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Suho, who had been hesitating, roughly pushed aside the blanket covering him. Maybe because it wasn’t the bed he usually slept in, even that small movement made his whole body ache and feel stiff. He sat up, brushed off his clothes a couple of times, and got out of bed. His body still felt heavy, but his steps toward the door were noticeably lighter. Reaching for the doorknob, Suho let out a long yawn.

At that moment—

“…What the.”

He sensed someone’s presence beyond the door. Thinking it was probably the class president coming to find him, Suho opened it.

“Is that you, class president?”

“……”

“Hey, why aren’t you answe—”

Suho suddenly stopped mid-sentence, his mouth falling shut with a gasp. The face that appeared through the crack of the door was someone he hadn’t expected at all.

“Kang… Minhyuk. What are you doing here?”

“……”

“What, are you sick or something? …No, that can’t be. You wouldn’t get sick.”

“……”

“Then, did Lee Jaeyoung maybe…”

“No.”

Minhyuk lowered the hand he had stretched into the air, cutting him off. It seemed he had also been about to open the door himself.

“…Then what?”

“I heard you were here.”

There was a firmness in his voice. It was as if he was trying to stop another name from slipping out of his mouth. Suho looked at him with a puzzled yet cautious gaze.

“Why are you looking for me?”

“I have something to say to you.”

“Something to say? What are you talking about, just me…”

In that moment, Suho’s mind flashed through recent events and Jaeyoung’s face. He instinctively felt he knew why Minhyuk had come to see him.

“Whatever you’re thinking, it wasn’t me this time.”

“……”

“Whatever it was, Lee Jaeyoung probably screwed things up on his own again. Anyway, it wasn’t me. Okay? It really wasn’t me.”

Suho waved his hands frantically, asserting his innocence. Minhyuk, however, just stood there expressionless, saying nothing.

“Hey, I’m seriously being wronged here, you know? I’ve been sleeping here all day.”

“I know.”

“What do you mean, you know?”

“I know you’ve been here all day.”

Suho froze at Minhyuk’s reply. For a brief moment, he wondered, How would you even know that? But more than curiosity, his urge to escape the situation took priority, so he quickly looked away and nodded.

“Fine, then that’s that.”

Though still feeling uneasy, Suho tried to slip past Minhyuk to leave. But Minhyuk immediately blocked the door with his body and stretched out an arm, cutting off his path.

“Where are you going?”

“Where else? I’m going home.”

Come on, move. If you keep standing there, the school gate’s gonna close. Suho pouted, pretending not to care, forcing a nonchalant expression. Minhyuk raised an eyebrow as he looked down at him. It was obvious Suho was faking calmness. Should he just pretend not to notice? …Still, it was better than having him bolt right now.

“I told you, I have something to say.”

Minhyuk stepped into the infirmary so Suho couldn’t get past him and gently closed the door. Caught off guard by Minhyuk’s sudden closeness, Suho instinctively took a step back, his eyes filled with caution.

“So if this isn’t about Lee Jaeyoung, then…”

“I said I have something to say. Me, to you.”

Can’t you stop bringing up other people’s names already?

The slightly sharp tone reached Suho’s ears. For some reason, he felt flustered. Minhyuk had suddenly come looking for him, cornered him, and said he had something to say, and now he had even gone as far as to come inside the infirmary to do it. It all felt suspiciously strange.

Suho slightly lifted his head and met Minhyuk’s eyes. Just from looking at his face, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking, and Suho’s head tilted in confusion again and again. One would expect some reaction to that, but Minhyuk didn’t show the slightest gesture. It felt instead like he was simply waiting for Suho to speak first.

“Fine. Stop staring at me like that. You think anyone could talk while being glared at like that?”

“……”

“So, what is it? That thing you said you had to tell me, that made you come looking for me.”

Even at Suho’s blunt question, Minhyuk stayed silent. Now even that gaze of his was starting to feel burdensome.

“Hurry up and say it. It’s not like we need to stand around like this, dragging it out.”

“……”

“I get that you’re still bothered about what happened in the hallway last time, but if you went out of your way to stop someone from leaving, the least you could do is open your mouth and show some sincerity, don’t you think?”

Trying to show how tired he was, Suho turned his head from side to side and lightly tapped the back of his neck. Maybe it worked, because after a long silence, a faint voice finally came from Minhyuk.

“Keep your schedule open tomorrow evening.”

“I don’t want to.”

“My parents arranged a dinner to celebrate Christmas Eve. The place is Handan Table, across from Gangnam H Avenue. Don’t be late. Be there by six.”

“I said I don’t want to.”

“You’ll come anyway. You’re always the perfectly well-behaved kid in front of adults. Don’t take it the wrong way. I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”

“……”

The unexpectedly gentle tone made Suho falter. Normally, Minhyuk had always conveyed his schedule through the secretaries, so it felt odd that he’d personally come to say it himself today. Suho’s eyes darted around, clearly unsettled by Minhyuk’s change in demeanor. Meanwhile, Minhyuk was certain Suho would agree, watching him steadily without even blinking, as though unwilling to miss that very moment.   

