Kiss Me if You Can Novel Completed - Chapter 52

It was such a loud sound, he thought his jaw might have shattered. But Henry’s anger still wasn’t appeased. He immediately went after him and grabbed him by the collar, but unfortunately, that was as far as it went. His hand, trembling in mid-air, unable to deliver the next punch, he finally let out a short curse, pushed Isaac away, turned around, and ran off like crazy somewhere.

What on earth is this…?

Josh just blinked his wide eyes blankly, unable to comprehend the situation unfolding before him. To him, watching Henry’s figure disappear into the distance, Seth said nonchalantly.

“Didn’t you know? That guy likes Isaac. It was so obvious.”

“What did you say?”

What was this new information? Josh involuntarily shouted, but Isaac’s reaction was unexpectedly indifferent. When Josh saw that, he thought, ‘No way,’ and Seth added.

“Still, I’m surprised you knew. I thought you’d be the last one to realize.”

Isaac avoided his gaze, embarrassed, and muttered.

“…Well, he confessed.”

“Henry confessed?”

To Josh, who repeated his words in surprise, Isaac still looked at an irrelevant spot and replied softly.

“At Pitman’s party… He called me saying he had something to talk about, and that’s how it happened.”

Only then did Josh understand why the two had disappeared simultaneously and why they had exuded an unusual atmosphere afterward. Beside Josh, who was speechless and his mind blank, Seth muttered to himself.

“What a mess.”

Josh said nothing, and Isaac also kept his mouth shut, desperately trying to hide his flushed face.

“…I’ll go now.”

After muttering an unnecessary goodbye, Isaac turned his back and disappeared. Josh, still blinking with blank eyes, looked at Seth.

“How did you know?”

“How could you not know? You guys. It was so obvious.”

Seth asked back as if he found it pathetic. Josh had nothing more to say.

The mansion was as quiet as death. Josh lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Almost an hour had passed, but sleep wouldn’t come. Seth was on monitor duty tonight, so Josh, who shared the same room, had a rare chance to relax comfortably. Thanks to that, he tossed and turned, listened to music, and fiddled with his phone aimlessly, but only time passed, and his mind became clearer and clearer.

“Damn it.”

Josh finally cursed and sat up. After going to the bathroom and coming out, he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten. He had forgotten that he needed to go see Chase.

“Oops.”

He let out an exclamation aloud and then sighed again as he left the room. To forget that, after Mark had emphasized it so much.

No matter how shocking Isaac and Henry’s situation had been, it was Josh’s fault for procrastinating as much as possible and then forgetting. He would have no excuse even if Chase punched him without warning.

Isn’t he asleep by now?

He thought as he walked down the long corridor. But if he went tomorrow morning, Mark would probably give him a hard time again. Anyway, it was his job, so he had to handle it. Josh made up his mind and tried to quicken his dragging steps.

He climbed the stairs, passed through the corridor, and several more doors, finally stopping in front of Chase’s room.

“Ahem.”

Seeing the tightly closed door, Josh quickly cleared his throat to shake off his nervousness. He raised his hand, but it took more courage to knock. Was he such a coward? Josh questioned himself as he knocked on the door.

Knock, knock.

The knock echoed unusually loudly in the corridor. There was no answer, but that was always the case, so Josh waited a moment and then grabbed the doorknob. He saw his hand trembling faintly. He made up his mind and pushed the door open with force.

Creak…

The heavy door retreated with an eerie sound. Josh swallowed dryly and stepped into the room.

“Mr. Miller, I heard you were looking for me. I apologize for being late…”

He called out cautiously, but there was no answer. He tore his eyes from the neatly made, empty bed and looked around the desolate room. There was no sign of Chase anywhere.

What happened?

He blinked in confusion, then slowly moved. There was no sign of anyone in the connected bathroom either. Standing in the middle of the spacious room with nowhere to hide, Josh confirmed that Chase wasn’t there.

“What on earth…?”

He blankly ran his hand through his hair. Suddenly, a faint sound of waves reached his ears.

Come to think of it.

Belatedly remembering, he walked to one side of the room. When he opened the closed door, a wide, gentle spiral staircase leading directly to the beach appeared. It was like a secret path where Chase could jump into the sea whenever he wanted, but Josh had never actually seen him swim. Of course, neither had the other team members, including Josh. Despite being a private beach, there was never a human shadow there.

Except for this moment.

Who on earth is that?

Josh stood blankly on the stairs, quietly watching the distant figure. It appeared and disappeared between the waves, then reappeared, clearly a human form.

Is it a paparazzi? Or another member of that damn cult? Who else was he being threatened by now? Could it be an obsessive fan?

As he quickly rummaged through his mind to identify the person, he suddenly realized, as if struck by lightning.

Only team members or the owner of the place could enter this private beach in the first place. And among them, only one person could swim so boldly at this hour.

That was Chase Miller.

The sound of waves came again. He stood there for a while, watching the man swaying with the waves.

His hesitation wasn’t long. Drawn by the rhythmic sound of the waves, which occasionally broke the quiet silence, he descended the stairs.

The sand on the wide beach was soaked only in a defined area. This was due to the seawater that rolled in at the same intervals every time. Order made people feel comfortable, but watching the water soak the same area of sand and then recede, he somehow felt a desire to disrupt that order.

That’s exactly how Josh felt now. Just as he thought he wanted to grab only a defined amount of sand and chase the receding waves, wildly disrupting the balance, he came into view.

“…!”

Josh stared blankly at the distant sea. The man changed direction and began to swim towards the beach where Josh was. Suddenly, Josh remembered Chase’s advertisement. He walked out of the sea with his body soaked. His purple eyes staring straight ahead, his disheveled blonde hair, his skin even paler from the cold, and his slightly parted red lips.

He had now appeared in reality. Chase rose from the water and walked towards the shore, pushing through the waves step by step. Josh simply watched him as he gradually drew closer.

A soaked Chase lifted his head. He brushed his hair back as if annoyed, then his gaze stopped. Josh stared at him, mesmerized.

The flowing seawater trickled from his hair to his face, his long neck, his collarbone, his chest, then paused at his nipples, forming droplets. Soon after, it drew a straight line down his firm abdomen. His gaze followed the droplets, moving to his sexy hips and long thigh muscles, and then Josh stopped breathing.

Chase was completely naked.