#####

All he felt in that instant was his eyes glue onto her and a wave of shock fly through him. Out of all the people on earth he would have expected to see Namjoo in Thailand last.

What was she doing there?

He felt her grip tighten on his arm as she pinned him against the boat, but before he could speak the woman from before came up to them with a tube in hand. Realizing that Namjoo hadn’t noticed her presence he nudged her.

“I don’t have money,” he told her.

Namjoo let out a snort of disbelief before she turned and reached into her pocket for some coins and handed them to the lady.

“What are you doing here?” Luhan questioned after the woman walked away and Namjoo turned back to face him.

“I should be asking you,” Namjoo dug her finger into his chest. “Do you know what the hell you’re doing?”   

He made a face at her annoyed before they were yet interrupted again.

“Namjoo?”

Luhan swerved his eyes from her face to the man behind her. He looked young and fresh out of college.

“Is everything all right?” the man asked her.

“Oh…yea…” Namjoo turned to him. “Just…talking with someone I know.”

Luhan watched the man glance at him with a confident stare. The young boy nodded in greeting before turning back to Namjoo.

“I’ll get back to our seat then.” He told before turning around to walk back.

Luhan let out a tiny snort, “Who’s that? You came with your boyfriend?”

Namjoo stared back at him before an expression of defiance crossed her face, “Yea, so what? Answer my question.”

He slightly pressed his teeth together, “You should be ashamed of yourself. Where’s Mi Yun?”

He thought he saw her eye twitch like it did when she superbly irritated, “I should just let you walk into suicide. Anyone would be a much better father to Mi Yun than you. I’m embarrassed of you.”

“What’d you say?” he felt a glare pass through his eyes.

“Forget you,” Namjoo glared at him and turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and squeezed his fingers around her.

Her footsteps echoed the air when she tried stepping back, but he tugged her forward.

“Where are you escaping to? You think your boyfriend’s going to help you?” Luhan asked. “Does he even know you’re divorced?”

Namjoo bit her bottom lip before stomping on his feet. When he let go of her she stepped back and rubbed her arm. That was when he caught sight of the fresh wound on her lower arm, but the boat started swaying and a wave splashed against the boat. A few people shouted in alarm and immediately grasped for something to hold onto.

Luhan grabbed the railing and turned back to look at Namjoo who had nothing to hold onto. The boat harshly swayed again and Namjoo almost tripped forward if not for the man who reached out to grab her arm.

“Careful,” he cautioned before the boat calmed again and everyone slowly let go of what they were holding before chatting again.

Luhan let out a snort at the sight before he grabbed Namjoo and slightly shoved her into the area she’d pinned him into and took her spot. She shot him a glare before brushing her clothes as if he’d gotten some kind of dust on them.

Namjoo bit onto her tongue before explaining, “Mi Yun’s with my parents.” Then she slightly raised her voice and stared at him angrily, “Do you know how heartbreaking it was to see her waiting by the window every single day just because she wanted to see you? She should be throwing tantrums, complain, and cry; but all she does is draw pictures of her family and ask when you’re coming! Do you know how many times I’ve lied to her!? My little girl…doesn’t understand that her dad won’t come, so I have to come all the way here for you, do you know that!?”

Continuous breath of anger belted out of her and a few people turned to stare at them, but they didn’t bother to turn and apologize. As the boat gently rocked Luhan stared at her before lowering his eyes.

“Someone broke into your apartment,” Namjoo quietly began, “they’re going to kill you. You know the thing she gave you is a phony.” She turned away and let out a snort, “You’re just a stupid scapegoat. Ah…how ridiculous.” Namjoo ran a hand over her face then turned to look at him, “How pathetic.”

Luhan stared back at her with a stern frown and they said no more until the boat reached the pier. Everyone left the boat in careful single file and he watched Namjoo walk toward the road. He paused for a second before following her.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“That’s my business.” She stated.

Luhan pressed his lips together and gently gritted his teeth. He knew she was angry and he knew he should be angry with her for coming all this way after him, but he worried more that if they were sighted together she would become a target as well.

Namjoo swiveled around to walk away, but he grabbed her backpack to stop her, “Go back home.”

She threw her arm out to shove him off. They were interrupted before she could say anything.

“Namjoo!” the man from earlier hurried toward them. “Hey, are you leaving?”

