章節 20: The Reason to Frown 3

Squinting his eyes from the bright light, Haneul turns away from the sky and continues walking towards the park, making sure he won't step on some big rocks. There is an official walkway to the library, but he is not in the mood to take a long detour when he can just walk on the grass between the trees to get there faster. It is not as if it is forbidden, there are tables and benches on the field. The university obviously placed them there as a hint for the students to use their brains instead of just following the rules blindly.

Haneul smirks as he sees a person lying on the bench, finding the gesture of the light-hearted person to be pleasing. Not many can just sleep in a public place without caring about others, in fact he himself aims to be someone who can just sleep anywhere without a care in the world. Finding himself recognizing the scent, the omega stops his steps and peeks at the person.

He is right. The man is Sangcheol. But, what is he doing here?

Should… he say hello? Their last meeting did, end up better than their other ones… but that doesn't mean they are friends. Right? Because, alphas. Also, he remembers not wanting to talk today because the one tiny cut on his lips which hurts like a bastard every time he tries to speak. So, maybe he should pretend he doesn't notice the other man.

But… again, what is Sangcheol doing here alone? His face looks like he is thinking. Hard. He has a really deep frown, even the one he saw back when the man screamed at him is not that deep. Is he having trouble?

Oh. Is he actually having trouble?

Now that will be a different story because Haneul needs something to cheer him up, real bad. Today is not a good day, listening to other people's crappy problem might actually make him feel so much better. He is hoping for Sangcheol to have a really rotten day like getting beaten up or, someone died because only then, will what happened to him last night at the club feel insignificant. Sadistic thoughts? Sure. He is starting to get used to it.

Walking slowly towards the bench, secretly hoping the other will notice his movement and scramble from embarrassment, Haneul takes a seat on the opposite site of the table. With no change in the man's pose which is disappointing, he decides to stare at the man to trigger some discomfort.

He wonders what is bothering Sangcheol so much that the alpha keeps furrowing his eyebrows. Tapping his fingers to no avail, the omega then decides to announce his presence to the other, begrudgingly. "Why the long face?"

A slight flinch accompanied by a forceful thud, then followed by a hiss curves a smile on the long-haired male. He was hoping for a shocked reaction, he wasn't expecting a delightful comedic slapstick one. Resting his head on his hands, waiting for the disheveled alpha to gain his cool, Haneul tilts his head bit to get the man's attention.

"Oh you." Sangcheol clears his throat, his embarrassment apparent, "Haneul…Since when-?"

"Just got here. You seemed too distracted to notice." He keeps looking at the alpha, slightly concerned about his head. That bump was loud, it must have hurt but it seems the other is too flustered, probably embarrassed by his own action to even touch his head. Sangcheol keeps his gaze elsewhere, an action Haneul finds interesting. Teasing this man must be really fun.

"Jung Sangcheol?" He tries calling, and as expected, the other quickly turns his head like a puppy being offered snacks. It reminded him of orientation night, when Sangcheol suddenly became obedient after a kiss. Such a weird alpha. Noticing the man staring at him without a word, and the gulp when their eyes meet moments before Sangcheol looked away in panic, Haneul becomes curious as to what he is thinking. "What's wrong?"

"Your hair."

Haneul looks down, noticing his hair on his shoulders. He didn't even realize how he looked today before going out. He didn't care. "Oh, I'm too lazy to tie-"

"- for a moment I thought you're a girl…" Haneul smiles bitterly. Of course, that is the reason he even bothered keeping them long. "I don't mean in a bad way-"

"I know. Long hair, pretty. I get it." he almost adds 'whatever' to the list. He knows he looks like a girl, and he heard every single reason why one would think that. Without the hair, people tend to treat him like a feminine male - almost harshly as it hurt the alphas' machoistic ego but with the hair, he is a beautiful male. And that fine line gives him the upper hand in the relationship. Being the beautiful male omega makes them desperate for his attention.

Giving Sangcheol a polite smile, Haneul stares down at the table instead. He already regrets sitting down in the first place; the comment from the alpha made him nervous out of the blue. He doesn't want to be here and talk only to realize that Sangcheol is the same as all the other alphas because by then, the man will think Haneul has interest in him and start pestering him like his friend. Not that, he knows how to continue the conversation to begin with. Although he is good at teasing alphas, most of it ends up in hot physical action immediately. Obviously here, out in the open, that will never happen.

"Yeah… haven't heard that in a while." Sangcheol murmurs almost inaudibly, but the park is quiet, so the omega manages to catch it. Frowning in interest, he decides to ask the alpha to explain it. Now that he thought about it, Sangcheol too, was really pretty like a girl when he first met the guy. And the alpha's hair was long too, not as long as his is now, but long enough to be mistaken as a short-haired girl. Sangcheol probably got that kind of comments too back then.

"I'm building muscles." Sangcheol explains why the comments stopped and Haneul immediately recalls how slim the alpha was a few years back. This guys really bulked up a lot before going to college. He wonders why, "to look masculine?"

"I guess? I dunno. They stopped saying I look like a girl once I got big enough so…"

Okay, so the muscle was not to attract omega's attention. Interesting. But then again, this is Sangcheol. This guy has no sexual instinct and is immune to any type of sexual advances. Haneul bets even if he is naked in a room all turned on with just the two of them, Sangcheol will turn around and tells him to put some clothes on before frantically searching for a door to escape.

Sangcheol is a broken alpha after all.

Silence again embraces both the young males. Not used to being alone with an alpha without any form of action, Haneul starts to really regrets his decision to sit down. Because right now, once their last topic is over, he has nothing else to say. And it seems, Sangcheol feels the same way.

Needless to say, Haneul is already getting bored. But, at the same time, he doesn't want to seem rude and leave. He can sense the dark-haired man feels uncomfortable as well, he just gave Haneul a weird smile when their eyes met, showing his deep dimple.

Oh yeah, that frown. He still needs a bad story to make his day bette-

"Hey, what happened?" Haneul is caught off-guard by the sudden question, wondering what the man is talking about.

"You're hurt."

Shit. He forgot to cover his cheek. Not wanting to recall what happened or even think of an excuse, Haneul decides it is best for him to just change the subject altogether. Maybe he can just leave. No, leaving will make the man curious, and that is not something he wants because people being curious about him always ends up being all over in his business to feed their thirst. "You still didn't tell me why you have that cute frown."

"No, yo-"

"That was a deep frown." Haneul cuts the other before he can comment further.