Faking It [Tokyo Ghoul: Hide Nagachika x Reader]

Chapter 8: Hide

I wasn't quite sure what to say. What do you say to someone you were angry with, only to find out that they have a malignant tumor in their body and might die before you finish college? And did my sympathy wipe out my anger? Was it supposed to?
But I still didn't understand her. Why go after Kaneki? Why was it personal to her? Why were ghouls personal to her?
And why had she lied about it?
I looked down for a second. "Where's your family? Whenever I see you, you're alone. Don't they come visit?"
I watched her think hard for a long moment, as though she were trying to figure out the vaguest phrasing to reveal the least amount of information while gaining the least amount of pity. "They're very busy."
"Oh."
She nodded hard, and she bent her head down so I couldn't see her expression. "But I'll be seeing them soon."
"Oh." Damn, this was going nowhere. Just what did I hope to learn? Why did I want to talk to her at all?
My train of thought was derailed as she shifted, moving to get up, and my hand automatically extended.
She paused uncertainly before grasping her smaller hand in mine and letting me help her up.
"I have to go," she said, her voice uneven and her eyes refusing to meet mine.
"Let me take you back to your room."
She shook her head. "No, I..."
She doesn't want me to see her with the machines and the IVs and the oxygen masks and all of the equipment that makes it all real. After my sudden realization, I nodded, taking a step back. I didn't ask if she'd be all right or if she needed help because I could tell that those kinds of things annoyed her, mainly because they made her feel more helpless than she already is.
So I just watched as she turned around and slowly made her way down the hallway, turning left into the main branch of the medical ward.
After a long second, I could resist myself from running down the hallway to watch her leave, to try to convince myself that she was safe, but when I got to the corner and turned, she was already gone.