***EDITED VERSION 31/05/2017***

SURPRISE!!!

It's a new chapt, or rather, a freshy edited one!! :D

I can't believe it's taken me so long to update this fic but things have been hectic and difficult so all I could do was wait for the day that all my will to write and inspiration returned to me.
But I'm here now and I really hope that you read and enjoy this next chapt as much as I enjoyed writing and editing it after such a dry spell,

Enjoy!! :D

Chapter four

Minho rolled his bag across the street and started to head towards the hotel at which he had made his reservation. He and the man walking beside him had just gotten out of the taxi which had put them just across the hotel where they would be staying. He had tried his best to ignore the other man as they had ridden together to their destination, especially after the ill intent that he had directed at the other, but he was finding it very difficult to disregard him completely, not only in the taxi, but as they walked too.

  Minho stole a glance at the man walking slowly beside him and then quickly averted his gaze when he found the other looking straight at him. He gave his head a little shake and took a steady breath in, only to exhale shakily.

He took a moment to steady his thoughts and then tried to block everything out. His mind was in full focus mode again. He was well aware of his prey; who was walking way ahead of him and was already well on his way to the same hotel as that at which Minho was planning on staying until he completed his job. He knew that his prey would sign in to the room right next to his, making it more convenient for the assassin. He quickly tried to do a mental review of his next steps from there and the flash of a smile emerged on his face only to fade when he was dragged out of his thoughts by the humming of the man named Key.

Minho stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face the other with a glare. Key looked right back at him with an empty expression of his own. He could tell that the other was on the verge of snapping and was just barely managing to contain his laughter.

He took a moment to recall the reversal of roles in the taxi and nearly laughed out loud at how easily he had managed to go from the annoyed to the annoying. He still found that he remained curious about exactly what the man meant when he’d sort of accepted his invitation to his room earlier. Was this man so thick as to think that Key was offering himself up as a booty call?

Key rolled his eyes at the thought and started to sing out loud, hoping to further irritate the man who stood watching him. He had no intention of getting involved with the man, not in an emotional way. His only intentions when it came to Minho were to get as much money off of him as possible.

Already he had managed to get the other man to share a cab with him, and pay for it, and right then he was a hundred present certain that he could easily bend the man to his will; that would be if he manoeuvred himself correctly around the man’s stubborn and suspecting nature. He was actually kind of proud of himself for having drawn him in at all.

Key gave himself an imaginary pat on the back for having stumbled upon such an easy target. His smile had only widened further when Minho had stopped in what was seemingly frustration and Key had followed suit, his suitcase following close behind him as he brought it to a halt.

"Key!" Minho said emphatically.

"What?" Key duplicated his tone.

"Why are you following me?"

"I'm not!" the other whined, feigning offense at the accusation. Minho fully faced the accused, a deep frown on his face. Key simply lifted his brow at his accuser in defiance. The two stood on the street corner and glowered at each other for a long while before Minho finally turned and resumed walking, trying to ignore the man following close behind him while making for the front entrance of their hotel.

Key, no longer able to contain himself, started to chuckle as he saw the man in front of him feign ignorance of his presence.

"Now you know how it feels, " he muttered to himself and sped his pace to catch up with the other, not really sure if his prior statement was heard. Although Key had found himself slightly irked by Minho's presumptuous manner on the plane, he figured that he should show the other just how annoying he could be when prompted. Getting in the cab with him had been a way for him to declare that: "I am whatever you say I am". Key had every intention of showing this accusatory man just how much of a conman he could be, and if that meant sticking to him like a leech, then so be it. He always got what he wants in the end and right then he wanted nothing more than to milk the er dry of his every penny.

"I'm staying at this hotel, just like you, so, no I'm not following you, I'm simply heading to my destination" Key sang after a short while. Thereafter, he simply smiled and continued on his way, he too trying his best to ignore the other for the moment as he delved into thoughts of how he was planning to find out which room the other would be staying in.

*

Upon their entrance at the hotel, Minho was quick to confirm his booking at reception before walking in the direction pointed out to him by the lady he’d spoken to. Key couldn’t help but note how good his English was. It proved to be enough to see him to his allocated destination anyway. He, on the other hand, had needed a moment longer to get things settled at reception because he wanted to be absolutely certain that he’d get the closest available room to Minho’s as possible. Minho had taken out his planner while on the plane and Key had managed to spot the number 206 written in the corner of one of the pages he was reading without the other noticing. He figured that that might be his room number and had tried to bait him into revealing it to him in the taxi, but to no avail. He still wasn’t sure that 206 was Minho’s room number but he figured that even if it wasn’t, it’d be better if he tried to get room 207. This just in case Minho really did come knocking on his door. His plans would be ruined if Minho came calling to room 207 only to discover that Key wasn’t there but the room had other guests. That was the last thing Key wanted to happen.

