Ch.105Addiction!

#105

After reassuring Himena, who wanted to be told secrets in advance, and sending her home, Dexter smiled lightly when he saw the lights brightly lit in his own house.

“Ah, did you get her home safely?”

Jesse, who seemed to have just finished showering, was coming out of the room drying his damp hair with a towel.

Dexter stared at Jesse wearing the gray tank top and black dolphin pants that Himena had bought him, and spoke gratefully for Himena’s choice.

“You had a hard time laughing it off.”

“I know, right? Why would you tell me something so important without telling Himena first? If I were Himena, I would’ve been furious too.”

“Well, I thought it would be somewhat overlooked.”

“You’re seriously going to get stabbed by someone one day.”

At Jesse’s sincere concern, Dexter chuckled and said:

“A knife wound is nothing compared to the fifteen years I’ve been through.”

“That’s not something to laugh about! I might not be one to talk, but don’t you think it’s dangerous to act first and think later?”

“If I hadn’t maintained that ‘act first, think later’ mentality for fifteen years, I would’ve been dead long ago.”

Jesse bared his teeth when he saw Dexter nodding as if he had just realized something profound, completely absorbed in his own words.

“I get caught up in your thinking too!”

“Don’t worry. No matter what happens, I can save you and Himena.”

“What about Emily and Judy?”

“…Oh, sure. Of course.”

“Why the hesitation in your answer?”

“Obviously, I was just briefly thinking about how to save all four of you.”

At Dexter’s shameless response, Jesse made an incredulous expression and snorted.

“I can’t believe you, seriously…”

“Let’s move on from that. By the way, don’t you use a hair dryer?”

Dexter pointed at Jesse’s hair, which was still being dried with a towel.

“…Oh, right. I can use a hair dryer now, can’t I?”

“It’s in the drawer in the bedroom, go dry your hair quickly.”

In Honeygood Prison, there are no hair dryers except in the salon where inmates receive vocational training.

That’s why most inmates have dry, brittle hair.

“Which drawer?”

“You know, check the top left compartment.”

“Ah, here it is.”

While Jesse dried his hair with the hair dryer he took from the drawer, Dexter quickly showered and came out.

“Why is it getting hotter and hotter?”

Dexter, dressed in a thin t-shirt and comfortable shorts, sat on the sofa and turned on the TV, while Jesse, who had finished combing his hair, scurried over to sit beside him.

Snuggling close to Dexter, Jesse caught a faint scent of menthol coming from him and looked up at Dexter.

“Did you shower?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Nothing, just asking.”

Nestled in Dexter’s sturdy embrace, Jesse gently closed his eyes.

Seeing Jesse close his eyes, Dexter considerately lowered the TV volume, making Jesse smile slightly.

It was hard to ignore the feeling of gradually drifting into a dim yet languid dream world, embraced by someone to share life with, away from the noisy and hectic prison.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“Mmm…”

As Jesse began to breathe evenly and fall asleep after those words, Dexter waited until Jesse was in deep sleep before carrying him to the bed.

After covering the soundly sleeping Jesse with a blanket, Dexter lay down beside him and also smiled like Jesse as he tried to fall asleep.

* * *

When Jesse opened his eyes to the rustling sound beside him, he saw Dexter putting on a tie with his correctional officer uniform.

“…The roll call alarm didn’t go off?”

“What are you suddenly talking about in your sleep?”

Dexter chuckled at Jesse, who was looking at him with a husky voice, and said:

“You’re outside the prison now.”

“…Huh?”

“You can sleep more.”

“Really…?”

Dexter smiled lightly as he watched Jesse bury his face in the pillow and fall back to sleep.

After kissing the sleeping Jesse on the cheek, Dexter headed to work at the prison and was talking with Dan, who seemed unusually tired today.

“Why do you look so dead?”

“My son’s been asking for some gaming console lately, and it’s giving me a headache.”

