Chapter 5.2
Chapter 5.2
“I’ll pass.”
Heeju, having finished dressing the wound neatly, responded immediately. She didn’t care about what happened to the previous doctor, whether it was Dr. Hong or Dr. Hwang, and she didn’t want to know more.
“You shouldn’t reject it without hearing the terms.”
Leaning against the headboard, Gukhyun reached out and played with Heeju’s hair.
“It won’t be easy to refuse.”
“What are the terms?”
“I’ll give you 40 million a month. In five months, you’ll be free.”
After that, you can dive off a cliff or starve to death, for all I care, his eyes seemed to say. His hand, which had been trailing up her curly hair, now slowly rubbed her earlobe.
He had a habit of casually touching people whenver he felt like it. Maybe that’s how women fall for him. Heeju grabbed his forearm and pushed it down.
“It’s still a no.”
“Why?”
“Do I need a reason to refuse?”
“You don’t have money. And you owe me.”
Their eyes met briefly. His tone was neutral, without a hint of sarcasm. He was stating facts, and it didn’t offend her or hurt her pride. But she just wondered why he was doing this.
Offering to clear her debt in five months at 40 million won a month was undeniably a generous offer.
Unless he had been shot in the head, no fool who would throw that much money at a forensic pathologist, who barely has a medical license, isn’t even a surgeon, especially one who was a bit unstable.
Kwon Gukhyun wasn’t a fool or a benevolent philanthropist. He was more likely a cunning predator laying a trap.
“I’ll pay it back on my own.”
Heeju stood up with the medical kit, but before she could fully rise, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. The spot he had grabbed earlier throbbed with pain. She tried to shake off his hand, but it was futile.
“Let go. It hurts…”
“One whiff of the autopsy room and you’re already trembling.”
His soft whisper in her ear made her freeze. Her eyes, like clear brown marbles, fixed on Gukhyun.
“… How do you know that?”
“I do background checks out the people I plan to use.”
He spoke so brazenly about investigating her background. So that’s how it is?
No one likes having their weaknesses exposed to a stranger. Her voice sharpened instinctively.
“Are you that interested in me? Or do you just like unhinged girls?”
“Why couldn’t you just be pretty?”
Gukhyun muttered under his breath as he unfolded Heeju’s fingers one by one. He seemed to be savoring the moment like he was deciding which one to break first. A chill crawled up her neck, prickling her skin.
“You have misunderstood me for being gentle, but this isn’t a proposal.”
“Then… is it a threat?”
“Something like that.”
Heeju let out a resigned sigh. How had she ended up entangled with a lunatic like him? At this point, she might be a magnet for crazies.
“Do us all a favor—calm that thing down and stop showing off. It’s been hard to ignore since earlier, you know?”
The silk, dark gray robe clung snugly to his body, outlining every suggestive contour. Though he’d loosely tied it at the waist after disinfecting his wounds, the knot barely held. The fabric couldn’t disguise the rigid outline of his stiff ar0u!s@l near his gr0!n.
She had been pretending it wasn’t there, bulging through the fabric and poking its head out from between the collar of his robe.
“You know,” he murmured, his tone laced with amusement. “Watching you sneak glances like you’re trying so hard not to look—it’s kind of cute.”