Confined Pheromone

Sanho sat in the passenger seat, gripping the seatbelt that Siwoo had fastened for him, staring straight ahead. Even though it wasn’t his first time getting into Siwoo’s car, he still seemed tense. Siwoo quietly smiled and started the car.

When they arrived in front of the JR Group headquarters building, Siwoo entered through the back gate instead of the main entrance. He thought Sanho would be flustered if people recognized Siwoo’s car and started lining up. Of course, even though it was the back entrance, the headquarters building was still quite large. Once inside the underground parking lot, Siwoo skillfully parked in a spacious spot.

“Let’s go.”

Sanho bit his lip tightly and got out of the car. He seemed to be tense in his shoulders, which made Siwoo smile softly. B-45 on the second basement floor. He felt good confirming the parking spot. He had never remembered such things before. It was rare for him to park his own car at the company. Even if he did, there were designated spots on the upper floors, so it was somewhat expected. This small deviation, amusingly, made him feel quite pleasant.

They walked across the wide lobby. Among the neatly dressed employees, the two in casual attire stood out unmistakably. As people’s gazes fell upon them, Sanho seemed to shrink a little, his head gradually lowering. Siwoo smiled and took Sanho’s wrist, leading him.

“This way. There’s a secret passage.”

Sanho’s eyes widened in surprise. What kind of company building has a secret passage? Seeing the questioning look in Sanho’s eyes, Siwoo laughed out loud.

As they passed through the marble-floored corridor and went deeper inside, an antique door appeared. It was a door that seemed to exude an intimidating aura, suggesting that only authorized personnel should enter. Siwoo casually opened the door. Immediately, a spacious elevator appeared.

“There’s no one here.”

“…Ah.”

“Yeah. It’s just the two of us now.”

Sanho nodded awkwardly, his earlobes turning red. Siwoo looked at Sanho with a puzzled expression, tilting his head.

“Are you uncomfortable being alone with me?”

“…No.”

His voice sounded as if he were about to die from discomfort. Only then did Siwoo realize he was still holding Sanho’s wrist. He gently let go, and just then, the elevator doors opened. Sanho fidgeted with the wrist that Siwoo had held and followed him into the elevator.

“Ah, Director!”

As they opened the glass door to a well-lit office, a man in his forties sitting inside stood up with a smile. Siwoo politely bowed his head in greeting.

“Ah, hello. I’m here for the internship.”

The man nodded vigorously and spoke smoothly.

“Yes, I heard from Manager Jung. You’re from the 13th batch, right?”

“Yes.”

Siwoo slightly turned his head towards Sanho, smiling broadly and gesturing with his eyes. Sanho looked up at Siwoo and awkwardly bowed his head towards the man. Siwoo chuckled softly, then quickly covered his mouth with a tightly clenched fist, trying to suppress a laugh.

“Then I’ll be outside.”

Siwoo nodded in greeting and smiled at Sanho. As Sanho blinked at Siwoo’s round, smiling eyes, he looked like a kitten reluctantly parting from its mother. Siwoo playfully winked. I’ll be waiting outside, he mouthed as he stepped out through the glass door.

“Mr. Baek Sanho?”

A young woman in neat attire approached. She placed a tablet pad on the table where Sanho was sitting with a very businesslike demeanor.

“Please read the contract and sign it.”

“Ah, okay.”

Sanho looked down at the tablet screen. It was filled with tiny text. He knew he needed to read the contract carefully. But right now, it didn’t seem to matter. He hastily signed his name on the long underlined section. The woman took the tablet back and continued speaking quickly and accurately.

“Mr. Baek Sanho will be registered for the JR Internship 13th batch, and the department you will be assigned to…”

The woman’s brow slightly furrowed as she flipped through the tablet screen.

“The assigned department will be the Planning Department.”

Her voice sounded a bit sharp. Sanho quietly stared at her.

“Originally, the JR Internship starts when the university vacation begins. However, in your case… um, it will proceed a bit unusually. There was a suggestion that it would be good for you to come in before the official internship to help you adjust.”

“Uh… okay.”

“You’ll start coming in next week. You’ll be working two days a week. Since it’s an internship, you won’t be assigned difficult tasks, so there’s no need to feel burdened.”

The woman glanced at Sanho over her glasses. It was a strangely peculiar look.

“You’ll be working with Director Jin, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”

Her tone had a strangely prickly edge to it.

In front of the HR office, Siwoo was leaning against the wall, tapping his lips with his fingertips. Soon, he took out his phone and quickly typed a short message. It wasn’t anything significant. Please prepare privately. In 10 minutes. The moment the message was sent, the glass door opened, and Sanho approached Siwoo. Siwoo straightened up from the wall and smiled brightly.

“Are you done?”

“Yes.”

“We have somewhere to go.”

“Where?”

Siwoo smiled cheerfully. Yes, there is such a place. Walking along the clean marble corridor, Siwoo gently held Sanho’s wrist.

The destination wasn’t far. They wandered a bit looking for the parking spot, but it was close enough to arrive within 10 minutes as he had contacted. When they parked in front of a luxury store with a flashing sign, a uniformed valet approached. Siwoo bent down to unbuckle Sanho’s seatbelt. Sanho looked at Siwoo with a slightly flustered expression. Siwoo whispered with his lips, just like he did at the company. Let’s go, I’m really looking forward to it. With a click, the car door opened.

The private showroom was very bright. The bright lights illuminated every corner, and various clothes were neatly lined up. A manager in a neat black suit bowed and greeted them. Sanho alternated his gaze between Siwoo’s face and the inside of the showroom, his lips twitching.

