SPM 4.5

Drive 13

Is this what the atmosphere of May is originally like?

Like green leaves preparing to grow lush under the brightening sun, the Wolves were gradually becoming busier as if they had never enjoyed the leisure of the off-season, amid the noticeably warmer weather and vibrant air.

Terrence’s days were already regular, but they were taking on a more tightly woven structure. In addition to the basic physical training he always did, he began creating and following special courses with dedicated coaches and trainers.

His appearance at home also became much more similar to his high school days. He would spread out thick playbooks and mutter while memorizing, or analyze game videos of other teams received from coaches. Repeatedly watching certain segments multiple times, taking dense notes in a spring notebook, and then transferring summaries to his pad was work he did almost daily without fail.

The front office that Ian belonged to was also becoming busier than before. Though not as frantic as during the draft, there was a feeling of turbulent momentum within the calm.

While sitting at his desk organizing materials collected during rookie camp and filtering out portions to send to the media team, Toby in the next seat slid over smoothly in his wheeled chair, nudged Ian with his elbow, and cleared his throat.

“Ahem, hmm! Cough!”

Ian, who had been concentrating on his monitor, thought why is this person suddenly coughing so severely… did he catch a bad cold somewhere? and looked to the side with squinted eyes, only to discover Toby making an even stranger expression than himself.

“Hmm hmm, um…! Mmm!”

When he rolled his eyes and twisted his head in a zombie-like strange direction, Ian unconsciously looked that way and saw team leader John pacing anxiously in front of the glass door, alternately looking toward Ian and around himself with restless eyes.

And beyond the glass door, behind John’s stocky middle-aged frame, the silhouette of a figure standing a head taller was…

“Te, Terry…?”

When Ian muttered, Toby became even more startled and hurriedly covered Ian’s mouth with both hands. Then he rolled his wide eyes and firmly gestured toward outside the door with his chin. Looking at this clumsy behavior, it seemed like the two who had spotted him first were acting like this to protect him from the eyes of other team members in the same office space…

“He came looking for me?”

When Ian whispered through the palm covering his mouth, Toby nodded frantically.

He was grateful in heart, but really these people… why don’t they realize that acting suspiciously like conducting espionage operations attracts more attention…

Ian looked back and forth with cold eyes at Toby, who was performing pantomime like ‘express with facial expressions’ without saying a word, and John, who was trying various poses to somehow hide Terrence with his protruding belly, shaking his head.

When Ian finally stood up, Toby let out a deep sigh of relief. Ian patted his shoulder and went out to meet Terrence.

“Thank you, John.”

“Oh, it’s nothing! How was it? Perfect, right?”

“Yes…”

Leaving behind the team leader who looked pleased as if he had completed a mission, Ian led Terrence toward a more deserted corridor.

“What brings you all the way here?”

Thinking he might have come for pheromones because he wasn’t feeling well, Ian asked with a worried face, and Terrence chuckled and briefly kissed Ian’s lips like a greeting.

“I sent a message but got no reply, so I came to pick you up directly.”

“Ah…!”

Only then did Ian hurriedly rummage through his pockets and pull out his phone. He hadn’t noticed the message had come because he was concentrating. Was it already that time…?

But when he looked at his watch, it was still far from quitting time. When Ian looked up at Terrence with a puzzled face, he chuckled again and wrapped his arm around Ian’s thin waist.

“The medical team asked me to come with you.”

“Really? What’s going on?”

“We’ll find out when we get there.”

Interlacing fingers with Terrence who extended his hand as if to be held, Ian turned around. He made eye contact with the team leader who was still guarding the corner of the corridor.

When Ian gestured briefly that he’d be back shortly, John, who stood like a sentry as if protecting them from other people, waved his hands as if telling them to hurry and go, so Ian greeted him and turned around. They were clumsy but really warm-hearted people, weren’t they? Ian chuckled as he walked with Terrence.

“Terry, did you eat lunch before exercising?”

“Of course. I ate with my trainer and a few players earlier. What about you?”

“I also ate with team members earlier. I ate both meat and vegetables evenly as instructed.”

