Kiss Me if You Can Novel Completed - Chapter 96

As the end of the shoot approached, Chase’s filming schedule dwindled, and consequently, the bodyguards’ work also decreased. They had more days off, and Chase, too, spent more days stuck in his trailer with nothing to do.

Thanks to this, the bodyguards had much more free time. They took turns going out or staying overnight, and their rest periods were longer than before, sometimes even disappearing for a while. For the past few days, they had been enjoying peaceful days, as if on vacation.

They wished for only one thing: that this peace would continue until the end of the shoot. They had already discussed going to Miami for a month-long break before returning to the East Coast once the job was done. Everyone was counting down the days, enjoying each passing moment.

After Josh left for his shift, the other members gathered in their lodging, passing the time individually. After a few hours of rest, they would have to go out for another shift. Still, as they savored the immediate peace, scattered in their own ways, Isaac, who had been staring blankly out the window for a while, finally spoke.

“Isn’t Josh acting strange lately?”

At the sudden remark, Seth, who was solving a crossword puzzle in the newspaper, stopped his hand, and Mark, who was meticulously cleaning his surfboard, looked up with a frown. Henry was the one who was unexpectedly ambushed. Holding a mug of coffee in one hand and tossing peanuts into the air to catch them with his mouth, he was momentarily flustered and misjudged the trajectory.

“Cough, cough, cough.”

“Henry!”

A flustered Mark quickly patted his back, and Henry, who had nearly choked to death on a peanut, barely averted the crisis. After escaping the brink of death, anger surged. He immediately glared at the man who had caused it, his eyes bloodshot.

“Damn it. What the hell, suddenly?”

Seeing Henry grinding his teeth, tears welling in his eyes, Isaac apologized in a panic.

“Uh, sorry… Are you okay? I didn’t think you’d be so surprised…”

Knowing it was nothing major, Henry grew even angrier. Ignoring Seth’s sympathetic expression and Mark’s clearly disdainful reaction, the biggest problem was how dense Isaac was.

I confessed I liked him, and he brings up Josh, and now he has no idea what he did wrong? That fucking bastard.

What angered him most was that he couldn’t just brush it off calmly and had revealed his true feelings. The problem was that no one else understood the gravity of the situation. As proof, Isaac looked at Henry with his usual clueless expression, Seth shook his head and looked at Isaac as if to say, “Tell me more,” and Mark just said, “Be careful,” before returning to his seat.

I’m the biggest fool for liking such a dense idiot. Henry thought. Just as he was sinking into self-loathing, disgusted by his own duality of wanting to beat him to a pulp and wanting to kiss him senseless, Seth spoke.

“Strange, how so?”

Mark also looked at Isaac, curious, and Henry glared at Isaac, still grinding his teeth. With everyone’s eyes on him at once, Isaac scratched his head awkwardly.

“No, it’s not like there’s anything particularly big… “

It wasn’t a situation he could just dismiss with “It’s nothing” now, so he struggled to continue.

“It’s like… he’s been keeping to himself? Doesn’t he disappear often? It’s not like he’s skipping his shifts, but he just does his assigned work and isn’t really around, if you know what I mean…”

At Isaac’s words, Seth tilted his head.

“Was he?”

Isaac answered with conviction.

“He was.”

“How would you know? Did you stalk him? You pervert.”

Isaac, who had stared at Henry in disbelief for his immediate accusation, quickly turned his head to Seth and Mark. Henry clenched his fist at his clearly dismissive attitude, but he didn’t get a chance to swing it. Mark interjected, “Now that you mention it…”

“It does seem that way. Josh was the only one missing last time we all had a day off.”

“Right?”

Isaac’s face brightened, as if his opinion had gained support. Henry, dropping his fist that had nowhere to go, glared at Isaac and sneered.

“He probably had something to do. Would you want to stay here gloomily when it’s full of dark-skinned guys? He’s probably out getting a tan or something.”

At that, Seth looked up. Good idea. He, too, needed to escape these gloomy men. He roughly gathered his things to leave, but Mark asked seriously.

“Something to do, what could it be? Did Josh tell you anything?”

“If he did, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Seth pointed out. Mark’s expression grew even darker.

Contrary to expectations that they would return immediately after Chase’s original bodyguards came back, their contract period was extended ‘until the end of the shoot’ at the employer’s request, but in reality, there wasn’t much to do. The original bodyguards handled all the watching during the shoot and patrolling the surroundings, while they were simply stationed there, filling time in between.

Therefore, at most, they spent two or three hours a day, mostly just loitering with the other bodyguards, and often just idled all day. It was almost a question why such a large sum of money was being paid to keep them there. Of course, for Chase Miller, their annual salary was less than the cost of the wristwatch he wore.

“Josh used to go meet Pete on every day off, didn’t he?”

At Seth’s observation, Isaac shook his head.

“I’m talking about him disappearing even on days he doesn’t go out.”

“No way.”

Breaking the brief silence, Mark spoke.

