The weather was unusually sunny, and despite the cold wind, he was secretly sweating. The restaurant was still crowded with people just past lunchti, but the tables outside were empty. Josh took a quick peek inside and quickly sat down at one of the outdoor tables with parasols.
“I’ll be here soon. Thank you.”
When he quickly apologized to the employee who ca to take his order, she smiled and left the nu. He spent his boring ti looking over the thinly laminated single-page nu, and soon after the appointed ti, he showed up.
“Here, Dane.”
Josh, who had already taken a table, raised his hand when he saw a familiar figure walking toward him from afar. Dane was wearing a worn-out T-shirt and, as expected, wrinkled jeans, and with his hair all ssed up, he looked like he could easily be mistaken for a holess person.
“I’m on my way here after dropping Darling off at the hospital because she’s not feeling well.”
Josh exclaid in admiration at Dane’s quick explanation of the reason as soon as he sat down across from him.
“Are you okay? Is she seriously ill?”
Darling was Dane’s cat, and although she was blind and deaf, she would notice Dane’s presence like a ghost and lean against him. Dane seed indifferent to everyone else in the world, but he made an exception for Darling. This ti, he spoke with a softer face than usual.
“No, it’s just old age. She hasn’t been eating well since yesterday, so she went to the hospital, but she’s fine, and she just needs to get so IV fluids.”
“Thank goodness.”
Josh nodded at Dane’s answer and changed the subject.
“So you’re going to et
while Darling is getting her shot? Should I go back?”
Dane checked his watch and answered right away.
“It closes at 5, so you can just go before then.”
“Really? Have you eaten yet?”
When I handed him the nu I had received in advance, Dane glanced at it absentmindedly, then quickly chose a sandwich, potatoes, and a drink.
“You look tired, do you have a lot of work to do?”
Dane asked as he handed
the nu back. Josh, who had fallen asleep in bed until just before he left, just as he had said, smiled bitterly.
It wasn’t that he didn’t sleep at all. After rolling around in Chase’s bed for a whole day, Josh barely managed to avoid people’s eyes and returned to his dorm, where he fell asleep again for more than half a day, sleeping like a corpse. Despite that, his back still hurt.
After that, he woke up and ate four plates of steak, emptied a huge bowl of mashed potatoes, and even a whole walnut pie, and then ate five pancakes with a whole can of maple syrup on top of pizza and a hamburger, and only then did he regain so sense and energy. After that, he slept for several hours straight before finally regaining his energy. Fortunately, everyone misunderstood that he was being scolded by Chase, so he ended up last in the security line.
How can he do that all day without eating?
Josh was deeply troubled inside. Chase didn't eat much for his size. He didn't seem to be interested in eating, but he couldn't live like that. Despite his slender physique, Chase was actually 6'5" tall. He didn't have any fat on his body, so he looked thin and slender, but his long bones were covered with muscles, so he looked quite solid when he was naked. Judging by the way he flipped Josh's body around as he pleased, his strength was not to be ignored. If he had properly learned martial arts, even Josh would be quite a tough opponent.
Nevertheless, Chase lost interest as soon as he ate just the right amount of calories. It was sothing Josh, who was a big eater, could not have imagined.
Now that I think about it, did he have a favorite food?
Josh, who had thought that far, suddenly frowned. It would be difficult to improve his physical strength even more than now.
"It's not like work."
He vaguely answered and ordered the nu he had chosen in advance. Dane didn't ask any more questions and put a cigarette in his mouth. After that, the two sat across from each other and had a simple lunch. While sharing small stories that had happened, the conversation naturally turned to the recent fire.
"There's not a day without a fire."
The air was so dry because it didn’t rain all year round that fires were a daily occurrence. One day, a tree branch that had been hit by the wind sparked a forest fire.
Dane said it nonchalantly, but even so, there had been quite a few fires recently. He must have sweated a lot trying to put them out. Josh, who had discovered that he had a fairly large bandage wrapped around his arm, asked why, and as expected, he answered.
“I got a little burned while working.”
“Oh.”
When Josh blinked in surprise, Dane said, “It’s nothing serious.” However, when he rembered that the forest fires had occurred frequently and that there had been an earthquake for a while, his wounds seed serious. Josh looked at his bandaged arm and asked.
“You’re not badly injured anywhere? Is that all?”
“There were a few burns, but they’re all nothing serious.”
Dane, who had answered absentmindedly, suddenly frowned. It seed as if he had rembered sothing unpleasant, but soon he shrugged one shoulder and continued.
“I didn’t know you were still working here. Didn’t you say you were going back soon?”
“When I’m done. My contract has been extended.”
“Really?”
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.
Dane casually brought his coffee to his mouth, but Josh soon realized why he had suddenly contacted him and made an appointnt. In short, he wanted to see him one more ti before leaving, not knowing when they would et again.
Dane had always been a staunch individualist with a fierce self-paced streak, but he occasionally showed this kind of concern. Of course, it was rare and often hard to notice, so most people didn’t notice it, but when he did, he was more than doubled in emotion. That was exactly how Josh felt right now.
“I might not be going back.”
Dane paused, holding his coffee cup. After a beat, he put down his teacup and opened his mouth.
“What do you an, that?”
Josh answered honestly, feeling puzzled by the unexpected reaction.
“I was thinking about moving here. My mother is worried too.”
“Really?”
Dane took a big bite of his sandwich, still indifferent, and began to chew slowly. Josh, who had been watching him, opened his mouth.
“I’m thinking about getting married soon.”
Dane suddenly stopped chewing and looked at Josh. The question ca out of him after he swallowed his food.
“Marriage, you?”
“Yeah.”
