"Daddy!"
"Welcome Josh."
As soon as the door opened, Pete rushed in and immediately clung to Josh's leg. Afterwards, his mother greeted him with a smile. The sight of Pete waiting with his arms outstretched as if asking for a hug was crazy adorable, but Josh couldn't move his body right away. That was because for an instant, Chase's face, which was looking at him, overlapped with his. It was strange that no one noticed the resemblance.
"Daddy?" Pete looked puzzled and called out to him. Seeing him stretching out his arms and shaking his feet as if he was anxious, Josh couldn't resist and hugged his small body tightly.
That guy was much bigger.
Will Pete grow up to be like Chase? Even though he was still a child, his long limbs and taller-than-average height made him predictable about his future. Only after savoring the child's body temperature and the scent of his flesh did Josh place him on his shoulder as usual. His mother, who had been watching them until then, opened her mouth.
"Is it a vacation? Hasn't it been a while since you had one? It's good for me, though." She seemed worried that something had gone wrong at work.
Josh lied casually. "The employer canceled all schedules due to illness, so the remaining employees took turns taking long-term vacations."
"Oh my. Is it so? That's too bad. Is he in a lot of pain?"
Despite his mother's sympathetic words, Josh had nothing to say. So he repeated what he always said.
"I can't talk about the client, mother."
"Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. I hope he gets better soon."
His mother hurriedly adjusted her words and changed the topic to everyday topics. Pete was on Josh's neck, pounding his head and bucking his hips like always.
"Do you really like riding on daddy?" his mother asked with a smile. She added since Pete has never asked for a ride before as he nodded his head above Josh.
"Daddy is so tall, almost as big as my forehead."
The child sat on Josh's neck and stretched out, so Josh quickly grabbed his legs. Thanks to that, Pete was able to move his body freely without any risk, but he still seemed dissatisfied.
"I want to go higher."
"You'll be big soon too, Pete. Then you'll always be able to see from that height without having to climb on my neck."
"It's not that, daddy."
Josh was puzzled by Pete's reaction as he buried his face in Josh's head and rubbed his lips. Pete, who was unexpectedly bewildered, stayed in that position for a while and then hummed with his lips buried in Josh's head.
"I saw him last time. That pretty person."
"Oh?"
For a moment Josh paused. Then Pete shook his body as if he was frustrated.
"I saw him at the amusement park when I went to ride the train. He gave me a ride on a wooden horse."
Ah.
Only then did Josh understand what he was saying. He was talking about Chase. When the story came out of the child's mouth, his heart felt tight. Josh cleared his throat quickly and opened his mouth.
"You miss Chase, Pete."
"Yes," Pete answered quietly. "Pretty."
"Yes."
There was nothing more to say. In fact, that was the only time Pete met Chase. Fortunately, Chase's appearance matched Pete's taste.
Josh glanced at Pete, thinking. "Shall we meet again next time?"
"Yeah! When? When?" Pete immediately asked excitedly.
"Soon," Josh said, then quickly cleared his throat. This was because a heavily muffled voice came out. His mother came out from the kitchen just then and asked.
"Who are you talking about?"
"Uh." It was a routine question, but Josh pondered for a moment. Isn't now the time?
"Josh?"
After waiting a few more seconds and giving time for his puzzled mother, Josh opened his mouth.
"What about Emma? It's the weekend, isn't she coming?"
When he looked at the clock without thinking, his mother answered.
"Anyway, she'll be back soon for dinner. Can you help me prepare it?"
Josh followed his mother into the kitchen as she turned around and opened the refrigerator. He looked up after discovering several huge steaks.
"I'll make this."
He readily took out the meat and immediately opened the connected door and headed into the garden. Up until then, Pete had been on top of Josh, but it was time for him to come down. After taking out the meat and letting it come to room temperature, he went back inside and took out some toys and laid them out in the living room so that Pete could play by himself while dinner was being prepared.
"Hang on, Pete, I'll be back soon."
After kissing his cheek and stroking his head, the child took the toy in his hand without complaining. The dog doll that was always with him was no longer there. Josh suddenly realized it and his mother asked, whom he met in the kitchen, before heading out to the garden.
"Was he not talking about Jason?"
"Well?"
