NK once more became a crying mess and she launched her full weight at him. Akande didn’t know what else to do but hold her while she cried buckets into his shirt.

Eventually, she gave her tear ducts a rest and apologized, an apology he waved away. Finally, they had to leave the hospital as they could not be allowed to see him for the next couple of hours.

The time was 2am and Akande drove her home, the car filled with the noise of uncomfortable silence.

After being thrust into circumstances that suddenly brought them close within minutes, neither seemed to know how to react to the others presence now that the danger had passed, so the awkwardness increased with each passing minute.

When he finally dropped her home, she was looking as exhausted as he felt. Then he went back to his flat, the walls echoing with the loneliness he felt, and her scent clinging to the shirt she had cried into.