By Zephyria 
The fеstivаl arrived in thе blink of an еуе. Dеsрitе the namе ‘Сhеrry Blоssom Festival,’ thе chеrry trеes wеre thiсk with lеаves, but the еxсitement in the аir was as vibrant аs the apрroасhing summer.
While everyоne else wаs busу рrерaring for thе festivаl, Wоo-yеоn was spending his daуs in a dаzе for a diffеrеnt rеаsоn.
‘We rеаlly аre dating.’
That day, аfter clаrifying their rеlationship оn the tеrracе, thеy sharеd warmth for а long timе bеforе finаlly раrting waуs.
Тhе start of thеir rеlatiоnshiр bеgаn when Do-hyun pulled Woo-yeon, who was lightheaded and intoxicated from their first kiss, into his arms. Leaving behind a lingering Woo-yeon, Do-hyun finished dinner and stood up to leave.
‘Are we really dating?’
Woo-yeon asked him for confirmation several times until he stepped out the front door. Whether they were truly dating, whether this wasn’t a dream, and whether it would all vanish as if it never happened once tomorrow came.
Do-hyun, who had answered patiently at first, looked at him with serious eyes after the same question was repeated about five times and said:
‘If you ask one more time, I’m staying the night here.’
The content wasn’t a threat, but the tone was nothing short of one. Do-hyun gave the now-quiet Woo-yeon a light kiss and headed straight home.
Woo-yeon regretted it later, thinking, ‘I should have asked one more time,’ but the elevator carrying Do-hyun had already descended far below.
After seeing Do-hyun off, Woo-yeon remained in a hazy state until just before he fell asleep. It was because the pheromones lingering in the house and the warmth remaining on his lips made the depths of his stomach feel hot. He felt as though his five senses would become hypersensitive, just like during a heat cycle, if he let go of his rationality for even a moment.
It couldn’t be helped. Although he had harbored a long-term unrequited love for Do-hyun, Woo-yeon had never hoped for a relationship with him. Because it was a feeling he had tried to suppress countless times, feeling that even harboring such affection was an undeserved luxury.
To Woo-yeon, Teacher was an existence like a mirage—someone he only hoped for, desired, and imagined.
And yet, they were now dating. He had heard that he was liked, and they had even shared a kiss filled with affection. The thick, blending warmth was an act so addictive that it appeared in Woo-yeon’s dreams that night.
Just once. Yes, even though it was only a single time.
“Woo-yeon, you’re here already?”
On the long-awaited day of the festival, Woo-yeon visited the club room earlier than the appointed time. He had arrived about an hour early, but Ga-ram and a few Seonbaes were already there. They were in the middle of intently reading the manual with a cotton candy machine placed on the table.
“Where did Do-hyun Seonbae go?”
Woo-yeon approached the table, habitually looking for Do-hyun. As the club president, he would have arrived earlier than anyone else, yet Do-hyun was nowhere to be seen. As expected, Ga-ram answered nonchalantly.
“He went to find something for a second. He’ll be back soon.”
While he felt a sense of disappointment, he also felt a wave of relief. The fact that he at least had time to prepare himself mentally made him feel much more at ease. Woo-yeon pressed his earlobes and took a light, deep breath.
“So, you put the sugar in here and…”
Just as Ga-ram said, Do-hyun returned to the club room in less than five minutes. It was right around the time the club members, like primates discovering a new civilization, had managed to create their first disastrous piece of cotton candy. He opened the door, which someone had skillfully fixed, and entered carrying a large box in one hand.
And as soon as he turned his head, his eyes met Woo-yeon’s.
“…”
“…Hello.”
The fleeting glance remained fixed on Woo-yeon for a long time. Although Woo-yeon offered a greeting, Do-hyun stared at him without even blinking. His pitch-black pupils held emotions that could not be put into words.
“Kim Do-hyun, you’re here? Hey, look at this. The cotton candy we made is amazing.”
Ga-ram casually broke the subtle silence.
Do-hyun looked as if he had a lot he wanted to say, but he first averted his gaze from Woo-yeon. Then, looking at the cotton candy (or something presumed to be cotton candy) that Ga-ram held out, his face contorted.
“…You call that cotton candy?”
Only then did Woo-yeon place a hand over his chest and gasp for air. His heart was thumping so hard that his face had likely turned red. If Ga-ram hadn’t spoken, he surely would have bolted out of the club room at any moment.
“They said making it was easy. Looking at that, I guess it’s not.”
“This brat is nitpicking our masterpiece. Just you wait and see if you can’t do it.”
It had been a week since he started dating Do-hyun. Every time he met him, Woo-yeon reacted with this kind of awkwardness.
It wasn’t because the changed relationship was burdensome, or because the sudden romance felt unfamiliar, or because it still didn’t feel real. It was simply that looking at Do-hyun was so embarrassing that he couldn’t even lift his head.
‘I must be crazy.’
The reason Woo-yeon reacted this way traced back to the day he started dating Do-hyun.
That day, falling asleep intoxicated by various emotions, Woo-yeon encountered an unbelievable situation in his dream. Specifically, the event where he had ejaculated into Do-hyun’s hand while drunk.
‘Please take these pants off for me.’
Oblivion was by no means an eternal blessing. The memories that had surfaced sporadically at the time were so vivid in his dream that Woo-yeon discovered exactly what Do-hyun meant when he said, ‘lend me your hand.’
