Last night was…

Ending that call. Taking those keys. Stealing the hotel car.

Was that okay?

Yes. Because Ryeowook was drowning. Drowning in heartache and frustrations; always drowning. Always has been. It’s time he was drowning in something else.

Drinking. Drinking. Drinking….

6am

 “Where could he be?”

The manager was ballistic; no doubt about it.

“How could nobody know where Ryeowook is? He’s the most predictable person on this island! How could he just disappear?”

 Nobody answered him. Instead, everyone just watched as their boss fumed and stormed around the kitchen like a madman. Well, everyone except the waiter.

Jonny was focused entirely on peeling his banana as slowly as possible. Technically, he’d been the last to see Ryeowook. But that didn’t matter. The girl had been the last talk to him and whatever she’d said had probably caused him to run. He didn’t even know what that was. He only knew what everyone else knew: that Ryeowook was MIA and a hotel car was gone. Jonny was sure he wouldn’t be of any help. 

7am

Yoona had visited the hotel before. And despite what Ryeowook said last night, she had paid for her own ticket, thank you very much. It was quite a waste of money.

But now, she was glad she had some experience. Knowing the only person in the hotel who actually cared about his employees and where his office was made her life infinitely easier.

“So he was kissed?”

“Yes, quite forcibly,” Yoona slipped on her most distressed expression, “I can honestly say I’ve experienced ual harassment before and it is an awful thing but what that guest did to Wookie,” she choked back a sob, “that is straight out ual assault. Something I know you don’t tolerate.”

Mr. Parker nodded, concern etched into his face. “Of course, consequences will most certainly be in order. The manager is currently dealing with some business, but I will alert him the second he is done.”

7:30am

Kyuhyun jerked awaked, heart pounding. Someone was rapping at the door. Disoriented, he looked around, trying to figure out where he was. It was dark and his body wasn't responding. His neck felt especially stiff. The rapping turned to heavy knocking.

Kyuhyun groaned as he straightened himself. The bedroom slowly came into focus as he sat up from his chair. Curtains were drawn, and the room was bathed in red light. He groggily rubbed his eyes, trying to make out the dark shapes in the room. There was the bed, a chair, and his suitcase was neatly… packed…in the corner.  Suddenly, Kyuhyun was wide awake.

“Seo?” he called out. The response was more knocking. He turned towards the bed but on it were only rumpled covers. Last night’s events came rushing back in a whirlwind of thoughts. Among them was the knowledge that Seohyun was gone. Cursing, he patted himself down, desperately searching for the ring. 

Bam! Bam! Bam!

“Alright! Alright! I’m coming!” He yelled. having found the ring, Kyuhyun pulled himself off the armchair. His entire body hurt from sleeping in such an awkward position. He had no idea who was beating his door at this hour but he was pretty sure it wasn’t Ryeowook. And Kyuhyun didn’t care about much else at the moment.

“Yes?” He said as he flung open the door. A tall man in uniform, whom Kyuhyun recognized as the manager, stood on the other side.

“Checkout’s at noon,” he snapped, not caring that he wouldn’t understand.

“Actually, in your case, it’s not,” Kyuhyun startled. Had the manager answered him…in Korean? Without moving his mouth? He took a step back and realized that beside him was an elder in a wheelchair.

The old man watched him with an even stare, “Your checkout will be right now.”

Kyuhyun half scoffed, half laughed, “What? Why?”

“For ually assaulting my employees, of course.”

“Wait - what!?” Kyuhyun was completely incredulous. The fact that some old guy was speaking flawless Korean was nearly as flooring as his accusation. The manager just watched as he sputtered, trying to wrap his mind around the claim.

“I never – what – Where did you - ?”

“Ms. Im informed us of your ual assault on Kim Ryeowook this morning and we would like to inform you that that is against hotel policy.”

“Ms. Im?” he gawked at the manager, “Who the hell is Ms. Im? She doesn’t know what she’s talking about! I never assaulted-” Kyuhyun froze. Ryeowook. The kiss. Oh god.

