Both of them looked up at the lady in front of them. It was the nurse who tripped over Connor's legs just two days ago.

"Umm, hi," Connor waved shyly.

"What are you boys doing back so soon? Everything good?" She smiled.

Connor exhaled in relief. The nurse was nice, and they were not getting kicked out of the hospital.

"No, actually. Kevin is sick, and he needs his stitches redone," Connor explained.

"Come, let's have the doctor take a look at you."

The nurse ushered them towards an empty cot in the corner of a crowded ward. She assured them that the doctor will be here in a minute, which Connor highly doubted, and went off to attend to other patients.

All the chairs in the room were occupied, so Connor had to sit on the cot beside Kevin's legs, "Fair warning, when they say 'a minute', they usually mean three hours."

"Oh cool. Nice, I get to spend more time in this place. I love hospitals so much," Kevin deadpanned.

"I'm sure you do, don't you want to be a doctor?" Connor teased.

Kevin rolled his eyes, "I want to work at a hospital, not be in one."

Connor rummaged through his backpack, "Are you hungry? I bought us some snacks yesterday. And Elder Church left us three of his half-than-rotten apples."

Kevin made a face of disgust, "No thanks."

Connor shrugged and bit into his apple, the non-rotten part of course. He studied the other occupants of the ward, who were all children, with their parents by their sides.

"Oh look, Kevin! I think you're in the paediatric ward," Connor laughed, "do you think they put you here because they know that you're too childish for the adult ward?"

"What?" Kevin narrowed his eyes at Connor, "you're the childish one, idiot."

Connor laughed harder at Kevin's lacking insult.

"Shut up and eating your fucking apple," Kevin huffed.

"Geesh, mind your language, Elder, there are children present."

—

Connor finished his apple an hour ago. The doctor was still nowhere to be seen. He was currently working on his computer, trying to draft a letter to one of his favourite tutor at the missionary training centre. Maybe she could help pull some strings. Or maybe not, but Connor had nothing to lose anymore.

"Connor?"

"Yeah?" Connor answered without looking away from his screen.

"Remember the plane ticket my parents sent me?"

Connor froze as felt his heart stop for a moment. What was Kevin's decision going to be? Connor didn't want to know. No, wait, he did want to know. No, wait-

"The plane leaves Kampala airport tomorrow morning," Kevin declared.

"Oh. So are you gonna-," Connor trailed off.

Kevin looked up at the ceiling, "I thought about it. I hate my parents, but they're still my family, you know? They're all I have."

Connor gulped. The thought of spending another year in Uganda without Kevin was depressing, and the thought of never seeing Kevin again was heart-wrenching. But he didn't want Kevin to be homeless either.

Kevin turned his eyes onto Connor and smiled, "But no, I'm staying."

Connor was at a loss for words, "Oh."

Kevin's smile faded, "Do you- do you want me to leave?"

"No! No! Of course I'm glad that you're staying," Connor wrung his hands, "but family is important too. I just don't want you to make a rash decision that you'll regret later."

Kevin opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the arrival of the doctor, "I'm doctor Mulenga. So! How are we doing today?"

Connor was glad to see that it was a different doctor from when they were previously here.

"Terribly," Kevin replied, tearing his eyes away from Connor.

"Let's see what is wrong," the doctor studied Kevin's chart as he gestured for Kevin to lose his shirt.

Connor went back to looking at his laptop, trying to give Kevin some privacy in the crowded ward. From the corner of his eye, he could see the doctor examining Kevin's side, and listening to Kevin's lungs with his stethoscope.

"Take a deep breath for me," the doctor instructed.

Kevin obeyed, and his exhalation dissolved into another coughing fit, "Aw, fu- shucks."

—

By the time they left the hospital, it was already five in the evening. Doctor Mulenga re-stitched Kevin's side, and diagnosed him with a case of the flu, and sent them on their merry way.

They walked side-by-side on the dirt path, Connor slowing down his pace to a snail but Kevin still struggled to keep up. They haven't had the chance to continue their conversation since the doctor interrupted it. Talking while walking was beyond Kevin's capabilities at the moment.

"Break?" Connor spotted a small, empty playground with a couple of benches under the trees.

Kevin nodded, and they made their way over the the benches.

"I still can't believe they didn't give you anything for your cold," Connor commented, as they sat down.

"Flu," Kevin sighed.

Connor frowned, "There's a difference? I mean, I know we're not in America, but he could have given you some antibiotics."

"Ugh, don't get me started about the misuse of antibiotics in the treatment of viral infections," Kevin rolled his eyes, "besides, I'm already on antibiotics from the surgery."