When Ian answered earnestly, Terrence looked at him approvingly and kissed the top of Ian’s head.

“Since we work in the same place, it would be nice if we could eat together too.”

However, at his words that seemed displeased as he clicked his tongue, Ian’s pupils experienced an earthquake.

You want me to eat that diet too…?

Even though they shared the same cafeteria at headquarters, the players and organization staff had different meal times so they didn’t encounter each other often. Plus, it wasn’t just the timing that was different.

When operating like a regular cafeteria restaurant for office workers, it was no different from any company cafeteria, but during the times when players and coaches ate, the menu was completely different.

It was a customized diet with nutrition meticulously designed by the organization for players, filled with tremendously high-protein foods that Ian could hardly dare approach. The same space but a completely different world.

Ian recalled a scene he had accidentally witnessed once. The majesty of enormous amounts of chicken breast and grilled salmon, strictly selected carbohydrates like quinoa and whole wheat, various vegetables and fruits, and protein shakes.

It was a moment when the modest few strands of french fries and carbonated drink hastily piled on a small plate became embarrassing. Just looking at it seemed like it would give him indigestion.

At the same time, he thought it was natural for Terrence to be meticulous about his meals since he lived a life that always prioritized what went into his mouth. Ian nodded to himself as he walked down the corridor.

The medical team was located in the building used by players, and perhaps because it was close to the locker room, the Alpha pheromone scent in the air felt increasingly thick as they walked.

Resolving to consult with Dr. Olsen about his sensitively returning receptive senses when he next went to the hospital, the moment Ian entered the medical team office with Terrence, they encountered a figure who was both surprising and unsurprising.

“…Vince?”

Ian came to his senses hearing Terrence mutter before him. Strangely, the person who had been gnawing painlessly at a corner of his brain had actually appeared at the organization.

“Ian, Hunt. Welcome.”

Felicia in a white coat greeted Ian and Terrence, stepping forward.

“This is Dr. Vincent McCartney who was dispatched from Summit Hospital. He’ll be exclusively handling Hunt…”

“Terry!”

“…from now on…?”

Before Felicia’s introduction was even finished, Vincent smiled brightly and lightly hugged Terrence. Similar to when they met at the department store.

“We meet again!”

His eyes looking at Terrence sparkled brightly. Terrence slightly furrowed his brow and separated Vincent’s body while asking.

“…You really came here?”

“Yes! I told you we’d be able to meet again.”

“But how did you get to the organization…”

“A very good opportunity came up. At this point, you and I really have an incredible connection. For me to get the position as your personal physician when I have no relation to you at all.”

Vincent showed affection by gently touching Terrence’s forearms and chest area as if examining him, without lowering the arms that had hugged him.

And Ian’s mouth fell open at that scene.

“……?”

No, that body that even I, his partner, touch carefully…!

Standing a step back between them, Ian could only stand there with a dumbfounded face. There was no gap to interject since they instantly built their own world under the name of childhood friends and continuously talked. It felt like there was an invisible barrier formed by Vincent’s bright laughter and joy.

“Those two seem to know each other already?”

To Felicia’s question beside him, who had similarly bounced off the tremendous intimacy barrier, Ian tried to make his voice as calm as possible.

“Um, yes. They’ve known each other since childhood. They’re neighbors, and more precisely, he’s a friend of Terrence’s brother.”

“Ah. The families must be close too.”

“…Probably.”

Though he didn’t know in detail, it was probably so. The McCartney family was from the founding family of one of Tennessee’s leading pharmaceutical companies, and that company had also worked on local public health projects with the Hunt family. They were probably close families connected by long-standing ties.

“Is this the person you mentioned when we were having lunch? The talent who specializes in variant medicine and also covers sports medicine that the organization was looking for…”

It was also puzzling that a son from such a family became a doctor rather than a manager or researcher. It was probably possible because he had many siblings. Ian recalled the information about MMC Pharmaceuticals that he had searched for before.

