Kiss Me if You Can Novel Completed - Chapter 51

Mark couldn’t understand the meaning of his words. If he was asking for confirmation that Josh would be brought before him as soon as he returned, the answer was ‘yes.’

“Yes.”

As he nodded, Chase’s expression finally softened a little. He irritably rubbed his forehead and let out an exasperated sigh.

“…If you’re lying, I’ll kill you.”

Mark swallowed the protest, ‘Why would I tell such a useless lie?’ and replied, “Yes,” again this time.

“…Damn it!”

Chase cursed again, then slumped into a chair and glared at the cart Mark had brought. Mark hastily fled the room after seeing him open the plate cover and bring the cold food to his mouth with a truly disgusted expression.

“Are they telling us not to take vacations or what?”

The complaint, however, only escaped his lips after he was in the hallway, and it didn’t reach Chase at all.

Josh, who had taken Pete to the hospital early, felt incredibly refreshed after a long time. His wounds still hurt, but it was nothing compared to a day spent alone with his child. He hummed a tune that came naturally to him as he drove, looking forward to getting treated and spending time with Pete.

The examination didn’t take long. It was just about dressing his wounds and discussing the test results.

“It’s best to come regularly for treatment. You had quite a few stitches… You’ll have a scar, but you’re really lucky to only have this much injury after being bitten by a coyote.”

The doctor mechanically expressed his admiration, then set the date for his next visit. After thanking him, Josh also got his child’s vaccinations done at the same time. He was about to head home with Pete when he suddenly stopped. He saw a park not far away. After a brief thought, he changed direction and walked towards the park.

“Pete, do you want ice cream?”

“Yes!”

The child shouted excitedly. Pete waddled towards the soft-serve ice cream shop not far away and looked back. Josh smiled and walked briskly, almost running, to stand readily behind him.

“What do you want?”

As he handed the child the chocolate ice cream he chose in a cone, Pete’s face immediately lit up with a happy smile.

“What a truly lovely child.”

The ice cream shop clerk looked at Pete and Josh alternately, admiring them.

“He’s exactly like his dad.”

“Thank you.”

Josh smiled and finished paying, including a small tip.

As the child finished his ice cream, a subtle fatigue set in. Josh sat on a bench and watched Pete run around and play on the grass.

It was then that he spotted that man. The slender figure was sitting on a bench not far away, holding a pudding in his hand.

A grown man sitting alone on a bench with pudding, one might laugh, but seeing his condition, no laughter came. His face, staring blankly at one spot, was completely drained of color. He seemed profoundly shocked, frozen, as he spooned pudding into his mouth.

Josh had been silently observing, but when he saw the man drop pudding on his leg and still remain blankly unmoving, he finally couldn’t help but step forward. Josh confirmed that Pete had just sat down on the grass and started picking clovers, then got up from the bench.

“Hey, are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?”

When he approached and spoke, the man blinked in surprise. At least there seemed to be a reaction, which was a relief. Josh sighed and continued.

“Are you perhaps feeling unwell? Should I call 911?”

“Ah, no… I’m fine.”

The man refused in a trembling voice. Suddenly, Josh thought he looked familiar.

“Have we, perhaps, met somewhere before?”

It was the man who jogged Josh’s memory first. The man’s eyes widened, and he said.

“You said you were a bodyguard… Joshua, Josh, right?”

Immediately, Josh’s memory also returned. It was Yeonwoo, the man he met at Pitman’s party. Only then did Josh greet him warmly and sit beside him. Even then, Yeonwoo had been struggling, feeling unwell.

But the surprises didn’t end there. Yeonwoo recognized Pete’s face and confessed that he worked at the same company as Emma. Without time to marvel at the unexpected connection, he added.

“Emma said you also had a child…”

Belatedly, Josh remembered the message his sister had sent.

Was this what she wanted to talk about?

Relieved that it wasn’t Emma’s own problem, Josh opened his mouth.

“I didn’t know it was like this… Well, as long as the result is the same, it’s fine, right?”

Since Emma had deliberately contacted him and he had encountered this person twice already, he couldn’t pretend not to know. After adding the best advice he could as a fellow Omega, Josh fell silent. Josh, who had been silent for a moment to give him time to think, belatedly recalled something.

That’s right.

“You said you work at the same company as Emma, right? Can I ask you something?”

Yeonwoo readily nodded. Josh asked without hesitation.

