Alpha Trauma Novel - Chapter 6. Late Winter (5)

“……”

His brain was slow to retrieve memories. No, considering it went back four years instantly, perhaps it was excessively fast. Wooyeon swallowed, trying not to show his fluster.

“What is that supposed to……”

He seemed to be speechless. His heart dropped, and his pupils dilated greatly. His already blank mind couldn’t find the right words to say. Don’t you remember me? What on earth?

“Why, last time.”

Dohyun remained indifferent. He had no consideration to stop talking, even knowing Wooyeon was flustered.

“We ran into each other at the main gate, didn’t we?”

Main gate.

“……”

……Main gate?

“……That.”

Wooyeon’s eyes rolled. First, he opened with a preamble and then painstakingly retraced his memory. If it was the main gate, it definitely wasn’t four years ago, as Wooyeon had been thinking.

“How do you…… remember that?”

His incredulous gaze turned to Dohyun. Wooyeon calmed his startled heart and let out a hollow laugh. His surprised heart began to beat normally again.

‘You scared me.’

They had merely passed each other. Wooyeon had spoken to him, but it was only for a brief moment. It wasn’t yesterday, and more than half a month had passed already, so it was surprising that he remembered it.

“I’m generally good at remembering people. And someone who looks like you, it’s harder not to remember.”

Dohyun spoke as if Wooyeon was the strange one. His voice, adding that he too had eyes, contained a sense of absurdity. Wooyeon, feeling provoked, glared at Dohyun.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“……”

He frowned. He opened and closed his lips a few times, then let out a short sigh. He seemed to have lost his fighting spirit.

“……Anyway.”

His breathy voice concluded the topic. Wooyeon secretly patted his chest in relief. Then, suddenly, he questioned the feelings he had.

That he had been tutored by him was not a secret. It probably wasn’t important to Dohyun, so he hadn’t bothered to mention it. Even if he were found out right now, it wouldn’t be a big deal. The premise of ‘being found out’ was strange to begin with.

“If you said you didn’t know, I was just going to let it go. It’s not a big deal, and it’s funny to pretend to know you anyway.”

It was exactly as he said. Wooyeon intended to let it go if Dohyun didn’t know. Wooyeon’s position as ‘just a junior passing by’ was sufficient. Not junior 1, not junior 2, just junior 3, appropriately.

“But what do you do when you bring up Alpha, Wooyeon?”

Dohyun tapped the desk as if to make him focus. Wooyeon snapped to attention and followed Dohyun’s fingertip. The fingernail touching the desk was round and neat.

“Then it feels like I have to ask.”

Suddenly, he had a bad feeling. Dohyun’s voice was very sweet, but Wooyeon felt an instinctive sense of crisis. This intensified the moment his persistent gaze took on a different hue.

“Why did you ask me if I was an Alpha?”

‘I’m screwed.’

The thought filling his head paralyzed his mind. This was not the time to relax and let his guard down. He should have quickly changed the subject when Dohyun smiled with a kind face. While Wooyeon broke into a cold sweat, his crescent-shaped eyes urged him again.

“Hm? Wooyeon.”

Fortunately, Wooyeon was able to avoid answering. The professor entered the lecture hall shortly after. The professor, who called attendance immediately, turned on the PPT from the very first class and passionately conducted the orientation. For the first time in his life, Wooyeon desperately wished the class would never end.

“Alright, that’s it for today.”

The moment the professor spoke, Wooyeon closed his notebook and stood up. He had to get out of this lecture hall as soon as possible. But before that, a tall shadow blocked Wooyeon’s side.

“……”

Wooyeon looked alternately at the empty chair and the person standing next to him. He had definitely hung his bag behind the chair, but it was already in Dohyun’s hand. Dohyun placed the bag on the desk and smiled warmly.

“Pack your things. Let’s go to lunch.”

The hand holding the notebook twitched. Wooyeon lifted his head to refuse, but Dohyun even took the notebook from Wooyeon’s hand.

“Class ended early, so you have an hour free, don’t you?”

An hour? What an hour. There was enough time before the next class to eat a full course meal. He wasn’t exaggerating when he kept saying his schedule was messed up.

“I’ll buy you something delicious.”

Dohyun smiled softly. It was a fake smile, just conjured up. Wooyeon clutched his hostage bag and spoke resolutely.

“I don’t feel like eating…”

“Still eat.”

“……”

His first excuse was brutally crushed. Even the accusation, ‘That’s why you’re so thin,’ followed. Wooyeon had never heard the word ‘thin’ in his life.

“I’m not very hungry.”

“I am hungry.”

“It’s not even lunchtime yet.”

“You didn’t eat breakfast, did you?”

“I said I’m waiting for a friend.”

“Kwon Seongyu has no classes today, though?”

“……How do you know that?”

This time, it was Dohyun who was surprised. Dohyun stopped talking and blinked.

“He really has no classes? I just threw that out there.”

Wooyeon, speechless, slowly let go of his bag strap. A triumphant smile appeared on Dohyun’s face. Only then did he gather his own bag and lower his voice.

“Are you coming?”

The locked clubroom was filled with the cold air of late winter. As Wooyeon shivered and zipped up his padded jacket, Dohyun put down the hostage and turned on the heater. The heater whirred and slowly emitted cold air.

