The sounds of flutes and harps playing snapped Minseok awake. Fumbling in his bedding he tried to reach for his ringing phone, finally locating it near the instrumentals . Eyes not even open he swiped at his screen to answer the call.
 

“Mmm, yes?” his voice was low and rough from disuse.

“Xiumin,” he scrambled to get upright at the use of his work name, “Get your  to the airport.”

Making his best effort to blink the sleep from his eyes, he tried to understand what was going on, he recognized his boss’ voice but his sleep fogged brain wasn’t grasping what she was saying.

Rubbing a hand over his face muffled his voice as he asked “Excuse me? What? What’s going on?”

“I said. Get your  to the airport! You’re leaving Seoul. I’ll email you, the ticket will be attached.” And the phone call was cut off.

Sitting in the middle of his crumbled blankets half , before dawn, he stared at his phone in disbelief. The loud ding! that issued from the small rectangular device cradled loosely in his hand made him jump slightly. The email with attachment had arrived as promised. 

Scrubbing his free hand through his wild short hair a long sigh left his heart shaped lips. He needed coffee to deal with this . 

Leaving the email unopened he sleepily crawled out of bed. 

The chill from the floor and air made his s harden almost instantly as a shiver ran up his body. Rubbing at his bare arms and chest he shuffled over and into his slippers favoring his right foot. 

After breaking his foot playing soccer it had taken him months to achieve the level of slight limp he had now. The injury had caused him to take a hiatus from work for almost half a year. It seemed his boss thought him fit enough to send him out again though.

He’d only gotten a few feet down the hallway before having to back track to grab his robe off the back of the door. After synching the fluffy warm material around his torso and burying his hands in the pockets he continued to make his tottering way to the kitchen.  

Minseok lived his adult life with the firm philosophy that coffee made everything better. Armed with a freshly brewed cup he ambled back to his room, his body cringed when the bed squeaked as he sat on the corner. At least it didn’t look like he would have to deal with a noisy mattress for a while. 

Balancing his cup of coffee in one hand away from the bed, he leaned over to fish his phone out of the jumbled bedding with the other. After flipping his quilt out of the way he located the charcoal colored device. He had to really focus on using just one hand to bring up the email as he blew on the steaming mug filled nearly to the brim in the other. Multitasking early in the morning just wasn’t his strong suit.

The email was literally the attachment, nothing to indicate to him what turn his life was about to take. If he’d had even an inkling of what the link would say he would have put his cup down before delving any further. But without any foreshadowing he’d taken a swig of the aromatic beverage as he read the destination, causing him to nearly spit the mouthful all over his phone and person.

His almond shaped eyes widened as he tried to wipe the coffee dribbling down his chin with the back of his hand without spilling what remained of the hot liquid all over himself.

Kim Minseok, Seoul to Singapore, January 24, 12:45pm, boarding time 12:15pm, Singapore Airlines.

While fumbling with his phone to get it to redial his last call he distractedly placed his mug onto his bed side table. Every ring seemed to take longer than the last, until finally he heard a click and stilled the jittering that his leg had started.

Even though he’d checked to see if the call had gone through- it had- there wasn’t any sound coming from the other end.

He’d tentatively ventured a small, “Park Sajangn---,” but he hadn’t gotten the full honorific past his lips before the woman on the other end cut him off unceremoniously.

“You had better have a good reason to be calling me Xiumin,” her voice was cold and he could almost see her eyes narrowing at him.

“I-I um, I’m just not sure what’s going on? I’m leaving? Why?” He felt stupid for stuttering, but Park Sajangnim was one of the most intimidating people he’d ever met.

“Yes, today,” a small pause as if she was checking the time on her phone, “in just a few hours actually. I sent you the electronic ticket already. What more do you need?” The exasperation in her voice cut at him.

“But why? Uh, I mean, I don’t know anything about--- uh---anything? I’m not even sure what I should be asking about here. The client? My accommodations? My job description? How long am I going to be out of the country? Uhhhhh, those kinds of things?” The utter confusion at his situation was very evident in his tone. 

Sometime during the short conversation his foot had started to tap aggressively without him even noticing, once he became aware of the movement he firmly placed his foot flat against the floorboards with a small frown. He really didn’t like his body doing anything without his permission.

