# Chapter 16
“Um… I’m Yeon Yuri.”
“That’s a pretty name.”
“Thank you.”
“What’s your major?”
“Chemical Engineering.”
“We’re in the same college then. But why didn’t I see you during orientation?”
This was when Ki Taeyoung and I were smiling and introducing ourselves.
“What do you think you’re doing right next to someone?”
A voice emerged, clearly laden with displeasure. At the same time, he grabbed my hand tightly. I naturally tried to pull my hand away, but Jihoon wouldn’t let go. Ki Taeyoung quietly observed Jihoon’s behavior.
“So the junior has someone they’re dating, that’s why I didn’t get a call.”
“No. We’re not that kind of relationship.”
I playfully shook my head and responded seriously to Ki Taeyoung’s words.
“Hey. Let go of my hand. You’re making him misunderstand.”
“……”
When I kept giving him pointed looks, Jihoon reluctantly let go of my hand. Jihoon was definitely acting strange today. From what I could tell, it didn’t seem like he knew Ki Taeyoung, yet he was being excessively hostile.
“Then why didn’t you contact me? That makes me feel even worse.”
Ki Taeyoung turned his eyes away from Jihoon and looked at me again. I fumbled with my words as I replied.
“I didn’t think we’d meet again… And I was still a high school student then. Before graduation.”
“Oh, I see…? I didn’t know you were a high school student. Seriously.”
Ki Taeyoung tried to tease me playfully but ended up being more flustered himself and waved his hands in denial. I giggled and told him it was okay.
“You must be sensitive to heat. You have sweat on your forehead.”
With those words, he placed his hand on my forehead. He was about to wipe the beads of sweat with his sleeve.
Jihoon yanked me towards him.
“…?”
His arm was wrapped around my shoulder. He had a stern expression.
Jihoon definitely had sharp features. Even back in high school, he used to smile all the time, but these days, perhaps because he’d reduced the frequency of his fake smiles, his sharp impression was even more pronounced.
Jihoon’s pheromones wrapped around my neck. My neck felt hot. I looked at him, dumbfounded.
Ki Taeyoung naturally lowered the hand he had raised. He scratched his cheek as if embarrassed. At that moment, a voice calling for Ki Taeyoung came from behind.
“Hey! Ki Taeyoung! Stop fooling around and hurry up!”
Ki Taeyoung looked at me as if regretful. I smiled awkwardly.
“I have to go. That friend of mine is quite scary.”
“Yes. Take care.”
“Contact me when you have time. I don’t have your number, junior.”
“Ah, okay!”
“I hope we can drop the formalities then. Alright?”
The senior gently stroked my hair. I could feel the scent of apples filling the spaces between my hair. He smiled handsomely, waved his hand, and returned to his club booth.
As I absent-mindedly touched my hair with my thumb and index finger, Jihoon poured his pheromones all over my hair. It felt like my hair was on fire.
“Ouch, hot! Hey! Why are you being like this!”
He didn’t open his mouth.
We probably stayed like that for several minutes. Only after being exposed to his pheromones until sweat beaded on my forehead in the middle of winter could I finally break free from Jihoon.
“Seriously, there’s something wrong with your personality…”
To my blunt remark, he blurted out something unexpected.
“You really are a good actor.”
That tone of voice was unusually cold.
“What are you talking about?”
“……”
Jihoon was silent. He slightly opened his mouth and ran his tongue over his teeth. His head tilted to one side and then straightened back. He repeatedly took deep breaths and exhaled.
I was crouching and watching his reactions. This bastard was the one being temperamental, yet I was the one being cautious. And I didn’t even know why he was irritated.
As Jihoon maintained his silence, the sweat that had flowed earlier cooled, making my body shiver. Damn, it’s cold.
Strangely, the silence with him was awkward.
Fine. I’ll be the mature one here. Mustering up patience, I opened my mouth to speak to him.
“Did you have your mouth sealed? Open your mouth, babe.”
Jihoon swiftly turned his eyes, which had been looking elsewhere, to gaze at me. His black eyes were filled with irritation and anger.
His pheromones aggressively stabbed at me. My entire body stung as if fire had been placed right next to my skin.
“Hey. That hurts! What’s wrong with you?”
