SPM 1.2

One by one, the lights go out in each cubicle divided by glass partitions.

The office is gradually darkening, just like outside. Even those who usually stay late to work have probably left by now.

Amidst all this, Ian was dawdling at his desk, trying to figure out how to leave as late as possible.

Perhaps his behavior was particularly noticeable, as Luke, who was passing by with a stack of documents, spoke to him.

“Ian, are you working late today?”

He had become acquainted with the seasoned coaching staff member, Luke, because Ian, a new employee in the club’s communications team, frequently visited the training ground to get a grasp of the situation.

“…No, I just have some things left to do.”

He vaguely turned his gaze towards the monitor and mumbled, but perhaps Luke sensed something was off from the way Ian’s eyes darted around. Luke shook his head and stopped in front of Ian.

“There aren’t many days like this left when things are so quiet. Unless it’s something really urgent, go home quickly.”

“…Yes.”

“Even if you have worries, you should deal with them at home, young man.”

Young man. Ian smiled at the term attached to the end.

“Go home early and enjoy your hobbies, meet your friends, and enjoy life a little. Ah, did Ian say he’s not from around here and doesn’t know many people?”

“That’s right. I’m…”

When explaining his origins, he was unsure whether to mention Boston, where he attended university, or Tennessee, where his family home was. While he was hesitating and pondering, Luke continued to speak as if Ian’s answer wasn’t very important.

“Well, it’s natural that you don’t have many friends after coming to a foreign country. Your family and friends must all be in Korea.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Right, you’re from that side? I like Korea too. K-pop, dramas…. Ah, I really like the food too. I recently went to a Korean-style barbecue restaurant and it was really unique. I never thought I’d see meat being cut with scissors.”

He only remembered that Ian was from South Korea, and he kept rambling on about what he wanted to say. Ian lost the opportunity to mention that he had dual citizenship in the United States and Korea, and that half of his family, though now practically estranged, lived in the United States.

No, even if he were given the chance to speak, he wouldn’t have any intention of telling someone he wasn’t very close to about his personal life in detail.

“Koreans, this is a bit of a problem. They can’t separate work and life at all.”

“…”

“Find your life outside of work, young man.”

After delivering his prejudice-filled commentary, Luke picked up the stack of documents he had put down and walked away again, leaving Ian dumbfounded in his place.

He had been misunderstood in similar situations many times before, so he wasn’t particularly upset, and he just laughed. Ian had experienced too much to be offended by every little thing. He wouldn’t be able to survive here if he reacted sensitively to everything.

Besides, there was some truth to what he said. He had to go outside the company for the sake of his life.

Although he had only recently settled in Kansas City, Missouri, because of his job, he didn’t have any friends to have dinner with right away, and he wasn’t enjoying any other leisure activities at all.

The Super Bowl was over and the off-season had just begun, so there wasn’t much work to do. He knew exactly that it was pointless to sit at his desk all day long.

“I guess I really have no choice but to leave now…”

Ian picked up his coat and glumly tidied up his desk.

He was more afraid of meeting Terrence Hunt, whom he had declared to the coach that he had imprinted on, than anything else.

Why, he himself couldn’t figure out exactly why.

***

As he stepped out of the building where the front office staff worked, a heavy sports car was parked there. It was a car he had never seen before, but the way it was parked right in front of the entrance, blatantly waiting, made it easy to guess who the owner was.

“Oh, Terrence Hunt…”

Ian sighed without realizing it.

He had come out as slowly as possible, harboring a small hope that Terrence might have gotten tired of waiting and left, but as if mocking that thought, Terrence was standing right in front of the building, waiting silently. He couldn’t help but sigh.

He knew it wasn’t polite to keep someone waiting, but generally, those who run away don’t know shame.

Ian knew himself very well right now. A coward and a runaway who wanted to avoid problems. That was who he was.

But even Ian, a somewhat shameful human being, had his own sense of righteousness. The reason was that what had happened to them, this terrible unilateral imprinting, was simply an accident that he had not intended at all.

The car door soared upwards like a wing, and Terrence emerged from inside.

“Ian.”

A deep, heavy voice that suited his massive frame perfectly, a slightly hoarse voice that was used to loudly directing other players on the field as the team leader.

People would probably be surprised if they knew that Terrence Hunt, who roared fiercely at the opposing team, could also speak in such a gentle voice.

But this was the original voice of Terrence that Ian knew.

The voice that always called him kindly with a face that was even younger than now.

“…I thought you would have left already.”

“I thought we were supposed to meet after work.”

After replying briefly, Ian slowly shook his head at Terrence, who gestured towards the open car door.

