More details on Dane x Grayson convo

Ch16 NOVEL version

"You crazy bastard, if you don't give me an explanation I can accept, you'll die today! Do you understand? Huh?"


Dane shouted wildly, his anger rising to the top of his head. Without an acceptable explanation, he couldn't let this go. Of course, even if the explanation was acceptable, he still planned to half-kill him.


To Dane, who was roaring like a wild beast, Greyson opened his mouth.


"I was just helping Santiago, why are you angry?"


He looked down at Dane with a frown. For a moment, the fist that was about to fly toward his face hesitated in mid-air.


...What? This bastard.


Dane blinked in confusion. This insane statement was absurd enough, but the problem was that Greyson's expression was too serious right now. It wasn't a misplaced joke or an absurd excuse he had made up. Greyson Miller was serious. He truly believed he had helped the child. He even looked wronged. Ha, a dumbfounded sigh escaped from Dane's lips.


"You're actually saying that? You must be crazy."


Dane ground out through his teeth, but what came back was still just Greyson with a frowning face. This time, as he tilted his head in the opposite direction, Dane ground his teeth and lashed out.


"Why were you there in the first place? Didn't you hear why that child was in the basement? Are you going to say you thought they were playing hide and seek there?"


The story that this man had been imprisoned due to unavoidable circumstances was nonsensical gibberish. It was clear that he had stayed there voluntarily, and if so, there was only one thing to hear here.


What the hell were you doing there with an abused child?


To the sneering, demanding question, Greyson blinked and shook his head.


"Of course not. Santiago said he was being punished for doing something wrong."


"And you just left him there? Even going inside yourself?"


Dane groaned through clenched teeth. Greyson watched with puzzlement as his blue eyes darkened with anger. There was no need to listen anymore. Now it's time to beat him to a pulp, Dane thought as he clenched his fist.


"He couldn't come out because he was being punished. So I stayed with him?"


The fist that was about to swing stopped abruptly in mid-air. Dane remained motionless, staring at Greyson as he opened his mouth.


"...What?"


To the question that came after a pause, Greyson answered nonchalantly.


"I stayed with him so he wouldn't be lonely. That's fine, right? What's the problem?"


He seemed genuinely unable to understand. Dane slowly lowered his hand and said with an incredulous expression.


"Couldn't you have just taken the child out from the beginning and ended it? Why did you have to go in there?"


Dane glared at him intensely, waiting to hear what nonsense he would spout next. Greyson answered again with a smile, as if it couldn't be helped.


"If he came out on his own, he'd get in more trouble, right? It wasn't time yet."


"...What?"


Again, Dane had the same reaction. Greyson added a supplementary explanation as if it was nothing.


"Time, I mean. When you're being punished, there's a set time. Rather than coming out arbitrarily without matching that time and getting in more trouble, it's better to just quietly fill the time. Then the punishment ends after the initially set time."


After saying that much, Greyson looked down at Dane with a face full of smiles. It was the smiling face he always showed, but Dane stared at him with a confused expression, as if he had been hit somewhere.


No way, it can't be. Dane repeated to himself. I must be imagining something absurd. Such a thing couldn't really happen, this guy is a Miller. Never, absolutely...


"Did Ashley Miller abuse you?"


Dane abruptly asked him. Dane himself was startled by the words that came out before his thoughts, his mouth opening regardless of his will. What did I just say? How could I say such nonsense...


Looking down at Dane, who was flustered and had closed his mouth, Greyson blinked his eyes without moving, his smiling face unchanged.


"Abuse? Me? Being abused?"


He stared at Dane as if he genuinely didn't understand. Dane looked at Greyson for a while without saying anything, with a face he had never shown before. There was no trace of embarrassment or feigning ignorance on Greyson's face. He truly thought that way. That he had merely been punished, and it wasn't abuse.


With such an innocent face.


After a silence between them, Dane slowly opened the fist he had tightly clenched to hit him. He still couldn't think of what to say. With a face as frozen as his mind, he looked at Greyson. It was only after a few more seconds of emptiness that he spoke.


"Then, at that time, did you wish someone had been there for you?"

So that's why you went into the basement.


As if answering the hidden question, Greyson nodded.


"Well, it's less boring than being alone."


Dane became speechless again. Behind him, who seemed lost in some complicated thoughts, his colleagues were waiting after having finished preparing to return. Though he had noticed this fact for some time, Dane didn't look back. He still had remaining questions.


"Why couldn't you leave?"


When asked why he hadn't taken the child out and instead had gone in himself, Greyson answered without hesitation this time too.


"He would just be punished again, and the time would only get longer."


Soon after, he frowned and then shrugged.


"We just had to endure a little longer, but because you took Santiago away, I stayed there instead. I had to explain that Santiago didn't leave there of his own will. I was a witness, so to speak."


Again, Dane became speechless. Looking at Greyson with a complex gaze whose meaning couldn't be understood, he opened his mouth after a few seconds of silence.


"So, you're saying what you did was righteous?"


"I was just trying to help."


Greyson responded without hesitation this time as well.


"I always do my best, but people get angry every time. Why? I don't understand."


As he frowned as if wronged, adding insult to injury, Dane could only look at him silently. His face revealed his complicated thoughts, but Greyson didn't notice.


At that moment, Ezra, who had been waiting behind him, shouted.


"Dane! What are you doing? Come quickly, let's go back!"


A quick glance showed that everyone had already gotten into the car, and only Ezra remained, waving his arms in front of the open car door. Dane didn't say anything more and turned around. After taking a couple of steps, suddenly Greyson asked from behind.


"Do you think I did something wrong too?"


Dane looked back. The damn smile had disappeared from Greyson's face. With an expressionless face showing no emotion, Dane coldly opened his mouth.


"Don't help."


With a face as cold as his tone, he admonished.


"Don't do anything, you."


With those final words, Dane strode to the car and got in. Following him into the car, Ezra whispered softly.


"Why bother with that bastard, he's not in his right mind."


The other guys had similar expressions. They had probably heard the conversation with Greyson too, of course. Dane sat in the empty seat without saying anything. Greyson also got into the car a step late but didn't open his mouth once until they returned. Only occasionally did he direct his gaze toward where Dane was, but Dane stubbornly fixed his gaze in the opposite direction, not moving even slightly.


<I love you, Dane.>


In his memory, a woman with red-blonde hair whispered as she hugged him tightly.


<My precious treasure, I only have you.>


As the forgotten memory revived, his expression naturally became desolate. Dane, who had closed his eyes with furrowed brows trying to shake off the unwelcome memory, thought. I was planning to go to a club today, but that's ruined. When his mood was foul, he didn't seek sex partners, so even though tomorrow was his day off, he decided to go straight home after work. With the thought that tonight, he would sleep holding Darling.