Chapter 41.1

Chapter 41.1

After the car had completely driven away, Heeju turned and entered the research institute. It had been almost a month since her last visit. As she stepped into the lobby, the last memory from this place suddenly resurfaced.

Incredibly, what flashed through her mind at that moment wasn’t anything else, but the man’s voice savagely whispering in her ear during their first time having s3x.

“Remember this.”

“This is the feeling of my cck spreading your ps.sy open.”

“From now on, whenever you come here, you’ll only remember f~ck!ng me.”

Standing frozen in the middle of the lobby, the tips of Heeju’s ears gradually turned red. To think that she, who used to tremble like an idiot and whimper just from breathing in the autopsy room air, was now recalling such obsc*n3 memories. She wasn’t sure if she should be grateful for that.

It hit her belatedly just how insane the things she’d done here were, driven out of her mind. Even she thought it was crazy, but her body reacted in the opposite direction to reason. A tingling sensation throbbed between her legs, and her lower abdomen tightened then relaxed.

“Haa….”

Heeju let out a long sigh. It was frightening how weak her body had become to pleasure.

She shook her head vigorously to quickly banish the l3.wd memories from her mind, then headed straight to Yeongshin’s lab. She knocked and waited, and soon the door clicked open.

“You’re here? Aren’t you a bit late?”

Yeongshin looked somewhat tired. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hair was shaggy as if it was overdue for a haircut, and stubble was sparsely growing on his chin. There weren’t really any strict rules about attire or appearance in the institute, but since his father was the director, Yeongshin usually kept himself neat to be mindful of others’ eyes, so this was a bit unexpected.

“Yeah, were you waiting?”

“No. Come in.”

Yeongshin held the door open, making way for Heeju. A faint smell of alcohol lingered in his lab. He must have been working on paperwork, as the monitor was on, and steam was rising from the coffee placed next to the mouse.

“Want one too?”

“Sure.”

“Warm, right?”

Yeongshin shuffled in his slippers to the coffee machine. Heeju sat in a chair, glanced at the half-written autopsy report he was working on, and asked.

“Are you busy lately?”

“Huh? No? Why?”

“Your hair’s gotten really long.”

“Ahh, this.”

Yeongshin fiddled with his hair, looking a bit embarrassed. Whirrr, the coffee machine buzzed loudly as the aroma of coffee filled the lab.

“I’m thinking of growing it out.”

“If it gets any longer, won’t the director hate it?”

Heeju said this while recalling the director, who always maintained a neatly slicked-back hairstyle. The director had ambitions for his son to eventually succeed him, so it seemed unlikely he’d let Yeongshin grow his hair freely.

Yeongshin walked over to the desk with the freshly brewed coffee and plopped down next to Heeju.

“It’s already chaos every day. He chases me with scissors every morning.”

“Then just cut it. Why rebel against your dad? You’re not a kid anymore.”

“You’re only treating me like an oppa at times like this?”

Yeongshin sipped his coffee and chuckled. He was four years older than Heeju. Having entered university earlier than most, Heeju had age gaps with her peers ranging from as little as two years to as much as ten. People often said it must have been hard to adjust, but Heeju herself didn’t care much about age.

To begin with, her only family—her older sister—had quite an age difference with her, so all her interests were aligned more with her sister than with her peers. That was probably why she’d often been called an “old soul” growing up.

Come to think of it, how old was Kwon Gukhyun? Heeju suddenly wondered. Despite all the s*x they’d had so far, she’d never once been curious about his age.

As she cupped the coffee mug, Heeju thought about the orphanage oppa who had popped out from an old memory only today. She didn’t know his exact age either, but he was probably one or two years older than her sister.

“You don’t understand my grand plan. It’s thanks to me rebelling like this that the old man isn’t obsessing over you right now. Otherwise, you’d be getting calls once a week telling you to return to the institute….”

Yeongshin, who had been muttering while shaking his head, glanced at Heeju.

“But what’s with that expression? Are you even listening? Now you’re openly spacing out?”