“Where is this boyfriend of yours today?”

Carmen stared at her sister blankly for a moment before she realized that Anna was referring to Shane. Her family never knew that she was *****. Not her mother, her step-father, not even her closest sister, Anna.

It wasn’t that they were overly traditional, it was just that she had never found a way to break the news to them. They never knew of this ‘other life’ she led, and trusting her as they did, never suspected anything.

It wasn’t that Carmen went all out to keep them in the dark. The thing was, she never met anyone she would be comfortable enough to introduce to her family, male or female. All the friends that she had brought home for dinner were, really, just friends. Her family members never questioned her about it, accepting it as it is. But lately, because of her illness, the subject Shane came up more often then not.

“Erm Shane left for work just a while ago. You just missed hehim.” Carmen corrected herself as quickly as possible. She prayed to the stars above that her mother and sister didn’t pick up on her slip of tongue.

As she looked back and forth between her sister and her mother, she heaved a sigh of relief. Her mother was telling Nurse Jan about the Jalapeno recipe and was hardly paying attention to their conversation.

And Anna, Anna was concentrating on the task of peeling an orange.

As she handed Carmen a piece, Carmen looked at her for signs of uneasiness, but she confirmed that Anna most probably didn’t hear it.

“Too bad then, I would love to meet him, if what you are telling us about him is true. Caring, selfless, devoted. I wish I had someone like that.” Anna shrugged.

Carmen just looked away in shame, nibbling at the orange. The feelings inside of her were all jumbling up. How could anyone feel disappointed, ashamed, relieved, happy and sad all at the same time? And those were only the ones she could make out.

She was amazed at the fact that Shane had never crossed paths with her family here in the hospital, and the bigger miracle was that everyone in the hospital knew about them, ‘the cute ***** couple’, but word had never gotten to her family.