The next day at the hospital, neither Yor nor Loid knew how to behave around the other. Obviously, if they had willingly kissed each other when no one was watching, their feelings towards the other would be apparent. Or so they thought. One trait they had in common was their obtuseness when it came to the other.

They met as usual outside Yor's building and walked to the hospital in terse silence. Before they entered, Loid turned to Yor. "Look, I know you're mad at me about last night, but can we please talk about it?" he said.

"Mad about what?"

"Well—you're—aren't you upset that I kissed you?"

She flushed. "Oh, right that. No, I'm not upset. Are you?"

He flushed. "No, I can't say I am."

"Oh good."

They took each other's hand before going to the meeting room. The questions unspoken left a chasm between them, one that neither could pretend was just in their head, but they had their hospital work today and dinner with her family this evening, so they had to try to behave like nothing had changed.

They were assigned to visit with some long-stay patients in the Pediatric Oncology Ward. The particular room they were assigned to had six children between the ages of five and ten who were doing well enough to receive visitors. The children were instantly charmed by the cool and beautiful older students as children are wont to be by older people who are not related to them. The children fought over what they should play with their new friends, but Loid calmly settled the matter by suggesting a game of Uno.

The children then fought about who would get to sit by the older students. Yor suggested that they use the round table in the corner that way everyone would be seated close together. Loid settled the remaining squabbles about seating by having the children pick a number and whoever was closest to his number would sit by him and whoever was closest to Yor's would sit by her. (They had to try this exercise several times as Yor kept picking numbers that were very close to Loid's.)

While Yor was shuffling the cards, a seven-year-old girl named Lily said, "Miss Yor, you're so pretty."

Yor smiled at her. "Thank you." She began dealing.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Yor laughed uncomfortably. "Yes, I do."

The children said, "oooooh!"

"What's his name?" ten-year-old Thomas asked.

"Loid."

"Wait, wait, wait! Like Mr. Loid?" five-year-old Stacy asked.

"Yes."

"Mr. Loid, are you Miss Yor's boyfriend?" eight-year-old Felipe asked.

"Yes, I am." He said with a proud smile.

"Aw, I wanted Miss Yor to be my girlfriend," Lily said.

"I'm sorry, Lily, but I'm too old for you. Besides I'm sure you'll find someone you like better when you're older," Yor said. "And I like Loid. He makes me happy."

"Mr. Loid, would you break up with Miss Yor, so she can be my girlfriend."

Loid laughed. "I'm afraid I can't do that. I'm not planning on ever leaving Miss Yor. She's too precious to me."

"Fine. But I'm going to kick your butt in Uno."

"You're on."

"Loid, I am not going to eat another cookie," his mother said from her reclined position on the couch. "I have tried them all before, and I know that they are all good."

"They can't just be good. They have to be perfect."

"Honey, don't you think you're overthinking this?"

He couldn't dignify that with a response.

"I meant that anything you bring will be great and surpass her family's expectations." She tried to stand but was too weighed down by the cookies in her stomach to do so. "Come here."

Loid obediently left the kitchen to stand next to his mother.

She tugged him down and into her arms. "They are going to love you almost as much as I love you. Not quite as much, but almost."

"Do you think?"

"I know. I'm a mom. I know everything." She soothingly rubbed his back before placing a tender kiss on the crown of his head. "Now, dear boy, wrap up what you're doing and get yourself cleaned up. I love you, but you've got that teenage boy stink."

"Mother!"

"I don't know what to tell you. It's natural for your age, but it will go away once you get cleaned up."

He finished packing the cookies in mortified silence.

When he returned to the living/kitchen area of the apartment after getting ready, he noted that it was nearly time for him to leave. He gathered the box of cookies. "Mother, I'm going now."

Mrs. Forger hurried out of her room to see him off. She tugged the right side of his collar out from under his sweater and dusted some lint from his sleeve. "You have your bus pass?"

"Yes, mother."

"And you've triple checked the bus schedule for tonight?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And you will be back home before 11?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And you will not under any circumstances walk home in the dark. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good." The irritated and worried look he gave her reminded her so much of his father that her heart hurt. She grabbed his sweet little face and kissed the top of his head. "I am so proud of you, and I love you very much."

"I love you, mother." He kissed her cheek before turning to leave.

"So, Loid, what are your plans after Eden?" Mrs. Briar asked.