This persistence of his, so unlike him, wasn’t exactly welcome.

“…Fine.”

Suho answered quietly, averting his gaze from Minhyuk. He wanted to bolt from the room right that instant, but Minhyuk didn’t seem inclined to step aside, nor did he make any move to open the door.

“I said fine, so move. I’m going home.”

Suho rolled his eyes toward the left, glancing through the gap in the window at the hallway outside. Minhyuk still didn’t budge.

“What, do you have something else to say?”

“No.”

“Then move. Don’t just stand there blocking the door.”

Suho poked Minhyuk’s side with his index finger a couple of times, clearly telling him to move his body out of the way. Even so, Minhyuk stayed rooted to the spot like a statue, staring straight at Suho. No—he even started to lean in, lowering his body and bringing his face closer.

What the hell, why is he suddenly doing this…!

Startled by the face that had come suddenly close, Suho leaned his upper body back as far as he could, his brows scrunching together in alarm.

“Hey, move! Huh? Why are you suddenly shoving your face in like—”

It was then.

“…!”

Minhyuk, who had been reaching a hand toward Suho’s left cheek, suddenly closed the distance faster than before. The faint trace of his pheromones hit Suho’s senses, and his eyes widened as he blurted out in panic.

“Hey, wait a second. We can’t just—!”

The moment their faces drew close enough to almost touch, an alarm went off in Suho’s head. The thought that they might accidentally make contact sent a shiver running through his entire body, but it was already too late. In a desperate attempt to avoid him, Suho squeezed his eyes shut and sharply turned his head away. But then,

“Here.”

Instead of what he feared, only the tips of Minhyuk’s fingers brushed lightly against his left cheek. The thing he’d been worried about didn’t happen.

“You’ve got an eyelash stuck here.”

With an oddly hesitant motion, Minhyuk brushed at Suho’s smooth cheek. No, rather than brushing, it felt closer to a gentle caress. The place where his skin had touched burned strangely hot. It was strange. Really strange. Both Minhyuk suddenly doing something like this, and himself reacting the way he was.

“…Kang Minhyuk.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s wrong with you today? Why are you doing things you never do?”

“……”

“Are you sick? Did you hit your head or something? Because otherwise, there’s no reason for you to be acting like—”

Suho’s words were cut off and swallowed mid-sentence. Minhyuk had suddenly yanked open the door he had been standing in front of, almost as if to interrupt him.

“I said what I came to say, so I’m leaving.”

“Hey, you…”

“Get home safe. …See you tomorrow.”

With that, Minhyuk quickly left the infirmary. The faint scent that lingered on the doorknob was the only trace proving he had been there at all.

Suho stared at the already distant Minhyuk, his face unreadable. Tilting his head from side to side, he let out a hollow laugh, as though he’d reached a conclusion.

“He’s definitely sick or something. Maybe something happened to his head while I wasn’t looking.”

Otherwise, there was no way to explain that weird behavior. Clicking his tongue and shaking his head, Suho turned his gaze toward the hallway. Minhyuk had long since disappeared from sight. Maybe it was because of those long legs of his. His steps were ridiculously fast, too.

“…Guess I’ll just go home.”

Unable to shake off the uneasy feeling lingering inside him, Suho muttered under his breath and hurried out of the infirmary. He thought for a moment about stopping by the library, but quickly changed his mind, thinking something unexpected might happen again. He went straight back to his room instead.

There was one thing Suho overlooked, though. In the now-empty infirmary they had left behind, the faint scent of cream caramel he had unknowingly given off in his sleep still lingered in the air.

* * *

About twenty minutes until the dinner appointment. After checking the time once more, Suho stood before the tall mirror and carefully adjusted his clothes. He had tried to get himself ready as best he could, but there was no hiding the slight shadow under his eyes. The colder weather was partly to blame, but so was the restless night he’d had from a bad dream.

Deciding that he would just eat dinner and come straight back, Suho called out as he stepped out of the house.

“Ajumoni¹Respectful Korean term for a middle-aged or married woman, similar to “madam” or “ma’am” in English., I’ll be back later.”

“Alright, Young Master Suho, take care.”

The housekeeper who came every other day to help with chores walked him to the front door. When she tried to step barefoot toward the shoe cabinet, Suho waved his hand, telling her not to come down. Worried her feet might get cold, he quickly slipped his feet into his shoes without untying them properly and headed out the front door. He tapped the unfamiliar tips of his dress shoes against the ground a couple of times. Just as he was about to step past the door—

“…What the?”

Suho tilted his head slightly, narrowing his eyes.

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  Respectful Korean term for a middle-aged or married woman, similar to “madam” or “ma’am” in English.