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Nate freezes with a dumpling halfway to his mouth. Then his face lights up. “Oh, that was terrible.”

Maggie drops her face into her hand. “Please don’t.”

“I didn’t even accuse you properly. You both just confessed to being suspicious.”

“I’m not her professor,” I say.

Nate turns to me. “That’s not as comforting as you think it is.”

“He’s not my professor,” Maggie says, lifting her head. “He’s a doctor.”

“Doctors teach.”

“Nate.”

“I’m just respecting the full scope of medical education.”

“You’re eating my dumplings and harassing my guest.”

“Your guest brought enough dumplings for diplomacy.”

I look at Maggie. “He’s not wrong.”

She glares at me. “Don’t encourage him.”

Nate points at me. “I like him.”

“You like anyone who feeds you,” Maggie says.

“That’s called gratitude.”

Nate asks more questions, but not the dangerous ones, and Maggie keeps cutting him off before he gets too close to anything that would require lying. I let her decide the limits. When Nate asks what kind of doctor I am, I say surgeon. When he asks whether Maggie is a nightmare patient, I say I have no comment. When he asks whether I always bring food to women who mention noodles once over text, Maggie coughs so hard into her water that I answer by pushing the soup closer to her.

Nate notices that. He’s much more observant than his jokes suggest.

“She forgets to eat,” he says, softer than before.

Maggie looks up. “I do not.”

“You absolutely do. You once survived exam week on coffee, crackers, and rage.”

“That was a balanced diet under the circumstances.”

“It was a cry for help with caffeine.”

I glance at her. She’s eating the noodles now, slowly but with more interest than she probably wants me to notice. Good. The color has come back into her face a little. Not much, but enough that the tightness in my chest loosens.

“She ate half the soup,” I say.

Maggie’s eyes narrow. “Don’t you dare report on my soup progress.”

Nate grins. “No, no, I enjoy this. Continue.”

“She also ate noodles.”

“Excellent.”

“I hate this,” Maggie says, but she’s smiling despite herself.