“Oh…yea, I’ll be fine on my own. Thank you,” the tone of her voice changed into kindness.

Luhan rolled his eyes from the side and turned away to take a breath of fresh air before turning back to watch them.

He handed her a piece of paper, “It’s the address of the hotel I’m staying at with my cellphone number. If you have problems finding a place to stay, let me know and I can fix something for you.”

“Ah…thanks.” Namjoo shot him a smile.

“Then I’ll see you later,” he nodded at her with a smile and twisted around to look at Luhan with the same smile before walking off.

Luhan watched him disappear down the road with narrowed eyes. Namjoo also turned to walk away, but he followed and snatched the piece of paper from her. When he unfolded the paper he recognized the name of the luxurious hotel for the upper middle class and rich. Namjoo snatched it back from him before he could look at the numbers written below the hotel name.  

“You’re going to stay with him?” Luhan asked trudging after her.

She didn’t reply and continued walking.  

He eyed her backpack, “Is that all you brought with you?”

The sound of oncoming cars up ahead caught his attention before he pulled his hoodie off and took the cap off his head.

Slipping it over her head and pulling his hoodie up he told, “Come with me.”

Luhan turned to his left and crossed the street. Pausing he turned around to see Namjoo staring at him with a frown. 

“What are you up to? I don’t want to…” she began to reach for the cap to pull it off, but he hurried back toward her.

“Don’t take that off,” he warned pressing his hand atop her head. “If they see you with me, you might as well be in trouble too.” The frown dissipated from her face.

Namjoo let out a loud sigh before turning to follow him. Neither of them spoke as he led them toward his place.

#####

A rusting sign hung above the door that had been left open. Namjoo glued her eyes to the sign then to the windows that hadn’t been polished in what looked like a long while. There were streaks and small cracks in them. A few advertisements about car sales and loan shops were placed against the window; none of which seemed very interesting.

As they entered a squeaky fan running its rounds sounded noisily from above them. The lobby smelled of old cigarettes even though no one was smoking. An old desk brought from a thrift store sat to her right and a tiny lounge made up of secondhand furniture took the space on her left.

Without a greeting from the old woman behind the desk Luhan led her toward the stairs straight ahead. She couldn’t help, but let her eyes take in the oldness of the stairs as they went up to the third floor. The dirty hallway seemed almost foggy when they finally arrived and Luhan opened the sturdy door to his room.

Namjoo peered into the small room and glanced at Luhan before walking in. It was small, really small. There wasn’t a lot of space either, but Namjoo hadn’t really expected anything grand.

“Sit,” Luhan told before walking over to a small drawer stashed into the corner by the far window.

Without a word Namjoo kicked off her shoes and sat on the bed. Taking off her backpack she set it aside before throwing off the cap he’d forced her to wear.

“This where you’ve been staying the past four weeks?” Namjoo asked looking around still.

Luhan pulled out some large band-aid he had on him before throwing them toward her, “Put that on your arm.”

Then closing the drawer he sat down on the chair in front of the window. Namjoo glanced at the band-aid then back to him.

“You know you’re violating rules,” Namjoo told picking up the band-aid, “you could get fired.”

“I’ll deal with it.”

Namjoo let out a small snort as she put the band-aid over her skinned arm. “So what do you know?”

“It’s a gang feud,” Luhan told, “the key to the storage was a fake; they think I hid the real one somewhere.”

Namjoo let out a snort, “A gang feud. Great. They’re probably assuming you can take them to her, so why’d you even bring the damn key to her enemy!?”

“I didn’t know!” Luhan shot back. “I thought it was her immediate family that was in danger.”

“So they think you’re lying and killed someone on their side; how are you going to get out of that now?”

“What?” Luhan sounded surprised. “Killed someone? I did not…”

“Oh yea?” Namjoo asked. “That’s what the man who broke into your apartment told me. That you killed someone from their gang, so he went to see if there was anything they could use against you.”

Luhan stared at her in disbelief.

“So she got you to deliver a key to her immediate enemy and even spread a lie that you killed someone from their side,” Namjoo summarized, “you know gangs like that hold grudges they never let go. This is the suicide I was talking about! You came to Bangkok to kill yourself! How could you believe a criminal’s words!?”

“And you believed I killed one of them?”