“Right. He just came to Summit Hospital recently but agreed to focus intensively on Hunt in the field. He’ll usually be at the hospital but will definitely be present on training or game days.”

Ian quietly nodded at the additional comment that this was the opinion of organization executives who thought they could share Terrence’s medical records from that hospital while handling one-way imprinting closely and quickly.

“Since sports medicine isn’t his specialty, we’ll probably continue to support that area from our side, and he’ll be dedicated to treating imprinting side effects. As you know, Ian, there are really few residents who handle imprinting. I’m also an Alpha but I only know very basic medical knowledge about imprinting.”

“I see…”

Leaving Ian to agree, Felicia lowered her voice and asked secretly.

“Were there any other side effects besides what happened on the Lauren Show that day?”

“Nothing besides that time. Of course, Terrence might not have told me, so I might not know…”

After saying that, he suddenly began to feel sad. He would be someone who knew nothing until Terrence told him. The closest and most intimate, yet also so distant in not knowing anything about such matters.

Terrence had a tendency to keep avoiding conversations about side effects, saying Ian worried excessively. As a result, all Ian could trust were the numerical graphs shared by the hospital. That one clear evidence that Terrence wasn’t suffering from pheromone deficiency.

Perhaps from now on, Vincent, who would be exclusively handling Terrence as a doctor, might come to know much more about him than Ian did.

Thinking this way, a strange wistfulness and displeasure rose from one side of his chest.

‘Is this jealousy…’

His heart felt unsettled by this unfamiliar emotion he was experiencing for the first time.

On one hand, it was such an inappropriate emotion toward someone who had come to the organization to help Terrence and to work, that he wondered if he was such a lowly person, making him suffer from self-loathing.

Ian forcefully tried to brighten his voice that was trying to sink gloomily. The body dominates the mind. Terrence’s brainwashing that forcing oneself to act cheerfully would make their heart strong too, shone at times like this. Ian smiled brightly at Felicia.

“Still, his pheromone levels are very good now. Probably won’t have any imprinting side effects from pheromone deficiency for a while.”

“That’s really fortunate. You had a checkup recently?”

“Yes. We’re doing follow-up tests every week and it’s getting better.”

“Right. With Ian working so hard like this, of course. I believed in you.”

Felicia, who added that they looked good together, smiled warmly and patted Ian’s shoulder. Then she raised her voice a bit.

“Now, if you’ve all finished greeting each other, shall we go back to work? I called to introduce you, but if you all know each other, there’s no need to waste more time.”

With that, Felicia approached Vincent, who was still ambiguously touching Terrence’s forearms lightly.

Vincent smoothly raised the corners of his mouth and suggested.

“Then let me go into the examination room briefly to consult with the patient.”

“Oh my, would you like to? Are you okay doing that from the first day?”

“Of course. Terry, you’re okay with it too, right? I have some things to ask based on the materials I brought from the hospital.”

“…Yeah.”

For a moment Terrence looked suspicious, but since this was also part of work, he didn’t refuse. Since the organization had spent big money to bring in a dedicated doctor just for him, he had to cooperate as much as possible.

“Oh, then I should also…”

As the imprinting subject and Terrence’s guardian and partner, Ian felt he should go in together and followed Terrence toward the examination room. But before taking a few steps, Vincent, who had first pushed Terrence into the examination room, turned around and showed his palm to Ian.

“No.”

“……?”

“Third parties cannot enter during treatment.”

“What? I’m not a third party…”

Not expecting to be so coldly rejected, Ian explained with a dumbfounded face, but Vincent shook his head as if cutting off his words and spoke to Ian with a firm face.

“I have content to discuss privately with just the patient. Even if you’re the imprinting subject, you should respect each other’s privacy. Don’t you think there are things he can’t say precisely because you’re the imprinting subject?”

With the doctor using professional authority and putting medical ethics forward, there was no way to argue against it. Ian nodded blankly.

“…I understand.”

Especially since he had just had that conversation with Felicia, he had even less to say. Didn’t Ian also acknowledge that Terrence didn’t want to open up to him in detail about side effects? He couldn’t insist on being with him unconditionally like a troublesome guardian.

