‘Good morning, Natalie!’ Natalie was smiling as she noticed her. They both hugged each other as her mother got the bed. ‘You look really cheerful today!’

‘I am’ she said, with a smile ‘I see you got my pencils and such’

‘Yep’ she sat down on the chair that was to her left. ‘So, how was breakfast?’

‘Not bad’ they started to just sit in silence.

‘So, anything happening today?’

‘Nope, not anything that I know of. I guess I’m just supposed to rest and that’s it’ The two decided to fill out crosswords together for about half an hour, after that half an hour passed a young looking man wearing blue cargo pants and a black jacket was at the entrance of the ward. He looked very nervous and seemed scared of entering. Natalie ran up to him the moment she noticed him.

‘Tyrell!’ she yelped, running into his arms. ‘So good to see you again!’

‘It’s… nice to see you, too’ he said. Natalie’s smile faded.

‘Are you all right?’

‘Oh, yes. Sorry, I’m just really tired’

‘Been working a lot?’

‘Yeah’

‘God, I know that feeling’ Natalie held his hand ‘Come on in!’

‘OK’ the two walked back to her bed, with Tyrell looking ever more nervous. ‘Is that your mother?’

‘Yes’ he had sat down on a chair at this point, he could be seen quaking.

‘Are you all right?’ asked Natalie’s mother, who was looking at Tyrell.

‘Uhh… yes?’

‘Shit, I forgot to tell him my mum was going to be here’ whispered Natalie, to herself. A long and stiff silence followed. Tyrell looked more and more nervous, he eventually walked away from the chair, leaving the ward. ‘Wait, where are you going?’

‘Oh, sorry Natalie’

‘You’re not leaving, are you?’

‘No, don’t worry’ he went to the desk where the nurses are ‘Excuse me, where are the toilets?’

‘Over there’ one of the nurses pointed behind him.

‘Oh, OK. Thanks’ Tyrell went into the men’s toilets. Natalie let out a very deep sigh, she walked back over to her bed.

‘What happened, Natalie?’ Natalie sighed again.

‘Nothing’ she answered, a tear was rolling down her cheek.

‘What happened?!’ Natalie said nothing, she was just crying, putting a pillow in front of her. Shortly afterwards Tyrell came back into the ward.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked. She put the pillow away and brushed off her tears.

‘Yeah, don’t worry! How about you?’

‘Sorry Natalie, I got all sweaty’

‘Oh dear! Are you OK now?’

‘Yeah’

‘You’re scared of my mum, aren’t you?’ Tyrell suddenly looked bemused

‘I’m a harmless woman, I swear!’ Natalie’s mother insisted. Tyrell just laughed.

‘I never thought you weren’t’ he sat back on the chair that he was previously sitting on. ‘That’s a lot of puzzle books you’ve got there’

‘Yeah, mum bought them for me’ answered Natalie ‘I started my first sudoku in pen. Big mistake’ Tyrell groaned.

‘I know, I’ve done that myself!’ he looked at another puzzle book on the table, that being a crossword book. ‘I hate crosswords. They put in some of the stupidest questions’ Natalie was smiling.

‘Any examples?’ Tyrell was obviously in a state of thought ‘Go on, fill me in!’

‘There would always be some sports question on there, I don’t know any because I don’t watch sports’

‘Same. The only sport I really know is cricket and that’s because my stupid father watched it all the time’

‘Oh goodness, don’t even remind me about that!’ her mother yelled ‘He would have The Ashes on every single TV when it was on!’ the three of them were silent for a little while. 

‘You know’ Natalie began ‘I did get to learn some really stupid terms in cricket. Like “cow corner”, whatever that’s supposed to be’ she then looked at her mother ‘Could you look it up online?’ Natalie gave her mother her phone.

‘I’m sorry Natalie, I don’t know how to use that’

‘How come you’re not looking it up yourself?’ asked Tyrell

‘I’m not supposed to, thanks to my concussion. The doctor told me not to’

‘Oh, all right, then’ Natalie got her phone back and typed “cow corner” into a search bar.

‘Of for goodness sake’ she grumbled, looking through all of the search results. ‘Cow corner is a region of the field in cricket.’ she kept on staring at her phone screen, eventually saying: ‘So basically it’s the bottom right side of the cricket field’ she then sighed, putting her phone away ‘Apparently it’s called that because cows used to graze there or some shit like that’ Natalie lied down on the bed. ‘I think I have dementia now’’

‘You’re never going to get back the precious brains cells you lost reading about that’ said Tyrell.

‘Naturally’ the three were silent once again, Natalie was close to falling asleep. ‘Being in a hospital really is boring as hell’ she mumbled.

‘You look you could do with a good night’s sleep’ said Tyrell ‘I could leave you be if you like’ Natalie’s eyes went wide open.

‘What?! Don’t do that!’

