Chapter 7

“That’s wrong,”

“Which one?”

“This one,”

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s correct,”

“I’m telling you, it’s wrong,”

“Sehun, the source clearly states that alphas decide who gets to mate with who,”

“Betas and omegas can choose who they want too,”

You heaved a sigh as you let Sehun’s fifth complaint of the day roll through your ears. School was over half an hour ago, and you and Sehun have been busy working on your presentation together in the library. However, things weren’t going as smoothly as you thought it would be.

“See here?” you pushed your laptop closer to him. “Over six sources and probably more mentioned the same thing—alphas determine who gets to mate with who in the pack. Omegas and betas who try to get their way around the alpha would almost always get disciplined, if not they just fight over dominance to a bloody pulp,”

“I don’t care what it says, it’s rubbish,” Sehun pushed your laptop back to you, crossing his arms.

“Show me your resource then,”

“Here,” Sehun leaned down his head to you, implying that his brain is the only resource he has.

Hissing, you flicked his head. Sehun doesn’t wince, but the way he pursed his lips showed that he didn’t enjoy the treatment as he pulled his head back. “Nonsense,” you shook your head before continuing your part in the presentation.

“You never trust anything that I say,” Sehun murmured sulkily, propping his elbows on the table and placed the side of his cheek on his self-made pillow as he watched you work.

“I’m sure you know why,” you replied airily, eyes focused on your laptop screen.

“Enlighten me,” he nudged your arm.

“Not now, Sehun,” you shrugged him away, furrowing your eyebrows in concentration. “Besides, don’t you have extracurricular activities in a bit?”

“How did you know?” Sehun sat up straight with a sleepy smile on his face. “Stalker,”

Rolling your eyes, you ignored his joke. “Everybody knows you join the school’s dance club, Sehun,”

“Liar. You never paid attention to me before,” Sehun poked you playfully. “Sly girl, I knew you were a fan,”

“What are you even talking about?” you chuckled at him, throwing a glance at the blonde. “Don’t tell me you want to bail?”

Sehun’s smile shifted into a sluggish sigh. “I don’t feel like going,” he put his head back on the table.

“Why not?” you elbowed him lightly to encourage him to sit up, to which of course he ignored. “Jongin’s going, right?”

“He never skips a day for dance class,”

“Then why aren’t you going?”

“Messing with you is my preferred pastime now,” he answered as he played with the ends of your hair before flicking it to your face, causing you to wince.

You turned your head to scowl at his grinning face. “You—“ you reached your hand out to flick his forehead, but Sehun swiftly dodged away, chuckling sheepishly in amusement.

Honestly, at this point, nothing about Sehun surprises you anymore. You’re getting used to his antics—which increases day by day—and to be frank, you prefer this type of Sehun compared to his cold, stoic disposition that sometimes makes you want to punch his face for—sorry not sorry. But also, the fact that this Sehun is much more comfortable to be with, you don’t mind him hanging around you even if you two aren’t working on your project together.

You don’t feel like avoiding him anymore, although the bickering doesn’t exactly stop, but somehow, hanging out with Sehun boosted your confidence. It’s not only him that you’ve stopped avoiding, but you’re letting other people approach you and vice versa much more often now—although let’s not include the bullies, because God knows you always run to the opposite direction every time you see their faces, but hey, one problem at a time, please. Socializing wasn’t that much of a big burden anymore, albeit the occasional anxiety and antisocial moments, but Sehun seemed to have made you more loose and relaxed in a rather healthy way.

However, you’ve noticed one little problem with Sehun in this friendship.

“Alice,” you turned your head to see your classmate approach you and Sehun with his laptop in his hands with a look of anticipation on his face. Sehun looked up and watched as he walked up to the both of you.

“Seung Joon?” you call out his name out of surprise more than confusion. “What’s wrong?” you immediately pull the chair beside you for him to sit on, seeing his laptop in hand.

“I need your opinion about this,” he settled himself beside you and quickly opened the file he wanted to show you. “Since our last experiment didn’t work, I’ve been thinking that we need to keep things simpler for our physics project, so maybe this experiment would work,”

You furrowed your eyebrows and leaned closer to his laptop screen, pushing yours away from you at the same time to create more space. “Hmm… Don’t you think this is a bit too easy, though?”

“But that’s the charm of it. We could show that calculating the speed of light isn’t that hard when using this method, because—“

“Excuse me,”

You and Seung Joon turned your heads to see Sehun staring at the both of you, now the male sitting straight on his chair, and the glint in his eyes are back to its default coldness. He was leaning back on his chair, his arms folded across his chest, and after you traced his eyes, you found them laid on your physics partner. You know what those eyes meant. Gulping, your body stiffened without you realizing.

“Is this going to take long? Because I’m also working on a project with Alice,” Sehun managed to say politely, although his body language was anything but courteous.

Turning to Sehun, you tried to put him to ease. “Sorry, it’s not going to take long—“

Sehun put his hand on the back of your palm, wordlessly telling you to stay out of it. “You could’ve at least waited for us to finish, or just text her if you’re in a rush,” he continued, his eyes glued onto the male. “This is like the second time you’ve interrupted us this week,”

“Sehun, this isn’t my only group project—“

“Shh,” Sehun squeezed your hand, hushing you gently.

You glanced at Seung Joon, hoping that he isn’t annoyed by Sehun’s displeased tone.

Seung Joon, however, doesn’t seem too bothered by his disposition. “I just happened to find her here, so I came up to her,” he explained casually. “Are you also in a deadline, Sehun?”

That’s when you saw Sehun’s cold expression shift a bit. “It’s due next week,” he said, removing his hand off you.

“Oh, well, ours is due in two days,” Seung Joon formed a thin smile, and you swear you could catch a hint of mock on that smile.  “So,” he turned back to you, nudging on your arm to gain your attention. “If you’re not happy with this option, maybe this one would do?”

“Um…” you tried to focus on the screen, but you couldn’t help but to throw a glance at Sehun from time to time, seeing a seemingly upset, yet unreadable look on his face. “Maybe… this one? Measuring the speed of light with a microwave oven seems fun and doable, I think it would catch Mr. Lee’s attention,”

“Great,” he nodded in agreement. “I’ll prepare the things we need. Can you come over to my place today?”

“Sure,”

“Wait—“ Sehun’s hand was suddenly wrapped around your arm.

You whipped your head to him, seeing that Sehun looked just as surprised as you were. “Is… something wrong?”

Sehun seemed to have his mouth open, attempting to say something. But after that awkward pregnant pause, Sehun finally broke out of his trance. “Nothing,” he mutters, letting go of you. He pulled your laptop over to his side rather harshly, sighing as he angrily typed loudly on the keyboard. “If you’re done here, then leave us.”

Holding the urge to kick him under the table, you turned to shoot Seung Joon an apologetic look. Seung Joon immediately got your message and flashed you an understanding smile.

Standing up from his seat, he patted your back. “Careful, Alice. The claws are sinking in.” he told you, tossing a glance at Sehun before leaving.

“What did he just say?” Seh