EXTERN

Chapter 9

Per’s Part

 

I sat there blinking, arms folded, watching the pale, ridiculously huggable man wander around my room, inspecting this and that as though he were strolling through a field of lavender. Completely unaware that a hungry young lion was sitting right here, watching the little deer.

 

“Keep this up much longer… and I’m going to start thinking you’re deliberately tempting me, Doc.”

 

I gave him a slight wicked grin and walked towards the slender man, who was about ten centimetres shorter than me. I’m 190 centimetres tall.

 

“Heh!”

The future doctor, who’d been standing there looking at my fish tank, merely turned towards me and smirked.

 

Fuck! I can’t take it anymore!

Thud!

 

I grabbed the smaller man and pushed him against the wall. The doctor stared calmly back at me, his expression impossible to read.

 

Whoa! Is he not pushing me away? Not refusing me…?

 

Then fuck it, I’m kissing him!

 

I lowered my head, intending to kiss him, only for the smaller man to lift his face and bite me squarely on the lip.

 

“OWWWWW! That hurts, Doc!!!”

 

I jumped backwards, immediately clutching my mouth. The doctor was always fucking doing this! He’d lure me in, get me all excited, then physically and emotionally abuse my poor little heart!

 

Every fucking time!!!

 

“Serves you right. You’re always trying to grope me.”

 

The future doctor shook his head and walked into the kitchen. Looking at him properly, he seemed to have something weighing heavily on his mind today.

 

And there’d been that woman tagging along after my doctor at the auditorium too… She seemed pretty close to him.

 

Dr Kan was usually quite guarded about personal space, so if he allowed someone to stand that close, hold his hand and cling to his arm, she must’ve reached a pretty high level of intimacy with him.

 

I’M SO FUCKING JEALOUS!!!

 

I want to hug the doctor too!

I want to be allowed to do things too!

 

…Per is not accepting this! Per needs to have more privileges than anyone else who gets close to the doctor!

 

“…What the hell is that face?… You look fucking psychotic.”

 

The older—but slightly less handsome(?)—man poked his head over the back of the sofa and narrowed his eyes at me.

 

I’d dropped onto the sofa in deep thought, trying to figure out how I could properly work my way into Dr Kan’s life.

 

“Oh, so you do care about me? Hmph! You used me to get rid of a woman and didn’t even reward me.”

 

I didn’t turn towards him. I folded my arms tighter, lifted my chin and pouted so hard my lips nearly touched my nose, staring at the television advert as though it were the most fascinating thing in the world. I can get sulky too, you know!

 

What kind of person makes someone fall in love with him and then grabs their head and smashes it against the floor? And then there was the way he’d come sprinting over to help me after Knight hit me with that sword…

 

I couldn’t deny how fucking happy it made me to know that I actually existed in his eyes too.

You know when he wasn’t looking for someone to drag into doing work for him. I’d noticed him arrive with that woman. She was probably just his friend. I vaguely recognised her from when I’d been stalking—ahem, looking through—Dr Kan’s Facebook. But I couldn’t help sulking!

 

Why did he have to come with a woman?! I’d been so busy staring at them that I ended up getting whacked with the sword.

 

“Does it still hurt?”

 

I melted.

Seriously.

 

At this point, I fucking melted into the floor.

It was the same voice he’d used with me on stage.

 

So fucking gentle!

So fucking cute!!!

 

It really suited him being a doctor. Just hearing that voice was enough to make the pain disappear. And what was this?! He’d actually knelt in front of me, lifted my engineering shirt and was gently touching my stomach while looking at me with those soft eyes!

 

I surrender, Doc.

I surrender to you and you alone.

 

You can do whatever the hell you want with Nong Per’s poor heart!

 

“…”

 

I kept my arms folded and stared at the pale man smiling gently at me.

 

I still didn’t answer. I stared at that beautiful smile—a smile I wanted to be the only person allowed to possess.

 

I’m telling you now—if I ever get Dr Kan as my boyfriend, I’m putting him in a box, locking him in my room and never letting anyone else see him. I’m fucking possessive!

 

“Are you sulking?”

 

“…”

 

You know when someone starts trying to coax you out of a sulk, and suddenly it makes you want to sulk even harder so that they’ll keep coaxing you?

 

Call it an addiction to being pampered. Especially when the person trying to make it up to me was this fucking adorable and moe!

I’m gone. Completely fucking gone for him.

 

“Nong Per… please stop being angry with P’Kan…”

 

“Hmph!”

 

I dramatically whipped my face away and folded my arms even tighter. I didn’t care. I was committing to the performance now.

 

“Okay, okay! Didn’t you want to watch a film? Come on! I happen to be free.”

 

WHOOSH!

I was on my feet immediately. We finally had the chance to go on a date! Why the hell would I waste time sulking? And besides. The doctor had invited me himself.

What kind of fucking idiot would turn that down?!

 

I thought I’d chosen a film with everything: action, suspense, thrills, excitement. But look at the handsome, adorable man sitting beside me.

 

“…”

 

His head was resting against my shoulder.

Fast asleep.

Oi!

 

Is going on a date with me seriously that fucking boring?!

 

After dinner, I’d planned on coming here and making a few moves in the cinema. Instead, His Highness had fallen comfortably asleep against me. What the hell was I supposed to do with that?!

 

“…Doc.”

 

“…”

 

“Kan.”

 

“…Mmm?”

