By Zephyria 
2. The platypus appeared
one
It was a bright day like any other. Literally, a clear sky without a single cloud. Deep, vivid blue filled the view. Confirming this, Dane prepared to go to work early.
That bastard will come to work today, too, right?
Dane checked in the mirror to see if he had shaved properly, and the thought crossed his mind. If the worst comes to the worst, he can just knock him out and run. He’d feel sorry for the team, but there’s no choice. He has to save himself first.
He had never been caught using his Trait before. After using Pheromones to knock out a Dominant Alpha, they usually didn’t remember what had happened, and Dane left immediately.
But he had used it on that bastard twice.
He listlessly acknowledged the fact that suddenly came to mind. That son of a bitch has every reason to want to kill me.
In preparation for a possible situation, Dane took out a trunk and prepared to pack. So that he could throw in only what he needed and leave at any time.
“I’ll be back, Darling.”
After kissing his cat, he left the house and drove to work as usual in his car, which was well over 10 years old. He felt a little sad about leaving California.
Desire Me if you can
Dane parked his car in the designated spot and headed to the fire station, where he paused at the sight of a group of colleagues glaring angrily at something. Following their gaze, he saw Grayson Miller leaning against a fire truck, talking to someone.
“What’s that?”
He approached his colleagues and asked casually, and one of them spat out through gritted teeth.
“It’s exactly what it looks like. That bastard is hitting on Valentina.”
Valentina was the most popular female employee in the station. She was beautiful and had a good personality, so many employees secretly liked her, but some had plucked up the courage to ask her out, only to be gently rejected. As a result, there was an unspoken rule that they would ‘wait for Valentina to choose someone,’ and they maintained a good working relationship on the surface. Even in the midst of all this, they continued to make subtle advances, subtly asserting their presence.
But that scoundrel dares to hit on Valentina.
Everyone was watching them, their eyes burning with jealousy and anger. Reject him, Valentina. Reject him as resolutely and cruelly as you did to us!
Their fervent wishes, however, did not reach her. Half of the watching colleagues fell away the moment they saw Valentina smiling and stroking Grayson’s arm.
“We’ve lost, we’ve lost!”
“No, wait. Valentina is kind. She’s just trying to cushion the blow before rejecting him. I’m sure of it!”
“I didn’t even get my fingers touched when I was rejected?”
“Give up, touching his arm means it’s over!”
“Shut up! Giving up already with just an arm, not even a thigh, you weaklings!”
Dane couldn’t help but sigh as he watched the guys getting excited and talking even though they weren’t interested at all. He shook his head and headed to the locker room, and behind him, gasps, groans, and short screams erupted alternately. He could tell what had happened just by the sound, without having to look.
“He touched her, he touched her thigh!”
“Wait, that bastard is huge. Look, that’s just where his hand happens to reach. Calm down!”
“He’s stroking it, we’re doomed!”
“No, no! My Valentina would never fall for a scoundrel like that!”
“Who’s Valentina yours? Don’t talk nonsense so slyly!”
Leaving the continued uproar behind, Dane went inside. He didn’t care about anything else, but seeing Grayson Miller making moves like that, it was clear that he wasn’t interested in him at all.
So he doesn’t remember.
Dane shook off his worries and leisurely opened his locker. The luggage he had packed in the morning was no longer needed. It was a great relief, as a trip would not be easy for a blind and deaf cat, wherever he went.
Or maybe everyone’s predictions were wrong. Maybe coming to find out who knocked him out was just an excuse, and there was another reason.
Not that it’s any of my business.
He walked out with a light step, and the employees were still in the same place. Turning his gaze, he saw that Valentina and Grayson Miller were gone.
“They went together.”
Following someone’s absentminded mutter, another employee said.
“They left us behind… Valentina fell for Grayson Miller of all people…”
“Did you see her face just now? I don’t think I’ve ever seen Valentina smile like that… She’s never smiled like that at anyone.”
“No, everyone, let’s get a grip. They just went together, right? Maybe they just happened to be going in the same direction!”
The only thing that came back to his words, which did not lose the last hope, was a cold gaze.
“You’re the most irrational.”
“You’re the one who needs to face reality. Just going in the same direction? Yeah, right!”
“No, this guy might be right. We’re too pessimistic right now! It’s not impossible, is it?”
“Yeah, I’ll bet they just happened to be going in the same direction. Valentina doesn’t fall for just any guy!”
“That’s right, none of us have succeeded, but she fell for Grayson Miller in less than an hour? That’s just unrealistic!”
Their arguments gradually gained strength. Dane crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, watching the farce. To him, the situation was all too obvious. The flower on the cliff, the Madonna of the fire station, had fallen for Grayson Miller’s face in less than an hour.
Fools.
However, whether Dane’s eyes turned cold or not, those who had been arguing on the other side were losing strength and starting to give in one by one as they listened to the persuasion that ignited the hope they had not been able to let go of until the end.
“Maybe…”
As they looked at each other, someone muttered, and another guy immediately picked up the words as if he had been waiting for them.
“Well, we don’t know what kind of trash Grayson Miller is, but we all know what kind of person Valentina is, right?”
Heads nodded here and there, and words of agreement followed.
“Yeah, Valentina wouldn’t do that.”
“I believe in Valentina!”
“Me too, me too!”
Everyone was united in hope. They clenched their fists and cheered, but a few hours later, they collapsed mercilessly the moment they saw Valentina’s dazed face as she straightened her disheveled hair. Anyone with eyes could see what they had been doing for the past couple of hours. And as if to confirm the kill, Valentina pulled Grayson in and kissed him first.
The news spread throughout the fire station by a few employees who were outside checking the fire truck. The employees who were waiting in the situation room were shocked, and they had to give up the futile hope they had been holding on to until the end. There were some who had been quite serious about Valentina, so the air in the situation room was so gloomy that mold would grow.
“Valentina was too far away for us anyway.”
When one person spoke, words of agreement soon followed here and there.
“Yeah, that’s right. Valentina didn’t choose any of us.”
“Maybe Grayson Miller is a better guy than we thought.”
“Anyway, it’s Valentina’s choice, so we have to support her as colleagues.”
“Of course. We’re all risking our lives together.”
Still, the atmosphere was pretty good. It was thanks to the pride of the macho firefighters who didn’t want to be pathetic losers, even though they had been dumped. Their stomachs ached, they were pissed off, and Grayson was so damn annoying, but what could they do now that things had turned out this way? Yeah, as someone said, Grayson might be a pain in the ass to us, but he might be great to Valentina. The situation was not so bad until they forced themselves to hide their bitter feelings, gave up their one-sided feelings, and wished for the other person’s happiness in their own way.
Until a few hours later, they saw Grayson Miller, this time with another colleague, Liz, holding her waist and disappearing in the direction he had gone with Valentina earlier.