Kyungsoo once read somewhere in an article saying that if one should ever find themselves in a hostage situation, they should try their hardest to fight or run away because the chances of being found alive would drastically drop if a hostage allows themselves to be relocated to a different place.

And despite reminding himself to take note of that fact should he ever find himself in such a situation, Kyungsoo realized that planning and actually doing something was two worlds apart.

He had let Chanyeol pretty much drag him out of Korea and all the way to a different country, when all Kyungsoo planned to do was get coffee, go to work and end his day with a bowl of cup noodles while watching something on TV.

Kyungsoo guessed that he probably deserved all of this since he had it coming for himself.

When Sehun really drove them to a private airport somewhere in the outskirts of Seoul and closer to Incheon, Kyungsoo wasn’t really thinking straight and did not say much in protest when Chanyeol told him to get onto this fancy private jet waiting for them on the tarmac.

Kyungsoo wasn’t really thinking of the present. He was still worried about work; about what people would say when they weren’t able to contact him, about the phone Chanyeol had thrown out of a moving car and possibly getting evicted if he didn’t get back in time to pay his rent which was due in four days.

Sehun did not come along with them although Kyungsoo did overhear their conversation, with Chanyeol telling Sehun to “handle matters” and later meet up with them in Macau when it was safe.

But after an almost four hours flight, Kyungsoo really found himself in Macau only with the clothes on his back and a backpack with just a wallet and a camera, since Chanyeol had made Kyungsoo get rid of the laptop before the flight.

In such an unfamiliar place in a situation he had never dealt with before, Kyungsoo was forced to cling to and follow Chanyeol around if he wanted to get out of this alive.

From the airport, a limousine picked Kyungsoo and Chanyeol up, where they were later dropped off at the Wynn Palace, a luxury casino hotel within the famous Cotai Strip, which was known for being the location of numerous casino hotels on the island.

Chanyeol picked up a key from the receptionist at the hotel’s grand lobby, with Kyungsoo following him around like a lost child through the lobby and up the elevator towards the penthouse floor they would be staying at.  

Kyungsoo was never a gambler nor was he ever interested in it. Therefore, Macau was one of the last places he thought he’d ever want to be at. If he recalled correctly, Kyungsoo did think that it was actually prohibited by the government for Korean nationals to gamble even on foreign grounds.

Then again, considering the mess he was in and the business Chanyeol meddled with, the law wasn’t something he would actually be concerned with.

In all the years of his life, Kyungsoo never thought he’d end up in a place he never even dreamed of due to circumstance he wouldn’t even think of, with a person who seemed entire worlds apart from him.

It was only four in the afternoon and after everything that happened that morning, Kyungsoo found it the least of his worries to know that he would have to share the penthouse with Chanyeol for the rest of their stay.  

The penthouse did have two bedrooms so it was not like he had to sleep in the same bed with Chanyeol, knowing he probably wouldn’t be able to due to the awkwardness and his undeniable attraction towards the said man.

On top of all that, Kyungsoo did not fully trust Chanyeol, although sticking by him was his best bet within this predicament.

The moment they had arrived at the penthouse, Chanyeol’s first action was to shut all the curtains to cover all the floor-to-ceiling windows. Kyungsoo didn’t manage to get a good look at the view from the penthouse yet but he did catch the sight of the Macau Dome, an indoor stadium just outside the hotel.

Chanyeol babbled something about not allowing Kyungsoo to draw the curtains open ever and he merely nodded in agreement, not really knowing how to respond to that.

The penthouse itself was several times larger than Kyungsoo’s entire one-bedroom apartment and he found it initially disorienting whatnot with the gold color scheme of the furniture, wall and even the decorations.

The beds were threaded with Egyptian cotton. There was a walk-in closet in both rooms as well as a large bathroom attached, with a bathtub and television in each of the bathrooms.  

Somehow, due to how large and luxurious this place was, it made Kyungsoo feel even more unsettled and uncomfortable.  

Kyungsoo wasn’t sure if he would even be able to rest or relax in such a place like this. It all felt so alien to him.

Kyungsoo holed himself up in his room in the penthouse, curling up his legs to his chest as he sat near the edge of the bed while watching box-office movies on the large flat-screen television mounted to the wall.

The movies were entertaining and immersive enough for Kyungsoo to get distracted and temporarily forget that he was actually being chased by people who were very likely to kill him.

Realizing that some time had passed since then, Kyungsoo finally got up from the bed after the third movie he had watched- ended.

