ICYM Ch 30

Episode 30

He had always thought his emotional stability was just part of his nature.

When he was young, it had never been much of a problem. Kendrick Bardi had grown up in a wealthy neighborhood inhabited by families who had lived there for generations.

Even the nearby kindergarten and elementary school were filled with familiar faces he’d known since early childhood, so his calm personality never stood out much.

So he had vaguely assumed things would continue to go smoothly like that.

But the problems started when Kendrick left his hometown and began attending a boarding school.

A place filled with adolescents whose emotions ran wild, stirred by hormones and pheromones. It was not somewhere he could easily adjust to.

Especially when he manifested as an extreme-dominant Alpha, the sudden attention focused on him became unbearable.

“Must be nice having such an easy life, huh?”

“……”

A calm personality came off as indifference, and trying to make an effort only ended up seeming like deceit.

“You’ve never really wanted something badly, have you? Never been desperate to have anything?”

It was hard to deny outright when he had been born with so much.

He had always had everything even before he had a chance to want it, so he’d never known what it meant to yearn for something.

In a way, it was only natural that he didn’t show much interest in others. Maybe they weren’t entirely wrong.

“So when the people around you get caught up in things, you probably just find it annoying, don’t you?”

That sense of helplessness when his intentions were misunderstood, when people arbitrarily concluded it was just how extreme-dominant Alphas were, without even giving him a chance to explain.

“Friends? I’ve never once thought of you as a friend—”

His opinions were ignored, and a friend turned into a stranger in an instant.

Beep—

“Hoo…”

Kendrick pressed the stop button on the treadmill.

He walked for a while as the machine gradually slowed, then came to a full stop.

The exercise he had started back during his growth spurt to ease the aches in his body had become a habit, something he still continued to this day.

Gripping the side handle, Kendrick shook his head as if trying to drive away the unpleasant memories, panting for breath.

Only after regaining his composure and running a hand through his hair did he notice the faint pain in his hand.

Glancing down, he saw a wound he hadn’t even realized he had gotten.

Now that he had noticed it, the sting felt even sharper for no reason.

“Ah.”

Kendrick let out a flat, emotionless sigh as he stared down at his hand.

Blood was welling up in tiny beads from the torn skin, and he figured he probably couldn’t do any more exercise today.

Since he had come to the school gym so early in the morning, the infirmary likely wasn’t even open yet.

There was an emergency kit nearby, but the injury didn’t seem serious enough to bother using it.

It’ll stop bleeding eventually.

It wasn’t so much the pain that made him quit exercising. He was more concerned about getting the equipment dirty.

Kendrick hesitated over his decision for a moment, then slowly made his way toward the locker room.

His mood was already off, and for some reason, memories from the past kept resurfacing today.

On the way down to the locker room, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror mounted on the wall.

His damp bangs clung to his forehead with sweat.

Half-covered eyes that gave off a fierce impression, a distant personality, and being an extreme-dominant Alpha were more than enough to build an unspoken wall around him.

Since arriving at this school, everything had been peaceful.

When he first came here, there had been a group of Alphas who tried to bring him into their circle, but even that had fizzled out quickly.

A life that flowed like water.

It was lonely not being involved with anyone, but that didn’t mean he wanted to stir up unnecessary trouble.

And because he had consciously avoided others, he never imagined—

That someone could enter his life over something so trivial.

Click.

One entire side of the hallway was made up of locker rooms.

Not wanting to run into anyone, he went into the one at the very end.

It was early morning, and he thought he was the only one in the gym, so of course he expected it to be empty.

But the moment he opened the door, he sensed someone was inside.

He paused for a moment but decided to just get changed quickly and stepped in.

“Ah…”

When he entered, the other person, perhaps startled, stood up awkwardly.

Not one for small talk, Kendrick didn’t bother greeting him first, and the other person seemed to feel the same, staying silent.

So Kendrick thought nothing of it and casually lifted his shirt halfway—

That’s when he noticed a pair of sneakers in his line of sight.

He looked up. The person who had been there first was now standing directly in front of him.

For a split second, Kendrick wondered if this person knew who he was and had approached him on purpose.

“…Huh?”

While Kendrick stood there, flustered, the other person casually pointed at his hand with a jerk of their chin.

“You’re bleeding.”

His tone was so indifferent that Kendrick reflexively looked down at the wound.

“Ah.”

It was something he already knew, but he reacted as if he were just realizing it now.

Then, with a small sigh, the boy in front of him pushed a bandage into Kendrick’s hand.

“Take it.”

