us used to get some pain during military training, isn't it? Don't worry, they will heal by themselves."

.

The delicate atmosphere which had been around them for a while broke.

"Xiao-Bai, are your failures and shortcomings just the only things in your life? Till when will you chase your them and leave us aside? They seem to be more important to you than us." Duan Wei first started with a sarcastic tone but slowly, his voice turned nasally.

"No, Ah-wei-"

"What are you denying? When have you ever considered us? You signed yourself for devil training alone without telling us. You took up missions, without telling us. You have nightmares, but you still don't tell us. You want to hide everything. Have you ever considered us as your friends?"

Fang Bai did not know how the situation turned out like this. He widened his eyes when he realized that his friends knew what he was hiding all the time.

"What? You think we don't know anything? We were 5 years old when we realized you had nightmares. To comfort you, Rong-Rong would wake up in the middle of night and hug you. We both would sometimes sleep next to you so that you would be fine."

"W-what!"

Duan Wei was really taking out all his frustrations this time.

"Yes. And we even knew you participated in Devil-training because we saw your form between your books. I really wanted to go and punch you at that time. But Rong-Rong said that you would be sad, you would yourself tell us one day. But the day never really came until today, when we realized you could also participate in life and death matches."

He let the tears rain down freely. It was better to finish the problem from it's root at once.

"We had just thought that these would be normal matches so that you could cool off some steam, but the Great Fighter Tyson, you really shocked us. It seems like we were never in your plans"

'No, it isn't true. You are my brothers. I don't think so about you. Please stop."

"No, Ah-Wei listen to me. I am sorry that I kept this from all of you. Please understand me."

"The dragon bell was just what you told us to ring whenever you would get out of control and the manager would call us. But without even the manager's supervision you attended today's match. What if the bell would not have ringed? You really didn't think that if you break the rules and kill that woman today, what consequences would you have faced? "

Fang Bai looked down, wanting to bore a hole in the ground. He could not describe his loss when he was the one to make his cheery best friend best friend cry.

He had always been like this. He always ended up hurting his loved ones. How much they loved him, he could do nothing for them instead of just receiving their love and burdening them.

He had nothing to give them in return.

Suddenly, his mind became hazy and he began to hear the shrill cry of a woman.

"It's you, it's you... It's all because of you! "

That woman was also his mother. She had said he was the reason for everyone's unhappiness. He is bad luck.

Depressing thoughts pooled in his mind like those countless times in his nightmares. He wanted to escape and run away from those thoughts, but his body remained frozen in place.

Suddenly, he felt a touch of warm hands and was drawn into someone's embrace. The embrace warmed his chilling heart. Looking up, he realized that it was Tang Rong.

Tang Rong had always been the person whom all of them would depend on. He had a maturity beyond his age.

He was not very talkative, but was always warm to all of them. He was that understanding friend, who one would always look for in every problem.

Even Fang Junjie would leave work to spend time with him to gain some peace.

Fang Bai let himself relax into the brotherly embrace, some part of his previous feelings being swept away. He then felt another heavy body behind him and realized that Tang Rong had also called Duan Wei over in the hug.

Both Fang Bai and Duan Wei occupied each shoulder.

Duan Wei silently wiped his snot on the shoulder, without caring for what Tang Rong would feel. Tang Rang felt helpless, he had always given in to Duan Wei since childhood. Maybe because of his pure, frank and sunny attitude even though he lived in an orphanage.

He suddenly felt that he had become a father of two big kids.

After a few minutes, the three of them sat in a triangle on the hard floor of the dressing room.

None of them minded their surroundings.

Tang Rong started," Now tell us everything."

Fang Bai suddenly realized that Rang Rong can also be very scary.