Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 50

I thought he had already closed the door and gone inside. But Go Yohan was still standing there, watching me.

As I moved away slightly, the huge mansion behind Go Yohan came into view. The mansion with its lights off. Go Yohan in a thin T-shirt. My heart felt strange. This was Go Yohan’s house, but it felt like I was leaving him behind.

I sniffed my cold nose once. Sniff.

“Go Yohan.”

I called Go Yohan softly. Go Yohan didn’t react, as if he hadn’t heard me. I changed direction and approached Go Yohan. But I didn’t go up the front steps. I stopped just before ascending them. I looked up at Go Yohan’s face, which was now higher.

“If sleeping over is better…”

“Huh?”

“If sleeping over is better, then you sleep over at my house.”

I just couldn’t leave him like that.

If it was pity, then it was pity. I didn’t know why Go Yohan was being alienated at home, but the fact that it was Go Yohan bothered me. Who cares if other guys are ignored or bullied at home? But Go Yohan is different.

Go Yohan seemed a little surprised by my words and gave an awkward laugh.

“…What?”

Strange. I felt a thrill at that expression. What kind of feeling was it? I think it might be a feeling like conquest or possessiveness? Like the first footprint on fresh white snow. That’s it.

Go Yohan makes an awkward expression. Since meeting Go Yohan, this was the first time I experienced such a strange, heightened feeling. I felt a little smug at seeing an expression I had never seen before.

“There’s no one at my house. The housekeeper quit. I’m alone all the time.”

So I added one more thing. Now Go Yohan’s face was tinged with embarrassment.

Actually, I was a little excited. I felt like I had somehow won against Go Yohan. An embarrassed Go Yohan was quite sweet. Go Yohan’s mouth opened slightly, and his eyelids fluttered. His long eyelashes tapped up and down. Finally, Go Yohan laughed as if I were ridiculous. Steam burst from Go Yohan’s wide-open mouth, accompanied by a clear laugh.

“Are you trying to seduce me right now?”

Normally, I would have been horrified and denied it. It was obvious I would have racked my brain to come up with an excuse. But today was different. I must have been intoxicated by the winter night. Or perhaps I was intoxicated by Go Yohan’s misfortune.

“Yes. I guess so.”

I also laughed clearly. A genuinely pleasant laugh burst out.

“Then I’ll see you later, Yohana.”

Only after saying that could I finally leave the dark mansion completely without looking back. As I opened the door and stepped out, I saw the male secretary waiting for me, parked in his car. As soon as he saw me, the secretary unlocked the main gate with a key. Only after opening the gate and confirming that I had entered did the secretary leave. I thanked him and apologized as I went into the house.

My steps felt light as I entered the house. I found myself humming.

Perhaps I was indeed intoxicated by Go Yohan’s misfortune. Go Yohan was pitiful. I, who liked men, was pitiful, but Go Yohan, who was as good as abandoned by his parents, was also pitiful. Misfortune wasn’t enjoyable. But it was enjoyable that I wasn’t the only one who was unhappy.

Even Go Yohan, who lived in such a high position, was this unhappy. The blemish on my life plan seemed less bothersome. And of all people, he happened to be caught by me. How unfortunate. Yes, everyone has misfortunes they want to hide. So tonight, I extended a hand of salvation to Go Yohan.

If Go Yohan were to take my hand today, I was willing to pull him out of that pit. Just as Go Yohan had dragged the devil Han Junwoo down to hell for me, I resolved to save Go Yohan.

I sat on the large sofa in the empty living room, where no one was, waiting for my lamb.

The doorbell rang. I shivered and got up from my seat. Hastily checking the intercom, I saw Go Yohan with a bag on the small screen. I couldn’t even change my shoes and ran out into the garden in my indoor slippers.

As soon as I opened the main gate, I saw Go Yohan in a crooked posture. With a sports bag slung over his shoulder, hands in his pockets, and his head tilted, Go Yohan smiled, one corner of his mouth turned up. It was still a smile that looked like a sneer.

“I came to be seduced.”

“…”

“Are you going to make me ramen?”

Go Yohan said something random and grinned mischievously. I furrowed my brows. And then I pondered what kind of ramen was in the storage room.

“Did you get permission from your parents to come?”

“Did you get permission from your parents to come?”

I heard a mocking voice. Go Yohan chuckled, imitating my tone even more like a bookworm. I stopped opening the door and glared at Go Yohan. But Go Yohan was not the type to care about my glare.

“What about it?”

Go Yohan nodded slightly and gave a crescent-eyed smile.

“When did I say that?”

“Even if you didn’t say it, that’s how it sounds.”

Do I really sound like such a bookworm? I can’t believe it. My brows furrowed involuntarily.

“Do I really talk like that?”

“Yes. You do.”

“You’re so annoying. Really.”

Hahaha. A clear laugh rang out. When Go Yohan wasn’t sneering, he laughed surprisingly freely. I gave that clear laugh two options.

“Do you want to sleep in my room, or in the guest room?”

“Hmm.”

Go Yohan stroked his chin with his finger. His large, long mouth above his chin curved upwards. With a surprisingly serious face, Go Yohan answered,

“I guess I should go to your room, right?”

“…But there’s only one bed in my room.”

“Hey. Isn’t that obvious? Who has two beds in their room?”

Go Yohan’s eyebrows arched. I unnecessarily sighed, “Ugh.” I wondered if I had given him two options for nothing. However, Go Yohan’s humor was strangely to my taste, so I tried hard to suppress the laughter that threatened to burst out.

“Hey. I can see you laughing.”

