“Alright, alright!”
The student council sunbae clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. He announced that the after-party was over and told us to take care of our drunk classmates. I stood up and looked around, trying to find Lee Daeju, Kwon Jisoo, and Shin Gi-hyeok.
“Looking for someone?”
“My friennds….”
“Didn’t they leave first? Check if they texted you.”
That sounded plausible. When I opened my phone, just as Ki Tae-young said, there was a message from Shin Gi-hyeok.
[21 Shin Gi-hyeok: We’re heading out first]
[21 Shin Gi-hyeok: We were gonna wait for you but Lee Daeju drank so much he can’t even stand]
[21 Shin Gi-hyeok: He’s freaking out saying if his boyfriend finds out he’ll kill him]
[21 Shin Gi-hyeok: He’s so drunk he doesn’t even know where his house is]
[21 Shin Gi-hyeok: It’s kinda weird to take him to my place so we’re heading to Kwon Jisoo’s]
[21 Shin Gi-hyeok: Sorry, see you later]
“They left first….”
I looked at Ki Tae-young. I thought I was completely sober, but my words kept slurring at the ends.
“Then I’ll be off now…. Thank you for comforting me today.”
Still standing, I gave him a deep bow. I turned to head home when Ki Tae-young called out to me.
“Can you get home by yourself?”
I might’ve been drunk earlier, but not now. There had been a small incident where I almost smashed my head into a beer bottle while bowing and Ki Tae-young caught me, but anyway—I was sober.
“Yes. I can go by myzelf.”
“Do you know your tongue is twisted right now?”
“I’m talking perfectly clearly though.”
Ki Tae-young covered his mouth with his hand and chuckled. It felt like he was laughing at me, so I puffed out my lips and glared at him timidly.
“Do you live alone? Or commute?”
I was about to say I commuted, then realized that starting tomorrow I’d be living on my own, so I closed my mouth. At the same time, it occurred to me that walking to the nearby apartment would be easier than struggling all the way back to my family home.
“I live around here. It’s really close, so I can go by myzelf.”
I’d heard the furniture had already been moved in. I didn’t have a change of clothes, but if I was just going there to sleep, it’d be fine—that was my simple reasoning.
“Really?”
“Mm-hm.”
Just then, my phone vibrated with a KakaoTalk notification. For a split second, my heart pounded with anticipation, thinking it might be from Do Jihoon.
[21 Shin Gi-hyeok: Just in case, even if that sunbae says he’ll take you home, don’t follow him. Just call your fiancé instead.]
It wasn’t.
I felt irritation surge through me. That bastard Do Jihoon got mad first and now he’s been sulking for days without even contacting me.
As I stared down at my phone, Ki Tae-young looked at me like I was a cat or a puppy.
“What is it?”
I tilted my head as I asked.
“Nothing. Just seems like you didn’t get a text from the person you were waiting for.”
The teasing tone in Ki Tae-young’s voice stung. I must have something wrong with my tear ducts, because I felt the tears that had stopped earlier welling up again. Ki Tae-young panicked and said he hadn’t meant to make me cry.
“Take me home.”
I blurted it out in a fit of temper. After the words left my mouth, I wondered if that had been too rude, and as I fidgeted with the hem of his jacket, the faint scent of his green-apple pheromones brushed against my nose.
“Thank you.”
“…? For what?”
“For saying I could.”
He broke into a bright smile, genuinely happy. I stared at that smile blankly. He really was a gentle person.
There are people like that. People with consideration ingrained in their bones, kindness turned into habit. People everyone likes, and who like everyone in return. That seemed to be Ki Tae-young. Every word he spoke made the other person’s mood lift.
I told him the address of my studio. He said I’d gotten a good place, then slung my arm over his shoulder and supported me as we walked.
“My arm hurts….”
Because of the height difference between us, my arm kept getting pulled higher and higher. After hesitating for a moment, Ki Tae-young suddenly knelt in front of me and turned his back.
“Climb on.”
“What…? I’m heavy.”
“I’m strong.”
“Now that I think about it, my arm doesn’t hurt anymore. I can just walk by myzelf.”
Despite my protests, he simply smiled and showed no sign of standing up. In the end, I had no choice but to climb onto his back. He grabbed my legs and hoisted me up.
Being carried by someone I’d only met three times felt incredibly awkward, so I curled my hands and rested them on his back.
“Can you wrap your arms around my neck? Otherwise you might fall backward.”
“…….”
