Consulting Room No. 1, Pain Department, Third Municipal Hospital.

The long bench outside the room was packed, mostly with men, all waiting for Melissa Sutton to call their number.

A young guy in his twenties came out of the room grinning from ear to ear, looking way too hyped.

"Dr. Sutton really is gorgeous. Even with a mask on, her eyes are insane, like straight-up deadly. And her voice? So soft it practically melts people. Fits her name perfectly."

His friend asked, "So did Dr. Sutton prescribe you anything?"

The guy looked confused. "I told her my calf hurt, but she told me to go buy a box of anti-dampness herbal tea from the pharmacy outside and drink it for a while. What does getting rid of dampness have to do with calf pain?"

His friend snorted. "She meant your brain's waterlogged and needs draining."

"What kind of trash talk is that?"

"Go buy it already. If you wait any longer, that tiny little pain of yours is gonna heal on its own."

...

Melissa Sutton was irritated too.

She had already seen thirty patients that morning alone, and all kinds of random people kept registering for her clinic—hemorrhoid pain, urinary pain, stuff that clearly had nothing to do with her department.

If the hospital didn't require staff to keep up that polite smiling service act, she would've blown up already.

She had just barely sent the last patient away when another one walked in.

Melissa kept her eyes on the computer screen and didn't even look up. "Where does it hurt?"

A low, rough male voice answered, "The place that hurts is... kind of awkward."

Melissa took a slow breath, forcing down her temper. "From a doctor's point of view, every part of the human body is just tissue and organs. You don't need to feel embarrassed."

"Inner thigh."

Melissa's temper shot up on the spot.

These people were all here to mess with her, weren't they?

She was just about to snap when she turned her head and saw a broad-shouldered man sitting beside her.

He sat ramrod straight, proper as could be. Above the mask, his eyes were sharp and bright, fixed on her without blinking.

Melissa Sutton’s anger jammed right in her throat and died there on the spot.

She glanced at the computer screen again and finally made out the patient’s name: Ethan Greystone, thirty years old.

So it really was him.

"Ho-how did you get hurt?" Now it was Melissa who got nervous.

"Got cut by a suspect during an operation. My bad, wasn’t careful enough." Ethan answered plainly, not dodging it at all.

A trauma wound?

That really wasn’t even her department.

Still, it would’ve looked pretty awkward to send Ethan away, so she said, "Lie down on the bed over there. And… take off your pants. I need to examine the injury."

The man did exactly as told, but before anything else, he reached over and pulled the curtain shut.

Melissa stared at that blue curtain she yanked closed dozens of times every single day, and for some reason, it suddenly felt weirdly untouchable, like it was burning her fingers.

It took her a good while before she finally lifted the curtain and stepped inside.

The second her eyes met his, she felt like the air around them had frozen solid.

He was lying on the exam bed, legs parted, pants pushed down to his knees. He should have looked like a man completely at someone else’s mercy, like a fish on the chopping block. But his presence was way too strong. Hard, cold, overwhelming. Somehow it felt less like he was the one being examined and more like she was the one cornered.

In the end, he was the one who reminded her.

"Dr. Sutton, you can start now."

Melissa snapped back to herself and hurriedly lowered her gaze to check the wound.

The cut was high on his inner thigh, close to the groin. A knife wound, deep too. It had already been wrapped in gauze, but blood was still seeping through in thin reddish stains.

Because the injury was only about two centimeters away from the most sensitive part of him, she honestly had no idea where to put her eyes for a second.

Ethan, on the other hand, stayed absurdly calm. He even reminded her, almost casually, "Wasn’t it you doctors who say that in a doctor’s eyes, there are only organs?"

Melissa Sutton kept her tone steady and said, “It’s not like I’m looking at that. It might sting a little, so just bear with it, okay?”

She carefully unwound the gauze, then leaned in to check the wound bit by bit. After making sure no other nerves had been hit, she started disinfecting it for him.