"Oh are you? Then why did you still fall sick?" Connor mused.

Kevin snapped, "Because antibiotics don't kill viruses, Connor! I'm not going to give you a fucking biology lesson in the middle of this shitty playground."

Connor was taken aback by the sudden outburst. He figured it was because the weather was hot, the air was dusty, and Kevin was probably feeling all kinds of awful from the flu and his newly-stitched side.

"How are you feeling?" Connor tried.

"Stop asking me that!" Kevin yelled, which triggered his coughing again.

Connor placed a hand on Kevin's heaving back, "Okay, okay, calm down."

The coughs finally stopped, and Kevin looked at Connor sheepishly, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Connor assured. He stayed quiet as he was unsure if Kevin wanted to talk.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Kevin spoke, "I'm not going to regret it."

"What?"

"I'm not going to regret staying here, with you guys."

Connor went back to being the devil's advocate, "Even if you may end up losing your family? You said it yourself, your family is everything you had."

A small part of Connor's brain was rejoicing. Kevin was staying here with him! And if Kevin didn't have to live up to the expectations of his devout family anymore, does that mean- Connor swatted the thought away at once.

Kevin shook his head, "No. I have my family right here."

"What we have here is a dysfunctional mess," Connor scoffed.

"I'm sure that's the textbook definition of 'family'."

"We're not out of the woods yet, I still can't find anyone who is willing to help us out," Connor warned, "we may end up having to go back to America early anyway."

"We'll think of something," Kevin patted Connor's knee, "but not now. Now, I need to go lie down. Shall we head back?"

—

Connor tried to concentrate on the half-finished document on the screen of his computer, he really did. But every now and then, he found his eyes flittering over to the peaceful, sleeping form of Kevin Price.

Even though he didn't manage to get any sleep last night, Connor didn't feel like going to bed yet. His mind drifted to his own parents, whom he missed dearly. They had been distraught at the news of his ex-communication, but at least Connor was certain that they would never disown him. Connor didn't get it, how could The Prices choose the church over their son? He couldn't even begin to imagine how Kevin must feel, not being able to count on the support of his family.

Connor closed his laptop and hopped out of bed. He put his shoes on, and tiptoed to the door. After checking that Kevin was okay, Connor slipped out of the room towards the payphone in the lobby. It was 11 p.m. in Uganda, which meant that it was 2 p.m. back home. Connor took a deep calming breath before he dialled the number. The previous time he had called home, his father was still mad at him.

The call was picked up almost immediately, "Hello?"

Connor felt tears welling up in his eyes just by hearing his mother's voice, "Mom, it's me."

"Con, honey! Oh it is so good to hear your voice! You haven't called in two weeks, we were getting worried! Is everything alright in Uganda?"

"I'm fine. I'm good. How's everything back home?" Connor wiped a tear away with the back of his hand.

"Your dad is driving me crazy about his new found love for baking. God knows, he's not very good at it. I've recently started taking classes at the community college, the house is too quiet without you around," his mother rambled.

"That's good to hear, how are things at church?" Connor wanted to know if anyone was giving his parents trouble for his failed mission.

"Con," his mother paused, "your father and I, we've left the church."

"Wait, what? Why?!" Connor asked, "was it- was it because of me?"

"Oh no, Connor. It was just the right thing to do."

Connor could tell that his mother was lying, "What happened? Did someone ask you to?"

Were his parents being ex-communicated from the church because of Connor?

His mother took a deep breath before answering, "We realised that the church means nothing to us if we have to give up our only son."

"Oh god," Connor gasped, "I don't, I- I'm so sorry, mom."

"No, hon. You have nothing to be sorry for. I know that we were mad and harsh with you at first, but now that we've been enlightened, we're so proud of what you're doing in Uganda."

"Is dad okay with it, too?"

"Well, he is now. I've managed to talk some sense into your father," his mother sounded proud, "The Prices came over to talk last week, trying to convince us to go back to the church. Your father told them off. They told us how they- Oh hon! How is Kevin doing?"

Connor winced, "Kevin's not doing too good. He's sick, and he's still really upset about what happened with his parents."

His mother sighed, "That poor boy. You look out for your friend, Con. And if you need anything just let us know. Do you need more money? You still have the credit card that I gave you, right?

"Oh ummm, no, we're good," Connor lied. He didn't want his mother to worry, and he was still feeling very guilty for causing his parents to be kicked out from the church.

"Okay then, it must be late in Uganda, you should go to bed soon. And call home more often will you?"

"Yeah, okay mom," Connor smiled, "Bye. Love you."

"I love you too, Con."

For the first time in weeks, Connor knew that he was going to get a good night's sleep.