“Hmm? Wrap them around. It’ll hurt if you fall.”
“I know that.”
I replied curtly, but in the end I wound my arms around his neck. When I lowered my head, my nose brushed against his smooth brown skin. Maybe because that was where his pheromone gland was, the scent of apples wafted up as if I were standing in an orchard.
I liked the sweet smell and sniffed lightly as we walked. After a while, the apartment building I’d looked up online came into view. When he asked which building number, I answered dutifully, swinging my feet back and forth.
“Here?”
At his words, I nodded. I loosened my arms as a signal to put me down, but instead he bent forward slightly, preventing me from getting off.
“I’m here. I just need to go up now.”
“…Alright.”
Just as he was about to lower me—
“…….”
A warm scent like sunlight brushed past my nose. It was a pheromone that shouldn’t be here. I thought, So people can imagine smells too, not just see hallucinations or hear things. And when I looked ahead—
Do Jihoon was standing there.
Thinking maybe I was seeing things now, I reached out and lightly poked him. The warmth of his skin against my fingertips was vivid.
“Huh…? You’re real?”
“…….”
He opened his mouth as if he had a lot to say, then closed it again. The warm scent of sunlight gradually turned into the heat of a blazing furnace.
“Put Yeon Yuri down.”
At Do Jihoon’s words, Ki Tae-young stared at him for a moment before carefully setting me down. As my vision shifted suddenly, I wobbled, and both Ki Tae-young and Do Jihoon grabbed one of my arms each—left and right—to steady me.
“…….”
“You can go now. I’ll take Yuri to our house.”
“…Our house, huh.”
Their pheromones tangled sharply in the air.
But Ki Tae-young couldn’t overpower Do Jihoon’s dominant alpha pheromones. The apple scent gradually faded, and the sweltering heat wrapped around me instead.
“Ah! Sunbae, thank you for bringing me.”
I quickly lifted my head and gave Ki Tae-young a deep bow. Instantly, the two clashing pheromones vanished. Ki Tae-young smiled prettily at me and gently stroked my hair.
“Get home safely.”
“Sunbae, take your coat back.”
“Give it to me next time.”
“But it’s cold….”
“It’s fine. This is just an excuse.”
He covered my ear with his hand and whispered softly.
“An excuse to see you one more time when I come to get my coat back.”
At the same time, I felt a piercing gaze drilling into my back.
“…….”
Ki Tae-young turned around and left the apartment complex. Do Jihoon and I stood outside in the cold until he disappeared into the distance like a dot.
“…….”
Do Jihoon looked at me. I could see all sorts of emotions swirling in his dark eyes. In my drunken state, it was impossible to decipher that panorama of feelings.
When I continued staring blankly at him, Do Jihoon twitched his eyebrow and said,
“Let’s go inside first.”
He grabbed my arm and led me into the apartment. The faint scent of his pheromones emanating from him felt warm—and lonely.
I must really be drunk. With Do Jihoon’s personality, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he’d left me collapsed on the ground and gone home alone, whether my lips twisted or not.
Yet it felt like he was holding my arm rather gently.
“…You’re not Jihoon, are you?”
“Here we go again.”
“My alpha isn’t this considerate.”
“You think I….”
His lips moved as if he was about to say something, but he stopped. Even though I leaned toward him from the side, pestering, “What? What?” his tightly shut mouth showed no sign of opening.
“Wow. It’s my place!”
Click—the door shut behind us.
The studio smelled like a brand-new house. In a good mood, I kicked off my shoes and ran into the living room.
But the floor was more slippery than I’d expected. I fell forward and slammed my knee against the ground with a loud thud.
“Ow….”
“You seriously can’t stay still, can you?”
Do Jihoon quickly walked over to me. Sitting on the floor, he lifted my leg and placed it over his thigh. Then he carefully rolled up the hem of my jeans.
Please please please update or…. Atleast please tell me how long I must wait.
THE THRILL THE SUSPENSE ITS KRILLING ME—
Does dojin arrive or no??? Does MC fully develop a 2nd male lead connection with apple guy???
—THE SUSPENSE!
The need to see dojin in fury. The need to see MC regret and the need for seeing their possessiveness.
Plllleeeassee, atleast tell me when it’s gonna update again, cause this has me thirsting like watermelon cravings in summer.
Not even update it now, but the date for update, I can wait long, JUST NOT IN SUSPENSE PLLLLEEEASEE
ON MY KNEES AND FOREHEAD BOWING REPEATEDLY.