HWAMB — Chapter 10

3. The Squirrel in the Box

The warm April breeze was passing through the window.

The drowsy and heavy spring air so easily brought on spring fatigue.

There were about two weeks left until midterms.

A short time if you thought of it that way, but also long if you looked at it differently. Of course, I belonged to the former.

It was also around this time that teachers began to drop hints about exam questions, so I had to stay alert and not doze off.

Normally, starting three weeks before exams, I would go to the study hall with Hyun-woo every weekend, but last week had been hectic and messy, and somehow, it just got skipped over.

Now that another weekend had come around, I packed up my study materials and went with Hyun-woo to the nearby study hall.

It was a newly built place, with good facilities, spacious, pleasant, and reasonably priced.

There had been another much closer study hall I used to frequent, but it went out of business just a few months ago, so I had no choice but to look for a new place. From the reviews, it didn’t seem bad, and when I’d checked it out casually last time, it wasn’t too shabby.

After dropping my things at a seat in the very back, Hyun-woo sat down next to me.

“Don’t fall asleep today.”

“Mmm…”

Unable to give a confident answer, Hyun-woo reluctantly replied, “I’ll try.”

At the uncles’ earnest request, I always dragged Hyun-woo along and made him sit to study like this, but honestly, nothing seemed to change.

Of course, the uncles would wipe away tears of joy just at the sight of him sitting in a study hall at all.

That just showed how stubborn he must have been.

Every time I went to the study hall, I secretly set a goal for Hyun-woo, and today’s was “Make him study for two hours.”

Honestly speaking, with Hyun-woo’s brain, just two hours of focus could bring out impressive results.

I opened a notebook next to my textbook and began moving my hand busily to make a summary note for him.

It took quite a bit of effort to organize separately like this, but I didn’t mind, since it also helped me review while I wrote.

First, I skimmed through the key points in a broad sweep, then afterward, I would go into details…

“…”

Once I started focusing on one thing, I wouldn’t notice anything around me, and time just slipped by as my hand kept moving.

Scratch, scratch.

The pleasant sound of paper meeting pencil filled the air.

Before I knew it, the empty notebook was filled neatly with rows of handwriting, crammed in like a copied text. The moment I saw it, my busy hand froze.

I suddenly remembered the notes Hyun-woo had made for me when I’d been sick last time.

Despite his rough personality, his letters and markings were organized and clear enough for anyone to understand.

It struck me again how pretty his handwriting actually was. Honestly, I hadn’t realized it before. I’d rarely had a chance to see it.

“You’d only know if you saw him taking notes.”

He always said he didn’t have the habit of note-taking since he usually memorized things on the spot after hearing them once. It sounded like pure bluffing.

But the notes I made for him, he stared at them day after day, even right before exams.

Whether it was bluff or not, I didn’t really care.

If Hyun-woo used what I organized to get good grades, it made me feel proud and happy.

I stopped underlining with a highlighter and tapped the pen lightly against the notebook.

After some hesitation, I pulled Hyun-woo’s notebook out of my bag. Slowly flipping through it, I traced the handwriting pressed into the paper.

“The more I look, the more amazing it is.”

Hyun-woo always did everything moderately.

Studying, sports, music.

He had plenty of talent, but never seemed interested in anything. That was the biggest difference between us—I threw myself desperately into everything.

Hyun-woo just stood one step behind me and watched.

If he put his mind to it, he could probably do better than anyone else, but he never bothered.

Some people disapproved of that, blaming it on him being a wealthy, privileged dominant alpha, but I didn’t think that was the whole story.

Even if he’d been born a regular beta or an omega, I felt he would have been the same.

That was just who Hyun-woo was.

Of course, if he’d been dirt poor or in a dire situation where something had to be done right away, even Shim Hyun-woo would have worked hard. But that wasn’t unique to him—anyone would.

To imagine him only in such extreme conditions was nothing more than envy and jealousy on my part.

“Still, it would be nice if he liked at least one thing…”

While my mind wandered from one thought to another instead of focusing on studying, a small white note fluttered onto my desk.

It was from Hyun-woo.

The clumsily torn scrap of paper was folded twice like an ordinary letter.

“What’s this?” Curious, I unfolded it quickly.

[I’ll buy coffee, so concentrate.]

When I turned my head, Hyun-woo was already gone from his seat.

Flustered, I closed the notes he had written for me and hurriedly stuffed them back into my bag, trying to hide my flushed face.

Then I grabbed my highlighter again and underlined the key points in a rush.

Even the handwriting on the note, just like his notebook, was still so pretty.
* * *

“Huah…”

I quietly stretched. The day had already darkened, and dusk had settled in.

On the desk was the café latte Hyun-woo had bought for me. I sipped the last mouthful I had been saving and glanced at the darkened sky outside the window.

When I checked the clock, more time had passed than I had expected.