Kyuhyun felt all his protests wither, “He-he reported that as an assault?” His eyes dropped to the floor. Ryeowook really didn't feel anything? The kiss had been sudden but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something there. He was sure he’d felt something even before the kiss and Ryeowook had to have felt it too. The way he’d looked at him…But he didn’t? Were his feelings completely unrequited? Kyuhyun felt sick.

 “Sir, I’m going to ask you again to please pack up your things and leave. We’ve called you a taxi and it will arrive shortly to take you to the airport.”

“But-but,” Kyuhyun shook his head, “No. I-I need to talk to him. I need to talk to Ryeowook.”

“No, sir; we can’t let you do that-”

“Please, I need to tell him something. Where is he?”

“We can’t tell you that-”

“I need to talk to Ryeowook!

It seemed the manager had had enough of his protesting as he swiftly shoved Kyuhyun aside and walked right into his room.

“Hey, hey!” the Korean man yelled as the manager began tossing every non-hotel property object into his suitcase, “What are you doing!?”

“Helping you pack, of course.”

Kyuhyun whipped around to face the old man, who had now rolled into the doorway.

“You can’t just kick me out!”

“I’m not kicking you. I’m politely asking you to leave. And before Colin calls the police I may add. I assure you this is a very lenient penalty for your offense.”

Although his voice was light, the old man’s face was quite grave. It seemed he was serious. Kyuhyun felt cornered. He’d literally woken up five minutes ago and now he was being thrown out without even getting the chance to talk to his friend. Except Ryeowook was more than a friend.

Kyuhyun searched desperately for a way out, “Please sir, if I could just talk to Ryeowook-”

 “No.”

“Please!”

His expression didn’t waver.

“Hey, Kat. Who’s the dude?” Jonny watched the man through the window he was washing, “Kat!”

“What?” His sister looked from the front desk.

“That guy at the front gate. I think he wants in or something. He’s got like a suitcase and keeps pounding on the fence.”

His sister sighed, “Jonny, if we let in every hobo who came knocking we’d be a homeless shelter. Now finish cleaning those windows.”

The teenage boy huffed. Turning back to his dirty water, Jonny struggled, as always, to clean the ceiling-high glass. At least there was that strange man to keep him entertained.

It wasn’t long before their real guests, a group of obnoxious and loud businessmen, came tromping into the lobby. Having seen enough of them during breakfast, Jonny focused on squeegeeing his window. By the time they all checked out, he he'd finished half the windows.

“Finally. Learn to how to be faster on that computer, okay Kat? Efficiency is everything.”

Colin’s grinding voice made Jonny’s jaw clench. Recently, the boss’s jabs had become more and more irritating to the worker. He took this as a sign that maybe he should quit. But he couldn’t because that would mean leaving Wookie behind.

“Oh, and Colin, there’s some homeless man at our gate again.”

His ears perked up. It would be hilarious if their boss proved his sister wrong.

“Oh, he’s not homeless. I just kicked him out.”

“You kicked out a guest?”

Jonny nearly dropped the bucket.

“Had to. He was harassing Wook. Mr. Parker would have been very mad if I didn’t.”

“Just how was he ‘harassing’ Wookie?”

“Oh, I don’t know. But apparently he’s the reason Wook left early for the festival this morning. Didn’t want to run into him again.”

“Well I guess that makes sense. At least he’s gone now.”

 Jonny frowned. That didn’t make sense. Not if you knew what he knew, which was that that man was definitely not the reason Wookie disappeared this last night. At least not the main reason. In fact, he even doubted Wookie was at the festival.

“Jonny.”

The brunette was startled out of his deep thought. His boss strode up behind him.

“Jonny, I’m taking your sister and the guests to see the festival. When Mr. Parker is ready, lock up the place and drive him down okay? He cannot miss the opening sets.”

“Yeah, sure,” he nodded like a good little employee. It was standard procedure to close down on “holidays.” Today was no exception.

