The man in the next hospital bed had broken his leg and was confined to bed, with his girlfriend by his side every moment. She fed him his meals, wiped his hands, massaged his stiff calf muscles, and chatted softly about all the little things happening outside the ward.
"Drink your soup while it's still hot. The doctor said getting enough calcium will help you heal faster."
"I'm sorry you have to run back and forth every day. I know it's messing up your work schedule."
"Silly, taking care of you is my favorite thing. I don't mind at all."
Every word of their warm, intimate conversation reached Cassian's ears.
Compared with his own cold, silent ward, where no one even stopped by to ask how he was doing, the contrast shattered the last of the emotional walls he'd built around himself.
