NHL 67

Usually, Dylan would have been modestly humble, but for some reason, today he felt a sense of defiance. He blurted out words he wouldn’t have said at any other time.

“I think it’s because my condition is better than ever these days.”

“Is that so? Do you have any good news?”

“Yes. It’s just a personal matter, though. Anyway, everyone is going to work hard so we can show a good game in Florida, too.”

Having spoken vaguely in a tone that suggested he didn’t want to be asked for details, Dylan immediately changed the subject and wrapped up the interview. The reporter quickly caught his cue and offered a closing greeting.

“Thanks for the interview.”

“Thanks, Bill.”

By the time Dylan headed to the hotel, washed up, and went to sleep, he was underestimating the ripple effect his interview could have. That night, rumors of his engagement suddenly began to spread online through social media and community forums.

The beginning of the problem was a photo that Michael Marino’s girlfriend, Pat, had posted on her social network. In a corner of a photo of the couple, which seemed to have been taken at the All-Star after-party, Dylan and an unidentified blonde beauty were faintly visible in a two-shot.

Added to the eyewitness reports of Dylan walking while accompanying his parents, this solidified the groundless rumor that the two had greeted his parents in Las Vegas and were an official couple who had been accepted to the point of meeting his family.

As for the other party, every blonde woman Dylan was acquainted with—such as the sports reporter Emily and the women’s national hockey team athlete Chloe—was mentioned. However, strangely enough, as photos of Julie, who had a fair number of Star-gram followers, began to gain fame, she seemed to become the protagonist of the rumors.

With the facts known that they were pictured together in two places—on a plane traveling for an away game and in Las Vegas—and that she was blonde, rumors spread as if two people who were practically strangers were engaged.

Dylan discovered the truth about the rumors that had sprouted from nothing thanks to reporter Bill, who approached the players during their pre-game warm-up in Florida, their second away game destination.

“Hey, Dylan. Is it true that you’re engaged?”

“Me?”

Dylan, who had been playing around with a basketball with Jackson, asked back with a blank expression.

“Dylan McClain? Not some other Dylan?”

Including Ian, Noah, and Kevin, whom he had been playing basketball with, the surrounding players who had each been warming up in their own ways also looked at Dylan with eyes full of curiosity, as if they had caught the scent of a scoop.

“What? Why are you all looking at me like that? That’s impossible.”

“So it was a groundless rumor, then?”

“Was there such a rumor?”

Bill showed him a photo with an intrigued look.

“This photo has been circulating like crazy lately.”

“Julie?”

When Jackson acted like he knew her, Bill asked, “You know her?” It was a skillful lie, pretending not to know even though he knew Julie had boarded the plane bound for the away game.

“I know her. She was on our jet.”

Jackson tapped Dylan, laughing with a lecherous glint in his eyes.

“Did you get engaged on your first meeting?”

This didn’t mean it literally; he was asking what progress had been made that day.

“No way.”

Dylan straightened his face.

“I happened to mention I had some good personal news that day, so it seems people made some romantic assumptions.”

Because of Bill’s added explanation, Dylan realized how things had blown out of proportion.

In other words, he shouldn’t have lied in the first place. He didn’t welcome this type of rumor at all.

He had only wanted to pretend he was doing well to show Joeon, not to start a rumor that he was engaged by naming a specific person.

If he were to hear this news…

For a moment, Dylan, who had fallen into despair, pulled himself together. Anyway, if it were him, he wouldn’t care who he was seeing, right? Wasn’t he not even sincere about his relationship with him?

But if he had even a shred of feeling for him, that timid person would dig another hole, hold a microscope to himself, find his flaws and inferior points, and hurt his own pride.

“I guess you’ll have to do a clarification interview for this, huh?”

Bill cracked a joke with a laugh. He meant Dylan should become the star player of the game to get an interview.

However, that day, Dylan showed only stifling, lackluster play, resulting in a loss. The opportunity for clarification vanished awkwardly.

“People seem to be more interested in your engagement than I thought. If you search your name on Google, the word ‘engagement’ automatically completes it.”

“Since it’s come to this, why don’t you just reveal the real person?”

“Yeah, you should just do that instead.”

Michael and Kevin took turns tossing out light jokes like a comedy act. They said this knowing there was no partner. Because it hadn’t been just a year or two since they’d been working together as starting teammates, the team members knew each other’s personal stories quite well. Including the fact that he didn’t have anyone he was seeing seriously.

But no one knew Dylan’s true private life well.

“Forget it. They’ll think what they want and then stop.”

While he replied nonchalantly, his expression was filled with disappointment. Nothing had changed, whether rumors spread or not. He would have even been grateful if he had received a message asking, ‘By any chance, were you two-timing me with that woman while we were together?’—but his phone remained silent.

His patience only exploded after returning home from the away games. On a night when his teammates, who had earned a day of rest, threw a small pizza party with beer at Jackson’s house and passed out drunk, a drunken Dylan couldn’t hold back and made a call to Joeon, full of lingering attachment.

Dylan, having pushed away Jackson, who was stuck to his side sleeping, roused his hazy spirit—which was being encroached upon by a hangover—and recalled what happened last night.

At first, it was light beer, but someone had brought out whiskey from Jackson’s secret stash and they started going at it, and after that, his memory was hazy. One thing that was clear was someone’s voice.

‘The number you have dialed is unavailable, so please check it and dial again.’

“Wait.”

Dylan searched for his phone and turned Jackson’s room upside down. The dozens of outgoing call records found on the phone he finally retrieved were all directed at Joeon.

Dylan pressed the call button once more with trembling hands. Last night, like now, he must have pressed the same button twenty times because he couldn’t believe it. And each time, the answer he heard was the same.

‘The number you have dialed is unavailable, so please check it and dial again.’

At that moment, he woke up completely from his hangover and sleep, as if splashed with cold water. Dylan packed his clothes and left Jackson’s apartment. However, though he had to go somewhere, he couldn’t think of where to go.

‘Where should I go to find Joeon?’

Would he know if he went to Calgary? But there was no way for Dylan to know where he lived. He didn’t even have social media, and he’d even changed his phone number.

Unless Joeon contacted him first, Dylan would never know where he was, what he was doing, or if he was doing well—it was a one-sided situation forever.

Seeing that Joeon hadn’t contacted him first even when engagement rumors broke out just as it seemed clear he was two-timing him, it was certain there would be no contact from Joeon in the future.

The bridge connecting him to Joeon had been completely burned to ash.

Stopped in the middle of the street, Dylan let out a ragged breath. White steam spread out and shattered against the dark, early-morning sky.

Suddenly, his heart began to race fearfully. What washed over Dylan was terror. It was similar to the terror he felt when a dog he’d raised as a child ran away and went missing for a night.

The lost dog was found safely after eating a bone hidden by a neighbor’s dog in their backyard, but Joeon was not.

Now, nearly two months after breaking up, Joeon had already left his sphere of influence a long time ago. To a place where he didn’t even have a single connection.

Whatever happens to Joeon in that strange place, even if it were something very bad, Dylan would live the rest of his life without ever knowing.

Even if something very, very bad happened.

Dylan was engulfed in pain as if his heart were being ripped apart.