When the unsettling noises made its way through Cleyn's ears, he backed off thinking a bit, thinking he might be surrounded by multiple gang members.
Cleyn checked his pockets, expecting a trace of some weapons but he came unprepared with just a small pocket knife and his regular old school pistol. It only had 8 bullets.
He decided to eavesdrop through the door. All he heard was a couple exchanging words often in a whispering tone. He also heard the phone rang from inside. During all this process, he saw a man coming towards him in a 3 piece suit, tie misplaced and a mismanaged look with his arms crossed often lost in his own thoughts.
Cleyn stood straight as a missile. He saw the suited person place his bag down to open his room. Cleyn decided to interrogate him for some information. He spoke in a low voice, often whispering.
"Hey, brother." Cleyn said with a smile, trying to give a handshake.
"Sup young lad." The dude said in a calm yet dead tone, forwarding his hand as well.
"Can I have a minute?" Cleyn asked in a soft way, scanning the surrounding while speaking.
"Yeah sure but be quick please. I am a having a rough day, I am going to sleep a bit." He responded, fixing his hair.
"Sure thing blud, it wouldn't last long. Your good by the way?" Cleyn asked, with a smile.
"My name is Rolkin, I have been a resident at this place since 3 years." Rolkin said, passing back a smile and removing the tie.
Cleyn got a happy feeling inside his mind, as he knew that the neighbor might be having quite a great amount of information to reveal but then he questioned if it was the current time to do the investigation, reading the condition of Rolkin. He decided to ask in a different way.
"Nice to meet you Rolkin. My name is Carter Cleyn. I am a new tenant here. I have got job at the nearby Bakery." Cleyn responded, with his arms crossed.
"Ohh, are you supposed to be the new neighbor here? Or you happen in Room 301 from the next week?" Rolkin asked, trying to avoid a yawn.
"I am going to live in Room 307, I am just curious to know about the neighbors." Cleyn asked biting his tongue a bit, expecting a particular Room 307 to exist which he dropped off without a context.
"Ahm, I see. Good choice, Cleyn. Perhaps this is the best floor you could have in this area. The only problem here is with Room 301 and 303." Rolkin responded, clearing his throat midway.
"Right right." Cleyn said, nodding his head along with raising his eye brow like he traced a part of the problem. He with a short pause said again, "I know you seem to be tired but I wanted to know a bit more about these people so I can avoid anything bad. Can I join you in your room for a small talk?"
"Sure thing man, but can you wait here for a while? My room's really been messed up from yesterday. I need to clean a bit and also change my clothing." Rolkin said with a half faint smile, opening the door to his room.
"Yeah bro, I can manage. You do your part and comeback. I am sorry though because I came in a hurry and left my keys back home" Cleyn responded, scratching his hair.
"It's okay Cleyn, happens to the best of all sometimes. I will see you in a bit." Rolkins said, closing the door.
With that, Cleyn took a small breath and went back to what he was doing before. This time,he decided to right a [Bingo at 6am] on the door of Room 301.
He started to hear closely again. To his surprise, things had gone silent. The hall became so silent that he could here the footsteps of the waiters going up and down the stairs. After an interval of 15 mins, Rolkins came out of his room. Cleyn stood in the same place where they both stopped talking.
"Damn dude, you scared me. How come you didn't even move an inch while the time I was in?" Rolkins asked with a confused expression.
"Well man, so things can't be explained. Maybe it's because I trained well for Karate and also attempted to go for an army test." Cleyn said, in a clear way.
"Makes sense that way. Let's have a cup of tea or coffee blud." Rolkin said with a welcome gesture.
"Thanks broski, I owe you one at my place too." Cleyn responded, following Rolkins into his room.
When Cleyn entered the apartment, all he saw was a mini lounge, with a small dinning area,a big TV with an attached gaming console,one small bedroom all towards the right. There stood an attached kitchen to the other side. On the left side, there was another room with a big lock.
"You really decorated your apartment pretty nicely." Cleyn said while looking at the frames and the antiques.
"Thank you, Cleyn. Really appreciated, it's been quite a hobby to complete such things." Rolkin said, directing Cleyn towards the dinning table.
Cleyn closely saw the tables which were covered in dust. It felt like they weren't used since ages. He didn't say much and just sat down.
"Sorry for these being so untidy, I have been a club person since months." Rolkin said, cleaning the table with a cloth."
"It's okay Rolkin, It's been a while since I had done dinner at my home aswell." Cleyn said, with a smile.
"Yeah man, life is hard when you are a lonely man." Rolkin said, standing with his partial focus on cleaning the table.
"I can relate to you. Hope it gets better for both of us." Cleyn said, pulling the chair closer to the table.
"Yep pal. So what do u prefer? Tea or coffee?" Rolkin asked, dropping the cloth near the shoe rack.