“How many men are in the office?”

Yeonwoo, who blinked, not understanding the meaning of the question, replied in confusion.

“I’m the only man working in the secretarial office, as the team leader. Everyone else, including Emma, is female. There are three of them.”

Suddenly, Josh’s face hardened. In his mind, countless bookworms whom Emma had misjudged paraded past. And the recollection ended with the man before him now.

Why is her taste so bad?

Josh gritted his teeth as he drove down the open road. As far as he knew, Emma had never had a proper relationship. The reason, of course, was one: her terrible taste. He should have known from the moment she started bragging about how this one was “the one” and how the “atmosphere” was.

Come to think of it, Yeonwoo’s appearance was perfectly sculpted to Emma’s taste. It was only natural that he thought of Emma when he first saw him. So, it was perfectly understandable that his sister had fallen for him.

The problem was Yeonwoo. The innocent look on Yeonwoo’s face, completely unaware of Emma’s feelings, made his anger flare up again.

Now she’s even fallen for someone as dense as him.

Furthermore, thinking that he had even sent him a message asking for help despite being heartbroken, Josh, rarely, almost hit a weaker opponent. If Yeonwoo hadn’t said he was pregnant, he really would have hit him.

“Damn it!”

Josh cursed and slammed his fist on the steering wheel. Pete, who was dozing in his car seat, suddenly lifted his head. The child blinked with a bewildered expression, then drifted back to sleep.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of emptiness. After all, what sin did that man commit? It was all because Emma had terrible taste. Thinking that far, his anger flared up again.

What is she lacking that she picks and chooses only those kinds of guys?

Josh barely resisted the urge to repeatedly bang his head on the steering wheel and instead floored the accelerator to its limit.

Even after returning to work, Josh’s anger didn’t subside. He had planned to have dinner with Emma and say something, but she hadn’t shown up.

“She said she’s busy with work.”

His mother also spoke with disappointment, but Josh, who had been spoiling for a fight, brought his unreleased anger all the way here, not knowing where to unleash it. He had put Pete to bed early and driven at full speed, but by the time he arrived at Chase’s mansion, it was already late at night.

He parked his car at the designated spot and immediately went to meet Mark. As soon as Mark saw Josh’s face, he greeted him warmly.

“How are your injuries? Are you okay to work already?”

“This is nothing, I’m fine.”

Mark visibly relaxed at Josh’s trustworthy reply. In truth, he wanted to let him rest more, but giving vacation with limited staff was not easy. Josh also knew that fact, so he accepted it nonchalantly. In fact, these injuries were truly nothing to him.

“How’s Seth? Has he returned?”

“Yes, he came back today too. He was asking about you, actually. I should tell him you’re back… Your schedule is set for tomorrow afternoon, so go rest for today.”

Mark, who had said that much, then said, “Ah,” and pressed his forehead. To the puzzled Josh, he sighed and continued.

“Before you go to bed, go see C.”

“Mr. Miller? Why?”

He flinched for a moment and involuntarily asked back, and Mark, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache, said.

“Well, he was furious that I gave you vacation without telling him. I mean, it’s my authority to set the schedule. I don’t know if I have to report everything to him or what. Anyway, I promised to report as soon as you returned, so just show your face. Now he’s making me do all sorts of things, he’s such a demanding guy.”

Josh could only say, “Alright,” to his words, which sounded like he was barely holding back curses. He gave a short greeting and returned to the room he shared with Seth. He planned to put away his luggage and ask Seth how he was doing first, then look for Chase. He had a fleeting thought that he might be trying to postpone the moment of meeting him, but he pretended not to notice.

“Seth, how’s your body…”

He asked as he opened the door, but the room was empty. Josh felt awkward, looked around the empty room once, then put down his luggage. He took a quick shower in the bathroom, being careful not to get his wounds wet, and when he came out, the door suddenly opened and Seth entered.

“Seth.”

“Josh.”

Both called each other’s names in surprise, then happily shook hands and hugged.

“What happened, are you okay now?”

At Seth’s question, Josh smiled and replied.

“This is nothing. What about you, what happened with the gunshot?”

“This is nothing.”

Seth repeated Josh’s words verbatim and quickly scanned him. Seeing Josh, who was only wearing a towel below his waist, he returned his gaze to his face.

“Was nothing really wrong? You were alone with an extreme Alpha.”

