Lick Me Up If You Can Novel (Completed) - Chapter 130

The announcement that the train would soon arrive echoed. Ashley, unable to overcome his anxiety, got up from his seat and paced the same spot. Time continued to pass. But Koi showed no sign of appearing.

Was three hours too short?

Regret belatedly washed over him. He had planned to meet at the station, taking a detour, thinking his father’s employees might chase him, but he should have just gone to pick him up. Perhaps it was too much for Koi to ride his bicycle and rush on the road.

Surely nothing happened, right?

Suppressing his uneasy heart, he checked his mobile phone. There were still no calls from him.

“Ko…”

A boy of similar height briefly entered his vision, and he almost called out to him without realizing it, but it was someone else. Ashley was soon disappointed and looked at his mobile phone again.

Now, there was truly little time left. Finally, he couldn’t stand it and dialed the number.

While listening to the dry ringing tone, he kept glancing around the bustling station. His brows furrowed involuntarily from anxiety. The announcement of the train’s arrival continued.

Koi sat silently, looking at his father’s sleeping face. The hospital room was quiet, with only the occasional beeping of machines. Under the bright hospital room light, unlike the dim light of the motorhome, Koi could examine his father’s appearance carefully for the first time in a very long time.

There lay a man on the bed, so haggard and gaunt, his bones protruding, with thin skin seemingly laid over them—an unfamiliar sight.

Seeing the man who had always felt so big and strong lying so helplessly, Koi felt strange. He couldn’t believe this person was his father.

<You didn’t know.>

The doctor’s words came to mind. His father had already been diagnosed at this hospital and knew the results. He knew that the cancer had already spread throughout his body and was beyond help.

Suddenly, Koi remembered the times his father had tried to say something to him but stopped. And also that he hadn’t laid a hand on him recently.

Perhaps, that’s why.

<It will be about six months at most.>

The doctor said that, then looked at Koi with sympathetic eyes. But Koi still felt a sense of unreality. His father had cancer? …Only six months left?

Who could believe that?

But he had clearly seen it before his eyes. His father collapsing, spitting blood. More than anything, anyone seeing a man as thin as a winter leaf like this would not doubt that he was seriously ill.

No way…

Koi closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. He was confused and didn’t know what to do in this unexpected situation, when he suddenly heard a faint groan. He slowly lifted his face from his hands, and his father was slowly moving, furrowing his brows as if trying to regain consciousness.

Koi silently watched him barely open his eyes and focus. His father, who had been gazing at the ceiling, taking shallow breaths, slowly turned his head. Their eyes met, and they looked at each other for a moment.

His father seemed not to recognize Koi at first. He blinked blankly several times, then belatedly seemed surprised and tried to get up, but soon lay back down. Koi flinched and froze, then gasped, watching his father slump, and carefully observed him.

“Koi…”

His father, having barely regained his breath, called him in a very hoarse voice. Koi just watched him silently. Soon, his father’s eyes welled up with tears.

“You’re, here. You didn’t leave…”

He had simply been unable to abandon someone spitting blood in front of him. Moreover, it wasn’t a stranger, but his father. But what came out of Koi’s mouth was something entirely different.

“…I heard you’re very sick.”

At his small, mumbling words, his father flinched. He was unresponsive for a moment, then finally slowly sighed and opened his mouth.

“I was going to tell you…”

That was probably true. Koi also knew that his father had hesitated several times, trying to say something to him. His father closed his eyes with a pale face and mumbled,

“I’m sorry, I didn’t have the courage to tell you… If I said it out loud, it felt like I was truly admitting that I would die soon.”

But in the end, it had come to this. Now, even he could no longer deny it.

Silence fell between them again. After watching the IV drip for a while, his father continued in a weak voice.

“That day, when I heard from that woman that you were with that boy… I lost my mind. I should have heard what happened from you first, but that day, I didn’t even get paid and had bad luck, so I drank out of anger…”

He shook his head at that point.

