It would sound silly but I didn’t know where our hotel room was. It was the bellboy who pressed the button for us once we were all inside the elevator.
I was too tired to pay any attention to which number he had pressed. Neither Sam nor I came out of the room since we had unpacked our stuff and settled down for bed.
Not until NOW anyway.
My key card must have a room number on it. But it was inside the pocket of my jeans which I had left in the locker.
I panicked.
What am I going to do now? Wait here in this dark cold stairwells until someone comes and finds me like this? Or pray to the God that Sam would send a rescue party to search for me?
I must think. Think... Think...
With miraculous willpower of my concentration, the first two digits of our room number that had been printed on the door came to my mind.
15XX.
Yes, it started with ONE and FIVE. Yes, that’s it. Once I get to that floor, I would easily find our room. It was in the far end of the corridor and right next to the elevator.
How smart I was. My memory never disappointed me. Even in this chaotic moment. But wait...
Oh, shit!
Come to think of it, it is not a happy news at all. The four-digit starting with one and five means our room is on the fifteenth floor. FIFTEENTH. I would have to climb up that bloody fifteen flights of stairs in this peril situation.
No, it’s not fifteen flights. I started from the basement floor. So one more flight of stairs. I’m afraid my body might not be able to cope with such a tremendous task.
What if this embarrassingly tiny robe gives way during my agonizing ordeal?
Now again
- Sam -
My friend was soaked through and through. At first, I thought he hurriedly came back from the sauna to pick up his stuff from this room, the way he usually did: forgetting something and fetching it later in the middle of doing a task.
Things, however, looked different this time. He was sweating but it seemed not from the sauna heat, but from fatigue and anxiety. Unlike being always optimistic and fun-loving, Daehoon panicked, panted and paced. I’ve never seen him like this before.
It was understandable though. He has gone through unimaginable agony after agony.
I know in some countries like South Korea which Daehoon originally came from, people do not share saunas with their opposite sex.
“Oh dear... Daehoon! Don’t tell me you entered the sauna the way you did in Korea, did you?”
My friend said nothing and just remained where he was, looking miserable. I feared I may not claim my bed back again. Not in this room anyway.
