"Action! Run!"
As soon as the director shouted, the actor started running at full speed like a sprinter. At the scene where filming was in progress, people held their breath and followed the actors' movements. Among them, the only thing that caught everyone's attention was the man running ahead. The camera twice missed the sight of him running like crazy with his long legs, and with the director's nervous shouts, he walked back to his starting position in a panic.
Haha.
The actor, who was already filming the same scene for the third time, looked a little tired and took a deep breath. But even the pale cheeks and weakly shaking shoulders were enough to capture everyone's attention.
The scene being filmed now was a solo shot of Chase, where he lured the police officers who were chasing him, cornered them in one place, and dealt with them. Just then, Chase was getting ready to start filming again, brushing away his tangled hair. Sighs of admiration flowed here and there as he saw the soft hair wrapped around his long fingers. Josh also looked at Chase, mesmerized for a moment, his hand holding his cigarette suspended in the air.
He wore an eyepatch over one eye, which was the identity of his role, and colored contact lenses in the exposed eye. He even dyed his hair black, so at times Josh felt as if he was a completely different person than Chase Miller. It was better when only the hair color changed. He felt strange for some reason when even his special purple eyes were covered. He knew intellectually that he was Chase no matter what he looked like, but emotionally, he didn't.
He's not cheating.
Josh quickly came to his senses and quickly inhaled the smoke. He felt ridiculously guilty for seeming to be obsessed with someone other than Chase. It was even more so because just recently, Chase had become suspicious of Josh and harshly criticized him.
No, he wasn't cheating.
When he suddenly thought that it wasn't unfair, the director shouted.
"Action!"
At the signal, Chase started running again. The top of his opened suit fluttered and his long tie fluttered over his shoulder. The man in the distance seemed to appear before his eyes in an instant, but then passed by Josh.
Soon Chase stopped at the designated spot, and the men who had been chasing him surrounded him. Then, as planned, the men attacked Chase. Josh, who had flinched reflexively, paused. Then, remembering that what he was doing now was just acting, he crossed his arms again because if he didn't do that, he might run away.
As expected, Josh, who almost jumped out of reflex the moment he saw him throwing his fist at Chase, stopped again and watched the next act. Immediately Chase lifted himself up and punched the man in the face.
As he was watching the scenes continue, someone suddenly spoke.
"Josh, are you okay? You look tired."
When he glanced at the low voice, he saw Seth standing there. Josh turned his eyes back to Chase and answered.
"I didn't get much sleep." Josh closed his mouth, leaving only those words, but Seth's gaze remained. When he thought about it, there was something else strange. Josh has been particularly tired lately. He used to stay up for three days straight at work, but recently he sometimes dozed off and even looked dazed.
Was it because of the pheromones?
Even if there are markings on the ears, the pheromones of an extreme alpha may be difficult to tolerate. Since Seth was born, Chase was the only one who had direct experience with an extreme alpha, and thus his knowledge of extreme alphas was not present, so he could only guess. Other than that, there was no reason for Josh to be so tired.
Or maybe the person he was dating was not normal.
When he thought about it that way, he was surprised in a different way this time. To what extent was it enough to make Josh, who had such good stamina, become exhausted?
Regardless of the outcome of his bet, personal curiosity made Seth curious about Josh's lover. If the two of them broke up, he even thought about meeting her for one night. With Josh's discerning eye, she was definitely a very beautiful woman, so there was no reason to refuse.
He was naturally looking for an opportunity to vent, but at the end of the scene the director shouted "That's it!". A short break was given until the next scene. In the meantime, Chase would adjust his costume and makeup and review the scenes he shot. Seth, who was watching everyone talking here and there, opened his mouth without wasting time.
"Josh, I didn't see you all day yesterday. Did something happen?"
"No, not really?" Josh answered harshly.
For a moment, Seth wondered if his guess was wrong, but soon he returned to his thoughts. That was because it was Josh's reaction of slyly ignoring the situation in this way, along with the confidence that he could not have been wrong, was not something that happened yesterday or today.