“Hyung, what is this…?”

As Siwoo greeted the manager, he smiled and said, “Ah.”

“Since it’s your first day, you need to prepare some clothes.”

“Clothes?”

Sanho seemed completely taken aback. His eyebrows slightly furrowed. The look of confusion was evident. Siwoo burst into laughter at Sanho’s amusing expression.

“Since you’ll be wearing it to work, it should be neat.”

“Neat…”

Sanho tilted his head, still looking puzzled.

“Um, maybe something a bit casual would be better.”

Siwoo smiled and glanced at the manager, who quickly approached.

“Is this for our client to wear?”

It was a soft voice. As Sanho remained stiff, Siwoo smiled again and answered, “Yes.” The manager looked Sanho over with a non-intrusive gaze, as if assessing his size.

“I think something not too classic would be good.”

“Yes, Director.”

As the manager walked away with a neat stride, Siwoo brushed his fingertips over his eyebrows. He felt a bit embarrassed.

“This is a gift for the new employee at the company.”

Did they really give clothes from a luxury store to a college intern who wasn’t even a formal employee? Even he thought it was an implausible excuse. But Siwoo tried to maintain a nonchalant tone.

“Our company is really a great company.”

Sanho stared at Siwoo with a clear face. Siwoo bit his lip, looking awkward. The corners of his mouth kept curling up, but he was at a loss for how to respond.

“How about this style?”

As the manager approached, Siwoo sighed with a mix of laughter, narrowing his eyebrows. Ah, he felt a bit ridiculous right now. When Sanho turned his gaze to the manager, Siwoo turned his head away, relieved.

“It’s a casual yet neat design. You have such good skin, so you can try various colors…”

The dress shirt with pin tucks was, as the manager said, neither burdensome nor overly formal. Siwoo smiled and held it up to Sanho’s shoulder line.

“It’s pretty.”

Sanho looked down at the clothes draped over him and then raised his gaze to Siwoo. Siwoo smiled with his eyes crinkling.

“Try it on.”

The manager smoothly led Sanho away.

“I’ll guide you to the fitting room.”

While Sanho was changing into the sixth outfit, Siwoo picked out a pair of white sneakers from the shelf. They were simple in design, made of lightweight canvas material. Siwoo ran his fingertips over the seams and without hesitation, picked them up. Sitting on the sofa in the middle of the showroom, he placed the sneakers on the table and tilted his head, looking at them.

“…Hyung.”

Sanho approached cautiously. He was wearing navy slacks that reached down to his ankles and a casually designed shirt with ample room. Siwoo seemed momentarily at a loss for words, staring at Sanho. As Siwoo silently looked at him, Sanho’s earlobes gradually turned red.

“Ah, this is definitely strange, isn’t it…?”

Siwoo slowly smiled at the corners of his mouth.

“No, you look good.”

Sanho shyly raised his gaze to Siwoo.

“…I look good?”

“Yeah. You look good.”

A bashful smile spread across Siwoo’s face. He then muttered, “Ah,” and picked up the sneakers he had placed on the table. He bent down and gently set them down at Sanho’s feet. Sanho stared at Siwoo’s broad shoulders as he sat with his knees bent, murmuring, “Hyung…?” Siwoo looked up at Sanho.

“This is my gift.”

The five shopping bags that were already wrapped seemed to be not his gift at all, as Siwoo smiled.

“I thought it would suit you well.”

“……”

“Now that we’re going to school and work together.”

“……”

“I’m feeling good.”

Sanho bit his lips and averted his gaze. A complex expression briefly crossed his face before settling back down.

***

He felt as if his heart was floating somewhere. It was an emotion he had rarely felt in his life. Sanho arrived at the classroom quite early. He settled into a seat in the empty classroom and straightened his back. As class time approached, students would start to appear one by one. Every time he heard footsteps, Sanho slowly blinked. His gaze was fixed on the neatly placed textbook, but all his senses were elsewhere.

The warm scent of earth. The time spent waiting for a gentle fragrance made his heart flutter. He heard a group of students chattering loudly as they entered the classroom. To Sanho, it was meaningless noise. Just as he let out a small sigh, someone kicked the tip of his shoe as they passed by.

“Ah, sorry.”

The tone was one that didn’t sound sorry at all. The act of kicking Sanho’s neatly placed feet under the desk was deliberate from the start. Sanho glanced down briefly before looking up at the student who had kicked him. More precisely, he was looking at the student who had kicked his pristine white sneakers.

“……”

It was the same classmate who had tricked him into drinking at a department gathering once. With a crooked smile, he soon pointed at Sanho’s new sneakers with exaggerated voice.

“Your sneakers are so shiny that I couldn’t see anything else.”

Laughter erupted around them.

“These look really expensive. Did you really buy them?”

That couldn’t be true. Even with the mocking tone, Sanho continued to stare at him with an expressionless face. As he faced the indifferent white face, the classmate’s expression gradually began to show clear malice.

“But why does he never respond when I talk to him?”

Sanho slightly lowered his gaze again. He bent down to dust off the dirt from the tip of his sneakers. He had walked carefully, afraid of scratching them, almost like a child learning to walk. As Sanho raised his head again, his tightly closed lips felt cold. The classmate deliberately raised his voice again.

“Wow, Baek Sanho seems to be doing well these days, huh?”

“……”

“But isn’t kindness a basic requirement for such work? Like a little dog wagging its tail?”

“……”