Yor gave her a panicked look. What her mother meant by that was to inquire whether Loid intended to marry Yor.

"I hope to attend a college to prepare for medical school," Loid said.

"So you'd like to become a doctor?"

"I would like to be a psychiatrist."

"Fascinating. Why a psychiatrist?"

Loid dropped his fork. He hadn't anticipated a follow-up to that question. Most people were impressed enough by his ambitions not to press. "I lost my father before we came to Ostania. I didn't take it well, and my first school here referred me out to a psychiatrist. He changed my life. I want to do that for others."

Yor took his right hand and gave it a squeeze. "You don't have to talk about that. I know that that's a painful topic for you." She looked at her mother pointedly.

"I'm sorry, Loid. I didn't mean to ask something so personal," her mother said.

He took a breath before smiling up at her. "It's quite all right. How would you have known?"

"How did you two meet? Yor hasn't told us this story."

"Well," Loid began. If they were honest, technically they met on Saturday, September 2nd, but that didn't match the story they were telling everyone. So he would tell the story of the first time they spoke to each other. "Two years ago, I was walking down the hallway not paying attention to where I was going, and someone slammed a locker open in my face. That someone was our sweet Yor who also didn't see me coming."

To be clear: Loid did see Yor and saw her opening her locker, but he was so distracted by having seen her that he walked face-first into the door of said locker.

"Oh, no! Are you okay? I'm so sorry I didn't see you there," Yor had said back then. She quickly closed the locker to see one dream boy slumped on the ground at her feet. 'Why did it have to be him?' She quickly averted her eyes.

He scrambled back onto his feet. "Good. I'm good." 'Why did I say it like that?'

"Okay." She ran away without collecting the appropriate books for her next class.

But Loid didn't share any of that information. It was too dear of a memory to him.

"Yor, you need to pay more attention!" Mrs. Briar said.

"Yes, mother. I know," Yor said.

"Then you became friends?" Mrs. Briar asked.

"Not exactly. We didn't speak again until last year when our two friends began dating. I'd had my eye on Yor for a while, so I was excited to get to know her better," Loid said.

"You began dating at that point?"

"Yes, I asked him out," Yor said.

"Yor, that's not very demure of you!"

"I don't see why I should apologize for having the awareness to pursue what I want. Besides, Loid is terribly gentlemanly which I appreciate, but he would've taken another several months to ask."

Loid blushed. That would probably have been true if that had been how they had actually gotten together. And that made him recall how they actually did start dating which was initiated by Yor just as she said. 'That can't mean that I'm what she wants. Can it?'

The rest of the dinner consisted of similar questions that made sense for a mother to ask her daughter's boyfriend. Where is your family from? What does your mother do? Where do you live? What's your favorite subject in school? What extracurriculars do you do? Do you have any siblings?

After dinner and cookies, Mrs. Briar asked to speak with Loid alone.

"Mom, please don't," Yor said.

"I don't know what you mean. I will be perfectly well behaved. Now please help Yuri get ready for bed," Mrs. Briar said.

Yor shot Loid an apologetic look before herding Yuri into one of the rooms.

"Thank you for joining us for dinner, Loid. It was very considerate of you to bring cookies," she said.

"You are welcome. I am happy to contribute however I can," he said.

"That's good." She shifted in her seat. "Yor's father isn't around to give these sorts of talks, so it falls to me. I don't need to tell you that Yor has had a difficult upbringing. She doesn't need any more pain, certainly not any more pain at the hands of men or boys who don't have her best interests at heart. So tell me: what are your intentions towards my daughter? Is this a game to you?"

"No, ma'am. I would never hurt Yor. At least I would never knowingly hurt Yor."

"But what do you want from her?"

"I—I want to spend time with her. And I want to be around her for as long as she'll let me."

She smiled. He seemed genuine enough, but she had to ask one final question. "How do you feel about her?"

"I love her. I haven't told her that yet."

She nodded. "I thought so. Give her some time. My daughter is great at many things, but emotional intelligence is not one of them."

"Thank you."

She smiled much wider than before. "I do hope you'll be my son-in-law one day."

He blushed. 'What is it with moms that makes them mention the possibility of marriage at every opportunity?'

Yor exited the side room at that moment to see Loid red in the face. "Mom, what did you do to Loid?"