Ah, Josh understood the situation. Seth’s face, looking at him seriously, showed an unusual expression of concern. Josh replied nonchalantly.

“Thanks for worrying, nothing happened. The coyotes were more of a problem than the pheromones.”

When he added a short joke, Seth seriously scanned him.

“You said you were bitten, right? Did you get a rabies shot?”

Josh nodded and added.

“The wound isn’t as big as I thought. More importantly, are you okay after being shot?”

“It only grazed me. But I couldn’t come to my senses because of that strange drug… I barely opened my eyes and found myself in the hospital. Isaac suffered alone.”

Belatedly, Mark’s words that only Isaac was fine came to mind. Josh gave a wry smile at the obvious situation.

“I owe Isaac.”

Seth also shook his head and laughed.

“I thought if I ever needed help, it would be from you.”

“It’s a good thing Isaac was there. I’ll have to ask him for details later.”

Seth, who had agreed with Josh, belatedly asked as if he remembered something.

“Did you take your pheromone medicine?”

“No, I don’t usually take it often…”

Come to think of it, he hadn’t taken it since the day Chase went for his check-up. He unconsciously brought his wrist to his nose and sniffed, and Seth leaned towards Josh, saying, “Wait.”

“It tickles.”

“Just bear with it.”

As he shivered at the breath on his neck, Seth said gruffly and sniffed.

“Your scent is really faint.”

He said, marveling, and sniffed around. Josh shivered his shoulders and asked.

“You can’t smell it, can you?”

Seth nodded.

“Hmm, this much is fine. It’s not completely gone, but people usually don’t get this close to sniffing. It might also be because the detergent smell is stronger…”

“What are you two doing?”

At the sudden voice, both turned their heads simultaneously. Isaac was standing outside the wide-open door. Henry was also visible behind him. Although they hadn’t been badmouthing him, Josh felt awkward and gave a forced smile, remembering that they had just been talking about Isaac.

“Just, you know.”

If it had been the usual Isaac, he would have brushed it off, but this time was different. His gaze went to Seth, then returned to Josh.

“…What were you doing just now? Why are you two here?”

His quiet voice had a strange atmosphere. It even felt like it was trembling. Josh asked in confusion.

“Just had something to talk about… What about you…?”

“What were you doing alone in a place like this? Don’t tell me you two were…”

“Were what?”

Seth interjected. Isaac glared at him with a fierce expression. Josh was surprised, as he had never seen that reaction from him before. To see him, who always smiled gently, make such an expression. Josh wasn’t the only one flustered. Henry also blinked, looking back and forth between the two.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

Henry interjected, but Isaac made no attempt to suppress his hostility towards Seth. Instead, he roughly pushed away Henry’s outstretched hand and glared at Seth. At his reaction, Seth, unexpectedly, sighed and asked.

“What on earth are you thinking? Josh and I are not like that.”

“What, you bastard?”

“Just because you like Josh doesn’t mean everyone is like you.”

“…”

The bomb dropped so casually that for a moment they didn’t realize what had happened. It was a few seconds later that they understood Seth’s words.

“What did you just say?”

When Josh asked, bewildered, Seth replied nonchalantly.

“Isaac likes you. That’s why he’s so agitated right now, thinking I snatched you away.”

“What?”

“What did you say?”

“Hey!”

Josh, Henry, and Isaac shouted. The three looked at each other. Everyone was equally flustered. Only Seth remained calm as ever. Isaac gritted his teeth, his face flushed.

“You bastard, how could you, how could you…”

To him, who was trembling with anger, Seth replied nonchalantly.

“You cornered me unfairly. I had to clear up the misunderstanding, didn’t I?”

Still, Isaac couldn’t suppress his rage, gasping for breath and looking helpless. Josh had never seen Isaac so angry before. When all sorts of feelings, wonder and confusion, intertwined and his mind became complicated, Henry suddenly interjected.

“Is that true?”

Josh had never known his voice could be so high. Isaac looked back at him and paused. In a voice several octaves higher than usual, he yelled, his face ashen.

“Is it true, you piece of trash! Do you really like that Josh guy? Really?”

Isaac couldn’t answer. His face just flushed even redder. That made Henry even more upset.

“Henry!”

Before he could stop him, Henry slammed his fist hard into Isaac’s cheek. A terrifying thud echoed, and Isaac staggered back.