Alpha Trauma Novel - Chapter 23. Cherry Blossom Rain (7)

He didn’t need to see the face to know. As far as Wooyeon knew, there was only one person with such a gentle voice. Soft and kind, the person he had yearned for all along.

“Seo…”

He couldn’t bring himself to say “Teacher.” His emotions swelled, choking off his words. His eyes welled up, and his throat burned. His irregularly beating heart grew louder, like an alarm.

“…Sunbae.”

That small address was the last brake he could apply. If his feelings were already irreversible, he wished they wouldn’t spill out all at once. Instead of crumbling, he hoped they would seep in slowly.

“…”

Dohyun looked at Wooyeon with an expressionless face. One hand in his pocket, the other holding an umbrella, he quietly lowered his gaze. He had tilted the transparent umbrella towards Wooyeon, causing his own shoulder to get slightly wet.

“Sometimes.”

His voice was like a sigh. His calm gaze held an indecipherable light. He slowly turned his head and whispered in a very small voice.

“It’s not easy.”

Wooyeon didn’t ask what he meant. Instead, he simply placed his hands on his knees and rested his chin upon them.

The single word that followed shook Wooyeon’s heart to its core.

“Should I give you a piggyback ride?”

“…”

Drip, a raindrop fell. The now heavy rain pattered against the umbrella, thump, thump. Dohyun looked back at Wooyeon again and spoke casually.

“I was feeling uneasy anyway.”

What he held out was an antacid in a glass bottle. His hand was so large that the glass bottle looked tiny. As Wooyeon stared blankly at his hand, Dohyun whispered gently.

“I’ll take you home.”

He didn’t even have a chance to refuse. Dohyun pressed the antacid into Wooyeon’s hand, then handed him the umbrella. When Wooyeon came to his senses, Dohyun was already kneeling on one knee in front of him, his back turned.

“Sunbae!”

Wooyeon, flustered, tilted the umbrella towards Dohyun. It wasn’t a downpour, but it wasn’t rain to be caught in without cover either. When Wooyeon said, “Sunbae, you’re getting wet,” Dohyun snorted as if to say, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m already soaked.”

“No, Sunbae. Still…”

“You’re good at saying ‘Sunbae’ now.”

The meaning was obvious. He was telling him to stop talking and get on his back. Wooyeon pressed his lips together and looked at the hem of his coat dragging on the ground. Dohyun urged him once more.

“Quickly, my pants are getting wet.”

Having no choice, Wooyeon placed his hands on Dohyun’s shoulders. As he carefully shifted his weight, Dohyun subtly supported his legs. I shouldn’t have worn shorts, he thought, the fingers brushing his bare skin felt incredibly ticklish.

“I’m heavy, though…”

Aside from his very early childhood, he rarely had memories of being carried on someone’s back. No one had ever been this affectionate, and he wasn’t exactly light enough to be carried. Perhaps because of that, the act of being piggybacked itself felt awkward.

“You shouldn’t be that heavy for me.”

Dohyun replied thus and adjusted his posture. He leaned forward as if gauging the weight, then straightened up without hesitation. With his view suddenly elevated, Wooyeon tightly hugged Dohyun’s neck.

“Scared?”

His voice was somehow laced with laughter. Wooyeon, clinging on like a child, answered sharply.

“No, not at all.”

Anyone could tell he was scared. Dohyun seemed to think similarly, silently suppressing a laugh. Wooyeon adjusted the umbrella and unnaturally changed the subject.

“So, where are we going?”

“You’re really bad at lying.”

“…Please put me down.”

“Where? There’s no bench here.”

Wooyeon hadn’t hurt his leg, yet Dohyun treated him as if he couldn’t walk. Naturally, even if he said he was fine now, it wouldn’t make a difference. Dohyun, who had adjusted his posture while telling him to stay still, replied casually.

“We’re going to the parking lot. I brought the car because they said it would rain.”

“What about the study group?”

“We can do it next time.”

Dohyun said that Garam and Seongyu wouldn’t mind. He also added that studying wasn’t important when he was sick, and that Wooyeon worried too much about trivial things. Wooyeon, who had been silent, felt a familiar sense of incongruity from Dohyun once again.

“…I’ve been curious since before.”

It was the same feeling he had in the club room last time. Being this close, he couldn’t feel any pheromones from Dohyun. He was clearly a dominant Alpha, yet he seemed almost like a Beta.

“Why do you suppress your pheromones?”

Dohyun rarely emitted pheromones unless under exceptional circumstances. Even the faint lingering scent was merely what had rubbed off on his clothes by chance. A typical Alpha would naturally exude pheromones in everyday life, but he seemed to deliberately suppress them.

“If you’re dominant, it must be hard to suppress them.”

Wooyeon, being of a special nature himself, knew this. Suppressing pheromones was akin to wearing uncomfortable clothes and dining with strangers. Wooyeon had unavoidable circumstances, but he didn’t think Dohyun had such reasons.

“You…”

Dohyun started very slowly. He frowned his double-lidded eyes and tilted his head slightly. Finally, Dohyun looked back at Wooyeon and spoke casually.

“You don’t like Alphas.”

“…”

His tone was very matter-of-fact. His expression was puzzled, as if asking if a reason was even needed. Before Wooyeon could ask how he knew, Dohyun added firmly.