She must have been in quite a good mood because she took pity on him and actually answered his questions without too much fuss. “Singapore’s famous Affluent Hotels soon to be CEO, you’ll be staying in a small hostel owned by the family, and like normal you’ll be a specialty bodyguard. Though this time, you’re going to be exclusive. Your job is to earn the trust of one of the biggest corporations in the country so that other companies will envy them and contract us about our other specialty bodyguards.”

“Right, um, exclusive? B-b-but I’ve only ever done short term before!” All the response he got was the dial tone. It was becoming apparent that Park Sajangnim liked to hang up on people, a lot. She obviously hadn’t deemed any further conversation useful, so after staring at his phone for a few moments he gave up with a shrug of his slight shoulders and scuffled his way to the shower.

He  the hot water before removing his robe and slippers, taking care to put them in their rightful places on the back of and next to the bathroom door. Upper body already chilled he hastily stripped out of his sweat pants and boxer briefs to jump under the quickly warming water. 

Oh how he loved the feeling of knotted muscles coming undone under the hot spray of water. He was always tense and sore from working out and training, so this feeling had become one of his favorites. 

Even though he was conscious of his time constraint he still took a few moments under the nearly scalding water for himself, even letting out a very small moan when he felt the tension start to seep out of his neck and upper back. He knew he couldn’t take too long so he reluctantly moved directly into shampooing and washing himself. 

He really had to force himself to leave his small piece of personal heaven; he could feel his mood turning sour over the remaining time he felt he was being cheated. An unhappy sigh escaped him as he exited the shower and bundled himself back into his robe and slippers to venture back into his bedroom.

Only a small hitch in his step showed on his way over to his dresser, showering always lessened his limp for a while, but it would inevitably come back by the end of the day. When he reached his favorite piece of furniture in his whole apartment he went about systematically opened the drawers to pull out the things he would wear that day. 

His favorite pair of grey boxer briefs and a pair of ankle socks were chucked behind him onto his messy bed. They were soon followed by a comfortable and very soft grey long-sleeved shirt that he had owned for many years now. And finally one of his most comfortable pairs of grey wool blend dress pants joined the rest of the outfit that’d been flung over his shoulder. He’d made a point to fill his wardrobe with items that looked good on him and that were comfortable.

Tapping the bottom drawer closed with his good foot he made his way over to his bed to lay the garments out, they looked good together so he went ahead with dressing himself in the soft fabric.

After doing the rest of his morning ritual he pulled out his carry on suitcase and scanned his room. Slowly assembling the things he thought he would need most and placing them carefully in the blue piece of luggage pretty much took up the hour he had left before he needed to leave.

On his way out he made sure to pull on a soft knit grey beany and to shrug into his warmest winter coat. Late January in Seoul was bitter cold, today was no different with the temperatures staying under freezing even as midday approached.

His eyes scanned the living space one last time. He’d never had anyone over, but he’d made good memories in the small apartment all the same.

“Bye, I’ll miss you,” shifting his suitcase so he could grasp the door to close it,” you were a good home, thank you.” Closing and locking the door with a sense of finality, he strode off down the corridor to take the elevator the requisite five floors down to the lobby.

Every action he did at this point made him feel a little bit lonely, these were things he would be doing for possibly the last time. 

He’d miss this elevator and how the mirror covered walls somehow always stayed perfectly smudge free. He would miss the carpeted area right before the shiny sliding doors on every floor. The design always captured his attention when he was waiting for the lift to arrive. He’d lost count of how many times his eyes had traced the pattern over the years. 

He would definitely miss the cozy apartment he was leaving; he’d fallen for it at first sight, it’d seemed perfect in every way for him and it had lived up to every one of his expectations. 

Most of all he would miss the doorman who always chatted with him. Minseok was a lonely person outside of work; the glimpses into the other man’s life made him feel somehow included in the world around him.

The sense of loss was so great that he hurried out the doors without properly saying farewell to the only man outside of his family that had ever truly cared for ‘Kim Minseok’, not ‘Xiumin’. 

Frigid cold air slapped him in the face as he stepped outside, it could have accounted for his soft sniffle and the stinging in his eyes as he waved a cab down before the kindly Saehoon-ssi could comment on his departure.