"Like the day before, sometimes you disappeared without saying a word, so I wondered if something had happened," Seth asked directly, without diverting his words. It was better that way to get an honest answer from Josh. As expected, when there was no room to talk, Josh paused for a moment and then opened his mouth.
"It's not that, I had some personal business to attend to, it's my day off anyway."
Seeing Josh indirectly saying things like, 'It doesn't matter to you what I do,' Seth became even more confident in his beliefs. However, seeing this reaction on the other hand made him think that Josh wasn't just casually dating. He was trying to hide it like this. It was either because he was serious about the other person or he couldn't bear to reveal it. If the latter was the case, no matter how he asked, he wouldn't answer.
Who is it?
Seth was genuinely curious. To the point where he feel like the outcome of the bet didn't really matter anymore.
"Huh."
He was just about to open his mouth with the thought of digging deeper. Suddenly, Laura, Chase's secretary, spoke to him from behind.
"Seth, hello. Josh, I need to talk to you for a minute. Do you mind?"
Thanks to Laura, who dragged Josh away with amazing timing, Seth couldn't ask any more questions. Seth, who was watching the two of them walking away, stroked his chin with a serious look on his face. Among the remaining members, who was good at guided interrogation?
No.
Seth wrinkled his nose.
*
"...That's why I'm doing it. How..."
Josh was distracted while listening to Laura half-heartedly. Even without turning around, he could clearly see who was staring at him. Chase's eyes were clearly burning as he suspected Laura and Josh. He turned his gaze towards Josh from time to time and never let go of his surveillance.
I guess that he likes me that much.
Josh sighed inwardly and tried to force himself to listen to Laura, when she asked Josh carefully, studying his face.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Oh, no. It's okay. Is that all there is to it?"
When she hurriedly came to her senses and asked, Laura still tilted her head and answered.
"Okay. Then please take care of you. Mr. Miller has ordered Josh to be assigned special close security. I also told Mark that Josh's schedule will be heavier than that of the rest of the team."
"I see. Then I will pay more attention."
Josh seemed to ignore it on the outside, but inwardly admired his quick wit. In fact, he was so dumbfounded that his expression almost twisted.
Dangerous, Josh thought seriously.
He couldn't just ignore Seth's words. In the meantime, he enjoyed secret dates with Chase, avoiding other people's eyes, but there were limits to hiding their tracks in a limited space. Josh wondered if he should ask him not to meet again until filming was over, as everything might come out sooner or later.
The problem was that he was the only one worrying about this.
To the extent of glaring at him so openly.
Josh, who was inadvertently trying to turn his gaze to Chase, was caught again by Laura.
"Wait a minute. I have another question..."
Laura may have grabbed his arm without thinking, but the watching gaze was the problem. Josh gently placed his hand over the back of her hand and pushed it away so as not to offend her. Although it only lasted 2 or 3 seconds, it was enough for someone to misunderstand it. And then an incident occurred.
"Aaaah!"
"Mr. Miller!"
"What should I do, someone help me!"
Josh was startled by the sudden scream and raised his head. Then his eyes opened wide.
"Chase?"
Josh wasn't the only one surprised. Chase himself blinked with wide open eyes as he looked down at his limbs, all covered in blood. Even from a distance, he could tell that his hands were stained red. Josh was running without a moment to think when he saw Chase quietly looking down at his hands.
But it didn't end there. A coughing sound followed by a coughing fit was followed by another burst of blood coming out of his mouth. His white shirt was completely covered in blood, and two soaked hands were holding his neck and chest.
Every time he took a deep breath, blood poured out of his mouth. Just when he thought Chase's normally pale complexion had turned completely blue, he collapsed forward.
"Chase!"
Josh caught Chase just in the nick of time before he fell to the floor. However, Chase was already unconscious, and Josh, who hurriedly checked his condition, was momentarily stunned when he saw his pale face covered in blood.