After that, I shut my mouth. I had blurted it out in a fit of annoyance, but unlike me, Cha Seonwoo looked entertained by the whole situation. Once I realized I was having a childish argument with someone who had only just turned nineteen a few months ago, I felt drained.

For some reason, it felt like I kept getting dragged around by Cha Seonwoo. Whenever I was genuinely angry, he would act unlike himself and somehow calm me down, only to quickly return to normal and needle me again.

Looking at him like that made me want to pick a fight no matter what. I wanted to see Cha Seonwoo, who always looked so composed, lose his cool. I knew I wasn't being mature, but I couldn't help it.

I stole glances at him with the intent of finding fault. I studied Cha Seonwoo for a long time, as he kept his eyes closed like he was tired, until I finally found something to nitpick.

"Dress a little more neatly."

At my nagging, Cha Seonwoo let out a short laugh and opened his eyes.

"How can I dress any neater here?"

"...I mean dress like a student."

If I thought about it, Cha Seonwoo was right. A black turtleneck, a coat, a mutton jacket, a blazer... There was nothing particularly special about any of it, but somehow whenever Cha Seonwoo wore them, he didn't look neat.

"You know that what you just said sounded like you were policing a younger boyfriend, right?"

Cha Seonwoo seemed to find the whole thing amusing. I twisted my lips into a sneer and said,

"Why would I police you? What are we to each other?"

"Fair enough. Then I should be the one policing hyung."

"Why you?"

"Because it should be worrying that hyung comes home late at night smelling like Alpha pheromones and alcohol."

"It wasn't even midnight. And aren't you the last person who should say that?"

"At least I didn't come back drenched in pheromones for everyone to see."

It was ridiculous watching him lie without even blinking.

He seemed to think I didn't know that after returning to Korea, Cha Seonwoo had come home every night reeking of Omega pheromones along with the smell of alcohol. Because I was a Beta and couldn't sense pheromones, he thought he could lie so shamelessly. Just like he had secretly pheromone showered me.

"Right. You and I are different. At least mine was only one, but you had several."

At my words, Cha Seonwoo's eyes sharpened. Then he looked at me for a long moment, as if wondering what I was thinking.

"I didn't know you were paying attention."

"I wasn't."

"No, say more. This is getting interesting."

Is this interesting to you? I swallowed the words that rose to my throat and turned my head away.

"I have nothing more to say. And don't pheromone shower me again."

"Then let's finish the story from earlier. You like dressing neatly? Is that your type?"

"Forget it."

Cha Seonwoo didn't seem satisfied with my response and tapped my leg with the toe of his shoe. But I had no intention of playing along, so I pulled my legs together and dodged him.

"Get out already. I'm tired."

I was tired from spending the whole day waiting for Cha Seonwoo while trying to calm the anger that kept rising in me. But Cha Seonwoo didn't leave. He kept sitting on my bed and staring at me.

"Wake your younger sibling up? I'm tired. I guess that's how an Alpha always makes excuses when he crawls into your room."

"Does that sound like an excuse to you? I was being polite. I was calling it a pretty roundabout refusal, and you still didn't get it, so there's nothing I can do. I don't want to keep talking to you, so get out. Happy now?"

Cha Seonwoo's sleepy expression returned to normal almost instantly. He raised his eyes and looked at me with a chilly gaze. Then a dimple dug into one cheek, and the corner of his mouth lifted.

"Why do you keep avoiding me so much?"

"You hate me, don't you?"

"Me? No way. It seems like you're the one who hates me."

"Of course that's because... you were the one who came after me first."

"When?"

"You picked a fight with me when you were drunk. Don't tell me you don't remember."

"I did drink, but I was never drunk."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"If I had really been drunk, I wouldn't have left hyung alone."

I wondered if he was joking, but there wasn't a trace of a smile left on Cha Seonwoo's face.

"I don't like talking like this."

"You don't? I'm restraining myself as much as I can. I'm bad at lying, so hyung can just get used to it."

"Be honest with me."

I wet my dry lips with my tongue.

"You... why are you doing this to me?"

Cha Seonwoo gave a small laugh, as if to say that was all I had to ask.

"Didn't I tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"That I like hyung's face."

I remembered our first meeting. He had only looked at me with a cold expression I couldn't read. Far from liking it, I had felt like prey in front of a predator.

"I thought you hated me."

