Beyond Redemption || Lee Know

Eight.

The third floor is decorated modernly, a stark difference to the more traditional decorations in the guest room and Hyunjin's throne room. The walls are painted with a beautiful sage green, with brown and wood elements throughout the space.

The first little room appears to be a lobby and contains a small reception desk, where a small framed man stands, flipping through a book and writing things down. He looks up when he notices Seungmin and I approaching.

"Oh! Good morning, Seungmin!" The man's deep voice doesn't match his face. It's bright like sunshine and covered with freckles, the majority of them blanketing his nose and cheeks.

"Hey, Felix. This is—"

"Tristin." Felix finishes Seungmin's introduction with a smile. "Hyunjin told me I was to be expecting her."

Seungmin gives Felix a curt nod. "Then I expect you know she's a special guest."

Felix cocks his head to one side in question, an eyebrow raised. "It was my understanding that Miss Tristin is not a guest, but a resident, is that correct?"

"Right." Seungmin closes his eyes in disdain. "I forget how quickly Hyunjin updates you on everything."

Felix ignores the apparent dig from Seungmin and continues smiling at me. "Are you ready to come with me?"

"Do I have a choice?" I ask sarcastically.

Felix frowns at me. "Of course you do. Would you like Seungmin to show you to your room instead?"

I almost say yes, for a chance at possibly getting some alone time so I can figure out this nightmare that I'm in. But something in Felix's face is different. Genuine.

"What happens here, exactly?" I ask him hesitantly and he beams at me.

"Rest. Relaxation. Healing. Everything that you need right now."

I barely nod my head and take a step towards him. From behind me, Seungmin speaks up.

"I'll be waiting right here to show you to your room when you're ready."

I don't even respond to him.

Felix leads me through the lobby and gives me a tour of the entire third floor. This place is massive. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. He shows me the salon, a room with hairdressing chairs and an entire wall stocked with hair products. The gym, fully equipped with every machine needed for cardio and strength training. An indoor pool, with heated water and a heated floor. Saunas, massage tables, facial treatments, all of the rooms endless and beautifully decorated.

"First," Felix opens a door to a small, private room that constains nothing but a bathtub, a white wall cabinet, and a wooden bench with white towels. "A bath."

I glance at him nervously. "I don't need help taking a bath."

He chuckles. "Of course not. I'm just going to get it ready for you."

I watch as Felix walks towards the bathtub and turns the water on. There's no adjustment for the temperature, just one lone faucet that somehow fills the tub up quickly without splashing any water around. Next, Felix opens the cabinet and one by one, pulls out tiny bottles filled with different colored liquid and adds them to the bath. Some of them are poured in, while others take a very steady hand and a dropper, only the smallest amount falling into the water.

The bath water swirls, a mixture of beautiful colors from the products that Felix used.

"What is all that?" I ask him.

"Potions...elixirs....magic." Felix grins and wiggles his fingers at me, being silly. And despite all the fear and anxiety of the unknown, I find myself laughing at him.