Damn it. I was caught.

That morning, I woke up with Go Yohan. I took out a toothbrush for guests, and as for his uniform, well, Go Yohan brought it himself. For breakfast, a lunchbox ordered by my parents was delivered. I also received a message saying that from lunch today, they would have someone stock the refrigerator with side dishes, so I shouldn’t worry and just eat. The message from my parents blinked on my phone screen.

「What about food, my son? I don’t want you to eat cold rice. Sorry for now, son.」

The screen turned black again after a while. Go Yohan was reflected in that black screen. On the way to school, I asked Go Yohan,

“Do you know how to cook rice?”

“Rice?”

“Yeah. Well, even with a pressure cooker it is fine.”

“Oh. Yeah, I know how to.”

Go Yohan cooking rice. Imagining that scene was a comedy in itself. The imagination continued, and Go Yohan in an apron appeared before my eyes. I burst out laughing, and Go Yohan laughed along without even knowing what was funny. Was he laughing because he thought I was teasing him? I didn’t explain why I was laughing and let Go Yohan’s laughter be.

When I arrive at school, I should send a message to my parents. That it’s okay. That I can cook rice.

And while my parents were choosing a new housekeeper, Go Yohan settled into our house.

It was just once. Just once, on the way home from school, I asked, “Do you want to eat at my house?” But after that, Go Yohan showed no signs of leaving. Strangely, Go Yohan’s belongings piled up more and more in my room. Now, Go Yohan’s clothes were even hung separately in my room’s dressing room. Since his house was close, he seemed to be blatantly bringing them over. I felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity with this peculiar cohabitation. So I subtly asked Go Yohan once,

“Aren’t you going home?”

The answer to my question was Go Yohan’s teasing.

“Where would I go? I have to cook for you.”

“…Oh, right.”

After that, I was too embarrassed to ask again.

Go Yohan’s pranks are a bit burdensome. Every night, I kicked Go Yohan, who crawled into my bed. Seeing him sitting on the floor with a sulky face made my lower abdomen warm, but I acted even more harshly because the reason I kicked Go Yohan was a sexual change. Thanks to that, Go Yohan mostly slept on the sofa in my room.

And then I learned something: Go Yohan sleeps like a log. He didn’t snore, didn’t grind his teeth, and didn’t toss and turn much. Sometimes, on days when I woke up early from a light sleep, I saw Go Yohan sleeping. Sleeping Go Yohan looked just like a vampire from a movie.

One morning, when I told him, “You look like a vampire,” Go Yohan answered nonchalantly while chewing his food,

“It’s probably because my great-grandmother was Romanian.”

He seriously says things that are impossible to tell if they’re true or false, and impossible to verify. There was no change in his expression. Even if I asked if it was true, I wouldn’t know if the answer was true or false, so I didn’t ask for verification.

Even amidst Go Yohan’s constant lies and pranks, there is comfort.

Surprisingly, Go Yohan also knew how to operate a washing machine. Anyway, since a new housekeeper would come and wash everything at once, I had piled all my worn clothes in the laundry basket. But Go Yohan saw that and suddenly looked for the washing machine’s instruction manual.

Our house doesn’t throw away instruction manuals. Even if the previous live-in housekeeper quit, they were piled up in the storage room so that the next live-in housekeeper could read them and use them immediately. Go Yohan found them. He acted exactly like a child who could survive on his own. Go Yohan.

“Jun, you’re really a domestic trash. So much so that you’re like waste-grade trash, I can’t even separate you for recycling.”

“Shut up.”

His playful scolding was embarrassing, so I retorted a little harshly.

“What would you have done without me?”

“…”

Go Yohan, who had even rolled up his sleeves and pressed various buttons, successfully started the washing machine. Far from helping Go Yohan, I was consumed by desire for his white dress shirt and long forearms, the taut wrinkles of his clothes around his stomach that couldn’t escape his pants, and his clearly exposed neck.

As expected, I’m just a guy after all. Kang Jun, the ascetic? What nonsense. What ascetic human being would treat his friend as a side dish?

And what makes it even harder for me is, of course, Go Yohan.

“Jun.”

“Huh?”

Lately, my contact with Go Yohan has become more intense. The most surprising moment was when Go Yohan was taking pictures of the laundry he had done. I was capturing evidence to prevent my parents’ unnecessary meddling on my phone screen when Go Yohan suddenly appeared behind me and slowly massaged my forearm. Go Yohan’s hot warmth met my cold skin.

“W-what? What’s wrong?”

Heat rushed from my toes to my navel all at once. In my embarrassment, I quickly pulled away, and Go Yohan just smiled innocently and walked past as if nothing had happened.

School life was also smooth. Han Junwoo still didn’t appear at school. The most I saw was him occasionally waiting for Han Taesan at the school gate. It was a bit pathetic how he stubbornly waited for Han Taesan even though all the students glanced at him as they passed by. Honestly, he looked like an idiot. He really just lives looking straight ahead without thinking. Isn’t he afraid of the whispering glances directed at him?

Conversely, Han Taesan went to school quietly. Occasionally, he would skip the last class or not go to the school gate after class ended, which seemed like he was diligently avoiding Han Junwoo in his own way. Since then, Han Taesan hadn’t spoken to me, nor had he spoken to Go Yohan.

“Ah…”

“Oh.”

Damn it. Things like this often happen when you’re in the same class. Like almost bumping into each other at the door. I quickly put on a smiling face and opened my mouth.

“Hello, good morning.”

When I greeted him, thankfully, Han Taesan would usually just pass by without answering first.