“Ah, when I saw you last time, your pheromones felt faint so I assumed you were a phenotype…. And the vibe too….”
“Me? From me?”
Doyun laughed lightly at Suhyeon’s question, as though he’d just heard something peculiar. Very occasionally someone would say you give off a bit of an omega vibe — but that was because of his pretty face for a male beta, nothing to do with pheromones at all.
“Yes.”
“Huh. Ah…. Maybe it’s the clothes? I was wearing clothes a friend gave me that time too — and that friend is a phenotype.”
Doyun had been briefly lost in thought at Suhyeon’s question, then spoke as if something had just come back to him. Both on the day he received Suhyeon’s note and today, Doyun was wearing clothes Eunho had given him. This t-shirt wasn’t one Eunho had personally worn — but since Eunho had said it had been stored in his car, it was possible the pheromones had soaked into it.
“Hmm, pheromones-wise that could be it — but it doesn’t seem like it’s only because of the clothes. It’s just a feeling… you don’t feel like a beta.”
“Next time we meet, you won’t smell anything at all. Oh, wait — did you want to be friends because you thought I was a phenotype? That’s a problem. I’m not a phenotype.”
In group settings like school, everyone mingles at first, but eventually phenotypes end up clustering with phenotypes and non-phenotypes with non-phenotypes. Eunho, a dominant alpha who hung around with three betas, was an exceptional case. Of course, Eunho did say he occasionally attended phenotype gatherings, but he didn’t seem to define those people as friends.
“No, it’s absolutely not because you’re a phenotype — I just happened to pass by and see you a few times at the library.”
“Me? Oh — wasn’t that when I was completely losing my mind over group project meetings?”
“I saw you like that a few times, and I started to… take an interest. That’s why I wrote the note.”
Doyun broke into a bright smile at Suhyeon’s words. Minjun, who was in the same department, would often tell Doyun you seriously have zero awareness of the people around you. He had just made a resolution not to be so standoffish — especially since he’d be going abroad soon and meeting a lot of new people. He was grateful for a junior who had taken the first step toward him at exactly that timing.
Non-phenotypes, who made up the vast majority of humanity, were generally awkward around phenotypes — and even if they tried not to show it, many found them uncomfortable. But maybe it was because of how close he’d always been with Eunho — Eunho being an alpha didn’t feel entirely alien to Doyun. Minjun and Suhyeok had teased him saying isn’t he interested in you? — but since Doyun had made it clearly known he was a beta, it couldn’t be that kind of interest.
“Ah, so you just wanted to be close, right? Maybe word got out that my grades are secretly pretty good. I’m only giving you my past exam papers and notes, so you better do well on the exams.”
“…Yes, thank you. I’ll study hard.”
“Here’s my place.”
Walking along to match Suhyeon’s wide strides, Doyun found himself in front of his own studio apartment before he knew it. Doyun stuck the still half-eaten ice cream in his mouth to free up his hand, then covered the keypad with his other hand to hide the password.
Beep — the moment the first number was pressed, the door swung open.
“Doyun.”
The person who had opened the door from inside Doyun’s apartment was Eunho.
“Oh — why are you here?”
“I came to bring your clothes.”
Eunho smiled as he answered Doyun’s question. The bright, eye-crinkling smile felt somehow unfamiliar. Eunho was holding the open door with one hand, and with his other he pulled the ice cream right out of Doyun’s mouth.
Eunho glanced once between the remaining ice cream and Doyun, then swallowed the rest of the ice cream in a single bite. He crunched through it — crunch, crunch — and then this time turned his gaze not to Doyun, but to Suhyeon.
“We slept at the hotel yesterday, and you left your t-shirt behind. I brought it for you.”
At Eunho’s words, Doyun’s brow furrowed this time. If Doyun hadn’t been a beta, those words would have left plenty of room for misunderstanding. Just as Doyun was about to clarify the potential misunderstanding, Eunho — chin slightly raised, eyes fixed on Suhyeon — spoke in a low voice.
“…For someone this oblivious, must be recessive?”
