Lick Me Up If You Can Novel (Completed) - Chapter 125

At the unexpected words, Koi’s eyes widened. Seeing his reaction, Bill sighed and muttered.

“You didn’t know either.”

Koi still looked bewildered and just nodded.

“I haven’t been able to meet him either…”

Since seeing Ashley being dragged away in front of him, he hadn’t heard any news. That’s why he had come to school, defying the rumors, just in case. As Koi stammered out the situation in a choked voice, Bill gasped roughly and his face twisted.

“What the hell happened? Why did Ash suddenly kidnap you? Do you know what the kids are saying? They say Ash went crazy for you, and because you kept rejecting him, he kidnapped you. Does that even make sense?”

“That can’t be true!”

“Of course, it can’t be true.”

As Koi turned pale and shouted at the unthinkable words, Bill continued with a still-frowning expression.

“Ash isn’t the type to cling like that. How many years have I been friends with him? I’ve seen how cleanly Ash ended things with his girlfriends. He’s the kind of guy who smiles and greets his ex-girlfriends when he runs into them, and even becomes friends with their new boyfriends! Girls even complained that he was too cool and didn’t get jealous, so he’d kidnap someone because they rejected him? What do they know to spout such nonsense!”

Bill was genuinely angry. Koi could tell how much he cherished and admired Ashley.

Indeed, all the guys on the ice hockey team were like that. Their feelings for Ashley, their captain and friend, were more than just friendship. So it was natural that they all panicked when something like this happened.

I can’t hide it anymore.

Ashley had wanted to make their relationship public for a long time. He had only kept it a secret for Koi’s sake, and he had never expected it to lead to such a result. Koi could no longer tolerate Ashley being subjected to such absurd misunderstandings because of him.

It’ll be okay now.

Koi forced saliva into his dry mouth, swallowed it, and then difficulty opened his mouth.

“You’re right. Ash didn’t kidnap me. I, we…”

Koi took a deep breath and finally confessed.

“We like each other.”

Bill’s eyes widened as he looked down at Koi. Seeing his completely frozen reaction, Koi realized that Bill had not expected this situation at all. What on earth had Bill been thinking then?

Since he couldn’t find an answer, he must have dragged me here to ask.

Koi convinced himself and continued in a clearer tone.

“I had a situation, so I asked Ash to keep it a secret. Ash just granted my request. I’m sorry for hiding it all this time.”

He even added a sincere apology, but Bill still didn’t react. Was it that big of a shock? He felt a little bitter inside, but then he conceded, thinking that this was a normal reaction. After all, who would imagine Ashley Miller and Connor Niles liking each other and dating? Unless Koi was just having a one-sided crush on Ashley.

It was clearly visible on Bill’s face. Had Ashley expected this reaction? Koi, feeling embarrassed and guilty for Ashley, who had been willing to endure everything for him, insisted again.

“We’re dating, and we’re going to get m-married after graduation. And I.”

Koi stopped mid-sentence and realized. His true feelings. If you ask me again now, I won’t hesitate to answer. Feeling his eyes well up, Koi declared firmly.

“I’m going to the East with Ash.”

At the subsequent bombshell, Bill didn’t even blink, just stared blankly at Koi. His brain exploded from the sudden influx of information and went completely blank.

As the sun began to set and the surroundings grew dark, Koi returned home. He was alone in the terribly old and cramped motorhome. His father had been hospitalized that day and had not yet returned.

He leaned his bicycle against one side of the motorhome as usual, then opened the door, and a quiet silence greeted him. Koi deliberately sighed audibly and then plopped down on the bed.

The motorhome was still the same. He still remembered the messy interior when he had returned home, led by the police. Most of all, recalling the paper cups that had been lined up on the windowsill, now scattered everywhere with dandelions and dirt strewn about, made him feel like crying again.

He had tidied up the house roughly, but the loneliness didn’t disappear. He felt like he was going crazy, thinking that Ashley had disappeared from his sight again.

According to Bill, whose father was a police officer and had heard quite detailed information, Ashley seemed to have been released after all.

