Mrs. Medthanan's POV

When I walked into my son's hospital room in the late afternoon, I noticed that he was alone.

"I thought that Can was coming to visit you again today," I said to my son as I bent down to kiss his forehead.

"He texted me earlier that he has soccer practice after classes today," explained my son, "he and his teammates are preparing for a big game against the Engineering team."

"Oh, I didn't know that Can was into sports," I said.

"Don't let his height and build fool you, mom," said my son, "he is very athletic and very sports minded, and believe me, he can pack a mean punch. I know first hand. I have been at the receiving end of it twice."

I looked at my son in surprise.

"What did you do to deserve getting hit by him twice?" I asked.

"Well, I did say some really rude and mean comments to him and his friends," my son replied.

"Can does seem like the type who will not sit back and take any crap from any one," I said.

"Anyway," I continued, "it's good that he texted you and gave you a courtesy notice that he won't be able to see you this evening. It goes to show that he respects you and is thinking of you. And he seems to be the type who will not break promises."

I noticed that my son's face seemed to get a little bit emotional after what I said, so I decided to change to a lighter topic.

"By the way," I said, "your doctor has informed me that he might be able to discharge you back home in the next two days."

"He said that the advantage of being young is that your body recovers faster from injuries than older bodies. He will authorize your health insurance to cover daily physical therapy for a week at home and also a few hours of a home health aide daily for a week to assist you with bathing and hygiene and grooming."

"I can't wait to go home, mom," said Tin, "I'm getting bored in this hospital room and bed. There's only one pretty face in this hospital I've seen so far and she's the head nurse and she's very strict."

"Be patient, son," I said, "before you know it, it will be time to go home, and you will miss that pretty face."

"It's okay, mom," said my son, "I'm looking forward to seeing another pretty face, I mean a cute and handsome face."

"I think I know who you are talking about," I said.

My son smiled, his cheeks slowly getting pinkish. I felt a bit guilty for causing him some embarrassment.

Shortly there was a knock at the door.

"You may come in," I said.

"I have some flowers to deliver," said a young man from a local florist shop, "could you please sign on this acknowledgment receipt?"

"Sure," I said and placed my signature on the line that had an X beside it.

I accepted the bouquet of flowers from the delivery guy. The bouquet was a combination of yellow and pink and peach and red and orange roses with sprigs of babies' breath here and there.

I removed the small card that was attached to the side of the bouquet.

"Who is it from, mom?" asked Tin.

"I don't know yet," I said, "the card is saying 'I'm so sorry I can't make it tonight, and tomorrow night. If you are released before then, I will surely visit you at your house if your parents will permit. Get well soon, Can"

"I will most certainly permit," I said firmly, "in fact, since you will be released on Saturday, I will arrange for our driver to pick him up from his house so that he has no excuse not to see you."