After sliding into the back seat he pulled his pretty turquoise carry on onto the seat next to him. Even spending just a few moments outside had made his cheeks lightly flushed. He directed the driver to the airport while stoutly refusing to look back at his former home. Instead he focused his attention fully on blowing warm breath onto his vigorously rubbing hands.

While the taxi driver navigated out onto the main road Minseok allowed his eyes to roam the neighborhood that had been his home for more than 2 years now. 

As they passed the large park a few streets into their journey he realized that at this time he would normally have been on his way back home from the jog-walk that had become routine while he hadn’t been working. The beautiful park had been witness to his struggle over the seasons, first to stand, then walk, and finally to where he was now in his rehabilitation. 

His eyes automatically sought out the small cafe on the corner after the park where he would have lunch, and then they swerved to the other side of the street to catch sight of the library he frequented. One after another he observed his favorite places slipping behind him. Silently he bade them farewell.

When his eyes grew tired from zig zagging back and forth he closed them for a few minutes, only opening them when he noticed their transition onto the highway. After opening them he spent the duration of the ride staring at the ceiling, seat in front of him, and his phone grasped in his small jittery hands.

He’d been distracted by flipping his phone from back to front when the car finally came to a stop. Glancing out the window afforded him a view of the airport drop off area. His eyes snapped forward when the cab driver twisted in his seat to look expectantly at him.

He paid the man with his company card and exited the warmth of the vehicle, pulling his lone bright blue suitcase behind him he hurried into the spacious building. Having checked into the flight on the way there he went directly to the security line.

Making it through the lines and finding his gate took a while, but when he arrived he still had about 20 minutes before the plane boarded. He took a seat and ended up having nothing better to do then to observe the people around him. Most of which were wearing summer clothing while toting around their winter jackets and accessories. 

Furrowing his eye brows he tapped at his phone to do a quick search on Singapore’s weather. And sure enough the place was summer cloths appropriate- all year long… Glancing down at his apparel and back around himself he blew out a sigh. He hadn’t even gotten there yet and he felt like he’d already messed up.

He people watched until boarding began, thankfully his seat was in first class so he didn’t have to wait very long. There was a man in a blue plaid shirt siting in the window seat for his aisle already, which meant he wouldn’t have to get up again, nice. After hefting his suit case into the overhead he plopped himself down into his seat and thumped his head back against the headrest.

Almost immediately the guy next to him tapped him on the shoulder. He didn’t seem too threatening so Minseok allowed his head to fall in the other man’s direction. 

“Hi, you must be Xiumin, I’m Kil Seong, your translator.” The man had the left overs of an accent in his voice that prompted Minseok to raise an eyebrow. 

“First translator I’ve ever met with satoori,” he knew his voice sounded sarcastic but he was tired and stressed and didn’t really care. 

A shrug of his shoulders followed by a quirk of his lips directed Mineoks attention to Seong-ssi’s face, which was surprising plain, that wasn’t really such a bad thing though; if this man really was his translator then a forgettable face would help him stay unnoticed in a world full of influential people. The last thing he wanted was to have to look after his client plus some civilian.

He wasn’t even going to ask how the guy knew who he was, if he was sitting next to him then there was a high probability this poor man had been dragged here by his boss just like he had.

So Minseok shrugged his shoulders, made an uncommitted noise in the back of his throat and moved his head back into a comfortable position on the head rest. It wasn’t like he’d ever done anything to make someone want to harm him, so he relaxed as much as he could and closed his eyes, he knew he never slept on planes but resting his eyes felt nice.

Not ten minutes after takeoff and Seong-ssi was snoring lightly beside him. It was actually kind of annoying considering he wasn’t getting any sleep of his own, though the guy might have gotten even less sleep then him so he tried his best to be understanding.

During the 6 hour flight he watched two movies and even listened to some songs the airline had available.

Seong-ssi slept the entire way, but it wasn’t like Minseok to wake a sleeping person, even if he really wanted to question him.  It was possible that his translator didn’t know anything useful to him, but there was also a possibility that he might.

When the plane finally landed at Changi Airport the sun was already close to setting. Minseok waited until they had disembarked before engaging Seong-ssi in conversation.

After draping his winter coat over the handle of his swivel suitcase he set his pace with the other man to make talking easier.

“So, Seong-ssi, you’re from Busan?” It seemed like an innocent enough question considering the man’s accent.

