Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 74

Shin Jaehyun said in a truly regretful tone, seeing through my obvious lie, then reached out and put the yogurt in my pocket.

“Then give it to your friend. Anyone.”

“No thanks. You take it.”

“That’s a bit difficult.”

He must have far more friends than I do. What’s difficult? Where am I supposed to find someone to give it to? I desperately suppressed such hostility and forced a smile.

“No, I don’t think it’ll be difficult, Jaehyun.”

“Please. Give it to anyone you see passing by. Anyway, if you don’t eat it now, I’ll have to throw it away.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to the classroom to quietly read a book.”

Shin Jaehyun reached out and straightened my folded pocket.

“It’ll be summer soon, so dairy products will spoil quickly.”

“It’s not that hot yet.”

“Yeah. It’ll be fine until you meet another friend.”

Shin Jaehyun finished speaking and smiled. He wouldn’t say anything more. It was a smile that showed firm resolve. Looking at my bulging pocket, I decided not to argue with Shin Jaehyun anymore. It was a waste of time. I also didn’t want to bother with Shin Jaehyun right now. Yes. What’s a mere yogurt?

“Alright.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Why was he thanking me? My head shook involuntarily in disbelief. I turned around and went down the stairs, holding the railing. One step, two steps, I heard footsteps ascending the stairs, opposite to me. Then, as if possessed, I turned my body again. My lips also opened on their own.

“Don’t go to the classroom.”

Shin Jaehyun’s body stopped when he heard my words.

Shin Jaehyun also turned his head and looked at me. Seeing him like this, he was indeed tall. That thought suddenly occurred to me. Yes, there must be a reason for that composure. Just like a large dog is quieter and gentler than a small one. Because he’s always confident he can win.

“Why?”

“Go Yohan and his friends are in the classroom.”

Shin Jaehyun’s eyes widened, and then he slowly, slowly smiled. It was a somewhat bewildered smile. Why was he smiling like that? My brows furrowed again.

“Isn’t Go Yohan your friend?”

“……”

This bastard really leaves me speechless.

“Anyway, thanks. The classroom probably isn’t a good atmosphere for reading.”

“……Probably not.”

“Alright, then.”

Light footsteps turned around. Shin Jaehyun followed me. And Shin Jaehyun passed me and went down half a flight of stairs. And the moment he turned, he lifted his head.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“……”

“I’m going to the art room.”

Shin Jaehyun softly pulled out a key from his pocket. The key dangled, as if showing off.

“I’m the head of the art club, so I have a key.”

“……”

Normally, I probably wouldn’t have even looked and would have just gone downstairs. I would have given a relaxed, gentle refusal, pretending to be kind. That’s what Kang Jun from just a month ago would have done. The problem was, I wasn’t Kang Jun from a month ago. I never thought the world would turn upside down so easily.

Rolling in the mud, I had to learn how to grow through humiliation. Also, I desperately needed a place to escape to right now. That yellow key. So I slowly nodded my head.

“Alright, then.”

Shin Jaehyun slowly looked up at me from bottom to top and said,

“I’ll go on ahead.”

To be honest, I thought Shin Jaehyun would come up the stairs and help me. I thought he was the type to be overly meddlesome, so I was a little, no, very surprised, and a bit flustered.

My stiff fingers tapped the railing. Soon, I stopped thinking and moved my feet.

Though a little difficult, the art room door, which was well within walking distance, was open as Shin Jaehyun had said. There was no one inside, and it was quiet as well. Shin Jaehyun was already sitting in a corner of the art room, reading a book he’d found from who knows where. English literature again. I sat in the breeziest spot in the art room, watching Shin Jaehyun’s reaction, and struggled a bit to peel open a yogurt. I thought I heard a faint, silly laugh, but I pretended not to hear it and looked down at the noisy playground.

“Having a hard time?”

