By Zephyria 
“What’s his type?”
Grayson asked, still with a smirk playing on his lips. His narrow eyes were full of displeasure, but Ezra, perhaps due to his intoxication, didn’t notice.
“Well, at least not someone as huge as you… Dane is already so big that I’ve never seen anyone bigger than him. So, anyone who wasn’t Dane’s type simply didn’t exist. But you’re a bit, well, very massive.”
Ezra, after giving Grayson a meaningful once-over, added with a wry smile,
“I know Dane’s position, and you might have a hard time.”
Grayson silently downed his beer, which had no effect whatsoever. He felt inexplicably annoyed. Dane had said something similar once before. He hadn’t been particularly pleased then either, but why was he so angry now? Without realizing it, Grayson blurted out his true feelings.
“You don’t even know Dane properly…”
“Huh? What was that?”
Ezra asked, blinking. Fortunately, the noise of the bar swallowed Grayson’s words. Grayson seized the opportunity, flashed a smile, and quickly changed the subject.
“How did you end up raising that cat? I can’t imagine Dane taking care of anyone.”
“Well, yeah, that’s true. He doesn’t take care of people, that guy.”
Ezra readily agreed and added,
“But animals are different.”
“Does he like animals?”
“…Does he like them?”
Ezra tilted his head again before continuing.
“It’s not like he welcomes every animal unconditionally. He mostly just looks at them indifferently. Well, it’s true that he can’t just leave them if they’ve been abandoned or injured.”
In short, he only steps in when help is needed. So, that cat was one of those cases?
“Like Darling?”
“Oh, yeah.”
When Grayson asked tentatively, Ezra readily nodded.
“It was the only cat left in a building from a previous Deployment. It was hiding in a corner and was severely injured. Eventually, it went blind and deaf. It was almost euthanized because the medical bills were too high, but Dane paid for all the treatment himself and adopted it.”
Following the long explanation, Ezra let out a hearty laugh.
“He worked overtime for two months without a single day off to pay back those hospital bills. He barely slept and was so sensitive that you couldn’t even talk to him, he’d curse you out if you even acknowledged him.”
“Wow,” Ezra said, shaking his head. Grayson knew in his head that he should laugh along, but for some reason, the corners of his lips wouldn’t turn up.
“Didn’t you say Dane likes money?”
In most cases, those people are misers. But he not only paid for the cat’s hospital bills himself but also worked overtime to earn money? It didn’t make sense at all. Ezra readily offered an answer to Grayson’s suspicion.
“Yeah, Dane doesn’t skimp on money he spends on Darling. Or on people he sleeps with.”
Ezra then gave a strange smile.
“I heard he buys pretty expensive alcohol for people he likes and even makes them breakfast.”
At Ezra’s words, Grayson frowned and cast a suspicious glance.
“Did you sleep with Dane too?”
How does he know that? Grayson asked, his words full of suspicion, and Ezra immediately turned serious and shook his head.
“Are you kidding? I have a wife and three kids! It’s not something I experienced, just something I heard.”
“How?”
Grayson still didn’t shake off his suspicion and asked. Ezra looked exasperated and distorted his face as he retorted.
“You think none of the women you’ve slept with have slept with Dane?”
“You’re saying there are colleagues within the fire station that you’ve slept with?”
“Yeah, not all of them like you, though.”
Ezra pointed out bluntly before softening his tone and adding,
“Of course, there were quite a few women who wanted to date Dane. But Dane is willing to sleep with them as much as they want, he just doesn’t want a serious relationship. He’s a bad guy.”
He said the last words with a wry smile. Grayson silently fiddled with his beer bottle. The more he knew, the less he understood.
Just what kind of man is Dane Striker?
He had tried to find a clue, but it felt like things had become even more tangled. Grayson downed his beer with a gloomy feeling.
Naomi, who was catching her breath after finishing yoga and cooling down from the sweat, twitched her eyebrows at the sound of her cell phone ringing, disturbing the most peaceful time of her day. With an inevitable sigh, she finally opened her eyes and reached for the cell phone she had placed on the side table. But the moment she saw the caller ID, the annoyance at being disturbed vanished without a trace. After reconfirming the name on the screen, Grayson Miller, she answered the phone with a delighted expression.
“Hey, Grayson? What’s up?”
That’s right, what’s really up? Did you finally find him? And got dumped? Are you miserable and sad now? Aren’t you regretting how you’ve lived your life, beating your chest in remorse? Tell me where you are, I’ll rush over right now! Hurry up and show me your miserable state!
Thinking about willingly handing Grayson a napkin, she perked up her ears, and the voice of the man she had been waiting for flowed from the other side of the cell phone.
“You raise dogs, right?”
At the unexpected question, Naomi blinked a couple of times. Taking the cell phone away from her ear and looking down at it once, she brought it back to her ear and asked.
“Yeah, want me to show you pictures?”
“No, it’s okay.”
A small murmur returned to the offer she had kindly extended.
“Really useless.”
It was clearly a muttered remark, but it was enough to turn Naomi’s stomach. What made it even more infuriating was the fact that Grayson hung up the phone on his own after saying just that.
“What, this, what.”
Naomi clenched her fists in anger and gasped for breath. Still unable to suppress her anger, she finally burst out with the resentment that welled up from the depths of her heart.
“What kind of son of a bitch is this?”
Grayson sat at the tea table, deep in thought with a serious expression. After ending several unhelpful calls, a sense of emptiness and bewilderment washed over him, and he couldn’t think of what to do next.
What had he done until now?
Matching the other person’s mood was easy. Spending time together would reveal what they wanted from their expressions or eyes. He had plenty of money and time. Whether it was a heartfelt gift or an event plastered with money, he would do whatever they wanted. The reactions he got in return always met his expectations, so he had never been in trouble. He was sure he could succeed with the same method this time.
The problem was that it was impossible to spend time alone with Dane.
How could he create such a situation with a man who didn’t even know what a date was? He still had one chance left, but he didn’t want to waste it like this. Dane Striker would definitely end everything without looking back once the date he was indebted to was vaguely over.
Was there no other way to find out about him?
…Cats and money.
Grayson furrowed his brow and made a serious expression. These were the only two methods he could use right now. And one of them was something Grayson had in abundance.
Having barely found a way, Grayson immediately picked up his cell phone and made a call. The other party answered immediately before the ringing even sounded a few times. Grayson made a request to the Team leader of the secretarial office, who handled various chores for his family.
“Find out about cat supplies right away.”
“Excuse me? Cats? Did you raise cats…?”
The Team leader asked, surprised by the sudden words. Grayson didn’t give a long explanation to the bewildered man and replied briefly.
“I’m going to give it as a gift, so find something appropriate, something that any cat owner would like.”
“Ah, I understand.”
The Team leader, who had readily answered, added softly as if telling a secret.
“For reference, people who raise cats are called servants, not owners.”
“What?”
Grayson frowned, but the Team leader only left a short greeting before hanging up the phone. He stared at the disconnected cell phone for a while, dumbfounded.