“Then that means you’re Do Jihoon’s fiancé?”
I heard the one thing I absolutely didn’t want to hear. Gloomily, I nodded. Maybe the alcohol was getting to me—my vision warped slightly and wavered.
“That’s right.”
“Wow. I’ve never seen a chaebol in real life before.”
“A college student with a fiancé? That’s totally a different world. Lucky you.”
I gave a vague smile and brushed it off. They weren’t easy comments to respond to. I downed the soju cocktail Woo Hyun-woo had mixed so well and changed the subject.
We had just started another drinking game when the second-year department rep called out for us to rotate tables again. Shin Gi-hyeok and I stood up. My vision swayed and I stumbled; the perfectly sober Shin Gi-hyeok caught me.
As I turned my head this way and that, wondering which table to approach, a voice I shouldn’t have been hearing in our department rang by my ear.
“Yuri, come over here!”
I wondered if I was drunk and shook my head hard, forcing my eyelids open.
But from a table two over, a familiar apple scent drifted over. I had a bad feeling. It was Ki Tae-young.
“Sunbae, how are you here?!”
I shouted in disbelief, and the seniors sitting next to Ki Tae-young explained. Apparently, there were many College of Engineering student council members and seniors close to Ki Tae-young in Chemical Engineering, so they’d invited him to take advantage of having a handsome guy around.
“We kept asking him to come the year before last, and he never did. Maybe after coming back from the military he caught a late breeze or something—he suddenly said he’d come.”
Ki Tae-young lightly smacked the senior next to him. Shin Gi-hyeok and I awkwardly settled at Ki Tae-young’s table.
Resting his chin on his hand, Ki Tae-young stared at me. My face, flushed red from the alcohol, stared back at him blankly.
“I was waiting. For your contact.”
He pouted slightly, cutely expressing his disappointment.
“……Ah.”
A senior beside him handed me a drink, saying he’d mixed it himself. I awkwardly turned my gaze away from Ki Tae-young and accepted it. Even if it was only a year’s difference, a senior was a senior—the drinks he mixed were all delicious.
“If I’d known it’d be like this, I would’ve asked for your number the first time we met. I’ve been regretting it. I wondered if I’d lost my ideal type just because I was trying to be polite.”
The apple-scented pheromones around Ki Tae-young shifted from sweet to faintly bitter. When he held out his phone to me, I typed in my number for him.
“I’m sorry. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately…….”
Maybe because I’d been drinking, my emotions were heightened. I lowered my head as I apologized. A fragrant rose scent filled our table. One of the seniors let out an impressed exclamation.
“……Wow. A dominant omega really is something. Just smell that.”
“No. I didn’t say it because I wanted an apology.”
It seemed Ki Tae-young could tell through my pheromones that I was genuinely sorry. Looking almost apologetic himself, he gently stroked my hair. It felt warm and nice for some reason, so I nuzzled my head into his hand. His hand paused briefly, then moved downward.
His rough fingers brushed across my forehead. They touched my blinking eyes and traced along the bridge of my nose. The way his touch hovered against my skin—almost touching, almost not—made me squirm, letting out a small “Mm,” and curling in on myself.
Then Shin Gi-hyeok, who was sitting beside me, grabbed Ki Tae-young’s hand and pulled it away from me. Releasing sharp litchi-scented pheromones, he glared at Ki Tae-young.
“……Sunbae. He has a fiancé.”
“Does he?”
Despite the somewhat rude interruption, Ki Tae-young’s expression remained soft. Looking at me curiously, he spoke.
“Last time we met, you said you weren’t seeing anyone. Did you lie?”
“Mm. No. I didn’t lie…….”
“Then?”
As I shook my head weakly, Ki Tae-young smiled at me like I was a newborn puppy and stared intently. The alcohol was really hitting me now.
“With him, it’s not like we’re anythi—”
A large hand covered my mouth before I could finish saying that I was nothing with Do Jihoon. It was Shin Gi-hyeok. Flustered, he was pumping out lychee-scented pheromones.
