Eighteen’s Bed

‘Go Yohan’s guardian’—that’s my second name. Every time I hear it, I become painfully aware that I’ve become an adult.
An adult. Those two syllables feel awkward. Like wearing clothes that don’t fit.

Countless nights passed as I wrestled with the inherited responsibility of being his guardian.
I went to school in the morning and to the hospital in the evening.
Truthfully, I didn’t even attend half my classes properly.
With a heavy heart, I would return to the hospital, and Go Yohan would rush out as if he had been waiting for his owner.

And, as if he had been waiting for me, Go Yohan would unload everything that had happened to him at the hospital that day.@@novelbin@@

“They say I need another transplant surgery. Ah, shit… My thigh’s gonna be torn up again. And the hospital food is so damn disgusting, I’m on the verge of losing my mind. I mean, I’m not some old man, my stomach is perfectly fine, so why the hell do I have to eat this crap that even a dog wouldn’t touch?”

The way he poured out his frustration with a genuinely miserable expression made him seem no different from a child.
I let out a small sigh and dug through my bag.
I hate it when my bag starts smelling like food.
The smell had already seeped in. My face twisted instinctively.

But whatever. I would’ve hated carrying it in my hands even more.

“What?”

Why does it feel like I can see a drooping tail in my vision?
And not just any tail—one covered in thick fur.
Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
I hurriedly shook off the repulsive thought and pulled out a box from my bag.

A pitiful gaze swept over what I had taken out.
Only then did the gloom in his eyes shift into something else.

“What’s this?”

“A lunchbox. I asked, and they said you’re still a long way from surgery, so you can eat this.”

“A lunchbox?”

“Don’t read into it. I just bought it from a shop nearby.”

The reason I told him not to give it meaning… was because I had already given it meaning myself.

I would never say out loud that I specifically searched for a place near the hospital that served food both safe and delicious for patients.
I didn’t even want to think about it.
I just wanted to seem like someone offering an act of purely human kindness, nothing more.

But even that seemed to be enough for Go Yohan.
With his barely functional right hand, he scratched his ear like crazy.
His ear, which I caught a glimpse of, was bright red.

My gaze slowly shifted toward his fingers.
The way they curled slightly looked deformed.
My face twisted.

Why did it have to be those fingers that caught my attention?
Why couldn’t I look away?

My chest felt tight.

“……T-Thanks.”