Kiss Me if You Can Novel Completed - Chapter 108

Josh’s eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected man. The man, who always wore a smile, now had no expression at all. He just stared at Josh with a face as unnatural as a mask.

“Grayson.”

Josh mumbled unconsciously. Why is this man here? A chilling shiver ran down his spine before he could even think. Instead of answering, Grayson suddenly reached out. Josh was grabbed by the collar and pulled forward, and his friends behind him cried out in surprise.

“Josh!”

“What? What are you doing?”

“You bastard, let go of Josh!”

They shouted and condemned him, yet no one stepped forward. They were just ordinary people who were big. Josh understood his friends’ situation. And since he didn’t want them to step forward either, he raised his hand to signal to his friends that he was okay.

“Let go and let’s talk. I’ll listen to anything about him.”

Josh spoke as calmly as possible. The scent of pheromones emanating from Grayson had been bothering him for a while, but that was all. Similar but different. No scent could drive Josh crazy like Chase’s pheromones. Feeling a chill in his heart, Josh grabbed Grayson’s hand that was holding his collar. He tried to forcefully pull it away, but even though it was only held by one hand, it didn’t budge.

What kind of strength is this…?

Josh, who was flustered, thought of Chase again. Chase, too, if he really tried to overpower Josh, Josh couldn’t win with strength. In that case, he had no choice but to use technique. He grabbed Grayson’s arm, intending to throw him, when Grayson suddenly spoke with an expressionless face Josh had never seen before.

“Why aren’t you answering my calls?”

“Calls?”

Belatedly, Josh turned his head to his bag, which he had thrown down. Grayson also looked in the same direction. Josh turned his head back to Grayson, and Grayson also returned his gaze.

It was then. Tommy threw his helmet from behind them. It flew quickly and hit Grayson precisely on the temple.

It should have.

With one hand still gripping Josh’s collar, Grayson swung his other arm without hesitation. With a dull thud, the helmet flew far away and landed for a touchdown. Tommy and the other friends, who had boldly resorted to violence to help Josh, simultaneously had conflicting thoughts.

Should’ve punched him.

Glad we used a tool.

Everyone was in disarray, not knowing what to do in this situation, when Josh spoke.

“If it’s about him, I’ll accompany you. If not, apologize to everyone.”

Grayson was silent for a moment. He stared quietly into Josh’s eyes, then spoke in a low voice.

“Follow me.”

With only those words, Grayson released Josh’s collar as if throwing him away. Josh instinctively staggered, took a couple of steps back, then quickly regained his balance and stood upright.

Grayson turned and began to walk. His friends, who belatedly gathered around Josh, began to speak worriedly.

“What? What happened?”

“Josh, is there a problem? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Who is that guy? He just appeared out of nowhere. Josh, do you really know him?”

Then, shouts and questions poured out from everywhere. But Josh didn’t have time to answer them all. Instead, he vaguely answered and left the area.

“I’ll tell you later. Sorry, I have to go.”

Seeing him quickly walk away with his bag, the remaining guys blinked in confusion. Standing there for a while with a mix of bewilderment and worry, someone spoke.

“Did you see his eye color?”

“Yeah.”

Another guy nodded with a dazed expression. Everyone had the same thought, but they couldn’t bring themselves to say it out loud. Around them, a sweet scent still lingered, subtly wafting through the air.

Josh left his car in the school parking lot and got into Grayson’s car. They didn’t say a word until they left the school in the same car. Grayson, who seemed to have driven himself, readily sat in the driver’s seat. As soon as Josh quickly took off his protective gear and threw it in the back seat, then got into the passenger seat, Grayson started the car. Josh, who almost had an accident because the car started before he could even properly close the door, let out a low curse but held it in for now.

He opened his bag and took out his phone to find over thirty missed calls. The twenty most recent calls had no caller ID. He didn’t need to ask to know it was Grayson’s number. Josh suppressed the fear and anxiety mixed emotions and spoke.

“How did you know I was here?”

“I stopped by your house.”

Grayson blurted out before Josh could even finish his sentence. Josh unconsciously tightened his grip on his phone. He quickly loosened his grip before he could break it and spoke with difficulty.

“What’s going on? Is the treatment going well? Is there any problem…?”

If he spoke it aloud, it felt like it would immediately become reality. Because of that, Josh couldn’t bring himself to voice all the ominous imaginings swirling in his head. Not even his name.

Grayson still had no expression. Only God would know what he was thinking. Suddenly, Grayson furrowed his brow, gripped the steering wheel with one hand, and lowered the other. Driving down a long, straight road with almost no traffic, he finally spoke.

“He went into rut.”

His voice was still completely devoid of emotion. To Josh, who waited silently for his next words, Grayson changed lanes and continued.

“We managed to stabilize his pheromones to some extent, but then the rut came, and it all went to waste. Steward stayed up for three nights.”

Honestly, Josh didn’t care about Steward’s situation. Only Chase’s condition mattered. He waited, restraining himself from urging him to speak, and Grayson continued to explain in an almost toneless voice.

“We can’t use any more medication, and he won’t have sex with anyone but you. There was no other way, so I came to get you.”

He paused for a moment and then added,

“They said he might die if we left him like that.”

“What did you say?”

Josh, flustered, asked again without realizing it. Grayson, seemingly bothered by something, glanced to one side, then looked straight ahead again.

“Steward said Omega pheromones are dangerous, but what can I do if he only wants you? He refused Betas and Alphas alike; he hasn’t had a sip of water since yesterday.”

“…”

“And then he said.”

‘I have my Omega.’

Josh was stunned for a moment. Grayson, who glanced at him, not even blinking, added,

“I really don’t understand it.”

“…Then why did you come?”

