wander [ hyunlix ]

34

When Chan stepped over the threshold of the Lee residence, on a late Thursday night, the last thing he'd expected was to be greeted with a rather extended version of the family he'd come to know and love.

"Hey," the boy had greeted as the door swung open to reveal an elder man—Felix's father, head of the household—who seemed to take an unusually surprised look onto his face as he realized who exactly it was that was standing at their door.

"Oh... Chan!" the man gathered his manners, and sent the boy a smile, ushering him into the house.
"We weren't expecting you. Did you call?"

Chan simply shook his head.
"Sorry. I just decided to drop by. I think that I left something I need for school here...?"

In the distance, a faint chatter emanated from the area of the dining room. This caught Chan's attention; it was rare that guests were present here... the Lees weren't exactly busy people.

"Ah... alright," the man nodded, yet his expression noticeably at the mention of his son. Chan felt slightly bad for having to ask this, especially when...

Well, to be honest, he was completely lying.

He actually hadn't left anything there at all. It was just the most convenient excuse for a surprise visit, and one that Felix's ever-too-kind parents would never deny.

The real reason he was here?
Obviously, to be a pawn for Minho and Jisung's investigation service. As much as Chan hoped the three of them would find Felix, to be frank, some of the other two boys' ideas were delusional at best.

Jisung had run off somewhere the day before, claiming he had a wonderful hypothesis about where Felix could've gone... something to do with buses, maybe? Chan hadn't entirely been listening, but regardless, Jisung had appeared at the boy's room near three in the morning, looking beaten up, tired, and refusing to speak about what he'd seen and done.

Minho was slightly more sensible, but oh, if he wasn't so incredibly rich. It drove Chan up the wall every time the kid would throw out some suggestion like "we simply will rent a plane and go there to look," or "let's hire a private detective," or worst of all, "can't we just bribe our way onto the trains?"

So here he was, infiltrating his best friend's house, in a bid to dig through his things and probably invade his privacy in every sense of the term.

Not to feed his own ego, but he was certain that he was their last hope at this point.

"Mind if I go look for it in his room?" Chan asked, to which the father nodded with a sort of forced enthusiasm, and gestured outward with both hands, as if to say "go."

So the boy turned, a bit reluctantly as he saw the rather lonesome look on the older man's face, but leaving nonetheless. The trip to Felix's room was short, and Chan knew this route like the back of his hand.

The walls seemed rather barren, Chan noted as he strolled, for this time of year. The Lees had always been a more... festive family, to say the least, decking out their house with different decorations for the season. The mother had always been particularly proud of her winter décor, and for what it's worth, she always did succeed at throwing everyone headfirst into the holidays from the sheer amount of things hung up everywhere.