Chapter 85

Suddenly, a commotion broke out everywhere.

"What? What did they say? They slept together? My God, is it true?"

"This is a combination I never imagined! No, suddenly? Why? How did it happen?"

"The world must be ending! Aliens might invade tomorrow, no, maybe they were aliens all along?"

"Wait, talk about who was on top or bottom is still too early. First, whether they really slept together..."

Someone tactlessly spoke up first, but what came back was only harsh criticism.

"They did sleep together, idiot! What more confirmation do you need?"

"Do you not have ears? Or do you not have a brain?"

"You're the alien! Confess honestly before we peel off your skin!"

With even a conspiracy theorist from the group joining in the concentrated attack, the man who had first spoken up had no choice but to shrink back. Soon, they returned to the original point and continued their discussion.

"It must be Miller."

Ezra declared first.

"I know Dane's position. Miller was the one on the bottom."

Immediately, protests poured in from everywhere.

"No way, don't talk nonsense! That Miller? He's over 2 meters tall!"

"Yeah, Miller would never be on the bottom. Look at his phenotype, he's an extreme Alpha! An extreme Alpha bottoming for a Beta? Does that make any sense?"

"Right, it's not Miller."

"I think so too. Here's 10 dollars!"

"I'll put in 20 dollars!"

"Me too, here!"

Amidst the rush to place bets, Ezra once again expressed his opinion.

"Miller may be bigger in size, but think about it, Dane on the bottom? Can you imagine that, any of you? Huh?"

The color drained from everyone's faces. After looking at each other, they quickly took back the money they had bet and then placed it on the other side.

"Miller must have been on the bottom."

When one person said this, other voices immediately agreed.

"Yeah, I can't even imagine Dane being on the bottom."

"Fuck, that's scary, guys! Don't even mention such a horrifying thing!"

The majority opinion converged into one, but minorities exist everywhere. The man who had been verbally attacked for suggesting they should first consider whether they had actually had sex, nervously placed 1 dollar on the opposite side after checking the atmosphere. Piercing gazes poured down on him, but he didn't give up.

"I can't imagine Miller being on the bottom even more."

"Traitor."

"You really don't know anything about Dane."

"Never try the stock market."

After a round of mockery, someone raised a question.

"Then how do we split this 1 dollar?"

Soon, laughter erupted again.

"What's 1 dollar, what's 1 dollar."

"Yeah, you should have bet 100 dollars."

"Hey, do we really have to bet on this? Just leave it there. I'll count it as a bet."

"Then what do we do with all the money gathered here? We all bet on the same side."

The opinions converged into one. This time, even the man who had bet 1 dollar agreed.

"What else can we do with it, what's the reason we held this party? Let's put it in the donation!"

At someone's suggestion, everyone willingly put the collected money into the donation box and handed it to Ezra and Sandra. The party ended in high spirits as they toasted with beer and chatted boisterously.

* * *

Damn, what should I do.

Dane was sitting in the driver's seat with one hand covering his face. He had arrived at work long ago, but he couldn't actually go inside.

Even after returning home by pressing the accelerator hard, he was still so angry that he didn't know what to do. Though he had to suppress his anger so as not to startle Darling, it wasn't easy, to the point where he had drenched himself in cold water and punched the wall several times.

But the problem came after the anger had somewhat subsided. As his reason gradually returned, he realized what had happened. And where it had happened.

"Argh!"

He covered his head with both hands and shouted again. This was an action he had repeated several times since suddenly realizing the fact while sleeping the night before.

How should I handle this situation? Damn, why did that bastard have to be there at that time? No, if I hadn't done such a thing in the bar in the first place. No, if only I had handled it more calmly...!

It wasn't just a problem that everyone had heard their words. It was a party for a colleague's sick wife, and he had caused a scene there, so what could he do about this? Dane became even more distressed with guilt toward the Ezra couple.

This is all because of that son of a bitch.

Greyson Miller irritated Dane's nerves at every turn. The problem was that he reacted to it every time. He should just ignore it, but why couldn't he do that? Thanks to that, he had caused such a big incident.

From now on, I'll really ignore that bastard.

Dane ground his teeth and resolved anew, but that wasn't the important issue right now. What should he do? He let out another groan, but he couldn't stay in the car forever. Dane eventually had to get out of the car, unable to calm his boiling insides.