"I liked your face from the beginning. And do I really look like someone who'd sit across from someone I hate and waste time?"

"You talk like that to someone you like?"

"What do you think?"

Would he act the same way toward an Omega who had a social position similar to his? Of course not. The fact that he said he liked my face but still treated me like this only meant I was easy for him to handle.

"No, just don't answer."

Someone who had never lived their whole life under another person's foot didn't know what true misery was. It wasn't when you went hungry because you had no money or nowhere to sleep. It was this... when someone didn't even see me as another human being. When they treated me like someone they could handle however they wanted, teased me as if it were no big deal, and only cared whether I reacted or not. There was nothing more miserable than being the only one rattled by actions that carried no feeling at all.

"When are you going back to the United States?"

"Who knows? Is that important?"

"It is."

"Why? Do you want me to leave soon?"

I didn't answer. Cha Seonwoo glanced around the room and idly swung his legs. Just when I thought he wasn't going to tell me, he slowly opened his mouth.

"A week from now."

"A week."

I let out a dry laugh. Had I actually been waiting for something?

At first, I didn't understand why I had gotten angry while talking to Cha Taewoo. It wasn't just because he had pheromone showered me without permission. Even though I knew he had only come back to Korea for a short vacation and had to leave again soon, hearing it directly from him felt like I had been hit over the head with a hammer.

"I have nothing else to say. Get out."

After I turned my face completely away from Cha Seonwoo and shut him out, he stared at me for a long while before slowly getting to his feet.

"Are you messing with me right now?"

"That's what I should be asking."

Cha Seonwoo didn't leave the room. Instead, he came toward me. The pressure from his height and build made me instinctively back up, but I quickly clamped my mouth shut and glared at him.

"If you pheromone shower me one more time, I really won't sit still for it."

At my words, Cha Seonwoo laughed as if the whole thing were absurd and looked down at me, but before I could even hear his answer, I grabbed his wrist and dragged him out the door.

"Get out. And don't just show up here like this again."

With that, I slammed the door shut with a bang. I held the doorknob tightly in case Cha Seonwoo tried to open the door and come back in, but fortunately, after not long, I heard footsteps. However, instead of heading toward his room, they gradually faded away.

I sighed and turned around. On the bed was the ice pack Cha Seonwoo had left behind. Its chill was already gone and it had gone lukewarm.

I was certain I would be up all night again, but because I had taken a sleeping pill yesterday and actually gotten some sleep, my nerves weren't as frayed as usual. Still, as I lay there with my eyes closed, Cha Seonwoo kept coming to mind, and in the end I got up and sat at my desk. Then, while preparing for tutoring, I forced myself to fill my head with anything other than Cha Seonwoo. But all my attention stayed on the door outside.

I still hadn't heard Cha Seonwoo's door open. I wondered briefly where he had gone, then felt ashamed of myself for even thinking that way.

"Haah..."

Whether Cha Seonwoo went out right now to drink or roll around with an Omega had nothing to do with me.

And yet, meaningless scribbles had appeared across the pages I had been unable to turn for hours.

In the end, I put down my pen and closed the book. There was no way I would be able to focus anyway.

* * *

With my eyes closed and no sleep coming, I woke at the light filtering through the curtains and the movement outside my room. I heard faint voices talking. It seemed Cha Seonwoo and his family had finished breakfast.

After waiting for them to finish eating and for the outside to go quiet, I opened the door and came out.

I had said I was going to get my younger sibling, but really...

"Did you sleep well?"

At the familiar voice, I stopped walking.

I was startled the moment I stepped into the living room and came face-to-face with Cha Seonwoo, but only for a second. Instinctively, I looked over the clothes he was wearing. Cha Seonwoo only looked at me with an expressionless face.

"You kicked me out like that, and you still slept well?"

And then, absurdly enough, I felt relieved just from seeing that Cha Seonwoo smelled only like the body wash I used too.

But only for a moment.

With his naturally tousled bangs and wearing a black hoodie with comfortable sweatpants, Cha Seonwoo stood in front of me dressed completely differently from usual, as if he had done it on purpose.

Just as I was wondering what was going on, I remembered what I had said yesterday.

"...Is that your version of dressing like a student?"

He was definitely dressed comfortably, but when I saw the logo stamped proudly across his chest, I couldn't help feeling dumbfounded. The words "What kind of student wears such an expensive brand?" nearly rose to my lips, but he did look a little different.