“Then… please tell him I’ll wait outside.”

“It’ll take a long time. You’d better just go back to your desk. I heard you’re organization office staff?”

“Yes…”

“Don’t wait around making the consultation awkward, just go.”

“…I understand.”

With that, Vincent coldly turned around and disappeared into the examination room. Simultaneously, the door shut with a snap as if blocking him. Not only that, perhaps seeing that Ian was hesitating while standing there, he even pulled down the blind on the small glass window in the door to cover it.

Felicia, who had been watching from a step or two away, shook her head and clicked her tongue.

“Wow… That’s quite a personality. Ian, did you do something wrong to that person?”

“I, I don’t know…! You see it too, right Felicia? I’m not overreacting, he’s really angry at me, right?”

“Right. Just earlier he was smiling so brightly and acting friendly.”

“He wasn’t originally like that with me either…”

If they had encountered each other since then it would be different, but this was the first time meeting since seeing him at the hospital, so why was he suddenly acting like this? What exactly had he done wrong? There was no way to know. Ian couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the blatant cold treatment.

So his impression at the hospital when Vincent had shown a strange expression while removing his internal suppressant hadn’t been his imagination after all. But what did that have to do with him…?

‘Ah, could it be…’

A chilling premonition enveloped Ian.

Felicia must have had similar thoughts as she leaned close to Ian’s ear and whispered in a surprised voice.

“Could that person romantically like Hunt? Dr. McCartney looked like an Omega to me…”

“Hmm…”

Since he had momentarily thought the same thing, his heart sank, but Ian forced a smile.

“…It’s probably not the kind of suspicious relationship Felicia is worried about. They just met after a long time and have things to discuss.”

“That’s true but…”

Felicia, who remembered that imprinted individuals rarely develop inappropriate feelings for others while having an imprinting subject, agreed with Ian’s words but still looked suspicious.

Ian smiled vaguely and just waved his hand.

“Then I’ll go back to the office. Contact me again if anything happens.”

“…Okay. Be careful going back.”

Ian quickened his pace and hurriedly escaped from the medical team. It was a desperate gesture to prevent bad emotions from consuming him.

*

“What did you two talk about earlier?”

Ian asked while barely managing to get Terrence, who wanted to sit in the driver’s seat, into the passenger seat in the parking lot after work. He had tried to ask casually, but wasn’t sure if it sounded casual, he was trying his best to appear nonchalant. Though he had left acting like nothing was wrong in front of Felicia earlier, it had been on his mind the whole time.

Ian hurriedly started the engine and busily adjusted the rearview mirror that wasn’t even crooked, afraid his wavering gaze might be noticed.

Terrence tilted his head diagonally toward Ian with a puzzled expression.

“Earlier?”

“Yeah. When you went into the examination room with Dr. McCartney earlier.”

“Ah, Vince?”

‘Vince’.

Right, honestly it would be a lie to say that part hadn’t bothered him from the start.

He never imagined he could have such childish and petty feelings toward another person, but he was newly realizing that he too was just an ordinary human being with no particularly admirable qualities.

And all because of something as trivial as a nickname.

Actually, wasn’t shortening names very common in this culture? It was normal for friends to call each other casually even if they weren’t in very intimate relationships like family or lovers, and if the person had asked to be called that way, it carried no special meaning.

But who would have thought this would be so irritating? Ian let out a bitter laugh to himself and tried to continue speaking calmly. He hoped his voice wouldn’t sound overly sensitive.

“I guess you two are comfortable enough to call each other that way? Like when I first met him too…”

It wasn’t pleasant that someone else was using the nickname he had said only he used, but it also wasn’t particularly pleasant hearing Terrence refer to others so familiarly. Especially since who was Terrence? Wasn’t he the champion of keeping distance, who would grumble that even David, who had stayed by his side for years at school, wasn’t a friend? But how dare you…? The more he thought about it, the more his anger began to boil.

“How annoying…”

At his unconscious mutter, he felt Terrence startle beside him.