* * *

"It's Dane! Dane is here!"

"Woah! Dane Striker!"

As soon as he opened the locker room door, the guys who had been fooling around inside stood up and applauded. Regardless of Dane's contorted face, they shouted, punched the air, and whistled as if they had been waiting, causing Dane to stop in his tracks.

Ah shit, damn...

Dane covered his face with one hand and cursed inwardly. There was no choice. He had to pretend not to know and ignore it. As he slowly moved toward his cabinet, the firefighters standing on either side of him clapped and poured out words.

"Hey, you... how did you even think of bottoming an extreme Alpha."

"As expected of Dane Striker. The best."

"Our hero! Protector! Dane Striker!"

With the cheers pouring in with "wah wah," Dane, who had just opened his cabinet, momentarily felt the urge to just beat all these bastards up. Just as he clenched his fist, Ezra approached.

"Hey, Dane."

"Ah."

Seeing Ezra, Dane released the strength in his fist. Soon, an embarrassed feeling suppressed his anger.

"Um, well... I'm sorry, it was a party for Sandra."

"Oh, no. It's okay, really, you don't need to worry about it at all."

When Dane brought up the apology he had prepared, Ezra shook his head in surprise. He seemed to glance around cautiously, then lowered his voice and opened his mouth.

"Actually, Sandra really enjoyed it."

"...What?"

At the unexpected words, Dane hesitated, and Ezra continued.

"She said it was such a fun event. She couldn't even sleep last night, talking about how it was the most exciting incident since she got cancer? I haven't seen Sandra laugh that much in a really long time."

"Uh... really...?"

Dane was dumbfounded by the unexpected situation. One man's meat is another man's poison, but in this case, it was the opposite? Just as he felt a small comfort in the thought that at least not everything was bad, Ezra suddenly asked.

"That was just a show, right? You and Miller were acting to make Sandra laugh, right?"

What?

Dane hesitated at the unexpected words. Ezra, confident in his belief, continued to speak.

"I was fooled at first too, but Sandra said so. She said she was so grateful that we prepared such an event for the party. She asked me to convey her sincere thanks to everyone."

Dane could only stand there blinking. Then other guys chimed in.

"Hey, does that make sense? How can you act something like that?"

"Would Miller be the type to do that? And if Dane could act that well, he would have become an actor!"

"It's true, they really slept together!"

"Hey, you did top Miller, right?"

At the flood of words, Dane finally caught on to the situation. Whether Ezra genuinely thought this way or was saying it to save Dane, it didn't matter. This was a wonderful opportunity for him to escape.

"Yes, that's right."

Dane said with his usual relaxed smile.

"I blackmailed Miller into acting. To make Sandra happy."

"What? It was acting?"

"You're lying, aren't you?"

"Blackmailing Miller, how? With what? You don't even have money!"

To the voices arguing from here and there, Dane responded with composure.

"You don't need to know the details, isn't it enough that Sandra enjoyed it? Or."

Deliberately, Dane looked around with a cold gaze.

"Did you guys really want me to have slept with that bastard?"

Seeing Dane's serious face, everyone flinched and stepped back. Among the guys who were checking each other's reactions, one bravely stepped forward.

"So it was really all a lie? You're saying there was no relationship between you two at all?"

"I have no reason to sleep with that bastard. Can you imagine that?"

No one could answer that. In the end, they had no choice but to accept Dane's words.

"Ah, what the hell. I thought it didn't make sense."

"We did have fun for a few hours."

"The idea of Miller bottoming was impossible from the start."

As the guys chatted in small groups and moved away, Dane secretly let out a sigh. Just as he thought, is it going to pass like this, Ezra, who had remained, opened his mouth.

"Thank you for even putting on such an act with Miller. For us."

I should be thanking you, Ezra. Thinking this, Dane silently patted Ezra's arm with a smile. Ezra, watching Dane change his clothes by pulling his T-shirt over his head, muttered as if to himself.

"...which is really fortunate."

"What?"

Dane stopped moving and asked, but Ezra immediately smiled and shook his head.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

Soon he left. Dane stood there puzzled, but soon lost interest and continued changing his clothes.