By Zephyria 
When it comеs tо summer vaсation, thеrе аrе things оnе naturallу lооks forward tо. Mornings that stаrt latе, the sоund of сicаdаs instеad of аn alаrm, a vacаtion taken during thе peak оf the hеаt, and the blue sea unfоlding before оnе’s еуеs.
Until the first daу of thе еnd of the sеmеster, Woo-yеon hаd bеen intoхiсаtеd with hаpрinеss, thinking of suсh things. It was because he hаd officiаlly reсonciled with Dо-hyun, аnd though it was mеntiоned in pаssing, they hаd prоmisеd to trаvеl togеthеr; he ехрectеd thе future tо bе full оf jоyful events.
Whether to go to the East Sea, or perhaps Jeju Island. Or maybe pick one of the villas abroad. While he was brimming with dreams, the first day of vacation dawned, and a phone call came from Do-hyun.
—”I think I’ll have to visit my family home for a few days.”
It was a sentence that caused his inflated dreams to shrink in an instant. All the plans he had to do various things with Do-hyun vanished like bubbles. Woo-yeon was deeply discouraged, but he forced himself to craft a response as if he were fine.
“I’ll be doing my own things too.”
My own things, my foot. He had absolutely nothing to do, so he spent the entire day rolling around on his bed. And this was only three days into the vacation.
What did he usually do at times like this…? In America, he spent time with Daniel, and after returning to Korea, things had been hectic. During the semester, he was studying, and after exams ended, he was thinking about Do-hyun. It had been so long since his body and mind were in such a clean, empty state that he couldn’t adapt.
“Daniel isn’t contacting me either… I wonder if Teacher is very busy.”
Woo-yeon tossed and turned while looking at the message Do-hyun had sent. The news that he had arrived at his family home was the last contact they had exchanged. He felt that if he called, Do-hyun would answer, but he felt uneasy about disturbing him.
With a sigh, Woo-yeon grabbed the plushie he had left in the corner of the bed. It wasn’t a rabbit, but actually a fennec fox. As he hugged the white, fluffy plushie, he found himself missing Do-hyun even more.
Maybe I should sleep. With that thought, Woo-yeon closed his eyes. He had already slept enough, but when there was nothing to do, sleeping was the best. As he slowly closed his eyes, various stray thoughts drifted into his mind.
“…The rainy season starts next week.”
Come to think of it, the rainy season was coming soon. When that time came, the currently blue sky would be completely covered in dark clouds. The thought of torrential rain pouring down left his heart feeling restless and complicated.
* * *
A week passed. Woo-yeon dyed his hair black and underwent a detailed pheromone examination by his primary physician. It was to find out why the suppressants hadn’t worked last time, but this time, all the levels were normal. The physician said there was a high possibility that he had been influenced by stress and the Alphas around him.
Soo-hyang had not shown her face for a single day since Woo-yeon’s vacation began. She seemed busy with work, but that likely wasn’t the only reason. Woo-yeon knew that around this time of year, Soo-hyang would cling only to her work and minimize her sleeping hours.
Regardless, because of that, Woo-yeon was spending a summer vacation more boring than anyone else’s. He had watched so many movies in the meantime that his eyes eventually became so dry he couldn’t focus. He exercised in the PT room and even swam in the pool, but once boredom set in, it did not easily disappear.
And so, the rainy season began. One drop, two drops; the rain hitting the window grew heavier just as Woo-yeon was about to go to bed. As luck would have it, no one was home, and Woo-yeon sat perched on the windowsill, clutching his phone with both hands.
“Should I… call?”
A week and three days. Hadn’t he waited long enough? He had received occasional messages asking if he had eaten, but he hadn’t heard his voice once. Honestly, wasn’t it a bit cruel to be left in a lonely room right after they started dating again?
[Are you busy?] 11:01pm
After sending the message, Woo-yeon began to fervently chant a spell. Call me, call me, call me. Knowing it was useless, he repeated it exactly five more times. Naturally, there was no way a call would come, and his mood began to trend downward.
“I miss him…”
But surprisingly, as soon as he uttered those last words, the phone rang. The caller was ‘Do-hyun Hyung’—the Teacher Woo-yeon had been waiting for.
“Hello?”
Woo-yeon hurriedly answered the phone. His heart began to beat wildly. From the other end of the line, an incredibly tender voice flowed out.
—Yeah, Yeon-ah. What were you doing?
“…”
An answer didn’t come immediately. Just a week, plus a few more days. The voice he faced after that gap was overwhelmingly emotional. It felt as if tears would spill over the moment he uttered a single word.
“…Seonbae.”
So, Woo-yeon barely managed to squeeze out that address. As soon as he heard the title ‘Seonbae,’ Do-hyun let out a soft chuckle.
—You’re back to ‘Seonbae’ just because we haven’t seen each other for a few days?
What to do about the title he had already grown accustomed to? It was a relief he didn’t call him Teacher instead of Seonbae. Of course, the title needed to be corrected.
“Hyung, when are you coming back?”
His voice sounded sullen. He tried not to show it, but he was already lonely to the limit, so it couldn’t be helped. Do-hyun seemed to notice this, as a gentle question returned.
—Do you miss me that much?
“Yes.”
—…
“I miss you.”
—…
“I miss you…”
If he said he missed him, wouldn’t he come? With that thought, Woo-yeon leaned his forehead against the window. The pouring rain left streaks on the transparent glass. Beyond the rainwater, all that could be seen were high walls and the garden.
—This is troubling.
Do-hyun uttered those words and swallowed a sigh. The quiet silence that followed indicated he was choosing his words. Did I act too spoiled? Just as that thought occurred, he whispered softly.
