By Zephyria 
Woo-yеоn’s eyеs widened in surрrisе. Just аs hе hаd fеlt when Do-hуun first еntеred the сafe, the sight оf thosе gentlу sloрing eуеs mеeting his cаused thе lingering agitatiоn to vanish. Evеn the tracе of Jun-sеоng’s pheromones rеmaining on his wrist was nоw gоnе.
“Nо, whо are уou…”
Jun-sеоng stepреd back, looking bеwilderеd. Нe seеmеd quitе flustеrеd by Dо-hуun’s sudden аppearancе. Anyоne cоuld tell Do-hyun wаs a Sеonbaе, аnd since hе was evеn tallеr thаn him, it was оnlу naturаl fоr Jun-seоng tо fеel intimidatеd. Wоo-уеоn stеpped past Jun-seong and tugged on Do-hyun’s collar.
“The meeting is over.”
He didn’t even spare a glance for Jun-seong. He didn’t add any further words, nor did he look at him with displeasure. He simply looked up at Do-hyun with touched eyes, his own eyes curving downward.
“Let’s go, Seonbae.”
This time, Jun-seong couldn’t hold onto Woo-yeon. Do-hyun followed Woo-yeon in silence, discreetly observing Jun-seong’s face.
After entering the study room, he was pestered by Ga-ram and Seon-kyu for a long while. They flew into a rage, asking what that ‘bright yellow head’ had done, and were utterly appalled to learn that Jun-seong was the leader of the group project. After a long silence, they eventually suggested, quite seriously, that they should just ‘free-ride’ on the project, which made Woo-yeon let out a mindless laugh.
“But how did you know to come out?”
Clutching his bag tightly, Woo-yeon looked around and checked the window. He wondered if the outside was visible from inside, but the lower half of the wide window was covered with a semi-opaque film. At most, one could only see silhouettes, making it difficult to know what was happening outside.
“The timing was just good.”
Do-hyun said this while pointing to the cigarettes he had taken out. It seemed he had stood up to smoke and looked outside through the transparent upper section. Ga-ram stood up and rummaged through her denim jacket, letting out a chuckle.
“Hey, when Kim Do-hyun suddenly left, I thought he just really had to go to the bathroom.”
“Noona, I want a cigarette too.”
They stood up and stared out the window for a while. They said it looked like that guy was gone now, and that if he were still there, they wouldn’t have let him be. As they carried on a conversation like Dumb and Dumber, Do-hyun spoke indifferently.
“Get rid of the smell before you come back.”
Despite saying he was on his way to smoke, Do-hyun didn’t seem to have any intention of going. Ga-ram looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“You’re not going?”
“I’ve lost interest.”
“What about Woo-yeon?”
“He said he quit smoking.”
“Wow, I didn’t take him for that.”
Saying that the small ones are often the toughest, he took Seon-kyu and left the study room. Click. As the door closed, the outside noise was completely cut off.
“…….”
“…….”
An indefinable silence lingered. It felt like awkwardness, or perhaps comfort. With his chin resting on his bag, Woo-yeon slowly blinked.
“……Thank you, Seonbae.”
Do-hyun didn’t answer, but his softly released pheromones comforted Woo-yeon’s heart. Woo-yeon pressed his fingernails into his palm, suppressing the pheromones that threatened to leak out.
Then, to forget about Jun-seong, he immersed himself entirely in his studies. The two who returned after smoking were impressed by Woo-yeon’s level of concentration. Except for the occasional times Do-hyun spoke to him, telling him to clear his head, Woo-yeon didn’t take his eyes off the book for three hours.
“I studied a lot today thanks to Woo-yeon.”
“Me too. I felt motivated for some reason.”
As the reservation time neared its end, Woo-yeon took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Because he had been so immersed, English words were crawling around in his head like earthworms. While packing his things, Do-hyun looked at Woo-yeon and gave a ticklish smile.
“You have glasses marks.”
Just those few words. His face flushed bright red. He covered his ears with his hands, but he couldn’t hide the heat rising up his neck. It was a peaceful day, as if nothing had happened.
* * *
A date with Do-hyun. Woo-yeon worked hard with only that one goal in mind. Except for eating and sleeping, he sat at his desk, and whenever his concentration wavered, he thought of Do-hyun. Much like when he wanted to look good for his Teacher a long time ago, his focus was enough to put any exam-taker to shame.
Thus, in the first exam he took, Woo-yeon received a perfect score on a critique written in English. To be precise, it was thanks to the study guides Do-hyun had given him, but Seon-kyu, who received the same guides, had points deducted. Woo-yeon suppressed the urge to brag immediately and prepared for the next exam.
The second exam was also a success. When told to write everything they had memorized on a blank sheet of paper, Woo-yeon didn’t panic and filled the page completely. For Woo-yeon, who studied without much strategy, questions that only required reciting memorized content without application were much easier and simpler.
The third and fourth exams were not difficult either. Some questions were exactly what he had memorized right before the test, and in other cases, every single question came from the parts Do-hyun had highlighted. Additionally, by a stroke of luck, the general education course he took with Jun-seong became a free period due to ‘midterm presentation preparation.’ There was no contact from the group members, but Woo-yeon decided to focus on his exams first.
And then came the long-awaited Friday. Before the final exam, Woo-yeon organized the memorized content in his notebook. English Phonology, which he took with Do-hyun, was incredibly difficult, and grasping the concepts wasn’t easy. It was a bit better because Do-hyun helped him, but he still lacked confidence.