Namjoo stared back at him hot from anger. She didn’t want to have to answer him. The longer she talked to him the more annoyed she felt. She didn’t want to have to deal with this. For a second she wanted to let it all go, leave him, and head back home. This wasn’t her business.

Grabbing her backpack she slid off the bed and started for the door. When she pulled the door open Luhan pushed the door close from behind. She focused her stare on the door and pressed her lips together.

“So?” Luhan persisted. “You think I killed him?”

Namjoo barely blinked while he waited for her answer.

“Would I have come all the way here if I thought you killed someone?” Namjoo turned with a frown to him then shoved his hand away. “Move it.”

Luhan slapped his hand against the door refraining her from opening it. Namjoo let out an irritated sigh.

“Forget it,” he told, “just stay here.”

She turned back to look at him with a snort, “Here? With you? No.”

Luhan slightly hung his head back as if to measure her wits. “Why? Think I want to touch you on the bed?”

Namjoo felt him push her aside and turned to look at him dissatisfied with how things were flowing.

“Save yourself some money,” he said. “Take a shower. I’ll grab us something to eat.”

#####

Luhan paused when the door closed after him and slightly turned back to look at it. After a second he turned to walk away.

Even if they weren’t together anymore it still felt important that Namjoo was on his side. At least someone should believe him of no one else did.

The bigger problem at hand was that he wasn’t alone in Bangkok any longer. Mario would continue to hold tight watch on him and they weren’t going to let him go. Neither would they let Namjoo go if they knew he had someone with him. He barely survived after the key was discovered as a phony. There was little doubt they’d go easy on someone feisty like Namjoo.

He crossed the street to the food vendors on the opposite side. There was a police station not too far away from the ghostly hotel he was staying at. The gangs didn’t want trouble with the police, so Luhan was confident they wouldn’t strike any moves nearby. It would be safe for Namjoo to stay in the hotel.

After a few days he’d probably try to get her to go back home. Mi Yun should at least have her mother if not him.

“Would that be all?” the woman asked as she wrapped up the sandwiches he’d ordered.

Luhan glanced at the menu before spotting some sweet lychee beverages. Recalling that Namjoo liked sweet things he said, “Can I have that too?”

#####

A cold shower sounded nice so as soon as Namjoo stripped herself of her clothes she immediately the cold water. It felt so nice she wanted to fall asleep under the shower head.

As she scrubbed the sweat off her body she wondered how her daughter was doing and if she was having a good time with grandma and grandpa. They could be a little boring, but they doted on her. Namjoo hoped Mi Yun wasn’t talking too much about Luhan to her parents. Her parents, after all, had become more neutral and negative about him since their divorce. She was sure Luhan’s parents might feel the same way about her, but were unable to express their feelings because of Mi Yun. Without her, they wouldn’t get Mi Yun.

Perhaps tomorrow she might be able to find some time to talk to Mi Yun. It’d only been a day, but Namjoo missed her already. There hadn’t been a single day where she’d been parted from her daughter. Since the divorce it had solely been her and Mi Yun and she had gotten quite used to having her daughter to herself. At this point, Namjoo was reluctant to share her with anyone else.

She stepped out of the shower a few minutes later, wrapped a towel around herself, and grabbed her comb. Namjoo was at a peace of mind for the first time that day, but felt all peace shake loose when she spotted a big dark and black spider crawling across the top of the mirror screen.

Dropping the comb on the ground with a loud scream she reached for the doorknob to run out. When she turned to the left blindly she collided into Luhan pushing the two of them to the floor. Her forehead lightly bounced off the floor and she felt her fingers press into a sturdy surface before she slowly lifted her head up.

Her wet hair slid over her face with drops of water landing on the ground and a clothed surface. That was when she came to realize that she wasn’t laying on the ground. Quickly pulling her hand off his chest she stared into the wall before hesitantly moving her eyes to glance at Luhan trapped underneath her. 

***Well I lied about that 3 Ways update -.- I'll do it tomorrow

***So in case you're confused, here's the situation; a criminal Luhan's team caught persuaded him to bring a key back to her family in Bangkok - they weren't her family, but enemies. That key was supposed to open a money storage vault, but it was a phony and now they're after Luhan because they think he has the real one hidden somewhere. And that person Luhan supposedly killed, I'll explain that in better detail later; as for right now neither Luhan or Namjoo knows who that person who died is. Who really killed that gang member? We'll find out later and why Luhan is the scapegoat.