TATMFL - 67

The next day, after finishing class, Raon pressed firmly on the stiff muscles at the back of her neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her phone lighting up with notifications—she had silenced it earlier.

After telling a classmate to go ahead to the studio without her, Raon picked up her phone.

She assumed it was Hye-sung contacting her during lunchtime since his schedule was packed until late afternoon.

But—

“Ah?”

Raon’s lips parted slightly as she saw the name displayed on the screen.

Han Do-kyung
11:51 AM
School?

Han Do-kyung
Let’s eat.

11:52 AM

Staring at the consecutive messages from the same person, Raon closed her mouth tightly.

Her message thread was overwhelmingly filled with conversations from one person. After gazing at the screen for a moment, Raon gritted her teeth and turned off the phone.

She wasn’t obligated to reply.

She didn’t want to be swayed by Do-kyung’s emotional games.

Pushing aside the complex emotions that had overwhelmed her last night, Raon left the classroom.

But no sooner had she taken a step—

“Raon.”

At the familiar, friendly call, she froze in place.

Even without turning around, she knew who owned that faintly husky baritone. And because she knew, she didn’t want to turn.

Raon gripped her phone tighter, her fingers pressing into its surface.

Then came his voice again, this time tinged with something desolate.

“So you’ve decided to ignore me now?”

“…Hah.”

With an exasperated expression, Raon turned to face him and asked,

“What exactly are you doing here?”

The hallway, now quiet after class, carried her voice, heavy with exhaustion from days of emotional turmoil.

“We’re not close enough to have meals together. That day, it ended between us, remember?”

Her dry, lifeless eyes stared directly at Do-kyung.

It was strange.

Now that he was standing right in front of her, the calm detachment she’d managed to maintain while thinking about him began to crack.

Perhaps that was why her words came out sharp and laced with malice.

“Why are you here? To see how someone whose life you ruined is falling apart?”

“Raon.”

“You love watching people react to your every word and action, don’t you?”

“…”

“That’s why you approached me.”

As Raon spoke, Do-kyung’s expression slowly faded, becoming unreadable. She swallowed a shaky breath, her chest tightening as though someone were clawing and stabbing her mercilessly. Clutching her phone like a lifeline, she squeezed it so hard that her knuckles ached under the pressure.

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind.

‘Does he… like me? Han Do-kyung?’

Raon clenched her teeth. Her trembling eyelids stilled, and she swallowed thickly.

…If that were true—if he really liked her and was acting this way because of it—

She wanted him to hurt.

Even if it was fleeting, even if it would pass, she wanted to see him crumble under her words and actions, just as he had expected her to do.

“…”

Realizing how dark and insidious her own emotions had become through Do-kyung’s influence, Raon closed her eyes tightly. Then, opening them again to meet his gaze, she said,

“Stop coming to find me. Don’t contact me. If you have any shred of guilt, shame, or conscience left, don’t.”

Looking at Do-kyung’s pale, waxen face, Raon forced a faint smile and added,

“It’s not just your pheromones that are unbearable—it’s you too. You disgust me.”

A wave of nausea rose in her stomach, as if bugs were gnawing at her insides.

“Raon?”

“…Ah.”

Raon’s focus returned when she heard Hye-sung’s worried voice. The salad in front of her was a mess—shredded chicken breast, mashed tomatoes beyond recognition, and cabbage broken into pieces like autumn leaves scattered on the ground.

Seeing the wreckage of what had once been a perfectly good lunchbox, Raon gave an awkward laugh.

After leaving Do-kyung behind, she had lost her appetite and chosen this meal, which now seemed destined for the trash bin.

The same went for the café visit afterward.

Raon drank her coffee in silence, the ice melting quickly until only water remained.

“Hey, Raon.”

Lost in thought, Raon lifted her head dazedly, then sighed, blinking twice.

“Sorry.”

“Hmm. It’s okay.”

Shaking his head, Hye-sung observed Raon as she rubbed her face.

It was the first time he felt disconnected from her despite being together.

And he thought he understood why. Hesitantly, he spoke.

“It’s because of Senior, isn’t it?”

“…”

“As I said yesterday, I can go to the exhibition alone, Raon.”

At that, Raon’s expression shifted strangely.

“Ah.”

Covering her gaping mouth with her palm, she blinked twice, as if suddenly remembering something she had forgotten.

Watching her flustered, trembling pupils, Hye-sung looked equally perplexed.