His mother blinked as if she hadn't realized it until then. Josh glanced back and muttered to himself.
"It's a shame. I guess I should at least buy him another doll."
"Yeah. That would be nice."
His mother nodded her head readily and immediately began preparing dinner. Josh also went out into the garden and checked the grill. After his father passed away, as Josh grew up, it became his job to grill the meat. When he was almost ready to grill the steak, including connecting the gas and making sure the fire was on properly, Emma's car stopped in front of the house.
"Pete, you troublemaker."
As soon as she entered the house, she immediately hugged Pete and kissed him profusely, but then she found Josh and her eyes widened. Before she could say anything, Josh explained.
"It's a long vacation. The members have increased so we can take turns resting. I'll be here for a few days."
They said it would be a few days, but he didn't know how long it would actually take. In the meantime, when his contract is up, he must decide whether to return to the East or stay here.
He had no intention of quitting his job, and if Chase's condition didn't improve, he would continue to be like this and end up going back East...
Emma asked Josh, who thought for a moment, indifferently. "Really?"
After checking the doneness of the steak, Josh was about to go out to the garden again when Emma asked him from behind.
"Now that I think about it, Josh, who was that pretty person you met with Pete the other day?"
"That's right, that's right!"
His mother also heard that and, as if she belatedly remembered, she chimed in. As Josh looked back and forth between the two in confusion, Emma glanced at Pete and then continued.
"Pete has told me several times that he went on a date with an incredibly beautiful woman. How did it happen? Are you serious about letting Pete meet her? He said that she is as pretty as an angel, and really, really pretty."
"How did that happen, Josh?" His mother continued, looking back at him.
Josh was embarrassed for a moment, but since he was going to talk about it after dinner anyway, it might have been a good thing.
"I was going to talk about it, but let's talk over coffee after the meal," Josh spoke as casually as possible, but the response he received was explosive.
"Oh my god, Josh!"
"Who is it? How did you meet? Tell me now, why tell me later?"
"Josh, I'm curious! Can you at least give me a little hint?"
His mother fretted, then Emma, and then his mother again. Josh smiled vaguely and said he'll talk later. Soon after, he went out to the garden, lit the grill, and prepared to grill the steak. Emma and his mother stood at the kitchen shutter, looking at him silently and putting pressure on him, but he pretended not to notice until the end.
***
"Okay, now talk."
Emma, who had been glaring at Josh throughout dinner, gritted her teeth and spat out. After they finished eating, they had to wait until Pete was washed and put to bed. As soon as Josh came down the stairs and appeared in the living room, Emma stood up with her fists clenched. It seemed like there was nowhere left to retreat, but Josh walked into the kitchen.
"Josh!"
"Wait, I haven't had my coffee yet."
"Don't run."
No sooner had Josh finished speaking than his mother held out a mug. She raised her eyes and said to Josh who stopped.
"We are here. Hurry and come to the living room."
His mother forced him to drink lukewarm coffee and then pushed him on the back. In the end, Josh had no choice but to move on as they couldn't wait any longer.
The three sat in a circle on the sofa in the living room and were silent for a moment. Emma and her mother waited for Josh to speak up, but he only gulped bad coffee into his mouth, which wouldn't drip easily. He finally drank all the coffee, and he couldn't waste any more time.
"Hmm..."
Clearing his throat immediately brought Emma and her mother's attention to him. Feeling the twinkling eyes of the two pairs of eyes that had been focused on him all along, Josh endured the pressure and finally opened his mouth.
"I'm planning to get married."
"What?"
"What?"
At the sudden bombshell, both mother and Emma let out high-pitched screams at the same time. Josh was embarrassed by the stronger reaction than expected, but it didn't end there. The two quickly looked at each other, then turned to Josh again and started asking questions.
"What happened? Josh is getting married, mom, can you believe it?"
"Oh my god, I thought you'd never get married."
"Who is it? How did you meet the other person? Are you really serious? You should be confident you won't regret it."
"Does she know about Pete?"
"Mom, we met together."
"Oh, I see. So you also agreed to raise Pete together?"
"Then what? Are you getting married here? Or are you going back East?"
"Where are you going to live from now on?"
"Is she an alpha? Or just a beta?"
