Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 91 Vacation, Rainy Season, Revenge

The sound of fabric rubbing against fabric could be heard. It was the only noise in the profound silence. I tried my best to act nonchalant, raising my head indifferently. As expected, Go Yohan was lying on his side, propping up his chin, looking at me.

“What are you staring at so much?”

“My early dismissal slip.”

My mouth, covering the truth, moved more smoothly than I expected. I lightly moved the fingers holding the early dismissal slip, folding the palm-sized piece of rough paper even smaller. And just in case Go Yohan got curious, I tucked it into my tiny pocket.

“Geez, you’re really staring at that early dismissal slip.”

“I can look at it.”

Carrots and lies for Go Yohan, a chance to escape the trap for me. Having said that, I couldn’t even look at his face, only at Go Yohan’s school uniform tangled with my blanket. Because Go Yohan’s face was cheesy. Evil cheese placed between mousetraps. I earnestly wished Go Yohan would fall for my composure.

“Jun-ah, what are we going to play now?”

“Play? I have to study.”

“An hour or so is fine, isn’t it?”

“How much time is left until the Suneung (college entrance exam)…”

“You’re subtly trying to get out of it.”

Fortunately, Go Yohan didn’t seem interested in the sly plan hidden in my pants. Honestly, I was a little nervous. I thought Go Yohan might stride over with his long legs, snatch the rough paper from my pocket, and read it.

Go Yohan’s toes, long and stretching out from the bed, wiggled here and there.

I watched that small twitching. It wasn’t that I was particularly interested in the movement. It was simply to avoid looking into Go Yohan’s eyes as much as possible.

“…You’re being really petty.”

Tsk, Go Yohan lightly clicked his tongue. Realizing it once again, Go Yohan had a strange ability to draw people’s attention with small actions. Just like now. I found myself looking at Go Yohan simply because he clicked his tongue. It was a reflex.

“Jun-ah, I’m really bored.”

Go Yohan pulled up one corner of his mouth and made a strange sound through the slightly parted gap. Because of that, his sharp canine tooth was clearly revealed. It was a moment when the thought suddenly crossed my mind that people with sharp canines were carnivorous types who ate a lot of meat.

“I said I’m bored, aren’t I?”

The irritating rosary still dangled from the wrist of the hand propping up his chin. Ssueup-. This time, there was a sound of air being sucked in through his teeth. Like an idiot, I looked up at Go Yohan again. Go Yohan was looking at me with an inscrutable, yet somehow uncomfortable gaze.

“…Then just for an hour.”

Just go back. Get out of my room quickly.

I couldn’t bring myself to utter those words and accepted Go Yohan’s suggestion. The scales of my life kept appearing. To have a comfortable school life while embracing Go Yohan, or to abandon Go Yohan and have a comfortable life.

“I feel a little bad.”

“About what?”

“It feels like I keep disturbing you.”

And you know it, you bastard? I suppressed the urge to curse him out immediately. I tried to smile as kindly as possible. Suppressing the boiling shouts, I repeatedly recited rational thoughts.

“It’s okay. I have fun playing with you too.”

I clenched my teeth hard. Thanks to that, the corners of my mouth trembled slightly. At moments when my expression seemed like it would become awkward, I raised my hand to cover half of my face. I didn’t want to show any expression that seemed forced. Being with Go Yohan was fun, but it wasn’t fun. I never dreamed I would understand such an ironic feeling before turning twenty. However, Go Yohan seemed to have understood it differently.

“You know, Jun-ah. You being shy is really cute.”

Cough, I coughed. Go Yohan was lying on my bed, looking at me. He let out a dry laugh and turned his head away. I saw the back of Go Yohan’s head, his hair disheveled. I saw a thin strand of his intricately tangled hair fall off.

What did I think when I saw the back of his head? I think I thought, “That damn bastard.”