The pleasure the large hand provided, the way he had clung to him as if he were about to cry, and the sensation when he reached the climax.
Yes, if it had ended there, Woo-yeon wouldn’t be this embarrassed.
“Give me a cutter. This tape won’t peel off.”
“What is that?”
The real problem was the fact that Woo-yeon woke up the next morning with his lower half damp.
He wasn’t a pubescent teenager, nor was his heat cycle occurring, yet he had had a nocturnal emission triggered by the Do-hyun in his dream. Self-loathing and shame. Struggling amidst a storm of emotions, Woo-yeon washed his own underwear for the first time in his life.
“Oh, the headbands are here!”
Naturally, after that day, Woo-yeon avoided Do-hyun like crazy. He knew Do-hyun would be confused and that he shouldn’t act this way, but whenever he came to his senses, his body had already moved.
While Do-hyun followed Woo-yeon with his eyes, he couldn’t ask for the reason in detail because he was busy with festival preparations.
“There are t-shirts too.”
“Wow, they’re so cute. Woo-yeon, come here. Let’s try them all on one by one.”
Woo-yeon, who had been trying to calm his embarrassment, trudged toward Ga-ram with a face like he’d chewed on a bug.
The box Do-hyun brought contained the items they had ordered, saying ‘Let’s just order every kind!’ since they couldn’t reach a consensus. Cat ears, rabbit ears, and even ribbons.
“Here, try this one first.”
Ga-ram first pulled out a headband with rabbit ears and held it out to Woo-yeon. Woo-yeon frowned deeply and looked at the headband with reluctance. The headband was black and the ears were white, so he felt that if he wore it over his black hair, only the ears would be visible.
“…Do I really have to wear this?”
If there was any silver lining, it was that his hair was brown because he had dyed it. Ga-ram nodded with a surprisingly serious face.
“Of course. I don’t know about others, but you have to wear it, Woo-yeon.”
“That’s right, and the youngest always wears it first.”
“Youngest, hurry up and put it on.”
Unable to withstand the pressure from the club members, Woo-yeon took the headband. He could feel Do-hyun’s gaze following him intensely from the side.
As he hesitantly placed the headband on his head, a flood of sparkling gazes rushed toward him.
“I think it looks weird…”
Even without looking in a mirror, he felt that he must look ridiculous. After all, even Do-hyun was staring at him with such a frightening expression.
Unable to overcome the awkwardness, Woo-yeon fidgeted with the rabbit ears. At that, Ga-ram swallowed hard.
“Hey, this is…”
It was at that moment that Do-hyun, who had been staying still, reached out to Woo-yeon.
With a fast and precise movement, he removed the headband from the back without hurting Woo-yeon. For a moment, Woo-yeon held his breath and stopped moving due to the sudden proximity.
“Don’t wear it now. Try it later.”
Do-hyun said this and tossed the headband back into the box. His cold, hardened expression seemed, unlike him, to be offended. Forgetting that he was the one avoiding him, Woo-yeon asked in an aggrieved voice:
“Is it that unbearable to look at?”
Two gazes crossed. One was Do-hyun’s, the other was Ga-ram’s. While the flustered club members remained silent, Ga-ram grinned, showing her teeth.
“Ah, the rabbit ears aren’t good? Then should we put on the cat ones?”
With an excited face, she pulled out headbands of every kind. Holding a bunch of them between her fingers, she held them out to Woo-yeon. The smile she wore was utterly mischievous. Naturally, Woo-yeon rejected them all with a sullen face.
“I’m not wearing them.”
No matter how bad it looked, why would he just take it off without a word? He hadn’t even wanted to wear it, but he felt unnecessarily embarrassed.
“Come on, don’t be like that. Just try the cat ones.”
“I don’t want to. Noona, you’re teasing me right now, aren’t you?”
“This boy, this boy really doesn’t understand Noona’s heart.”
Ga-ram didn’t give up and kept thrusting the headbands toward Woo-yeon. Perhaps the playfulness had been contagious, as the other club members were also chiming in.
The one who stopped them was, once again, Do-hyun.
“Don’t force it on him when he says he doesn’t want to.”
Do-hyun sat on the sofa and naturally pulled Woo-yeon’s arm. Having no choice but to sit beside him, Woo-yeon shifted his hips with a flustered face. He tried to stand up immediately, but Do-hyun was faster.
“Look, your hair is a mess.”
Turning toward Woo-yeon, he carefully tidied his hair. The crown, the sides, and the back. The touch that scanned him in order was far too lingering to be called mere ‘tidying.’
As soon as Woo-yeon’s face turned bright red, one of the club members asked in bewilderment.
“…Are you two dating?”
An erotic silence settled over the club room.
Woo-yeon’s eyes darted around, unable to do anything. They hadn’t specifically agreed to keep it a secret, but he wondered if it was okay to say it so publicly.
However, Do-hyun answered before he could.
“Yes.”
Do-hyun caressed the area around Woo-yeon’s ear one last time before letting go. Although his hand had moved away, it felt as if pheromones remained where he had touched.
While Woo-yeon’s lips fluttered, unable to form words, Do-hyun narrowed his brow with a troubled face.
“I tried not to make it obvious…”
His eyes were squinting, but strangely, he looked happy. Do-hyun glanced at the club members and slowly curled the corners of his lips upward.
“I guess it was obvious.”