Chapter 6 - The Beginning 1

It is finally Tuesday evening and Chansol excitedly runs back towards the dorm, heading straight to the third floor and pushes the door forcefully, surprising the owner of the room. 'I'M FREE!!!!'

'I guess you did well then?' Junjie laughs at the whole situation, staring back and forth between the younger man and his best friend, who still has his shocked face. Chansol jumps on the bed in glee, earning him a distasteful stare from Wonho. He then proceeds to hug his tutor, 'I think I might pass every subject this term!'

'Yaah! Calm down! I can't breath' Chansol grins at the stiffened man trying to push him away and lets go. 'You better make that bed or I won't let you sleep here again.'

'Fine! Later!' He runs out, leaving Wonho to stare at the mess of a bed and sighs. Junjie who already started picking up the shirts Wonho laid out on the mattress a few minutes earlier, laughs again. 'Cheer up! Look at how excited he was! He even came straight here from his exams.'

'He better relax and lose that energy first before coming here again.' Wonho takes the shirt from Junjie and folds it, putting it into his backpack. 'I need to recheck my stuff.' He looks on the floor for the things he prepared earlier for his short hiking trip with Junjie and their hiking club before returning to their hometown, Changwon in four days. He almost checked everything on the list before Chansol came and messed everything up. Now he has to start over.

'Everything's here.' He reports after finally done checking.

'Your presents and souvenirs?'

'There.' Wonho points at the paper bag under his study desk of the things he bought for his family back home, 'You?'

'Everything's already in the car. You wanna put yours in?' He nods, taking two of the bags, 'Just these ones. There's some food inside that bag.'

'Alright. I'll go put these in first. So, around 7 right?' Junjie pulls Wonho's duffle bag around his shoulder along with his handbag which contains a few holiday assignments. Wonho holds the door open and pats Junjie's back in gratitude. 'Lemme confirm that. But I think it's earlier.'

'Got it.'

#####

After walking for almost an hour, the pack of five finally arrives at their destination - Kingsmen. Sangcheol enters first, giving a nod to his cousin who is mending the bar. He takes the keys and signals towards the others who are busy looking at a pool game nearby.

Although it is still Tuesday night, there are surprisingly more people than he thought. They usually only come here Friday nights or during the weekends, so they were actually expecting only a few people.

'Is it always this many people?' He asks his cousin lightly, earning him a smile. He used to help here during his first year but stopped due to some incident. He already forgot how things works here.

'Well people around here don't really care what day of the week it is.' His cousin reminds him and Sangcheol nods, flashing a smile which shows his dimple.

Of course. Most of the alphas and betas around here do not have any working hours. Some do not even work and Sangcheol always used to wonder how they can afford going to places like this to hang out. Hurrying towards their room which is usually reserved for VIPs, he switches on the light while the other three find their seats on the sofa. Wonho stands in front of the old jukebox, inserting a coin and choosing some funky music.

'Hip hop! Yeaahhhh!!!' Wonho walks towards the sofa while dancing and both the alphas start to rap along with the old school song. Just like that, they start the beginning of their summer holidays. Each of them orders something to drink, they have a simple darts competition with shots, and jam hard enough until everyone is drained.

There are only five of them, so it is not the party-till-you-die kind of vibe. They are satisfied enough to just be in each other's presence before the long break.

'Hey, anything to drink?' Sangcheol asks and everyone give him theirs. Mengyao gets up, 'I'll help.'

Once both of them steps out of the room, Sangcheol cannot help but feel a little bit unnerved. He notices someone - another alpha maybe, judging from the pheromone he is emitting, looking at his junior. Walking closer to them. He shrugs it off since he is confident nothing will happen, until he hears Mengyao's shocked gasp.

The alpha has his face near his junior, trying to take a sniff, and Sangcheol growls back as a warning. The man gives him a smirk and backs away, leaving them both puzzled. He turns to his junior, 'You get back inside.'

Mengyao only nods. That was very creepy, and he does not feel like waiting for their drinks because of that incident. Not looking back, he returns back inside and takes a seat next to Junjie, who is busily chatting with the other two. 'Where's the drink?'

'Ryuu-hyung got it. Everyone's acting weird outside.'

'How so?' Junjie inquires and Mengyao only shakes his head. Most of the customers were staring at their door and just thinking about the scene makes him shiver. Junjie laughs at him and rubs his shoulders to calm the younger one down from whatever it was he saw outside. Meanwhile, Chansol already has his head on Wonho's shoulder, looking high.