‘Oh, sorry’ Natalie was sitting up, looking at her puzzle books.

‘How about we do a crossword together?’ Tyrell just shrugged.

‘I suppose so’ Natalie moved her table around so that she was sitting on the edge of her bed while Tyrell was sitting down on the other end. ‘Oh, I just remembered some other questions I hate: ones that involve celebrities’

‘Oh yeah, I don’t like them either’ The two spent the next three hours filling out crosswords together, at which Natalie’s lunch had been given to her with a plastic cover. Tyrell moved away from her bed and was looking at the exit of the ward. ‘Are you going now?’ Natalie asked, she sounded worried.

‘Well… there are other things I want to do’ Natalie got out of her bed.

‘Like what?’ Tyrell took a while to answer.

‘I’ve had a long week, I need to make sure I rest properly’ Natalie sighed, she looked a bit annoyed.

‘I guess I can’t really stop you’

‘Oh no, I want to see you again, it’s not the end’

‘OK, good’ Tyrell let out a deep sigh, and said.

‘I’ll see you later, OK?’ Natalie had a tear rolling down her face.

‘OK. Bye’ Tyrell walked away, Natalie started crying, she eventually ran after him. ‘Tyrell! Wait!’

‘Huh?’

‘There’s something I want to say to you!’

‘Yeah, what’s that?’ Natalie took a deep breath.

‘I love you! I love you more than you can ever imagine! You’re the sweetest guy I’ve ever met, and I know my life will be complete shit without you!’ Tyrell was gazing at her, looking completely shocked. Natalie was crying again. ‘I’m sorry, I’m such a little crybaby!’

‘No you’re not’ Tyrell offered to hug her, of which she threw herself straight into his arms. He was rubbing her back as they had embraced.

‘OK, I’m totally scared to ask you this, but… do you feel the same way?’ he paused for a while and said:

‘Yes, Natalie’ she started to look at him in the eyes. Her eyes were bloodshot red at this point. ‘To tell you the truth, I broke up with my girlfriend because of you’ Natalie let out a loud gasp.

‘What?!’

‘Yes. When you told me that you loved me, I felt so guilty that I turned you down. It was only because I was with her at the time. I later realised that I wanted to be with you instead, I couldn’t even think of her from that point on. She realised this pretty quickly and dumped me’

‘What? That’s horrible! I’m so sorry!’ Tears started to roll down Tyrell’s face. He later smiled and said:

‘Don’t be silly’ he let go of her ‘Back then I was a different person, I viewed girls as trophies, and not people’

‘Oh?’

‘Yep’ he let out a deep sigh ‘I was a pretty shallow and… well, stupid person. I dated her because of her looks and not really anything else’

‘And then she turned out to be one heck of a bitch’

‘Well, I would use less crude terms but… yes. I started to resent her. I started to realise that it’s the person inside us that makes us beautiful, not who we are on the surface’ Natalie smiled.

‘Absolutely! I’m so glad you’ve realised that!’

‘Yeah. I feel the trouble is that with what we watch on TV girls are always portrayed as objects for the hero to win over. Like he has to do all the work’

‘The funny thing is, when it’s the girl winning the guy over, it’s the other way round. The guy is like all static and shit while the girl’s trying to desperately win him over. It works both ways’

‘Yeah, I’ve realised that, too. It’s the stupidity of Hollywood culture’

‘Yep. Couldn’t have put it better myself’ the two were silent for a moment ‘So, are you off now?’

‘Yep. We’ll stay in touch, OK?’

‘Of course’ Natalie sighed ‘Hospitals are so… restrictive’

‘In what way?’

‘There’s too many people here. Watching us. I’m hoping we can be alone next time, and hopefully out of this hospital’

‘Yeah, I feel the same. That’s actually why I’m leaving!’

‘Oh… right. You could have told me!’

‘I’m sorry, Natalie’

‘Nah, it’s OK. I know how you feel’ he turned around and was facing the exit corridor. ‘Before you go, I want to ask you something’

‘OK’

‘May I kiss you?’

‘Oh? Of course!’ Natalie went into his arms again and kissed him on the lips. Her cheeks instantly went bright red.

‘Enjoy the rest of your weekend, OK!’

‘Well… I will, thanks to you!’

‘Awwwww! I hope I’ll be out soon!’

‘OK, bye’

‘I love you!’

‘I love you too’ Later on Natalie returned to her bed, looking somewhat miserable. Her mother was seated, next to her bed.

‘Are you going to have your lunch?’

‘Oh, I forgot about that’ Natalie lifted the cover off the plate, revealing a crude looking lasagna with soggy looking chips next to it. ‘I forgot to tell him about the high end cuisine we have here’

‘Yep’ Natalie took a bite of the lasagna.

‘It’s still warm, I guess that’s what the cover is for’

‘So that’s why they put those metal things on top of plates, then?’