ETP Ch 46

The wind after sunset had become quite chilly. Sungyeon sniffled and shrugged his shoulders. He remembered how Bokseung usually suffered from cold hands and feet.

Sungyeon had always had a high body temperature. That’s why it felt very strange for him to feel cold now, in autumn, not even winter.

Sungyeon sniffled again, thinking he should wear an extra thin t-shirt starting tomorrow.

Thud.

He felt a weight on his shoulder. At the same time, Hwang Yoohyun’s pheromones poured into his nose.

Sungyeon turned his gaze to the side. As if Yoohyun had been watching him, their eyes met immediately.

“You were sick all last week, and you’re still wearing such thin clothes?”

“Ah.”

A short clicking of the tongue followed.

If he was that dissatisfied, he could have just not given him the clothes, but he gave them and then nagged.

Sungyeon was about to return the clothes, saying he was fine, but then he put his arms through the sleeves.

He won’t give it back until he asks for it.

“I didn’t feel cold when I was on the bus.”

“Are you very cold?”

“No, I’m fine now. Sunbae-nim’s cardigan is warm.”

Bokseung’s small hand, with a slight upward curve of his lips, buttoned the cardigan again. Yoohyun watched every single movement as if engraving it in his memory.

Kim Bokseung wearing his clothes. Kim Bokseung enveloped in his pheromones.

The boy looked awkward, as if he had borrowed his older brother’s clothes, but to Yoohyun, it wasn’t bad at all.

“Take a taxi if you’re cold.”

“I’m not cold. Besides, I walked all the way here, what taxi?! I’ll arrive in 20 minutes!”

“Wait a minute.”

Yoohyun frowned slightly. And he checked the time.

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

Leaving the bewildered Bokseung behind, Yoohyun opened the convenience store door. He was about to pay for some jelly along with water, but switched it for chocolate instead.

Every time Bokseung moved, a sweet scent tickled his nose. He seemed to have forgotten to take his medicine because he had unexpectedly eaten dinner.

Yoohyun, feeling his body tense involuntarily, hurried his steps. The boy was standing still where he had been told to wait.

“Kim Bokseung.”

Bokseung, who had been looking at him with wide eyes when his name was called, soon frowned noticeably. Then he quickly opened his bag and took out a medicine packet. It seemed he knew exactly what Yoohyun’s actions meant. Fortunately, he didn’t swallow the medicine without water like last time, foolishly.

Bokseung snatched the water bottle Yoohyun was holding and gulped it down in one go.

“Tch.”

Annoyed about something, Bokseung crumpled the empty bottle and huffed.

Yoohyun lightly stroked his cutely wrinkled nose and handed him the chocolate.

“Eat.”

Sungyeon’s gaze went to the neatly unwrapped chocolate offered to him. As if remembering his dislike for jelly last time, he had brought chocolate this time.

He opened his mouth to accept the chocolate and tightened his jaw. Like the chocolate being crushed between his molars, Sungyeon’s heart was also crumbling.

I forgot again!

It seemed he forgot every time he was with Yoohyun. He usually took it meticulously. At this rate, he’d have nothing to say even if Yoohyun thought of him as lacking.

Besides, he couldn’t even smell his own pheromone scent, but Yoohyun noticed it incredibly well. It seemed to be because he was a dominant.

Savoring the lingering sweetness in his mouth, Sungyeon buried his nose in his wrist and shoulder. Trying to see if he could smell even a little bit of Bokseung’s scent. But as before, he couldn’t sense Bokseung’s pheromones.

Even if he was insensitive to his own scent, at this rate, he wouldn’t know if an accident happened anytime, anywhere.

“Why. Do you hate chocolate too?”

An indifferent voice came. Sungyeon shook his head. No, he liked chocolate.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes. Thank you again for taking care of me.”

“Yeah.”

Yoohyun slowed his pace, listening to the sound of footsteps following him. The footsteps that had been bouncing cheerfully were now dragging listlessly. He seemed embarrassed about making the same mistake again.

However, Yoohyun wasn’t that upset about Bokseung’s mistake. He was fine with it because he could take care of anything that happened while they were together, and he could always check up on him with messages when they weren’t.

The mixture of their two pheromones wasn’t bad either. Well, it was only for a very short time.

Even if he noticed that Bokseung was feeling down, Yoohyun didn’t know any grand ways to comfort him.

For him, even noticing that someone else was feeling down was something his parents would praise him greatly for. What kind of personality did he have to have for his parents to tell him to only show his face during holidays?

Hwang Yoohyun usually didn’t care about other people. Until now, excluding Kim Bokseung.

“Be careful.”

That’s why he offered his own awkward attempt at comfort. Because Kim Bokseung looked depressed.

