At Nurse Jung’s command, the guards scrambled to get him to his feet. He didn’t struggle as the three of them grabbed him. Top Dog knew that struggling would be useless in the face of a sedative.

 

The ready-made bathtub was too cramped for him, both in length and width. His arms were crossed over his head and handcuffed to the outside of the tub so he couldn’t freely move. He waved goodbye to the staff members who left the room.

 

Now it was just Top Dog and Nurse Jung in the room.

 

She stared him down.

 

The water soaked his scrubs and showed the outline of his body. His muscular body peeked through the thin fabric and clung to his flesh. It was more than just sensual, it was decadent.

 

Nurse Jung dryly swallowed. In all the times she slept with him, she never saw him undressed. He always refused to let her touch him any more than necessary.

 

Feeling the dryness in her throat, she watched him as if she were exploring.

 

The arm that extended past his head and out of the tub was in a masculine posture. His muscles and tendons stood out, and his abs, exposed by the slight curl of his top, rose and fell with each breath, reminding her he was a living being, not a piece of art on display in a museum.

 

His newly dampened hair fell haphazardly over his sculpted face, but it looked as if it were done on purpose.

 

She watched a droplet fall from the top of his hair and trickle down the bridge of his high, round nose and across his red lips.

 

A charming, deadly, and damned beautiful man.

 

She felt her heart sink as if it was a lie that she was consumed with hatred for him prior to walking into the room.

 

“You should have been nice to me, then I would have been nice to you in times like this.”

 

Nurse Jung gently ruffled his hair and asked.

 

“What are you thinking about now?”

 

“Um…”

 

The man let out a languid breath and opened his lips.

 

“The idea of f*cking my pretty girl in a bathtub like this?”

 

It would have been better if it was sarcastic, but there was no sharpness nor playfulness in his tone. He was lost in his own world, uninterested in the woman in front of him…

 

“It’s cramped and uncomfortable, but I suppose it’s worth a try since she’d have to cling so tightly to me.”

 

The nurse shuddered with humiliation. Her already shattered pride crumbled into nothingness.

 

She thought about how much she wanted to kill the bastard in front of her.

 

The security cameras in the stabilization room were off. Whatever she was about to do wouldn’t be captured on camera.

 

“I’m going to ‘bathe’ you clean, including your brain and organs. Putting a lot of water in there will clean you, won’t it?”

 

With a crooked smile, Nurse Jung put gloves on her hands and issued an ultimatum.

 

“I’ll give you one last chance. If you change your mind now and stay loyal to me, I won’t give you a bath. It’s just the two of us here, and the CCTV isn’t running. If I tell them I bathed you, they’ll believe me.”

 

“Loyal?”

 

“Yes. Serve me, satisfy me enough, and give me proof of your oath. Then, I can let you go.”

 

“You have a knack for making easy things needlessly difficult. So you’re asking me to f*ck you to your satisfaction and c*m inside you.”

 

The man’s mouth curled upward in response, his voice low and cool. Nurse Jung slightly shivered.

 

Top Dog was always sexy, but he smiled, his pheromones were unusually strong. Even in a humiliating defeat, she would always end up aroused. She thought she could tame that cocky beast or be dominated by him, but today was different.

 

He’s a cranky guy, but he isn’t stupid. He probably realized what a bath is and will try to avoid it. This time, she was going to break him and make him leave his mark inside of her.

 

In all this time, he hadn’t ej*culated once, insisting that whether she liked it or not, he would remain unmoved. The moment had come to smash his high-minded snout in.

 

He seems to take some sort of pride in it as if he’s kept. Why doesn’t he realize that the more he does that, the more she wants to take it away?

 

Nurse Jung patiently waited for his surrender, confident of victory.

 

“No.”

 

Until the words of refusal came out of his mouth.

 

“… What?”

 

“I don’t want to c*m inside you.”

 

Her mind was stunned by the flat answer. She couldn’t make sense of this situation.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I’m not attracted to you.”

 

“Yo- you’re hard.”

 

“It’s hard without even trying. I’m hard while sleeping, hard while eating, hard while washing, and hard while traveling in the car.”

 

He adds, gesturing to his p*nis, easily seen through his w*t pants.

 

“But f*cking is a different story. I mark when someone is so lovely and I want to impregnate them, but if I mark anyone, what’s the difference between that and an animal?”

