He regretted it the moment he woke up the next morning. As the memories of last night flooded in, Jongin slapped his forehead and wondered what he placed himself into. But Sohee just looked so hurt, he couldn’t help but agree.

“Good morning.” Sohee enters his room and sits down next to him on the bed. Smoothly, she wraps her hands around his neck and pulls him into her. She hugs him for a while and before pulling away, whispers in his ears softly, “thanks for helping me.”

And with her words, the regrets instantly vanished into thin air. It happened every time. Sohee would use him and he would agree to being used, then she would just come again to hurt him again. Jongin knew it too, but he chose to be beside her and he agreed it was the price he had to pay.

Sohee gets up from the bed and walks out of the room. Within seconds, the she leaves his apartment, and he is left sitting on the bed alone. It always felt colder when Sohee left. With her, it was spring and summer, but when she left it was plain Artic winter.

Suddenly the door to his apartment opens again. Jongin looks feeling hopeful that maybe Sohee returned. Maybe she forgot her keys or her phone. However, against his desperate wishes, Chanyeol walks into his house, clicking his tongue and swearing at Jongin.

“You idiot. You brainless fool.” Chanyeol walks into his room and flops himself onto the couch as if he were at his own house.

Jongin sighs. “What are you doing here?” He asks without much curiosity. In fact, he just wanted to be left alone.

“To look at Sohee’s .”

“Shut up.” Jongin mutters. He knew he was Sohee’s lap dog very well, he didn’t need to be reminded every time. It wasn’t a choice made by the head anyways. It was a slave contract signed by his brainless heart.

Chanyeol rolls his eyes. When would Jongin wake up and realize that Sohee is destroying his life?! Wasn’t Jongin supposed to be the genius neurosurgeon?!! In his eyes, Jongin was Korea’s stupidest fool in love.

“I don’t even understand how you are the best neurosurgeon in the world. I swear I’m smarter than you, but I don’t know why I failed math and you aced it.” Chanyeol mumbles with confusion. This is why being academically smart was useless in society. What’s the point of being a genius and ending up as someone’s lap dog?

“You failed math because you didn’t take the final test.” Jongin replies as he rises from the bed. Even his bed smelled like Sohee. Every part of his life reflected Sohee.

“I don’t even know why you became a doctor! You wanted to be a-“

“Stop. I’m a doctor now, so it up. I’m the best in my field, so-“

“So what? So you think you’re smart? Listen doggie, I hate the fact that my best friend is someone’s , so please, just please get your human together and reverse back into a human.” Chanyeol pleads desperately. For how many more years would Jongin chase after Sohee, who was clearly never going to even look at him?!

“Reverse back into human…? I was never human. I was always a dog. And I don’t think I will ever become human in your eyes.” Jongin replies firmly as he walks out of his room.

Looking at the kitchen, Jongin notices his dirty dishes in the sink had disappeared. Instead, steaming white rice and side dishes were neatly placed on the dining table. Jongin sighs happily. “How can I become human when she keeps feeding me dog food?” He smiles foolishly at the thought of Sohee cooking for him. He knew he was foolish, but if there was one thing he couldn’t control in his life, it was Sohee.

“By the way, I did the dishes. I cooked the food too, so get rid of that idiotic smile.” Chanyeol tells Jongin.

Immediately Jongin’s smile vanishes. With Chanyeol’s needle, Jongin’s bubble of dreams pops and vanishes into thin air.

“Sohee doesn’t know how to cook. Don’t you know that?” Chanyeol clicks his tongue and shakes his head.

“I know. I just wanted to dream on.” Jongin sighs.

Chanyeol swings his arm around Jongin’s neck. “Look buddy, I don’t know what she is trying to get you into again, but please try to stay away from her.” Chanyeol was sincerely starting to get worried about Jongin. Every time he saw Jongin and Sohee together, Jongin seemed to be falling into deeper .

“If I could stay away from her, I would have already done so.” Jongin flicks Chanyeol’s arm away from his neck and sits down in front of his deliciously prepared food. If only Sohee had cooked for him…if only he could be with her when she cooked him a meal every night…if only…

Looking at Jongin’s miserable face, Chanyeol could tell he was dreaming about Sohee again. Poor bastard.

“What is she putting you up to now?” Chanyeol pulls up a chair in front of Jongin and sits down. He was curious as to what Sohee was planning now. She was a girl full of evil and mischief in her life.

Jongin responds ambiguously. “Something I should have said no to.”

Chanyeol looks at Jongin seriously. “If you should have said no, why didn’t you?” He demands calmly.

“Because she said she wanted to live a happy life. For her to live a happy life-“

“Shut up you dip . Why are you always sacrificing your happiness for her?!!” Chanyeol shouts angrily. His foolish best friend was decaying, almost rotting away but it was frustrating because he couldn’t help him.

Jongin closes his eyes. This conversation was always painful. It was repetitive but it was always painful. The same pattern: Sohee would ask Jongin to do something for her, he would obey like her little puppy, then Chanyeol would storm in and tell him to get his together. But Jongin couldn’t escape this pattern.

“You know precisely why I can’t say no to her.” Jongin mutters restlessly.