“Josh isn’t thinking of quitting, is he?”

At that, everyone froze. Isaac gasped, and Henry unfolded his clenched hand. Seth also forgot about leaving and stood awkwardly in place. Mark continued.

“Josh disappears often, isn’t he looking for a new job? That would make sense, and also why he wouldn’t tell us separately.”

“Come to think of it, the reason he came here was because he needed money,” Seth mumbled to himself, and Isaac shook his head in a panic.

“That’s not it, I heard his mother got better.”

“That’s only for a moment. It’s not a curable illness, so money will keep being needed, won’t it? Maybe he needs even more money.”

At Seth’s cold analysis, Mark’s face grew even paler. Henry added fuel to the fire, nodding.

“True, our treatment is a bit shabby.”

“…I’m doing my best,” Mark protested weakly. Seth patted his shoulder a couple of times, as if he understood. Isaac hastily objected.

“It can’t be for that reason. Josh is a loyal guy, he wouldn’t stab us in the back like that.”

“It wouldn’t be sudden. He’d probably give us a month or two’s notice,” Henry said indifferently, and Isaac paused again. Silence fell, and Seth spoke.

“If Josh isn’t here, we’ll just have to manage without him.”

He was about to add, ‘It’s not certain, so don’t worry too much,’ but Mark cut him off.

“It would be really difficult if Josh left, he’s such a valuable asset. Think about it, with his skill and experience, he’d be welcomed anywhere. If the conditions are unbelievably good, we wouldn’t be able to hold onto him.”

Mark had already fallen into a delusion, as if he had already received notice from Josh that he was changing jobs. Thinking it was best to just leave him be in such situations, Seth silently prepared to leave again. But this time, Isaac interjected.

“There could be other reasons. I trust Josh.”

“Reasons? What reasons?” Henry asked sarcastically, and Isaac answered seriously.

“It’s not like there was any incident that would make him distant from us. Given Josh’s personality, if something upset him or there was a problem, he’d say it directly, not suffer in silence. I think there’s no problem between us.”

“So what is it?”

“That’s…”

At Henry’s continuous prodding, Isaac was speechless. Just as he frantically racked his brain for a few seconds and opened his mouth with an “Ah,” Henry immediately stopped him.

“Wait, hold on.”

As Isaac paused, Henry rummaged in his pocket and laid something down.

“Here, I’m in for 5 dollars.”

Everyone was surprised to see him suddenly pull out cash and place it on the table. Isaac asked in bewilderment.

“What? Are you trying to make a bet with money? About Josh’s business?”

“So? Is there a reason why not?” Henry snapped, and Isaac looked back at Mark, as if asking for support. But what Isaac saw was Mark taking out a 10-dollar bill from his wallet.

“It’s just for fun, you know. Nothing else to do anyway.”

“Mark, even you.”

He spoke with a sigh, but it was 2 to 1. Mark mumbled like a sigh.

“I hope I’m wrong.”

“Of course you’ll be wrong, Mark.”

Henry, who quickly flattered him and saved “Mark 10 dollars” on his phone, then turned to Isaac.

“When we find out the truth, don’t think we’ll tell you. If you want to know, you bet too.”

Isaac groaned and then said with a sigh.

“Josh might not say anything.”

“Josh is pretty tight-lipped, that’s true.”

Seth, who had been watching until then, agreed, and Henry also reluctantly nodded.

“That guy wouldn’t reveal a secret even under torture. So, it’s reassuring no matter what you do.”

Isaac secretly thought that was one of Josh’s cool points, but he exercised a bit of wisdom and didn’t say it out loud. A brief silence fell, but soon Henry casually changed the subject.

“That’s for later. So you’re not in? You’re out. Seth?”

Isaac thought Seth would naturally ignore such a foolish bet. But unexpectedly, he pulled out a bill from his money clip in his pants pocket and placed one on the table. With this, it became 3 to 1, and Isaac had nothing more to say. He hesitated for a moment between conscience and curiosity, but eventually took out a crumpled bill from his pocket. He accidentally put out a 20-dollar bill, but Henry took it before he could switch it.

“It’s not a job change. Josh isn’t that disloyal.”

Isaac said emphatically, and Henry frowned.

“So? What else? You’re not saying that’s all, are you?”

Isaac’s meager imagination reached its limit there. Henry didn’t press further and wrote “Not a job change” next to Isaac’s wager on his phone. Just as he was about to add the comment “Eliminated,” Isaac spoke.

“Could he be sick? Maybe going to the hospital alone?”

No one spoke. Henry unhesitatingly wrote “Eliminated.” Isaac’s 20 dollars had merely served its purpose as the seed money for the bet. Before stating his own opinion, he first asked Seth.

“What about you?”

Everyone focused their attention on Seth. Seth was the first to realize that Josh was an omega. Besides that, he was always quick-witted but quiet, often figuring out everything on his own that no one else even thought of. The problem was that he kept it all to himself.