Josh waited silently until the barrage of questions was over. He was about to take the mug to his mouth without thinking, but when he saw that it was empty, he put it down on the table with regret. Meanwhile, his mother and Emma stopped asking questions and waited for his answer. Josh leaned his upper body down, resting his arms on his spread thighs, and opened his mouth.
"I think I might end up living in California. I haven't told the company yet, but I have no intention of quitting my job, so I either have to come back here whenever I have time off from work, or if I work as a security guard, I end up traveling around the country anyway."
Still, since most of the other members live in the East, that area will be the main focus of work. I'll have to talk to Mark about that too, Josh thought and continued.
"I can't do it right away due to some circumstances, but I'll introduce you when the time comes. We met a few years ago, and recently we decided to get married."
"You dated someone for that long? I had no idea!"
"Mom, that's ridiculous. Josh's longest relationship with someone was two months!"
"Three months."
"Anyway! Wait, how many years ago did you meet?"
Then Emma blinked her eyes in surprise. She seemed to have noticed something. After correcting his brother, Josh took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
"Pete's papa."
"..."
Josh realized that being bombarded with questions was much better than being silence. His mother and Emma stared at Josh blankly, with their mouths open, speechless.
"What?"
"What did you say just now?" Emma asked, barely able to form a sentence following her mother's sigh-like words. Their eyes turned to Josh's ears as if the mark was a promise.
"He was the one who engraved the mark..."
The two still didn't say anything. Their eyes just got bigger. Josh spoke as casually as possible.
"I happened to meet Pete's dad a few years ago, and that's how it is... We met again this time. He recently found out about Pete, and he was confused at first, but now he's accepted it."
"His papa, so it's not a woman?" Emma barely asked as if she found it hard to believe.
Josh nodded his head.
"It's a man."
If he said he's an extreme alpha, she'd immediately know who he was talking about, because Emma is quite perceptive. But he didn't want to reveal that much yet. It was enough to reveal it later when Chase would come to say hello in person. Neither his mother nor Emma would ever tell anyone about this, but it seemed better to keep it a secret for a while.
Chase's condition was also not good.
There were a lot of things to hide, but it was obvious that if he said one thing, everything would be dragged out like a thread. First, he had to watch the situation.
Instead, Josh added a brief explanation. "He's holding off on coming to say hello because of some circumstances right now. I'll reschedule the date, and we'll talk about what to do next."
"Okay..." His mother nodded her head blankly, still dazed.
Josh sighed and straightened his back as he seemed to have passed the critical point. He soon found an empty coffee cup and readily stood up.
As he poured the coffee from the pot into his cup, Emma, who followed him, held out her own cup. Emma looked up at Josh with an unusual expression when Josh, who had poured coffee into his sister's empty cup, returned it.
"When you get married, you have to live with one person for the rest of your life."
"I know," Josh answered briefly and lifted his cup to his mouth. The warm coffee wet his lips and went down his esophagus. His sister took her cup but didn't take a sip from it, still only looking at Josh.
"You shouldn't cheat just because you're sick of it."
"I know," Josh spoke again and Emma took a sip of her coffee with a skeptical look on her face. Josh added, her expression still full of disbelief. "I didn't say anything at first because I wasn't sure about it. I also didn't tell him about Pete and it could have been a relationship where we just wanted each other's bodies. I took Pete with me because I was confident."
At his last words, Emma stared at his face and then she lowered her gaze. After taking another sip of her coffee, she opened her mouth.
"It really doesn't suit you, marriage," Emma muttered as she turned around.
"Seeing as you both fell in love at the same time, you look incredibly pretty. I'm really curious."
She wanted to tell him to bring his fiancé right away, but she couldn't force him because Josh had told them in advance. Emma left the kitchen without further inquiry, leaving Josh alone. He looked into his black coffee and said to himself.
"He's crazy pretty, pretty..."
The faint scent of coffee passed his nose, but that was it. No matter how hard he tried to smell the scent mixed in the dry air, he couldn't feel the familiar sweetness.
...How are you doing? I'm sure you're receiving treatment well, Josh thought about it inadvertently and then paused. Suddenly feeling embarrassed and scratching his head, he drank his coffee in one go, put down the empty cup, and left the kitchen.