“What kind of console? Come on, you should just buy it for him.”

“No, I’ve played games when I was young too, so I know most gaming consoles. But this was something I’d never heard of before.”

“He asked for a gaming console you’ve never heard of?”

“It had a long name, but I can’t remember it well. Anyway, he’s begging me to buy it because all his friends have it. I would buy it if it cost around $500.”

“How much is it?”

“$1,999.”

Hearing the astronomical price for a gaming console, Dexter responded incredulously:

“For a gaming console? How can a single console cost $2,000? It’s not even one of those big arcade machines.”

“Exactly. I told him I can’t buy him a $2,000 gaming console no matter how much money I make, and he just lost it.”

That’s almost enough money to buy a used car with just a little more.

“I’d buy it for him if it were reasonable, but that’s too much.”

“I know how fun games can be. But with a correctional officer’s meager salary, how could I afford something that costs $2,000?”

Dan sighed deeply.

“I don’t know what kind of console it is, but is it gold-plated or something? What makes it so expensive?”

“He said it’s a VR gaming console, supposedly the best VR console out there, and he’s making a huge fuss about it.”

“But still, $2,000 for a gaming console? I’d like to see the faces of his friends’ parents too.”

As Dan and Dexter were talking, roll call time approached.

The roll call ended without any issues, and as cleaning time approached, Dan said he needed to rest for a bit and headed to the staff area.

It would have been time to visit Jesse and Emily before, but now it had become the time when Emily had Dexter all to herself.

When Dexter headed to what was now Emily’s single cell, Emily looked at him with her usual expression as he entered.

“How is it?”

“It’s nice having a double room all to myself.”

“…?”

“…”

When Emily’s words stopped there, Dexter twirled his two index fingers, indicating she should continue talking.

“Anything else you want to talk about?”

“Without Jesse…”

“You feel lonely without him?”

“I sleep better without someone sleep-talking next to me.”

“…Hey, Jesse would be disappointed.”

As Dexter was about to tease her for her unexpectedly cold response, Emily immediately replied:

“I called him yesterday too, and he said he’ll call whenever he has time. So there’s no reason to be lonely.”

“Oh, really?”

Come to think of it, Himena and Jesse had mentioned calling Emily.

As Dexter looked at Emily with an awkward expression, Emily launched her counterattack.

“I heard Dexter is two-timing?”

“Huh?”

“I heard there might be others who haven’t been revealed yet.”

With those words, Emily stared directly into Dexter’s eyes.

Because Emily always maintained a blank expression, even ordinary questions from her tended to feel extremely sharp.

To Dexter, who was feeling guilty, Emily’s question felt similar to an interrogation from an angry Himena.

Thanks to that, Dexter was noticeably speaking with a flustered voice.

“Well, it just happened to turn out that way…”

“So were Jesse and I just a fling for you?”

Emily was always expressionless, but to Dexter, she seemed to be looking at him pitifully.

“No! That’s not it…”

“Do you love us?”

“Of course, if I didn’t love you, such things would never have happened…?”

As Dexter’s voice became smaller while explaining, Emily offered a different perspective on the current situation.

“But I spend less time with you than Jesse or Himena. And there’s the prison restriction too.”

“…That’s true, but what are you trying to say?”

Dexter, who had never seen Emily talk this much, looked at her with suspicious eyes.

“It means I have a chance to have you all to myself in prison, right?”

“How can you have me all to yourself in prison?”

“I can be with you whenever you’re on duty.”

“Huh?”

While it wasn’t wrong, as Dexter was wondering how to respond, the corners of Emily’s lips turned up ever so slightly.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Emily slowly approached and embraced Dexter.

Unable to resist the softness, Dexter stopped his thoughts of objection and decided to just enjoy the tenderness.

“Um, won’t Jesse or Himena get angry?”

“I’m still in prison. They’ll understand that much.”

As Dexter slowly stroked Emily’s hair, she buried her nose in Dexter’s chest and sniffed.