I must have been so absorbed that I barely even breathed.

“I should probably suggest we go eat dinner soon.”

I tore a small corner off my notebook, just like Hyun-woo had done earlier, and scribbled a note telling him to go eat. I slid it across to his desk.

“…”

Even after waiting three minutes, I didn’t receive even the simplest reply like “Okay” or “Wait a second.”

Finding it strange, I craned my neck to peek at Hyun-woo’s desk.

What I saw was Hyun-woo curled up, his face buried in his arms.

“Is he… asleep?”

I’d seen Hyun-woo asleep countless times, but it had been a while since I’d seen his eyebrows relaxed instead of furrowed.

Especially recently, it seemed even more unusual.

I’d asked him to study, and yet, as always…

I clicked my tongue, but still watched him closely.

He used to say he never had nightmares, not even the common ones. The only dream he occasionally mentioned was the one where he gasped awake, saying he was falling from a high place—a “growing taller” dream.

I always thought that was kind of amazing.

“He really does sleep well.”

Still, he had managed to focus for about an hour and a half, if not the full two hours.

For Shim Hyun-woo, that was quite the effort.

I poked his cheek lightly.

The soft, warm skin, heated by his body temperature, felt pleasant to the touch.

It reminded me of roasted marshmallows from camping trips.

Once he fell asleep like this, Hyun-woo didn’t move a muscle.

Seen this way, he wasn’t the cold and stern handsome boy everyone thought, but more like a gentle puppy with an angelic face, taking a nap.

I kneaded his cheek softly, hoping he might wake up, but as usual, he slept deeply and didn’t stir at all.

After toying with his cheek for a while, I checked the time again.

6:30.

“Should I let him sleep another hour before waking him…?”

Dinner could wait a bit.

Thinking that he might still be short on sleep after taking care of me last week when I was sick, my heart softened.

“Instead, tomorrow—Sunday—I’ll work him hard,” I resolved, pulling my hand away from his cheek.

Just as I picked up my pencil again and was about to open my book, my arm was suddenly grabbed.

The pencil slipped from my weakened hand and dropped onto the notebook. When I turned my head, Hyun-woo had turned his face toward me, smiling.

Like a sharp spring breeze rushing in, my chest fluttered.

It was as though he held the very taste of April’s spring in his smile.

Dazed, I stared blankly at him, and Hyun-woo interlaced his fingers with mine.

Only a single finger was linked, yet it felt as though something deeper was tightly entwining us.

With his free left hand, Hyun-woo scribbled something, then held up the notebook to show me.

[I’m hungry. Omurice gogo?]

The messy scrawl, unlike the neat notes in his notebook, was clumsy to the point of being almost cute.

TL/N: Omurice (오므라이스): A Japanese-style dish of fried rice wrapped in an omelet, often topped with ketchup or demi-glace.

gogo (ㄱㄱ): Korean internet slang from “고고” (go-go), meaning “let’s go,” “let’s do it,” or “let’s get it.”

* * *

On the way out, after packing my bag to go eat dinner and closing the study hall door, I saw a familiar face in the hallway.

It was Do Jin-gyeong, the class president.

When he noticed me, he smiled warmly and waved, so I ended up greeting him back in surprise.

“Your… head, is it okay now?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I’m totally fine now, so you don’t have to worry.”

When I awkwardly smiled and gestured toward my head, Jin-gyeong laughed lightly and answered as if it wasn’t a big deal.

Before I knew it, the class president was walking naturally by my side.

“Do you study here too?”

“Yeah. But actually, today’s my first time. The place I usually went to closed down…”

“Ah… I see. This place is pretty nice, right?”

“Yeah, I think so. Do you live nearby…?”

“No, it’s about twenty minutes by car. But my cram school is close to here.”

“Ah… got it.”

Since we’d never had many interactions, the conversation quickly fizzled out.

Hyun-woo glanced sideways at Jin-gyeong walking with us, and when their eyes met, Jin-gyeong returned a faint, unreadable smile.

It felt like there was a subtle tension between them in that silence.

“What’s with these two… Do they know each other…?”

Being stuck between them, I felt suffocated.

Awkwardly smiling, I quickened my pace and walked ahead. Then I suddenly saw the closed elevator doors in front of me and instinctively stepped back.

Jin-gyeong, who had followed behind, pressed the down button and turned toward me.

“You’re going home, right? Let’s go down together.”

Hearing that, my stomach churned. Cold sweat trickled down the back of my neck.

I stammered in a trembling voice.

“N-no, I’ll take the stairs…”

As I spoke, the elevator doors opened. Inside was an empty elevator, a mirror fixed on one wall.

I froze and stared blankly inside.

My mind went completely white.

I barely registered that someone was speaking next to me.

“Eun-jae?”

With a gasp, I came to my senses and realized I was standing behind Hyun-woo. He had grabbed my arm and pulled me behind his back.