Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 49 A Pleasant Lie

The water on my hands, washed without purpose, grazed the dry towel. The remaining drops on my fingertips, not thoroughly wiped, fell with a soft plop into the sink. I stared blankly at the traces before leaving the bathroom. Returning straight to the room, I found Go Yohan lying on the sofa, tapping his stomach with one index finger. He wasn’t listening to music, nor was he looking at his phone.

When I opened the door, Go Yohan’s head slowly turned towards me.

“See? You got lost, just like I said, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about? It’s not that late.”

Go Yohan clicked his tongue and shook his head. His slender hair, pressed against the sofa, swayed in various directions with his movements. I could have told Go Yohan, ‘I saw your family eating without you,’ but I didn’t bother mentioning what I had seen. At least, that’s what I would have wanted. I headed straight for my bag. It was something I had planned in the bathroom.

“What are you doing?” Go Yohan asked.

I turned my head to glance at Go Yohan once, then pulled out a chocolate bar I had packed that morning from the front pocket of my bag.

“My mouth feels a bit bored, so I’m going to have a snack.”

“Are you hungry?”

At the mention of hunger, Go Yohan abruptly sat halfway up. His questioning face was surprisingly serious. I guessed that expression was one of worry. Perhaps he was worried about what would happen if I asked him to go downstairs and eat. I shook my head from side to side.

“No. My mouth just feels bored.”

“What does ‘mouth feels bored’ even mean?”

“Don’t you sometimes feel that way? You’re not hungry, but you feel like chewing on something.”

“Oh. That’s convincing. I think I’ve felt that before.”

“Right? That’s exactly how I feel right now.”

Tearing off the end of the chocolate bar, I walked over to Go Yohan. The chocolate bar, packed as a substitute for breakfast, was thicker than I expected. I held the bottom of the wrapper with my hand and pushed it up slightly. The thick bar slowly emerged from the torn wrapper. I took a bite at the end.

Honestly, it was delicious. I generally like most sweet desserts. And there was no way the housekeeper would have bought a brand with a flavor I disliked. However, I frowned, feeling the fragrant sweetness filling my mouth.

“Ugh. Why does it taste like this?”

“What? Is it bad?”

I licked the sweet lingering taste in my mouth with my tongue. I furrowed my brows and nodded.

“Give it to me. What is it?”

Go Yohan reached out his hand. His long fingers wiggled in front of me. I smacked my lips and placed the half-eaten chocolate bar in his hand. Go Yohan held the chocolate bar right in front of his eyes and read the name.

“Hey. Just take one bite of that. It has nuts in it. I really hate those.”

Go Yohan, who had been strangely persistent in reading the label, closed his mouth. He slowly peeled back the wrapper and stared intently at the part I had bitten. That action offended me. Is he saying he dislikes it because my mouth touched it, or what? He used to just snatch my school lunch and eat it. Why is he suddenly acting so clean?

“If it bothers you, flip it over and eat it from the other side.”

I said, making a gesture of turning my hand. But Go Yohan ignored my words and took a big bite from the part I had chewed. Then why did he stare at it? My mouth involuntarily twitched crookedly. Go Yohan, perhaps misunderstanding my expression, looked at my face and hesitated before answering.

“Why? It’s delicious.”

If you say that, I’m grateful.

“Really? Then you can have it all. I can’t eat it.”

I started this whole one-man show intending to give it to you anyway.

And Go Yohan didn’t eat dinner until 9 PM. This time too, Go Yohan served himself. I didn’t say anything about his actions, nor did I help him. The only things I did were going into the kitchen and hovering around Go Yohan, and then following him to get cutlery and place it on the table. Those two things were all.

Additionally, I said something that could be considered a compliment.

“You’re more resourceful than I thought.”

Go Yohan looked at me as he opened the pot lid. His face said, ‘What nonsense are you spouting?’ I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly.

“I don’t even know how to make a fried egg.”

“Hey. You’re really a young master, aren’t you?”

“I don’t think so. There are probably many kids like me even among those who don’t have money.”

It’s not like wealthy parents always pamper their children, is it? The example is right in front of me.

“Wouldn’t more than half the kids in our class have never even stepped into a kitchen? They only know how to boil ramen.”

Go Yohan bit the chopsticks he held neatly. I added, “It’s an all-boys’ school.”

Go Yohan didn’t particularly refute my words. I also didn’t have anything more to say, so I looked at the food in the pot. It was the same food his family had eaten for dinner earlier. Back then, it was served in ceramic bowls, but now it was still in the pot, just as it had been freshly cooked.

“I’ll eat it well. Thank you.”

“Alright.”