 

“So, you’re saying that I’m that ‘anyone?’”

 

She gritted her teeth.

 

“Self-harm is a hobby, so I guess you need to be told ‘yes’ to get your head out of your a$s.”

 

He sarcastically continued.

 

“I’d rather take a bath or a nap than give some bitch an excuse to come after me with a f*cking kid later.”

 

“… You’re going to regret that choice.”

 

“Well, I’m more afraid of disappointing my future wife.”

 

He shrugged.

 

“Cut the bullshit and do your damn thing.”

 

Nurse Jung couldn’t take it anymore and dumped the smug bastard into the water.

 

***

 

‘It won’t make a difference on the outside, so how?’

 

Won stroked her lips with her index finger, thinking about everything.

 

‘Ho cursed as soon as he saw Ju-hee walk through the door the other day. He immediately realized it was Sol, not Ju-hee.’

 

Won, on the other hand, can’t tell the difference between Sol and Ju-hee on her own. She only knows it is Ju–hee when she says ‘unnie,’ and that it is Sol when he says ‘noona.’

 

‘Is there a way to tell them apart that I haven’t noticed?’

 

Won wants to know because it might be useful. As she was thinking about it, she made contact with Ho, who turned his head. He froze, noticing Won’s presence.

 

After a short pause, Ho nervously brushed past Won. Won shrugged, but Mr. Tae spoke up.

 

“You haven’t been coming to the smoking room lately.”

 

“Oh, I’m trying to quit.”

 

“Well, I can’t quit, so I smoke when I have to. It’s good to quit as soon as possible, especially when you have a bright future ahead of you.”

 

With those words of encouragement, Mr. Tae went back into the smoking room. There was no hesitation in his steps. Won shook her head in disbelief and continued her search, but there was no sign of Old Man Gu, Mr. Baek, or even Ju-hee, let alone Ms. Yang. She couldn’t see anything to help with discovering the truth about the ward.

 

‘Today is not the day.’

 

Returning to her room without much success, Won replayed the precautions in her head.

 

After dinner, she went to the main hall and saw someone coming out of the nurses’ station. Top Dog was being dragged out by the staff. It looked like his exile in the stabilization room was finally over, but upon closer inspection, he was unable to walk properly and was wobbling.

 

‘What’s wrong?’

 

Won reflexively walked over to him, who smirked when he saw her.

 

“Hm? It’s pretty.”

 

‘Glad to see you still have the energy to spew bullshit.’

 

Won turned away from Top Dog and was about to continue to her destination when he swept her into a hug.

 

‘What the hell?’

 

Won panicked as the man, who was much larger than her, pounced on her, but she opened her arms to receive him.

 

Bending uncomfortable at the waist, he rested his forehead on her shoulder. His large body crouched onto hers. His bulk made it look like he was hugging her, but she was the one who was actually supporting him.

 

Confused as to why he wasn’t bearing his own weight, Won tried to push him away until she realized that his forehead, resting on her shoulder, was hot.

 

It wasn’t on her bare skin, but through her clothes, yet the heat radiated through them. Won’s eyes changed as she realized something was wrong with him.

 

“What’s wrong? You look like you’re sick.”

 

Won asked in disbelief, but he shook his head. His hair swayed as he shook his head and she touched his neck. It felt damp from the underside of his hair.

 

‘You didn’t even bother to tell me in a flirty way about this to get me to pamper you…’

 

His hair wasn’t dry, but it didn’t look w*t. Why was it dried only where his hair could be seen?

 

Top Do was probably soaked from head to toe, like a mouse in the rain. He had to clean himself and dry his hair before being released because everyone would know what he’d been through. He was probably tortured.

 

‘If that’s the case, he’ll get a cold…’

 

Sighing, Won absentmindedly held up Top Dog. She realized in hindsight that this gesture might come across as odd, or more accurately, misleading.

 

A chill ran down her spine as she saw the Romance Corps covering their mouths with their hands at the end of the main hall. When their eyes met, they quickly uncovered their mouths and gave Won a thumbs-up.

 

She was about to pull away from him because of the unforeseen ripple effect.

 

“I’m cold.”

 

He whimpered, rubbing his cheek against the line that ran from her neck to shoulder, like an obedient dog licking its master.

 

---

 

Kofi