In defiance of Pembe's fantasies, he took his shirt off with no fuss and the moment was already over, Potemkin giving a sigh before he tossed the whole shirt into the hamper. That meant he remained standing half-naked though. Potemkin was top-heavy in an extremely masculine way, shoulders and chest having enough heft in them to make the aforementioned waist look thin in comparison. With Potemkin's figure, the only parts that appeared lacking were due to even greater bounty elsewhere; even his comparatively small legs are not actually thin by any objective standard.

If Potemkin didn't prod into Pembe's nervousness earlier, he continued to act just as unobtrusive now. Or even oblivious. It makes sense that the man who was used to never being able to hide would have a skewed sense of modesty, which he extender to other people. He looked down to address Pembe.

"You could clean it in pieces, like what I'm doing. Then it'll be done eventually."