Kiss Me if You Can-Chapter 4Vol. 2

Knowing it was no big deal only made Henry angrier. Ignoring Seth’s expression as if he were pitying him and Mark’s clear look of disdain, Isaac’s obliviousness was the biggest problem.

Did he not know what was wrong after I confessed that I liked him and suddenly brought up Josh? That damn idiot.

The most frustrating thing was that he hadn’t been able to brush off the confession and had revealed his true feelings. The problem was that no one else understood the seriousness of the situation. As proof, Isaac was looking at him with his usual dumb expression, Seth shook his head and then looked at Isaac as if urging him to speak, and Mark, after only muttering a caution, returned to his seat.

I’m the most insane for liking this idiot, Henry thought. Feeling sick from the conflicting desires to beat him senseless and kiss him passionately, he fell into self-loathing when Seth finally spoke up.

“What do you mean by strange?”

Mark, too, looked at Isaac curiously, and Henry, still gritting his teeth, glared at him. With all eyes on him, Isaac awkwardly scratched his head.

“Well, it’s not like there’s anything particularly serious going on…”

Realizing that it wasn’t a situation to just brush off, he continued, struggling to put it into words.

“He’s been sort of distancing himself… Doesn’t he disappear often? It’s not like he’s skipping his duties, but it’s like he’s only doing what he’s assigned and then disappearing, not showing up properly…”

At Isaac’s words, Seth tilted his head.

“Has he?”

Isaac replied confidently.

“He has.”

“How do you know? Have you been stalking him or something? Sick bastard.”

Isaac, who had been glaring at Henry’s quick condemnation, quickly turned his head to Seth and Mark. In response to Henry’s clear dismissiveness, Isaac clenched his fist, though he didn’t have the chance to strike. Mark, now remembering, chimed in.

“Well, now that you mention it, Josh wasn’t around even on the day we all had off.”

“Right?”

Seeming to gain some support for his opinion, Isaac brightened up. Henry, lowering his fist with nowhere to throw it, sneered at Isaac.

“Probably has something to do. With all the grimy guys around here, would you want to stay here all gloomy? He’s probably out there getting some sun.”

At those words, Seth raised his head. It was a good thought. He himself needed to escape from these gloomy guys. As he was about to grab his things and leave, Mark asked seriously.

“What do you mean by something to do? Did you hear anything from Josh?”

“If I had, we wouldn’t be talking about this.”

Seth pointed out. Mark’s expression grew darker.

Unlike the expectation that they would return once Chase’s regular bodyguards came back, the contract had been extended “until filming ended” at the employer’s request, but there wasn’t really anything for them to do. Throughout the shoot, the primary roles of observing and looking around had been handled by the regular bodyguards, leaving them to kill time in between.

So, at most, they only worked two or three hours a day, often just wandering around with the other bodyguards, and sometimes they spent entire days doing nothing. It was starting to make them wonder why they were being paid such a hefty sum to sit around. Of course, for Chase Miller, their annual salaries were probably worth less than his wristwatch.

“Josh used to go meet Pete on his days off.”

Seth’s comment made Isaac shake his head.

“I’m talking about when he disappears even on days off.”

“No way.”

Breaking the short silence, Mark spoke up.

“You don’t think Josh is trying to quit, do you?”

At those words, everyone froze. Isaac gasped, and Henry opened his clenched fist. Seth also forgot about leaving and stood awkwardly in place. Mark continued.

“You think Josh disappearing so often means he’s looking for another job? That would make sense, him not telling us anything.”

“Now that you mention it, the reason he came here was because he needed money, right?”

Seth muttered under his breath, and Isaac, startled, shook his head.

“That’s not it, I heard his mom is doing better now.”

“That’s temporary. It’s not a curable illness, so the money’s still going to keep piling up, right? Maybe he needs even more money.”

Seth’s cold analysis made Mark’s face grow even paler. Henry took it a step further and nodded.

“Yeah, our treatment is pretty lousy.”

“I’m doing my best.”

Mark weakly protested. Seth patted him on the shoulder a couple of times as if he understood. Isaac hurriedly interjected.

“That’s not it. Josh is a loyal guy. He wouldn’t suddenly stab us in the back.”

“It wouldn’t be sudden. He’d give us a month or two.”

Henry said indifferently, and Isaac hesitated again. As silence fell, Seth spoke up.

“If Josh is gone, we’ll have to make do without him.”

He was about to add, “But it’s not certain, so don’t worry too much,” when Mark cut him off.

“If Josh goes, we’re in real trouble. He’s too valuable an asset. Think about it, his skills and experience, he’ll be welcomed anywhere. If the conditions are good enough, we won’t be able to keep him.”

Mark immediately fell into delusion as though he had already been notified that Josh was planning to leave. Seth thought it best to just leave him be and quietly prepared to go. But this time, Isaac intervened.

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

“Reasons? What reasons?”

Henry asked sarcastically, and Isaac answered seriously.

“There hasn’t been any big event that would make him want to distance himself from us. If something upset him, he’d tell us, he wouldn’t just bottle it up. So, I don’t think there’s a problem between us.”

“So, what does that mean?”

“Well…”

Isaac was at a loss for words under Henry’s persistent questioning. After a few seconds of hurried thinking, he finally spoke up.

“Wait, hold on.”

Before Isaac could continue, Henry stopped him and dug into his pocket, pulling something out and placing it on the table.

“Here, five dollars.”

The sudden cash on the table surprised everyone. Isaac stared in disbelief.

“What? Are you betting with money? On Josh’s situation?”

“Why not? What’s the problem?”

Henry shot back, and Isaac looked at Mark as if asking him to take his side. But all Isaac saw was Mark pulling out a ten-dollar bill from his wallet.

