By Zephyria 
Perhaps because it was late, there was no one in the elevator.
Once they were the only two inside, only silence and fluorescent light remained. The doors closed and the floor numbers began to rise.
Watching the numbers change one by one, Haon let out a soft chuckle.
“This reminds me of when we got stuck in this elevator.”
And then, after a bit of a tussle with Cha Jeong-won, they ended up kissing.
It seemed Cha Jeong-won was thinking of the same thing. The concentration of the Alpha’s pheromones trapped in the narrow space grew thicker. It felt like they were piling up in layers in the thin layer of air between them.
The one who couldn’t hold out was Haon.
The moment Haon turned to look at Cha Jeong-won, a beep sounded, announcing their arrival on the 5th floor.
As the elevator doors slid open, the cold air from the hallway seeped in.
It was a pity, but…
“I’ll go ahead.”
After stepping out of the elevator, Haon waved at Cha Jeong-won. He didn’t wave back exactly the same way, but he didn’t avert his eyes either.
The doors began to close. As Cha Jeong-won’s figure was gradually obscured and the doors were about to shut, they opened again.
“Sunbae?”
When Haon turned his head, Cha Jeong-won was leaning halfway out of the elevator.
And then, very briefly but clearly, their lips met.
It was a kiss that touched with a soft ‘tuk’ and immediately pulled away.
In terms of time, it was just an instant, but the Alpha’s scent seeped between his breaths, brushing hotly through Haon’s nostrils.
“Sleep well.”
“That’s cheating.”
His heart felt like it would burst. Haon grumbled, standing before the door.
The elevator doors closed. It felt as if the surging Alpha scent and warmth from inside had been abruptly severed and vanished in an instant.
Left alone, Haon stood in place for a while.
The sensation lingering on his lips was vivid.
“This isn’t a dream, is it?”
The sweet room, pheromones. And now an elevator kiss. Too many things had happened for a single day’s worth of events.
Standing before the door with a dazed expression, Haon tightly closed and opened his eyes once.
“Get a grip.”
Just then, his phone rang from his pocket.
Was it Kim Hyun-gyu or Cha Seo-jun?
Or perhaps… Cha Jeong-won?
Thinking of the names of the people who had almost left him lonely today and the one who had kept him from being lonely, he looked at his phone.
It wasn’t any of the expected people. It was his mom.
His mood grew unsettled again. But since he couldn’t not answer the call, he pressed the answer button.
“Yes, Mom.”
His previously buoyant voice settled down firmly.
[Your aunt called. She said something suddenly came up. So she said if you were planning to contact her too, don’t. She seemed really busy.]
“Ah, really? I was actually about to call her, that’s a shame.”
He had no such intention at all, but Haon just pretended otherwise.
He didn’t know what had come up for his aunt, but he felt it had happened at a very opportune time.
After that, they exchanged only brief greetings before hanging up.
“What is this… the Cha Jeong-won effect?”
If not that, then what?
Haon stared down at his phone for a while. Then he decided to resume the task he had paused.
＊ ＊ ＊
Haon first went to the closet and pulled out his bag. It was a large suitcase he usually only took out for trips.
A few t-shirts and sweatpants. Underwear and socks.
A toiletry pouch, laptop, charger, even slippers—Haon silently swept his belongings into the bag.
“What’s this, preparing your masterpiece already? Starting your life as a studio ghost?”
Kim Hyun-gyu’s voice came along with the sound of the front door opening.
Haon didn’t even look back at him as he finished packing.
“Hey. We haven’t even started the main practical assignments yet, isn’t it too early to start pulling all-nighters at school already?”
Kim Hyun-gyu glanced at the suitcase.
Even though their sharehouse was in front of the school, once the semester started, students in majors with practicals would end up eating and sleeping at school. Especially design majors.
There were seniors who laid mats on the studio floor to sleep, passed out face-down on drafting tables, or lived out of sleeping bags in the corners of the model workshop.
Of course, Haon was one of them too, but today was different.
He zipped the suitcase shut in a straight line and pulled up the handle.
“I’m leaving.”
＊ ＊ ＊
‘I’m crazy. I really am.’
Standing before the door lock, Haon took another deep breath.
Thinking of the Alpha scent that would waft from inside and the person who would be there, his fingers trembled.
Ding-dong.
Haon pressed the doorbell first.
After a moment, there was movement from inside.
When the door opened, Cha Jeong-won appeared, dressed in comfortable t-shirt attire.