A digital clock on the bedside table notified Kyungsoo that it was 11:12 at night and he was almost surprised at how much time had passed since then, although it was plausible since one movie was at least two hours long and he had sat through three of those.

It was late afternoon when Kyungsoo arrived in Macau and almost midnight now.

Since he entered the room and had not left, Kyungsoo had no idea what Chanyeol was even up to. Wanting to check up on the person whom he was depending on for survival at the moment, Kyungsoo slightly cracked open his door and popped his head outside to look for any signs of Chanyeol.

Sure enough, he could hear Chanyeol’s familiar baritone voice speaking to someone else- presumably over the phone- coming from the kitchen area in the penthouse.

Kyungsoo left his room and padded across the pristine marble floor, making his way towards Chanyeol in the kitchen, who was on the phone with someone just as expected.

Kyungsoo waited on the opposite side of the kitchen counter from where Chanyeol was standing and pacing up and down as he was on the phone.

Chanyeol noticed Kyungsoo’s presence and acknowledged it with a slight nod of his head before pointing to the phone pressed up against his ear, resuming the conversation while Kyungsoo just stood there wearing the hotel’s robe over his t-shirt and boxers.

Somewhere along the way, Kyungsoo had just stripped down to just wearing that, considering that he didn’t have a spare change of clothes other than the ones he was wearing when he arrived. Kyungsoo’s logic was keeping his clothes as clean and unsoiled as much as possible.

Chanyeol ended the phone call just barely a few minutes after Kyungsoo arrived there in the kitchen.

Chanyeol himself had undressed from his usual tailored suit and was now just wearing his dress-shirt and the pair of trousers that came with it. While his hair was neatly combed and styled when he encountered Kyungsoo that morning, it was slightly disheveled and loose on his head at this time of the night.

“I thought you were asleep,” Chanyeol noted, placing the phone down onto the countertop as he rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt all the way up to his elbows, “Are you hungry? You can order room service if you want. Just get anything you want to have. I’ll pay for it.”

“Umm…I don’t feel like eating yet,” Kyungsoo replied, fidgeting around a little.

“So, what’s the matter?” Chanyeol questioned again, looking across the kitchen counter between them as their eyes met each other under the incandescent lighting.

“I was just wondering when I’d be able to you know, go home,” Kyungsoo admitted, feeling a bit scared for even bringing it up now.

Chanyeol sighed and walked around the counter to face Kyungsoo up close.

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol apologized, gently pressing the back of his hand to Kyungsoo’s cheek, “I can’t let you go home yet. It’s too dangerous and I don’t want anything to happen to you. But I promise you I’ll handle this matter as soon as I can. You’ll have to stay here for a bit more but it will be resolved and you will get to go home.”

“Promise me?” Kyungsoo tilted his head upwards to look at Chanyeol in the eye, slightly trembling at the uncertainty, “To be honest, I’m actually very scared. I don’t want to end up as a corpse in an oil barrel dumped into the Han River.”

“You won’t end up as a corpse in an oil barrel dumped into the Han River, alright?” Chanyeol assured, calm and collectedly, “I’m here to protect you as much as I can. But you have to listen to me. For now, just stay put. You’ll be safe here.”

Kyungsoo too sighed but out of exasperation, looking downwards and nibbling on his lower lip as he felt Chanyeol moved the hand touching his cheek to his waist, just leaving it there reassuringly as if to remind Kyungsoo that he wasn’t alone.

“Fine,” Kyungsoo muttered, “I’ll stay here for now.”

“That’s good,” Chanyeol stated, “I’ll go order some room service for the both of us so we can eat and you can then go get some rest, alright?”

Kyungsoo nodded in return, pouting a little, somewhat relieved by Chanyeol’s assurance before requesting, “Can I have some pasta?”

“Of course,” Chanyeol chuckled a little, “We’ll get all the pasta you want.”

Three different types of pasta dishes from the hotel’s room service menu were ordered, of which Kyungsoo ended up eating two and leaving the last plate for Chanyeol, who only ate half of it anyway.

Chanyeol also ordered a bottle of white wine and had a drink himself while Kyungsoo turned it down and chose to drink boxed orange juice instead.

Kyungsoo never liked the taste of white wine. Red wine was usually tolerable but coffee was more of his thing. In fact, Kyungsoo was still thinking of the coffee he should have gotten that morning. It was going to be the tenth coffee for him to be eligible for the “collect 10 stamps for every coffee purchase to get one free”.

After the