* * *
The moment Jeongseo flinched, an arm wrapped around his waist.
He barely had time to be startled before a familiar scent made him break into a grin.
“What the—! When did you get back?”
“Just now. I came straight to see you the moment I arrived.”
Pyo Yoontae rubbed his cheek against the top of Jeongseo’s head, dragging out his words in a playful whine.
He had gone to Seoul at the start of summer break and was finally back after two weeks.
His father, Pyo Hyunseok, had called him over to discuss his future now that it was college application season.
Not that it was much of a discussion—Pyo Hyunseok simply assumed his son would naturally take over the family business and mostly talked about company management.
Occasionally, he’d mention other politicians’ or business executives’ children, comparing them.
“The daughter of that conglomerate is just a regular human, but she’s an extreme-dominant Omega.”
“That minister’s son is three years younger than you, but he’s handsome and even a feline-type tiger.”
None of them knew about the first love that had long taken root in Yoontae’s heart, so he let the words go in one ear and out the other.
Pyo Hyunseok wasn’t truly concerned about anything other than whether his son would remain single forever, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Even so, listening to it all had been exhausting.
Yoontae had missed Jeongseo so badly that he nearly went crazy.
It had only been two weeks, but he had felt so sluggish without seeing him.
So now, he refused to let Jeongseo go, rubbing his face against him here and there.
“Let me see your ears, Jeongseo. Don’t hide them when you’re with me.”
Jeongseo tilted his head, as if questioning why Yoontae was asking that. Yoontae simply gestured impatiently.
Though puzzled, Jeongseo eventually let two round-tipped ears pop out from beneath his brown hair.
The moment they appeared, Yoontae immediately took one between his lips and started nibbling.
“Ah!”
Freshly washed, his soft ear quickly became damp from Yoontae’s saliva.
Jeongseo glared at him, but Yoontae didn’t stop.
When he licked up the edge with his slightly textured tongue, a faint rustling sound tickled Jeongseo’s ears.
Jeongseo shook his head furiously, and only then did Yoontae finally let him go, looking satisfied.
“You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Let’s go get food.”
Since he had been hiding both his ears and tail for a while now, the sensation of them being licked felt especially foreign.
His brown-tinted ears twitched involuntarily.
“Yeah, but I already made plans to eat with Ian after he finishes studying at the library.”
Yoontae narrowed his eyes at the insensitive comment.
They were seeing each other after so long, yet Jeongseo was already adding someone else to the mix?
He sighed lightly.
Typical Jeongseo.
He didn’t like it, but since it was a prior commitment, there wasn’t much he could do.
Besides, Ian would just eat and leave anyway, and Yoontae planned to coax Jeongseo into hanging out at his place afterward.
“Fine. Then tell Ian to hurry up and come. If he’s even a second late, we’re leaving without him.”
Jeongseo nodded, but instead of relaying Yoontae’s last remark, he simply texted Ian:
[Jeongseo: Yoontae’s here too.]
The reply came quickly.
[Ian: I thought I’d get a break from seeing him during summer. Tell him to screw off.]
—1:11 PM
Jeongseo sent back a crying emoji.
Ian left him on read for a moment before finally responding:
[Ian: I’m coming.]
And so, the three of them ended up eating together, sharing buckwheat noodles and bossam.
Jeongseo was so hungry after working out that he devoured three servings of bossam and an entire portion of noodles by himself.
With his stomach full, he rubbed his slightly round belly, looking thoroughly pleased.
Since he was training for his physical fitness test in his third year of high school, his mother had increased his allowance, allowing him to indulge whenever he went out.
Ian, who had stayed behind to pay the bill, gave Jeongseo an incredulous look.
“Seriously? You ate all that? Do you have a built-in food processor or something?”
Jeongseo gave an embarrassed smile.
Yoontae, sitting beside him, grabbed Jeongseo’s chin and squished his soft cheeks.
“Eating well is a good thing. Why are you making a fuss?”
Seeing how Yoontae was acting even more protective than usual, Ian inwardly cursed, turned away, and started walking.
The pavement was radiating heat under the intense sunlight, making sweat bead at their temples.
Jeongseo, equally hot, flushed slightly and asked:
“Ian, are you heading straight to the library?”
“Yeah. Gotta stop by the stationery store first, though. I ran out of correction tape.”
Jeongseo had also run out of erasers and mechanical pencil leads, so the three of them entered a nearby stationery store.
While picking out supplies, Jeongseo noticed Ian standing frozen in front of a display.
