Every day there were 2 hours reserved for students to have lunch. Jake enjoyed sitting on a spot dubbed by everyone ‘Green pastures’, both because of the green grass which grew there in abundance, next to a few benches to sit on while gazing at the sea far away from the elevation. And because many students enjoyed smoking green grass in that place, where no one seemed to give a damn about it, for the most part.

With a foam cup that held warm tea within in one hand and a ham and egg sandwich on the other, he looked towards the distant sea, where a few boats could be seen, a single cruise ship sitting pretty near the coast. He yawned once, before giving a final bite to his sandwich and throwing both the paper and cup into a nearby trash can.

He stood up and once he turned around, he spotted a girl with long straight brown hair who waved at him as she approached him. With hazel colored eyes, she had a pretty figure for someone a bit over 1,60 meters tall.

“Hey there Anna, I thought you didn’t like this place, what brings you here?”

Anna had a small frown forming on her face, giving Jake the impression she wasn’t there for something good.

“You missed the first two classes, what happened? That’s unlike you”

Jake avoided her piercing gaze, and his eyes darted around the horizon thinking about some excuse to give her. They’d been friends for the four years Jake had been there, ever since they were put together in one of the first classes they’d had, along with other two students who had since dropped out from their career path. While not particularly close, he did think dearly of her, albeit not romantically whatsoever.

He sighed, before raising both arms up in the air.

“You got me, I got a hangover from drinking last night with Mike after I flunked the exam. I feel better now, though”

Anna narrowed her eyes and looked closely at Jake, who moved his eyes to avoid her own, before giving a sigh of her own.

“Put your act together Jake, you still need to go through a year of this before you join the workforce. I’ll give you my notes to copy them over, just make sure to give them back by the end of the week, you know I like to study 2 weeks in advance for tests”

Jake laughed awkwardly while scratching his nape. They continued to talk about meaningless things for a little bit, but soon their chit-chat began to mellow down. They sat down on the bench side to side, while looking at the boats sailing on the sea.

“How are things holding up in your family? You told me the other day your mother was sick, has she gotten any better?”

Anna looked at Jake a bit saddened, her back hunching a small bit.

“She got diagnosed with cancer; she’ll fight, but things aren’t looking pretty”

Jake was taken aback, and while he felt a slight bit bad for throwing off Ana’s mood, he was glad to have asked, as she would have probably kept it to herself if he didn’t ask.

“I’m sure everything will sort itself out, she’s a very strong woman. Your job now is to get straight A’s, that will cheer her up, I’m sure of that”

Anna smiled faintly, yet a few tears welled up on her eyes. He didn’t press the matter, and they silently watched the sea for a few minutes. Jake was deep in thought, and finally, he gulped before raising his voice once more.

“By the way, is she staying at home or was she interned to the hospital near?”

Anna answered truthfully, as Jake had many times in the past visited their home to have dinner when they were to have a study session, as he lived far away and so he would many times stay over their house.

“She is staying at home, but she’ll be in the hospital for a week beginning two days from now”

Jake bit his lip while his gaze steered away for a bit.

“Anna, do you trust-, uh, actually, nevermind. Do you mind if I come with you today? I want to pay your old lady a visit before she goes to the hospital, I don’t want to bother her once treatment begins”

She looked at him with sadness in her eyes, while she nodded without much strength without saying a word.

“Then, I’ll see you after class and we’ll go together alright?”

She smiled weakly while muttering in a low voice, “Thank you, Jake”

Jake gave her a hearty grin, before exclaiming in a cheerful voice, “What for? She did cook chicken soup for me when I got sick, of course I’m going to pay her a visit!”

He looked at his watch, before standing up in a hurry, while Anna looked at him with a strange look on her face.

“We’re late for class, I’ll see you later today, then!” he said, before running away while waving her goodbye.

After walking past the front gate to the University, he took out his cell phone. He browsed through his contacts list and once finding a certain someone’s number, he pressed ‘call’ and put the cell phone to his ear. He heard a beeping sound, which let him know the number was occupied, and after trying a few more times, he gave up trying to call Mike.

He went to class normally, his mind drifting somewhere far away from time to time.

Once the day was coming to an end, Jake approached the front gate, where Anna stood waiting for him. They waved at each other, and walked together towards the train station, as Anna lived three stations away, or about 15 minutes by train.

