Kevin managed to finish a quarter of his Posho before he gave up. By the time Connor polished his own plate of food, he had already come up with several different ideas on how to cheer Kevin up.

Connor dropped the pharmacy bag on Kevin's lap, which Kevin eagerly opened like a kid with presents on Christmas morning. He rummaged through the small bag, "NSAID…antibiotics…Oh Tramadol!"

Kevin grinned, as he held a flat white pill in between his thumb and forefinger, "I've read that this is currently the most widely abused drug in Africa."

Trust Kevin to know that. Connor was not as enthusiastic about science and medicine as Kevin. As long as they worked after he takes them, he doesn't care about the how or why. He was more of a performing arts person, fully intended on moving to New York after his mission, and live his dream of performing on stage.

Connor knew that Kevin wanted to be a doctor. Everyone knew that Kevin wanted to be a doctor. Kevin announces it to the whole world now and again, and he also liked to remind people how he was going to apply for Harvard or Stanford when he finishes his mission in Uganda. Schools which Connor could only dream of getting into.

"Okay Dr Price, just make sure that you don't end up like one of them addicts," Connor laughed, as he tidied up their room.

"Hey, Connor?"

Kevin's quiet voice stopped Connor in his tracks. He turned his full attention onto Kevin and waited for him to continue.

"What I said earlier," Kevin sighed, "just…forget about it, okay? I'm good, really."

It was unsettling how Kevin always knows what Connor was thinking. Connor admits that he is somewhat of an open book, but he has not met anyone who was as attuned to his thoughts and feelings as Kevin Price.

No, Connor was not going to forget it. No freaking way. However, he knew better than to argue with Kevin, "Yeah, alright. But remember, I'm always here if you need to talk. About anything. And for the record, I do care about you, a lot. Not just as your district leader, but as a friend."

Kevin just nodded.

"Right, what do you want to do now?" Connor clapped his hands together, "naptime?"

"I think I've slept enough," Kevin carefully swung his legs over the edge of the bed, "do you want to go for a walk?"

"Are you sure? Yeah okay," Connor agreed, "good thing you still have an extra set of clothes."

"Yep. Help me up."

"How did you find this place? It's nice," Kevin was perched on the ledge of a small water fountain.

"Poptarts and I stayed here once, on the first night of our mission," Connor explained, "our flight got delayed, and by the time we came to Kitgum, it was too late to get a bus."

"At least you didn't get robbed," Kevin laughed.

"Speaking of getting robbed," Connor sighed, "we're kinda running low on funds. I haven't told anyone yet. Well, except Poptarts, and now you. I've been trying to contact some non-profit organisations. But I've gotten nothing back yet."

"Do you think we should go back home?" Kevin pondered.

"Do you want to?"

"No, not really," Kevin shook his head, "what we have here is really special, and I'm not ready to give it up just yet."

Connor nodded his agreement, "Do you think you'll come back someday? After you get your flashy Ivy League medical degree? Join Doctors without Borders, and continue helping the Ugandans?"

"Maybe? I don't know," Kevin shrugged, "what about you? I rarely hear you talk about your plans for the future. What are you going to do after you go back to America?"

"Move to New York? Work at Starbucks while trying to score a job at some theatre," Connor dug at the sandy ground with the tip of his shoe.

Connor was well aware that his plan was foolishly ambitious. If he did not make it, he could end up with nothing. That was a very scary prospect for Connor McKinley, who always had back-up plans to his back-up plans. But he had never wanted anything more than this.

After their brief break, Connor helped Kevin up from the fountain and resumed walking around the hotel premises.

"What about college?" Kevin asked, "knowing you, you must have some back-up plan in case things don't work out?"

"Nice to think that you have such low opinions of my talent," Connor hit Kevin on his shoulder, which caused him to stumble and grimace in pain.

"Ow, Connor!" Kevin glared.

"Oh sorry, sorry! I forgot," Connor mentally slapped himself, "enough walking, huh? Let's go back."

They proceeded back to their room, passing by the payphone in the lobby.

"Hey, do you want to call your parents?" Connor pointed to the phone.

