A Hand on the Nape

Tap, tap.

The first thing that reached him, even before an answer, was Seon Ji-ha’s touch.

Without a word, he reached out and tapped the drink smudged on Yoon Dae-eon’s chin to wipe it away.

Since his hands were so large, his index finger alone was more than enough.

Then, he withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened.

Only then did Yoon Dae-eon remember the drink on his chin and raised his arm to rub the spot once more.

After a rough wipe with his sleeve, the questions burst out again.

“Who was it?!”

“Hmm…….”

Seon Ji-ha kept his mouth shut for a long while.

He rolled his eyes around for a moment before speaking slowly.

“……There was no one.”

“No one?”

“It seems…… someone just left it there the day before…….”

Blink, blink.

Though the object was omitted, it wasn’t hard to guess that the thing ‘left behind’ was the high-purity Alpha/Omega suppressant.

It took a moment for Yoon Dae-eon to fully process Seon Ji-ha’s words.

In other words, what he was saying now was—

“There’s no culprit, right?”

“……Yes…….”

“I knew it! Wow, what a relief. I mean, it’s a relief to know the truth.”

Seon Ji-ha merely gave a faint, silent smile.

Yoon Dae-eon managed to calm his racing heart and took another sip of his drink through the straw.

It must have been nearly empty, as only a tiny bit of liquid came up through the ice.

Hearing that sound, Seon Ji-ha asked in a casual voice.

“Dae-eon, do you want to drink this too?”

“Huh? What about you, Senior? Do you not like cherry ade?”

“Yeah, not really…….”

“Then why did you pick this?”

“……Because I was following you, Dae-eon…….”

Seon Ji-ha held out his cherry ade as if urging him to drink it.

Feeling the weight, it really did seem like he hadn’t taken a single sip.

Since it seemed like a waste to just throw it away, Yoon Dae-eon eventually accepted Seon Ji-ha’s portion.

In exchange, the empty cup Yoon Dae-eon had finished was snatched into Seon Ji-ha’s hand.

“I’ll throw that away.”

“……You don’t have enough hands.”

“Not true. I have my left hand right here. I’ll put my phone in my pocket and…….”

Yoon Dae-eon began rummaging around to shove things into his pockets to prove his point.

However, Seon Ji-ha pointedly tucked the empty cup into his own embrace as if to show he wouldn’t give it back.

“Senior, you won’t get money for selling that. Why are you holding trash so dearly? Give it to me.”

“……I’ll throw it away…….”

“Now I feel like the one being a nuisance.”

In the heat of the moment, he had become the person who dumped his trash on Seon Ji-ha and even stole his drink.

Yoon Dae-eon scratched the back of his head with a sheepish face, but since he couldn’t keep rejecting the senior’s kindness forever, he just walked along.

They hadn’t walked far across the campus when the building for the next class appeared.

Since this elective was held in a large lecture hall, they only had to go up to the second floor.

Stepping into the hall right by the stairs, he saw that it wasn’t very crowded yet.

“Senior, where should we sit?”

At Yoon Dae-eon’s question, Seon Ji-ha scanned the surroundings.

Usually, his preferred spot was a corner seat in the front.

The very center caught the professor’s eye too much, and the back was noisy.

While he was looking around, Yoon Dae-eon was already pointing at his usual spot in the back.

Seon Ji-ha followed him without a second thought.

Once Yoon Dae-eon set his bag down and took a seat, Seon Ji-ha quietly placed his bag next to him.

“What about the trash? Did you throw it away?”

“……Yes…….”

“Huh? When? Was there a trash can on the way?”

“By the water purifier earlier…….”

‘He threw it away then?’

Yoon Dae-eon looked at Seon Ji-ha with questioning eyes.

He felt embarrassed, wondering how out of it he must have been to not even notice the person right next to him throwing away trash.

However, proving his word, Seon Ji-ha’s hands were indeed empty of any transparent cups.

With nothing left to say, Yoon Dae-eon pulled his tablet and papers from his bag.

Then, he realized a bit late.

Yoon Dae-eon had lost his pen today and borrowed one from Oh Dong-cheol this morning, but Oh Dong-cheol wasn’t coming to this class.

In other words, he had no pen.

‘……Should I ask the Senior for a pen? He doesn’t seem like the type who likes lending things.’

“Dae-eon, hey.”

A sudden greeting made his head whip around.

Jung Yoon-ki was there, settling into a seat.

Yoon Dae-eon greeted him with a bright face.

“Yoon-ki, hey. Perfect timing. Could you lend me a pen?”

“……A pen? Why?”

“I lost mine. I keep losing things one by one lately.”

“Ah…… really?”

Jung Yoon-ki’s expression shifted strangely at the mention of losing things.

Then, his eyes darted over to look at Seon Ji-ha sitting next to Yoon Dae-eon.

Yoon Dae-eon spoke up quickly.

“The Senior says he only has one pen too.”

“……Yeah, I see. Hold on, I’ll get one for you.”

Fortunately, it seemed Jung Yoon-ki had several pens.

While Yoon Dae-eon waited for him to unzip his bag with relief, Seon Ji-ha tapped him on the shoulder.

“Dae-eon.”

“Yes? Oh?”

“……Use this…….”

What Seon Ji-ha held out was a black ballpoint pen with a 0.38mm tip.

It was the exact same model Yoon Dae-eon usually used.

“Oh, is it okay for me to use this?”

