Icing on the Cake Chapter 26

He was the one who decided on nicknames however he pleased, and now he was asking something like this. With a sense of disbelief, Yuri took the bagel from his hand. Cheriot hummed a little tune, just as he had while driving, and retrieved the muffin. Then he pulled out the hash brown from the bag. His hands were so large that the hash brown looked like a tater tot.

Watching Cheriot polish off the hash brown in just two bites, Yuri hesitated for a moment before taking a sip of his coffee first. Ah. That felt like life. As the drink entered his stomach, his long-empty insides ached slightly, so he followed it by biting into the bagel.

He had thought he was used to hunger, but it seemed that the past few years of relative comfort had lowered his threshold for drowsiness and hunger. The moment he ate the bagel, hunger surged in fiercely, and Yuri devoured it in the blink of an eye. Having gone a full day without food, a single bagel was nowhere near enough to quell his starvation.

Since they had stopped at a rest area anyway, Yuri decided to go out and buy more food. Having made up his mind, he folded the bagel wrapper neatly and was about to put it into the paper bag when he met eyes with Cheriot, who was staring at him intently.

“What?”

His voice, still rough from the morning, came out low. In response to Yuri’s question, Cheriot held out the muffin he had been holding, instead of answering.

“I’ll give you this, special.”

“I don’t need it.”

“No, I just don’t really like cheap brands like Tim Hortons.”

For someone who said that, he’d sure devoured that hash brown in no time. Yuri let out a dry laugh and pushed his hand away again.

“Forget it. I can just go buy more.”

After all, for alphas with builds like his and Cheriot’s, one or two muffins were hardly enough.

“Ah, right, there was that option. I was so focused on minimizing time outside that I forgot.”

At Yuri’s words, Cheriot’s eyes went wide as if struck by realization. Seeing him look so artless, Yuri felt the same emotion he had yesterday. Watching Cheriot hum a tune even though he’d nearly been shot, Yuri caught a glimpse of an innocence that was hard to just leave alone. Whether it was his natural disposition or if all ordinary people were like this, Cheriot seemed like someone who didn’t grasp the gravity of his situation.

But considering he’d admitted being scared, maybe that wasn’t quite it either….

He wasn’t completely incapable of reading the situation, and he did have a certain level of crisis response ability, yet the way he was acting now made it hard to make a clear judgment. Yuri put his assessment on hold and opened the car door.

“You stay put in the car now.”

Yuri was about to close the door and leave when he paused for a moment, then approached Cheriot, who was watching him go. Those green eyes followed Yuri’s movements like a shadow.

“Roll up the window. Leaving it wide open like that makes you easier to subdue.”

“But it’s hot. Besides, nobody recognized me.”

“Turn on the air conditioning.”

“I don’t like A/C air. It’s cold.”

Cheriot grumbled. Watching the man who had called him trash now whining and complaining, Yuri thought he should reestablish the wall between them once more. When it came to alphas, it was easier to handle them when the hierarchy was clearly set.

“I’m not your nanny. If you don’t want to die, listen to me.”

At that, Cheriot raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t have to talk like a criminal on purpose. I already know exactly what kind of person you are.”

“If that’s the case, then how about showing some wariness? Right now, your attitude is overly familiar.”

Cheriot glared at Yuri. Looking at those green eyes, shining even brighter in the strong sunlight, Yuri thought that for the sake of preserving Cheriot’s innate innocence, he needed to be firm.

“You trust people too much. What happened at the hotel—your identity was exposed because of the conversation you had with that omega. Did you know he posted your picture on his social media story? You shouldn’t accept food from strangers so carelessly, and you shouldn’t leave your car door open either. People who would shove a gun in your face to carjack you or threaten you are everywhere—you don’t even have to be a celebrity for that.”

At Yuri’s warning, the boyish whining vanished from his face, and Cheriot pressed his lips tightly shut. A tiny piece of potato was stuck below his lower lip from eating his hash brown so hastily. Because of that, Cheriot looked even younger. He was, in fact, five years younger than Yuri. Or wait, four? He’d said his public age was one year younger than his real one.

But even if Cheriot was young, he was still an adult. Yuri had started working among grown men from the age of twelve, and back then he had learned that criminals didn’t care at all about who their targets were—they committed crimes regardless. To them, the weight of their victim’s life didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they could exploit them.

So the gang chasing Cheriot wouldn’t care at all about what kind of person he was. They would only see him as someone to kill.

Yuri wanted Cheriot to rethink his situation. He believed that not just he himself, but Cheriot too, needed to be on edge in order to minimize the danger.

“Are you going to kill me?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Cheriot asked an unexpected question.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I’m asking if you’re going to kill me.”

“…I’m here with you right now to protect you.”

“Right. You’re my bodyguard. Even though I canceled the contract, you’re here because of my situation, at Heather’s request. Ah. Anyway, since you’re working for me, I’ll of course pay you.”

Cheriot paused for a moment. The expression on his fair face, which had seemed so carefree, gradually faded, and he fell into thought with a blank expression. Looking down from Yuri, he opened his mouth quietly.

“Like Heather said, I absolutely despise criminals, but…”

The sunlight cast shadows on Cheriot’s cheeks in the shape of his eyelashes.

“At the same time, I’m afraid.”

His long, slender reddish-gold eyelashes trembled. At the word “afraid,” Yuri flinched for a moment.

“Those people do things I can’t do, without hesitation. No matter how strong I am or how well I can fight, there’s a line I can’t cross.”

Everything Cheriot said was right. The boundary between an ordinary person and a criminal was just a single line. Whether one strives not to cross that thin line, or gives up and chooses the easier path—that was what distinguished a human from a beast.

“So don’t worry. The reason I keep talking to you is just an effort to keep you by my side—it’s not because I’m drawn to you like when we first met. Since neither of us had a choice but to end up traveling together, I just hope that while we’re together, we can be at least a little comfortable with each other.”

Cheriot dispelled Yuri’s unnecessary concern. Cheriot wasn’t being carefree. He was afraid inside, but simply wasn’t showing it.

Yuri had been mistaken. He’d thought Cheriot was naive and young, unaware of what was dangerous, but it seemed that to Cheriot, Yuri himself was dangerous enough.

That was a relief.

“What, is it pathetic that an alpha like you doesn’t look the part?”

If Cheriot was aware of what kind of man Yuri was and was keeping that in mind, then he wouldn’t follow dangerous men so obediently. It seemed Yuri had judged him solely by his outward demeanor.

“No.”

Even though he had learned firsthand that judging people by appearance was absolutely forbidden, he’d made that mistake with Cheriot. Yuri shook his head and apologized to him.

“If that’s the case, then I apologize.”

Just because Cheriot wasn’t meeting the standards Yuri wanted didn’t mean he wasn’t doing his best.

“I judged you by my own standards without understanding your position.”

He had nothing more to say to someone who was anxious because of extraordinary circumstances. Yuri hadn’t wanted this situation either, but if they measured discomfort, Cheriot’s was surely far greater.

Yuri decided to accommodate him to some extent. After all, they weren’t going to be together for long, and even if he made adjustments for Cheriot, it wouldn’t cost Yuri anything.

When Yuri apologized, Cheriot slowly lifted his head. The way he blinked his long eyelashes seemed slightly surprised. Yuri deliberately met his eyes. He remembered his mother telling him that making eye contact helps put people at ease. And that when the other person is anxious, the one soothing them should stay calm.

“You might want to wipe your lips.”