The room was too silent. Was it always this silent? It felt like he was stuck in a small, contained, unventilated space.

Dead.

But, this place had been dead for a while now. Since a month ago to be exact. And he had no trouble sleeping back then, so why couldn’t he sleep at all right now? Was it because he had been doing so on the way back from Geoje? But he was already tired from walking around the campus for a few times, he should be able to rest. And yet, he had been lying on the bed for the past five hours, and still, no progress.

Jeonghan took a long breath and stared at the dark ceiling. Right now, the silence was suffocating him. He even regretted not buying a normal clock because at least, the ticking would be able to keep him company during times like this. The air conditioner was on, he was supposed to be comfortable. He was, until he wasn’t anymore. He tried the floor, thinking the bed was too soft but that didn’t work too. Nothing work. And now it was already 2 in the morning.

Getting up, Jeonghan sat on the chair, hoping it would somehow help him sleep. It didn’t, obviously, and the student ended up staring outside, at the dark garden. Had he been in his normal condition, the view would seem eerie, but now he was just desperate for a rest.

‘Is the club still open…?’ he started talking to himself, wanting to hear some sort of sound. Unless he opened the window or door, the airtight construction of his room practically forbids all sounds from entering and escaping hence the solemn atmosphere. ‘Should be closed at five…’ he continued, thinking out loud. Taking the clock to confirm the time, he calculated the time it would take for him to arrive if he get ready now. Walking takes more or less an hour, and he had to get ready so about another half hour. Which meant he would be there about and hour and a half before closing time. That was not ideal. The good alphas were probably already taken and the ones left would be either too drunk or too unattractive.

He was not that desperate. He just wanted to sleep. Just like everyone was doing at the moment.

Joshua! America is more than 12-hour later than Korea so his friend should be awake! He should call the other omega and talk, if, he was not busy. Taking his phone, Jeonghan quickly open his chat room with the other before noticing the picture Joshua sent him two days ago. His friend was already back in Korea since school will start in two weeks.

Sighing, disappointed, Jeonghan took out the only option he knew would work – the sleeping pills. He really hates to consider this, because of the headache he would get the next day. Also, the fact that he was once addicted to the pills so, unless it is an emergency, he would not swallow it. And tonight, was not enough to be an emergency.

How should he fall asleep? He had nothing to do now. He was not in the mood to do anything. His mind was already tired.

Biting his thumbnail, Jeonghan sat back on the chair and opened his laptop, reducing the brightness to the lowest. He started to type in ‘how to sleep’ and one by one, opened the all the sites on the first result page.

‘Ensure everything’s in good condition to sleep. Heh, am I stupid to sleep somewhere else and complain?’ He mumbled to himself as he went down the list. It was not helping at all. He didn’t drink alcohol or coffee either. Why would he even care to search if he did all those things? Who the hell sees this and realize they can’t sleep because their rooms are not comfortable or because they drank coffee? Stupid people, that is who. Slamming the computer close in frustration, Jeonghan continued biting his nails. In two hours, the sky would start to lighten, and heat would seep through with the sunshine. And it would be even harder to sleep then. He was out of option. Lifting the computer back up, he typed ‘how to relax’.

‘Listening to white noise?’ Jeonghan was impressed at the discovery and was eager to try. He opened the window, focused his ears on the sound of silence before getting annoyed by the cicadas. Then he closed the window back, sealing himself in stillness. Thinking on his feet, he opened some white noise videos, the hour-long one, figuring he would need some time to lose himself.

And he did.

Everything seemed fine.

He was floating…

‘GODDAMMIT!’ Jeonghan screamed in frustration as advertisement disrupted his journey to tranquility. Knowing fully well nobody would hear him, he continued screaming until his throat hurts, punching the pillows and throwing his blanket away. Heaving, he opened the last tab and continued reading.

Aromatherapy? That sounded nice. But it was not as if he had a humidifier or any essential oils right now. Scrolling down, concluding he had nothing to help him, Jeonghan stared at the drawer. ‘No, no.’ He convinced himself, and decided to return to the aromatherapy bit. Since he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway, he might as well do some research and buy the humidifier once the store opens in a few hours. Then he would be able to use it whenever he has this kind of problem again.

Satisfied with his plan, Jeonghan started his research by finding scents to help him sleep, and another to help him relax. He wanted two, because he knew he get bored easily. And he might just wanted to relax without losing consciousness. So two - to relax and to sleep.

‘Lavendar? That’s my scent? But I have anxiety? Yah, you lying piece of article…’ Jeonghan thought out loud to entertain himself. It was so ironic how his omega scent was listed first in almost all the articles he read on relaxing and sedative aromas and yet, he couldn’t for the life of him, calm down. Granted, he couldn’t smell himself, but it was still interesting to know.

‘Vetiver? What’s that? Sandalwood…’ Jeonghan bit his lips, bemused. He knew one alpha with that scent. Oh Sehun, the man he had been sleeping with for a few years. No wonder he found the man’s presence calming, it was not his personality or whatnot, it was his damn scent. Come to think of it, although he didn’t know how most of the scents written in the article smell like, he bet most of those he slept with bear those pheromones. How interesting to know. He should keep the alphas with these scents close.

Wait.

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