Desire Me If You Can Novel - Chapter 14

“Haa, haa.”

The chief clutched his chest and took deep breaths. Nothing in this world was free. If you wanted something, you had to pay the price. And right now, the price they had to pay was simply Grayson Miller.

Just endure for one year.

He vowed to himself again. A year would pass in a flash. If he just shut his eyes and bore it, Grayson Miller would disappear. The problem was that this nightmare was only just beginning.

With hesitant, staggering steps weighed down by a bleak future, the chief headed to his office. Amidst such ominous foreboding, the sun set, and finally, the welcome party the chief had painstakingly prepared began.

They gathered from a fairly early hour at the bar they usually frequented whenever there was something to celebrate at the fire station. By the time the hour designated by the chief arrived, there were already a few employees who were noticeably drunk. Shouts and laughter fueled by alcohol erupted from here and there.

“You’ve arrived, Chief.”

“Welcome, sir. We started drinking without you.”

When the chief appeared at the entrance, the employees who had arrived earlier greeted him one by one, acknowledging his presence. The chief nodded, returning simple greetings as he casually gauged the turnout.

“Where’s Miller? Not here yet?”

When he asked for the unseen protagonist of the day, a man leaning against the bar drinking a beer answered.

“No, not yet. I hope he just doesn’t show up at all.”

“Pfft-hahaha!”

At the cynically added remark, the employee with him burst into laughter. He wanted to ask what was so funny, but arguing this and that with people already drunk would be a waste of time. The chief silently took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer. Drinking alcohol usually improved the atmosphere between people. He hoped they would forget about the day’s events and just get along.

Though once they sober up, everything will go back to square one.

Sigh. Just as he let out another deep sigh at the bleak future unfolding before him.

“He’s here.”

Hearing someone speak, the air in the room suddenly changed. The employees who had been laughing and chatting until now stopped talking one by one, and a chilly tension hung in the air. The only thing audible was the loud music the owner had left playing. The cause was exactly as expected. Grayson Miller had entered the bar.

He was dressed simply in a shirt with a jacket thrown over it. Of course, compared to the gathered men who were all wearing worn-out t-shirts and old jeans, he was incredibly dressed up, but with his cream-colored jacket, cotton trousers, and three buttons of his shirt undone, he looked quite relaxed. His pace, neither slow nor hurried, somewhat resembled that of a large feline. Even amidst the gazes filled with hostility and discomfort, he walked across the bar as if nothing was wrong at all.

Where does that shamelessness come from?

The people in the bar watched him, dumbfounded. Ordinary people would not be able to endure this atmosphere and would have fled. Grayson Miller was the opposite. Perhaps he was thinking, ‘What can you guys do, anyway?’ Of course, that was true, but they couldn’t help their stomachs churning.

Grayson Miller approached the counter in the center of the bar at a speed neither fast nor slow. Everyone in the bar blatantly turned their heads to glare, following the trajectory of his movement.

Get lost! Get lost! A hostility so thick it was hard to mistake flowed through the silent bar. However, Grayson didn’t even seem to care, as if he were used to even this. Both favor and hostility were things he had experienced to overflowing in his life.

“Hello, Chief. Good evening.”

Grayson, greeting the chief first, smiled broadly. It was a bright smile that left no room for doubt to anyone watching, yet the chief felt a chill run down his spine. Trying not to let his feelings show, he nodded as if nothing was wrong.

“Welcome. Everyone has been waiting.”

When he returned the bland greeting, Grayson came to his side as if he had been waiting and spoke.

“Thank you for throwing a party like this. I am deeply moved.”

Everyone looked with strange gazes at Grayson, who placed one hand on his chest and made a literally ‘moved’ expression. Even with all these eyes focused on him, his interest was concentrated on only one thing. The chief felt an unspeakable discomfort and sweated profusely.

“No, well… if you just do well from now on…”

“Is everyone here now?”

Without listening to the end of the sentence, everyone grimaced again at his action of cutting him off and looking around. What the hell? That bastard. Amidst similar feelings and thoughts being exchanged, the chief also looked at Grayson in bewilderment.

“Ah… probably? We don’t check attendance one by one, so…”

“Then it means more people might come. Understood.”

Cutting him off again as he pleased, Grayson scanned the room. To be precise, he examined the faces of the people in the bar one by one. Those glaring at him would flinch for no reason and avert their gaze whenever their eyes met Grayson’s, or glare back even harder out of a refusal to lose. To them, it looked like a provocation saying try me, but in reality, Grayson’s goal lay elsewhere. Dumbfounded by his behavior, the chief blinked, then belatedly regained his wits and spoke to the bartender.

“Here, give Miller a beer too, will you? What is everyone doing? Let’s all make a toast. Welcome, Miller.”

“Thank you. I’m truly happy that you welcome me like this.”

When the chief raised his glass first, everyone raised their glasses reluctantly as if to toast. Grayson changed direction and toasted in the air with a moved expression, as if he were a great actor who had just won an Oscar.

“Now, now, everyone drink. You guys over there, keep playing pool. Right.”

The chief gestured to the employees to somehow smooth over the uncomfortable atmosphere. The employees, who had been looking at Grayson with deep frowns, reluctantly took their eyes off him and returned to what they were doing. Once the gazes had lifted to some extent, the chief sighed and emptied his glass. The uncomfortable atmosphere persisted. Because of Grayson right next to him. He pretended not to notice, but eventually, the chief couldn’t stand it and spoke first.

“It’s admirable that you decided to become a firefighter. How did you come to think of such a thing?”

He thought it was an ordinary question, but upon hearing it, a sudden gleam appeared in Grayson’s eyes. As the chief flinched and shrank back inadvertently, Grayson’s voice became much brighter.

“There is someone I am looking for.”

“Looking for someone? Among our team members?”

At the unexpected answer, the chief had no choice but to ask, though he wasn’t keen on it. Grayson said yes and continued.

“I am looking for the person who saved me before. I want to reward them.”

“No, well… you could have just asked, why go so far as to get a job…”

‘Why stir up our team like this?’ The chief hid his inner thoughts by trailing off. Seeing Grayson’s immaculate face listening attentively with a smile, despite having cut him off so rudely before, the chief felt his insides boil. Instead of letting out a sigh, the chief gulped down his beer and spoke again.

“Right, what happened? Tell me. I’ll find out who it is for you.”

Thinking it was better to resolve annoying matters quickly, the chief waved one hand as if fanning himself, urging him on. Grayson answered, still maintaining his smile.

“Thank you. There must be firefighters who were dispatched when the fire broke out at Mendez’s party a few days ago.”

“Mendez? …Ah, that pheromone party?”

“That’s correct.”

There had been quite a commotion that day. Of course, every fire is a tragedy and a once-in-a-lifetime disturbance and disaster for the victims, but the sight of victims running out stark naked, crying and sniffling while intoxicated by alcohol and smoke, was a sight rarely seen even by him. Moreover, although they were keeping it hush-hush, those twins who reportedly acted like madmen…

Watching the chief turn his thoughts over, Grayson added an explanation.

“I’m not talking about everyone. There is a firefighter who came all the way to where I was and saved me; I want to find him.”