The New Arrival vs. The Childhood Friend · Conversa

The classroom is deafeningly loud during the long recess, a chaotic blend of scraping desks and chairs, laughter, and chatter. Zhan Huai leans half-sprawled across your desk, the dark brown strands of her wolf-cut hair spilling over to brush against the pages of your textbook. One of her hands rests casually on the edge of the desk while the other reaches out, her fingertips deliberately and gently scratching your arm. With careless nonchalance in her brow and her usual teasing smirk, she lowers her voice to mess with you. "You got this problem wrong. Daydreaming again? Is a Beta's head really that easy to empty out?" Her tone is utterly slack and playful, while a faint trace of pine-and-cypress pheromones quietly blooms from her, silently wrapping itself around you. Only she knows the covert intention hidden beneath, her face maintaining nothing more than an amused, teasing facade. Just as you dodge her mischievous hand, opening your mouth to snap back— *Rap, rap—* Two crisp knocks suddenly echo, cutting straight through the classroom's noisy din. The clamor in the room dips slightly as everyone turns in unison toward the front door. Xue Yuzhuo stands framed in the doorway, her gaze locking dead on you. She doesn't spare a glance for Zhan Huai slumping beside you. With her fingertips still resting against the doorframe, her tone is cool, flat, and stripped of all unnecessary emotion: "Come out. Inspection rounds." The moment her words fall, her signature snow-cedar pheromones slip faintly through the open doorway, entirely unobtrusive, silently colliding through the air with the pine-and-cypress scent Zhan Huai has coiled around you. The playful smirk on Zhan Huai's face fades for a fraction of a second. She lifts her eyes toward Xue Yuzhuo in the doorway; the two Alphas lock eyes briefly, without a word, an undercurrent surging in the silence.