Desire Me If You Can Chapter 26

As the conversation went on, the chief’s voice rose a notch with each sentence. Wilkins, while flustered, tried his best to resolve the situation gracefully.

“Isn’t stamina testing important? If someone on the front line isn’t properly prepared, the lives of the other team members are at risk, and…”

“Why do you decide that on your own? You should have reported it to me first! And if you really don’t trust him, you could just not take him out, couldn’t you? There are ways to just give him odd jobs on the scene! But you drag Miller out on your own and cause this mess? Do I look like a scarecrow to you? Huh?”

The voices that had been arguing back and forth had already vanished, leaving only the chief’s voice echoing loudly. Wilkins could only hang his head and repeat, “I’m sorry,” over and over. The chief, who had been raging, looked around with a flushed face and, after confirming that Grayson was nowhere to be seen, spat out with a still-rough tone.

“So, what happened? It’s still not over? When did you start!”

To the barrage of questions, Wilkins answered honestly.

“It’s been about three hours.”

“What…?!”

To be precise, it had been three hours and 50 minutes. But everyone kept their mouths shut, nervous and keeping a wary eye on the chief. As expected, the chief exploded in a fiery rage and shouted.

“At most, two hours is more than enough, yet it’s been three hours? And what are you all doing standing around here! Go find Miller right now, hurry! As for you, we’ll talk later.”

The chief, having barked his orders, snarled as he pointed a finger at Wilkins. Wilkins had no choice but to say, “Yes,” turn around, and hurriedly organize a group.

“We don’t know if he’s on his way back, so let’s go up from the opposite direction. Pack first aid kits just in case…”

Wilkins, having selected a few members with good records, gave quick instructions. The staff members moved immediately, grabbed the necessary items, and readied themselves to climb the mountain in a hurry. The sun would set soon. If they didn’t hurry…

“Uh, uh-huh?”

Someone let out a blank exclamation. People who had turned their heads inadvertently froze, and those who noticed the strange atmosphere followed their gaze, also freezing in place. At the end of their line of sight, the man they had been waiting for was walking toward them.

Grayson Miller.

His beautifully shining blonde hair was plastered with dirt and leaves, completely covered in dust. His entire body was riddled with scratches and torn wounds; his clothes were in tatters, and his face was swollen as if he’d been hit by someone. After a day passed, there would undoubtedly be mottled bruises appearing everywhere.

“Hey, boss.”

He raised one hand brightly and greeted them as if nothing had happened. Everyone was left dumbstruck at the sight of his face smiling, revealing his white teeth. In the midst of their dazed stares, Grayson walked up nonchalantly and stood before Wilkins.

“I’m back. Is the test over now? Since I completed it safely, I can participate in field operations from now on, right?”

He was clearly not in a safe state, but Grayson was confident. Despite looking like he’d definitely been in a fight, he wore a face that insisted there were no problems. He didn’t snitch that Dane had swung a fist at him, didn’t scream asking who the ringleader was, and didn’t cause a scene.

The chief, who had been secretly nervous that Grayson might demand a refund of his donation or even threaten to sue the entire fire station for treating him this way, blinked his eyes with a blank face. It had been like this since he first appeared to apply for the job, but he could never tell what was going on in his mind.

The others felt the same way—unable to understand. Asking if he could participate in field operations? Absurdly, his question sounded so bright and sunny. He was clearly a man who had seen and done it all, so how could he look as pure as a child?

Surely, even if the word “pure” died and was reborn five hundred thousand times, it couldn’t get even a millimeter closer to that man.

“Uh, uh… um, yeah, that’s right.”

Behind Wilkins, who nodded in a daze, Ezra, who had come to his senses a beat late, shouted.

“Where’s Dane?”

As if that were the signal, startled voices erupted from everywhere.

“That’s right, what happened to Dane?”

“He was definitely faster than you, so why are you here first?”

“You bastard! What did you do to Dane? Otherwise, how could you be back first!”

It was when they were clamoring as if about to pounce that someone suddenly shouted in surprise.

“Dane!”

At first, it wasn’t heard properly, buried in the noisy clamor. But another guy who happened to hear the sound discovered him in turn and shouted in surprise.

“Everyone look! It’s Dane, Dane is back!”

“Dane?”

“Where, where?”

Those who finally grasped the situation looked around in a stir, then stopped. Dane was walking over from the direction Grayson had come from. He was reluctantly lifting his feet, worn out and exhausted. Upon seeing him, his colleagues screamed and raced toward him, competing to get to the front.

“Dane!”

“Dane, you’re back!”

“What happened? We were so worried! Are you hurt?”

“Good heavens, what a state you’re in…”

To the noise of people surrounding him and talking over one another, Dane just nodded without a word. It looked as though he didn’t even want to speak anymore, but no one was willing to stop. It was, as expected, the chief who cleared up the chaos.

“Quiet, everyone! Get back to your places!”

At the chief’s roaring shout, the staff jumped back in surprise. As if the Red Sea were parting, a path formed in front of Dane leading straight to the chief. Expressing his clear reluctance with his expression, Dane walked in front of the chief. The chief scanned Dane from head to toe once and clicked his tongue.

“What a state you’re in.”

The chief lamented in a voice mixed with a sigh, as if he were dumbfounded. And rightly so—like Grayson, there wasn’t a single place on Dane that was unharmed. His soft red-blonde hair was disheveled, plastered with fallen leaves and small twigs, and his face, smudged black in places, had dried blood from wounds. Checking that his uniform was torn to shreds, the chief rubbed his forehead, as if his head were throbbing, and said.

“Turning such a handsome face into this mess… I want you to reflect on this.”

As the chief said, Dane was the face of this fire station. He graced one page of the calendar every year, and in the years he was on the cover, the calendars would sell out instantly, leading to unprecedented multiple printings. There were quite a few people who came to the fire station just to see Dane Striker’s face, so putting him forward to receive donations was a nice help to the fire station—how could he treat his body so recklessly?

“Your body isn’t just yours. It belongs to all of us!”

The chief scolded him solemnly. Following that, there was a lot of talk about how he’d let himself be dragged along by Wilkins and should go to the hospital emergency room since it would be troublesome if he were left with scars on his face, but the only thing that entered Dane’s ears was the final remark.

“I’ll give you two days of paid leave. Go get some rest, okay?”

Only then did Dane nod with a smile at the corner of his lips.

“I’ll do that, thank you.”

“Wait a minute, all of a sudden?”

“No, we all caused the accident, so only Dane gets paid leave? Does this make sense?”

“That’s unfair! Where is the equality?”

As expected, strong backlash ensued. However, the chief’s will was firm.

“You lot must have dragged Dane into this! Dane is a die-hard individualist who isn’t interested in others’ business and only does his own work! It’s not like there was any sex, money, or cats involved, so there’s no way Dane would have taken the initiative to end up in this state! Did I say anything wrong? And you still have the nerve to complain! Everyone, reflect on yourselves!”

Not a single word was wrong, but somehow, it felt like Dane was the one being insulted. To everyone, who felt needlessly sorry, Dane chimed in with even more.

“That’s right. As expected, Chief, you know everything.”

At the sight of him placing one hand on his chest and smiling as if he were touched, the rest were left dumbfounded. As they let out sighs and curses in disbelief, Dane cast a casual glance at them—as if asking if they had the nerve to say anything. Of course, they didn’t.