207: Side story 11 Soon admiration flowed out. For Dane Striker to say such things was truly wondrous. Feeling somehow embarrassed by his former colleagues' admiration, suddenly another guy asked. "What does that woman look like? It is a woman, right?" "Do you have a photo? Tell us, I'm curious what she looks like!" "Right, a photo. Show us a photo!" "Photo! Photo!" Seeing the guys waving their arms and chanting slogans, Dane felt complicated emotions. These bastards, if they saw that guy's photo, they wouldn't be able to chatter excitedly like this. Someone might even collapse from shock. Thinking of their profession where emergencies could break out at any time, he wanted to avoid dangerous situations. "I don't have a photo, sorry." When Dane shook his head and refused, boos immediately flew at him. "Boo, liar." "Boooo." The guys flipped their thumbs down and poured out boos, but of course it had no impact on Dane at all. At his appearance of crossing his arms and looking at them as if to say 'Try harder, losers,' they soon had no choice but to back down. But that didn't mean they had given up. "At least tell us this – is she pretty? Sexy?" One guy quickly stepped forward and asked. At the persistent question as if he would somehow pick up even crumbs, Dane chuckled and answered. "She's pretty, tremendously so." "She would be in your eyes, naturally." DeAndre spoke sarcastically. The other guys seemed to think the same way and laughed making whooshing sounds. Dane also said without erasing his smile. "Isn't it enough if she's pretty in my eyes?" "That's true." The guy who had asked reluctantly said. Then another guy next to him also chimed in. "If Dane is dating her, she must be an incredible beauty." "She must be glamorous. Like this." "Her voice is probably husky." It was arbitrarily pieced together, but in some ways it was interesting that it was correct. Greyson was a tremendous beauty in Dane's eyes, and his body was also very well-toned as if sculpted. "…Similar." Dane muttered as if talking to himself. Soon his former colleagues began turning their attention one by one. Dane continued speaking to them. "When he's in a good mood, he moves his ears. That's incredibly cute. Sometimes when he gets lonely because of me, he even cries, and while I feel sorry, I find it so lovable that I want to shower him with kisses. Plus he often sulks, and each time I see that guy as a puppy and I'm going crazy. Sometimes I really want to check if it's right that he doesn't have a tail. And that bastard knows he's pretty too. Sometimes when I call him pretty, he likes it and moves his ears. Cute, right? Don't you think so?" Having said that much, Dane suddenly realized the surroundings were quiet. He belatedly realized reality, but it was already too late. In the awkward atmosphere, he could only blink, when suddenly DeAndre pointed at him. "Huh? You're smiling?" At those words, Dane realized he had been smiling the whole time while talking about Greyson. But even after knowing this fact, the corners of his mouth wouldn't come down. Rather, suddenly missing Greyson, he simply wrapped up. "Right, isn't that enough now? I should get going. That guy is probably waiting." "Oh, uh… yeah, see you next time." "Take care, Dane." "Bye…" They exchanged greetings and after Dane left, they stood there blankly just staring at the closed door. "He was serious, that guy." Someone broke the silence by muttering. As if those words were a signal, other voices followed. "For Dane Striker to settle down, the world really…" "What kind of woman could it be? If they end up getting married, we'll be able to see her, right?" "Of course. I really hope the two of them get married." "Since it's the first time seeing Dane like this, they'll probably work out well." "What kind of style could it be? How about we try to guess?" At someone's suggestion, they each began naming the most beautiful woman they could think of. Of course, DeAndre was completely excluded from the group because he named Valentina. And they reached a consensus on the greatest actress of their time. The most beautiful, most talented at acting, most sexy, the greatest beauty anyone would acknowledge. It was Naomi Parker. * * * What should I do now? Dane fell into serious contemplation while driving down the road. It was astounding that so many heads were of no help at all, but there was no time to just feel frustrated. If he didn't somehow solve this problem, the stone sitting on his chest wouldn't seem to go down. Since that day, Greyson had been bringing gifts every single day. Sometimes wine glasses, sometimes limited edition sneakers, and other times even custom clothes for all three of them including Darling. Soon Dane's room was filled with miscellaneous items. Actually, Dane wasn't the type to be greedy for material things, so this situation was extremely troublesome. Most of all, he hated being in debt. Since he had decided to become lovers with Greyson, it wasn't quite right to call it debt, but it was still burdensome. "You don't need to buy this much stuff. If there's something I need, I'll tell you." Finally, Dane expressed his refusal to him. Greyson looked clearly disappointed, but if he didn't do this, someday he would die buried under the miscellaneous items that guy kept buying. After finally stopping the gift offensive, his worries returned to square one. What should I do for him? Thinking about everything Greyson had showered on him made it even more impossible to find an answer. Even if he gathered all his remaining fortune, he wouldn't be able to buy even the wing of the ugly swan sculpture made of crystal that Greyson had bought. Why does he even buy things like that? After thinking irritably, he soon returned his thoughts to the earlier point. What should I do for him? There was one more person he could ask about this. It was Joshua. He would be quite helpful since they had hung out together a lot and had many compatible aspects. Having lived with Chase Miller, his taste would have improved quite a bit, making him the perfect person to ask. Ever since Joshua had correctly guessed the price of the necklace Ezra's bear doll was wearing last time, Dane had great trust in him in that regard. However, despite this, there was a reason he hadn't contacted him first and instead went to those useless firefighter guys. * * * "You still haven't made up with your younger brother?" Around the time when his reopened wounds had somewhat healed and Dane could sit up in bed, he heard unexpected words from Greyson. Greyson nodded while sitting askew with his elbow resting on one leg and his chin propped up. "He won't meet with me. He keeps running away, that bastard." His face, deeply frowning, was full of displeasure. "For someone like Chase to treat me like a bug, it's really ridiculous. Don't you think so?" It was a tone as if asking him to take his side, but Dane's thoughts were different. Since he also knew how much this guy could upset people when he set his mind to it, he couldn't simply take Greyson's side. When Dane showed no reaction, Greyson soon looked disappointed and let his mouth droop. Seeing him like that, Dane deliberately changed the subject and asked. "What about other people? Are you finished settling all the past matters now?" "Well… I guess so." Greyson seemed to think for a moment, then suddenly frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Dane, there's something I heard while going around apologizing." "What is it?" With an ominous feeling, Dane backed away as if on guard. Though all he did was lean back more closely against the pillow.