It seemed he had just showered; his hair was half-damp as if roughly dried.
From inside the house, a faint shampoo scent flowed out, layered with that unique Alpha scent.
His gaze went down to the suitcase and then returned to Haon’s face.
“What’s going on?”
The question was calm, but his eyes wavered just a little.
Haon smiled, trying his best to act nonchalant.
“Um, I came to live here.”
“……What.”
Even though he was a person with almost no change in expression, right now his eyebrows were definitely raised.
“I came to cohabitate.”
“Why?”
“You said we don’t have much time. So we have to use it frugally.”
Haon tapped the suitcase handle.
“A week is too short, I can’t waste a single minute.”
That’s what he said, but inwardly he was adding a completely different sentence.
‘And I have to find the box in question too.’
That box he’d read about in the original work.
To find it, he needed to search this house himself.
“Sunbae, where should I sleep?”
When Haon asked, deliberately acting even more innocent, Cha Jeong-won’s gaze softened slightly.
Then, with a ‘tuk’, he pulled Haon’s wrist, the one holding the suitcase handle.
His body was sucked inside as if a training camp’s iron gate had slammed shut.
“You, right now.”
The sound of the door closing behind him echoed.
With a ‘click’, the feeling of a lock engaging, the outside world was severed.
“Do you know what kind of den you’ve entered.”
His voice was low, but the end of it seemed slightly caught.
It could have sounded like a threat, but to Haon’s ears, it strangely sounded like an invitation mixed with anticipation.
“I know.”
Haon answered with a smile.
“I came in knowing full well.”
A den layered with Alpha pheromones.
And a week’s worth of a love den that Yoon Haon would create, one that wasn’t in the original work.
“But, Sunbae.”
As the tension eased, the bag he’d left standing in the entryway suddenly felt heavy.
“I want to drink beer.”
Before saying it, he subtly checked the other’s reaction.
He wanted to end the first day of their relationship with a can of beer.
A brief silence flowed.
Cha Jeong-won let out a breath that was almost a sigh, then dropped his shoulders slightly like someone who had given up on everything.
“Just one can.”
＊ ＊ ＊
After drinking his fill of beer, Haon thought.
He’d had wine earlier too.
‘Mixing them isn’t a good choice…’
Thinking that, he tilted the beer can again anyway.
The carbonation swirled violently in his mouth before going down his throat. It felt refreshing on its own.
Yeah, I should drink. After everything that happened today, of course I should drink.
“You’re not going to drink a lot, right.”
Beside him, Cha Jeong-won said dryly.
Haon took another swig of beer and then raised his index finger towards the air.
“Can’t I have just one more drink?”
“If you get drunk this time, what kind of drunken antics are you planning?”
The usual reproach popped out. But his voice was a bit more relaxed than before.
“I don’t have anything to cling to you for now. I’ve been to the sweet room.”
“Who knows. You might cling to me saying you like something else this time.”
Something else what?
Haon, who had been rolling his eyes around, looked at Cha Jeong-won with a ‘surely not’ expression.
He probably knew what his gaze was saying, but there was no reaction.
“Ah… Can you imagine me clinging to you saying I like you?”
Haon glanced at the refrigerator.
“Should I drink more then?”
As if to say there was nothing he couldn’t do, Cha Jeong-won approached the refrigerator, took out all the beer, and put it in the sink. Then he turned on the warm water.
The sound of cool water was heard. Leaning against the sink, he looked back at Haon.
“If you like lukewarm beer, I won’t stop you.”
“That’s mean.”
Haon substituted his complaint towards Cha Jeong-won by drinking the remaining beer.
Somehow, just drinking beer made him feel emptied out. It wasn’t that his head was dizzy, but his body felt slightly lighter?
Or was his tense and fatigued mind loosening up a bit?
Moreover, a pleasant scent kept coming from the person sitting right next to him. That unique energy rising above the shampoo scent tangled confusingly.
‘I took suppressants yesterday too.’
He definitely had. That memory felt distantly far away.
Come to think of it, yesterday he had been fiercely fighting with Cha Jeong-won.
And then today, they’d stuck together until their lips were swollen.
‘But the suppressants aren’t working well, are they.’
His shoulders felt strangely heavy.
While Haon was blinking, Cha Jeong-won’s gaze didn’t fall away. He was looking at him as if he would remember everything about Haon.
Cha Jeong-won said quietly.
“If you cling to me saying you like me without getting drunk, I’ll accept it.”