Ian’s expression had even become quite fierce. Even he was surprised when he glimpsed his face in the rearview mirror. Good heavens, when did this happen? The reflection of himself looked like the world’s most petty, ugly, villainous criminal.

Terrence immediately hurried to apologize.

“Sorry. I’ve been calling him that since we were kids. If you don’t like it, I should change it. I’ll tell him to stop right away too.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“No it’s not.”

That’s not a face that says it’s fine… Leaving Terrence who was looking at his face incredulously, Ian tried to gather his maturity.

“I don’t want to become someone who restricts you down to such detailed parts.”

“Really?”

“…No.”

Failed to gather maturity. Maturity, my ass!

“Honestly speaking, yes. I was a bit hurt.”

Ian let out a deep sigh and stared only at the road ahead. He didn’t want to show Terrence any more of his face revealing such raw emotions. It couldn’t be a beautiful sight. Even if he opened up honestly, wasn’t he already pathetically an ugly villain?

“…I’m talking about it now because it’s all in the past, but um. Actually, at that time I felt something special.”

“What kind?”

“You told me before. To call you ‘Terry’. Saying there was no one who called you that now.”

Terrence’s words at that time probably weren’t wrong. Since it was when they were attending Lloyd Jones, Vincent, who was 7 years older than them, would probably have been in the process of becoming a doctor in another place, and if he was that far away, it would have been true that no one was calling him by his nickname.

So it was probably his own problem for getting excited thinking he would be the only person forever to call him ‘Terry’.

“I felt like we had become something special then. Of course we were really close friends, but beyond that…”

Ian stopped mid-sentence, paused for a moment, then took a breath and gathered courage.

“Fine. I won’t deny it. I was feeling romantic emotions toward you even then.”

Confessing feelings he had kept hidden was indeed awkward and embarrassing.

“Especially after saying that, we kissed for the first time.”

Even as he spoke, his face was turning red like a tomato. He could feel the heat rising hotly.

“So I completely misunderstood. That you and I had a special relationship that was just ours, both as friends and romantically.”

That moment had been so precious.

Therefore, to Ian, the name ‘Terry’ wasn’t just a simple nickname, but a key to opening his heart and the awakening of first love.

He was only now realizing how happy he had been feeling like he monopolized him with that one name.

At the time, he didn’t have the leisure to closely examine his own feelings. He was too busy trying to achieve independence, obsessed only with the compulsion to separate himself from people who had become unhappy because of their involvement with him. But looking back, that’s how it was. It was a fresh, tender, and precious emotion.

Plop—

A drop of melted sorrow fell from his eyes that had been looking only ahead. Tears he hadn’t even noticed.

And Terrence must have seen it too.

“My God. Wait, Ian. Just a moment. Wait…”

In a panicked voice he’d never heard before, Terrence reached out hurriedly from the passenger seat.

“Oh no… Pull over for a moment. Just for a moment.”

Ian shook his head indifferently, pretending to speak in a nonchalant tone. He was so embarrassed by this version of himself.

“Why… Just go.”

“Please. I’m begging you, please pull over for a moment.”

He didn’t want to become such a pathetic person who would get jealous and whine about being hurt over such trivial matters, even crying. How was one supposed to maintain coolness in a relationship?

He would have preferred to just go home without saying anything, but Terrence wouldn’t leave Ian alone. He covered Ian’s hands on the steering wheel with his large hands.

“I’m seriously asking. Please pull over for just a moment.”

Eventually, Ian turned the steering wheel toward the shoulder and slowly pressed the brake without even looking at Terrence.

The car came to a stop with the sound of gravel crunching under the tires and raising a light dust. As soon as Ian put the gear in park, Terrence’s hand reached over and pulled the handbrake. Was this going to be a long conversation? Ian was cautiously keeping his head down and letting out only small sighs when a large hand approached and lifted his chin.

On a road where the sun was dimly setting, on a path that was usually deserted unless there was a game, they stopped and faced each other, what did those eyes resembling late summer want to say? What was contained within them that made him feel so sorrowful just by looking? Ian’s chin wrinkled like a walnut as his face contorted.