“Oh, uh… Okay.”

Kendrick accepted it without thinking. The boy immediately stepped back without a trace of hesitation.

Was he not approaching me on purpose after all?

Heat rushed to Kendrick’s face.

He felt embarrassed for being defensive about what had been a pure act of kindness.

By the time Kendrick finished sticking the bandage over the wound, the boy had already left the locker room.

It wasn’t until after he had fully changed that he realized he hadn’t even thanked him properly.

He left his bag behind. He’s probably coming back.

He briefly considered waiting, but it felt a bit excessive to hang around just to say thank you.

Instead, he thought it might be better to just grab a drink from the vending machine near the back door and give it to him.

With that in mind, Kendrick exited through the back door.

He chose a basic sports drink, the safest choice, and was about to open the door just a crack when—

“Huuuhuuuhhhng…”

A sorrowful sob echoed from somewhere nearby.

He froze. The crying was so loud and raw that he stayed still with the door barely open.

What do I do now? Kendrick glanced at the sports drink in his other hand with a troubled look.

The way his pupils trembled said everything about how flustered he was.

Not wanting to make his presence known to someone crying their eyes out, he held his breath and simply waited until the boy stopped.

Only later did he realize he could have just exited quietly through the back door. But even after realizing that, his feet remained frozen in place.

Why is he crying so hard?

The question struck him out of nowhere, an uncharacteristic curiosity bubbling up.

Was that surprised reaction earlier not because he was trying to make a good impression on me, but because he had just happened to pick the locker room as a place to cry?

Maybe it hadn’t been an attempt to look good in front of Kendrick after all.

Fortunately, the sobbing gradually faded not long after.

…Is it okay to go in now?

While Kendrick hesitated, unsure, footsteps approached from the other direction.

Wasn’t he supposed to leave through the front door?

There was no time to think. Reflexively, Kendrick started walking, pretending as if he were just now entering.

Thud.

But he was so flustered that he forgot to step aside after opening the door, and their shoulders collided hard.

“Sorry.”

Even though the boy was the one who got bumped into, he was the first to apologize, clearly wanting to get the moment over with as quickly as possible.

“No, I’m the one who bumped into you.”

“I’m fine too.”

Without so much as glancing at Kendrick’s face, the boy brushed past him.

It seemed the boy didn’t even realize that the person he bumped into was the same one he’d given the bandage to earlier.

His face was so composed that Kendrick briefly doubted whether it had really been him crying just moments ago.

If he hadn’t noticed the redness around the boy’s eyes, he might’ve believed it was all in his head.

Despite having cried his eyes out, his attitude was cynical.

Kendrick felt embarrassed for assuming he would be recognized the moment they bumped into each other.

Someone who doesn’t care about others, but cries like a child.

That was Kendrick Bardi’s first impression of that boy.

Over the next few days, Kendrick lingered in the locker room more than usual.

But he never ran into the boy again.

It wasn’t until later that Kendrick learned the boy’s name was Hayden Verratti and that they lived in the same dormitory.

That was their first meeting, one Hayden wouldn’t even remember.

* * *

Wearing earphones had become routine in the library because of all the noisy chatter from the other students.

But in the brief pause between one song and the next, a snippet of conversation suddenly caught his ear.

“You and that Beta bastard actually kinda suit each other, huh?”

Normally, Kendrick would’ve just ignored it.

But something about the topic made him uneasy, and his hand moved naturally to lower the volume.

It felt like the ” Beta bastard” they were talking about might be someone he knew.

In the middle of the Alpha group’s teasing, Augustine Rogers jabbed his elbow back toward the speaker with an exasperated look, raising his voice.

“Ugh, I told you it’s not like that!”

His reaction seemed to amuse the others, who burst into laughter.

In the middle of it, Augustine shook his head like he couldn’t deal with them.

“He’s probably gonna feel betrayed if you reject him outright.”

“You’re nice to him when he’s around.”

Kendrick’s grip on his pen tightened.

He remembered most of their names. They had hovered around him for a while, trying to get close.

And among them was one name he’d heard recently.

Augustine Rogers.

Hayden’s shy face flashed through his mind.

He’d said that was his closest friend, someone he was grateful to because he’d helped him a lot.

“Why go that far, though? Isn’t it just a waste of time?”

“I heard the teacher gives better evaluations if you do.”

When Augustine Rogers boasted shamelessly about his ulterior motives, another round of laughter broke out among the group.

Crack.

Kendrick didn’t even notice the pen in his hand snapping from how tightly he’d been gripping it.