Under the Sea | Minsung

ψThirty-Twoψ

Two weeks.

It was for an entire two weeks he was under nothing but the crushing hand of the aquarium, acting as if he was happy with the world around him. Acting as if he was content writing gibberish on his new laptop the aquarium provided for him. The maintenance room felt cold no matter how long he spent in there. And that deadline was forever ticking down, and left him with no more room for error. But those two weeks, they were nothing in comparison to two years.

Minho could barely detect the drizzling rain pelting the protective  umbrella spread above his head as if it were his own personal canopy in this violent jungle. Every unsure step met puddled water collecting in the minor indents making up the concrete sidewalks of the aquarium's entrance. Every unsure step followed the owner of the fateful place. Why? Minho wasn't entirely sure himself. He only knew that he had to play the owner, and stay on that creature's good side. Somehow, that led him here; Chasing after the owner of the aquarium as he was en route to a car waiting patiently for it's boss to arrive, an umbrella covering both their heads as the older man vocalized various.

What those various things included, Minho was oblivious of. About half way through listening to his boss, he noticed his mind begin to space out as he watched the crowds outside the aquarium, crowds which had to leave due to the setting sun. Closing time.

When they were almost to the expensive car, the owner abruptly stopped in his tracks. He was focused on a certain pair from the crowd which dared to approach him. After a few seconds of scanning them, taking their features into consideration, he turned back to Minho and asked, "Do you know these children?"

"They are the people I'm currently looking after," Minho explained as scanned over Jeongin and Felix, a slight bemusement to his features as he tried to choke back the smallest of a laugh. Children. He called them children. He could already see the displeasure scrapping off their happy faces and replacing it, Felix opening his mouth to retort and Jeongin scowling bitterly as they halted nearby. Close enough to get a proper look at the infamous owner. For no other reason then to rub in the term used to describe them, Minho tilted his chin up at his roommates and stated, "Yes, I know these 'Children'."

Jeongin didn't even bother to address the snarky reply. His gaze was focused purely on the owner in an unwavering glare as he mumbled barely loud enough for anyone but himself to hear, "Dick."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Felix immediately cut in, attempting to cover up any chance of the swear being heard by offering a polite handshake to the owner. One which he gladly took, greeted, and promptly ended that inviting gesture. It wouldn't have been obvious a stranger watching their conversation, but to Minho it was blatantly recognizable the way Felix gritted his teeth together, let a polite smile envelope his features, and spit as nicely as he was physically capable of, "We've heard highly of you from Minho."

"I was inviting him to discuss certain entrepreneurial opportunities over dinner, would you two like to join us tomorrow?" The owner proposed the open invitation, a strange look to his features as he did so. Almost as if he knew that they wouldn't agree to it.

And predictably, Felix shook his head, "N-no, that's okay. But thank you."

In turn, the owner grunted an acknowledgement before turning around and entering the backseat of the posh business car. He hardly sent the two another glance, only offering a slight nod to Minho to accept that the aspiring scientist was still there, and to accede his presence. Beyond that, nothing. He let the door of the car close. He let it separate him from the damp and dreary world that existed outside the comfort of the plush seats and heating system of the car's ventilation. They couldn't see where his eyes landed through the tinted windows, and the more any of them considered it, the silent decision landed on it being better to not know why or where he was doing what he wanted, when he wanted.

They watched the sheen of the abysmal black paint carry the car away from it's parking spot. When they knew, or believed, the owner was far enough away to not see what they were doing, Minho let his proper air crumble. He let his torso hunch over as he braced his hands against his knees, a heavy exhale depressed his chest, "He's so scary, what the hell?"

"I almost didn't recognize you," Felix snickered at the older. He slapped his back, acting more as if it was a comforting pet for a kitten and not like the volleyball spike against his muscles it ended up being.

Minho blanked and sent him a sarcastic glare, "Thanks."

"You got the keys, right?" Jeongin asked. The older nodded as he pressed himself to stand straight again, fishing briefly in his pockets as he looped his fingers around the ring of keys and tossed it over to his younger roommate. The younger roommate, otherwise known as the mastermind orchestrating this entire plotline of step by step scripted action. At this point, as he caught the keys between his hands and whipped around to command Minho, it started to become an action movie, "Come on, and Felix—"

The mentioned interrupted, "I know, stay here. Be on lookout. Wait for our pick-up. I got this."

Jeongin huffed a slight annoyance, another one of his classic glares being shot in his direction. As Chan said, 'Edgy'. He continued on to the entrance of the expansive aquarium stretching on in front of them, Minho stepping cautiously behind as the door was unlocked and they slipped inside despite the building supposedly being locked off to the public. The lights were closed down, the main hall was empty, there were no tourists or staff members to stand in their way from here to the one they were trying desperately to get to. Well, it was empty except for the single person waiting patiently inside for them.

"There you are. I didn't know you were a good actor. I almost bought the act with boss," Seungmin greeted as they approached. A bundle of rolled up papers rested tightly in his hand, each wrinkle in it seeming insignificant the tighter he clutched it under his fingers. As Minho drew closer, the younger waved those familiar papers at him. The research papers. He let a sly smile draw across his features, "And look what I got for you."

Minho gingerly took the blighted documents from his hands, folded them as best he could with the thick stack it presented itself as, and shoved it in his coat pocket to hide it away from the world's eyes. Never again. No one had to see the words written on those pages.

"How was Hyunjin?"

"Took some convincing to not think Minho was a prick."

"Sounds about right."

Minho would be lying if he said he didn't feel the intense glare sent to the side of his head. He ignored it. For now. At least, he knew he probably deserved as many glares and looks of disgust from the others as he could possibly receive.

"You're very natural commanding the staff around too," Seungmin acknowledged Minho again as he opened the threshold to the rest of the aquarium and let them enter. As they crossed the barrier, he let the door fall close behind them and led them between exhibit after exhibit to reach the merman in the middle. He thought for a few beats as they walked, falling back ever so slightly to address the oldest of them, "It's scary thinking about how you would have ended up if you seriously took Boss's offer."

"I could never. The owner—" Minho cut himself off, carefully correcting as he stated, "The Director, he scares me."

"The Director. That's fancy. How does it feel to be climbing up the social latter?"

"Not too good. I want to make sure Jisung is okay."

"Are you blushing?" Seungmin asked as he leaned over to him, taking care not to trip over his own feet as he scanned over Minho's tinted features. His face negligibly scrunched up, finally leaning away in an odd manner. He crossed his arms over his chest, "Ive seen weirder things. You like what you like."

"It's not because of that. I'm interested in him purely from a scientific standpoint," Minho muttered the weak defense as they hustled along. It wasn't entirely the truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. Barely enough to skirt by without being revealed as a cold-hearted liar.

Seungmin made a light hum of acknowledgement, tone drifting up as he inquired, "So that's why I found footage of you two kissing on the security cams."

Beside him, Jeongin tripped over his own feet.

∴∷∵