—It’s late today, so I was planning to just go home.
The moment he heard those words, Woo-yeon bolted upright and rushed out of the room. He crossed the unnecessarily spacious house, opened the front door, and ran out to the main gate, shoving his feet into his shoes. Through the gap of the flung-open door, he saw someone holding an umbrella.
“…”
“…”
A person standing straight, holding a black umbrella. A person whose eyes widened in surprise the moment he saw Woo-yeon. The very person who had not left Woo-yeon’s mind for a single moment over the past few days.
Without even realizing he was getting rained on, Woo-yeon’s lips parted.
“…If you stay like this, you’ll be reported.”
It was a sentence devoid of any romantic sentiment. Naturally, Do-hyun let out a short laugh and tilted the umbrella toward Woo-yeon. Water droplets dripped from his already soaked hair.
“Is that the first thing you have to say?”
Woo-yeon didn’t answer and threw himself into Do-hyun’s arms. He hugged him so violently that Do-hyun dropped the umbrella he was holding onto the ground. With a splash of rainwater, Woo-yeon began to sob.
“Hyung…”
All sorts of sorrow rushed in. He had missed him, longed for him, and had been a little lonely. To exaggerate slightly, this past week had been harder than the four years the Teacher had been gone.
“Oh dear, is that so.”
Do-hyun hugged Woo-yeon tightly and rubbed his cheek against his hair. He acted without hesitation, seemingly unbothered by the damp hair. Tightening his arms as if to crush him, he whispered tenderly into Woo-yeon’s ear.
“I missed you too.”
The two only entered the house after a long time. Specifically, it was the moment Woo-yeon let out a loud “Achoo!” Do-hyun said he should leave since it was late, but Woo-yeon held onto him by saying no one was home.
“Why did you go to your family home?”
The two came out after showering in separate bathrooms. For a moment, he thought it would be okay to wash together, but before he could bring it up, Do-hyun had zipped away with a change of clothes. Woo-yeon regretted later that he hadn’t just found the clothes for him later.
“My parents and sibling call me occasionally. Once I go, I have to pretend to be a good son, so I can’t check my phone much.”
“I see…”
After roughly drying their hair, they lay side by side on the bed and talked. Actually, he thought there would be more clingy skinship, but Do-hyun simply let Woo-yeon use his arm as a pillow and gently stroked his lower back.
Looking at Woo-yeon, who was tucked quietly in his arms, Do-hyun asked casually.
“What did you do while I was gone?”
“…I watched movies.”
“And?”
“I exercised, I swam… I tried to read a book, but I got lazy and stopped.”
“You played quite wholesomely.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Their legs tangled under the blanket. It was clearly a peaceful conversation, but gaps formed between the answers. Woo-yeon intentionally pressed himself closer to Do-hyun, but Do-hyun shook his head with a feigned sternness.
“No, this isn’t a house where you live alone.”
“…No one is here anyway.”
“…You’re fearless, jumping in when you won’t be able to handle it.”
It was a warning-heavy sentence. His pitch-black eyes were dyed with a dark mood, doubling the persuasiveness. The problem was that even such a gaze didn’t work on Woo-yeon at all.
“Then just a kiss…”
Woo-yeon wrapped his arms around Do-hyun’s waist and looked up pleadingly. As much as he had missed Do-hyun, he had also missed the pleasure he provided in many ways. He wanted to feel Kim Do-hyun himself entirely through the process of kissing, mixing tongues, and skin touching skin.
“Yeon-ah.”
However, instead of kissing him, Do-hyun gently ruffled Woo-yeon’s hair. Long fingers softly messed up the well-textured hair. The forehead, the corners of the eyes, and the bridge of the nose. Pressing his lips down in turn, he asked in a soothing tone.
“Are you feeling down?”
“…”
Woo-yeon’s gaze dropped. As he leaned into Do-hyun, the other patted his shoulder with a gentle touch. Burying his face in the chest, Woo-yeon mumbled.
“I’m okay now.”
Which meant he hadn’t been okay before. Do-hyun, who couldn’t possibly be unaware of that fact, began to slowly release his pheromones. The gently released pheromones softly soothed Woo-yeon’s heart.
“I had a tutor when I was young.”
While held in Do-hyun’s arms, Woo-yeon began to tell various small stories. That he hadn’t attended elementary school and had seen various tutors while homeschooling. Among them was the story of an Alpha who remained particularly vivid in his memory.
“He taught English, but I only remember being scolded.”
He wasn’t physically punished, but he received lectures so severe that he would have preferred being hit. The tutor tore down the young Woo-yeon to the floor, saying he was bad at it because he was stupid. He learned English that way, and thanks to that, everything he wrote, heard, and spoke was still perfect.
“Alphas are always like that.”
It might have been a coincidence for Woo-yeon, but when coincidences repeat, they become a necessity. The stereotypes learned since childhood were not corrected, except for a few exceptions. Even now, while held in an Alpha’s arms, Woo-yeon shuddered at the thought of Alphas other than him.
“Where did the Chairman go?”
Do-hyun shifted the subject rather than trying to empathize. Since Woo-yeon didn’t want to talk more, the timing was perfectly appropriate. Fidgeting with his fingers, Woo-yeon answered nonchalantly.
“She probably went to my mother’s grave.”
“…In this rain?”
“It can’t be helped.”
It was the rainy season. Rain fell outside the window, and it had been over a week since Soo-hyang had come home. On days when torrential rain poured like this, he always felt unwell.
“The day after tomorrow is my mother’s death anniversary.”
“…”
“She’s always away from home around this time.”
The rain grew heavier. Do-hyun silently lowered his head toward Woo-yeon. The lips that softly touched felt as if they were offering consolation.