“Didn’t I tell you not to use that disgusting term of endearment?”
Jihoon said, turning his neck.
This bastard.
Irritation surged within me. Does he think he’s the only one who can spray pheromones? I surrounded Jihoon’s body with my pheromones. He flinched. It felt satisfying.
“Was that what upset you so much?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry then?”
“There’s absolutely no remorse in your tone?”
“Stop being ridiculous. You were already pissed off before I called you ‘babe.'”
“……”
He sealed his lips like a clam once again.
“Fuck, you need to talk for me to understand, right? I get that your temper is nasty, but am I your punching bag? Always getting irritated, glaring, spraying pheromones. You need to control yourself, you bastard!”
My mouth erupted.
Once I started speaking, it wasn’t difficult to continue. Feelings of resentment towards him, starting from our first meeting, gushed out like bamboo shoots after rain.
“It was like that when we first met too. Looking down on people. And suddenly making the atmosphere awkward. Just when I thought we were getting closer, I was just digging my own grave.”
“……”
“I don’t really want to talk to you right now either. It seems we both feel the same way, so let’s suppress our tempers until the weekend and see each other then.”
I walked across the lawn, leaving Jihoon behind. I could feel people staring at us. We’d probably end up on Everytime again. They’d say Jihoon and Yeon Yuri had a fierce lovers’ quarrel. When in reality, it was nothing like that.
With a bitter aftertaste, I distanced myself from Jihoon.
❖ ❖ ❖
In front of me was a bowl of rice with fish roe, which I really liked. As I looked at the red flying fish roe, Jihoon’s pheromones came to mind, and a surge of sadness welled up.
I was picking at my food because it wouldn’t go down my throat.
My grateful friends, who had maintained silence while I was gloomy, apparently couldn’t hide the fact that I had been posted on Everytime, and opened their mouths to inform me of the truth.
“Yuri… You’re on a hot post on Everytime.”
Lee Daeju was the first to speak.
“I expected it… Shouting and spraying pheromones in the middle of the open lawn.”
“Are you okay?”
Kwon Jisu expressed concern, as if feeling sorry for me.
“Are you guys okay? I was properly drenched in Jihoon’s pheromones. I bought and sprayed a deodorizer from the convenience store, but it’s not for dominant use.”
“Daeju and I are fine, but Gihyeok…”
“I feel like my insides are turning over…”
While the Omegas, Lee Daeju and Kwon Jisu, were relatively less repulsed by Alpha pheromones, Shin Gihyeok, an Alpha, was chewing his pork cutlet with a pale face.
Similarly, there were no people within about 2 meters around me. I felt like a nuisance, a human cockroach. Thinking that Jihoon might be feeling the same way made me feel a bit better, but then I remembered how thick-skinned that guy was and felt unpleasant again.
“…When do our schedules overlap again?”
“I think we have the same free period on Thursday? From 1 to 3.”
“I’ll buy you lunch then. Tell me what you want to eat.”
Despite having just met during orientation, the kids didn’t ask me anything. They seemed like thoughtful friends. Unlike that bastard Jihoon.
Feeling guilty for the atmosphere I had created, I opened my mouth.
“I’m sorry, but if you’re curious about anything, just ask. I’ll answer as much as I can.”
“Really?”
Lee Daeju was the first to respond. The other guys seemed curious too, as they stopped eating and looked up at me.
“Yeah. Ask away.”
“Then I won’t hold back.”
Lee Daeju thought for a moment before speaking.
“Why didn’t you tell us the secret of your birth?”
“The secret of my birth…?”
“Bumong Pharmaceuticals.”
“But think about it from the opposite angle. What should I say about my family being wealthy? Wouldn’t it be more ridiculous to go around bragging about that?”
“…That’s a good point.”
Lee Daeju nodded. After Daeju, it was Kwon Jisu’s turn.
“The fight? Why did you fight?”
I had a lot to say about that. Jihoon’s personality issues and our relationship. If I were to explain, I could talk endlessly.
But I was reluctant to expose Jihoon’s personality. Even though I had fought with him, I still liked Jihoon. If I had wanted to be complete strangers, I wouldn’t have revealed my innermost thoughts and would have simply cut off personal contact.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