“Sit wherever you’re comfortable.”

Two sofas and a cot. Wooyeon sat on the sofa closest to the entrance. Dohyun glanced at him, took off his coat, and handed it over the sofa.

“It’ll take a while for warm air to come out. If you’re very cold, cover yourself with this.”

Before Wooyeon could thank him, Dohyun went to a cabinet in the corner. Because he had taken off his coat for Wooyeon, he himself was only in a thin knit.

‘This is why I liked him.’

Dohyun would probably have taken off his coat for anyone who was cold. At least, the Dohyun Wooyeon knew would have. Sixteen-year-old Wooyeon would have been thrilled, but now, he didn’t mistake it.

“……You don’t seem to get cold easily.”

He hadn’t intended to speak so sharply. Dohyun glanced at Wooyeon and casually opened the cabinet. Fortunately, he didn’t seem offended.

“I get as cold as anyone.”

Wooyeon touched his earlobe and covered himself with the coat. The oversized coat faintly carried pheromones. Rather than feeling burdensome, it felt comfortable; rather than being cloying, it was dry. Fragrant and subtle, it was even attractive to Wooyeon, who disliked Alphas.

‘He must be popular.’

Typical Alphas and Omegas determine first impressions by pheromones. Dohyun, being an Alpha, would likely perceive pheromones first when looking at Omegas. If his pheromones were like this, resembling Dohyun himself, his already immense popularity would soar endlessly.

Thinking that far, Wooyeon felt a sense of incongruity and narrowed his brows. Something seemed off, flickering indistinctly, just out of reach. But that thought was erased when Dohyun sat opposite him and asked.

“When exactly is your next class?”

He was holding a pen and a sheet of paper. Wooyeon looked at the paper, which read ‘Club Application Form,’ and answered softly.

“Five o’clock.”

Thud, his movement stopped. Dohyun frowned his left eye and tilted his head silently. His dark eyes were filled with question marks.

“You don’t mean 5 PM, do you?”

“It’s probably not 5 AM.”

“Huh.”

Wooyeon, already accustomed to such reactions, took out his phone and showed him his schedule. Dohyun slowly scanned the list and asked in an absurd voice.

“What on earth do you do to make your schedule like that?”

What did he do, indeed? He tossed and turned all night without sleep, missed the time, and clicked the wrong things. The cause of it was Kim Dohyun, whom he had met by chance.

“There’s still a course correction period left, so beg the professors. They wouldn’t want a freshman to drop out either.”

“Even the TA helped me with my schedule, but everyone’s busy at the start of the semester, so the professors aren’t in their offices.”

“You have to keep going until they’re there. Send an email, or keep waiting outside their office. No, then, did you actually attend all the classes you want to drop without knowing better?”

“……”

“……Haa.”

Dohyun put a hand on his forehead. To the remark that he didn’t know if Wooyeon was stupid or diligent, Wooyeon replied calmly.

“I’m stupid.”

“……Sorry, slip of the tongue. How can you be stupid and get into our school?”

But it’s true. Such words didn’t work. Dohyun waved his hand and offered Wooyeon the pen.

“Let’s just fill this out. You’re joining a club, aren’t you?”

Wooyeon slowly extended his hand from inside the coat. Dohyun chuckled softly at his cocoon-like appearance.

“Still cold?”

Belatedly, Wooyeon realized that the room had already become warm. The surrounding air was warm enough that he didn’t feel cold even after taking off the coat and his padded jacket. Whether Dohyun knew he was embarrassed or not, he covered his mouth and suppressed his laughter.

“You can keep it on if you want.”

“……No, thank you. The coat is warm.”

Heat rose inside him, causing Wooyeon to even take off his padded jacket. Dohyun, who was about to put his coat back on, paused. His blank gaze alternated between the coat and Wooyeon.

“Did something get on it?”

Did it drag on the floor, perhaps? Wooyeon thought that and stood up. He had covered himself neatly, but since it was quite long, it was entirely possible. Dohyun gazed at the coat and murmured.

“Something did get on it.”

“Ah…… I should have been more careful.”

Wooyeon reached out his hand with an apologetic expression. He was about to say he was sorry and would pay for the dry cleaning, but Dohyun folded the coat and placed it beside him. Then, he put the pen into Wooyeon’s outstretched hand.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing big.”

The moment their fingers touched, Wooyeon reflexively pulled away from Dohyun. Dohyun, startled, stopped his movement with a stiff expression. The pen clattered and rolled away.

“I’m…… I’m sorry.”

It was the second apology. Wooyeon clasped his withdrawn hand and hastily added an excuse.

“I didn’t mean to……”

His fingers, where they had touched Dohyun’s, were burning hot. Even though they hadn’t clasped hands, his face turned bright red. His throat tingled noisily, as if pheromones were about to be released.

“Sorry, you must have been surprised.”

Dohyun, to spare his embarrassment, retrieved the rolled-away pen. This time, instead of putting it in his hand, he placed it in front of him. Watching that, Wooyeon belatedly realized the nature of the incongruity he had felt earlier.

“It’s fine, just sit.”

He hadn’t felt pheromones. Neither during their first meeting nor from the coat. The pheromones he clearly felt earlier were not detectable from Dohyun himself. Like a Beta, he seemed merely a person with traces of them.