Lick Me Up If You Can Novel (Completed) - Chapter 7

I can’t take it anymore.

Koi’s bloodshot eyes gleamed as he gnashed his teeth. He had stayed up all night because of other assignments, so his condition was a mess, and he couldn’t think rationally. More than anything, Ashley Miller had been turning his stomach for days.

To scam me with such a fresh face.

In his mind, Ashley Miller was already a heinous criminal. He felt like no words would appease his anger unless Ashley appeared immediately and presented the assignment.

However, in reality, he couldn’t even see his face, let alone confront him. After his emails and even the message he had painstakingly sent were ignored, Koi’s anger flared, but that was all. As a last resort, he stood in front of his locker before class, waiting for the gang that always hung around together. They’d know what happened to Ashley, right?

And when the opportunity finally came, what he heard from the gang was completely unexpected.

“Ashley’s sick?”

Koi was startled, his voice unconsciously rising. One of the gang members said, “Yeah.”

“Just a cold, they say. He’ll get better after some rest. What’s up?”

“Uh… no, nothing. …Thanks.”

Stuttering, Koi fled the spot, feeling guilty for having been so furiously angry all by himself.

Perhaps it’s because he took off his jacket for me…

He couldn’t think of anything else. Ashley hadn’t shown up at school the very next day. And a cold, no less—it was too clear a piece of evidence.

“Is he very sick?”

He asked worriedly, but the reply was just a shrug and a “Who knows?”

“He’ll come when he gets better. Why? Do you need something?”

“Uh…”

Caught off guard by the question, Koi stammered. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to explain why Ashley had caught a cold. What would happen if he spread the fact that Ashley had fallen ill after showing him excessive kindness? One thing was certain: no one would praise Ashley.

More bullies might even appear.

A chilling thought followed, and Koi quickly shook his head.

“No, just. It’s nothing. Well, bye, thanks, goodbye.”

He quickly blurted out the words and fled the spot. As he ran hard, he glanced back to see the guys walking along, talking among themselves. Not a single one seemed to suspect Koi’s strange behavior.

“Phew.”

He finally managed to turn behind a wall and lean against it, panting heavily and closing his eyes. See? This kind of existence, as insignificant as dust, is the best. Those guys have probably already forgotten my face. Koi calmed his breathing with conviction.

Anyway, it was good. It was unfortunate that Ashley had caught a cold, but for now, the assignment came first. How should he resolve this? He fell into deep thought as he walked towards his next class.

Of course, that’s how it is.

He had somehow thought things were going too easily. The assignment, which he had confidently assumed would proceed smoothly, turned out to be completely off-base. This kind of thing was very familiar to him. In his short life, things had never gone smoothly even once.

But it’s just an assignment.

He felt a sudden surge of anger, thinking, Does even this need to get so messed up? He wanted to unleash a torrent of harsh curses at someone, but he got even angrier because he didn’t know any proper swear words. Why can’t I even curse?

After a brief moment of self-deprecation, he finally regained his composure. This was not the time to be depressed. He had to find a solution quickly. So, the method was…

Without dragging it out, he came to a conclusion. It was unfortunate that Ashley was sick, but he had to ask him to do as much as he could. No matter how he thought about it, finishing the assignment alone in the remaining time was impossible. Koi had a mountain of assignments for other subjects as well.

Once he made up his mind, his actions were swift. He immediately picked up his phone and looked for Ashley Miller’s number. Since he had fewer than ten saved numbers, including the one for his part-time job, it wasn’t difficult to find. Moreover, Ashley’s number was at the very top, thanks to starting with ‘A’.

Koi took a deep breath, then pressed the button before his resolve weakened. While the call rang, he had to take several deep breaths to calm his wildly pounding heart, which felt like it would burst.

And finally, after a long wait, a voice came from the other end.

– …Yes.

It was Ashley Miller.

The moment he heard that heavily subdued voice, his wildly pounding heart seemed to stop all at once. But then it began to beat at double the speed, and Koi, fearing his heart would leap out of his mouth, covered his mouth with one hand. After a brief pause, Ashley spoke again.

– …Hello? Who is this?

The voice, full of fatigue, clearly indicated illness to anyone who heard it. Koi, feeling a complex mix of slight guilt and worry about the assignment, began to speak.

“Uh, um, hi. It’s Connor Niles, from our Spanish class. We’re on the same team for this assignment, remember? We even had a meeting at Green Bell, do you remember?”

He stammered and explained at length, but Ashley remained silent for a moment.

– Ah…

With a sigh, or perhaps a sound of understanding, whose meaning was unclear, Koi took the phone away from his ear, then put it back and spoke.

“Um, I sent emails and messages, but there was no reply. I heard you were sick, are you okay?”

– …Shouldn’t you ask if I’m okay first?

Ashley retorted in a very hoarse voice. Of course, he wasn’t upset that Koi was worrying about him. It was just the typical irritation of a sick person. After all, they weren’t close enough to worry about each other. Besides, he must have received more than enough comfort from his popular girlfriend, the school’s top star, so Koi just needed to say what he had to say. He cleared his throat and continued.

“Um, I’m sorry I asked too many personal questions last time. I won’t do it again, so can we finish the assignment together?”

He waited for a reply, preparing to blurt out his next words, but Ashley frowned and, with a reluctant expression, asked, “Uh?”

– The assignment?

The reaction was far more deflating than he had expected. Koi hadn’t thought Ashley would be as passionately invested in the assignment as he was, but he also hadn’t expected him to be so indifferent, so he was momentarily flustered.

“Uh, um, we finished talking last time, didn’t we? About researching Argentinian food culture. I’d do coffee, you’d do sandwiches. Um, you did the research, right…?”

Even to his own ears, his tone lacked any confidence. He felt self-loathing for his clearly dejected voice, but he wasn’t Ashley Miller. He knew better than anyone that this was his true self, so he couldn’t change.

He watched for a reply, and Ashley, who had sighed in annoyance, said,

– Well, I don’t know.

“What?”

Koi was flustered, but Ashley already seemed to have lost interest. He mumbled in a listless voice,

– It’s not even an assignment we have to do. Why not just do it roughly?

“No, no. Wait a minute, Ash!”

Koi hastily grabbed Ashley, who seemed about to hang up. A deep sigh came from the other end of the line, and Koi was momentarily deflated, but he had to persevere. Gathering all his courage, he continued in a trembling voice.

“Then I’ll do the research. Just take care of a few chapters after that. Um, I’ll organize the outline and topic and everything, how about that?”

Before Ashley could make another deflating sound, Koi blurted out,

“I really need this grade.”

A few seconds of silence passed. Please! Just as he squeezed his eyes shut, wanting to pray, Ashley spoke.

– It has nothing to do with me.

“Ash…”

He called out to him urgently, but the call had already ended. Koi stared blankly at the empty screen of his phone. He just ended it unilaterally? Really?

It was unbelievable, but it was true. The call had already disconnected, and when he tried calling again, he didn’t even pick up. It was despairing, but he had to admit it: Ashley had no intention of doing the assignment.