202: Side story 6 At the gaze looking at him without saying anything, Dane asked again as if to confirm. Only then did Greyson nod slightly instead of answering. Dane, who had been staring at him for a moment, soon turned around and said. "Well, that's settled then." It was better to move past this quickly. Dragging it out would only make things more difficult. Since I just need to be careful from now on, Dane reminded himself as he put Darling down on the bed and stood up. It was right then that the miscellaneous items on the bed that he had forgotten about came into view. "You, what is that?" "Huh, huh?" At Dane's sudden question, Greyson obediently looked in the direction he was pointing. There he could see the bed loaded with all sorts of items. Greyson, who let out a short "ah," completely erased his expression from just moments before and answered nonchalantly. "My bed." "I know that. I'm asking what that mess is." Dane lightly tapped Greyson's head with his finger as if knocking and scolded him. But still, Greyson just grinned broadly. Seeing that expression, Dane felt strange. Whether it showed on his face, Greyson blinked. "What's wrong?" "Uh…" Dane scratched the back of his head for no reason and said. "Did you always have this kind of face? You look somehow different from before." "Me?" "Yeah." At Dane's answer, Greyson felt his own face with his hands and tilted his head. "I don't know? Why?" "Well…" It was difficult to pinpoint exactly, so Dane trailed off. How should I express this? After thinking for a moment, he just blurted out whatever came to mind. "Maybe it's because you're smiling." At those words, Greyson showed an unexpected reaction. He stopped and looked down at Dane with a bewildered expression. "Me?" It seemed like he really didn't know. At his reaction, this time Dane was surprised. This guy, didn't he realize it? "You didn't know?" When Dane asked, Greyson scratched his cheek and nodded. At his still dumbfounded expression, Dane recalled another strange point. …Come to think of it. This guy hadn't been much different from now even before. At least on the surface. Even then, he had a consistently smiling face. But thinking a little deeper, it was completely different. Back then, Greyson knew he was smiling. But now… The huge man in front of him was rubbing his neck in confusion. At his reaction, clearly troubled because he couldn't understand what his own behavior meant, Dane couldn't help but laugh. "Ah." When he deliberately raised his hand to pinch his cheek gently so it wouldn't hurt, Greyson let out a short exclamation with no feeling whatsoever. "Don't exaggerate." Even while scolding him, Dane smiled. Then Greyson, who had smiled back at him, grabbed the hand that had stopped in mid-air and brought it to his mouth. Smack, smack, after kissing each finger joint, he pressed his lips firmly on the fourth finger. For some reason, the area where Greyson's body temperature touched seemed to tingle. The back of his neck felt hot for no reason. Dane tried to pull his hand away at the unfamiliar sensation, but Greyson didn't let go and instead brought it to his cheek. Greyson, who turned his lips to give the palm a smack of a kiss too, finally opened his mouth. "I just shared your pheromones with Darling." His palm tickled from the continuous rubbing of lips. Dane pointed out while being conscious of the breath touching his skin. "It seems like you took an overwhelming majority though?" Greyson laughed briefly. His breath brushed between his fingers. "That's a misunderstanding, absolutely not." Seeing him droop his eyebrows pretending to be pitiful was ridiculous. Boldly, Greyson added one more line here. "We shared very fairly. We only occupied exactly as much space as we needed." His face saying this looked very confident. As if there was nothing to be ashamed of at all. At his shameless reaction, like a child making up an obviously transparent lie and being certain they wouldn't be caught, Dane almost burst into laughter but held back and deliberately made a stern expression. When he even crossed his arms and looked at him, Greyson's attitude immediately crumbled. At his appearance unable to meet his gaze and deliberately looking elsewhere, Dane opened his mouth with confidence. "Greyson Miller." "I was wrong." As soon as his name was called, he apologized. The only thing left was to confess the truth. "…You're not completely healed yet." Finally, Greyson revealed the secret he had been hiding. "I decided not to do it with you for a while. So I needed your pheromones instead." At the unexpected words, Dane's thoughts stopped for a moment. "You won't sleep with me?" His reaction came after 2-3 seconds of silence. "Right." Greyson nodded and said. "Besides, you were continuously in the hospital but I had to come home to take care of Darling. So…" "That was my substitute?" Unable to wait, Dane cut off his words. Greyson readily nodded and smiled. "Thanks to it, both Darling and I endured well, so it worked out." What worked out… Dane looked at him incredulously. He didn't know where to start pointing out the problems. No, strictly speaking, should he praise him for being admirable? But there were problems with that too. "What do you mean you won't do it until I'm healed?" Swallowing the words "I've even been discharged," he asked, and Greyson answered honestly this time too. "You coughed up blood back then." Greyson's face turned pale. His voice trembled thinly as if recalling that day's memory. "You can't get hurt like that again… and I don't want you to be in pain." And he probably didn't want to worry either. Now everything made sense. Greyson had been tremendously shocked that day. Thinking about it, his complexion had remained pale until they returned home and hadn't returned to normal. After that, he hadn't done anything except simple kisses… He had simply thought it was restraint until he healed, but there was a deeper reason. Dane felt troubled, but soon heard another voice from deep within. Isn't that reasonable? Looking back, Dane had faced death several times in front of him. The fact that he was alive now could only be called a miracle. It was natural for Greyson, who had even left Dane because of that anguish, to be shocked after seeing Dane cough up blood and faint again before his eyes. Shouldn't I be worried about this guy running away, not me? Recalling him who had come running in pale earlier, Dane coolly realized. If I've decided to accept this guy, I have to restrain such behavior too. If he keeps getting hurt like this repeatedly, a person's heart becomes worn down. Then all the emotions that had finally taken root in Greyson's heart would disappear. Wouldn't that be too sad? Dane raised his hand and stopped in mid-air. He didn't know whether he had tried to touch Greyson's cheek or pat his shoulder. Feeling awkward, he hesitated with his hand in that position before bringing it to his neck, rubbing the innocent back of his neck while looking at Greyson. Greyson was still standing looking down at him. His emotions seemed more subdued than before, but the reason he couldn't easily open his mouth was probably because they hadn't completely subsided. The afterimage from that time wasn't easily shaken off. Having thought that far, he pondered for a moment and finally opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind. "Should I quit being a firefighter?" "Huh?" At the unexpected words, Greyson's eyes went wide