My mind snapped to attention at the gentle voice that drifted to me on the wind. I put the yogurt I was eating down on the windowsill. It was a little unpleasant. I turned my head to look at Shin Jaehyun, who still had his head buried in his book. For a moment, I thought I’d heard things.

“Was that just directed at me?”

“Yeah.”

Flap. A page turned. My mood soared. In a negative way, of course. Displeasure was clearly etched on my face. It didn’t matter anyway, since Shin Jaehyun wasn’t looking this way. I immediately understood what Shin Jaehyun meant, but I might have been overreacting, so I spoke a little indirectly.

“It’s fine. I’ll take off the cast soon anyway, and my foot is almost healed.”

“Right. That must be hard too.”

That too? Then that meant my initial thought was correct. Damn it, I lost my appetite and pushed away the yogurt in front of me. And I wiped away the face full of annoyance.

“Jaehyun-ah.”

“Hm?”

Shin Jaehyun, who was turning a page, slowly raised his head. Our eyes met. Fortunately, the face Shin Jaehyun saw was a kind Kang Jun. I nodded slightly and said,

“Let’s not cross the line.”

You said you lived in America, right? He silently raised an eyebrow slightly. Then you should respect privacy.

“You said you lived in America, you wouldn’t have done something like this there, would you?”

“No, I wouldn’t have.”

Shin Jaehyun scratched his neck and gave an embarrassed laugh. Then he closed his mouth. The sound of pages turning continued quietly. He seemed like such a relaxed guy.

Looks like I won’t be coming here again. I exhaled deeply and leaned my back against the wall. If I had known I’d hear such things, I would have just holed myself up in some corner and wasted time. I shook my head, regretting my choice. That’s when it happened.

“I was the one who got it.”

Flap. Another page turned. My gaze instinctively went to Shin Jaehyun. It was because of the completely unexpected words that came out. Shin Jaehyun continued speaking casually, as if his sudden confession wasn’t embarrassing at all.

“Middle schoolers are usually small. It wasn’t a good school for a small Asian kid to attend.”

He was talking about his time in America. Honestly, I was flustered. Are we close enough to talk about things like this? I stiffened my face, feeling a little burdened. But Shin Jaehyun didn’t seem to care about my reaction at all.

“Well, everyone’s like that. They’re not racist, but they don’t want to be with Chinese people.”

“You’re not Chinese.”

“In foreign countries, all East Asians are Chinese, no exceptions.”

Shin Jaehyun put both index fingers to the corners of his eyes and stretched them hard. His deep double-lidded eyes became long horizontally. With his lips stretched into a grin, Shin Jaehyun said,

“Ching-chong-chang. When I walked by, three out of ten people would yell ‘WAAK’ into my ear. I can’t pronounce ‘vanilla’ properly. My favorite ice cream is vanilla, so when I just said ‘vanilla—’, they’d pretend not to understand and torment me. Saying things like, ‘Speak some English.'”

So what do you want me to do? Seeing that my face had stiffened a bit, Shin Jaehyun let out a light laugh.

“But I’m good now.”

“……”

“Want to see?”

Shin Jaehyun pointed to his mouth and slowly said, “Vah-nil-la.” It sounded exactly like a foreign actor’s pronunciation in a movie. I didn’t know what to say, so I ended up giving a strange answer.

“Yeah. You’re good.”

At my soulless compliment, Shin Jaehyun smiled widely and then buried his face in his book again.

Shin Jaehyun, who had been silently reading his book, left the art room ten minutes before the bell rang. I waited for Shin Jaehyun to return, but he never did. Puzzled, I approached his empty seat, and there was a yellow key. It was placed there as if to be seen.

‘Hey, don’t. Jaehyun is kind.’

Suddenly, that thought came to mind. I thought that if Shin Jaehyun was ever being ignored by someone somewhere, I should help him in my own way.

And at the same time, I realized that all the compliments about Shin Jaehyun were Shin Jaehyun’s own doing.

