I studied my face in the mirror.

I had a bandage running from the top of my left eyebrow to the bottom of chin, as well as another smaller one above my right eye. My arms were cut up pretty bad, but my wounds were slowly healing. The worst part was my wrist. Only after getting out of my bed, did I realise there was a bandage wrapped tightly around it. Every time my wrist moved even the slightest bit, pain shot through my whole body.

“I don’t think it’s broken.” Donghae said, adjusting the dressings on my wrist. “But I think we should go and get it checked out by a doctor when we can.”

I nodded, still unable to comprehend how we’d survived such a hectic collision with road and escaped with minimal injuries.

“Air bags.” Donghae said, “I paid a lot for that car to have the best safety features, and I can see that it’s money well spent. “

Donghae had informed me that we’d been at the motel we’d been in for almost four nights, and that he guessed the people here were a little suspicious. Even if the American’s didn’t get the Korean news here, and probably never heard of the incident, one can never be too careful when running from the federal police.

Donghae pulled on a navy blue hoodie, and it had only just occurred to me that this was the first time I had ever seen him in something other than a dress shirt or t-shirt.

“Wow.” I said, eyeing my boyfriend in a jumper and pale blue skinny jeans. “You look… Hot.”

Donghae smiled, throwing me a t-shirt with a logo splashed across it and a pair of cargo pants. It began to dawn on me that we were now in California, and that not once in my life had I bothered to learn a single word of English. I hadn’t even picked any up from the movies or advertising I could remember, other than ‘Hello’ and the word ‘Good’.

Donghae eyed me up and down, stopping to look at my face. His hands found my cheeks and he looked straight into my eyes.

“Before we go anywhere,” Donghae smiled cheekily. “We have to do something about your hair.”

“My hair?” I repeated, after Donghae had promptly returned with an at home hair colour kit. He threw me the box and my jaw dropped, seeing a model on the front with sleek black hair. “Black? You’re going to dye my hair black?”

Sure, it was my natural colour, but I loved my platinum blonde hair. I had kept my hair this way for years, and now suddenly, I had to dye it black?

“Honey,” Donghae said sweetly. “Your beautiful blonde mug shot is all over the news. We’re in America now. As Asians, we already stand out more than we should, do you really want to stand out even more?”

I sighed. Donghae had a point. I heard that Caucasians had trouble distinguishing different races from one another, but my blonde hair would defiantly turn a few heads here in the States. But losing my blonde look? Things were already changing so much, I honestly didn’t want anything else to be different.

“Fine.” I sighed, going into the bathroom and draping a towel around my shoulders.

Forty minutes after Donghae had slathered the painful smelling dye onto my bright golden locks, I dried my hair and emerged from the bathroom, sporting a completely black head of hair.

I caught myself in the mirror, staring in absolute horror.

My hair was dark, making my pale complexion look like snow. I was at least glad to know the American sun would soon change that. I barley looked like myself. I was hideous.

“You look…” Donghae smirked, snaking his hands around my waist. “…Hot.”

I hit him on the shoulder with my good hand, frowning beneath my dark hair.

Lee Hyukjae: Fugitive.

Donghae and I, dressed in the clothes Donghae had picked up from a thrift store a few days ago, left the motel we’d been staying in. For me, this was the first time I’d been out in the open since waking up this morning. Donghae locked the room behind us, signalling me to follow him.

I suddenly became extremely paranoid.

What if someone sees us? What if I blow our cover? What if Choi Seunghyun and his goons are waiting for us down the road?

My eyes caught a young blonde woman carrying a leather purse.

Is she looking at me? Is she suspicious?

The woman turned into a room, clearly not aware of who the two of us were.

“Stay calm Hyukjae.” Donghae whispered to me. “Nobody is after us here. We’re safe.”

I sighed, following Donghae into the main office of the Motel complex.

“Don’t open your mouth.” Donghae whispered to me, as we stepped up to the desk. “They don’t speak Korean here, so keep your mouth shut.”

I swallowed and nodded, cowering slightly behind Donghae.

“Hi, my name’s Aiden Lee, I’d like to check out of room 015.” Donghae said, much to my surprise, he spoke English, even in a flawless American accent. I was a little shocked to be honest.

“What happened to you guys?” The man asked, suddenly pointing to our faces in shock. I had forgotten we looked like we’d just stepped out of a pretty ugly bar fight.

“Oh, we were actually involved in a minor car accident when driving over here from Bakersfield.” Donghae explained. “Everyone was okay though, but the car’s going to cost a fair bit to get repaired. Lucky I have insurance.”

“Well it’s good thing you’re okay. The same thing happened to a friend of mine a few months back…”

I was very impressed at Donghae’s ability to keep up a conversation in fluent English. I recognised a few phrases here and there, but still had no idea what they were talking about.

“Okay, that will be a hundred and ten dollars total.” The man behind the desk replied. “May I see your ID?”

I froze, watching Donghae’s face for any falter.

Oh god. This is where we get busted.

“Sure.” Dongh