Letters to Hae

Chapter 5

 Hae's POV

A quick trip to New York for 3 days to refresh before getting back into the hectic schedule was perfect for Hae's. Before his NYC trip, those few crazy weeks kept him focused on his work. Since the dinner a few weeks ago with the group, his personal life stayed silent. He wanted to check in to Instagram but held back and stayed focused on recording the 'REPLAY' album and filming music videos for the album. He looked forward to their next concert as that was what he loved best about his career. Singing to a reactive crowd is what he liked best.

Another plane, another city... The Super Junior members and their road crew arrived in Singapore on Friday morning and were quick to finalise any lastminute adjustments. The members had Friday night and Saturday morning to themselves. They decided to keep a low profile and do some shopping and spend some down-time back in their hotel.

----------------------------

Concert day had now fallen into a routine. SuJu had arrived at the Singapore Indoor Arena ahead of the concert for final costume and sound checks. The concert was to begin in a few hours and the boys had been wired up with their mics and were waiting around for their turn for hair and make-up.

Hae sat on the lounge quietly cradling his phone. He recalled the day Leeteuk had pulled him aside a few weeks back to remind him to be cautious on SNS. Leeteuk had told him that his Instagram accounts were regularly checked by the agency but nothing was found so far to concern them. Hae had heeded Leeteuk's warning and stayed away from one particular Instagram account to avoid temptation.

The concert was his focus now and he wasn't prepared to gamble this experience. His protective instincts kicked in and he determined that his Super Junior family was far more important. He just couldn't bring himself to hurt any of them or bring them any unwanted media attention or scrutiny.

----------------------------

The concert went without a hitch. Singapore Elf's went all out for their idols. Super Junior were left on a high. While their bodies were tired, they felt very much alive and decided to head out to dinner.

At the restaurant, the group sat away from crowd. The restaurant's evening rush hour now finished and most of the staff were clearing a private function room. There were a few scattered tables of diners at the entrance of the restaurant but overall, the group's conversation wasn't heard and they were left to enjoy their themselves. Hae was busy eating and was only half listening to the groups conversation. He was deconstructing the whole concert in his mind picking out areas for himself to improve on. He suddenly felt the urge to use the restroom and proceeded to make his way to the boy's room.

He couldn't be sure, but as he returned into the restaurant, he passed a familiar face. The female had walked past him, but he knew her face. She wasn't Korean nor Asian. She was tanned and looked to be a foreigner. And then it dawned on him who that familiar face looked like. He did not want to cause any attention so he casually returned to his seat, scanning the restaurant on the way. With his phone in hand, under the table, he quickly went to Rachel's Instagram account to confirm the face in the restaurant with the face in the SNS. He was unaware that there were quite a few more updates since that 'beach' picture, so he quickly scrolled down to that particular post and smiled to himself. Yes, that is definitely her friend. While he was sitting there, he checked with the table, and found his team members were either in deep conversations or on their own phones. He took his time and scrolled back up her Instagram account. He took in all the photos carefully. Then slowly, realisation kicked in and he quickly scanned the restaurant again for that 'friend'.

Yes, he could see the friend from the picture. But she was talking and giggling with another person, whose back was to him. The person with their back to him, had beautiful brown hair he noticed. He bit his lower lip, cracked a smile and rubbed the back of his neck. His cheeks began to warm up and he found himself tapping his phone with his nervous fingers. What he knew right now, was that he couldn't walk over. He knew the opportunity to talk to Rachel was here but that protective instinct to avoid drama for the sake of Super Junior was a far greater priority. Although he felt gutted that he couldn't approach Rachel, he still felt nervous and shy because he was sitting in the same proximity as her.

No, he couldn't stop himself from turning to look at their table. His body seemed to be in flight mode, ready to walk over at the first opportunity. He pretended to eat but he had no more appetite. He tried to see her face, tried to come up with an excuse to walk past their table and glance at 'his girl' but he couldn't come up with anything that wouldn't arouse suspicion from the other guys.

He noticed that her friend was watching him and he was sure that those two women knew he was in the restaurant. If that was the case, he asked himself, then why won't Rachel turn to find him? He sat there with mixed emotions and fire in his belly. But overall, his shyness wanted him to run away first so he could assess the situation.