Even though she was already being extra careful, her fingers still brushed that awkward spot now and then while cleaning it.

Neither of them spoke. The room went so quiet it almost felt frozen.

At last, she finished dealing with it and let out a long breath. “It’s nothing serious. You just need to change the dressing every day, and don’t let it get wet.”

“Thanks,” Ethan Greystone said.

“No problem. That’s my job,” Melissa replied.

When he stood up, the pain made his body sway a little. Melissa quickly reached out and caught him.

And he naturally took the chance to rest his hand on her shoulder.

“What time do you get off work?” he asked.

“At noon. Twelve.”

“Got time? Want to find somewhere and talk?” Ethan asked.

“I... already ordered lunch from the hospital cafeteria, and I still have clinic this afternoon, so I probably don’t have time.” Melissa tried to dodge it.

“Then tonight. I’ll come pick you up after work.”

“...Do we really have to talk?” Melissa asked.

“We do.” Ethan sounded stubborn, dead serious about it.

“Then... okay.”

After Ethan walked out, Melissa sat back down in front of her computer, and for a moment, she actually forgot to call the next patient.

There were still more than a dozen people waiting outside.

Some of them started grumbling in dissatisfaction. “So Dr. Sutton’s into looks too, huh? A tall, handsome guy comes in and she checks him forever. Look at the others who went in before—every one of them was out in just a few minutes.”

"Maybe they really are in pain?"

"What, so we’re faking it or something?"

...

Six in the evening.

Melissa Sutton rode her little e-bike out of the hospital.

The second she reached the gate, Ethan Greystone’s invitation popped back into her head, and her attention instantly drifted.

He said he wanted to talk to her.

About what?

They had only met once, on a night two months ago. After that, they hadn’t seen each other again at all.

It was just that that night...

She was still lost in the thought when the BMW in front of her slammed on the brakes out of nowhere. Melissa had zero time to react and crashed straight into it.

The car door flew open. A man in a suit got out, fuming, then strode to the back of the car. The second he saw the dent in the rear, his face darkened on the spot.

"Are you blind or what when you drive—"

But when he saw it was Melissa Sutton standing there, his anger spiked even harder.

He stared at her with a nasty look and snapped, "Melissa Sutton? You? Why the hell did you hit my car?"

Only then did Melissa get a clear look at his face.

Aaron Quill.

Her ex-boyfriend.

Also a doctor at this hospital, just in a different department.

Two months ago, Aaron had cheated with Natalie Harding, the director’s daughter, and dumped her without a shred of guilt.

Back then, Aaron always commuted on a shared bike. The clothes he wore were all cheap sale stuff from Uniqlo. Yet in just two months, he was driving a BMW and wearing a suit like he’d upgraded his whole life overnight. No wonder Melissa hadn’t recognized him at first glance.

Melissa said coldly, "I didn’t do it on purpose. You braked all of a sudden."

He let out a mocking laugh. "Then why didn’t you stay farther away from me? Melissa Sutton, are you seriously still this into me? How many times do I have to tell you? We were never a match. Other than having a decent face, what do you even have? Family background? Income? Education? Tell me, what part of you is on my level?"

Melissa’s temper flared too. "You really have the nerve to say that? When you were chasing me, you praised me like I was some goddess. You bought me breakfast, sent me roses, bent over backward every day. You were practically the king of simps back then. Why didn’t you say I wasn’t good enough for you at that point?"

"Back then, I had no idea what kind of person you were. If I'd known you had that many men around you, no way would've I chased you."

"What did you just say? Say that again!" Melissa Sutton kicked down the stand on her e-bike and got off in one sharp motion, her face dark with anger as she glared at Aaron Quill.

Aaron Quill looked at her with open contempt and sneered, "Your so-called big brother already told me everything. You’ve had tons of men since you were young. Toss you a little benefit, and you bite right away. Compared to Natalie Harding, you’re seriously nowhere close."

Smack!

Melissa Sutton lifted her hand and slapped Aaron Quill across the face, hard.