The One Who Listens

Step 11: Say, Everything is Gonna be Alright.

Did you think I am that cruel?

I am not.

And!!!

Princess Xie Hua Tangxing just hit 1k in Wattpad and The One Who Listens hit 1k in AO3.

Ik it is not much at all. But, I still feel proud. It makes me so happy :)

About this chapter: Graphic description of a artificial(man-made) disaster and injuries. Read with caution. It is important, plotwise.

Hua Cheng's ears were ringing like pressure-cooker whistles.

He heard Xie Lian shout something incoherent from beneath him.

There were screams and cries all around him, along with groans, grunts and crashing of metals and concrete.

They were falling, and then everything came to a standstill.

His body stung and his vision was still a blur.

Even through the sudden vertigo, the grip of both his hands were vice.

For a long time, he could hear nothing and saw only large white spots.

Gradually his vision cleared and he could hear properly,

"SAN LANG! SAN LANG!"

When Hua Cheng came back to proper senses, he found himself dangling over a steep slope. His hand holding the safety handle was red and the other hand held Xie Lian's hand in a grip that could have been labelled as painful.

His arms hurt and breathing caused a jabbing pain in his chest. Something thick and dark gushed down the side of Xie Lian's forehead. It took a while for Hua Cheng to register what it was.

It was blood.

Most of the other passengers were in a heap on the lower end of the carrier and the rest were clinging on to the seats and rods.

"San Lang, are you alright?" Xie Lian asked, his voice confident and strong, unlike what the wound indicated.

"Gege, hold on!" He growled and proceeded to haul him up. Frightened, if Hua Cheng felt anything, he was scared. If they weren't holding hands, Xie Lian would have fallen into that heap, and broken a bone, worse he could have...

But Xie Lian dug his heels on the floor. He turned around and extended his hand towards a young lady, who was desperately clutching the foot of a seat below Xie Lian, afraid to slip.

"Don't be afraid! Take my hand. We need to stabilise this carrier." He urged, his voice booming over the screams and cries around. He sounded so sure that the terrified girl immediately nodded, grabbed his hand. Xie Lian pulled her up on her feet and she hesitantly turned to offer her hand to the nearest person. And soon, there was an entire human chain with Hua Cheng at the very beginning and the last person just a breath away from the human heap.

"Help them climb up and move towards the upper end! Move carefully!" Xie Lian gritted. They were not exactly vertical. So Hua Cheng and Xie Lian did not have to hold the weight of so many people, but the slant was enough to make their arms ache and tremble as one by one the passengers pulled themselves up, taking support of the available shoulders.

As more people gathered on the other end, the carrier groaned and swayed dangerously. Finally the carriage let out a grunt as it slotted back onto the trackline and everyone bounced up and down once.

But they were the last carrier.

It was an overhead metro line.

Hua Cheng's heart was beating in his ears but Xie Lian patted his shoulder, "San Lang. Keep calm."