Belatedly, Josh wondered why Grayson had come to pick him up himself. It didn’t seem like he had any other ulterior motives, but it was also hard to believe Grayson had purely good intentions. He was silent for a moment at Josh’s question. He just kept looking straight ahead with an expressionless face.

Just as Josh was getting bored, Grayson let out a short sigh. Then his expressionless face became surprisingly lively. For the first time, Josh felt he was like a living person. Then Grayson spoke.

“Chase is my brother.”

That was all. Grayson said nothing more after that and just drove.

‘Grayson doesn’t know what emotions are. He just imitates them.’

Chase’s words suddenly came to mind. Josh also agreed with those words, but at this moment, it felt different. Now that his usual exaggerated laughter and speech, which always felt like a performance, had completely disappeared, it was strange to feel a sense of humanity. If he keeps imitating emotions, will there ever be a day when he truly feels them himself?

Without knowing the answer, the car continued to drive down the endless road. Josh tried to suppress his anxiety, meaninglessly pressing buttons on his phone.

Finally, when the car arrived at its destination, it had been driving for over three hours. It was neither Steward’s laboratory nor Chase’s mansion. Josh got out of the car, bewildered by the unexpected sight of a single mansion standing alone in a tranquil landscape.

“I temporarily bought it so Chase could stay here until he calms down.”

Grayson got out of the car and spoke for the first time. The bodyguards guarding various parts of the large mansion were all unfamiliar. Grayson said no more and entered the mansion first. Josh followed, and his gaze was immediately drawn to the enormous hall that came into view. Feeling both the tension and excitement he had felt when entering Chase’s mansion, he stood still and looked around for a moment.

There was no human warmth to be felt inside the mansion. The bodyguards were probably staying in a separate annex at the back. Only Chase was staying inside the mansion. The sweet scent filling the air already made his head throb. Josh took out the medicine bottle he always carried and hastily swallowed a few pills. He couldn’t lose his mind to pheromones until the situation was resolved. As he swallowed the pills without water, footsteps approaching from down the hallway were heard.

“Mr. Bailey.”

He turned his head at the familiar voice, and Steward, who had just appeared, approached him with a bright smile.

“Thank you for coming all this way. Have you been well? You look good.”

His words sounded as if he was saying, ‘You’ve been living well even without Chase.’ Josh felt his face stiffen and looked down at him. Steward casually took his hand and shook it without permission, then released it.

“You heard about it on the way, right? Oh, I replaced all the bodyguards in case you felt uncomfortable. Fortunately, we were able to find a bodyguard team that could work short-term. The original team is on standby for now.”

Steward smiled as if it was his accomplishment. He seemed to be seeking praise, but Josh had no such intention. In fact, by the time he got here, he just thought, whatever happens, happens. What did it matter if others knew or not? Just the thought of something happening to Chase made his mind go completely blank.

Steward kept talking about how difficult it was to find such an isolated mansion, how thorough the security was, and what had happened while he commuted there. He even talked about a squirrel living in an old tree behind the garden that came every morning for acorns. Josh, unable to bear it any longer, interrupted him.

“So, what is Chase’s condition now?”

He didn’t even use the formal title ‘Mr. Miller.’ Since bringing him here meant they knew everything, there was no reason to give him a chance to beat around the bush. Sure enough, Steward looked surprised for a moment, then returned to his smiling face.

“My apologies, I was being too verbose.”

Josh thought he had deliberately waited until his patience ran out, but he didn’t want to use that as an excuse to waste time. Finally, Steward dropped his smile and got to the point.

“You probably heard a rough explanation on the way, right? I don’t know if Grayson explained it properly, but…”

He glanced behind Josh. Only then did Josh realize that Grayson had been following them. This was partly because Grayson had made so little noise, but also because Josh’s attention was completely focused on Chase.

Grayson still walked a few steps behind them, silent as ever. His expressionless face was also the same, but Josh thought that was better. If he started spouting nonsense again in this situation, Josh really wouldn’t have held back this time.

Josh turned his attention back to Steward, who readily continued.

“We’ve injected nutrients for now. He’s not fully conscious, but as you know, that’s an early symptom of memory loss that extreme Alphas experience during rut…”

As they walked down the long corridor, the pheromone scent grew stronger. Josh repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists to keep his sanity. Steward continued to explain.

“Chase has experienced this before, so it’s a bit dangerous. If memory loss recurs like this several times, it causes severe damage to the brain. We did a brain scan just before the rut, and simply put, he’s on a precarious borderline.”

Finally, Steward stood in front of a closed door and looked at Josh.

“We judged that if his brain was soaked in pheromones one more time, it would truly be damaged, but then the rut came.”

Josh unconsciously grabbed the doorknob. Steward grabbed Josh’s arm to stop him and warned him with a seriousness he hadn’t shown before.

“If you feel you can’t endure it, you can stop. If the pheromone compatibility is off, one of you could go crazy.”

Josh looked at him blankly and then spoke.

“Do you have a cigarette?”

At his words, Steward looked puzzled and took out a cigarette pack and lighter from his lab coat pocket and offered them. The cigarette pack was full, with only one missing. Josh took it, smiled briefly, then opened the door.

Click.

The door closed, leaving only Steward and Grayson in the hallway. Steward looked at the closed door for a while, then turned his head. Grayson still had an expressionless face, his gaze fixed.

“So, how was it? Did you feel anything?”

Grayson was silent for a moment, then said, “No.”

“I really don’t understand. Why can he go in there knowing it’s dangerous.”

Steward asked with his usual smiling face.

“What would you have done if Mr. Bailey had said he wanted to leave? You.”

Grayson tilted his head to one side and replied,

“Chase wouldn’t like a corpse.”