Then Terrence looked even more flustered.

“My God, Ian… my love.”

Terrence hugged Ian tightly and muttered incessantly. As if he didn’t know what he was saying because he was so surprised, ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I love you’ flowed out alternately like a spell.

“Of course you’re special. Of course you’re the only person special to me. It was naturally a name I asked you to call me because I wanted that kind of relationship.”

Lips that kept touching his face spoke urgently.

“From then, from when we first met, I’ve loved you. So it was a name I gave you asking you to please become someone special to me.”

“…Really?”

So it wasn’t a misunderstanding but real? Had I been that special too? Ian barely managed to ask while sniffling.

“Of course. You’re the only person I’ve ever loved, and that’s a truth that was the same then, is the same now, and will remain unchanged until much later. You have to believe that.”

Even though he had cried like a child and his face must have been soaked and ugly, Terrence held Ian with both hands as if looking at the most precious and beautiful thing in the world and kissed him. He even gently brushed back the wet hair as if carefully stroking flower petals.

“Look, Ian. Look at me.”

At the gentle force lifting his chin, Ian raised his head with his flushed face and met his eyes again.

“I love only you so madly that I’m completely bound to just one person, you. My imprinting is proof of that. It’s proof of my heart, not some ‘pheromone influence’ nonsense like you said.”

How frustrated must he have been to clench his molars so tightly while pronouncing the words ‘pheromone influence’? Ian stared blankly at Terrence’s rock-hard jaw muscles and nodded.

“…Yeah.”

Of course Ian knew that well now too. Even more so now that he had completely confirmed it with numbers.

At that time, his pheromones might have exploded temporarily, but not to the extent of exerting pheromone influence over a dominant Alpha. Because they had been continuously suppressed and weren’t normal, as Dr. Lambert had warned before, they didn’t have enough power to deliver a big shock to an Alpha.

He had just been greatly mistaken, influenced by past prejudices and memories, recalling the Alphas who had chased him like mad dogs during the drug-induced forced heat cycle. He had blindly believed that he possessed such tremendous pheromones that he could imprint a dominant Alpha like Terrence Hunt in an instant.

So Terrence’s words that he imprinted because he loved him were true. In hindsight, that’s how it was.

Terrence’s fingers carefully traced Ian’s still moist eyes.

“My first time with you is also my most precious memory.”

“……”

“My name too.”

Then followed detailed explanations. Actually, he had lived completely forgetting about Vincent’s existence until he happened to meet him, and he had simply left it that way because that’s what he was called when visiting each other’s homes as children, it was a meaningless title to him, and Vincent McCartney wasn’t as close to him as his current friendly behavior suggested. Terrence’s face showed bewilderment and a hint of pleasure as he explained.

“I’ll never let him call me that way again.”

“Good.”

There was no intention of gracefully stepping back and acting mature here. If he was going to do that, Ian should definitely take it. Especially considering how rudely that person had treated him today, he was even a bit displeased, so there was even more reason not to decline.

As if driving in the final nail, Terrence emphasized once more.

“It’s a name just for you and me.”

“Yeah.”

Terrence, who had held his hand tightly and made the promise, suddenly opened the car door and got out. Then he opened the driver’s side door where Ian was sitting, pulled him out of the seat, quickly placed him in the passenger seat, and sat in the driver’s seat himself. Even his movements fastening the seatbelt were swift and unhesitating.

Watching him adjust the driver’s seat height lower with a face that looked like he might start humming any moment and restart the engine, Ian’s eyes narrowed and an unfiltered question popped out of his mouth.

“But Terry, you look kind of happy?”

“Ah.”

“Are you happy that I was upset? Do you like it?”

When Ian asked irritably in a tone suggesting his personality was really bad, Terrence burst into loud laughter.

“No, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

Inside the car racing down the road again, Terrence touched the corners of his mouth with a pleased expression.

“I guess it feels like fair play now.”

