Letters to Hae

Chapter 25

 Hae's POV

Not quite sure how he managed to do it, but when Hae returned home to Korea after the South American tour, he finally managed some time alone, and made a plan to visit Rachel. He had put in an application for an Australian travel visa but had no idea when he would be travelling. He just wanted to get it ready just in case something happened that gave him an opportunity to sneak away for a few days.

Weeks had now passed for Hae. Most of the weeks a complete blur. He continued with promotions and activities requested of him and when his travel arrangements were booked for Japan as part of his Super Junior D&E commitments, he asked his assistant to extend the return flight home by 4 days. He wasn't sure if he could do it so he left the purchase of a return flight to Sydney ticket to the very last minute. It would appear to everyone that he was spending some leisure time in Japan, but in actual fact he himself, had booked a return flight from Japan to Sydney and wore a disguise to mask his escape.

All he had was a backpack with some spare clothes and his laptop. He had taken some extra shots of his Japan travels to upload over the coming days to his SNS to avoid being found out. So, here he was in a taxi, on the way to an address on the back of a blue envelope. It was now late in the afternoon in this new city, and the sun was sinking into its bend and his taxi was slowly easing its way through the Friday night peak-hour traffic.

Where the taxi dropped him off, looked to be a large residential apartment building. He followed some people into the building, bypassing the front door security buzzer and made his way to the lift. The lift buttons guided him to which floor he needed to stop at. As he walked down the corridor he felt himself hesitate a little. He took a deep breath, swallowing a large gulp of air and walked on. He found the door that read the apartment number, Hae pressed the door bell and waited. He watched his feet tap and tried not to think about what could possibly unfold when and if that door opened. He wiped a little sweat off his forehead and as he waited the door to the apartment next door where Hae was standing, suddenly thrust open and a young woman ran out, what looked to be, heading for the gym. One look from her and Hae's cheeks became warm and he tried to avoid eye contact.

"Hi, I'm Yuri, Rachel's friend... and you are???" Rachel's friend greeted him with a smug smile.

"Hello, my name is Aiden" Yes, English wasn't his greatest at the moment.

"You look very familiar. Are you staying long in Sydney?"

"A few days I hope. Not long"

"Ah, well enjoy your stay. Say hi to Rachel for me..." and Yuri turned to walk away

"I will. Can I ask, do you know if Rachel is home presently?" Hae asked

"She's been away all week but she did say she'll be back tonight... not sure when though, sorry" and she hurried off to her gym class.

Hae's sweat on his forehead started to cool a little. He rang the door bell once more to be sure she wasn't home and when no one answered, he felt completely relaxed. His feet were planted and he couldn't move. He was happy to stand there and wait, no matter how long it was going to take.

He heard the lift open in the distance and braced himself again, only this time he moved away from the door a little because he didn't want to appear like a stalker if he ran into another neighbour. He had slowly made his way to the window at the end of the corridor and looked across the scene... a few streetlamps, cars passing but mostly his reflection in the glass. As he turned to pace back slowly, he saw a small figure appearing from the lift, pulling an overnight bag and carrying a shoulder bag. He stopped to focus on the woman and as it got clearer, he saw that the woman had blonde hair and wearing a thick winter coat that seemed to be a little big for her. The coat fell below her knees but showed enough of her legs for him to think they were sexy in the heels that led them. Another neighbour he guessed. He took off his glasses and squinted his eyes a little. Looking down at his feet, he felt a tear escape and quickly raised his head to face the ceiling, to stop any more tears from forming.