“Um… Don’t tell me you forgot?”

Instead of answering, Raon bit her tongue.

She had forgotten.

While reflecting on the earlier confrontation where she had sternly told Do-kyung never to contact her again, Raon covered her eyes with her palm and bowed her head, groaning softly.

Inevitably, Do-kyung’s face resurfaced in her mind.

…No, actually, she had been thinking about him even before meeting Hye-sung—while destroying her salad and guzzling coffee like water—but Raon tried to rationalize it away as she lowered her gaze.

She had expected to feel relieved after venting, but that wasn’t the case.

Perhaps it was because it was the first time she had spoken such cruel words to someone.

Instead, she felt uneasy, the aftertaste bitter.

The look on his face when she ended their conversation with “you disgust me” was etched into her retinas, tormenting her endlessly.

His face had paled as though given a death sentence, yet he hadn’t said a word—not even when she turned away coldly. Maybe he couldn’t.

…Was calling someone disgusting really that harsh?

Raon sighed deeply, running an irritated hand over the back of her neck.

But the thought of going to the exhibition with him made her despair more than embarrassment.

Avoiding Hye-sung’s gaze, Raon hesitated before speaking.

“…Will you be okay going alone?”

Recognizing her discomfort toward Do-kyung, Hye-sung nodded.

If Raon was worried about him being alone with loan sharks, he reassured her.

“It’s fine. We just need to take a photo together anyway.”

No, it wasn’t fine—but it had to be. He didn’t want Raon to feel burdened by having to meet Do-kyung.

Changing the subject, Hye-sung said,

“Ji-an said she’s coming back to Korea for summer break. Did you know?”

“…Really?”

Hearing this for the first time, Raon reacted a beat late, shaking her head.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t contacted Ji-an in over two weeks.”

Two weeks? More like two months. With everything that had happened—her kidnapping, manifestation—there hadn’t been room to think about anything else.

“Ji-an was worried about you. She said she couldn’t reach you.”

Remembering the unread messages she had ignored just days ago, Raon frowned uncomfortably.

“I told her I was busy preparing for graduation, but she didn’t seem convinced.”

“You must have gone through a lot in the middle. I’m sorry.”

“No.”

Smiling faintly, Hye-sung shook his head, then cautiously asked,

“But Raon… shouldn’t you tell Ji-an about your manifestation?”

“…”

So far, only Hye-sung and her professor knew she had manifested as an Omega. Not her father, nor Ji-an, who remained unaware of her situation.

But she couldn’t hide it forever.

Especially not from Ji-an, who was planning to return to Korea for summer break.

Though her pheromones were faint enough that most people wouldn’t notice, they weren’t entirely absent.

Telling Ji-an wasn’t the issue. The problem was that Ji-an already knew about Do-kyung’s pheromones—or rather, the mysterious Alpha’s pheromones.

[It’s bad enough for a Beta to have pheromones all over them, but messy ones like these are worse. What kind of Alpha does this without even dating?]
[Even if it’s unavoidable for work, stay away from someone like that. Got it?]

So if Ji-an found out Raon had become an Omega, she would immediately suspect it was due to postnatal manifestation.

At this age, spontaneous manifestations were rare, and Ji-an had seen Raon covered in Alpha pheromones twice already.

Once she connected the dots, she’d figure out it was Han Do-kyung—and knowing Ji-an’s fiery temper, she might storm off to grab him by the collar without hesitation. Even trying to stop her would be futile.

Raon didn’t know if all Alphas were like this, but once they set their sights on something, they pursued it relentlessly until the end. That was why neither Raon nor Ji-an’s mother could stop her from studying abroad.

The aftermath was easy to imagine. Word would spread to her aunt, and eventually, her father would hear about it too.

Her father, who had only recently begun smiling again after ten years, might collapse upon hearing about her postnatal manifestation. She still remembered how visibly relieved he looked when she brought home her Beta results.

“Ha.”

This was truly a case of one disaster piling on top of another.

But there was no way to stop Ji-an from coming back to Korea.

Raon opened her mouth hesitantly.

“For now…”

“Yes?”

Hye-sung tensed, his eyes sharpening. Watching him, Raon sighed and said,

“Let’s delay telling her as long as we can.”

“Huh?”

“If we tell her now, she might rush back tomorrow—or even tonight.”

She might book a flight ticket tonight, for all Raon knew.

So…

Three months remained until summer break. Delaying the inevitable was better—for now.