What did that even mean? When Ian rolled his wide-open eyes, Terrence reached out the hand that had been touching his chin, grabbed Ian’s hand, and kissed the back of it repeatedly. He even smiled with his eyes narrowed as if he couldn’t bear how adorable it was, making Ian’s heart pound vigorously just watching him.

“Would you believe it if I said until now I felt like I was just pushing forward and you were just being pushed along? Like playing against the weakest team unfairly… Like I pushed through with strength and skill, scored touchdowns in the end zone several times and won, but still felt guilty about it?”

“At least I understand clearly that I’m that weakest team…”

It was a fact everyone knew that Ian was the weakest both physically and mentally. Even now he was crying just because someone called Terrence’s name. Not to mention his body with the nickname “paper doll.”

“I know you’ve always been good at losing to me since way back. Of course, I also know you’re good at running away at crucial moments when you really can’t handle it.”

Since there was nothing to say about that part, Ian coughed unnecessarily and played dumb.

“And I know you have a strong sense of responsibility and are overflowing with sympathy. And that you think of me preciously.”

“……”

“So you couldn’t just leave my imprinting alone. Ian, you would have definitely tried to take responsibility for me. Since you’re not someone who could abandon an Alpha who imprinted on you, you would have eventually accepted me. It wouldn’t have been different even if it wasn’t me.”

Well, would that really have been the case? Ian pondered a hypothetical he had never considered before. He had never even imagined someone other than Terrence imprinting on him, so it felt somewhat unfamiliar.

“So I was always bothered by the fact that our current relationship was one where you were dragged along by my stubbornness, but seeing what you showed me today…”

Ah, now Ian perfectly understood what Terrence was trying to say.

“You know how to be jealous and get upset too, you’re the same as me. Now we’re really the same. We’re really just ordinary lovers.”

“……”

“It feels like we’ve become people who simply like each other normally, even without pheromones or imprinting. So if I say I was happy about that, would you still hate me?”

At the unusually cautious question as if reading the mood, this time Ian burst into laughter.

And shaking his head, he said just one thing.

“I don’t hate you.”

The meaning was nothing else. It meant he loved him.

* * *

OTA (Organized Team Activities) had begun.

OTA was one of the very important training phases in the NFL off-season. It was training that announced the start of a new season to players who had been resting with free time after the season ended, while also serving as a turning point for both players and the organization to reorganize their strategies and structure.

Though not as intensive as the upcoming mini camp or training camp, it was time for newly entered rookies, changed players, existing players, and coaching staff to officially gather for the first time to prepare for the new season and warm up their bodies.

Ian stood in a corner of the Wolves headquarters’ outdoor training field, looking at about a hundred people.

Players running dynamically on the wide grass field now completely dressed in green, and coaches equally focused, everyone was moving in perfect unison. Though they weren’t wearing complete protective gear like during full training, seeing them practice by sections while wearing uniforms and helmets made his heart race at the thought that a new beginning was truly approaching. He almost forgot his job of capturing their appearance in writing.

Ian took out his camera and zoomed in to take several shots of receivers zigzagging through white cone obstacles on the left side of the field. Then he spread out his pad, admiring the sight of massive linemen standing heavily like a separate army corps on the opposite side, moving separately. While concentrating on writing a few sentences.

“Hello.”

Someone approached from behind Ian and greeted him.

Ian closed his pad and slowly turned around, nodding in greeting toward the person who had spoken to him.

“Dr. McCartney. Welcome.”

Since the day he was first introduced through Felicia at the organization, Ian had encountered Vincent once or twice more around the company. Each time, Ian had approached first with friendly conversation, thinking he might have some misunderstanding about Vincent or that Vincent might have misunderstood him, but it was ineffective. The same cold and chilly attitude returned as before, so Ian had completely given up by now.

He didn’t know exactly what Vincent was thinking or for what reason he treated him this way, but Ian felt it wasn’t worth worrying about or paying attention to anymore.

For such a person to approach first and greet him. What could his intention be? While Ian was looking down curiously at his dark-colored crown, Vincent seemed to sense Ian’s gaze and shrugged, gesturing toward one side of the field with his chin.

