Lick Me Up If You Can Novel (Completed) - Chapter 53

“Thank you so much today, Ash.”

Koi stood on the roadside, his face flushed, and spoke. Ashley frowned as he took out shopping bags containing several outfits he had bought from the trunk.

“Are you really sure you don’t want me to drive you home?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s right there, really close.”

Koi hastily added, “It’s too narrow for a car to go in. It’s better if we part ways here.”

Then they could walk together, but Koi never suggested that. With Koi adamantly refusing, Ashley didn’t push him further.

I’m not Koi’s boyfriend.

Ashley whispered to himself. He’s just a friend, for now. Just for now. So, he let Koi have his way.

“…Okay.”

Phew.

Koi unconsciously let out a sigh of relief, holding the heavy shopping bags with both hands and looking up at him. It was almost midnight, and the surroundings were enveloped in pitch-black darkness.

Time flowed like a dream. Koi went in and out several times, changing clothes each time. Every time Koi came out, Ashley would smooth out his rumpled shirt collar or twisted pant waist, stroking his neck and waist to adjust his clothes. Eventually, he even tried to enter the fitting room to help him change.

But Koi refused that until the very end. His reflection in the fitting room mirror looked truly pathetic. He absolutely hated showing such a naked body to anyone. Even if that person was Ashley. No, especially because it was Ashley, he wanted to refuse. How pathetic would Ashley, who had a body that anyone would find cool, think of his own pathetic body? He already knew it, but he didn’t want to confirm it in person.

After finishing shopping, Ashley bought Koi a suit for the homecoming party, a tie, a watch, and several casual outfits. Koi thought it was too much, but again, he was vaguely persuaded by Ashley’s words and found himself in the car on the way to the restaurant.

The place Ashley took him after shopping was an incredibly luxurious restaurant. When Koi looked it up later, he found it was an incredibly famous and popular place with reservations fully booked three months in advance.

There, the situation was still the same. To Koi, who just stared intently at the menu, which was written in English but made no sense regarding ingredients or dishes, Ashley thoughtfully asked, “Shall I order?”

Of course, Koi readily nodded. And he learned that there were many ways to enjoy food besides just taste. Because he wasn’t sensitive to taste by nature, he had always thought that most food was pretty much the same, but that was a huge misconception. It was simply because Koi had only eaten mediocre food.

Foods and items he had only seen in pictures, or didn’t even know existed, made Koi utterly excited. Among them, what he remembered most were the desserts. In fact, since he couldn’t taste things sensitively, most had seemed similar until now. He had actually thought chewing on a shoe sole or a tough steak wouldn’t be much different.

But macarons were different. The chewing texture was different, the melting sensation was different, and most importantly, he could taste sweetness. And it was a completely different taste from what he usually felt. For the first time, Koi truly understood the meaning of “delicious.”

That wasn’t all. The chocolate and cheesecake were also delicious. Koi was completely captivated by the smooth, cold cake that melted in his mouth. He couldn’t finish all the courses Ashley ordered, but he ate all the ice cream and cake that came as dessert. Seeing this, Ashley called a staff member and asked if they could give Koi another dessert, and thanks to that, Koi finished two plates of dessert with warm coffee.

“From now on, I’ll tell them to pay more attention to desserts.”

Ashley said with a smile, looking at Koi who was happy in front of the empty plate. He rarely ate dessert, so Koi had almost no experience eating such sweet foods at Ashley’s house. But thinking that he shouldn’t cause such trouble just for himself, Koi hastily refused.

“No, I ate enough today. It’s fine.”

“It’s fine by me.” Ashley said. “Because I want to do it for you.”

Koi stared blankly at Ashley’s smiling face across the table for a long time. His chest tingled again, and his fingertips felt numb. Even though there were so many people in the large restaurant, only Ashley entered his vision. His eyes, his ears, all his senses seemed to be open only to him. What on earth was this feeling?

Koi continued to question, but even when he reached home, he couldn’t find an answer.

“Thanks for the ride, Ash.”

Koi looked up at Ashley and thanked him. Ashley, standing opposite him, was silent for a while before opening his mouth.

“Koi.”

“Yes.”

As he immediately replied, Ashley smiled.

“Did you have fun today?”

“Yes, of course, very much.”

To Koi, who nodded without hesitation, Ashley reached out his hand.

Oh.

A large hand touched his cheek. The night air was cold, but the skin where Ashley’s hand touched burned hot. He unconsciously held his breath. Ashley looked at such a Koi and asked, “Do you know what that means?”

“…Huh?”

At the unexpected question, Koi blinked. Ashley continued in the same gentle voice, “Koi, think carefully. What I did for you today and why I did it.”

“…”

“If you think about it carefully, you’ll know too. You already know the answer.”

The hand that had traced ticklishly over his skin gently cupped his cheek. Koi barely managed to gasp, whispering, “…Me?”

“Yes.” Ashley nodded. “The answer is already within you.”

Suppressing the urge to kiss him, Ashley smiled at him instead. And then, saying goodbye to Koi, who was still looking at him with a confused expression, he turned away.

Sitting in the driver’s seat and starting the car, he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Koi still watching the spot where Ashley had been. Ashley ignored his urge to get out of the car again, pulled him into a hug, and showered him with kisses, and instead, quickly drove away.

I’ll confess.

Driving at an excessive speed down the empty street, he thought. And he set the date for the homecoming party. I’ll pick Koi up and go to the party together. We’ll dance, and drink the tasteless punch. When the atmosphere was right, he would take Koi to the tree-lined path behind the school. There, he would tell him. You’re the one I like.

Until now, his relationships with other girlfriends had always started naturally and ended naturally. There was never an explicit request to date, and while they said “I like you” to each other, he had never experienced this burning longing in his chest or a pounding heart. But this time was different. He would confess to Koi and beg him to date him.

Then Koi would…

Koi’s face, flushed bright red, looking down at him, came to mind. He would flap his ears frantically, not knowing what to do. And would he say to him, I like you too?

Just the thought made his heart feel like it would burst. Ashley let out a groan, almost a moan.

Koi, please realize it soon.

Koi’s confused face, looking up at him, resurfaced. Ashley prayed fervently with a hot sigh.

Let me hold you and kiss you quickly.

Fortunately, when he rushed home, his father hadn’t arrived yet. Koi cautiously entered the dark motorhome and turned on the light inside. As the dim interior came into view, he first looked for a place to hide the luggage he had brought. The motorhome was cramped, and there was no proper place to put things.

He had no choice but to pull out an old, torn clothes box that he kept under the low bed frame and put the shopping bags in its place. When he covered it again with the clothes box, it protruded suspiciously, but it was fine. His father was always drunk and never properly looked around the house. He never noticed if things decreased or increased.

Koi finished tidying up, then sighed, “Phew,” and quickly washed himself. He carefully folded the clothes he had worn and hid them securely with his other clothes. Then he put on his usual old shirt and holey sweatpants for sleeping and lay down on the bed.

Once silence fell, everything he had experienced today came back to him one by one. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t believe it was reality.

Maybe I was dreaming until just now.

But if he turned his head slightly, his clothes box, sticking out from under the bed, came into view, and that told him that everything that had happened today was true.

Koi let out a big sigh to calm his overflowing heart, then turned onto his side. His heart began to thump again. How could such a day even exist?

The cold, sweet sensation of the dessert still seemed to linger in his mouth. He closed his eyes and recalled the memory, then naturally wondered, Why did Ashley do that to me today?