Romantic Gangster

#16

Leaving the cafeteria, thinking he could consider it as dieting despite the insufficient portion, Hyun-joon looked down at Ji-woo’s skinny shoulders and arms. Although he didn’t seem to be in terrible condition, there was a sense that he might be sick in some way.

“I need to stop by the infirmary for a moment, want to come with me?”

Ah, as expected. See? I knew he was sick. Impressed by his accurate prediction, Hyun-joon nodded lightly.

“Where are you hurting?”

“It’s not like I can point to a specific place that hurts… I’ve just been feeling under the weather for the past few days.”

“For the past few days? Since when exactly?”

“Um, since I did my last day at the billiard hall… So from Saturday morning.”

“…Then you must have been at home all weekend. Not feeling well.”

“Yeah. I couldn’t move and just lay in bed until Monday morning. I barely managed to take suppressants…”

Suppressants? He wondered why someone would take suppressants out of all the many medicines when feeling unwell. Suppressing his rising curiosity, Hyun-joon followed Ji-woo into the infirmary.

“Hello.”

“Oh, Ji-woo. You’re here? How are you feeling? Better than this morning?”

“Yes. The headache is less severe, and the nausea has improved a lot. I was able to eat lunch well without feeling sick.”

“That’s good. It seems to have subsided now. As I said this morning, while it’s over for now, your cycle will probably come as early as next month or at the latest in two or three months. Since you’ve clearly shown precursor symptoms, you need to prepare now.”

“Yes, I’ll be more careful.”

“And even if you’re fine now, those precursor symptoms might suddenly appear again. They often appear irregularly before suddenly bursting, so be careful, and if you feel symptoms coming on, it would be good to take one more suppressant and monitor your condition. If it feels too severe, come to the infirmary right away, and if you’re outside school, go to the nearest pharmacy or any hospital immediately. Understood?”

Ji-woo nodded after listening quietly to the school nurse’s words and left the infirmary with extra medicine. Hyun-joon, who had been standing quietly behind, also nodded slightly in greeting and followed.

“…”

Precursor symptoms to the cycle meant it was a situation where hormones were unstable, preparing for the heat cycle to come. Hyun-joon wasn’t unfamiliar with such symptoms. He had experienced times when his whole body felt like it was accumulating heat, and no matter how hard he tried, the heat wouldn’t dissipate, requiring him to constantly pour cold water over himself. This had been happening occasionally for the past few months.

Wondering if he was sick somewhere, he had gone to a pharmacy and described his symptoms, only to be told it was a precursor symptom of the cycle starting as he approached adulthood. He remembered being advised to take one more of the suppressants he was already taking and to exercise to release the heat through physical activity, which led him to work out even harder from then on.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes, I’m really fine. I don’t know when it might happen again, but I’m feeling much better now.”

“You looked so pale, like you might collapse.”

“Did I look like that?”

“Yeah. That’s why I opened the can for you too.”

“Thank you. For being considerate.”

Whenever Hyun-joon said or did something, he got a ‘response’ from Seo Ji-woo. If he was grateful, he said thank you, if he was sorry, he apologized. If he was curious, he asked why, and when Hyun-joon talked, he closed his mouth and listened to his story.

One might say this isn’t surprising, that it’s natural, but Hyun-joon had never met someone who showed their emotions so honestly in his life. After being around people who brushed off gratitude with a laugh, got angry when they should be apologizing, and attached curses to every word, seeing Ji-woo who wasn’t like that made every moment of conversation bewildering.

Having lived a life where he too roughly brushed off feelings of gratitude or apology, it was even more so for him. At first, he treated Ji-woo roughly like he did with other kids, thinking this was strange, but somehow, the more he saw him… he didn’t know how to treat him.

“…It’s not so much that I was being considerate, it’s just… Anyway, I guess that’s why your pheromone scent was so strong.”

“Ah, that could be. Can you still smell it on me now? I took more suppressants than usual.”

As they climbed the stairs, Hyun-joon glanced at Ji-woo and tilted his head slightly to smell Ji-woo’s hair.

“…It doesn’t seem to be there. Or is it?”

It seemed like there was a faint sweet smell, though not strong enough to say it wasn’t there at all. Hyun-joon leaned in closer than before, this time putting his nose near Ji-woo’s shirt collar and slowly inhaling.

“Wait, that tickles.”

Ji-woo hunched his shoulders, laughing, and covered his neck where Hyun-joon’s breath had touched lightly, creating some distance between them.

“Ah, stay still for a moment. I need to smell properly. I’m a dominant, so I’m way more sensitive than other guys and can tell even if it’s just a little.”