“Uh… my car is parked over there in Zone N…”

“Never mind that, just get in quickly.”

He wasn’t this headstrong before, so when did his personality change? He couldn’t get used to Terrence’s behavior, which had been like a commando since they reunited.

“Umm…”

“I’ll even take you to work tomorrow morning. Come on.”

The way he approached and murmured in a low voice was like a grizzly bear that had just come down from the Alaskan mountains. Ian, who was naturally timid, quickly got into the passenger seat, fearing that he would lift him up and shove him into the car.

No matter how unintentionally he was in the position of a sinner and how much the difference in physique made him easily lifted, he refused to be forcibly moved. He seemed to make a rather undignified rustling sound in his haste, but Ian tried to ignore it.

Where is the seatbelt? He was flustered by the unfamiliar interior of this car model he’d never been in before, when a large hand came over Ian’s chest. Terrence, who had already smoothly sat in the driver’s seat, had reached out.

“…”

Without realizing it, his body stiffened, but nothing happened, making his tension seem pointless.

Click. Terrence, who had pulled out the seatbelt buckle and fastened it without a word, straightened up and started the car.

It was so natural, and not a single glance was exchanged. They were just looking ahead and keeping silent in the car driving down the road.

In fact, Ian knew why Terrence was waiting for him so persistently.

‘I need to talk to him properly.’

In other words, Terrence was planning to negotiate with him now.

Momentum was important in the early stages of negotiation, but he already felt like a loser, having been swept away. No, he wasn’t just a loser. He felt like a wounded soldier wandering the battlefield, having lost an arm and a leg. All the more so because of the imprinting between them. Psychologically, he was already a complete loser.

Ian maintained a blank expression and kept silent, glancing at Terrence’s face. Fortunately, he was keeping his mouth shut and focusing on driving, looking only ahead.

As he stole glances at his profile, he was struck anew by his perfect features. Below his straight forehead were curved brow bones, and a straight nose that extended upwards from there boasted a sculptural beauty. It was a perfect form that naturally drew the eye.

Also, his soft, dark eyebrows and the deep eyes beneath them, which he had particularly liked when he was younger. Looking at his eyes, which were a subtle mix of khaki and brown, he could immediately understand why all the students had fallen in love with Terrence Hunt.

His slightly tanned skin was partly because he played under the sun, but he had said that he got it from his Italian mother. Old memories came flooding back into Ian’s mind. Trivial stories that he had never forgotten for a moment.

The dirty blonde hair that darkened to brunette when wet…

While he was blankly admiring him with sidelong glances, the car, which had been driving smoothly on the road, turned onto the road heading towards downtown, the bustling area.

Realizing this, Ian couldn’t help but open his mouth, which he had been trying to keep shut.

“Why did you come this way? You know that my apartment is on the East Side, right?”

Ian lived in a neighborhood not far from the Wolves Kingdom, where their team, the Wolves’ headquarters and home stadium were all located. The downtown area that Terrence was heading to now was the city center.

It wasn’t very far, but it wasn’t close either. It took more than thirty minutes by car. Of course, this was considered close to Americans, but Ian, who had lived in Korea for quite a long time, had a slightly different sense of distance over time than they did.

Noticing that he was looking bewildered and restless, Terrence glanced at Ian lightly and said in a much softer voice than before.

“You haven’t eaten.”

“Me? Have I?”

“Yeah. You and me both. We’ve finished work, so we should have dinner.”

“Ah…”

“You’re not going to try to pretend that you don’t usually eat dinner here, are you, Ian?”

You’re too skinny to make that excuse that you need that kind of diet. Terrence added.

Of course, he had no intention of making that excuse, and he knew that this was like a joke thrown out to soften the tense atmosphere, so Ian could only smile awkwardly.

And it certainly had an effect. The atmosphere became a little softer as he intended.

“We have a lot to talk about. Let’s talk over dinner. Maybe have a drink.”

He could only nod silently at those words.

…But if this luxurious place had been the destination, he wouldn’t have agreed so easily.

“Uh, if we’re going to talk over a drink, I’d be happy with just a beer at a pub…”

“I’m not satisfied with that.”

Terrence, who spat out those words, got out of the car first without even looking at Ian, who was flustered.

He couldn’t just stand there dumbly in someone else’s car, so he had no choice but to get out in a hurry. Terrence had already reached the entrance of the restaurant. Ian had no choice but to hurry to catch up with him, who had a wide stride and a fast pace.

As soon as they entered the entrance, a beautiful manager with a slender body and a perfectly fitted black dress greeted them.

“Oh, Mr. Hunt.”

