Jumin makes it a point to treat people in the most objective, rational manner he can possibly manage.

It rendered him a reputation as cold and robotic, but it is how he feels most comfortable socializing, with clear rules and expectations. This is especially the case when it comes to women, as he has a hard rule to never get emotionally involved with them.

However, it has always been hard when it comes to Jihyun and his exceptionally good taste for women. Then his friend goes into a coma, and objectivity goes out the window.

A lot of things happened in too short of a time. MC suddenly appeared in their messaging app, all sunshine and rainbows, a strange hacker menace began to threaten them, then Jihyun emerged from his grief with talks for another fundraising party.

In a couple of days, Rika was revealed not to be dead, but rather operating a suicide cult, hell-bent in poisoning a good chunk of the Korean bourgeoisie out of pure spite. She tried to kill her fiancé, who seemed to be in a blossoming relationship with their new party planner, which was the one that helped bringing the whole thing down, but at the cost of him falling into a coma, due to injury and poisoning. Luciel's twin brother was also involved with it in some way that was not immediately clear.

Everything happens so quickly, Jumin has hardly the opportunity to wrap his head around it. Perhaps this is what made him such an easy prey, this is what made him vulnerable.

Or perhaps…

MC comes to his office late on the second day. She stands awkwardly in the doorway until he asks her in. She closes the door behind her.

"How is V?" He asks, shuffling the last few papers on his desk.

He knows she needs to tell him something, but she will not unless he asks. She is polite, even when she is falling apart.

"About the same." She says, dragging her fingers across the back of chair in front of her. "Jaehee is with him. She said I should go home, sleep for a while, but I… Well, I thought I should stop by, at least. Thank you, Jumin, truly. I know you're friends, but… You didn't have to do so much for us, and we both appreciate it. I just thought you ought to know."

"It's no problem." He responds, with a demure smile.

Jumin means it. He might have been hurt about the whole situation, and he is trying to organize his thoughts about it, but he can see that Jihyun needs his support right now, and he is ready to give it to the best of his abilities, with no strings attached. There will be time for them to resolve their differences.

Besides, while they do not know each other for as long, but as short as their acquaintance was, he could attest to her brilliance, and he respects and admires MC, more than he can say. His childhood friend is a lucky man, to have found such a person willing to take care of him in his moment of need.

Luck… Jumin is also a lucky man, right? One could say with a fair amount of arguments that he has been fortunate in life, being a corporate heir of good health and blessed with a father and friends who love him.

After a moment, he continues, "Is there anything else I can do to make your stay at the hospital more comfortable?"

MC does not respond with anything more than a shake of her head, so he walks over, takes her hands in both of his. He half-smiles when she looks up at him.

"What do you need?" He asks again.

Her expression is strangely blank, even for her. He can practically feel the emotions compressed in her chest when her hands curl up in his.

Then, it happens. She kisses him.

Jumin knows he is only a surrogate, and he should not kiss her back, and that, for all intents and purposes, he is a single man, while Jihyun has a fiancée, but she is so quick and forceful and needy that he almost cannot help himself. Her touch fills his heart with elation and he grips the side of his desk to stop his hands from wrapping around her waist and bring her closer.

MC pulls away, sets back on her heels, eyes still closed, mouth still open, and murmurs, "I'm sorry."

He studies her, carefully, and can see something starting to surface. He justifies what he does next with that and the fact that his head is still spinning.

The corporate heir cups her jaw and kisses her again. She hums with surprise against his lips, then frees her hands and slips them under his jacket. She feels like warm desire, and he should push her away, he should say no, but he cannot, he is taken with a spirit beyond good and evil, controlling him and making him a slave.

He wraps an arm around her waist and then something gets pinged and she starts kissing him frantically, and then he is loosening his tie, and she is taking off his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt.

MC backs him up into one of the chairs behind him. He sits, and she straddles his lap, wordlessly pulling her brown sweater and undershirt in one fell swoop over her head. She, then, kisses him and takes off his shirt with equal efficiency, greedily pressing herself against him. She slips her hands under the hem of his undershirt and he makes a sound of disapproval through his nose, hoping she will get the message. She does, and pulls away for a moment, hands still warm against stomach belly.

Something in her overblown eyes change, and she knows. She leans in again, her mousy brown hair curtaining them in against the world.

"It's okay." She says breathlessly against his lips, diving to give him a little nipping kiss. "It's okay."

Jumin notes, with a heavy heart, that she does not use his name.

She kisses him again, moving her hands in soothing circles, while he unbuckles his belt and starts to undo his pants. She lays her hands on top of his, and he stops.

"No…" She whispers.

It is a question and an answer all at once, and he is only half-surprised when her hand finds its way under the waistband of his briefs. She keeps kissing him, only stopping to catch her breathe or moan wordlessly, and rubs herself against his thigh in the same rhythm that she strokes him.

Jumin can feel her desperate heat through the layers of cotton and rests his hands on her hips, not daring to venture any further. When he comes, it is unexpected and oddly meaningless, and only when she slows herself and kisses him so hard that he can feel the bruises forming already does he know it is over.

MC does not even bother to clean her hand. She just pulls it out and collapses against him, sticky fingers hovering somewhere near his heart, and starts to cry.

He gathers as much post-orgasmic strength as he can, as quickly as he can. He rubs her back, hushes at her soothingly, and feels all the feelings and frustration and anger and hope and fear leaking out of her as she sobs heavy, gulping sobs into the crook of his neck. She does not fit against him quite right, but it is okay.

She calms down a bit after a few minutes, but he just continues moving his hands against her back in broad circles.

"It'll be all right…" He murmurs.

Jumin believes it, and he thinks that, for a moment, MC does, too.