**"This hospital ceiling gets more annoying to stare at day by day,"** a boy on the bed muttered, eyes locked on the speckled tiles above him.
**"Don't worry, you'll be out of here in no time, Michael,"** the nurse said cheerfully as she adjusted his IV drip.
**"Don't lie to me. I know I'm not leaving here anytime soon,"** he replied flatly, staring directly at her.
**"A lot of people survive cancer, you know,"** she said, trying to sound upbeat. **"And you're gonna be on—hey! Are you staring at my chest?"**
Michael didn't even flinch. **"Yeah. I'm just noticing it now, but you have really big boobs."**
The nurse gasped. **"Michael! Stop that—that's not a nice thing to do."** She instinctively crossed her arms over her chest.
**"I've never seen breasts before, you know. So all I can do is analyze yours,"** he said, completely serious.
She blinked. **"You've... never seen breasts before?"**
**"Yeah,"** he sighed, eyes drifting back to the ceiling. **"I've been a shut-in most of my life. Only left the house to go to school. Never had a girlfriend... barely had friends, to be honest."**
The nurse glanced at his chart, then at the empty chair beside his bed. *That would explain why I've never seen anyone visit him,* she thought.
After a pause, she smirked. **"Alright, tell you what. If you can go two whole days without making any sexual remarks to the nurses... I'll show you my breasts."**
Michael's eyes lit up like Christmas. **"Are you serious? Like—serious, serious?!"**
She chuckled. **"Dead serious."**
---
**"That was the last thing I ever heard from him,"** the nurse said quietly. She stood beside his bed as the orderlies pulled the white sheet up over his body.
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