Hyun-joon pulled down Ji-woo’s hand that was covering his neck and led him to the quiet end of the corridor on the floor where their classroom was. Then, as if restraining Ji-woo so he couldn’t cover himself, he held both of Ji-woo’s wrists down with one hand and leaned his upper body forward. Ji-woo’s wrists were so thin that they fit in one hand.

“Let go of this…”

“Just a moment.”

Hyun-joon’s face approached Ji-woo’s nape again. He moved close until his nose was almost touching and slowly inhaled, feeling the faint presence of that soft and sweet smell he had smelled several times before. It was weak enough that an ordinary alpha wouldn’t notice, but there was definitely a pheromone scent. The fact that it was still noticeable even though Ji-woo said he had taken more medicine indicated he was indeed in an unstable state.

“I can smell it.”

“Really? I should take another suppressant.”

“But this is only because I’m a dominant alpha. Other guys wouldn’t smell it at this level. But seriously, you smell really good.”

Although he should have lifted his head after confirming, the soft and sweet smell was so pleasant that he wanted to get closer. Hyun-joon momentarily lost his judgment and tilted his head further, burying his nose in Ji-woo’s neck. As his nose pressed against the soft skin and he inhaled, the pleasant scent became even stronger. Feeling a tingling in his lower abdomen, he pushed his body closer. Ji-woo’s body was pushed back as a result.

“Um, Hyun-joon…”

“You… shit… What kind of pheromone scent… fuck, this smell…”

“Hyun-joon!”

Hearing his name suddenly called out, Hyun-joon’s eyes snapped open and he raised his upper body that had been leaning down. He quickly released the wrists he had been holding immobile. He must have gone crazy. He had never understood the saying about losing one’s mind to omega pheromones until now… Now he finally understood a bit. If Ji-woo hadn’t stopped him, he felt like he might still be buried in his scent.

“…Just take another suppressant. After smelling again, you should definitely take one.”

“Okay. But your hands are really big, and you’re really strong. How can you hold both my wrists with one hand?”

“I’m just big all over. Tall, big hands, big feet.”

There was one more thing that was big, but he didn’t mention it. He didn’t want to create a bad image by saying such things.

“Don’t use force like that in the future. It’s a bit scary.”

Seeing Ji-woo fidgeting with his wrists, Hyun-joon nodded briefly. As he lowered his gaze, he saw the hand marks on Ji-woo’s white wrists.

“…I guess there are things you find scary too.”

Hyun-joon gently held one of Ji-woo’s wrists that he had gripped tightly earlier, and softly rubbed the marked area with his thumb. Although it wouldn’t make the marks disappear immediately and his hand movements were quite clumsy, to Ji-woo it felt like a sincere apology.

“It’s okay now. It doesn’t really hurt or anything, I was just surprised. It made me realize how strong dominant alphas really are.”

Ji-woo patted Hyun-joon’s arm a couple of times as if to say it was alright, noticing Hyun-joon seemed a bit cautious of his reaction. He then started walking back towards the classroom first. The sound of slippers dragging behind him soon after made him smile a little.

The homeroom teacher who came in for the final roll call looked at Hyun-joon with moved eyes throughout. At the end, he even added, as if choked up, that he hoped to see Hyun-joon’s healthy face again tomorrow.

Ji-woo followed the homeroom teacher out of the classroom when asked to talk for a moment. As soon as they were in the corridor, the teacher grasped both of Ji-woo’s hands and thanked him with tears in his eyes.

“Ji-woo, thank you. You must have been busy studying too… Thank you so much for getting Hyun-joon to come to school. He’ll be coming to school every day now, right? I’m so relieved.”

“Um… I did ask him to come every day. But I’m not sure if he’ll listen to that.”

“Would he have come once if he didn’t intend to come every day? I knew our Ji-woo could do it. Thank you for helping the teacher, Ji-woo.”

Not knowing how to respond, Ji-woo just smiled in reply. He was only able to escape after listening to the teacher’s thanks for a bit longer.

When he re-entered the classroom, he saw Choi Young-jae waiting for him, saying they should go quickly, and Lee Hyun-joon sitting with his arms crossed, looking at him. Ji-woo first went to his seat to pack his bag, then went to Hyun-joon’s seat with Young-jae.

“We’re going home now, want to come with us?”

Hyun-joon, who had been sitting with his long legs stretched out, looked up and scanned Ji-woo and Young-jae before standing up. The sound of his chair scraping back echoed loudly through the classroom.