“It was obvious.”

“…”

“Very much so.”

That can’t be right, he thought. It wasn’t exactly a secret, but he didn’t make it obvious either. He had never told anyone, nor did he remember speaking ill of Alphas. Besides, hadn’t Dohyun been suppressing his pheromones even before Wooyeon joined the club?

“I’m quick on the uptake.”

His train of thought, which had been spiraling, was abruptly cut off. Because Dohyun, speaking softly, continued in a sweet voice.

“I couldn’t not know, seeing your reaction when Moon Garam lost his cool. You said you didn’t like being touched, but you were fine with Seongyu.”

Now that he thought about it, that seemed to be true. Considering his reaction to Garam, it wasn’t unreasonable for Dohyun to notice. And for him to say himself that he was quick on the uptake…

“…Your pheromones are okay, Sunbae.”

Wooyeon said that and leaned comfortably. Dohyun didn’t reply, but Wooyeon meant it sincerely. If all Alphas were like Dohyun, he wouldn’t dislike Alpha pheromones at all.

“How did you know I was here?”

“I signed you up for your classes.”

Even amidst the rain, Dohyun’s voice was clear. Was it because of his low vocal range, or his gentle way of speaking? Listening to him calmly made all the tension in his body dissipate. It felt as if his stomach had settled, even though he hadn’t taken the antacid yet.

“I know where you have your classes, at least.”

“…”

It sounded as if he had deliberately sought him out. Not that he found him by chance, but that he bought antacids and walked all the way to the building where Wooyeon had his class. Wooyeon gripped the umbrella tightly at those words.

“…Aren’t you going to ask why I was like that?”

The rain showed no sign of stopping, falling steadily. Cherry blossoms had just fully bloomed, but perhaps they would all fall tomorrow. Dohyun didn’t look back at Wooyeon and asked back in a calm voice.

“Do you want me to ask?”

Honestly, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t tempted. He was filled with a desire to pour everything out to him and be comforted like before. But Wooyeon also knew that not everything would go as he wished.

“…No.”

He tightened his arms around Dohyun. He lowered his head and buried his face in Dohyun’s shoulder. The rain-soaked pheromones were faint, almost nonexistent.

“I was just sick.”

A hint of sorrow trailed at the end of his words. Dohyun waited for Wooyeon’s next words in silence. Wooyeon, letting out a shallow breath, prattled on like a spoiled child.

“My stomach hurt so much after eating that hamburger earlier. I’ve never had indigestion except when I was little, but my stomach was churning… and it hurt like needles pricking me… But I couldn’t throw up…”

The more he spoke, the more intense his sorrow became. If Dohyun had laughed at him, he would have stopped, but he was calmly listening to his story. Wooyeon gasped for breath and trailed off after saying “it hurt” about five times.

“So it was so…”

He really could only say “it hurt.” Various reasons and grievances. All of it was encapsulated in that one phrase: “it hurt.” It hurt, and because it hurt, he didn’t even realize he was fine now.

“It did?”

Dohyun replied softly, as if soothing a child. He turned to look at Wooyeon, but Wooyeon had his head bowed low. Dohyun quickly straightened his gaze and spoke with boundless tenderness.

“You must have been upset.”

It was the kindest comfort possible. Of course, it wasn’t exactly the right answer to “it hurt.” Wooyeon felt his chest churn and bit his lower lip.

“Let’s go home, take some medicine, and get some sleep.”

“…”

“Then you’ll be fine.”

He felt like crying. Not because he was sad, but because of something else. His heart was fluttering, and he felt lightheaded.

“…Sunbae.”

Wooyeon raised his face, which was flushed. Dohyun flinched slightly at his breathy voice. Unaware of the slight tremor, Wooyeon spoke in a fragile, almost breaking voice.

“Why are you so good to me?”

He knew that Dohyun was kind to everyone. The “teacher” Wooyeon knew was gentle even to complete strangers. But no matter how kind a person was, wouldn’t they hesitate before giving a piggyback ride to a wet junior?

“…”

For once, Dohyun hesitated to answer. He stared blankly ahead, his lips parting slowly. His gentle voice was somehow a little like a sigh.

“I just want to be good to you.”

Instead of asking “Why?”, Wooyeon bit his lip. He buried his face in Dohyun’s neck and let out a faint breath.

After a long time, Wooyeon finally pleaded in a voice close to tears.

“…Then keep being good to me.”

The rain weakened. The umbrella was tilted, but no one pointed it out. Thump, thump, the repetitive beat of his heart was transmitted through their connected backs.

Perhaps, it had been an attachment he couldn’t abandon from the very beginning. When Dohyun rejected him, when he silently quit tutoring, even while crying and hating him, he couldn’t bring himself to dislike him. The very thought of giving up his feelings was arrogance, conceit.

“I missed you.”

Wooyeon said it casually, trying to make it sound light. He tried to wrap it up as a joke, saying that he had all sorts of thoughts because he was sick, so Dohyun wouldn’t misunderstand. Dohyun was silent for a moment, then replied in his usual gentle voice.

“…That’s a relief.”

That day, rain also fell in Wooyeon’s heart. It was cherry blossom rain.