As he stood at the hotel’s reception he begun by greeting the lady behind the desk with his most charming smile.

  “Hello there.” He said in smooth English.

“Yes, hello Sir. How can I help you?!” the lady seemed enthusiastic.

  “I have a reservation under the name Steven Gail.” He informed the lady confidently, “It should already be paid for two weeks.” He said as if confirming the details. The lady typed into her computer for a short moment before looking up with a smile.

“Oh yes, I see your name right here.  Here’s your key card Mr Gail.” She said, reaching for the key card with number 419 on it and handing it to him. Key only smiled and refused to take it but instead looked intently at the name plate the lady wore.

“Patricia, right?” he asked in false confirmation.

  “Yes.” She answered with a delighted smile at him having noticed her name. Key returned the smile with a more charming one of his own. “I have a favour to ask you… Patricia.” he said with a slight pause before saying her name.

  “Yes, Mr Gail?” she responded, keen to hear his request.

“Please, call me Steven” he said smoothly before giving a coy chuckle.

  “Yes… Steven?” She bashfully giggled after saying the name. Key grinned at this, knowing that this would be easy.

“Can you, by any chance, get me a room on the second floor? I’ve recently taken to working out,” he paused for effect then leaned in as if to whisper in her ear, “but climbing four sets of stairs doesn’t seem too appealing at the moment.” He said with a hint of embarrassment in his eyes. Patricia seemed to understand that he was ‘feeling kind of lazy’ and chuckled before looking down at her computer.

  “So you’re here on vacation I assume.” She asked him. Key recognised this as her digging for info and instantly his flirtatious mode.

  “You could call it that.” He winked and widened his smile. “No need to be working so hard, right? Better to play a little.” He said with a hint of suggestion in his voice. Patricia sniggered lightly while typing something down on her computer; she had totally fallen for his lies.  Key waited a moment to her to finish what she was doing before asking: “Well? Any luck?” with a hopeful look on his face. Patricia was silent for a few seconds longer as she typed. This gave Key a slight pang of alarm as he began to think that there were no rooms available on that floor. Just a moment later, however, Patricia looked up at him with a wide satisfactory smile.

  “Would you like room 215, 224 or 207?” she asked, trying to supress her glee at having been able to fulfil the favour Key had asked for. Key took a moment to register her expression before his brightened completely; mission successful!

  “Room 207 will be perfect!” he said, rewarding her good work with the best smile he could muster. Patricia seemed pleased with her reward and was quick to change his room for him, handing him the key card to room 207 instead of room 419.

  Key let his hand linger on hers as she gave him the key he wanted. He looked her in the eyes and uttered a silky “Thank you…Patricia.” before gently planting a kiss on her hand and collecting the key from her.

By the time he was heading in the same direction as he had seen the Minho go just minutes ago, he was certain that he’d placed Patricia under his spell. He chuckled and shook his head at how easy that had turned out to be. Not only had he managed to get away with being Mr Steven Gail, but, he had also managed to get a room just opposite to that of Minho’s.

  The thought that perhaps he could convince Minho into believing that it was he who was following him, and not the other way around was quite prominent in his head. If he played his cards correctly, Minho wouldn’t even suspect that he was being played.

  Key couldn’t help but smile at the silliness of his thoughts. Of course Minho wouldn’t fall for such trickery. Trying to get Minho to believe that Key believed he was following him was just ridiculous though. What would a man like Minho be following a man like him for anyway? He’d probably come there for business or something like that. Though Key wondered how he’d managed to deduce that he was a conman when they were on the plane.

Maybe Minho was more than what he appeared to be after all.

Key shrugged the thought off and cursed inwardly as he saw that the elevator had just closed in his face. He was waiting for the next elevator to arrive when his eyes widened with interest as he spotted something he liked.

"Hi!" he said in Korean to the young man who has just stepped up next to him. He was absolutely delighted to have discovered another Korean man; probably the most beautiful he had ever seen, staying at the same hotel as him. He hadn't known Minho a full day and already the other man had managed to get under his skin. Key was looking forward to perhaps getting to know this particular Korean man.

"Ah! Hello," the beautiful male said in surprised response to the other man's enthusiastic greeting. The auburn haired male even went so far as to offer Key a warm smile and bowed before stepping into the newly opened doors leading to an empty elevator. Key quickly rushed into the elevator behind the man before the doors closed on him again.

  "Hi" he said again to the man, not really knowing why he felt the need to talk to him at all.