 

The pale man lifted his head slightly and peered at me through half-open eyes. Come to think of it, he’d probably been ridiculously busy lately. There were faint dark circles beneath his eyes too. Was I being too selfish?

 

“Is the film boring? Do you want to go home?”

 

Kan gave me a small smile and shook his head before forcing himself upright and trying to focus on the screen, even though his eyelids were barely winning their battle against gravity.

 

“It’s fine… Last night’s shift was just a bit brutal. Keep watching the film. Yawwwn~”

 

The pale man yawned like a sleepy cat. Then his head slowly…slowly… started tilting back towards my shoulder.

 

Grab!

I caught his pale wrist and tugged him to his feet.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“I don’t want to watch the film anymore… I’d rather take care of you.”

 

I flashed him the heart-stealing smile that would normally have any woman falling straight into my trap. But this pale bastard? He just yawned again and nodded sleepily in agreement!

 

Fuuuuuck.

So much for my romantic moment.

 

“Whatever makes you happy.”

 

“Mmmmmm.”

 

“Bear with it for a second, Doc.”

 

“Take it ouuuut.”

 

“Just a little bit… You’ll love it once you get used to it.”

 

“Peeeeer! Take it ouuuut!”

 

“You’ll sleep much better afterwards.”

 

“IT’S COOOOLD!!!”

 

What were you lot thinking?!

 

“Your under-eyes are getting dark. Keep these on for a while.”

 

That’s right. I’d taken the doctor shopping and practically cleared the shelves of skincare creams, face masks, under-eye masks, even foot masks, cosmetics and a whole load of other stuff I’d seen women I dated using.

 

Dr Kan had spent the entire shopping trip standing beside me, looking dazed and half-asleep.

 

And now I’d dragged the sleep-deprived man back to my condo and was smearing everything we’d bought all over him after forcing him to take a shower.

 

“I’m not some fucking beauty queen! Why the hell do I need this much skincare? You think I’m entering Miss Queen or something?!”

 

“Men can take care of their skin too. Here, lie still.”

 

I trapped the doctor’s head between my thighs, using my legs and feet to pin his body and legs against the carpet. Having long legs really came in handy sometimes.

 

“IT’S COOOOLD! LET ME GOOOOOO!”

 

I smeared moisturiser across those pale cheeks and rubbed it all over his smooth, soft face.

 

“It’s only a little. Stop squirming.”

 

Dr Kan twisted and struggled. And struggled. Until he eventually exhausted himself, stopped fighting me, and settled for glaring murderously up at me instead.

 

“Fine! Do whatever the fuck you want. I’m too tired to argue with you anymore.”

 

I grinned and playfully pinched his nose.

Awww!

 

So fucking cute! Whose boyfriend is this?! …What? Is he not my boyfriend yet? Whatever! He practically is!

 

“Go to sleep, Doc. You must be exhausted.”

 

I gently massaged the crease between his knitted brows. He was older than me, after all. Wouldn’t want you getting wrinkles before me, wifey…

 

“So I really have to sleep here?”

 

“You honestly think I’m letting you leave?”

 

We stared at each other for a moment, each waiting to see what the other would do.

 

“Ughhh. Whatever!”

 

He sighed and closed his eyes, apparently deciding to shut out the entire outside world.

 

“…”

 

I gently massaged the head resting in my lap until I felt the doctor gradually begin to relax.

 

“Something’s stressing you out, isn’t it?”

 

“…It’s stupid.”

 

“But you can’t stop thinking about it, can you?”

 

I continued kneading and massaging from his scalp down towards the back of his neck. Mr Student-Union President must have a lot weighing on his mind—poor thing.

 

“Hey…”

 

“…”

 

“…Have you ever kissed one of your own friends?”

 

One of my eyebrows rose. Then started twitching.

WHAT?!

 

And here I was thinking he was stressed about work!

 

WHO THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN KISSING?!

 

“Ow!”

 

Without realising it, I’d squeezed the shoulder of the man in my lap way too hard. The doctor grimaced, and I quickly pulled my hands away.

 

“Who did you kiss?”

 

I stopped everything and asked him. I hadn’t meant for my voice to sound that serious.

 

Rustle!

The moment the doctor noticed the change in me, he pushed himself upright and stared at me in confusion.

 

Honestly, I was confused with myself too…But I thought I was beginning to understand how all those women I’d dated must have felt whenever I went out with someone else the following day. They must have felt hurt.

 

Jealous.

Just like—

 

“Moustache… what’s wrong?”

 

We stared into each other’s eyes. For once, I didn’t even smile at him. Dr Kan was handsome. Ridiculously handsome. Of course people wanted to get close to him. It wouldn’t be strange at all if he decided to start over with someone new. And he had every right to choose whoever he wanted that person to be.

 

“I didn’t kiss them! They kissed me!”

 

I didn’t know why the doctor felt the need to defend himself. But the thing making my heart pound wildly now was the fact that He was trying to explain himself to me. That meant he cared about how I felt…

Right?

 

“…”

 

“I was asleep, and they came over and kis—Mmph!”

 

I grabbed the man in front of me and pulled him closer, immediately claiming his lips in a bold, demanding kiss.

 

But what made my heart swell until it felt too big for my chest was that the man in my arms kissed me back.

 

“Mmm…”

 

I wasn’t going to stop myself this time. The doctor was far too fucking adorable.

 

“Per…”