Chapter 16.2

Chapter 16.2

“Did you not hear me, inmate? I said take off your top.”

What a punk. Couldn’t have been out of diapers long, yet here he was barking orders. The stubborn streak in me flared up. The more someone tried to bend me, the straighter I stood. And since I wasn’t wearing a bra, taking off my shirt would mean baring everything.

“Hey! 7059!”

His voice hardened, anger creeping in. Whether I took a hit first or stripped on my own, the result would be the same. I’d have to take it off either way.

“……”

I didn’t want to get hit. I bit my lower lip and raised my hand to the top button.

“That’s enough. Wrap it up.”

“Ah! Deputy Ki!”

The rookie guard, who’d been standing there cocky with one leg propped, froze stiff the moment Deputy Ki’s tall frame appeared at the post. The kid wasn’t small himself, but next to Deputy Ki, he looked like a clumsy schoolboy.

Deputy Ki’s calm, professional voice was directed at me.

“Inmate 7059. Do you have anything hidden under your clothes?”

“N-no, sir! Nothing at all.”

“Then return to your cell with the others in line.”

Once Deputy Ki spoke, the rookie immediately backed off, letting me go without another word. He seemed completely deflated, as if I’d vanished from his radar.

Dragging my feet, I walked out of the checkpoint at an unhurried pace. As I passed by Deputy Ki, who pretended to focus on a stack of paperwork, I reached out and briefly squeezed his pinky finger before letting go.

For a moment, our eyes met. I winked, playful and quick. A vein pulsed in his neck, then disappeared just as fast.

Following the line of inmates down the hallway, I bit back a small, secret smile.

— 

Deputy Ki and I met three times a week, during the short moments I was sent to clean the infirmary.

When I heard his low voice call, “Inmate 7059, step out,” I stopped what I was doing and rose, pretending not to care.

I slipped on my white rubber shoes and walked down the gray corridor. For the ten minutes or so it took to get there, neither of us said a word. We both kept our eyes straight ahead, like people who only had business in front of them.

I swept the floor while Doctor Ahn chatted idly with Deputy Ki. Her voice drifted in one ear and out the other as I cleaned.

Fifteen minutes, give or take, was enough for light cleaning. When we were done, Doctor Ahn would always say, “Good work, Yeohee-ssi,” and I’d leave to head back to the cell block.

That had been the usual routine, three evenings a week.

At least, until recently.

“Ha… ngh…”

Today, his hands were impatient. Dissatisfied with touching me through my uniform, they slipped beneath the loose prison fabric. His hot palms gripped my bare br2s!t.s, skin meeting skin.

The wet sounds of our tongues mixed obscenely with the distant hum of machinery.

Instead of returning right after cleaning, we slipped into the laundry storage room near the workshop. It was stacked high with freshly washed towels and blankets. A perfect hiding spot.

The piles of blankets made the floor soft enough to sit on, and the thick layers muffled sound.

And since no one came by the workshop after work hours, it was the most ideal time and place in the entire prison for a secret meeting.

“Mmh…”

By now, Deputy Ki touched me without hesitation. He sucked on my tongue, kneaded my br2s!t.s, and teased my n2pp.l!s between his thumb and forefinger.

Even so, his hand never ventured lower, never slipped inside my pants. It was strange, and somehow… it made me even more restless.

While kissing him, I climbed onto his lap. Straddling his thighs on top of the pile of blankets, I pressed my body close against his.

“Haa…”

A rough m0.2n escaped his throat, heavy and desperate.

When our lips parted, his sharply handsome face filled my view.

Sitting on top of him, I was slightly higher, and for the first time, I felt a strange satisfaction looking down at him. It felt like I was the one in control.

Smiling faintly, I brushed back the strands of hair that had fallen over his forehead.

Maybe because he was embarrassed, the man quietly lowered his gaze.

God, how long was he going to keep blushing like that?

It wasn’t that I disliked it, but it was starting to feel a little frustrating.

He cleared his throat, as if trying to change the subject, and spoke in a low voice.

“Did you… enjoy the bath?”

“…Ah.”

I nodded.

Lately, I’d been testing Deputy Ki. Just to see how far he would go for me. How much of what I asked he’d obey… or how much his neat-freak conscience could tolerate before it broke.