Eighteen’s Bed

"My dad’s been asking why you haven’t been coming over lately. The old man never even talks to me, but you—somehow, even after pulling all that dumbass shit, you’re still his favorite. Meanwhile, the moment I saw you, all my feelings for you just died."

Go Yohan scoffed, voice dripping with mockery.

"So tell me, what’s your secret? Let the neglected son learn a thing or two."

"……Yeah."

"Fuck, yeah? That’s all you’ve got to say?"

"……"

"Anyway, I’m only trying to make up with you because of my dad. Got it? So don’t get the wrong idea. If I tell him we’re not talking anymore, I’ll just get called a dumbass again. ‘What kind of idiot gets into a fight with the top student?’—you get the idea."

He punctuated his words by smacking my arm. Hard.

The force of it made me stumble slightly, but Go Yohan didn’t even bother steadying me.

That, more than anything, proved just how sincere his words were.

"So, to be clear—I don’t actually want to make up with you. I’m just forcing myself to do it."

"Yeah."

"Don’t get the wrong fucking idea."

"I get it. I get it already, so quit talking."

Irritation flared inside me. Did he really have to spell it out like that?

Go Yohan was a real piece of shit.

My patience had already worn thin, and before I knew it, my own words came out barbed.

"Great. Then that works out, because I don’t want to be friends with some selfish asshole like you either."

I refused to let him have the upper hand.

Some of it was just sheer defiance, but mostly, I didn’t want to let him think I was still clinging onto him after all this time.

But Go Yohan must not have liked that response.

"What did you just say?"

He must have hated hearing me talk about him like that.@@novelbin@@

His voice dropped, cold and low.

"I said—what the fuck did you just say?"

It was openly hostile.

But all I felt was frustration.

Why was he the only one allowed to get pissed off?

For fuck’s sake, I’d been holding everything in.

"Look, I’ll go first. I’ll just say it. I was wrong. I was just trying to help. I admit I messed up."

I shot the words out like rapid fire, desperate to cut him off before he could say anything else.

I didn’t want to be dragged into this any further.

I just wanted to end this conversation.

Yeah. I just had to hold it in a little longer.

I clenched my fists under my blazer and swallowed hard.

Just one more time.

I could be an idiot one last time for the sake of a peaceful high school life.

I exhaled and forced myself to keep talking, voicing all the thoughts I had bottled up.

"……Yeah, I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong. I got caught up in the whole idea of helping you and did something so shitty I wanna vomit just thinking about it. I was sloppy. I was pathetic. And yeah—you’re right. It was fucking embarrassing. I don’t even know what I was thinking. Probably nothing, because I was a fucking idiot. So I’m sorry."

Every word that left my mouth was the absolute truth.

Really.

And honestly?

Go Yohan had fucked me up.

I just wanted this entire suffocating, miserable situation to end.

"But I can’t make up with you. Let’s just act like we don’t know each other and go our separate ways."

What, he expected me to hang around him again after all this?

That would be hell.

I wasn’t a fool.

I had already crossed the burning lake of fire once with Han Junwoo.

I knew better now.