"What the hell for?" Kevin exclaimed incredulously.

"I don't know, they probably want to know how you're doing, right?"

"Wait," Kevin pulled Connor to a stop, "did you tell them about this?"

Connor shook his head, and Kevin was visibly relieved.

"You're not going to let them know what happened," Connor guessed.

"Are you crazy? Of course not! What they don't know won't hurt them," Kevin waved, "I'm in no mood to deal with my parents right now."

"Are they still angry? I know mine are," Connor asked.

None of their parents were particularly pleased with what had happened, and with their decision to stay in Uganda. Actually, that was probably a major understatement. During the very first week of being excommunicated, all the Elders were so fed up with answering angry phone calls from their parents, Elder Neely 'accidentally' left the phone unplugged for a whole two weeks.

"Angry?" Kevin laughed bitterly, "They are practically unhinged. They're convinced that Arnold is the devil's incarnate, who is sent to brainwash me and drag my soul down to the fiery depths of Mormon hell."

There wasn't any Mormon in Salt Lake City who has not heard of The Prices. They were devout and conservative, the perfect model of a Mormon family. The church loved Mr and Mrs Price, and churchgoers held them in high esteem. Even Connor's parents looked up to The Prices. They were over the moon when they found that Kevin Price was going to be joining their son in Uganda.

"I heard you, on the phone with your parents last week," Connor admitted, "they sounded really intense."

Connor had not meant to eavesdrop, but the shouting and yelling through the receiver of the phone was loud enough for anyone in the vicinity to hear. Kevin listened silently as his parents lamented about how he had brought shame to his family, and how they had lost the respect of everyone in the community. They made it clear to Kevin that he was to blame for all these, and he was condemning his whole family to hell with him. After an hour of berating and threats of dragging Kevin back to America, Kevin finally had enough and hung up on them without saying a single word. Connor remembered how Kevin had disappeared for the rest of the day.

"They stopped sending me money since last week. And I will be grounded for eternity once I go back, until I have atoned for my sins," Kevin snorted.

"So they won't be paying for your college then?"

"Fuck no," Kevin cussed, "I'll get a scholarship and move to Boston, and then I'll be free from all that insanity."

Connor wondered if Kevin has always felt suffocated by his uptight parents. Connor couldn't imagine being in Kevin's shoes, carrying the weight of the family's name and reputation on his shoulders while trying to live up to the high expectations set by his devout parents.

"They're still your parents, though."

"Unfortunately so. I'm just glad that I could finally be myself. You have no idea how hard it was to-," Kevin sigh, "you know what? I don't want to talk about them anymore."

"What do you want to talk about, then?"

"Let's talk about you," Kevin smiled.

"Me? There's nothing much to talk about."

"Nabulungi was talking to me last night, at the hospital."

"What? What did she say?" Connor's heart skipped a beat at Kevin's words. She wouldn't have, would she? What if she did? Connor regretted admitting his crush on Kevin. He should have kept it to himself dang it! Now Kevin was going to put an end to their friendship, one of the few good things left in Connor's life.

Kevin frowned, "Why are you so upset?"

"I'm not upset," Connor declared too quickly, "Go on, what did she say?"

"Okay?" Kevin eyed him warily, "she was just worried about you. You've been working too hard lately."

Connor blinked in surprise. That was not what he had expected at all, and now he felt guilty for doubting Nabulungi.

"Oh, yeah. No, I'm okay. Maybe a little stressed out but I'm okay."

"What did you not want Nabulungi to tell me?"

"Hmm? What? Nothing, what do you mean?" Connor feigned ignorance.

Kevin took a deep calming breath. Connor felt like he was in trouble.

When Kevin spoke again, his tone was calm, "I don't know what's going on between you and Nabulungi, but you two have been sharing some kind of a secret since we came to Kitgum. It's totally fine if you don't want to tell me, just don't lie to me like I'm an idiot, okay?"

Connor could not trust himself to speak without lying or saying something stupid, so he nodded tersely.

"And you know something? You're the worst liar I have ever met," Kevin patted on Connor's shoulder with a tight smile.