Lick Me Up If You Can Novel (Completed) - Chapter 144

For a while, they just looked at each other without a word. Amidst the noisy atmosphere, they remained silently immersed in their own thoughts.

It was Ashley who spoke first.

“What did you mean by what you just said?”

He still had a bewildered expression. Koi, embarrassed by his reaction, averted his gaze. He had made a mistake, feeling as if he had reverted to his childhood self.

“I didn’t think you’d remember…”

Koi trailed off, unsure whether to be happy that Ashley still remembered things about him or sorry for suddenly flustering him. But the milk was already spilled. Ashley had already guessed everything.

“Koi.”

He asked in a somewhat strained voice.

“The reason you didn’t put ice in your cola, was it because you didn’t have money?”

Before answering, Koi had to take a deep breath. Just like before, Ashley probably couldn’t even imagine it now. That such a poor life existed in the world.

“Greenbell doesn’t refill cola…”

Koi confessed, exhaling in parts.

“If you take out the ice, you can drink more.”

Ashley was completely stunned. They fell silent again, but it took a little longer for the silence to break.

“You, you bought me medicine and soup whenever I was sick.”

Ashley asked again. His fingers nervously tapped on the table.

“Was that, by any chance, your lunch money or something?”

He hadn’t expected him to remember that too. Koi couldn’t answer and just nodded slightly instead. His fingers, which had been tapping the table, stopped abruptly. An uncomfortable silence began again. “Ha,” Ashley exhaled with a short sigh and then spoke.

“Koi, you…”

Your father didn’t give you any money at all?

He barely swallowed the question that had risen to the tip of his tongue. He didn’t want to drag Koi’s already low self-esteem even further down. This much was enough. Because countless mistakes he had made without thinking were already unfolding in his mind like a panorama.

“Why.”

Ashley barely managed to speak, as if squeezing the words from his vocal cords.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He was furious at his own foolishness for intentionally removing Koi’s ice or ordering hot drinks without realizing anything. At the same time, he even felt resentment towards Koi for not telling him, when Koi answered,

“Because I admired you.”

Instead of ‘Because I liked you,’ Koi used a different word.

“I was afraid that if you knew how poor I was… you would dislike me.”

Ashley didn’t understand such feelings either. Being afraid that someone might dislike him, it was an absurd notion. Moreover, Ashley had told Koi countless times that he liked him. But Koi hadn’t believed his words at all? Why was he saying such things?

Koi, noticing Ashley’s confusion, mumbled softly.

“I just didn’t want you to know how different our worlds were.”

Ashley frowned, and Koi gave a lonely smile.

“You probably won’t understand.”

Ashley remained silent. He was too confused right now, and the only words that came to mind were foolish questions, so it was better to remain silent.

Fortunately, a waiter brought their food, briefly breaking the awkward atmosphere between them. However, after placing the cheeseburger and double cheeseburger sets in front of each of them, the waiter quickly turned away, leaving them alone again. In less than three minutes, Ashley regained his composure.

“When did you come to the East?”

His voice was as indifferent and cold as when he first met him, and a corner of Koi’s heart felt empty, but he tried to act normal and replied brightly.

“It’s been a few months. I met Al, do you know him? Al is…”

“A reporter for A-Times. I know.”

Ashley casually interrupted Koi and ate his hamburger. Koi also hesitated, then followed suit. For a while, they just ate in silence.

Koi was desperately trying to think of conversations to have with him, but the atmosphere was not conducive to speaking. Finally, after Ashley finished his hamburger, Koi managed to continue the conversation.

“Um, thank you for helping me. …How did you know to come? I mean, it’s the weekend, and I thought you’d be at a party…”

He asked with a mixture of hope and doubt, and Ashley replied nonchalantly.

“I was in a meeting for a trial. My secretary told me the police had contacted them.”

“The police? How?”

Koi’s heart immediately warmed when he realized Nelson’s words were wrong. He even felt that nothing else mattered, but wanting to continue the conversation with Ashley, he asked again. Ashley broke a french fry in the middle, then wiped his greasy hands on a cheap paper napkin.

“They said someone wanted to hire me as their lawyer and called out all the names of the people who were arrested.”

It was surprising that his secretary reported such a thing. He thought she would just ignore it at her level.

“Um, are you really close with Nelson?”

More than ten years had passed, so relationships could change at any time. It was hard to imagine Ashley hanging out with Nelson, but Koi still wanted to confirm. He asked, bracing himself, and Ashley openly scoffed at Koi.

“Me? With a drug addict?”

“…Right, of course.”

Despite Ashley’s cynical reaction, Koi smiled foolishly. He felt good confirming that there was no friendship between them. However, Ashley didn’t smile at all and just looked at him.

“What made you imagine such a delusion?”

At the word ‘delusion’ rather than ‘misunderstanding,’ Koi confessed honestly.

“Nelson said in the detention cell that you would get him out soon.”

“Me? Why?”

This time, seeing him frown, Koi quietly replied,

“He said you were his lawyer…”

“…Ha.”

Ashley let out a short, irritable gasp, as if dumbfounded. Koi flinched and hastily added,

“I don’t know why he lied like that, it would have been exposed quickly. …It was a lie, right?”

“If that were true, would I be sitting here with you, eating this cheap hamburger?”

Ashley asked back mercilessly at his cautious question. Koi felt his face flush and shook his head.

“No, of course not, but… I was wondering why he would say something so absurd.”

“He was obviously trying to buy time.”

Ashley continued without hesitation.

“It must have been a minor disturbance, so he would have been released after one night anyway. And he probably planned to make excuses, like I was too busy and couldn’t make it in time.”

“I see.”

Koi agreed with a bewildered expression, but secretly thought Nelson had a lot of nerve. He himself would never have been able to concoct such a bold lie.

Koi, who had thought that far, belatedly widened his eyes. Ashley, seeing his face, furrowed his brows. As if asking what it was this time. But Koi had to take a deep breath before speaking. Uttering the surprising fact he had just realized required more courage than Nelson’s flimsy lie.

“Ash, then… did you see my name on that list and come for me? To help me?”

Ashley’s hand, which was about to bring a french fry to his mouth, froze. Again, he fell silent. But that silence spoke more to Koi than a thousand words.

Koi’s heart began to pound wildly. The anxious feeling that he had tried so hard to shake off, but which had stubbornly clung to him, vanished in an instant. Did Ashley want to see me too? Did he miss me? Like I missed him? No, maybe even more?

“Ash…”

“Don’t misunderstand.”

It was when he had barely managed to call his name with an excited voice. Suddenly, Ashley interrupted Koi in a cool voice.

Koi flinched in surprise for a moment. Ashley continued, looking at the frozen Koi from across the table.

“I just wanted to confirm. I thought there was no way you would have come all the way here…”

He stopped speaking there.