Nina's question removed every useful joke before I could choose one, forcing me to face how closely she had watched the habit beneath them. Answering honestly meant giving her access to something I usually disguised before anyone noticed.
"Usually," I admitted, resting my head against the raised bed while fatigue held my body still, "if I can make somebody laugh, they stop checking whether I am afraid."
"I did not stop checking," she replied, setting the coffee cup beside her chair.
"You are unusually persistent," I said, feeling another joke arrive before I allowed it to replace the answer, "but yes, I was terrified during the walk."
"Of falling?" Nina asked, leaning one elbow against the mattress without moving closer.
"Of needing you," I replied, watching surprise interrupt her expression, "then enjoying the part where I needed you."
The admission stayed inside the hospital room without becoming any demand upon her. Nina's eyes moved toward the walker, then returned to the hand resting near my hip. She appeared to consider several answers before choosing the one that tested me.
"You enjoyed my arm around you," she said, allowing a smile to enter her voice.
"I noticed it," I replied, trying to slow the monitor through personal authority.
"That was not my question," Nina said, drawing one finger across the edge of the mattress while she waited.
"Yes," I admitted, meeting her eyes before courage became another rehearsal, "I enjoyed it more than the medical circumstances deserved."
Her smile changed after the answer, losing the part meant to make me squirm. She looked pleased rather than victorious, which gave the attraction space without labeling it. I could have stopped there with my limited dignity still injured but alive.
"You asked why I knew your name," I continued, surprising myself before the System offered anything, "the full answer is that I was looking."
Nina remained unusually quiet, though her finger stopped moving against the nearby mattress. The phrase sounded more intimate than watching her during lectures had felt. I kept going because allowing it to hang would make her supply whatever motive frightened her most.
"You speak before everybody else finishes deciding whether they have an opinion," I said, tracing the edge of my blanket with one thumb, "then you listen when someone disagrees."
"Sometimes," she replied, tilting her head while she evaluated the description.
"You also threatened Professor Lail with his own reading list," I added, feeling my face warm again, "which made you impossible to ignore."
"That sounds safer than saying I am attractive," Nina said, keeping her gaze on me as she folded both hands near her knee.
The direct challenge took less time than my mind needed to prepare. I could agree without describing her, but that would resemble another partial answer. Nina had chosen the subject, though she had not asked for a performance.
"I think you are very attractive," I said, letting the statement remain plain while the monitor continued its betrayal.
"How much medication are you taking?" she asked, looking toward the line entering my arm with exaggerated concern.
"Enough to discuss my spleen in public," I replied, checking the drip bag before meeting her eyes again, "not enough to invent this."
Nina laughed, then caught herself before the sound pulled at my ribs through sympathy. She checked the medication schedule attached to the cabinet, reading the last dose time with suspicious care. The teasing allowed her to acknowledge the confession without answering it yet.
"The nurse gave you something twenty minutes ago," she said, tapping the chart before she returned to the chair, "so I will preserve your testimony for later verification."
"That seems fair," I replied, accepting the delay because she had not asked to be cornered beside my hospital bed.
"You are supposed to deny impairment," Nina said, lifting one eyebrow while her smile returned.
"I am trying not to become a hostile witness," I told her, receiving another quiet laugh.
The System appeared only after the tension eased, placing a small receipt near the cabinet. I had expected a courage reward, though speaking attraction without turning it into a request apparently counted elsewhere. Nina remained entirely free to flirt, retreat, or leave the personal statement unanswered.
[Communication: 13 → 14]
[Recorded action: stated attraction without assigning obligation.]
"One Communication point," I said, reading after she asked whether anything had changed.
"For calling me attractive?" Nina asked, resting her chin against her unwrapped hand.
"For avoiding a courtroom collapse afterward," I replied, letting my own satisfaction remain visible.
"The standard is low," she said, looking down briefly before she added, "but I liked the answer."
That was not a confession of matching attraction, though my body received it with similar enthusiasm. I stopped myself from asking exactly what part of the answer she had liked. Nina had offered a small answer without being pushed, making it worth more than anything the System could display.
