The Triplet Alphas' Forbidden Temptation

No one said a thing. The six-unit announcement was enough to put them all in a panic. Seeing that there were no more questions, Kieran continued.

"Good. If there is nothing else, I will leave you with Dr Lancashire. She will show you around the hospital and familiarise you with the facilities. Since this is your first day, you need to know where everything is before you begin your rotations."

He stood, gathering the papers in front of him, then paused as if he had remembered something. His gaze locked on the other students as he added, "One more thing," he said seriously, making it clear that what he was about to say was very important.

Everyone looked at him. "You will be graded as a group," he deadpanned. That was like a bomb detonating. The excitement that had begun to build immediately disappeared as their faces went white as paper. "So next time, don’t accidentally forget a classmate in the car," he added sarcastically. It felt like a pointed comment.

Yuki stared at him, dumbfounded. Marie blinked, processing what she had heard. Despite her reservations about Yuki, her grades took priority as a top student.

Gareth’s expression went blank, and the two other boys exchanged horrified looks. Kieran seemed almost satisfied by their reaction.

"Good luck," he said calmly with a soft smile, then walked out.

The moment the door closed behind him, the room fell silent for a long moment before it exploded. "I cannot believe Lord Kieran is our supervisor!" one of the students squealed excitedly. It was like seeing a celebrity in the flesh.

Marie chuckled. "We must be extremely lucky. Not only did we get Kaden as our combat professor, now Kieran is our supervisor..." The stern-faced Marie blushed lightly. "He is still as cool as ever."

They were like a bunch of fangirls. Among academics, Kieran was known as a prodigy, so to a bunch of nerds, he was an icon to them.

Gareth turned towards Marie, his voice high and bubbling with excitement that he could barely contain. "You’ve worked with him before, haven’t you? What’s he actually like?" he asked, completely forgetting about his brooding girlfriend. Yuki, who overheard them, could not help but imagine Celeste’s reaction upon finding out Kieran was their supervisor.

The two boys immediately moved closer, clearly interested in the answer. Marie looked rather pleased with herself.

Dr Lancashire stood near the door with her arms folded, watching the students with an amused expression. She seemed content to give them a few minutes to recover before beginning the tour.

Marie leaned back in her chair. "He’s pretty cool," she announced for the hundredth time.

Yuki nearly choked this time.

Cool?

She lowered her head quickly, pretending to adjust the strap of her bag. Marie continued, completely unaware of Yuki’s internal reaction. "He’s a man of few words. Very professional. And he has absolutely zero tolerance for mistakes."

That part, at least, Yuki could believe.

"He also doesn’t like people slowing him down," Marie added seriously. Yuki’s lips twitched. The sole exception to that rule was apparently Eloise.

She had watched Kieran patiently entertain Eloise’s questions at breakfast, listened to him explain things to her and even witnessed him show an amount of patience that was jarring to watch.

Yet apparently, he had no patience for anyone else. Marie was now speaking with the confidence of someone who had personally studied Kieran Ravencourt for years.

Bear in mind, they had only worked together once on a competition. Dr Lancashire eventually clapped her hands. "Right. I think Miss Brown has given you enough information to write his biography," she teased in a light tone.

The students laughed. Marie looked offended. "I was only answering their questions," she said defensively.

"And you have been answering them for ten minutes." Dr Lancashire chimed in, then glanced at the clock on the wall.

"I have something I need to attend to before my shift ends at five. If you want to know more about Doctor Ravencourt, you’ll learn soon enough by working with him," she informed them, already heading for the door.

She opened the door, then looked back at them, still planted in their seats. "Come on. Chop-chop," she urged impatiently.

The students scrambled up, gathering their things and following her out. So the tour of the mighty Ravencourt Central Hospital started. Although it was technically a public hospital, it had facilities that even the top private hospitals in Ravencourt couldn’t rival.

The tour took much longer than Yuki expected.

Ravencourt Central Hospital was enormous, and even after more than an hour, they had barely scratched the surface. Dr Lancashire took them through several wards and introduced them to doctors, nurses and administrative staff. By the end of it, Yuki had been given so many names that she was beginning to wonder how she was expected to remember any of them.

Some areas were completely off-limits to them without special clearance, especially Kieran’s research lab, so they didn’t get to see him during their tour, and Dr Lancashire made that very clear.

"You don’t enter restricted areas unless you have permission," she warned as they passed another secured entrance. "I don’t care how curious you are. Curiosity is not a medical qualification. If anything goes wrong, you will bear the consequences directly, and not the school," she said firmly.

One of the boys chuckled, and Dr Lancashire turned her head. He immediately stopped laughing.

By the time the tour ended, the students were taken to the stores and records department.

There, Dr Lancashire handed them over to a stern-looking woman who was standing behind a desk with a metal flask in one hand. "This is Nurse Natalie," Dr Lancashire introduced her. "She is in charge of this department."

Natalie lowered the flask slowly. Her eyes travelled over the five students. She looked unimpressed. She was a former ward matron who had been moved here after a hospital accident reduced her mobility, and she needed a calmer position.

Dr Lancashire smiled. "Could you take care of them for me today?" she requested.

Natalie stared at her, her old nurse’s face remaining blank. Then she took another sip from her flask. "Of course," she said flatly. "It’s not like I have a choice. We do need some extra hands today."