After the incident with Hong Hwijun, my parents called me on video every day. And they would meticulously search for my injuries, asking me to show not only my face but also my arms and legs. My parents’ opinion regarding my injuries was this:

‘They’re just jealous because our son is so outstanding. Those kids make mistakes. They should try to look good to you. How dare they, when their futures are so different. This is why deficient kids are no good. Damn brats. Call me immediately if anything happens. Don’t worry about your parents again. Got it? It breaks my heart that my son is too kind.’

‘I’ll contact you right away. And I’ll be careful first. You know I’m good at that. I won’t make such mistakes again. Don’t worry too much.’

I only gave affirmative answers.

After being treated like a child who was being bullied at school, I hung up the phone and immediately went into the bathroom to wash. Because I had been lost in thought and stayed under the water for a bit too long, my fingertips were all wrinkled. Feeling annoyed, I quickly turned off the faucet and grabbed a towel.

I changed into the pajamas I had hung in front of the bathroom beforehand and dried my hair with a towel. My slipper-clad feet made a sound as they hit the marble floor, heading towards the bedroom. In the brightly lit bedroom, I saw the messy blanket Go Yohan had left behind and his phone on the table below it. I looked at the two traces alternately.

Clack, clack, my hard slippers slowly, very slowly, walked between the bed and the table.

“… “

And the first thing I did was bury my nose in the messy blanket and take a deep breath.

Hoo-eup, with one inhale, the scent of fabric softener mixed with a strangely refreshing, unfamiliar scent. As a melancholic scent, like a winter dawn, entered my nose, a cold fragrance traveled through my veins into my lungs. That overpowering and strong force squeezed my lungs. My chest ached and burned, feeling suffocated.

It’s strange, the scent is clearly cool, even cold, but it makes me feel so hot.

“…Haa.”

I thus gloomily kept the lingering scent inside me until the very end. Only when no scent remained did I get up, tidy the blanket, and pick up my phone.

As I stared at the cracked black screen, a number appeared on my face reflected on the screen.

‘Shin Jaehyun’

I bit my lip and turned on the screen.

Idly, I repeatedly scrolled the screen up and down with my thumb. The screen moved busily. My thumb deliberately tapped on empty parts of the screen as if avoiding something, and finally, I pressed ‘Messages’. I covered my head with my free hand. A sigh escaped me automatically. Do I really have to go this far? Me.

“I’m really pathetic, aren’t I?”

My fingers moved stiffly, as if unwilling to move. After hesitating once, my hand wrote smoothly as soon as it touched the keyboard. Rather, it was written quickly because I had no particular emotions. The content was this:

「It’s Shin Jaehyun, right? It’s Kang Jun. I’m sorry, but could I ask you a favor? I think I’ll be late for school tomorrow.」

This should be enough. Half-hearted thoughts lead to half-hearted actions. Well, everyone starts from zero and builds up, right? It’s better than negative. I self-comforted and put my phone back on the table. Now I just have to wait for a reply. I turned my body. I should go dry my hair first.

After thoroughly drying my hair and returning, I checked my phone, but there was no reply.

Why is there no reply?

I bit my thumbnail with my front teeth. Leaning back in the seat of the taxi heading to school, I stared intently only at the screen in my hand. The time displayed at the top indicated that I would arrive soon. It was definitely a time when three breaks would have passed.

“Maybe he doesn’t check it that often.”

A slightly anxious feeling arose when the message I had put aside, thinking it would arrive soon, still hadn’t.

If this happens, I won’t have to go through the trouble of visiting the hospital just to check my perfectly fine wrist. It’s annoying. I feel like I wasted my time for nothing, and I wonder if I was unnecessarily conscious of Go Yohan. It’s not like I’m some cheating husband or something.

“Ah, I’m so annoyed.”

I wasn’t upset because I hadn’t received a reply from Shin Jaehyun, but because I felt like I had thrown my time away. In other words, I was angry at myself. Why couldn’t I have taken a more decisive measure? But what’s done is done.

I opened the window to cool my head, then looked at my phone again. My fingers moved quickly. Since I had no affection for the recipient, there was no need to think of particularly delicate sentences. It couldn’t be more half-hearted.

「Sorry for sending it twice, but there was no reply. Is there any homework today?」