firefly | zhong chenle

CH47

"unit 3 is proud"

-

"He's okay" The doctor said. The entire group collectively all let out a breath of relief, some putting their hands against the wall to stabilise themselves "Is there a doctor amongst you all?"

Arin, all of a sudden, couldn't admit she was a doctor. She looked down, fiddling with her fingers.

"Her. She is" Mark pointed out, nudging her.

"That makes sense then. Because of your emergency CPR and how you handled the situation, he is able to come back. If you didn't do what you did, he may very well be dead" The doctor smiled. Arin lifted her head, a feeling of confusion and happiness swarming at her.

This was the feeling she longed for, and became a doctor for. The feeling of relief and achievement. All of a sudden, she felt like she did deserve the title of a doctor. Because of this incident, she was reminded of everyone she saved. The little boy in broken inn, the hundreds of patients during the epidemic, each and every firefighter she healed, and Chenle, her lover.

This is what a doctor should be like. Confident and determined. Arin broke out in a smile.

"But" The doctor continued, catching everyone's attention again.

"What is it?" Jeno asked, being the only one who could speak right now.

"He's lost a leg. It got heavily injured and a piece of concrete cut right through it. We will need to amputate it" The doctor spoke with his hands together.

The entire atmosphere was as if all the air was sucked out of it. No one knew what to say. Her smile fell. They knew what this meant: that Chenle couldn't keep firefighting. Unit 3 no longer has their leader. His dream had been crushed from one mission, and who knew what was left of a firefighter without a leg. He lost the thing he loved for all his life.

"Is there any way you could...I don't know! A fake leg? Is that possible?" Renjun asked, tears lining his eyes.

"I'm afraid even if we did give him a prosthetic leg, he wouldn't be able to go back to being a firefighter" The doctor shook his head "I need one of you to sign this for me. He'll be out in a couple hours"

-

Arin had never seen him like this before. She was peering through the window into his room, where he laid like a corpse, not moving even slightly. The colour from his face was gone, replaced with an expression like a blank piece of paper. Anyone could tell Zhong Chenle, the leader and anchor of Unit 3 Seoul Fire Station, was now nothing.

She pushed open the door, entering timidly and taking a seat next to him. His eyes were open, just empty. Arin placed her hand on his head, carefully brushing the strands off his face. She couldn't help but let a tear roll down her face as she watched him lose his will to even get up. This wasn't the Chenle she knew.

"I read your letter" Arin spoke softly. Chenle's eyes fluttered shut.

"My answer is yes" Arin slowly took Chenle's hand out from under the blanket, to find his fingers balled into a fist and a wire stabbed into his skin. Her heart ached even more.

"We'll last a long time" Arin spoke softly, sliding the silver ring into his fingers. She clutched his hands tightly, holding herself together not to cry.

"You don't deserve this, Chenle. At all. I'm sorry. This is my fault" She felt his grip tighten around hers "But this isn't the end. I know how much firefighting means to you. I know how much you love what you do and how you hold your dreams so closely to your heart. I know it all"

A tear leaked from his eyes.

She placed a hand on his head, tidying the strands "But you need to be strong. I fell for you because I loved your bravery. This will all be over soon. I just know it. Every-time you save me from the flames, you're like this...bright star...no, rather, bright firefly in the dark. You're my shed of hope. You're my remedy. It's like you could fix everything broken thing within me"

Arin was glad she could feel Chenle chuckle a little.

"And I know how badly you want to be a hero. For me. For everyone. And you were one. God, you were more than just a hero. You were home" Arin slowly lay her head next to him, closing her eyes "But it's okay. No one can be a hero forever. And I don't want you to be one forever. You've taught me how to be strong by protecting me. Now it's my time to hold you by my side and love you. Love you so much to the point you no longer have to worry about being the light. All you have to do is sit in mine, and embrace the warmth"

The door creaked open, triggering Arin to get up. At the door stood everyone. Renjun, Mark, Jeno, Jaemin, Haechan. They all slowly approached him, sitting down and placed their hands on his arm.

"Jisung would be proud" Mark whispered, dipping his head down to hide the tears.

"Unit 3 is proud" Jeno spoke.

Like that, the Unit 3 firefighters and doctor lay together, hands in each others, crying silent tears as they hoped and prayed that Chenle would be able to walk out of this incident like the person he used to be. But no one could deny the toll that losing a leg would have on someone, especially someone whose life was firefighting and only firefighting.

No one is brave enough to ignore that their dreams are crushed because of one mistake. That they'd never be the proud person they used to be.

Zhong Chenle, leader of Unit 3, had no value anymore. No value to his father that desperately wanted him to be a police, no value to Taeyong because he could no longer lead the team he's always lead, no value to his friends because he couldn't be their shield anymore, no value to her, because he was no longer her hero.

He was worthless.