Broken dreams

"You should tell him," Huobai heard his father's voice, and he frowned. His eyelids were heavy and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't open his eyes.

"I can't. He loves basketball, he will be devastated," his mother said, and he was even more confused. It was rare for both of his parents to be there. That's why he tried, even more, to open his eyes.

He could feel the gentle touch of his mother on his hand. And he gently squeezed it as a sign he heard them.

"Quiet. He is waking up, don't talk about it yet," his mother said authoritatively. And the tone probably startled his father enough to make him quiet.

Huobai was finally strong enough to open his eyes. And when the blinding light subsided, he could see he was in an unknown room, his father and mother sitting beside the bed he was lying on.

"Where am I?" he asked, confused, only a hazy mist in his brain. He couldn't remember anything. And before he remembered what happened, his mother spoke up.

"You got hit in the basketball game." As soon as she said that, he suddenly remembered. Huobai tried to sit up and his mother helped him.

"Why did I get hit?" he couldn't quite remember the entire game he played. He scratched himself on his head and then ran his hand over his forehead. When he got to the left side of it, he felt pain, just from the light touch.

"Don't touch it. You have a pretty colorful bump there," his father chuckled and Huobai shot his hostile gaze. But it made him laugh rather than intimidating him.

Huobai noticed that they completely brushed away his question about how he fell. So he closed his eyes and tried to remember things, but he had only a black place there.

"Why don't I remember what happened?" he asked, once more, trying to get more information. His mother avoided eye contact with him, and his father was suddenly busy replying to someone's message. They avoided saying what happened at all costs.

"Okay, so I'm completely fine and I can go back and start training again," he said, letting his legs fall down from his bed and looked like he would walk out of the room at any minute.

That actually startled his parents so hard, they both leaned forward to him and tried calming him down.

"No honey, you need to stay in the bad. It's bad to walk around. You just woke up," Huobai could hear the panic in his mother's voice. He frowned, thinking.

It was unusual for her to be home, so maybe he could abandon his pride and be a filial son for once.

As soon as he decided that, he fell back into the pillows and lifted his legs back to bed. Or at least one of them. As soon as he straightened his right leg, his knee hurt with such brutal pain that he involuntarily screamed.

'So this was it…' he thought when he finally remembered what had happened on the court.

"Are you okay? Call the doctor, he is in pain!" his mother, Song Fei, shouted at her husband, Zhang Nanchuan, who was already halfway out of the door.

"I'm okay, mom, calm down. It's nothing. I have had this pain for a while already. I'm okay with it…" he smiled to reassure her, but she looked even angrier.

"Zhang. Huo. Bai! You are telling me that you are in pain for a long time and you haven't called us?!" her threatening tone made chicken even out of fearless Huobai. As usual, when his mother was pissed, he only nodded and prayed for early saving.

Thankfully, his prayers were heard, because at that moment his father and a doctor came into the room. And saved him.

"Looks like you woke up. Let's see…" the doctor said and blinded Huobai with his penlight. It was so annoying that he wanted to smack him away. But at the same time. The doctor was the only barrier between his mother and him.

"You are okay, we will keep you here, for tonight. Just to be sure, but it looks like you fainted more from the pain. Oh, yes. I prescribed you some painkillers. Use them only when the pain is really unbearable." With those words, he walked away. Huobai frowned again and looked at his parents.

"Is there some reason for me to take painkillers for a longer period of time? And don't evade my questions now! Or I will really go to the doctor to make him tell me everything!" His voice rose at the end. His mother looked down at her hands. And his father just looked out of the window.

There must have been a reason that they behave like this. And Huobai suspected it had to be something really bad because he could see the tears that formed in his mother's eyes.

He swallowed and imagined the worst possible scenario. Something that they would really hate to tell him. And it certainly had something to do with his beloved basketball.

"I got injured, so I can't play basketball until I'm healed?" he asked, hope in his voice. No, this wasn't the worst he imagined, but it was something bad that left him with hope.

But they kept being silent. No words. Which meant it was even worse than he said.

"I- can't play basketball at all? Never?" he swallowed and said, totally defeated. He loved the sport so much, he couldn't imagine his time without basketball.

But the silence grew even worse. But now, he saw his mother's panic. So he hit the nail. He was crippled.

Huobai breathed out and looked at his father, who was close to the window, looking out. His face was unreadable. As expected from someone who owned many casinos. A professional poker face.

"Tell me. I want to hear it from you. I shouldn't be guessing," he whispered, suddenly mentally exhausted. He bent his legs to his chest and hugged his knees. He felt a slight tingling sensation in his right leg. So… he really was ill.

His mother sat on the edge of his bed and placed her hand on his hand and patted. It was something she used to do when he was a child.

"You have a bone bulge in your knee. It's pressing your nerves and blood vessels. You need an operation to know if it's cancerous… and if it is malign or benign…" his mother said at the end, tears falling down her eyes.

No wonder they were so scared to tell him. He might have cancer. Of course, they feared the worse. Huobai laid his head on his knees, ignoring the tingle, and a single tear fell down his cheek.

But soon one tear after another followed, and so Huobai was weeping like a little child. Not that only he would have to give up his loved basketball. But he might die sooner than he thought, too.

His father came to him and hugged him tightly, his poker face slipping for a while when a tear fell down onto Huobai.

"We are family, we will get through it together," Nanchuan said and Fei nodded. But only Huobai knew that it was just a wish. If he had bone cancer, no money would help him…