He checked and rechecked the itinerary, folding and unfolding the paper a half dozen times before he got to the security check. Luhan was confident that this time he most definitely was not going to go off course. Nope, he was going to do exactly what they were sending him there to do, cover exactly what they wanted him to cover, and in no way shape or form would he end up riding a donkey up a mountain looking for lost gold because some old drunk guy told him it would be fun. Nope, by the book itinerary this time.

Luhan still had flashbacks to Chanyeol’s threat from a few days prior. It was a rant which had a lot of curse words and a “you can’t keep running up your company card with this . If you can’t do your job we will find another travel writer. A dime a dozen, Lu, they are a dime a dozen”. He doubted that but still, he needed this job. He wasn’t cut out for the 9 to 5 world and this job paid him to wander around – well, planned wandering. Travel and adventure was in his veins, he knew it, and this job was mostly perfect for him.

He figured he couldn’t screw up a trip to London that badly. He had been to the city a half dozen times already so surely he had exhausted his curious nature for that particular locale. As long as he stuck to the plan nothing would go wrong. No angry phone calls or threats of being fired, no-

“Darling!”

Luhan heard the voice loud and clear but didn’t look up from his itinerary. No one called him darling. His cat had yet to utter a word so that left exactly no one to use that term of endearment towards him.

“Darling! There you are!”

Luhan froze, itinerary clutched tightly in his hands as he felt an arm loop around his own.

“I have been looking everywhere for you.”

Luhan slowly looked up, curious what unfortunate soul thought he was a darling. He was met by wide eyes, a hint of mischief contained within. A black beanie, hair dyed some color between brown and orange, and a crooked grin. Who in the hell was this guy?

“Just play along, please.” The man whispered.

Luhan, who had never been able to turn down an adventure (much to the chagrin of everyone who knew him) returned the smile. “Nice to see you too, love.”

He caught sight of a man standing some feet away, glaring at Luhan and this mystery man who had attached himself to Luhan’s arm.

“Time for our flight!” The man tugged at Luhan’s arm until he was plodding along with him, towards the departure gates.

Luhan chanced a glance over his shoulder and found the man shooting him the evil eye, his gaze full of hatred and revulsion.

“Who was that?” Luhan whispered when he thought they were far enough away from the man.

“My fiancée.”

“Your what?!” Luhan didn’t like the sound of that.

“Ex-fiancée. Well, something like that. I mean, I am running away. Actually I take that back –“the man glanced at the papers in Luhan’s hands. “Looks like you are on your way to London. We are running away!”

“We are?” Luhan asked dumbly.

“Yep. My name is Minseok.” The man tilted his head to read off of the ticket sticking out of Luhan’s passport. “Lu – han.” He pronounced his name slowly. “Nice to meet you.”

“Are we really running away?” Luhan was hovering somewhere between being extremely intrigued and feeling a bit terrified.

“Sure, why not?” Minseok shrugged, finally letting his arm drop from where he had been clutching Luhan’s. “Are you up for a little adventure? You look the sort.”

Luhan bit his bottom lip, letting the struggle rage in his mind. Chanyeol would kill him. Or would he? He would still be going to London, so that would be fine. Maybe this Minseok guy would want to stick to the itinerary and everything would be fine. “What are you planning on doing in London?”

“I bought this boat with money my aunt left me. I haven’t seen it but it sounds pretty seaworthy, it is docked near Dover right now. So what I was thinking is that from London I would take the train to – “

Luhan listened, hanging on every word. Chanyeol was most definitely going to fire him. Or maybe if he didn’t use the company card too much….