“You definitely smell like Jesse.”

“What’s ‘Jesse smell’?”

“It’s a thing. So you really are living together.”

“Did you think I was lying?”

“No, of course not. Just a secondary confirmation.”

Emily is peculiar.

Rather than wanting to scold her for such behavior, Dexter felt something indescribable and carefully kissed Emily on the forehead.

“You know you shouldn’t do this with other people, right?”

“I obviously know that. I almost got slapped by Jesse when I tried it with her, and she said she wasn’t a lesbian.”

“…Oh, I see.”

Learning that she had already attempted it before, Dexter had nothing to say and could only comfort Emily.

“Oh, right. Are you going to vocational training today?”

“No. I promised to help Marcy today.”

“Marcy? Why?”

“She said she has something to smuggle, and I’m perfect for moving it.”

“…Shouldn’t you not tell me that?”

“Jesse said that no matter what strange things I do, you’ll protect me since you’ve been with me.”

“Are you cunning, or just thoughtless?”

In response to that question, Emily kissed Dexter on the cheek instead of answering.

“Huh, so you are cunning.”

“My grandmother told me all men are fools.”

“That grandmother of yours, teaching her granddaughter such nice things.”

Still, Dexter didn’t dislike such behavior, so he carefully pressed his lips against Emily’s.

Soon after, as their tongues gently intertwined, footsteps were heard from behind, and Dexter immediately stopped the kiss, looking at Emily with a regretful expression as he moved away.

“Oh, there you are. Dexter, you need to go get the morning lunch boxes.”

Another correctional officer was looking for Dexter with a grin, so Dexter nodded lightly and said in a small voice:

“See you later.”

Emily also nodded in response to Dexter’s farewell.

* * *

“Haaa…”

That person was sitting in a chair, resting their forehead on their hand with their arm on the armrest.

“It’s fortunate that the project has been processed this far; otherwise, you would really…”

“…I have nothing to say.”

The man was kneeling on one knee with his head deeply bowed.

The man wanted to see that person’s expression, but since the chair’s backrest was facing forward, he could only see the back of that person’s head.

“If you truly have nothing to say, you should have made the project successful right now. Isn’t that right?”

“The procurement of parts took a little time… No, I apologize.”

That person, who had been holding their forehead, removed their hand and said:

“Please ensure there are no disappointments.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“So, how is this current project progressing?”

The man, who had a stern expression, smiled at that person’s question and said:

“The prognosis is good. It’s gaining explosive popularity not only in Nevada but especially in California.”

“You know that popularity alone is not enough, right?”

“Of course.”

“And find me some more… fresh content.”

“By fresh, what kind of…?”

At the man’s question, that person slapped the armrest as if displeased and said:

“Do I have to find that for you too?”

“…I apologize.”

That person was indeed a demanding and troublesome superior.

‘Damn it.’

But since he couldn’t openly curse in front of that person, the man could only bow his head for that person.

“Listening to consumers, they say that rather than necessarily including complex stories, it’s fine as long as it’s entertaining, even with simple and easy stories. What do you think?”

“That seems correct.”

The man showed a positive expression as if it was a good idea, and that person, sensing the positive emotion in the man’s voice, also felt that their suggestion was good.

“Then, try to find such content.”

“Understood. And I have a question I’d like to ask, if that’s alright?”

“A question? Go ahead.”

With that person’s permission, the man bowed his head deeply and said:

“What should we do with the robot?”

“What robot?”

“The robot we used to lure OSA for this experiment.”

“Ah, that piece of junk.”

That person smiled with a twisted corner of their mouth and said:

“Destroy it. Why are you even asking about such a thing?”

“Understood.”

That person then spoke in a disinterested voice, as if bothered:

“Oh, and bring more liquid energy packs when you come.”

“Understood.”

That person leaned their head back and sighed.

“Hah… There’s not a single person I like.”