'Hyung. You really smell good… you remind me of that tea…' Wonho looks at him with a weird smile, finding the younger one cute, and knuckles his head weakly. Chansol laughs and hugs the other's waist tightly instead, nuzzling his nose on the man's shoulders.

Although the alpha looks like the cool guy who hates skinships, the boy is usually the one who always initiate any form of touching among his five friends. Chansol particularly love burying his chin on someone's shoulder while holding their hands so Wonho only accepted the gesture as is.

Junjie and Mengyao looks at the sweet scene in front of them and laughs. 'Why aren't you like that with me?' He looks at the younger male, who waves his hand, completely brushing Junjie off. 'Not with you.'

This time it is Wonho's turn to laugh. He really loves watching Junjie being rejected by Mengyao. At least he is not the only one who thinks his friend is too cheesy for his own good. Feeling his left shoulder getting heavy, he nudges on the alpha who is now obviously sleeping. With no answer, he tries talking, 'Yaah Chansol. You smell good too. Like cocoa.'

'Cocoa? Really?' Mengyao bursts out laughing from his nose. 'Cocoa?'

'Hey… my dad smells like cocoa…' This time Junjie, who has been holding his laughter, lets go. This boy… he always say the most random things. 'I guess I'm the same…'

They didn't realize Sangcheol is putting the tray with all their drinks on the table beside the door. He already locked the door and is wondering why all the betas are laughing, and Chansol looking dazed.

'Yaah Wono! Out of all the things you can say, cocoa? Can't you say something manlier to boost his confidence?' He hears Junjie in between his laughter and frowned lightly. That is an interesting topic.

'Well don't he? I guess he uses cocoa shampoo?' Sangcheol remains silent listening to Wonho talk. He thought they were talking about some random thing, but it seemed, he is wrong. If so, something is really off. He can sense it. He could be wrong though, he needs to confirm.

'Wono-yah.' He calls, in a serious tone that quiets the ruckus. The man stares at him, blinking his eyes a few times. 'How do I put this… I'm only trying to confirm something but… remember when I told you you smell nice? Did you change anything? Perfume?'

Junjie looks at him, and at Wonho again, blinking the same way Wonho did. 'Did you? I didn't notice anything.'

'I didn't use anything…' Wonho pauses. He then chuckles softly, feeling awkward. 'What's this about? You and Chansol going around telling me I smell nice. Do you guys have a crush on me?' He nudges on the boy who is still burying his face on his shoulder. Suddenly, they hear the door handle, as if someone is trying to get in. But only lightly, and it is gone as soon as it started. Probably someone mistaking the room for the toilet.

Sangcheol remains composed, thinking hard. Everyone else is weirded out with the question enough to give the eldest the silence to think. 'Wono-yah…this may sound weird. But Chansol's alpha scent is something like cocoa…' He looks at the pale man straight in the eyes, 'Do you notice my scent?'

Wonho maintains his silence. He does not like where the conversation is heading and is hoping that someone might change the subject. Why in the world would Sangcheol suggest something like that? It is just plain absurd. He just said cocoa because Chansol reminded him of hot chocolate. Or something like that. 'What stupid scent…'

'Wonho, I'm being serious right now. Do you notice my scent?'

'Yah, Ryuu-hyung. You're making Wono-hyung nervous. Stop joking around.' Mengyao interrupts but is immediately hushed by Junjie. The latter is observing both the party, trying to make sense of something,

'Wonho?' Sangcheol asks again. He is really pushing it, demanding answers and it annoys Wonho.

'Yeah fine! You smell like that essential oil thing. Cedarwood or something.' Wonho tries laughing it off to lighten the atmosphere. And calming himself down. He does not want to make a scene after the good time they are having over a mere question, 'I-isn't that the like a new shampoo brand or something? Right Jun?'

Junjie stands closer but does not get anything off of Sangcheol. He tries breathing in again, taking all the smell, but can only notice the cologne Sangcheol always has on him. And it is not cedarwood. Or any essential oil smell for that matter.

Still tensed, Sangcheol suddenly notice the scent from Wonho getting stronger. Chansol is already showing signs of rutting behind Wonho and Sangcheol grabs the man towards his back. It is not intentional, but he knows it might damage their relationship if Wonho is to see Chansol reacting like that towards his scent. Although it is only natural for an alpha to act like that in the presence of an omega in heat.

…in heat? Yes, the scent is now really strong it is comparable to an omega in heat. But Wonho seems to not be affected by it so that is…

Knock! Knock!