Curious, he walked over.
“Where are you going?”
Yoontae, who had been tailing Jeongseo the entire time, quickly followed.
Peeking over Ian’s shoulder, Jeongseo saw what had caught his attention—not correction tape, but a Sea-Monkey pet kit.
“Oh, wow! Sea-Monkeys! It’s been so long since I last saw these!”
“They used to give them away with fried chicken, remember?”
Yoontae nodded in agreement, but Ian looked completely baffled.
“They gave out shrimp with chicken?”
“Yeah, yeah! I tried raising them, but they kept dying. It was so sad. Are you thinking of getting some?”
“…Nah. What would I even do with them?”
Ian spoke as if he had no interest, but his eyes lingered on the Sea-Monkey box for a long time before he finally tore his gaze away.
Jeongseo, oblivious, didn’t notice a thing.
Yoontae, even though he was perceptive, wasn’t particularly interested in Ian.
After stopping by a convenience store next door for ice cream, Yoontae checked the time and turned to Ian.
“Hey. Weren’t you going to study? Hurry up and go already.”
Hayan could tell they weren’t even bothering to hide their intentions anymore—it was time for him to take the hint and leave.
For a brief moment, he considered playing dumb and sticking around just to mess with them.
But this wasn’t the time for that.
Instead, he casually flipped his middle finger at them as he walked away.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going. Hope you drop dead on your way home.”
“The river’s nice and warm. Why don’t you take a dip while you’re at it?”
Hayan and Pyo Yoontae still talked, but as time passed, the atmosphere between them only grew more hostile.
At first, Jeongseo wondered if they were on the verge of an actual fight, but no matter how vicious their curses and threats got, the next day, they’d be back at it as if nothing had happened.
He’d just learned to accept it.
“Hayan, take care! Good luck with your studies!”
Jeongseo waved his hands excitedly, and only then did Hayan unclench his insult-throwing fingers to wave back lightly before turning away.
The moment Hayan disappeared, Pyo Yoontae reached out and rested a hand on Jeongseo’s head in an obvious attempt to flirt.
“Yoontae, are you heading home too? If you’re not too busy, stay with me a little longer.”
To his surprise, Jeongseo was the one to make the suggestion first.
Lately, he’d been swamped with PE practical exams and college entrance exam prep, so if Yoontae really had to leave, he would’ve let him go.
But when Yoontae remained speechless, his face frozen in surprise, Jeongseo tilted his head and gently tugged at the hem of his shirt.
“It’s been a while since we last saw each other.”
A surge of warmth filled Yoontae’s chest. It wasn’t just him who had been missing Jeongseo.
He had spent years chasing after him alone, but now, he wasn’t alone anymore.
That realization always hit him the same way.
He let out a soft smile and nodded.
✽ ✽ ✽
As the unusually short summer break ended, the third-year students at Dangang High School became busier and more restless than ever.
Between college admission briefings and consultations about application choices, the entire third-year floor was in a frenzy, with even the teachers’ office caught in the chaos.
Since so many students were applying for early decision , most classrooms were noisy.
This led to complaints from students focusing on the regular admissions track or those needing to meet minimum standardized test scores.
By October, the school finally designated the multimedia room as a separate study space for them.
Jeongseo had improved his grades in the first semester of his third year, but his scores were still uncertain for early decision at Jeonghan University.
In the end, he moved to the study room to prepare for the college entrance exam.
Naturally, his classmate Hayan was there, along with Pyo Yoontae.
A few familiar faces from other classes—Hyun Junhyun, Heo Yeonwoo, and Kim Minseong—had also joined.
By late October, the study room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Then, the front door creaked open.
A student from Class 4 hesitantly stepped in, visibly startled by all the eyes on him, before quietly approaching Jeongseo.
“The teacher wants to see you in the office.”
Jeongseo nodded and got up without a word.
As he walked past the rows of desks, he spotted Hyun Junhyun, hunched over his notebook, furiously scribbling something down.
Junhyun had initially applied to schools within his grade range via early decision, confident he could just wait for the results.
But somehow, he had been rejected from even the safe options, leaving him with only one higher-tier university that had a minimum entrance exam score requirement.
That was how he ended up in the study room.
It could’ve been seen as a good thing, but when Junhyun first arrived, he looked as if his whole world had crumbled.
At least he’s still studying hard, Jeongseo thought as he passed by.
But then, his eyes unintentionally caught a glimpse of Junhyun’s notebook—because the letters were written so large, he couldn’t help but see them.
* * *