But still, as the manager walked away and his sister followed suit, Jonny couldn’t help feel that they were all missing something; something lost in translation.

All he wanted to do was talk to Ryeowook. They couldn’t even let him do that.

Kyuhyun slumped against the iron fence. He had been stupid to kiss Ryeowook. Really ing stupid. What did he think would come of it? They would fall in love, ride off into the sunset, and live happily ever after? Of course not. Ryeowook didn’t even kiss him back. Heck, he’d reported it as ing ual assault! But he couldn’t leave it there. No, Ryeowook was his friend. He had to see the man again; even if it was to apologize.

“Augh! Damnit!” he whipped around, fist connecting with metal bar, “Let me in! Please! I have to talk to Ryeowook! Please!”

Shaking the iron wrought gate was just about as useless as his screaming in Korean. As far as he knew, the owner and Ryeowook were the only people who could possibly understand him.

“Ryeowook! Please come out! I’m sorry!”

Finally, the front door swung open, but Kyuhyun deflated almost immediately when he saw who it was.

The old man rolled out, this time accompanied by the chatty chauffeur. The other times the old man had come out was to threaten to call the cops on him. Kyuhyun had stopped taking him seriously by about the third time. But this time, the older completely ignored him and rolled towards the cars with the chauffeur yapping beside him.

“Sir!” he called out, “Sir! Please let me talk to Ryeowook! You don’t even have to open the gate; just let me talk to him!”

He didn’t even look his way. The younger however, turned. His gaze met Kyuhyun’s and for a second showed a flash of confusion. Suddenly, Kyuhyun knew to change tactics.

“Wookie! Please!” His English echoed in the cement lot, “Please, talk to Wookie! I need Wookie!”

This almost seemed to work as the worker actually stopped in his tracks. Kyuhyun nearly jumped with joy when he made the owner stop as well.

He anxiously watched as the two argued back and forth. The younger started talking more vigorously, gesturing to Kyuhyun every second or two. Kyuhyun could only hope that was a good thing. Finally, the wheel-chaired man threw up his hands and rolled towards where he stood.

Kyuhyun inhaled; hurriedly organizing what he was going to say. His argument had to be just right. But before he could even open his mouth, the old man declared furiously: “I am going to sue that taxi company! Who takes an hour to send one damn cabbie?”

He wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“For god’s sake, do you really think I’m letting you anywhere near Ryeowook after what you did?” the old man barked, rolling right up to the gate.

“I didn’t do anything!” Kyuhyun backed away hurriedly. The elder had slammed right up against the gate making feel like a prisoner facing the guard.

“Really? Ryeowook is missing, his girlfriend is saying you did something, and I should believe you didn’t do anything? Now that would be a strange conclusion.”

Kyuhyun exhaled, agitated, “The kiss wasn’t like that. I didn’t mean to hurt him or scare him; I just … I don’t know how else to explain it! Please let me talk to him!”

“Not a chance in hell”

“Oh, come on!” He lunged forward, palms rattling the gate.

The chauffeur quickly pulled the old man back, alarm in his eyes. Kyuhyun dropped his head, defeated. These people were his only way to explain things to Wookie and if the last hour was any indication, they weren’t going to budge. The older and younger discussed heatedly in front of him. It was a minute before the old man rolled back.

Kyuhyun looked up, cringing when he met the contemptuous glare.

“Why did you come back so late last night?”

“Wha-?” The question caught him off guard.

“You came back very late. Did you know your girlfriend was waiting there in the lobby?”

His breath hitched. Seohyun had been waiting for him? The old man continued without stopping.

“Did you know she spoke to Ryeowook? Do you know what she said? Neither do I. Mr. Cho, you are in a very complicated situation right now. One I don’t think even you understand, so why don’t you quiet down and just patiently wait for your taxi. Just return to your normal life.”

