ETP Ch 39

‘Kim Taeon’ was bothering Seongyeon so much that he kept checking his phone during his lectures to figure out why he’d been blocked. However, he couldn’t find any other information besides the memo.

After finishing his morning classes with a lingering unease, Seongyeon headed to the student cafeteria with his friends for lunch.

“What are you going to eat today? I’m gonna have the fish cutlet!”

Minjun said, looking at the menu. The other two also chose fish cutlets, while Seongyeon, still feeling queasy, opted for Korean food.

The four of them each got their food and gathered at the same table. Seongyeon, after briefly telling his friends to enjoy their meals, took a sip of his refreshing radish soup.

“Ugh!”

Immediately afterward, nausea rose from his stomach, and Seongyeon quickly covered his mouth.

The other friends’ eyes widened at Bokseung’s sudden retching. Seongyeon was no different.

Even though his stomach was upset due to a hangover, it wasn’t to the point of nausea. He’d even had two bowls of hangover soup that morning, so he was bewildered by this sudden turn of events.

All four of them stared at each other, startled like rabbits.

“A-Are you okay?”

Hyunah, sitting next to Seongyeon, patted Bokseung’s back.

“Y-Yeah. I’m f-…!”

He retched again. It seemed like his hangover had hit him hard. Seongyeon excused himself to his friends and ran straight to the bathroom.

However, when he actually reached the toilet, nothing came up. The nausea that had been churning in his stomach subsided as if it had never been there.

In the end, Seongyeon left the bathroom without being able to do anything. He returned to the table after washing his hands only to find the beagle trio sitting there, transformed into worry dolls.

“Is your stomach really upset?”

“Shouldn’t you take some medicine?”

“Let’s go to the infirmary together!”

At the sight of Bokseung’s face, his friends started fussing, and Seongyeon quickly waved his hands.

“No, it’s not that bad. I think I’ll be fine if I rest a bit. I’m going to go rest in the nearby lounge. Eat slowly.”

Seongyeon stood up, holding his untouched food tray. He was exhausted from dissuading his friends from following him.

Fortunately, the campus was large, and lounges were scattered throughout. Seongyeon walked toward the Business School lounge, which was closest to the cafeteria. Perhaps because his stomach was upset, his head also started to ache, and he felt like he had a fever.

Bokseung’s body is dealing with this hangover. Lee Seongyeon, reflect on your actions!

Seongyeon inwardly scolded himself. What kind of scolding would he have gotten if he had returned Bokseung’s body in this hungover state?

“Ugh… I’m sorry.”

Seongyeon apologized to the air. Along with it was a vow to never drink excessively again.

Seongyeon entered the lounge and sat down, leaning back in a chair.

Thankfully, perhaps due to the two bowls of hangover soup he’d had in the morning, he wasn’t feeling weak.

I’ll just rest a little and go to my afternoon classes.

Seongyeon stared at the white ceiling. He could hear the murmuring of the students around him, but it just felt like a lullaby.

This is what they call ASMR these days, white noise…

Seongyeon was muttering to himself, following his stream of consciousness, when a refreshing, cool, and gorgeous scent wafted into his nostrils. This scent, no, this pheromone is…

Hwang Yoohyun!

His hazy mind snapped back to alertness.

Seongyeon looked around with wide eyes. As expected, he saw Hwang Yoohyun just entering the lounge.

He’s still handsome even after just a few hours.

Seongyeon unconsciously scanned Yoohyun from head to toe. If he were Yoohyun’s parents, he would plaster his son’s picture all over his messenger profile. He was that handsome.

Perhaps because he was staring so intensely while thinking such thoughts, Yoohyun also quickly recognized Bokseung.

Yoohyun’s eyes seemed to widen momentarily before he strode toward Bokseung with his long legs. Seongyeon straightened his slouched posture as he watched Yoohyun stand before him in the blink of an eye.

“Hello.”

Seongyeon bowed his head in greeting.

Yoohyun barely acknowledged the greeting. Instead, he abruptly blurted out a question.

“Why are you here?”

Seongyeon rolled his eyes. He was trying to figure out the most concise way to explain.

“Stop rolling your eyes.”

Yoohyun’s eyebrow twitched.

“I have a hangover.”

In the end, it was the simplest and clearest answer.

Yoohyun’s eyebrow twitched again upon hearing the answer. I answered because you told me to, why are you reacting like that? Seongyeon grumbled inwardly.

Meanwhile, Yoohyun frowned as he looked at Bokseung, whose condition seemed to have completely deteriorated in just a few hours.