Knowing that Seon Ji-ha reacted quite sensitively to his belongings, Yoon Dae-eon hesitated to take it.

Then, Seon Ji-ha nodded and replied.

“You can use it…….”

“Then I’ll just borrow it for today. Yoon-ki, I don’t need the pen anymore.”

Having successfully borrowed a pen, Yoon Dae-eon turned back to tell Jung Yoon-ki, who was still unpacking.

Jung Yoon-ki, who was holding his pencil case as if about to pull a pen out immediately, froze.

He spoke with a somewhat reluctant face.

“You can use mine. I have plenty of pens.”

“Are you like Oh Dong-cheol too? No, it’s fine. I like this specific pen.”

At those words, Jung Yoon-ki stared at the 0.38mm pen in Yoon Dae-eon’s hand.

He opened his mouth for a moment, then closed it again.

He looked like he had something he wanted to say.

“Good morning, everyone.”

Just then, the door opened and the professor walked in.

The bustling lecture hall went silent instantly.

Yoon Dae-eon, who had turned his body to look at Jung Yoon-ki, immediately faced the front.

Seon Ji-ha sat beside him with his eyes cast down.

“MT?”

The two-hour consecutive lecture had a ten-minute break in the middle.

Yoon Dae-eon was half-turned in his seat to look at Seon Ji-ha and Jung Yoon-ki.

He was reading through an announcement posted in the group chat on his phone.

Jung Yoon-ki, who was also reading the announcement from the seat behind, spoke up.

“They say we’re going now since we couldn’t go in March.”

“Ah, right……. I think I heard something like that back then.”

As a freshman, Yoon Dae-eon was actually quite looking forward to the Membership Training.

He had even chatted with Oh Dong-cheol about what kind of drinks they’d have, but he’d vaguely heard from a senior that the school schedule had been pushed back to May.

That was right now.

Yoon Dae-eon whispered to Seon Ji-ha beside him.

“Senior, are MTs fun?”

Jung Yoon-ki, a fellow freshman, also looked at Seon Ji-ha.

The two freshmen had a vague curiosity about the MT—wondering if it really was all about drinking until you puked.

Despite the question, Seon Ji-ha had never attended an MT since his freshman year, but he replied with a perfectly natural expression.

“……Not really…….”

“All the seniors who’ve been say the same thing. Yoon-ki, are you going?”

“Me? Hmm. I don’t know.”

Jung Yoon-ki also didn’t seem particularly excited about the MT.

When you looked at him, Jung Yoon-ki didn’t seem to enjoy drinking parties much either.

Yoon Dae-eon looked down at his phone and moved his thumb.

He had just finished reading the notice that asked anyone interested in going to send a private message to the Vice President.

Seeing Yoon Dae-eon fiddling with his phone, Jung Yoon-ki asked.

“Dae-eon, are you going?”

“Yeah. I’ve never been before.”

“Then I guess I’ll go too.”

Jung Yoon-ki sent a text to the department senior as if it were no big deal.

Then, Seon Ji-ha also quietly picked up his phone.

“Senior, are you going too?”

“Ah…… yes.”

“But you said it wasn’t fun?”

Unlike Yoon Dae-eon, Seon Ji-ha was in a group chat with other upperclassmen.

It seemed they were deciding by vote there, as he could see several seniors voting on ‘Going’ or ‘Not Going.’

Seon Ji-ha quietly pressed ‘Going.’

“Because Dae-eon is going…….”

“Wow, it’ll be great if you come too, Senior. I wonder if Oh Dong-cheol is going?”

Yoon Dae-eon didn’t think Seon Ji-ha was being strange.

Instead, he just searched through his chats and sent a message to Oh Dong-cheol asking if he was going to the MT.

Therefore, he didn’t see the messages popping up in Seon Ji-ha’s class group chat saying, [Seon Ji-ha is going? No way.]

“Now, shall we resume the lecture?”

The break ended just like that.

The professor, who had apparently gone to get a coffee, was holding a paper cup with steam rising from it.

Yoon Dae-eon put his phone down and picked up Seon Ji-ha’s pen once again.

However, the lecture remained just as boring as before.

Yoon Dae-eon felt himself getting sleepy and started blinking slowly.

He stole a glance at Seon Ji-ha next to him, but the man was staring at the professor with the steadfastness of a great mountain.

Yoon Dae-eon, now half-slumped over the desk, whispered softly.

“Senior, I’m sleepy…….”

It was a very quiet lecture, so he barely moved his lips to speak.

Yet, Seon Ji-ha immediately turned his head to look at Yoon Dae-eon at that tiny whisper.

His eyes were filled solely with Yoon Dae-eon.

Yoon Dae-eon, blinking through his drowsiness, gave a silly grin because he somehow liked that look.

Beneath his shaggy hair, Seon Ji-ha’s ears turned bright red.

Instead of answering, he reached out and cradled Yoon Dae-eon’s head.

Since his hand was so large, it lightly covered the back of Yoon Dae-eon’s head and his neck.

Seon Ji-ha awkwardly patted near his neck.

Pat, pat.

The movements continued cautiously, as if touching something extremely fragile.

Yoon Dae-eon felt a pleasant shiver at the touch of the hand stroking his neck over his sweatshirt.

Sleep came crashing down in an instant.

Gradually, the time his eyes were closed became longer than the time they were open.

In his fading vision, he could still see Seon Ji-ha looking this way.

It was a gaze that held nothing but Yoon Dae-eon.