‘Teacher, did you spray perfume? You smell really good today.’
Having arrived at school, Wooyeon scratched his nape above his turtleneck while recalling what his tutoring student had said yesterday. The marks Kwon Jeonghan had left still remained like bruises.
It wasn’t something that hadn’t happened before, but he was bothered by people constantly staring at him on his way to school. He was taking his medication well, his pheromones weren’t strong to begin with, and it wasn’t his heat cycle week either.
Wooyeon kept lifting his sleeve for no reason to smell if there was any scent. His appearance reflected in the building glass seemed to have no problems. Was it just his imagination? Thinking that, Wooyeon entered the building.
And before entering the lecture hall, Wooyeon hesitated for a moment. It was because Jeonghan also attended this class. He had no idea how to face him at all.
As Wooyeon stood still in front of the door, the person behind Wooyeon opened the lecture hall door and went inside. While opening the door, that person’s gaze looking at Wooyeon was unnecessarily long. Now beyond bothered, Wooyeon felt unpleasant. In front of the closing lecture hall door, Wooyeon brushed his hair back for no reason.
He let out a deep sigh, and this time the door opened from inside. Startled by the suddenly felt pheromones and sense of déjà vu, Wooyeon raised his head, and his eyes met with the person who opened the door from inside the lecture hall.
“……”
The owner of the gaze he met was Jeonghan. Wooyeon froze in place, unable to say anything. Even a casual greeting wouldn’t come out as if it was stuck tight below his throat. Since they weren’t in a relationship, he couldn’t resent Jeonghan even if he had left Wooyeon’s place that day without a word. On top of that, acting awkward like this now would probably be dismissed as absurd by Jeonghan.
His flustered gaze urgently followed his face. The eyes that usually had a gentle light were coldly directed at Wooyeon. As Wooyeon just stared at him, Jeonghan sighed, grabbed Wooyeon’s wrist, and went out of the lecture hall. A familiar hot sensation arose from the grabbed wrist.
“Kwon Jeonghan?”
Wooyeon called Jeonghan’s name with a surprised face, but Jeonghan walked to the end of the hallway, dragging Wooyeon without any response.
“What?”
When he opened an iron door at the end of the hallway and went out, an outdoor staircase connected to the smoking area continued. His heart pounded thump thump. If his face turned red, it would really be embarrassing—even in that moment, Wooyeon thought that.
“I thought it would be okay by today, but it’s worse than I thought.”
“What is?”
It was difficult to understand what Jeonghan meant. After disappearing from his studio apartment like that that day, these were the first words he said……
Wooyeon’s eyes looking up at Jeonghan were somewhat angry. Jeonghan was still holding onto Wooyeon’s wrist. When Wooyeon tried to pull his wrist away, Jeonghan continued not letting go.
“You don’t know yourself?”
“What are you talking about?”
When Wooyeon asked back with a puzzled voice instead, Jeonghan looked outside with a frustrated face. After a moment, the gaze turning back to Wooyeon carried irritation. It was a face rarely seen from Jeonghan. Jeonghan looked left and right, then approached Wooyeon closely.
“What are you doing?”
Wooyeon, who tried to avoid him, was cornered. Jeonghan paid no mind and approached Wooyeon even closer. It didn’t take long for Jeonghan to snatch Wooyeon’s arm and cage him in his embrace.
Wooyeon struggled while held in Jeonghan’s arms. Wooyeon had no idea what he was thinking at all.
“What are you doing!”
“Just stay still.”
“Kwon Jeonghan! Ah……”
In an instant, the body held in Jeonghan’s arms went limp. His legs that lost strength dangled under Jeonghan’s strong arms. He wanted to push Jeonghan away, but Wooyeon didn’t have that kind of strength left. Wooyeon exhaled with a quickly flushed face. He could feel his blood flowing rapidly, and it was clear that Jeonghan’s pheromones were flowing into his lungs.
Wooyeon staggered and grabbed Jeonghan’s shoulder. The thought of ‘what if someone sees’ had long been erased from his mind.
Jeonghan leaned Wooyeon’s body back against the wall, then reached out and pulled down one side of Wooyeon’s turtleneck. The white skin hidden by clothes was dazzlingly revealed, and mottled marks still remained on it. Jeonghan’s face looking at it now seemed satisfied and smiling.
“They’re still beautifully remaining.”
Wooyeon, with eyes still heated with fever, looked up at Jeonghan. He couldn’t understand what Jeonghan had just done. While he couldn’t come to his senses, Jeonghan’s face drew close again.
“Ah……!”
