AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Come on,” Seb said, standing. “The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can go home to bed. I’m shattered. Weeks of practising, and it’s all over in a few hours.” He pulled Joe up, and the others stood too, tidying as they went.
“What are you doing for Christmas?” Jacob asked, sidling up to Ashok.
“Nothing really. I’ve no plans. I’ll probably stay here, just chill for a few days.”
“Are you not going home to visit your family?” Ashok didn’t want to say too much, but this was a sore subject.
“No, not this year.” He really did not want to talk about it and bent to pick up a discarded shoe from the floor. He wasn’t exactly sure what happened next, but he ended up in a heap on the floor, his ankle screaming at him.
Not usually one for swearing, he couldn’t help but shout at the pain.
“Shit, that hurt.” Hayden was by his side in seconds, a concerned look on his face.
“What did you do? Where does it hurt?” Ashok winced with the pain. He didn’t think it was broken, but it wasn’t right either, and as he looked down, his ankle was swollen to twice its size.
“I must have tripped over something and twisted my ankle.” He could barely breathe through the pain. This was much worse than he’d felt before, and to think he’d done it just picking up a stupid shoe.
Seb and Dom rushed over.
“You’ll need to go to the hospital, who knows what you’ve done.”
“It’s nothing. It’ll go down. I just need to strap it and take a few painkillers.” Ashok could hardly contain his tears. It really fucking hurt.
“Hayden, can you take him to the hospital? We’ll finish up here. He needs that checked out. You can’t be too careful. I’ve seen dancers be off their feet for months, thinking it was just a sprain.”
“I’ll be…” Before Ashok could finish, a fresh stab of pain went through his ankle, and he gasped, dropping his head to his chest.
“Hayden, now.” Hayden bent and swept Ashok into his arms as if he weighed nothing.
“I’ve got you. Don’t worry, I won’t drop you. Put your arms around my neck.”
Ashok did as he was told as Hayden carried him gently to his car, placing him in the front seat with difficulty. He couldn’t even stand at this point; the pain felt so severe. If it wasn’t a break, it was definitely a bad sprain, maybe even torn ligaments. He hoped it wasn’t the latter. He needed this job.
Fortunately, at this time of night, the accident and emergency department was relatively empty, and within thirty minutes Ashok had been assessed and was on his way down to the X-ray department. They’d given him some gas and air for the pain, but it was making him feel sick. He just wanted to get rid of the pain, and all this jostling about in the wheelchair was making it ten times worse.
“Not much longer,” Hayden whispered. “Then we can go home, and you can rest as much as you need to.”
Ashok nodded. “Thanks for doing this.”
“Of course. Leaving it until tomorrow wasn’t an option. You needed to be seen today.”
At this point, Ashok was really too tired and in far too much pain to even argue.
He rested his head on the wall behind him and waited for what seemed like an eternity but, in fact, was only another ten minutes.
X-rays done, they were back in the cubicle, an elderly doctor reading his chart.
“Well, young man. Seems like you did a number on this ankle of yours. What was it you said you did again?”
“I just tripped,” Ashok said wearily. “I wasn’t even doing anything energetic.”
“Sometimes it’s the simplest things. I’m pleased to say there’s no break, but you do have a nasty sprain. I’ll prescribe some strong painkillers for you, but you need to rest, ice, compress and elevate. A sprain like this could take a few weeks to heal, maybe even longer. You need to keep off it.”
Ashok almost cried again but this time, not from the pain. This setback could seriously jeopardise his job at the studio. There was no way he could go home to London. He’d left, severed all ties. There was no turning back, but what was he to do now?
A gentle touch to his hand brought him back from his depressing thoughts.
“Hey, it’s going to be fine.” Hayden spoke softly, stroking his hand gently. “Seb and Dom will understand, and you can stay with me for as long as you need. You know it’s the right thing to do.”