Having my shoes stolen, tearing the sole of my foot, getting hit by a soccer ball, having a nosebleed, meeting Han Taesan, and becoming Go Yo Han’s discarded card. All of this happened in just two weeks. Finally, after those tumultuous days, Friday the 13th arrived.

I must have been secretly wishing that the last day of the week wouldn’t come.

I had a nightmare. I couldn’t quite remember what kind of dream it was. It was definitely a terrible dream. As proof, I woke up in the early morning, screaming and sweating.

“Haa… haa…”

4 AM. The sound of rain tapping on the window and the ticking of the clock filled the room. Friday. I sat still on my bed, resenting the sun that hadn’t risen yet.

“…Damn it.”

Why does the sun rise every day? And why is the incinerator emptied every Friday?

The rain had stopped, but I decided not to walk to school.

The ground was soaking wet from the rain, and I wasn’t in the mood to walk. It was fortunate for me that the world had improved so much. I called a taxi on my phone and sluggishly packed my bag. As a bonus, I took out a few snacks from the auxiliary kitchen pantry.

On the way, I made eye contact with the new housekeeper, but there was no particular conversation.

“…I’ll just take a few of these.”

“Yes.”

She was always a woman of few words, no matter when I saw her.

Suddenly, the thought that this current quietness was the eye of a typhoon filled me with an uneasy feeling. Someday, someday, a typhoon would surely come. My hopes never came true, but my anxieties were always spot on.

And the moment I stepped out the main gate to wait for the taxi, I met the source of the anxiety that had tormented me all night.

“Hey.”

“……”

“You’re early for school today.”

I froze stiff in the exact posture I had been in when exiting the main gate.

“You, why…?”

Why was this bastard in front of my house? And with a clear face, as if he had forgotten everything he had yelled at me. A siren went off in my head. There was nothing good to come from getting involved now. Instinctively, I quickly turned my body and grabbed the doorknob of the door I had just closed.

The moment I tried to push open the door, my left arm was grabbed.

“First, let’s talk.”

No. I didn’t even have time to say that.

My grabbed hand was dragged along by Go Yo Han. Actually, I half-willingly followed him. As soon as I was grabbed, I tried to pull my arm away, but it was useless, and all I could do in that situation was give up and accept it.

“……”

When I stopped moving, Go Yo Han stopped pulling my arm. The small alley between my house and Go Yo Han’s house, where that famous motorcycle was hidden. Go Yo Han, having reached that spot, seemed satisfied and loosened his grip. Then, he licked his lips a bit before slowly opening his mouth.

All my senses focused on that small movement.

“Let’s make up.”

Crazy. And what he said next was even more absurd.

“I think it would be good if we made up.”

Go Yo Han still hadn’t let go of my arm. My mind went blank.

Go Yo Han’s touch, which didn’t acknowledge my bewilderment, became increasingly blatant. Go Yo Han’s hand moved little by little, subtly shaking my arm. What, what is this? In a daze, I lowered my head. His neatly trimmed fingernails gripping my white shirt came clearly into my sight. It wasn’t an excessive action to immediately push his hand away, but just the right amount of torment. Go Yo Han was urging me.

I bit my lip, my head bowed.

“Why are you so quiet?”

“……”

Because if I spoke, my voice might tremble. I was afraid of revealing my weakness. I didn’t dare to raise my head and look at Go Yo Han. I felt as if Go Yo Han would read my expression. My gaze slowly drifted to my feet. There was a puddle of rainwater that had collected overnight. And there, I saw Go Yo Han’s face.

“……”

It was as if he knew the outcome of what was happening right now. His arrogance, that I would willingly accept the reconciliation, was clearly visible.

“Let’s just pretend what happened then never did. That would be better for you too, wouldn’t it? For your school life, I mean.”

“……”

“You too… you’ll want to make some proper friends now. Who are you hanging out with these days? Park Haon and Im Yoonki? They don’t seem to care much about you anymore. They were always only close with each other, like we used to be.”