His last words fell into a whisper. Something painful for him to hear. Sadly, Kyuhyun broke the gaze. He was right, in a way. It would be so much easier for him to go to the airport and fly home. So much easier than trying to figure things out with Ryeowook; someone who he wasn’t even sure wanted the same things. So much easier. 

Kyuhyun looked into the owner’s dark eyes, “No. I have to talk to Ryeowook first.”

The older scoffed and began turning away.

“Really! Just let me explain myself; I won’t hurt him-”

“Why would I trust you?”

“Because-” Kyuhyun stumbled, “Because…I’m a good person.”

The old man let out a laugh.

“I have good intentions! I swear!”

“I don’t like swearing,” he cocked his head at Kyuhyun, “You know I’ve spent the last five years of my life serving scum like you. They think all they have some free pass in life just because they have the money and in a way, they do. I’ve had to let them walk all over me and my employees just to keep this hotel in business. But you know what? This hotel is being sold. I don’t need to tolerate them ever again. So tell me, why should I tolerate you?”

Kyuhyun swallowed. The old man stared at him with a look of unwavering disdain, but he didn’t look away. Hands pressing into the warm metal bars, he steadied the next few sentences.

“I care about Ryeowook. A lot,” his words were surprisingly clear, “He is clever, compassionate, and alive; he even has a beautiful voice. Hurting him in any way…it’s unthinkable. I wanted to be with my girlfriend for all the wrong reasons but with him I know it can only be right,” Kyuhyun took a deep breath, “You have to trust me because ... I don’t know if I can stop caring about Ryeowook. I just know I would never want to.”

The old man stared at Kyuhyun for a moment. Then he rolled his chair back, breaking the gaze. Kyuhyun stayed in place. He wasn’t sure what to expect now. For all he knew, the owner was homophobic and his confession had only made things worse. But for some reason, he felt a little more free.

The old man started talking to the chauffeur again. In English, Kyuhyun could only understand one or two words; not enough to make out a sentence. The old man kept asking things which the boy responded to. The highlight seemed to be when the younger pulled out a black GPS and launched into a rapid fire speech. Luckily, the old man cut him off with a wave. He turned back to Kyuhyun.

“Somebody told me that you were the reason Ryeowook left this morning and that he went to the festival early,” the older narrowed his eyes at him, “I’m starting to think both those things were lies.”

Kyuhyun exhaled, smiling like an idiot. It was as if a he was allowed to breathe again.

The old man gestured to the gate and the chauffeur happily obliged. With a few beeps of the keypad, the gate swung open and Kyuhyun was inside.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. Please, can you take me to Ryeowook?”

The old man shook his head, “No, but Jonny here can. He’s got a map.”

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Kyuhyun couldn’t help but be grateful.

The old man sighed, “Thank our chauffeur too. He may have known a thing or two that backed up your side of the story.”

Kyuhyun turned towards the talkative boy he’d abhorred so many nights ago. The shorter was nervously shuffling his feet and Kyu nearly laughed, “Thank you.” He said in English. The boy smiled and gestured towards the car. Kyuhyun understood immediately.

“Now remember,” the old man yelled as they leaped into the van, “Neither story is confirmed without Ryeowook! If you don’t bring him back I will officially call the cops on you!”

Within no time at all, they were on the road. The tall man nearly laughed, as he could hardly believe this was happening. The brunette shot him a strange look but Kyuhyun just kept grinning like an idiot.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“What?” Im Yoona snapped, flinging open her door.

Mr. Parker looked up at her with a simple smile and in flawless Korean said: “Ms. Im, there is a taxi waiting outside to take you to the airport. If you would like to avoid the more shameful experience of encountering your, let me guess, ex-boyfriend? I would suggest you start packing.”

Her stunned face told him just enough.

Mr. Parker smiled brightly, “Have a nice day.”

Sorry for the late update. I've been getting over the flu and it has not been fun. Anyhow, the last parts are coming (definitely by the weekend. I am goal setting here) and this story is almost done. For someone who has never completed a chaptered story, that is really scary. So thank you for everyone who has supported!