I wondered. Did Go Yohan voluntarily skip dinner tonight, or was he forced to? Is it always like this? Or was it because of the variable named me that Go Yohan could only eat dinner so late today?

But no answer would come from such thoughts, and there was no one to tell me the truth. I soon stopped thinking.

After finishing the meal, this time too, Go Yohan put all sorts of dishes into the pot at once and carried it to the kitchen. However, unlike before, I followed him to the kitchen, carrying the remaining dishes. Go Yohan opened a drawer and put the dishes in without washing them, so I asked, feeling puzzled.

“If you put them in there, will the housekeeper wash them for you?”

Go Yohan’s hand stopped abruptly. Go Yohan, who had been squatting, looked up at me. His expression seemed to say, ‘What a crazy guy.’ Did I, did I say something wrong? I felt unnecessarily embarrassed.

“Why, why?”

“If someone were to draw a frustratingly typical portrait of a rich only son, wouldn’t your face appear?”

“What?”

“I think it would be exactly the same.”

Go Yohan let out a dry laugh. It was only a few minutes later that I realized the ‘drawer’ I had seen was actually a dishwasher. There was such a machine as a dishwasher in the world. I figured that out on my own and felt embarrassed on my own. Go Yohan’s sneering laugh was a bonus.

A little past 10 PM, a call came from my parents. My parents fussed, saying they would call their secretary in Korea to bring the key. “Son, I’m sorry. Just wait 30 minutes.” With those words, the call ended, and soon after, a call came from an unknown number. It was probably my parents’ secretary.

The secretary, who stated his name, hung up after saying he would contact me when he arrived in front of the house.

“They’re coming to open the door in 30 minutes.”

“Is your house the Blue House or something?” Go Yohan sneered.

“It’s ridiculously hard to get into your house.”

I live alone in that huge house, you know. That’s why my parents are unusually strict about security. Normally, I would have said this without thinking, but saying it now felt like bragging, so I just kept my mouth shut.

The phone rang before 30 minutes were up. I answered the call and immediately packed my bag. As I put on my bag and got ready to leave, Go Yohan’s gaze followed me.

“Why?”

“Are you leaving now?”

“Of course, I have to.”

“You said you’d sleep over.”

Go Yohan’s curt voice brushed against my ear.

“You’re nothing but a liar.”

“You’re better at lying. Who was it that said they hated it in the first place?”

You didn’t want me in the first place.

His tone, which seemed to blame me, annoyed me, so I retorted a little sharply. Go Yohan listened to my words, smacked his lips once, and then said,

“When you put it that way, I have nothing to say.”

So he really didn’t want me to sleep over at his house. It felt like I had been confirmed. However, I wasn’t upset because I vaguely understood why Go Yohan didn’t want me to sleep over.

“I’m leaving.”

“Let’s go together. I’ll open the door for you.”

Go Yohan slowly got up. I stood still, waiting, with Go Yohan’s door open. Only a small light was on in the second-floor hallway. Generally, this mansion was quite dark. Silence filled the air as I stepped into the hallway and went down the stairs. It was a silence so profound that even making footsteps felt embarrassing. I, too, became self-conscious and muffled my steps.

Go Yohan had to open the front door. It must have been a similar digital lock to any other, but thinking about it, I had never opened someone else’s door on the first try. Go Yohan bent slightly, reaching out his hand so that it barely brushed my shoulder. The breeze Go Yohan created brushed my ear.

“Go.”

The door opened. Go Yohan turned his body to the side to make it easy for me to leave, and even held the door so it wouldn’t close. Go Yohan was occasionally this kind. I adjusted my bag and inhaled. The cold night air stimulated my mucous membranes. The smell of rain-soaked asphalt lay gently in the air.

“The rain has almost stopped.”

“Yeah.”

I spread my palm, and cold water touched it, but it was very faint. At this point, I could easily go home without an umbrella. Suddenly, I turned my body, which had been stepping out of the entrance, and looked up at Go Yohan. Go Yohan, standing with his hand on the doorknob, looked down at me.

“Thank you so much today.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Go Yohan added, as if it were obvious, with an unexpressive face.

“Pay me back.”

“Okay. Then I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

Arguing with Go Yohan’s words only gave me a headache. At some point, instead of refuting Go Yohan’s words, I just vaguely agreed with him. It was because of Go Yohan’s way of conversing, which only gave me a headache if I thought too deeply about it.

I waved my hand. Go Yohan didn’t respond to my greeting, just waved his hand in the air once. So heartless. Really. His greeting was perfunctory. Well, I guess that’s what I am to him. I don’t expect anything. I shoved my waving hand into my coat pocket. I took a step and went down the front steps. White steam escaped from my mouth with each exhale. Suddenly, Go Yohan came to mind again. I stopped my steps and turned back.