<They say his father is a really famous lawyer?>

Bill continued, sighing. Koi felt a bit bitter inside at the story that Ashley’s father had tried to pay for Koi’s father’s hospital bills and other consolation money as a condition for his son’s release. He had naturally thought his father would have accepted, but what followed was unexpected.

<Your father apparently got incredibly angry and refused. He said he didn’t need any of it and just wanted his son back.>

Koi was bewildered by the unexpected words. He had felt his father’s hatred for him to his bones his entire life. How much had he cursed Koi and inflicted violence on him that day?

But why suddenly?

At any rate, he didn’t think it was for a good reason. Koi had never visited the hospital, nor did he intend to meet his father. His mind was entirely occupied with thoughts of Ashley.

<They said Ashley’s father came here because of Ashley. So I heard he’s taking him to the East right away.>

Recalling Bill’s last words, Koi buried his face in his hands. No way, Ash.

You’re not leaving just like this, are you…?

He called, but there was no answer, and when he went back to the mountains, unlike before, burly bodyguards were stationed there, preventing him from even approaching the mansion. Of course, he wasn’t allowed to meet Ashley either. Only once, a woman who was Ashley’s father’s secretary came out and simply warned him.

<Dominic Miller will be here. He won’t be happy to see you, will he?>

Hearing that, he had no choice but to back down, fearing that Ashley might be harmed. And he had been in this state ever since.

I miss you, Ash.

Koi tried to hold back the urge to cry again and took deep breaths repeatedly.

The sound of the doorknob turning made Ashley, who was curled up in the darkness, flinch. A ray of light cut through the pitch blackness. At the same time, his eyes stung painfully, and he covered them with his hand. Footsteps followed, and someone approached him and grabbed the hand covering his eyes.

“Wear this until your eyes get used to the light.”

The calm, businesslike voice was the secretary’s. As he put on the blindfold as she instructed, a plastic bottle was placed in his hand.

“Drink it, it’s water.”

The secretary silently watched him bring the open bottle to his lips and empty it in one go. Taking the empty bottle, the secretary spoke again.

“Get up. Can you walk?”

Ashley pushed away the hand offered to help him and awkwardly got up on his own.

His eyes still stung from the light seeping in under the blindfold, so he walked with his eyelids closed, fumbling along the wall. As he stumbled down the hallway, his senses gradually returned. All the sounds and light that had been cut off rushed at him at once.

“How many days has it been now?”

When he asked in a somewhat hoarse voice, the secretary replied.

“Three days.”

Ashley almost unconsciously gasped but managed to hold it back. To think he had been confined in a lightless basement for three days. Koi’s face then came to mind, and he couldn’t help but let out a frustrated sigh.

Ashley returned to the mansion a week after being arrested by the police. Following the secretary who came to meet him, he got into the car, and when he returned, the always silent mansion was bustling with people.

Naturally, a party wasn’t being held. Seeing the mansion brightly lit and dozens of bodyguards and employees moving busily, Ashley instinctively knew. His father had arrived.

His guess was correct. However, he couldn’t even see his father’s face and was immediately thrown into the basement. Just like when he was in the East, he was punished by being left alone in pitch darkness, but he had been prepared for that.

However, three days was the same amount of time as when he had tried to kill ‘Ashley’, which was proof that Dominic judged his son’s crime to be that serious.

Ashley, somewhat prepared, followed the secretary’s guidance. He probably awaited at the end of this. As evidence, the faint scent of another person’s pheromones was gradually growing stronger.

“Stop.”

Ashley stopped at the secretary’s instruction. Soon after, he heard the secretary knock. There was no answer, but she waited a few seconds and then opened the door.

“Two steps to the right, then ten steps straight ahead.”

As before, the secretary told him the direction. Ashley slowly moved his feet, and only the ominous sound of his own footsteps echoed in his ears.

…Nine, ten.

He stopped counting and stood there, hearing the door close behind him. And Ashley smelled the acrid scent of cigars mixed with a strong pheromone scent. It was the familiar scent of that man.

As he unconsciously froze, a deep voice suddenly flowed in.

“You look very good, Junior.”

It was Dominic Miller.