It wasn’t just a faint trace of someone nearby.
The pheromone scent was so thick that anyone might mistake it for a pheromone shower.
Pyo Yoontae’s stomach twisted in response.
“Jeongseo.”
Pyo Yoontae grasped Seo Jeongseo’s shoulders and gently pushed him back.
The younger man, who had been rubbing his forehead against Yoontae’s chest, looked up with an innocent expression that didn’t match the pheromone scent clinging to him.
Did he really not notice?
“Yoontae, what’s wrong?”
“Were you… near an Alpha?”
Jeongseo blinked, his thoughts sluggish from the alcohol kicking in late.
The silence stretched longer than Yoontae could bear, his throat tightening with unease.
He wanted to demand answers—who was it, and why had they left their scent all over Jeongseo?
But Yoontae knew Jeongseo would never let something like this happen intentionally.
So, he bit the inside of his cheek and waited.
“Oh, right! I think that hyung was an Alpha.”
“That hyung?”
Yoontae’s face turned cold at the mention of an older man.
Jeongseo didn’t notice; he was too busy patting Yoontae’s chest with both hands, rambling.
“No, listen to me, Yoontae! I was just talking with my friend—oh, right, my friend is Shin Junhee. He’s a kangaroo hybrid! I’ve never seen a kangaroo hybrid before, and his ears look like a rabbit’s, but he’s huge! I was so surprised that rabbits could get that big, but it turns out he’s not a rabbit at all. Oh! And Junhee’s friend is a weasel, and that guy… he was such a jerk! I just made eye contact with him, and he cursed me out for no reason—”
“Jeongseo, focus. So, there was an Alpha hyung there?”
Jeongseo had seemed surprisingly steady when he ran over earlier, but Yoontae realized he’d misjudged his level of intoxication.
He steered the conversation back on track, and Jeongseo exclaimed in realization.
“Oh! Yeah! I was talking with Junhee when this guy named Im Woohyeon came over. And then I caught this scent—kind of bitter? Like a sharp, tangy smell? I’m pretty sure that hyung is an Alpha. His pheromones were kinda like yours, Yoontae.”
Im Woohyeon.
Yoontae repeated the name in his mind like he wanted to crush it.
Pheromone manipulation without consent was a crime these days, regardless of someone’s physical training background.
His jaw clenched.
Yoontae slid his arm around Jeongseo’s back and started walking toward home.
He needed to get him out of the open.
“Did that bastard do anything to you?”
“Huh? Do anything?”
Jeongseo furrowed his brows as he thought back.
Then his eyes widened slightly.
“At first, he kept pouring me drinks, like he wanted to mess with me or something—kind of like Kim Woosik does sometimes. I said no, but he kept insisting. When I refused, he got pissed.”
“He tried to make you drink?”
There were always scumbags lurking around campus parties, looking to take advantage of naive freshmen.
Yoontae had always despised that kind of behavior.
Now that his boyfriend had become the target, his vision went red.
The suppressed anger in his aura was so sharp that even Jeongseo, dulled by alcohol, shivered.
When Jeongseo lifted his head, Yoontae’s expression was ice-cold.
He recognized that look from past incidents with Kim Woosik.
Back then, Yoontae had always been furious on his behalf, and now it was happening again.
Touched, Jeongseo patted Yoontae’s back with his tail.
“Don’t worry! He seemed nicer than Kim Woosik. I lost my temper and kicked the table, and he apologized right away. Kim Woosik would never do that.”
Yoontae was momentarily speechless.
Then he gave a dry laugh. Jeongseo might act innocent, but he never let anyone cross the line.
Yoontae felt a little more at ease knowing he’d gotten an apology out of the guy.
Still, that pheromone scent clinging to Jeongseo made his skin crawl.
“Good job. Next time, if someone messes with you, kick them again. Harder if you need to.”
They had reached the entrance of the apartment complex.
Yoontae stopped and turned to Jeongseo, his gaze dropping to the brown ears twitching on top of his head.
