IV. Confrontation

       Sihyeon had successfully managed to avoid meeting Joonmyun for the past five days. She wondered if there was a sport in avoiding people because she was sure she would place first. It took a lot of work, but it was worth it. The ocean scent from him was intoxicating, but she persuaded herself that it was his cologne—if he even wore any.

       It was the second day of avoiding Joonmyun when Sihyeon realized she would have to bring her own lunch if she wanted to last the entire day. Her mother was getting suspicious on the missing groceries, so Sihyeon sat in the library, beside a large window that overlooked the courtyard, thinking about an excuse to tell her mom why she was bringing her own lunch to school.

       Sihyeon munched on her sandwich sighing. Tomorrow was Joonmyun’s birthday. Should she feign ill and tell her mom that she couldn’t go to school? His birthday was on a Wednesday, so maybe Sihyeon could fake being sick for a few days into the weekend so Joonmyun’s hopes of having a mate at the academy would be drained.

       Well, what about the Monday I come back to school?

       Though there were many ways to get out of meeting Joonmyun officially as mates at the age of eighteen, those ways would always end up with the two meeting each other. So, there wasn’t really a way out of it.

       Unless, I transfer schools. But, Mom’s pack is here.

        Sihyeon shoved the rest of her sandwich into and grabbed at her hair, ruffling it into a tangled mess. She screeched into her unchewed sandwich and kicked her feet in the air.

       What was she going to do?

       “Hi.”

       Sihyeon gasped, a piece of lettuce down . She smelled the ocean right away. How did she not smell it before? She picked up her lunchbox and coughed what was left of the sandwich into the box. She choked on the lettuce, trying to get it to go down right.

       Joonmyun, rubbed her back in worry. Sihyeon wanted to push him away. His touches were making her weak.

       “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he spoke softly. He grabbed the bottle of water sitting beside Sihyeon and opened it. He handed it to the coughing girl to which she snapped out of his hands and gulped half of it down. “Are you okay?” he asked.

       Sihyeon managed to catch her breath. She jumped off the window sill and flattened out her skirt. She cleared , trying to keep her cool despite knowing that her face was probably red.

       Joonmyun reached his hand out to her cheek. Sihyeon panicked and looked for an escape, but all of her items were still splayed out on the window sill. She was also sure that she had made a mess when she went into her coughing fit. Joonmyun’s hand went closer and closer to Sihyeon’s face. She began to bend her upper body backwards as she gave Joonmyun a weird look.

       “Stay still,” Joonmyun put his other hand on Sihyeon’s shoulder, holding her in place.

       Sihyeon took in a deep breath and stared at her mate get closer and closer.

       W-What is he doing?

       His fingers brushed ever so lightly against her cheek before he pulled his hand back.

       “You had a piece of bread on your face.”

       Oh.

       Sihyeon was now burning with embarrassment. She wondered if her mom was okay with her burying herself six feet under.

       Joonmyun smiled at her. He seemed so calm. He seemed so at peace, like everything in his life was right. Sihyeon hated it. He was an alpha. Alpha’s weren’t calm.

       “Thanks,” Sihyeon muttered, turning away from him to gather her things.

       “You’ve been avoiding me,” Joonmyun simply stated as though those very words didn’t signal the end of Sihyeon’s world.

       Sihyeon froze, ransacking her brain for reasons why Joonmyun was saying this and for ways to escape the library and Joonmyun.

       “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sihyeon muttered under her breath.

       “Look at me, Kang Sihyeon,” he was serious. His alpha voice had made its appearance. He wasn’t Sihyeon’s alpha, well, at least not yet, but Sihyeon was still entitled to answer to his orders.

       Hesitantly, she lifted her head ever so slightly, looking at Joonmyun from behind her mane of hair.

       “You’ve been avoiding me.”

       It was a statement. Not a question.

       “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sihyeon repeated as though Joonmyun would really believe her.

       Joonmyun held unreadable emotions in his face. He seemed to be trying hard to not let them go.

       But, if there was one thing Sihyeon could detect from him, it was that he was upset.

       “You started avoiding me six days ago,” he took a step closer to Sihyeon to which she took one back. “We spoke to each other for the first time six days ago,” he continued walking forwards.

       Sihyeon felt trapped. He looked like he was about to pounce on her at any moment. She gulped, swallowing trying to swallow the lump in , but it only seemed to grow bigger.

       “Do you also know what happened six days ago?” Joonmyun asked.

       Why is his voice so soft and calming?

       Out of all the things Sihyeon could have been thinking of, she was thinking of his voice. Despite being horrified at the close proximity between the two of them and the words that he spoke, Sihyeon was more calm than she thought she would have been.

       “What are you talking about?” Sihyeon tried everything she could to escape the situation. She wondered how long she could play dumb for.

       “Your birthday. Your eighteenth birthday happened six days ago, Kang Sihyeon.”

A/N:

YASSSS JOONMYUN YASSSSSSSS.

WHY WAS I SQUEALING WHILE WRITING THE END OF THIS CHAPTER lol

- Nubci4