The Great Gatsby lay on top of Suho’s working table for a week. He had placed a cloth over it to prevent dust from collecting on the cover. For the first few days, he carried the book inside of his backpack in hopes of bumping into Alena again and returning the book to its rightful owner. Unfortunately, to his dismay he hadn’t seen her around campus since the day in the library. One evening he took out his binder and carelessly forgot that he had the crisp book inside. The moment he pulled out his binder, he knew he had done something wrong to the copy of the book. When Suho pulled out the copy of the book, the once flawless cover had a slight bent in the bottom corner. Fearing that he had done something terribly wrong that will offend Alena, he now left it on top of his desk.

Sure, he could have went to her dorm and returned the book to Alena. But things don’t work that way. Not that easily anyways. Suho had no idea what her room number was, or what floor she lived on. He knew where her residence was located, and sure he could have asked someone in there to locate to him Alena’s dorm, but for some reason, he didn’t think Alena would have wanted him to know where she lived. She was a very private person, and Suho felt that by finding out her room number, it would’ve stripped away part of her secret identity.

He hoped, soon, that he would bump into her and tell her that he had her book. And hopefully she would come back to his dorm and he could return it. It would’ve eased his mind. Holding onto this book was like he was holding onto Alena. It felt like she was here, inside his room. It felt like her presence never left. It was strange. This copy of the Great Gatsby was more than an ordinary book. It had the scent of Alena’s coffee and cigarettes with a hint of perhaps nutmeg and cinnamon.

It was weird. Really weird.

Suho had no idea how the scent of nutmeg and cinnamon could come from it, but it was such an exotic new aroma to him that he spent most of the morning sniffing it. His nose always had a wild sense of imagination. At least that’s what Kyungsoo always told him. He could always smell things that were never really there.

Strange.

---

“I really don’t want to go.” Suho mumbled, fixing the wool scarf that he wore around his neck. His cheeks were rosy pink, with a splash of snowflakes on them. It was snowing today. A little more than usual.

It felt like winter was here to stay for a while.

Kyungsoo snorted and rolled his eyes. “You never want to go to the gym. That’s why you are gaining so much of that winter holiday weight.” The young boy tugged the string of his dufflebag. He took a glance at Suho, who looked like he was ready to run off into the opposite direction. “It’s too late. You got dressed, you’re out; you can’t turn back to the dorm now.”

Suho heaved a sigh but said nothing. No point in arguing with Kyungsoo.

The two were making their way to the physical education department. There was a grand dance studio and gym there. They were meeting up with Kris and Chanyeol today. Luhan was already at the dance studio with Lay while Sehun was somewhere on campus studying for his Biology midterm.

Suho held the door open, and Kyungsoo flashed him a smirk. “Yeah, that’s right, better open the door me.” The two walked in with a head full of snow. They shook off the snow with their hands, running their fingers delicately through the strands of their hair. Chanyeol and Kris had already changed into their shorts and t-shirts.

“You actually came,” Kris remarked with his arms crossed, eyeing Suho with a smirk.

“I was dragged here.” Suho nodded his head towards a beaming Kyungsoo.

“I did no such thing,” said Kyungsoo, his voice feigning offense. They made their way to the change room, and as they entered, they could hear other male students in their as well.

“We’ll meet you two at the benches. Today we’ll be working on our triceps!” Chanyeol flexed his arm in excitement and gave it a quick kiss. Kris raised his eyebrows in disgust. “You’ve got to stop doing that.” Chanyeol let out a guffaw with Kris following behind him. He turned his head and muttered something that Suho couldn’t read out.

Judging from the urgency in his eyes and the embarrassment on his face, Suho assumed Kris had said, “Hurry up.”

Kyungsoo had finished changing first. He was waiting for Suho, who was tying his shoelaces.

In that moment, Kim Sunjoo and his group of friends came barging into the change room. They were extremely loud and rowdy. They knocked each other against the lockers and made foul jokes amongst each other.

“Heard you bagged Hyeri last night, Sungjoo! Niceee! She got a nice pair of racks.” One of Sungjoo’s friend said, as he lifted both his hands and did a lifting gesture near his chest.

“Whoa, whoa whoa! You’re over Alena, already?” Another friend asked.

Sungjoo snorted. He raised his ey