Taming The Tiger

12. Hurt

"You waited until he entered the diner, right?" Yu Hua asked his brother over the phone.

"Yeah yeah, father entered the diner and I even waited for a few minutes to be sure he didn't leave," Yu Lan answered with boredom lacing through his words. Seriously though, who would have to be a nanny to their father?

"Good then," Yu Hua answered, relieved. When his father declared that he stopped gambling and returned to his old waiter job in the small restaurant in the neighbourhood, it sounded too good to be true. As his father had a bad reputation for keeping his word, Yu Hua had to put Yu Lan on his tail.

"You looked ugly."

"Ha?" Yu Hua asked, not understanding what he meant.

"I saw the photo of your drama's press conference on the screen above the bus stop and you look ugly with that fancy red sweater."

"I love you too," Yu Hua snorted and ended the call. He didn't need Yu Lan's childish yet hurtful remarks at the moment as he was already receiving much worse from the director. Although it was the first week of the shooting, director Lin was determined to kill him. He didn't like Yu Hua's acting, not even a bit, and he made the actor repeat every single scene at least twenty times. At first, Yu Hua thought he was really that bad, but when he was asked to repeat a walking scene in which his back was facing the camera for fifteen times, he realised the director's grudge was still alive.

"YU HUA!"

"Coming," the miserable actor answered and rushed back to see what kind of torture was waiting for him.

"We will shoot the fighting scene once again, thanks to you," the director snapped at Yu Hua with a displeased expression though his eyes were shining perniciously.

"I am terribly sorry," Yu Hua apologised although it probably wasn't his fault, hoping somehow he could touch the director's heart.

"Whatever," the director snorted and went to check the equipment. Five minutes later, Yu Hua was shooting the scene in which he was getting beat by Sun Ming's character and a few of his friends in a children's park.

"Make it as if it is real! More passion!" the director shouted, and getting the hidden permission, Sun Ming improvised a bit and pushed Yu Hua hard, causing him to fall against the edgy iron toy and hurt his back.

"ARRGHH!" Yu Hua cried out in intense pain, collapsing on the stony ground.

"Cut!" the director stopped the shooting and several crew members rushed to Yu Hua. They helped him off the ground and made him sit on the cold slide as it was the nearest thing.

"Where does it hurt?" a girl from the costume department asked with worry while an intern rushed to get some ice bags.

As Yu Hua was fighting against the numbing pain, he couldn't answer the question. He kept rubbing at the area in an attempt to mitigate the pain and hoped they would bring him painkillers.

"Let me see," the man from the decor department said softly and pulled his pullover up gently before hissing. "It should hurt like hell," he commented with pity and pressed the ice bag on the area.

Yu Hua grimaced and whined silently, his hands clenched around his knees.

The concerned man kept applying the ice bag until it got warm. Then he helped Yu Hua to fix his clothes and pulled him up gently.

"So, can you continue?" the director asked nonchalantly, making the crew gasp.

"He can't," the script writer intervened with a dominating aura, "he is going home for rest."

"Okay," the director raised his hands in surrender and Yu Hua was sent home by an intern who happened to have his own car there.

Throughout the ride, Yu Hua tried not to move at all and sighed in relief when they finally arrived.

"Thank you so much, Jing Yong."

"Wow, you know my name?!" the intern smiled brightly as Yu Hua nodded, "do you want me to help you until your house, Yu ge?"

Despite the pain, Yu Hua smiled at the word brother. That lovely boy didn't look much older than Yu Lan, but attitude was much better.

"Ge?"

"No need, thank you, A'Jing," Yu Hua replied with a friendly pet name and got out of the car with no little difficulty. He waited until Jing Yong disappeared from his sight and walked to the opposite side as he lied about his neighbourhood.

Indeed, Jing Yong seemed so friendly, but one could never be too careful, right? Especially after what he had gone through in that cursed week. No, Yu Hua wouldn't want to give them any leverage to cause him trouble.

One hand clenched on his lower back, Yu Hua made it home with slow steps. Dragging his miserable existence on the mattress, he lied down carefully and let the sleep claim him.

As it was a chaotic and painful day, Yu Hua had already forgotten about the party that would be held that very evening, and that situation caused another problem before the day ended...