“No. I’m not quite sure anymore. You have psychotic issues, and it’s something I would recommend seeing a doctor. When we were young, Sohee was always there for you, so I understand why you would stick up for her. Then you started to love her. Ok, so you would do more for her. But now, you are ruining your life and her life. She is not the Sohee I knew anymore. She has turned into some psychotic .” Chanyeol points out angrily. “You’re turning her into a crazier psychotic .”

“She told me to marry her step-sister…and move far away.” Jongin adds in quietly.

“Precisely my point. She is a monster now. Franken-Sohee.” Chanyeol throws his hands into the air with frustration. From some point, he realized that Sohee was turning into a crazy , but he didn’t know why. She had always been self-centered but she was never crazy, definitely not crazy enough to ruin someone’s life.

“Wait, Sohee has a step-sister???” Chanyeol asks with surprise. That was something unheard of. Sohee was an only child!

Jongin nods solemnly.

“Whoah…” Chanyeol gasps. This fact would have thrown Sohee off her high pedestal. Sohee, being the self-centered person she is, would hate to acknowledge the fact that her father had cheated on her mother.

“Wait..wait…marry?? Move far away? What the is going on?!” Chanyeol looks at Jongin with confusion. He wasn’t sure if he words he heard were correct. How could you promise marriage to another person? How can you even ask someone to marry someone else?!

Chanyeol sensed the ed up situation. This was definitely abnormal and crazy.

          Jongin peers into the glass door of Gaeul’s room. It had been 3 hours since he swore on paper in front of Chanyeol that he would approach her. Now looking at her fragile state, he feels relieved that Chanyeol had stopped him. If he seriously went further and did what Sohee asked him too, he was nothing more than an animal.

           “Dr.Kim, Gaeul needs to do an MRI check-up in the following week.” Baekhyun walks over to Jongin. He had wondered why Jongin was staring blankly into the room without going in.

           “I’ll take care of my patient now. You should spend that time focusing on Sohee.” Jongin replies coldly. He opens the door widely and looks Gaeul straight into the eyes.

           Gaeul looks at Jongin surprised. She didn’t understand why he was staring at her with such pain and determination.

           He had suppressed his emotions of regret, but the moment Baekhyun walked over to him reminding him of Gaeul, Jongin wanted to help Sohee again. He wanted to, for a split second, ruin Gaeul’s life in front of Baekhyun by marrying her. However, looking at Gaeul’s oblivious face, Jongin couldn’t help but feel foolish. He was stupid for even thinking for a split second to do such a thing.

“Gaeul-ssi, we need to go to the MRI room.” Jongin mutters shamefully.

Gaeul nods quietly, while Solbi squeals just at the sight of Jongin.

Jongin walks over to Gaeul’s bed and lifts her up. She was light like a feather and even the slightest wind could knock her over easily.

“You don’t have to carry me. I can walk by myself.” Gaeul stammers with surprise. She had not expected Jongin to suddenly lift her up from the bed.

However, Jongin ignores Gaeul’s stammers and walks out of the room. He looks at Baekhyun firmly into the eyes, sending him a clear message: Gaeul is my patient now.

Walking down the hospital hallway, Gaeul twitches uncomfortably in Jongin’s embrace. She had never been hugged or carried by someone other than her mother. It felt…very uncomfortable. Especially when Jongin looked so angry.

“I can walk by myself.” Gaeul tells Jongin again.

However, Jongin doesn’t hear Gaeul as he is caught up in his own thoughts.

Gaeul feeling especially uncomfortable, tenses her body, as she had something to apologize for. The last time they had met, Gaeul had accused Jongin of being heartless. However, soon after she slammed the door in his face, Gaeul found out the truth.

Nurse Park’s mother had passed away three years ago. The reason why Nurse Park was late and never around her patients was because she was too busy dating Dr.Ho, who was already married.

So all this time, Gaeul had been foolishly covering up for a woman who was a home wrecker.

“By the way…Dr.Kim…I have something to apologize for.” Gaeul mentions timidly. This was taking a lot of courage. She would usually apologize for her mistakes easily, but something about Dr.Kim made it very difficult. She still did not want to admit that this guy was right!

“If it’s about Nurse Park, don’t worry about it. You couldn’t have known, so it’s not your fault.” Jongin replies coolly. He found out about Nurse Park’s affair with Dr.Ho about three weeks ago when he caught them kissing in the storage room. He wanted to explain to Gaeul before but she had been too stubborn to listen. Besides, he didn’t feel the need to explain himself to Gaeul.

His cool demeanor made Gaeul want to rebel. She didn’t want to admit her mistakes anymore. “Actually no. I didn’t mean to apologize for that! But since you’ve mentioned it…” Gaeul mumbles as she is lost for words again.

Jongin scoffs. This girl surely has a high pride level. “Then what else do you have to apologize for?”

“For uhm…for…oh look we’re here. You can drop me off now.” Gaeul points to the MRI, relieved. She was hoping that MRI had appeared sooner!

Jongin chuckles at Gaeul’s attempt to run away and carefully places Gaeul onto the ground.

“Jongin-ah” a sudden voice appears behind them.

Gaeul and Jongin turn around to see Sohee standing behind them.