"Hello..." the other said, smiling even wider at the clearly stunned looking man beside him.  When their oh-so-already-brief conversation came to an awkward halt, the beautiful man remembered his courtesy.

  "My name is Lee Taemin." He introduced with a bow in the other man’s direction. Key turned to him and returned the bow.

  “I’m Key” Key said, no longer able to stop himself from ogling at the seemingly younger man.

“How old are you Taemin?” Key asked, curious as to just how much younger than him the younger was.

“As old as a young person can be” was all the younger offered him. Key gave an amused smile at the odd response. He was about to reply when the elevator doors slid open.

“This is my stop,” Taemin announced, making his way out of the lift when Key mutters a quick “Me too” and stepped out.

“Oh great hyung!” the younger said cheerfully, glad to have someone who spoke the same language as him staying in the same hotel as him, and even better, on the same floor! The two quietly headed down the corridor to their respective rooms and Taemin was the first to reach his, a golden 206 shining down at him from the door to his room. He looked to his left to find the other man staring up at the number on his hotel room door with what appeared to be amazement.

“Hyung, what room are you in?” Taemin asked the man next to him. Key looked at the other and pointed to the door just down the hall from where they were standing.

“207” Key said, “We’re basically neighbours.” He mutters and when Taemin began to open his door, he started heading to his own room. Both men swiped their keys to unlock their doors and Key was about to close his door when he heard the other man softly shout across to him.

“Hyung, we should have coffee sometime, maybe later on today?” Taemin suggested with a wide smile on his face, really hoping that the other would accept his invitation. He only beamed when the other nodded in his direction and watched him hesitate at the door.

“You call me hyung but you don’t even know me or how old I am. Don’t you wanna know?” Key asked the smiling man opposite him. He was surprised when the other shook his head and closed the door so that only his eyes, nose and lips are visible through the gap he left opened.

“What does it matter hyung?” he asked, “We’ll still just be two people who met while waiting for an elevator regardless of age. You can decide how old you want me to be and I’ll decide how old I want you to be, okay?” the younger proposed, the smile never leaving his lips.

Key was baffled by the boy’s cryptic answers to his questions but chose to agree to the terms that the younger, as Key supposed he was, proposed.

“Okay, Taemin-ah. I’ll see you later then.” Key said to the other, dropping formalities before watching him shut his door completely after giving a small wave of his hand.  Key took a second to process the brief encounter with the younger and decided that he liked the feathery feeling that the man seemed to pass on to others around him. Key decided that perhaps it was a good idea to stick to this one too, though he doubted he could find it in his heart to scam such an innocent looking man.

Key took a step back and was about to close his door when the door to the room right next to Taemin’s room opened and a dark haired man stepped out. The man had his back to Key as he pulled the door shut before making his way down the hall in the direction Key and Taemin had earlier come from. The man pressed the down button of the elevator but then then changed his mind and decided to take the stairs instead. He was about to open the door to the staircase when he turned and looked directly at Key from the open doorway. Their eyes met in a moment of accidental intensity. Key’s breathe caught in his throat as he instantly recognised the man that was heading down the flight of stairs and out of his sight to be none other than Minho. That’s when he realised that he wasn’t too far off about the room number after all.

*

Minho took the steps two at a time as he practically ran down to ground floor. His mind was racing from the brief eye contact he had just shared with the man he was so desperately trying to put out of his mind.

He exited the stairwell and found himself walking in the direction of the hotel entrance. His mission for that moment was to take a walk only to clear his mind of any thoughts of the man named Key. Minho was positively afraid that if he didn’t dispel any thoughts of the man right then, he was bound to find himself at doomed because of him. He was certain that the man named Key would prove to be nothing good.

He was bound to be troublesome.

***

***

Omona, its been a long while since I did anything for this fic. Sorry to keep you all waiting but life seems even busier now than it was last year. Despite that I'm pushing to get all my commitments up to date so that I don't have to keep you all waiting any longer than is necessary so please send me some strength via the air waves so I can push through the difficulties of editing and actually start updating again.

Anywhoo, some slight changes to this chapt that I hope you liked. Please do tell me what you think of them- if you noticed them at all or if their too drastic- in the comment box. I really need some love and motivation from you all. Make your author smile for a while won't you?

Did you like the first KeyTricia interaction? Lol, I've introduced a new character #oc'salltheway
How about Key and our dear Minnie? To those of you who are new to this fic, what do you think about their relationship so far? Have you noticed any changes? Are there any changes... hehehe, that'll remain a mystery until later I guess. :P

I'll do my best to update more frequently but please work hard for me too and comment, comment, comment.

I need your love and support like the lungs need Oxygen.

'Til next time ;)