“Yeon Yuri. You’re drunk right now.”
One of his hands gripped my shoulder; the other covered my mouth. The suffocating sensation made me squirm.
I tried to say, Let go, but his hand muffled it into incoherent sounds. Resting his chin on his hand, Ki Tae-young watched the two of us quietly before speaking.
“Didn’t you say he has a fiancé?”
There was a faintly forced incredulity in his voice as he addressed Shin Gi-hyeok. His gaze was fixed precisely on the hand holding me.
“……Yes.”
With a sigh like someone who’d stepped in shit, Shin Gi-hyeok released me. Freed, I began muttering again, still upset.
“With him……. With Jihooni…….”
As I spoke about Do Jihoon, a wave of sorrow suddenly washed over me. I remembered the stinging sensation of his pheromones pricking my skin. His cold eyes. The biting words that had fallen from his pretty lips.
“Bastard…….”
The curse slipped out of my mouth. Tears pooled at my eyes and fell in drops. My nose clogged up and I sniffed.
“Don’t cry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Ki Tae-young gently lifted my bowed head with his hand. He cupped both my cheeks and wiped my tears away with his thumbs.
“……Thank you.”
His touch was warm. Compared to the sharp sting of Do Jihoon’s pheromones, it made my tears pour down like a waterfall. As if handling something precious, Ki Tae-young kept wiping the tears that continued to fall.
“Yuri seems pretty drunk. Should we go to the convenience store and grab some ice cream, and check on the other freshmen too?”
“That works for us.”
After speaking briefly with a student council senior beside him, he looked at me and asked,
“Will you go to the convenience store with me?”
“The convenience store……?”
“Yeah. We need to buy ice cream, but I’m short on hands. I could use your help.”
His voice was as sweet as cotton candy. Maybe it was his apple-scented pheromones. As if enchanted, I nodded.
‘Will you be okay?’
Shin Gi-hyeok mouthed the question at me, worried. I nodded bravely, signaling I’d be fine. Ki Tae-young wrapped an arm around my shoulders and helped me up. Leaning my unsteady body against him, I blinked and walked toward the convenience store.
It was early spring, but the air was still chilly. I rubbed my shoulders from the cold, and Ki Tae-young took off his jacket and draped it around me.
I turned to look at him. He was only wearing a knit sweater underneath.
“Uh……. You don’t have to. I’m not cold…….”
I tried to take it off and give it back to him.
“I know. I’m hot. Would you wear it for me?”
“…….”
“Would that be a burden?”
Scratching his cheek awkwardly as he said it, he made me groan softly before nodding. I didn’t forget to murmur my thanks in a small voice.
“Thank you…….”
“It’s nothing. I’m the grateful one.”
As the cold air brushed against me, I slowly began sobering up. My wavering vision steadied, but it was impossible to fully gather the half-loosened thread of my mind. I grinned foolishly.
“Do you have a favorite ice cream?”
“Uh……. Papico.”
We arrived at the convenience store and bought ice cream. Since we had to buy enough for everyone at the after-party, the amount wasn’t small. Ki Tae-young carried all the bags himself as we left the store.
“Shall we go back?”
“Give me one of the bags……. I came to help carry them.”
“They’re not that heavy. It’s okay.”
“Still! I’ll feel bad.”
“……Here. Thank you.”
He handed me the smallest bag. With a Papico in one hand and a bag of ice cream in the other, I headed back to the pork barbecue place.
“Let’s eat ice cream!”
When Ki Tae-young handed the ice creams to the student council seniors, they went around the tables distributing them. It seemed the tables had rotated once more while we were gone—Shin Gi-hyeok was no longer there.
Ki Tae-young sat in the empty seat next to me. He kept sitting close, playing with my hair.
“Your hair is really soft. Is it naturally curly?”
“Yeah.”
Feeling pleasantly tipsy, I chatted idly with Ki Tae-young. Before I knew it, it was past midnight.
