Late September.
The season when the leaves begin turning red and the cold wind starts to blow.
I was sitting in the wide-open center of LIT Café, awkwardly sipping a café mocha.
My eyes met Kwon Jisoo’s sharp glare from the front counter. I looked at her with desperate eyes asking for help. My kind friend Kwon Jisoo picked up some cookies and walked toward our table to help me—yeah right. She snorted and disappeared straight into the staff room.
“……”
The café was unbearably noisy, yet only our table was silent like a grave. The awkward atmosphere made it hard to even breathe.
We both sat there with our laptops open for about ten minutes. The one who finally broke the silence wasn’t me.
“Um… should we start the assignment now?”
“Ah, ye—yes. Ahem. Okay.”
Maybe because I hadn’t spoken for so long, my voice came out with a rough cough in my throat. Since we had to write the report together, we were sitting side by side at a large shared table.
“Do you have a favorite food?”
“I like sushi. What about you, sunbae?”
“I’m not picky. I eat pretty much anything.”
Ki Tae-young spoke as he smoothly lifted the corner of his lips.
And then—silence again.
The situation was suffocatingly awkward. Feeling cold sweat forming on my back, I clasped my hands together between my legs. A small sigh slipped out of my mouth.
Just then—
“I have a girlfriend.”
Ki Tae-young murmured quietly.
Startled, I looked up at him. He had one hand covering his face while pressing his lips together. As if he were embarrassed, his ears were bright red.
“I debated a lot about whether I should say this or not because it might be unnecessary… but I think it’s better if I tell you.”
When he lowered his hand, his clean, handsome face came back into view. Looking straight at me, he continued,
“I got a girlfriend. So you don’t have to keep avoiding me anymore.”
His words didn’t sink into my brain—they just diffracted around my ears.
He had a girlfriend. In other words, he had a partner now. And I had been awkwardly keeping my distance from someone who already had a partner.
All by myself.
The moment that realization hit me, heat rushed to my face. I didn’t even know why, but it was incredibly embarrassing. As I stared at him with my facial muscles failing to control my grimace, he spoke with a faint smile.
“I said it because you seemed worried all the time. I didn’t mean to make you embarrassed.”
“Ah… um… I’m sorry.”
“I actually signed up for this class to take it with my girlfriend. But as you can see, things turned out like this.”
Ki Tae-young lifted both arms slightly in a playful gesture. My tension melted away instantly, and a quiet laugh slipped out of my mouth.
“I see. Congratulations.”
“For what? Getting a girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks. Then shall we focus on writing the report again? Now that we both know we each like someone else, there’s no need to be so tense. Let’s work hard and get an A+.”
“Yes.”
Ki Tae-young smiled brightly at my response—and seeing someone that handsome really could make a person’s mind go blank for a moment. Thinking about it, he was tall, handsome, and had good manners. It would actually be more strange if nobody liked him.
He reached a hand toward my hair.
It looked like he might have been about to pat it, but his hand suddenly stopped midair and returned to its place. Watching that, I wondered if touching someone’s hair might be Ki Tae-young’s subtle way of showing affection.
“Ah, sunbae. You can speak casually now. I meant to tell you last time but forgot.”
“Alright, got it. You can speak comfortably too.”
“I’m actually more comfortable using honorifics. It’s okay.”
“Alright. Whatever’s comfortable for you. You can switch whenever you want later.”
The atmosphere warmed up.
We stared at the laptop screen for quite a while, thinking about what kind of date course we should plan.
“Should we go with something classic, or something more unique?”
“Hmm. I think it might be good to make the midterm one classic and make the final a bit more unique. What do you think?”
“That sounds good! Two years of experience really shows.”
Ki Tae-young suddenly covered his mouth and chuckled.
If Do Jihoon had done that, I would’ve bitten and kicked him already—but since this was a sunbae, I restrained myself.
But maybe my feelings showed on my face, because he quickly stopped laughing and apologized. I readily accepted the apology.
“When you say classic… What kinds of things are there? I’ve never really gone somewhere thinking ‘I’m going on a date today,’ so nothing comes to mind.”
“Well… how about something like this?”