“No, that’s just an excuse. No matter what I say, how can I justify hitting you like that?”

Koi just listened to his words silently. His father’s confession continued.

“When I found out you had left home with that boy, it really hit me.”

His voice began to tremble slightly.

“Thinking that I might never see you again, I can’t tell you how much I regretted it. I should have told you sooner. I should have… apologized to you.”

Koi listened blankly to the words of atonement flowing from his father’s lips. He hadn’t expected this situation at all, so no words came to mind. His father continued to speak.

“Even before that, I had been thinking about it constantly. From the moment I knew I might die… I wanted to apologize to you. To you… how cruel I was to you. You must have been struggling after losing your mother too, and you were just a small child…”

His father’s voice began to mix with sobs. He covered his face with both arms while lying down and continued,

“I knew it wasn’t your fault. It was just that I, that all of us, were unlucky. …But I couldn’t bear it without blaming someone. …And I poured all of that onto you, I’m truly trash.”

Huuu, a weeping sound escaped him. Koi could see thick tears continuously flowing from his eyes. His father sobbed and atoned.

“I’m sorry, Koi. I’m sorry… Can you give me one more, one last chance? I’m sorry, but please, just stay by my side for a few months, until I die… If you, even if you leave me, I, I…”

Unable to finish his sentence, his father burst into tears, trembling all over like a child. Koi sat there, just watching him.

Suddenly, a very old memory overlapped in his vision. His father washing the car, his brother swinging a hose full of water at Koi, himself screaming and running to his mother, and his mother laughing out loud as she watched them.

Why did the memories of that day come back so vividly before his eyes?

Happy days never disappear. They lie deeply asleep somewhere deep down, only to awaken unexpectedly like this and shake one’s entire heart.

The air of that time, the wind that brushed his cheeks, the water droplets that splashed all over his body, the sound of laughter from that time.

Aren’t they all vividly coming back to life before his eyes right now?

<Koi, my little pea.>

Hahaha, his father, who used to laugh heartily and lift him up, overlapped with the man now, and Koi’s vision blurred. Thick teardrops flowed down his cheeks, and his father’s sobs quietly echoed in the hospital room.

♬♪♪♫♬♪…

“Koi?”

As soon as the phone rang, Ashley frantically answered, shouting. There was a brief pause on the other end, then a reply came.

– Yes, Ash. It’s me. I’m sorry for contacting you late.

“Haa…”

Ashley unconsciously let out a sigh of relief and ran a hand through his hair.

The train had already departed a long time ago. During that time, Ashley had been waiting for Koi, worried sick that something terrible might have happened. He called several times, but couldn’t reach him, and trains kept leaving the platform one by one. As the number of people dwindled, the person he waited for most didn’t even show a shadow.

He never wanted to experience how agonizing this was again.

“What happened? Did something happen? You’re not hurt, are you?”

He asked quickly, and Koi mumbled softly in reply.

– I’m okay… I’m sorry, I wasn’t in a situation to contact you.

Hearing his voice, it seemed that the terrible things he had imagined hadn’t happened. Ashley sighed again, but then anxiety rushed in.

“Koi, what happened? Where are you now? Come quickly, should I come pick you up?”

If he picked up Koi and came to the station now, they could barely catch the last train. If necessary, it wouldn’t be bad to drive to the next station and catch the first train from there. The plan could be changed as much as needed. As long as Koi was there.

As long as Koi was there.

– Ash.

Koi called his name from the other end, his voice trembling.

– I’m sorry. I… can’t go.

At first, he thought he had misheard. Ashley blinked and asked again.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t hear you well, what did you just say?”

Even then, he believed. That Koi would never betray him.

– I’m sorry.

Koi apologized to him again. Through his ragged breaths, he forced out the words.

– I can’t go with you… I’m really sorry.

Ashley stood there, blankly, lost in thought, and froze.