wander [ hyunlix ]

07

Soft sounds of turning pages were all that filled the room, alongside the distant rush of water.

Hyunjin sat alone on the couch of his motel room, trying to knock out yet another chapter of "War and Peace" despite barely keeping up with the plot at this point.

His newfound roommate, Felix, was currently taking a shower in the bathroom, and had been doing so for the last twenty minutes. Hyunjin only hoped he wouldn't waste all of the hot water, as the motel's heating system was admittedly not the best.

A knock came at the door to the room, making Hyunjin glance up. He knew he hadn't called for room service or anything of the sort, and thus he decided it best to simply call back, asking who it was.

"Who's there?" Hyunjin shouted out, not particularly concerned.

"Seoul police department," a man's voice called back through the door. "May we have a word?"

Hyunjin's whole body went cold at this. Why the hell would the police be here? Surely there was no way that they'd managed to track him down?

Glancing around for an escape route and finding none, Hyunjin realized that his only option was to actually answer the door. As idiotic as he felt doing it... he knew that waiting for them to leave would only be more suspicious.

After striding over to the door, he swung it open, coming face to face with a pair of police officers: one man, middle aged, a bit stout, and a younger woman by his side.

"Evening sir," the male officer gave Hyunjin a smile, hands in his pockets. Hyunjin liked this stance. The officer's body language was relaxed... telling the nervous boy that he was in a good mood.

"We've heard reports that a missing boy was spotted in this area so we're just doing a checkup," the cop continued explaining, fishing a poster out of his pocket.

Never mind what he'd been thinking earlier. Hyunjin suddenly did not like this situation at all.

The officer held up the flyer in front of Hyunjin, who almost stiffened a bit as he scanned over the details.

"Lee Felix... high schooler... gone for two weeks..." he mumbled as he read off of the poster, glancing briefly at the picture below. A boy with messy brown hair and a sweet smile graced the paper... one who looked all too familiar to Hyunjin.

"Sorry," Hyunjin completely lied, his voice calm despite being so terrified that he was surprised he wasn't currently pissing his own pants.
"I've seen the posters around, but nothing besides that."

The cop nodded, seemingly believing this answer rather easily.

"Sorry to take up your time, but we have to check every lead," the cop apologized with a warm smile. "You know how it is."

"Oh, yeah, of course," Hyunjin gave a fake smile back, absolutely itching for the officer to leave already.

At that moment, the soft click of a lock resounded.
Despite being almost unnoticeable, to Hyunjin, it was as if an alarm bell had been set off.

Hyunjin whipped around to see the door to the bathroom begin to open, and he felt his heart drop at the sight.

"Ah!" he spoke up, calling towards the bathroom. "Honey...! Before you get out of the shower, make sure you leave your dirty clothes on the counter!" he shouted out the first thing he thought of.