“Do you think you’ll do well?”
Woo-yeon shook his head weakly, looking gloomy. At that lack of confidence, Do-hyun narrowed his eyes and hummed. Then, after a brief hesitation, he reached his hand toward the back of Woo-yeon’s head.
“Don’t be nervous, just solve them.”
Long fingers threaded through his hair. The softly scattered strands wound around Do-hyun’s fingertips. Woo-yeon straightened his back and looked at Do-hyun with wide eyes.
“Just read the questions carefully. Got it?”
The faint smile that played on his lips squeezed his heart. Do-hyun withdrew his hand quickly, but the sensation of him stroking his hair remained. Feeling as if he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, Woo-yeon’s lips parted, stammering.
“You too…”
His face burned hot. The heat rushed to his head, and he couldn’t even remember what he had been looking at until now. Far from relaxing, his entire body was now tensing up in a different sense.
“Good luck… on your exam.”
Woo-yeon barely managed to squeeze out those words and lowered his head. Before he turned his gaze away, Do-hyun looked as if he had realized something, but Woo-yeon couldn’t even pay attention to that. His heart was beating so fast that if he let his guard down for a moment, his pheromones might come pouring out.
If the intention was to relieve his tension, it was a failure. No, if the intention was to distract him and remove his worries about the exam, it was a success. Until the professor entered and handed out the exam papers, Woo-yeon’s mind was filled entirely with Do-hyun.
* * *
“Whew, the exams are finally over—”
Ga-ram was about to enter the club room with an excited face but stopped abruptly. It was because a subtly sunken atmosphere pricked her skin. Where she looked in silence, Do-hyun and Woo-yeon were sitting across from each other at a table.
“…….”
“…….”
Do-hyun, who looked somewhat apologetic, looked back at Ga-ram. Seeing as he didn’t say ‘you’re here,’ it seemed something had indeed happened. Ga-ram swallowed hard and looked at Woo-yeon, who looked as if he were about to cry at any moment.
“What’s this… you’re not hazing him, are you?”
Do-hyun’s face crumpled. He opened his mouth with a flat voice, looking bewildered. At the short answer asking if he was crazy, Ga-ram awkwardly scratched her cheek.
“Then why is the atmosphere like this? Did someone die?”
Ga-ram slowly stepped further into the club room. She started to sit next to Do-hyun but changed course to the seat next to Woo-yeon. As soon as she sat beside Woo-yeon, Do-hyun’s eyes twitched and he shut his mouth.
“Geez, the kid has become like a deflated balloon.”
Woo-yeon looked at Ga-ram weakly. Those typically round eyes were particularly moist and teary today. Feeling a tug at her heart, Ga-ram softened her expression. Without a doubt, this was the most tender face Mungaram had ever made in her life.
“Alright, tell Noona. Was it Kim Do-hyun? Or that yellow head from before?”
“Noona…”
Woo-yeon’s lips trembled as if he were about to speak. Despite the hesitation, Ga-ram calmly waited for the rest. Soon, Woo-yeon covered his face with both hands and murmured in a voice full of moisture.
“I messed up the last exam…”
Woo-yeon had been in this state from the moment he received the exam paper. Until then, he had been drenched in excitement for Do-hyun, but as soon as he read the questions, he went blank. Not because of Do-hyun, but simply because the questions were hard.
It wasn’t even comparable to the quizzes he saw in every lecture. He had memorized all the concepts and his interpretation of the problems was perfect, but in the end, he didn’t know which one to apply. Once he felt the difficulty, other concepts became confusing, and eventually, everything he had worked so hard to memorize vanished entirely.
“It told me to change the feature to create another phoneme, but I didn’t understand a thing. And in the middle of that, I got confused between Woo-yeon’s gap and other things…”
Ga-ram let Woo-yeon’s words drift past her with a blank face. Whether it was a ‘Woo-yeon gap’ or whatever, the only Woo-yeon Ga-ram knew was the Hubae in front of her. He had certainly learned English Phonology, but aside from the fact that he received a D+, he remembered nothing.
“I… see…”
Ga-ram started to pat his shoulder but hesitated and withdrew her hand. At the look that asked ‘what should I do with him,’ Do-hyun turned his gaze away awkwardly. It was clear that he, too, had been sitting still because he couldn’t find a way to comfort Woo-yeon.
“Still, Woo-yeon, if it was hard for you, it must have been hard for everyone else too…”
“Seonbae said he did well.”
“…….”
Ga-ram glared at Do-hyun with sharp eyes. ‘Why did you do that, you jerk.’ At that look, Do-hyun stealthily avoided her gaze. In truth, since Do-hyun had consistently taken the course since his freshman year, it was inevitable that he would do better than Woo-yeon.
How much time had passed? Even Ga-ram, who had been diligently soothing Woo-yeon, eventually gave up. Woo-yeon tried his best to pretend he was okay, but that only made him look more pitiful. Just as Ga-ram finally sat up straight, someone knocked on the club room door.
“Oh, you’re all here? I’m finished with my exam…”
Seon-kyu had the exact same reaction as Ga-ram had earlier. He had entered full of excitement, only to stop mid-sentence, hesitating. The sight of his Seonbaes acting awkward and his peer looking like he was about to cry. Seon-kyu resolutely took a step back.
“……If this is hazing, I’m leaving.”