“It’s just for fun. We don’t have anything to do anyway.”

“Mark, you too.”

Isaac sighed, but it was now 2 to 1. Mark mumbled, almost like a sigh.

“I hope I’m wrong.”

“Of course, you’re wrong, Mark.”

Quickly flattering him, Henry saved Mark’s ten dollars in his phone as a note, then turned back to Isaac.

“If we find out the truth, you think we won’t tell you? If you want to know, you can bet too.”

Isaac groaned in frustration.

“Josh might not say anything, though.”

“Josh does have a tight-lipped nature.”

Seth, who had been observing quietly, agreed, and Henry reluctantly nodded.

“Even if he’s tortured, he won’t give up a secret. That’s what makes him so reliable.”

Isaac thought to himself that it was one of the coolest things about Josh but kept it to himself, showing some wisdom. After a brief silence, Henry casually changed the topic.

“Anyway, that’s then. So, you’re not betting, right? Seth, how about you?”

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

Isaac thought Seth would just ignore this silly bet, but to his surprise, Seth took out a bill from his money clip in his pocket and placed one on the table. Now it was 3 to 1, and Isaac had no words left. He hesitated for a moment between conscience and curiosity, but eventually, he took out a crumpled bill from his pocket. He accidentally placed a 20-dollar bill down, but before he could swap it out, Henry snatched it up.

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

Isaac said firmly, but Henry frowned.

“So? What? Is that all?”

Isaac’s imagination ran out at that point. Henry didn’t press any further and marked Isaac’s bet as “Not a Job Change” in his phone. As he was about to write “Eliminated” next to it, Isaac spoke up.

“Isn’t he sick or something? Maybe he’s been going to the hospital alone.”

No one said anything. Henry immediately wrote “Eliminated.” Isaac’s $20 was now just the stake for the bet.

Before giving his own opinion, Henry first asked Seth.

“What about you?”

Everyone turned to Seth. Seth had been the first to realize that Josh was an Omega. He was always quick-witted but quiet, and he could pick up on things no one else noticed. The problem was that he kept it all to himself.

This time, they expected Seth to come up with something plausible. Isaac was relieved that he was participating in the bet, but he was also nervous about what he would say. Mark, too, hoped Seth wouldn’t bring up the word “job change.” Finally, Seth spoke, and he said:

“‘He’s in a relationship.’”

“What?”

“He’s in a relationship? With who?”

“Not a job change?”

Henry, Isaac, and Mark all shouted almost simultaneously. Seth frowned, then continued.

“Here’s my thought. What reason would he have to keep running off, using work as an excuse? Plus, he won’t even say why. If he were looking for a new job, he’d have told us first. It doesn’t match Josh’s personality to notify us about something like that without discussing it.”

“Right?”

Mark, looking pleased with himself, nodded as Seth continued calmly.

“Josh isn’t sick or having any problems. Actually, he seems more energetic than before. And I’ve heard a few of the women on set are into him, so it’s not impossible that he’s dating one of them. Maybe it’s even more serious than we think.”

Seth shrugged.

“In fact, I’ve seen him get confessed to.”

“What? Confessed to?”

“So? What happened?”

Mark and Henry asked in unison. Seth responded with an indifferent face.

“Nothing much… I think one of Naomi’s assistants. Josh turned her down right then and there. It was over, but I didn’t want to talk about it, since it was personal and both of them would have been embarrassed.”

“I’m sure there’s more than just that.”

Isaac agreed with Seth’s words.

“Josh would definitely do something like that. Damn, Rose is going to be disappointed.”

Everyone knew that Rose, who worked in the office, had been interested in Josh for a while. It would be a huge shock to her that he was an Omega, and if she found out he had a girlfriend, she might collapse. Everyone had agreed that they would keep Josh being an Omega a secret, just in case his work was affected.

“Maybe it’s just a casual romance from a business trip,” Seth said, and Mark nodded in agreement. It was a reasonable thought. However, just as everyone was about to accept it, Isaac raised an objection.

“But Josh always put Pete first, right? He’s never had a one-night stand. So suddenly, a casual romance? It doesn’t make sense considering the Josh we know.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Mark agreed.

Henry ignored them and turned back to Seth.

“So, you’re betting on ‘Josh is in a relationship’?”

“Yeah.”

Seth nodded.

He rarely participated in silly bets like this, but today, it wasn’t just a way to kill time. His colleagues were all good people with many strengths, but one thing they all lacked was a sense of perception. Everyone was about the same level.

Taking money from suckers was something only idiots did, and Seth wasn’t an idiot. Henry, one of the worst at reading people, paused for a moment, then wrote his bet.

“We’re secretly gambling.”

That was definitely not the case.

The other three thought the same thing but didn’t say anything. None of them seriously thought they’d win money off this. Except for Seth.

That’s why they keep losing money, Seth thought, looking at Henry disdainfully. It was a bitter realization to see one of his teammates, a sucker, always losing at gambling.

“By the way, who do you think he’s dating?”

Isaac asked hesitantly, and Henry laughed derisively.

“Yeah, if you can guess, I’ll double the pot. You all agree, right?”

Mark and Isaac nodded as well. Not wanting to actually take money from their teammate, Seth gave the name he thought was the least likely.

“C.”

“What? Miller?”

“That C? The one I know?”

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“You idiot! Can’t you be serious?”

At once, shouts erupted, and Seth packed up his things and left. Behind him, jeers continued to follow. As he stepped into the long remaining sunlight, a laugh escaped him.

Chase Miller? Was I being a bit harsh?

Unaware of the gossip happening behind him, Josh returned to the accommodation later that evening. Henry had been waiting to ask him about the bet, but missed his chance, and when he woke up the next morning, Josh was already out working again.