Day Three

Hội An, Vietnam

He could feel the heat behind the sun as it trekked its way into the early morning sky; today was going to be a particularly scorching day. Humidity clung to the trees around him, weighing down the leaves with heavy perspiration. He already felt like he needed to remove his shirt just so he could breathe.

A halo of crushed cigarette butts littered the stone floor around him and he glanced around for Luhan, nearly growing frantic when his eyes were met with nothing. Jumping down from the high bench, he paused suddenly when the sharp crack of twigs sounded close to him.

He spun around, startling Luhan in the process, who had chosen to emerge from the dense foliage, swatting at a mosquito over his shoulder.

"Can you believe this? Look at my arms!" he exclaimed, holding them out for Minseok to see the myriad of red, raised bumps of at least 30 or 40 bugbites.

Minseok scratched at one of his own bites on the soft flesh between his fingers, thankful that he had chosen to wear a loose, white long-sleeved shirt.

"You should have kept your jacket on, stupid."

A heavy sigh was heard next to him as Luhan subconsciously raked at his forearm with his nails.

"I think it's about time we head back. I bet our guides are starting to get a little antsy."

Minseok nodded and followed Luhan back the way they had come from, leading out in the town center. Nearing the hotel, they could hear Chien's booming voice from inside and Minseok actually cringed, not used to hearing the once-vibrant man so harsh and demanding.

"Where have the two of you been?! Do you know how long we've looked for you?! And a fight! You got into a fight! Already!?" His voice was even louder, standing right in front of them, face contorted in anger. Minseok suddenly felt like a rambunctious schoolboy being disciplined by one of his sensei's.

And if Chien's reddened face upset him, the two uniformed men standing behind him made his heart sink into the ground. , they were in trouble. Expecting to be slapped on the wrist and dragged off to prison, Minseok was surprised when the officers merely motioned for them to follow them into a small office a couple blocks over.

"Do you understand why we've brought you here?" a short, owlish man questioned them in English, waving for them to take a seat while he rested a leg up on a nearby chair.

His partner, a large, burly man of about 35, glared at them suspiciously from his corner of the room, thick arms crossed over his chest. Minseok opened his mouth to speak but Luhan cut him to the chase.

"I assume you're talking about the disruption we played a part in last night at the bar?"

His words weren't condescending but the tone he put behind it was. Minseok felt like slapping a hand over the blonde man's mouth and telling him to shut up and let him tell the story so they wouldn't get into any more trouble.

"Yes. You broke the man's nose," the officer replied, matter-of-fact. "He's wanting to press charges but we told him we needed to hear your side of the story first."

"Press charges? The guy was trying to molest Minseok here!" Luhan exclaimed, waving a hand in Minseok's general direction.

"We actually thought as much. The man that had come to us actually has a reputation of being a sort of womanizer here. I'm guessing it was dark, he was drunk and he mistook your friend here for a pretty lady."

Minseok bristled inwardly at being called feminine, even if the officers were sympathetic to their side of the situation.

"You do have to understand though, that because you are foreigners, this is a lot more serious," the man went on to say, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"Especially you, sir," he mumbled, nodding his head at Luhan.

"Because I'm from America, right?" Luhan shot back, voice sounding a little bit more than peeved.

Minseok nudged him with his foot, hoping he would get the message that he was starting to get in too deep and that he may as well be shooting himself in the foot for the argument he was about to start up.

Luhan, thankfully being of the observant bunch, caught on to Minseok's gesture and immediately quieted, allowing Minseok to finish up.

"Will this affect our getting into Cambodia, sir? We don't want to cause any more trouble on our guide's behalf and I hope that he doesn't get any blame for our reckless behavior."

Not for the first time in his life, Minseok thanked his talented ways of dealing and coercing people to sway towards his decision. If Luhan just kept his mouth shut, he would succeed in getting them out of this predicament.

"Well, I guess you two retaliated in self-defense, I already had decided I was going to drop the man's charges. Nothing is going onto record so I don't think you'd have any trouble passing the borders but just to be safe, don't get into any more fights, okay?" the officer laughed, holding out his hand.

Minseok shook it firmly, flashing a bright smile. "Thank you, sir. We promise this will be the last you see of us." Nudging Luhan with his foot once more, he turned with him with the smile still on his face, telling the other man with his eyes to cooperate.

Catching the hint, Luhan beamed back at the officers, the smile not quite reaching his eyes and altogether practiced and fake. Luckily, the other two men were none the wiser.

Once back at the hotel, Luhan was uncomfortably quiet and Minseok could only assume he was still upset over the whole ethnic topic that kept being brought up. He felt a stab of shame that his common countries tended to dislike Americans, feeling that it was unfair that they were being judged so quickly even when there were a nice bunch of people out there.

He found Luhan in the lobby, staring blankly at a small television that was set on mute across the room. Sighing quietly to himself, Minseok tossed a package of Starburst that he had found hidden away in his luggage onto Luhan's lap, hoping that the sight of the small candies would bring a smile to his face.

"What are these for?" he asked, holding up the bright yellow package.

Minseok shrugged in response, flopping down in a chair adjacent from the man. "I found them in my bag, didn't want them."

"What's wrong with them?" Luhan questioned, raising a blonde eyebrow.

"Nothing. Look if you don't want them, then just give them back. I'm sure Yeeun or Sulli would like them."

"No." Luhan shrunk back into the chair, crushing the candy to his chest to protect them. "I want them."

A silence fell over the two, the crinkling of wax paper as Luhan opened a Starburst and pop