Jeonghan lowered his head and sucked on Wooyeon’s nape again, then pulled away. Wooyeon’s fingers raised on Jeonghan’s back trembled. Jeonghan looked at the new mark over the several-day-old mark with a face that seemed proud. Wooyeon raised his strengthless hand and grasped his nape. Looking at the face that seemed about to shed tears at any moment, Jeonghan smiled.
“Sunbae’s pheromone scent was so strong that everyone was staring. Didn’t you notice?”
Even after doing such a thing at school where there were many watching eyes, Jeonghan was bold as always. Wooyeon breathed heavily while looking at Jeonghan. He didn’t even have the strength to say anything to him.
“When even all sorts of fucking bastards were in heat and staring, there’s no way I could just let it pass.”
The pupils visible between his beautifully curved eyes were cold. In a calm tone, he used unrefined words. Wooyeon, who barely pulled himself together, stood properly on his legs again and covered his cheeks with both hands. He couldn’t understand at all what Jeonghan was saying.
“It’s almost time for the lecture to start.”
At those words from Jeonghan, Wooyeon didn’t respond and opened the iron door behind him to enter the building hallway again.
The gazes of students standing in the hallway still followed Wooyeon, but it felt a little different from before. The gazes toward Wooyeon that had persistently clung to him quickly changed direction when they met Wooyeon’s eyes. It was a strange feeling. Wooyeon entered the lecture hall he couldn’t enter earlier with quick steps.
“Oh!”
As soon as he entered through the back door of the lecture hall, that male student who had mentioned omega to Wooyeon last time approached Wooyeon with a wide grin.
“Today too, sunbae-nim……”
What would he say today? Wooyeon clenched his fist without taking his gaze off him. But suddenly, the smile completely vanished from his face that had been grinning slyly.
“Ah, no. The professor is here.”
Strangely, as he got closer to Wooyeon, he raised both hands and backed away. Wooyeon tilted his head, and the male student sat down in his seat hurriedly, saying the professor had arrived.
Was the strange feeling because he was being sensitive? In any case, Wooyeon was glad that he didn’t pick a fight.
Wooyeon sat down roughly anywhere, and before he knew it, Kwon Jeonghan had followed in and put his bag down in the seat next to Wooyeon.
“Hey, you.”
Before Wooyeon could say anything to Jeonghan, the professor who entered the lecture hall began calling attendance. Jeonghan rested his chin on the desk and smiled at Wooyeon, then answered to the professor’s roll call. Wooyeon quickly scanned the surrounding seats, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere nearby to move to. Wooyeon let out a small sigh and pulled his chair to sit down.
How long had it been since the lecture started? Jeonghan tapped Wooyeon’s arm. He ignored it several times, but because he was so persistently insistent, Wooyeon eventually looked at Jeonghan. When their eyes met, Jeonghan smiled brightly and pointed to his textbook.
「Do you have time after this?」
Jeonghan’s handwriting was written in the corner of the textbook. Wooyeon looked at it, then turned his eyes back to his own textbook. Seeing this, Jeonghan smiled again and continued writing other words below. When Jeonghan tapped Wooyeon’s arm again, this time Wooyeon’s head turned right away.
「I want to talk with sunbae a bit.」
This time, Wooyeon placed his gaze a bit longer on Jeonghan’s writing. Wooyeon raised his head to briefly check the professor’s mood, then slowly wrote with his mechanical pencil in the corner of the textbook closer to Jeonghan. He was about to write ‘Hospital bills?’, but Wooyeon ended up writing something else instead.
「Because of my mom?」
And his eyes meeting Jeonghan’s rippled. Jeonghan chuckled and continued the written conversation.
「No」
At those two characters from Jeonghan, Wooyeon was inwardly relieved. And at the same time, he was also angry. Wooyeon also had things to say to Jeonghan. Wooyeon had no idea how much the daily hospitalization fee for that hospital room would be. By what means could he possibly repay that amount?
After Jeonghan put a period after those two characters, he wrote other characters on the line below.
「Just because it’s fun, talking with sunbae.」
Hesitation was felt in Wooyeon’s eyes. Wooyeon, who had briefly met eyes with Jeonghan, turned away and fixed his gaze on the professor again. This time, Jeonghan also didn’t persistently tap Wooyeon’s arm anymore.
“Let’s end today’s class here. Don’t forget to write a simple report and bring it.”
At the professor’s words, words of gratitude burst out from the students all at once. When Wooyeon immediately packed up and stood, Jeonghan’s voice called Wooyeon.
“Sunbae.”
Wooyeon’s eyes looking back at Jeonghan were calm.
“Sorry. I have a class right after this.”
Wooyeon already had expertise in refusal. It was a refusal without any excess that left nothing more to say.