Minseok observed the same little quirk of his translators lips before he answered, “Daegu actually, but Busan is a common guess. Them being so close it’s hard for most people to tell them apart.”

“Ah,” was all he could get out before they had maneuvered themselves into line for immigration. Seong-ssi handed Mineok an envelope that held all the necessary documents he would need to get through. He tried to glean as much information from the papers as he could; though the official documents were pretty sparse in the additional info area. 

After breezing through without any problems he was able to ask, “Do you know a lot of languages?” when they met up after Seong-ssi was let through as well.

Minseok didn’t want to let on that he didn’t know much about the country he was going to be calling home for the foreseeable future. The pause Seong-ssi gave suggested that he might have guessed the real aim of the question despite his attempt at being nonchalant.

“I know Korean obviously, and Mandarin, obviously, “Minseok supposed that was Seong-ssi’s way of answering his unspoken question,” and also I’m pretty fluent in English, for obvious reasons.”

That last part threw him, maybe the confused look on his face actually showed because the plain faced male had laughter tinting his voice when he continued.

“For a translator in Singapore both English and Mandarin are standard, if I knew just one or the other I might not be able to translate for you completely.” Again it seemed Seong-ssi was trying to help him keep his pride by feeding him the information he wanted without making him ask for it. 

He was starting to grow on Minseok already.

When they exited the airport to catch a taxi Minseok almost immediately started sweating. His fringe that stuck out of his beany plastered itself to his forehead and he was forced to push his sleeves up to try and alleviate some of the heat. It was a lucky thing that the sun had set or he would have really been roasting in his winter oriented attire.

They grabbed the first taxi they saw and rushed over to dump their luggage in the trunk before pilling into the backseat together. 

Minseok shivered when he felt his sweat rapidly cooling in the air-conditioned car. He heard Seong-ssi directing the driver to W Hostel in English and then reiterating it in Mandarin for the taxi driver’s convenience.

It only took about 20-25 minutes to reach their destination, during which he was captivated by the early night sky. Living in Seoul he thought he was used to beautiful night skylines, he was wrong, so totally wrong. This place was beautiful, so much so that he didn’t even ask any questions like he’d meant to.

Stars were still twinkling in his eyes when they arrived outside a modest establishment with W Hostel printed above the main door.

He reluctantly pulled his gaze from the dazzling images around him to grab his luggage and step towards the entrance to what he assumed was going to be his new home.

After taking only a few steps forward a balding middle aged man stepped out from behind the front desk to meet them. 

Even though his name seemed a little feminine to Minseok he kept it to himself as he bowed and smiled once again.

Fan Lei lead them inside the hostel, pointing out each area as they went. Seong-ssi translated in a quiet voice so as not to disturb those around them. 

They passed the common area with couches and tables, the kitchen, the laundry area, and then some of the communal rooms. After leading them up a flight of stairs 6 doors, 3 on each side branched off the central hallway. Fan Lei informed them that these were the long term stay rooms, and that each had their own bathrooms with showers. A small smile tugged at his lips when Seong-ssi translated that portion for him.

After leading both of them to their rooms be bade them good night, commented that they must be tired from their travels and politely suggested that he would talk with them more the next day.

Minseok was hit with a wave of fatigue and passed out almost as soon as his newly beany free head hit the pillow.

He was completely unaware that there was a young man sitting on a couch in the common area trying to pick his jaw up off the ground at that very moment. 

Luhan had witnessed his cousin lead in two boys well past check in time. Curious about this phenomenon, Luhan had tried to eaves drop just a little only to be completely shocked when he heard Korean being spoken by the plain faced one. He gleaned that the one closer to him was translating for the other who he was blocking from view. 

When they turned the corner to go up the stairs Luhan finally got a look at the other one, though all he got to see was his back. The kid was wearing a beany! Of all the places to wear a beany this guy was wearing one in Singapore’s sweltering heat! 

Even the light material of Luhan’s deep blue t-shirt was enough to make him sweat.

Not long after that Luhan bid the guys he’d been chatting with goodnight and wandered up the stairs to his own room. Unbeknownst to him, he and Minseok happened to be neighbors. 

Flopping down to sleep, Luhan wondered briefly about the new additions to the hostel. They spoke Korean, maybe they could be friends? 

He drifted off with hope lingering in his thoughts.