Josh nodded, then asked mischievously.
“Why, don’t you believe ?”
“Yeah.”
This ti Dane nodded. Josh paused and looked at his face. Then Dane continued speaking in his usual indifferent manner.
“I really thought you wouldn’t get married, but you and I only t people to hang out with for a day. “Even if you dated for a long ti, it was only a month? Two months?”
“We’ve even gone as long as three months.”
“Anyway.”
Dane said, ignoring Josh’s small protest.
“I thought you wouldn’t get caught up in formalities like marriage… … . The other person must be amazing, that much.”
You’re the sa. Josh thought to himself, then soon understood why Dane was reacting this way.
I thought you were the sa as .
Josh suddenly felt mischievous, as if he had seen into his head.
“You’d be surprised if you knew who it was.”
Dane asked, seeming a little curious as well.
“Why?”
He didn’t think the other person would be a celebrity. Josh’s mouth naturally fell open when he thought of Chase, and he answered with a smile.
“She’s incredibly beautiful.”
“Hmm… … .”
Dane showed an unusually surprised reaction. It was extrely rare for Josh to complint soone’s appearance like this. Thinking about it, most of them would say things like, “She’s pretty?” or “She’s cute.” It was the first ti he bragged about her with such a blank expression.
How beautiful is she?
Dane, who had been thinking about it, suddenly opened his mouth.
“Is that the guy you asked
to hide last ti?”
“What? Yeonwoo? No!”
Josh waved his hand hastily, as if he was surprised.
“You have soone else. You don’t think I’m going to have an affair, do you? I absolutely refuse to et soone in secret.”
Seeing Josh’s serious expression, Dane paused for a mont and said indifferently.
“You can’t et soone in secret, right?”
“What?”
“There are cases where you have multiple wives or multiple husbands at once, so don’t you think it’s okay if you both agree?”
He wasn’t wrong. In fact, he could even say he was right. It just didn’t fit Josh’s lifestyle.
“I don’t like dating multiple people at once, and I don’t like sharing my partner with anyone else.”
Josh, who had said that far, suddenly frowned.
“Dane, how many people have you dated at once?”
Dane didn’t answer for a mont. His frowning face and hazy expression clearly showed that he was trying to recall a mory. Josh imdiately shook his head.
“No, that’s okay. Don’t tell .”
When he looked back, Dane’s fingers on the table were folded three at a ti. At Josh’s serious reaction, Dane spread his fingers as if he understood and leaned back in his chair.
“I don’t want to get involved with people around you.”
“Oh, of course.”
Josh imdiately accepted the words.
“I would be very grateful if you could exclude my Alpha and my sister from the list.”
“Who? Ah.”
A beat later, Dane nodded.
“A sister who only dates losers?”
“If you date!”
Josh, who had clenched his fists, stopped imdiately. Dane was looking at him with an indifferent face. Huh, Josh continued, brushing his hair back.
“Anyway, you’re not Emma’s type, so you won’t get involved, but I don’t want to fight with my friend, so be careful.”
“… … What did you say your sister looked like?”
Josh answered simply to Dane, who frowned as if trying to rember.
“You look a lot like .”
“Oh.”
That was all Dane said. But it was enough to make Josh feel a little uneasy.
“What’s that reaction?”
Dane shrugged at Josh’s question.
“Any woman who looks exactly like you would be out of my league.”
Dane laughed casually.
“You’re really not my type.”
“Of course, I know. Thank you.”
After muttering, Josh brought his chicken sandwich to his mouth. Halfway through his al, Dane asked.
“Is she that pretty? How much on her level?”
“Well.”
Josh hesitated for a mont, unable to answer right away. He couldn’t think of anything on the sa level as Chase, or even close to that level. Instead, he set a different standard.
“She did sothing so wrong that I couldn’t even scold her?”
Dane was deeply troubled. It was obvious that he was thinking about what that ant. After a mont of silence, he raised his head.
“For example, you an that a man can’t hit soone even if he wants to?”
Josh was montarily confused, feeling sothing that seed right but also wrong. Suddenly, he rembered Dane punching a comrade who had been beating up a stray dog ????when he was in the military. When he was later questioned by his superior, his answer was clear.
“That bastard was beating up a dog.”
The superior scolded him that he shouldn’t hit his comrade, but Dane’s attitude didn’t change.
“You should hit people, not dogs.”
Thanks to that, both guys who had fought were sentenced to two days in prison. The other guy was hospitalized for almost a month. Dane’s thoughts didn’t seem to have changed much then or now. Josh sternly rebuked him as he would Pete or Chase.
“You shouldn’t hit people or dogs.”
Dane frowned, but Josh changed the subject without further explanation.
“I warned him verbally, but he said he was sorry with tears in his eyes, so he couldn’t say anything else.”
“Huhhhhh… … .”
Dane made a strange sound. Josh imdiately reacted to the exclamation that was clearly intended to jeer.
“What? That reaction.”
“Well.”
Dane narrowed his eyes and laughed at him.
“You were fooled, weren’t you? There are many cases where people pretend to be wrong right in front of you.”
Josh hesitated at the word ‘acting.’ Dane continued after seeing Josh’s reaction.
“People always fool others, Josh.”
Josh knew about his misanthropy, but he didn’t easily admit it. But he couldn’t deny it either. Looking back, Chase was an award-winning actor. Thinking back to his acting skills that were praised every ti he fild a movie, he belatedly began to doubt.
“… … No way.”
He shook his head as if it couldn’t be true, but his doubts had already taken hold. Watching Josh like that, Dane added nonchalantly.
“Try it next ti.”
And then he nonchalantly put the remaining sandwich in his mouth.
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