“I came to see if there’s anything wrong with Terrence’s training.”

“…I see.”

His gaze looking into the distance sparkled.

“Look. I really didn’t know he’d grow to be that big before.”

“Ah, yes…”

Since he had been writing about the field atmosphere for other positions, Ian hadn’t properly looked at the quarterbacks practicing gathered at the back center of the field, so he nodded belatedly.

Ian didn’t know how that appearance had rubbed Vincent the wrong way, but looking up at Ian, he showed a blatant sneer by slightly twisting his lips, completely different from the angelic smile he had shown others just moments before.

“Not even knowing where your own partner is. Must be busy?”

…That’s not even ticklish sarcasm. Ian indifferently lifted his pad again and answered.

“Yes. I’m also working right now.”

He wanted to say: I don’t know what you’re thinking, but this is my workplace too. I have proper work ethics and am working hard to make a living. But not wanting to act equally childishly, he chose to just ignore it. When he ostentatiously picked up his pen and scribbled notes on the screen, Vincent picked another fight.

“Such a trivial job, yet you’re so diligent.”

“Indeed. You should be sitting comfortably at the hospital, but here you are standing in the blazing sun with someone doing such trivial work. You’re really suffering.”

Vincent’s mouth fell open, apparently not expecting the quiet and gentle Ian to be sarcastic for so long.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t do it, just that he didn’t. Ian had already mastered this kind of comeback during freshman year in college while doing group projects. It was a place where you’d be ignored if you stayed quiet.

When Ian didn’t seem particularly affected, Vincent now began to provoke Ian in a different direction.

“Still, your job satisfaction must be at its peak. I wonder if there’s anywhere else in the world that gathers such big Alphas all in one place. Any Omega would want to come here.”

“I see you choose jobs considering whether they’re Alphas or Omegas when selecting workplaces? That’s quite a refined selection method.”

While watching quarterbacks in red helmets with the Wolves’ wolf logo doing intense tackle defense training in the distance, Ian put his camera and pad into his bag.

“If you came to work, just work. I don’t know why you keep acting like this toward me, but if you’re thinking of Terrence, you should be faithful to your duties.”

Thinking it was too much for a fellow Omega to attack using traits, Ian turned around indifferently. Of course, he had to turn back due to a hand urgently grabbing his clothes.

“Hey, you asked Terrence for this, didn’t you?”

Asking out of nowhere like that, how was he supposed to know what he mean?

“What exactly did I ask for?”

When Ian asked with a calm expression, the plump lips pressed firmly against the upper teeth.

“Terrence came to the examination room recently and mentioned it while getting his pheromone levels checked.”

The weekly tests that used to require visits to Summit General Hospital were now being handled exclusively at the organization’s medical office since Vincent was dispatched. Ian was there when the equipment was brought in, so he knew this well. Of course, Ian, not being the player himself, still had to visit Dr. Olsen for his checkups as before.

They must have talked then. Ian stood with one hand on his hip, quietly looking down at him. He could guess what he was going to say.

“He asked me to stop calling him ‘Terry’ from now on. Since we’re not children anymore and we’ve both become adults, plus we’re meeting for work, he asked me to correct the way I address him.”

When Ian showed no change in expression while listening to his story, Vincent let out a snort and opened his mouth again.

“Well, yes. It might not be pleasant to use childhood names in front of various people at work, so we decided to do that since we’re meeting for work…”

While Ian was inwardly surprised by the more reasonable reaction than expected, Vincent turned his eyes toward where Terrence was exercising in the distance, with both hands tucked in his coat pockets.

“I’ve been going in and out of that house since I was very young, so I know Terrence very well.”

Vincent continued confidently with his nose raised.

“Of course, I didn’t know he’d become a key player on a Super Bowl champion team, but I know well how hard Terrence worked in that house. And now when he’s finally about to bloom in life, you…”

But that story couldn’t continue. Someone from far away was urgently calling Ian loudly.

“Hey, Ian! Over here!”

It was the center of the field where the quarterbacks had been practicing, and a group of people had gathered there.