From the moment he laid eyes on Suhyeon, Eunho had been releasing aggressive pheromones like a warning display. It was only then that Suhyeon realized the faint pheromones he’d been catching had belonged to Eunho all along. The very faint pheromones and the omega-like feeling had made him mistake Doyun’s secondary type.
“…….”
Suhyeon’s expression darkened at Eunho’s words. A look of humiliation crossed the face of the polite junior with his amiable features. At that, Doyun grabbed Eunho’s arm.
“Hey, Sa Eunho.”
“…….”
“…….”
“You — what are you… Suhyeon, wait here for a second. I’ll bring the papers right out.”
Hostile gazes passed between the two. Doyun grabbed Eunho by the arm and hauled him inside the apartment. The sound of the door closing followed.
“Sa Eunho, I don’t know about this stuff since I’m not a phenotype — but is it okay to go around ranking dominance with someone you don’t even know? Didn’t you see how flustered Suhyeon was?”
“Suhyeon?”
Eunho’s sharp gaze drove itself into Doyun this time. Suhyeon? Eunho mimicked Doyun’s familiar tone with a sneer.
“Yeah… he’s the junior I told you about. The chocolate one.”
“Did anyone ask me his name? What exactly are you doing out there?”
“What am I doing — I just had lunch.”
Eunho’s expression remained stiff and set. His previously calm breathing grew gradually rougher. Doyun could feel the temperature of Eunho’s arm in his grip climbing steadily higher.
All Doyun had done was have lunch with a junior from school — and yet it felt like he was being interrogated for some wrongdoing. Eunho raised one hand and pressed down on the outer corner of his own eye — once, twice. It was something he did when he was stressed or exhausted.
“I’m a socialized dominant alpha, so — that’s why… I barely held myself back.”
“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”
Eunho suddenly bent his knees and dropped to the floor as if collapsing. The face behind the two hands covering his mouth was white — beyond pale, completely drained. Doyun startled and crouched down beside him, scanning Eunho’s face. A heavily suppressed voice crawled out from Eunho.
“Get those papers out to him quickly and send him away. The smell is making me feel like I’m going to throw up.”
“Hey, are you feeling sick?”
Eunho’s face was growing more and more ashen, like someone genuinely on the verge of retching. Watching the furrow between his brows deepen, Doyun sensed this was serious and looked around the room. He scanned quickly for a basin — or even a trash can — but in an apartment not yet fully furnished, there was no chance of finding one.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up….”
“Sa Eunho — if you’re going to, if you’re going to throw up — do it here. Ugh, ughhh….”
In a panic, Doyun cupped both hands together and held them in front of Eunho’s mouth. He couldn’t bear to watch, so he turned his head away.
“Bleeugh.”
“AUGH—”
Doyun screamed at Eunho’s prank. He had squeezed his eyes shut, but nothing wet landed in his palms. Doyun slowly opened one eye and peeked cautiously at his own hands. The moment he realized it had been Eunho pulling a prank, Doyun’s face began to flush red.
“You—!”
“Joking.”
Doyun shouted with a face burning red from the humiliation of being tricked. Even with the word joking tacked on, Eunho’s expression was still rigid. Still drained of color, still nauseated, still holding hostility toward the person outside. With a blank face, Eunho said in a low voice — it wasn’t so much speaking as it was a crushed, mangled voice forcing its way through a barely-open mouth.
“Get rid of him and come back.”
***
Pretending to retch into Doyun’s cupped palms had been called a prank — but with his face still pallid, Eunho looked as though he might actually collapse at any moment. At Eunho’s gesture urging him to hurry out, Doyun asked once more, are you okay? Eunho told him to stop asking that and just go sort things outside and come back — and Doyun, after a moment’s hesitation, stepped out the door.
“Suhyeon, I’m sorry.”
Doyun handed over the notes and past exam papers he’d promised Suhyeon, along with an apology. Suhyeon accepted the notes with an expression caught between concern and curiosity and asked,
“…Are you okay, hyung?”