However, those words of comfort struck Sungyeon right in the heart.

“I, I am being careful, sir!”

How thoroughly he had been taking his medicine on time, studying, and not letting his guard down even while feeling sick from the medicine! How could he be any more careful?!

And you’re the one who spills pheromones everywhere every day!

“What?”

Yoohyun realized something was wrong with Bokseung’s sharp gaze. He seemed to be quite angry, his cheeks flushed red.

The problem was that Yoohyun had no idea what went wrong.

While Yoohyun was inwardly bewildered, Bokseung took off the cardigan and handed it back to him. It was almost as if he had thrown it.

Yoohyun, who had caught the cardigan reflexively, stared blankly at Bokseung’s retreating back.

He could have easily caught up in 10 seconds, but he left him alone.

Small and cute things were always fickle.

🍑‧₊ ⋆˙

“So, did everyone do well on the other subject exams? Now that everyone has presented once, I will announce the next presentation topic.”

The eyes of the students taking the “Sports and Popular Culture” lecture widened at the professor’s words.

They knew that this course usually had two presentations on the same topic, so why was the professor talking about announcing the next presentation topic?

Looking at the murmuring students, the professor grinned.

“Until last year, we had two presentations on the same topic, but since the topics were repeated, it definitely wasn’t fun. So this time, I’m thinking of doing it on a different topic.”

Then why are you doing it this year?!

The students’ faces darkened. In inverse proportion, the brightened professor waved his hand, saying it wasn’t a difficult topic.

“This time, you’ll find a successful case of sports marketing and apply it to a similar field to conduct your own simulation. You don’t have to go see a game. Good, right?”

No.

The students’ expressions worsened. A simulation? What’s that?!

The students tilted their heads in bewilderment.

“It’s simple, despite the fancy words. Just think of it as writing one more paper and prepare accordingly. This lecture is mainly composed of freshmen and sophomores, so there will be many who don’t know, so I’ll upload an example on the homepage. But I don’t expect you to follow the format exactly, do you?”

The professor smiled pleasantly. He looked like he enjoyed giving new assignments the most in the world.

Sungyeon glanced around to gauge the students’ hostile atmosphere.

He couldn’t understand why the students were so disappointed. Because for Sungyeon, there was no difference between easy and difficult lectures and assignments at this school. They were all hellishly difficult.

“Professor! So, are the groups staying the same?!”

One student shouted urgently. It was clear he had a crush in the same group.

However, the professor cheerfully shook his head.

“Since this assignment doesn’t involve going outside and isn’t very difficult, I plan to reduce the group size to 4 people. I will also post the group members on the homepage.”

“Argh!” Short screams were heard here and there.

Sungyeon, still unable to adapt, just rolled his eyes.

“Fuck.”

A low curse was heard from beside him. Sungyeon turned his head in surprise. An unexpected figure was sitting there with a sullen expression.

“Sunbae-nim?”

It was you who just cursed, Sunbae-nim, right?

“What.”

Yoohyun realized, from Bokseung’s reaction, that he had spoken his mind out loud.

Why the hell did the professor suddenly change the assignment? Curse words were flying around in his head. He hadn’t realized one of them had slipped out.

Bokseung looked like a surprised hamster, startled by his cursing. Aside from feeling a pang of regret, his surprised expression was so cute that his lips curved up involuntarily.

Unaware that Bokseung was even more surprised by the dissonance between his languid expression and harsh curse, he continued.

“You seem upset.”

“That’s you.”

“Me?”

Sungyeon pointed at himself.

No, I don’t even understand the assignment itself, so I’m not even upset?

Sungyeon shook his head. If there was the calmest person in this lecture hall right now, it was him.

“You got mad at me yesterday. Until a while ago, you weren’t even acknowledging me. Come to think of it, you delightfully ignored my morning message too.”

Yoohyun pointed out each point with a straight face. Only then did Sungyeon realize that he had been angry at him since they parted ways yesterday.

Wait, whether I’m angry or not, he pretended not to even bat an eye, but he was holding it all in? How petty…!

Sungyeon grumbled inwardly and turned his gaze towards the hallway.

“Kim Bokseung. Aren’t you turning your head back?”

“Yes, sir.”

As soon as Yoohyun spoke, Sungyeon’s head turned back to him. It was the swiftness born of the instinct not to defy him.

“So.”

“When did I ever get angry? No. Yesterday, I suddenly had a stomachache and ran off, and this morning, I was late so I ran.”

Sungyeon forced a smile, his cheeks cramping.

Unexpectedly petty, Yoohyun might nitpick about him ignoring a single message. Since they were talking now, Sungyeon decided it was better to clear things up without any reservations.

Of course, this was Sungyeon’s thought, and Hwang Yoohyun’s thought was quite different.