Ki Tae-young seemed to have quite a lot of experience planning dates. Pointing at the laptop screen, he spoke smoothly with lecture skills that could rival a professor’s.
Like an enthusiastic student, I listened to Professor Ki’s lecture as if enchanted.
“Wow, that’s good.”
“Really? Then should we go with this?”
“Yes. I have no objections. Sunbae, you could totally become a professor. Your lecture skills are no joke.”
“Flattery. Still, it feels nice.”
“Hey, it’s not flattery! I’m serious.”
We were talking comfortably now, as if the earlier awkwardness had never happened. Ki Tae-young was good at guiding conversations, and I also joked around more because I didn’t want things to become awkward again.
Just like I’d thought before, conversations with Ki Tae-young flowed easily. Maybe it was because of the way he spoke—his tone was gentle and naturally put the other person at ease.
Before we knew it, we were chatting while writing the report without noticing the time passing.
When I finally came back to my senses and checked the clock, it was already approaching seven.
[♡My Doji♡: Where are you?]
The moment I checked the time on my phone, a KakaoTalk message from Do Jihoon arrived.
[Still at LIT hehe I’ll head back soon what do you want for dinner?]
[♡My Doji♡: Hmm. Want chicken?]
[yes yes yes yes yes yes yes]
[♡My Doji♡: Okay, Yuri. That’s noisy, stop.]
[How can KakaoTalk be noisy?]
[♡My Doji♡: Read over the messages you just sent. Then we’ll talk.]
[Hing my messages are noisy?ㅠㅠ baby your love has cooled.]
[♡My Doji♡: I’ll order chicken. Come back quickly.]
Do Jihoon ended the chat by completely ignoring my last message.
A smile spread across my face.
“Looks like you’re texting your partner. You seem happy.”
“Yes! I got a partner. I wanted to tell you earlier, sunbae, but I was kind of embarrassed so I held back……”
As I continued speaking, I suddenly realized my words could easily be misunderstood. Startled, I hurriedly waved my hands.
“No, I didn’t mean I was embarrassed because of you! It’s just that I ended up dating someone I used to insist I’d never date……”
The words tumbled out of my mouth before I even knew what I was saying. Whenever I talked to people older than me, I always found myself being overly careful with my words no matter how small the age gap.
“I understood what you meant, so you don’t need to panic like that. I told you earlier—we can just be comfortable sunbae and hoobae now.”
“Ah… right.”
My voice came out awkwardly.
Then Ki Tae-young joked dramatically,
“Of course, if you’re uncomfortable, there’s nothing I can do.”
“No, not at all! I actually really wanted to become close with you, sunbae!”
That was my honest thought slipping out without thinking.
Hearing that, Ki Tae-young covered his mouth and chuckled again. This time I couldn’t even complain. Even to me, it sounded ridiculous and funny.
“That’s good then. Shall we head out? It’s about time for dinner anyway.”
“Yes. I think the course you planned is really good. Your girlfriend will probably love it—your sense is great.”
“Thanks.”
Ki Tae-young said he commuted by subway. Since the subway went in the opposite direction of my apartment, we parted ways in front of the café.
“Goodbye.”
“Alright. Yuri, get home safely too.”
“Yes! See you next time. I’ll message you.”
After sending Ki Tae-young off first, I started walking toward my apartment. To get home, I had to pass by the café and turn into the alley beside it.
“…Doji?”
My head was full of nothing but the thought of eating chicken as I happily turned into the café alley.
And there he was.
Do Jihoon.
“…Déjà vu?”
I felt like something like this had happened before. Frowning, I thought about it.
Do Jihoon pressed his hand to my forehead and gently rubbed it.
“Don’t frown. You’re always telling me that.”
But Do Jihoon clearly hadn’t thought about his own face. His forehead had just as many wrinkles as mine.
“Doji. You’re not any better.”
I raised my hand and rubbed his forehead too.
Do Jihoon had incredibly good skin even though he didn’t seem to do any special skincare. The skin under my fingertips was soft. As I kept my finger resting against him, the thought of marking him suddenly flashed through my mind.
But I was a very polite person. No matter that Do Jihoon was my alpha, I had no intention of touching him recklessly.
Just as I was about to politely ask whether I could mark his forehead—