“Were you able to focus on class? I could barely listen to the professor's lecture, what a nightmare”

Anna laughed awkwardly while scratching her left cheek with her index finger.

“It was the same for me. Mom told me to put her off my mind while in class, but we’re only human, right?”

Jake chuckled quietly while shaking his head side to side.

“That woman, she’s a real trooper, isn’t she? No wonder you grew up to be so hardworking”

Anna hit him in the shoulder playfully, while sighing in exasperation. Once before they had both flunked a particularly hard physics test, after which Anna’s mother forced Jake to stay over for two days so he and Anna could focus solely on studying for the exam that followed.

They exited the train station while speaking about various things, with most of the focus on Anna’s mother, and how she enjoyed acting as if she were Jake’s own mother. He rented a one by one two hours away from the city, solely because it was cheaper than renting an apartment in the city, and transportation for students was subsidized.

Walking through a few streets, they came to a stop in front of a two-floor beige house. They walked past the fence, and once they were at the door, Anna began to rummage through her belongings trying to find the key to her house. Movement could be heard from the other side, and a few seconds later the door opened. A slim man with short black hair wearing a pair of rectangular glasses opened the door, receiving both Anna and Jake with a warm smile on his face.

He looked at Jake with a certain kindness to his eyes, a certain joy that came from people caring for his wife.

“it’s good to see you, Jake. I’m guessing Anna told you about Emily? She’s in her bedroom”

Jake extended his hand to give the man a handshake, but instead, he closed in to hug Jake. He patted the man in the back, breathing once after the fact. Matthew Fletcher was a fairly strange man, who acted on his current mood at all times and as such was very hard for Jake to read.

“Yes, Mr. Fletcher. I’m here to wish her a fast recovery, I’m sure she could survive a nuclear blast if it came to it”

Matthew looked at him with a tiny smile on his face, while the backside of his jaw tensed a bit, which Jake caught a glimpse of.

They walked towards Emily’s bedroom without exchanging any words. She was at the moment sleeping, as the medicine made her drowsy and drained her energy.

Slowly opening the door to her room, they entered while making sure to not make much noise, as they wouldn’t want to startle her awake. Laying on a king sized bed, a middle-aged lady with hazel colored hair the length of Anna’s own hair slept soundly, her breathing steady and calm. Matthew walked closer to Emily, before reaching out and grabbing her hand with care, slowly caressing her to gently wake her up.

Emily opened her eyes slowly, which seemed a bit glossy. Her lips were dry, and her skin had a certain sicken paleness to it. She slowly looked at everyone in the room, smiling weakly while doing so. She focused her gaze on Jake, before opening her mouth and taking a deep breath.

“You look good Jake, thanks for coming to see me”

Jake smiled at her while feeling both warmth on his chest and a few chills traversing his spine.

“You look good yourself Miss, I hear you’ll be back in the field in just a few days?”

Emily chuckled for a few moments, after which she stopped and made a gesture for Jake to walk closer. Jake walked closer, and once at arm's length, Emily grabbed him and whispered to his ear, as if telling him a secret.

“You’ll take care of Anna for me, I’m hoping?”

Jake was taken aback; he couldn’t say much of anything and instead, he held his fist tightly, his eyes having taken a resolute look to them.

“Of course I will, but you still need to recover fully, right? you wouldn’t want to miss anything”

Emily laughed with mischief and let Jake’s hand go, shaking her head from side to side weakly.

“I’ll hold you to those words, so you better not squirrel out of them later on, alright?”

Jake shook his head as well, he could never beat Anna’s mother before, and he probably never would be able to, in the future.

Emily yawned and her eyes became slightly wet, which neither of the three thought much of.

“I’m feeling sleepy again, all this medicine is driving me crazy. Why don’t you guys let me rest? I need to sleep all I can so my body can do its thing”

They all exchanged a few smiles before they exited the room and walked towards the living room, where they spoke about Emily’s sickness for almost an hour straight.

Anna walked Jake to the door, her eyes were slightly red, and she seemed a bit depressed. Jake couldn’t think of the correct words to say at the moment, so instead he closed in and hugged her, who looked surprised at the act but didn’t push him away, while neither returning the hug back, simply pushing her head against him.

Jake walked away, his shoulder area where she held Anna had a small stain, while his eyes looked resolute and filled with conviction. Slowly taking his cell phone out after turning around the corner, he dialed Mike once more.

“Hey, Mike? I need your help”