A message from Jake interrupted before I could respond carefully enough to ruin it. He had sent seven updates about my essay, the driver, plus a petition demanding proof that I remained alive. The latest message contained a video-call button surrounded by question marks.
"Call him," Nina said, moving her chair back so the phone camera would face only me.
"You do not have to hide," I replied, opening the conversation while she gathered her coffee.
"I am giving you privacy," she said, standing after checking the time, "those are different actions."
"I would rather you stayed," I told her, noticing how easily the request came after practicing smaller ones.
Nina looked toward the corridor, then back at the clock showing thirty minutes before her class. She placed the cup down, though the chair now sat outside camera range. I tapped the waiting call screen before another request could become necessary.
Jake answered from the statistics building with half his face too close to the camera. His glasses reflected three spreadsheets, while Ruby Chen waved from a chair behind him. Visible relief changed his expression before he quickly covered it with irritation.
"You look terrible," Jake said, adjusting the phone until Ruby disappeared from the ceiling, "which is better than dead."
"Olica said the same thing," I replied, checking Nina after the name made her smile.
"Who is Olica?" he asked, leaning closer while curiosity replaced concern.
"Nina's sister," I answered, choosing the complete truth instead of pretending the woman inside my room did not exist.
Jake's eyes moved across the tiny image, searching the room behind my shoulder. Nina remained beyond the frame, but her coffee sat on the cabinet beside the visitor sticker. Ruby leaned close enough to whisper a private warning that he immediately ignored.
"Is Nina there?" he asked, lowering his voice as though I had hidden a public figure beneath the bed.
"Yes," I replied, turning the phone after Nina nodded permission.
"Hello again," Nina said, giving Jake a short wave from the chair, "thank you for finding the essay file."
"You are still there," he answered, looking between both sides of his screen without correcting the observation.
"I attend classes occasionally," Nina said, checking the clock as she reached for her bag, "so not for much longer."
Jake asked three questions at once, forcing Ruby to take the phone before he embarrassed himself further. She introduced herself as his girlfriend, apologized for the interrogation, plus told me the accident video had reached campus feeds. Nina moved back toward the bed while Ruby explained that comments had already invented several relationships.
"Do not read them yet," Ruby warned, giving Jake a look when he opened another page, "half the campus thinks sacrifice means engagement."
"Nobody is engaged," Nina said, placing her bag beside my walker as concern replaced humor.
"I know," Ruby replied, turning the phone away from Jake's screen, "but strangers prefer an ending before the people involved wake up."
The statement immediately changed how Nina held herself beside the hospital bed. Until then, our conversations had belonged inside one hospital room, protected by staff plus visiting hours. Campus attention would demand explanations before either of us understood what we were doing.
"Send me the posts," I told Jake, watching Nina rather than the phone, "I want to know what people saw before I go back."
"I will filter the cruel ones," he said, receiving an immediate elbow from Ruby.
"Send the public links without commentary," Ruby corrected, facing me through the camera, "then ask Nina what she wants shared."
Nina nodded toward the phone after I looked at her, accepting Ruby's suggestion without answering yet. Jake promised to visit during evening hours after his statistics lab, but my medication made him brave before the call ended.
"So what is happening between you two?" he asked, escaping Ruby's second elbow as Nina looked toward me.
"We are speaking without an audience," I replied, keeping the boundary clear despite my face becoming warm.
"Excellent answer," Ruby said, ending the call before Jake could create another problem.
Nina laughed after the screen went dark, sitting on the edge of my bed because the chair had moved beyond reach. The mattress dipped slightly beneath her, bringing her knee near my uninjured hand. She appeared unaware of the immediate effect until my attention dropped toward her once.
"Is this another social problem?" she asked, following my gaze before she stayed exactly where she was.
"The medication remains a possible factor," I replied, looking back at her face while the phone began vibrating with Jake's links.
Nina leaned nearer to view the first message, leaving one hand against the mattress beside my hip. Before either of us opened it, another video call arrived from Jake. His preview showed Nina sitting on my bed, while his expression suggested campus rumors had just received private evidence.