The swelling on his face hadn’t subsided; his already pale face was as white as a sheet, and his hair looked even more disheveled.

“A hangover? You were fine just a little while ago…”

Feeling sympathetic, he reached out to touch his hair. That’s when Yoohyun felt a faint pheromone emanating from Bokseung’s body.

It was faint enough that other alphas would have just tilted their heads and dismissed it. However, Yoohyun’s sensitive senses accurately recognized Bokseung’s pheromone.

Yoohyun lowered his hand from Bokseung’s hair and grabbed the boy’s wrist.

“You, come with me.”

“Yes?”

Yoohyun led the bewildered Bokseung toward his car. He wasn’t feeling the same ferocious emotions as during the festival, but he was even more anxious.

After getting Bokseung into the car, Yoohyun cracked open the front window as a precaution. Even then, Bokseung still looked clueless.

“Did you take medicine?”

Bokseung pondered Yoohyun’s question and then nodded.

“Yes, I took it this morning before leaving the house.”

“What are your symptoms now?”

“Yes?”

“You said you had a hangover. What are your symptoms?”

Yoohyun unconsciously tapped the steering wheel. The brief silence while waiting for an answer only amplified his anxiety.

“I feel nauseous, I think I have a fever, my head hurts, and I feel a little dazed…?”

He was saying it because he was told to, but his expression showed that he didn’t understand why he had to explain everything in detail.

“Are you in heat?”

Yoohyun was bothered by Bokseung’s gradually intensifying pheromone.

His rapidly deteriorating physical condition, the sweet pheromones emanating despite taking suppressants, and most importantly, the feverish expression unlike his usual self—everything pointed to it.

“No! When I went last time, they clearly said I had several months left, and that as long as I took my medicine properly, I’d be fine until my next checkup!”

Bokseung retorted with a frustrated expression. The problem was that his words were becoming increasingly slurred as he expressed his frustration.

Yoohyun recalled the heat cycles of the omegas who had approached him. The boy’s current reactions weren’t much different.

Cursing inwardly, Yoohyun started to drive roughly. Bokseung looked at Yoohyun with a startled expression as the scenery outside the window whizzed by.

“S-Sunbae-nim! I have afternoon classes!”

“So do I.”

“Then we should go to school, to school!”

Bokseung mumbled, practically glued to the window. He probably wasn’t even aware of what he was saying.

Yoohyun didn’t respond to the boy’s words, only pressing harder on the accelerator.

🍑‧₊ ⋆˙

He was taken to the clinic by Yoohyun. Seongyeon still couldn’t process what had happened.

Heat cycle my foot, I said it was a hangover. Does dragging me here without listening solve everything?!

Seongyeon glared at Yoohyun, who was quietly checking them in. However, he ignored the piercing gaze and continued talking to the nurse.

“I think it’s pre-heat symptoms. Can I get a suppressant IV?”

“Yes, you can get a prescription right after you see the doctor and get the test results.”

Seongyeon felt frustrated at the unresponsive opponent. He felt like he was talking to a wall, his heart pounding in his chest.

“Stop it.”

As if he had eyes on the side of his head, Yoohyun wrapped Bokseung’s small fist in his hand.

Freaky bastard.

Seongyeon glared at Yoohyun once more and turned his head away.

A short while later, he heard Bokseung’s name called. Seongyeon headed to the examination room with Yoohyun trailing behind him.

“Kim Bokseung? It’s not your checkup day, what brings you here today?”

Dr. Hayeon, his doctor, asked with a puzzled look.

Seongyeon was equally puzzled. He himself was wondering why he was here getting examined. It was just a hangover, yet that alpha sunbae insisted it was a heat cycle, making him look foolish.

“It seems like heat cycle symptoms. We’d like to request a test.”

The answer came from Yoohyun, who was standing behind him.

The doctor looked back and forth between the two of them with a strange expression.

Last month when they came, he seemed to want to be the biological father, but had he changed his mind in the meantime?

The fact that he came with an alpha who was clearly a dominant alpha, and that the alpha was taking care of the patient’s heat cycle, seemed to suggest so.

“Heat cycle?”

“Yes.”

At Yoohyun’s confirmation, the doctor examined Bokseung carefully. His temperature was 37.8 degrees Celsius, and the symptoms he was experiencing were indeed similar to a heat cycle.

However, Bokseung himself insisted that he wasn’t in heat and that it was just a hangover. Because the doctor had said it was still a long way off before his heat cycle would come!

Thankfully for the doctor, the patient in front of him blindly trusted his words.