Footfalls caught her attention and she got up from the ground. After dusting the dirt off of her clothes, she turned around and saw that boy from before. His face was neutral as he stood in front of her.

He offered her a handkerchief and that's when she acknowledged that she was crying. She starting dabbing her eyes with the handkerchief to no avail. She tried to push the tears back while mentally asking herself to calm down.

The boy handed her a water bottle. She took it and emptied it.

"Better now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Well, it's not that I'm intervening or anything but... if you want to talk to me then you can."

She stayed quiet for a while dwelling on thought why he seemed interested to listen to her problem. As her overthinking subsided, she told him the story of how her father was supposed to pick her up but didn't show up.

"Oh, well that ain't much of a problem. I mean I can help you but let's go to downstairs first," he said.

She nodded and they scurried down the steps. Shailene followed him toward the reception area.

"Well, my mom is going to be here anytime soon to pick me up and she'll drop you at your place," he suggested.
"Thanks." They waited in silence, but Shailene's curiosity was hyping so she spoke slowly, "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" She looked down at her hands while waiting for him to corner her, but-

"Shoot!"

Masking her relief she asked, "Well, what are you doing here, in the hospital, I mean?"

"I'm here for my regular check up."
"But you look absolutely sound," she blurted out.

"Yeah, it's because I'm infected with latent TB and not actually having a disease. You understand the difference between being infected and having a disease?" He asked coolly.

"No, I guess. Care to explain?" She admitted sheepishly.

"Well, if I would be having a TB disease then I won't be standing here and casually talking to you in a room full of people. Because, TB is a deadly contagious disease and I'm infected with it which means, I'm not spreading it. I hope you understand now."

"You won't make a good teacher," she said without thinking. But the time she realized what she had said, she found him laughing. She melted like a snowflake with embarrassment.

She didn't realize that she was still holding that water bottle and that it was empty. She spotted a trash can nearby and threw the water bottle inside it. She thrust the tear-soaked handkerchief, that he had given her, into her pocket. Not wanting to return him the dirty piece of cloth.

"By the way, did you try contacting your father? I mean my mom will be dropping you, but it's better if you tell them. They must be worried."

"I... forgot." She tried to hide her face and in an intent of doing so she looked back as if someone called her from the empty hallway.

"Forgot?" He asked in a tone that clearly stated- how could you forget calling someone for a rescue?

She looked back at him abashed by her own stupidity. "I mean, when I arrived I was so anxious when I thought my mother would be inside, and I started searching for her in every ward... and the idea of calling my dad slipped my mind."

Kudos to me for embarrassing myself in front of a stranger.

"It's alright. You can try calling him now."

"Can I..." she tried to push down the cringe creeping up in her throat, "use your mobile? I don't have mine."

"Yeah, sure." He fished the mobile out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said and started dialling the number. She heard the mechanical voice of the operator and cut the call. "It's switched off."

"Why don't you try calling your mother?"

"I can't. She... accidentally dropped her mobile in the... pool a day before." She felt as if she was stating that stupidity was in her DNA.

"It's alright. You will be there soon," he said reassuringly.

"Yeah, and... I'm sorry to bother you."

"Hey! It's not that you came to me for help. I wanted to be bothered by you." He gave her a toothy grin.

All the guilt she felt was crushed down when she saw him smiling. His smile was so contagious that she found her lips curl. She smiled displaying her perfect white teeth.

The kind of smile one would see in a dental advertisement, he thought.

"We didn't get the chance to introduce ourselves." She was amazed that these words came out more naturally than she had thought.

"Well, we have a chance now. Ryan," he said offering his hand to her.

"Shailene," she said returning the handshake with that perfect smile. It was her way of being grateful.

And he fell in love with that smile. Then and there...