"Well, a hot coffee might work for me." Cleyn said, with a bright smile.
"Sure thing man. I will be back in a while. If u want to, I can give u the newspaper to read till then." Rolkin said, heading slowly towards the kitchen.
"Nah man, I am good. I would read it after I am done with the coffee." Cleyn said, with a refreshing look.
"Aight Cleyn." Rolkin said, hopping straight into the kitchen.
He came back after a short break. Till then, Cleyn decided to scan the house furthermore. Rolkin brought two hot cups of coffee with a warm smile.
"Here is your warm coffee young guy." Rolkin said while sitting on the chair beside Cleyn.
"Thank you". Cleyn said passing a smile back.
"Also, I just had this thought while I was making this coffee. You should have joined the army, you seem really fit and smart enough to be in there." Rolkin said, passing the cup to Cleyn.
"Well my father wanted me to be a crime detective. He wanted me to follow his footsteps." Cleyn said, taking the first sip from the warm coffee.
"I see blud. Well good luck with that. Do help me out when I get in trouble." Rolkin said with a smile while picking his cup.
"Sure thing home. Also sorry I forgot to ask about you too. Where do you work?" Cleyn said in a friendly tone, placing the cup back.
"I work double shift in two different bars around [Club De Provo] 2 streets away." Rolkin said, scratching his chin.
"So you own the place or work as a bartender?" Cleyn said, picking the cup for the 2nd sip.
"I own one. For the second one, its based on a parternship with a....a lady." Rolkin said in the same breath.
"I see. You seem pretty worried today. Are u doing okay man?" Cleyn said with a concerning tone.
With this, Cleyn saw tears in the eyes of Rolkin. He started to shake a bit & started to wipe his tears with his fingers.
Cleyn put a hand on his shoulders and started to pat him.
He picked up his cup of coffee, took a few sips and said, "It's been a long time since someone talked this calmly to me in person. God bless you man."
He stood up trying to move towards the kitchen again.Rolkin was about to break down so Cleyn decided to hug him midway.
"Life is hard for most of us mate. Also its okay to cry at some moments. It eventually lightens up your mood." Cleyn said, patting Rolkin even more.
Cleyn gave him a warm hug and then both decided to sit on their respectives chairs again and picked their cups again.
After a short pause, Rolkin broke the silence and said.
"It's been a while and things has never been the same like they used to be. A happy....family, complete...household. Even a loving and caring...wife." Rolkin said, sipping the coffee furthermore.
"Were they killed? or one of you guys cheated? If you are comfortable to open up" Cleyn said, with his legs crossed.
"It's quite a long story, I will tell u all that particularly some other day, my friend. Do thank you for hearing me out. For now, I am prefering to sell both of these bars and work for some other organization." Rolkin said, with his legs crossed as well.
These two sat there like they were two close friends meeting again on some reunion. The room became particularly colder with an extremely calm environment. Cleyn looked at the clock, it was around 3:15 am.
"Well, good luck for that. I can help you find some aswell. I know quite a few people who can do that." Cleyn said with a firm smile.
"Thanks Cleyn, you have been a great listener. The world needs more people like you around." Rolkin said, passing a smile back.
"The coffee was pretty good. Don't you want to get some rest bro?" Cleyn said, placing the coffee cup on the table.
"Yeah I am about to hit the sack. I forgot to tell you about the neighbors you were curious about?" Rolkin said, picking up the cups and taking them to the kitchen.
"Well if you want, you can tell me in the morning. Go take some rest." Cleyn said, with a smile.
"Okay homie." Rolkin said, with a yawn.
"Also if you happen to need anything from me in the future, I will drop you a number in the morning. We will meet soon." Cleyn said, stretching his arms.
"Ahm, sure pal. Listening to others solve half of the problem but we lack that these days." Rolkin said, trying to speak between yawns.
"Goodnight Rolkin. Can I sleep in this locked room? If u allow me." Cleyn said, scratching his head.
"Uhm....no cause firstly, its been locked from a long time. Secondly, it used to be a store room before it started to give a weird smell." Rolkin said, pointing towards the store room.
"Alright then, I would sleep on the couch in this lounge area." Cleyn said, grabbing a pillow from the other sofa.
"Whatever make things work for you, Cleyn. Also if want to go early, drop me a knock on the door or here is my number, call me when u wake up." Rolkin said, showing his phone number to Cleyn.
"Thanks alot, but we might do breakfast at my house." Cleyn said, notting down Rolkin's number.
After that, both of them gave each other a warm hug. Balkin went inside the bedroom and slept immediately. Cleyn on the otherhand, laid on the couch with pillow and started to prepare for the next step.
The next step was to somehow enter the Room 301 without anyone noticing.