He reached out and tapped the tip of one ear.
“Jeongseo,” he said softly.
“Yeah?”
“Do you realize you’re covered in an Alpha’s pheromones right now?”
Jeongseo froze, then frantically sniffed his sleeve.
The faint scent of bitter fruit finally hit him.
“Ah! I didn’t notice! I guess it soaked into my clothes from being at the bar too long.”
“Is that so?”
Yoontae’s voice was calm, but his expression was impossible to read.
Jeongseo watched him closely but saw no further reaction as they entered the building.
The elevator ride to the fourth floor passed in tense silence.
Just as Jeongseo walked past Yoontae’s apartment toward his own door, his wrist was caught.
“Jeongseo. Stay at my place tonight.”
The request was so sudden that Jeongseo blinked in surprise.
He hadn’t slept over since Yoontae moved in because it was easier to just go next door if he got tired.
Besides… lately, sleeping over made him feel a little self-conscious.
Still, he hesitated only briefly before nodding.
“Okay. Let me grab some clothes and wash up first.”
“Wash here.”
“I can be quick—”
“You can wear my clothes.”
“But my underwear—”
“I’ll get you a fresh pair.”
Yoontae had never been this insistent before.
Jeongseo tilted his head in confusion but ultimately followed him inside.
Once Jeongseo was in the shower, Yoontae gathered all his clothes and hung them on the balcony to air out, even opening the window to let the night breeze wash away the pheromone scent.
The smell wasn’t laced with intent, suggesting it really had been an accident… but that didn’t make it any easier to stomach.
When Jeongseo came out of the bathroom, he found his clothes swaying on the balcony.
“Did you at least wash them?”
“Good idea. Maybe I should.”
Jeongseo gave him a puzzled look.
Yoontae, already lying on the bed, stared at him with a much softer expression than before.
Seeing Jeongseo swimming in his oversized clothes eased the tension he’d been holding.
“Come here, Jeongseo. Let’s sleep.”
“Okay.”
Jeongseo turned off the living room lights, crawled into bed, and stretched his arms above his head.
The sleeves were so long they bunched up at his wrists.
As he wiggled into the warm electric blanket, an arm slipped around his waist.
Yoontae pulled him close, his grip firm.
“You said you have second period tomorrow, right?”
Unlike Pyo Yoontae, who asked the question so casually, Jeongseo felt his drowsiness vanish in an instant.
Yoontae’s touch was nothing unusual—it was part of their everyday routine.
But lying together in the same bed, on a night just like that night, made Jeongseo’s heart race.
Since that night by the river, the two of them had only shared light kisses or brief pecks.
They hadn’t gone any further than that.
But that didn’t mean the memory had faded.
If anything, it had grown more vivid with time.
Yoontae might not have realized it, but there had already been several moments when the memory would resurface out of nowhere, leaving Jeongseo with a strange, fluttery feeling.
Even now… Yoontae’s hand, absentmindedly rubbing along his side like a familiar habit, brought with it a faint, cool scent that felt unusually intense tonight.
Jeongseo swallowed dryly and mumbled a response while turning onto his side.
His legs instinctively curled up with the movement.
“…Yeah, second period tomorrow.”
The sudden shift—the way Jeongseo turned his back to him—made Yoontae open his previously closed eyes.
He could’ve turned over, sure, but Jeongseo almost never turned his back on him like this.
“What the hell? Why’d you turn away? Don’t.”
“…I just feel like it tonight.”
There was something off about his tone—more restless than usual.
Yoontae narrowed his eyes and shifted closer, pressing his chest to Jeongseo’s back as he reached over to turn him around.
That’s when he noticed how Jeongseo’s legs were pulled up toward his stomach.
After a brief pause, Yoontae suddenly flipped Jeongseo over and smirked.
“Jeongseo…you perv. What were you thinking about?”
OMG THIS IS NOT A DRILL WE MIGHT ACTUALLY BE GETTING THE SNUSNU NEXT CHAPTER