It is afternoon, a day after Erika was admitted to the hospital. She rests on the bed in a shared room with other patients with a curtain on both sides becomes a barrier between them. Currently, she is alone due to her brother, Kai, went to buy lunch at the hospital cafeteria. Kai, on the other hand, is lost because this hospital is so damn big, everything is like a maze with every corner basically looking the same but when turning around, they change. His brain can't process this kind of magic, so he sits down on the bench that happened to be there, thinking about everything like his younger sister's condition, his problem with Sebastian, a man who captured his sister, Rina having a crush on him, etc.
*Sigh* He is tired and doesn't know how to deal with this problem. Little did he know, a lot more problems will come to him. For now, he needs a rest. A nurse passing by notices him and looks like he is in trouble, so she asks him. "Sir, are you a visitor? Can I help you?" She asks with politeness, people may say that this is because she is on work duty, but he can sense her sincerity of concern when she asked him. He inhales, exhales, and looks at her. "Yes, I'm a visitor, I'm here since yesterday to look after my sister, and I need help. Where is the cafe? I've been searching for it for the past ten minutes! I can't even see a sign. Why is this place so big?"
She awkwardly chuckles, she herself cannot really explain the real reason behind it. Although, she can tell him the basic reason. "I'm sorry if we trouble sir with the hospital design and space, I will give sir a way to the cafeteria. Personally, I think the reason is that this hospital is the main hospital in the country, so it has to be the biggest and have the latest technology. This is just my opinion, though." He raises his eyebrows, shocked when he hears her talking. She is quite friendly and has a positive vibe toward people around her, he has never met such a woman like her.
"Oh, thank you. You can call me Kai, it feels weird when someone calls me 'sir'. Me, I think they just want to confuse people and make them stay longer than they should. You know, more time, more money." *Money hand movement* (I don't know what it's called) He decides to make a joke to see her laugh.
"Hehehe, yeah it might be. Oh, my name is Natalie, and nice to meet you." She's laughing! And her name is also beautiful. Now he can die in peace. Just kidding. He still needs to support their life. She invites him to the cafeteria since it is break time for nurses and she is on her way to the cafeteria, too. He accepts it, gets up, and walks together to the cafeteria. Along the way, they talk a lot about each other but still make it seems like a new friend. When they arrive, she says, "Here it is our cafeteria, it has many kinds of food from breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It also has strong wifi in case someone wants to use it, a great interior design, great service, and many more." She says that with enthusiasm like this place is her heaven or something. He comments, "Wow, it doesn't feel like a normal cafeteria in many hospitals. Usually, the hospital cafeteria has plain food, and a plain design and the service is not really great. I'm impressed." He is right, the normal government hospital's overall performance was disappointing in terms of services, food, and facilities. The only thing they are great at is cleanliness for the sake of appearances and honor. Truly disappointing. (This is about the hospital in this story. Not real world.)
"Let's get into it, then. Ladies first." Kai opens the door for her like a gentleman even though he's not. He's not trying to but he making a joke pretending like a gentleman and she gets that joke, so she plays along. "Oh, a gentleman, thank you." She then enters the cafeteria, followed by him, and what is there shocks him. It looks like a normal cafe in the city with RGB light, a neat table arrangement, a place for kids to play around which means not disturbing other customers, and free coffee. There are also a lot of people here which means that it successfully attracts people to come and eat here even though it is just the hospital cafeteria.
They go to the counter and order some food. She orders two pieces of sandwiches and a box of milk while he orders a beef burger, mineral water for him, and katsu sandwich, and a bottle of milk for his younger sister. After paying, they sit on one of the chairs available and eat their food in silence because talking while eating is inappropriate and also insults the god of food unless it is an emergency then it is an exception. (Again, this is all something I made up.) When they have done, she asks him for his sister's name and room number she in, so that she maybe can do a quick check-up and tells the doctor to discharge her as soon as possible. So, he tells her.
A clock shows that break time is over and she has to go to work again, she tells him that she will pay them a visit. Before she go, she draw a map on a piece of tissue on the way to his sister's room in case he lost again. She chuckles, wishes for his sister's condition, and then goes. He stood there smiling, happy that he found good people. Then, he goes back to Erika's room while holding the food that he bought for her, and follows the map.
Successfully arriving, he sits on the chair next to the bed that Erika lays, handing over the food to her. She takes it while pouting and straight away asks him the reason he was so long just to buy food. Afraid that she might do something dangerous, he tells her everything from beginning to end. After hearing the explanation, she looks at him with disgust. "I swear it was nothing!" He feels like being interrogated about his personal life.
"Erika-chaaaaan~!" A kid's voice calling her name comes from the door making both of them turn their head toward it to see who's calling her. It was Rina with her big sister, Ayaka, coming to pay a visit to Erika. Save by Rina, he moves aside to give a space to them, relief that he manages to escape the questions.