The manager recognized him right away. Well, it would be strange if there was anyone in this city who didn’t know Terrence Hunt’s face. He was the hero who brought the glory of the Super Bowl to the citizens of Kansas City for the first time in 20 years, so it wouldn’t make sense if they didn’t know him.

“Good evening to both of you. Welcome.”

The manager, who had looked slightly surprised as soon as Terrence entered, soon greeted them with a professional business smile. Judging from the way she alternated between looking at the reservation chart and Terrence’s face, she had no idea that the Terrence who made the reservation was the same person as the football player Terrence.

“It’s a great honor to have Mr. Hunt visit our restaurant. The last Super Bowl was really…”

“Ahem.”

Terrence quietly silenced her, who was about to express her passionate impressions with an excited expression, with only an intense look and a throat-clearing sound.

The giant, standing tall in front of the slender woman, slowly turned around with a blunt face. At the same time, he deliberately pulled out Ian, who had been hiding in his shadow. A large hand suddenly came and smoothly pulled him by the waist, and Ian had no choice but to stick to Terrence’s side, making an “Ugh…!” sound.

“I’d like a quiet seat.”

The words, delivered clearly in a heavy bass voice, had the power of an irresistible command. And the manager seemed to have felt it clearly as well.

“This way, please.”

As befitting the manager of a high-end restaurant, she was indeed a professional. She immediately shut her mouth as if she had never been about to excitedly express her admiration for Terrence, the hero of the Super Bowl, about last season’s victory.

Then, she led them with a distant face, and Ian felt like he wanted to rub his forehead as they headed deeper and deeper into a secret place. Such a dark and secretive place…

“This is troubling…”

In the end, he had no choice but to open the menu in an excessively quiet and luxurious space. And even a menu that didn’t have the price written on it for him. Wasn’t this the kind of date-like situation he wanted to avoid so much?

“Choose comfortably.”

“It’s hard to be comfortable…”

“Then choose uncomfortably.”

He was so dumbfounded that his mouth dropped open. It didn’t seem like that much time had passed since graduation, but why had he changed so much?

It was so sad that he was in a position where he couldn’t argue with Terrence Hunt, who had been acting so unilaterally since earlier. Ian covered his mouth with the leather-bound menu and muttered a lament that he couldn’t bring himself to say.

“The T-bone is delicious here.”

Terrence was clearly not going to wait any longer for Ian to hesitate frustratingly. Perhaps he had already used up all his patience waiting for him to get off work in the parking lot.

He called the server and familiarly picked out various items and finished ordering everything on his own, so Ian had to force himself to chew on a rare steak that was dripping with blood.

As the uncomfortable meal was nearing its end, Terrence put down his wine glass with a clatter and called him.

“Hey.”

The glass emptied in one go, Hey instead of his name, a coldly staring gaze. With the firmness and the sense of distance, Ian also put down the fork he had been fiddling with and straightened his back.

It was time for the main point to come out. Dry saliva passed hardly down his throat.

“…Talk.”

“First of all, I agree that this imprinting was an accident.”

He made an unexpectedly smooth and objective judgment, so Ian also raised his eyes, which had been desperately facing only the plate. And he met Terrence’s eyes with difficulty, who he didn’t know when had been looking at him.

“Heat cycles are not something that people can usually control arbitrarily.”

Terrence brought up the day of the imprinting more calmly than he had expected.

Ian looked closely at Terrence’s face with a slightly strange feeling. Was this what his expression was originally…? Somehow, it felt like he was the only one who seemed anxious, not Terrence, who was the one who had unilaterally imprinted. That was how it had been since earlier. No, all day today.

Of course, it would be strange if Terrence, who had been trained to maintain composure in everything through various training sessions, was as uneasy and anxious as Ian.

“I know you didn’t deliberately take something like a heat-inducing drug.”

At those words, a sigh of relief escaped. At least he wouldn’t be treated like a son of a bitch who had deliberately seduced and imprinted on a superstar player. He was disgusted by that kind of misunderstanding.

“…Thank you for believing me.”

Of course, it was only a very brief moment of peace.

“But it’s also true that you were complacent.”

“…”

His mouth closed involuntarily at the sharp point.

Terrence was accurately pointing out the parts that Ian felt guilty and responsible for.

“Look, Ian. Look at this world that you jumped into to work in. There are more than enough alphas, especially dominant alphas. All the more so because of the nature of football as a sport.”

A look of displeasure filled Terrence’s face as he began to talk about the day the accident happened.

“I know…”

At those words, Ian’s body tensed up without him realizing it. Thanks to that, the napkin he had been gripping with his fingers was almost torn, but he couldn’t let go.