October 23, 2011

 1:19 AM

Location: Greenwich Village, New York City, New York

I had my back against the bar and was tossing peanuts into the mouth and chatting with Vinny when his eyes flickered and he suddenly stiffened. “Heads up,” he muttered. “Mr. Sketchy is coming.”

“Vinny, he’s not sketchy,” I sighed, turning around. Leeteuk had slid into a stool at the bar, and was now studying me with his intense, dark eyes. “How may I help you?” I asked.

“I-ah-need to pay for my drink,” he said in accented English with a cough, reaching for his wallet.

“It’s on me,” I replied.

Vinny raised an eyebrow, probably wondering what our relationship was, but I ignored him. There was no simple, short way to explain that "Mr. Sketchy" was kind of super famous all over the world, and I kind of used to be super obsessed. Vinny wasn't the fanboy type...he was more into motorcycles and sunday night football.

“So you know who I am?” Leeteuk had switched back to Korean, and his question was carefully stated, seeming as if he had been thinking it over for some time.

“Of course I do, I used to be a Korean teenager, didn’t I?” I scoffed. That a ridiculous question. Everyone knew Super Junior whether you liked them or not. “But you should really go back and rest, or you’ll have bags under your eyes for the concert tomorrow, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

What was meant to be an easy joke was met with another intense stare, and he sighed, with a shrug. “Wouldn’t we?”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “If you get caught in a bar, your image will be ruined.” 

Leeteuk looked down with a sigh, clasping his hands in front of him. “Maybe that’s for the better,” he muttered.

Wait. WHAT?

Vinny finally got frustrated and tired of listening to us talk in Korean, and kicked me out from behind the bar. I took a seat in the stool next to Leeteuk, and listened to his story.

And boy, was I surprised.

The Leeteuk that everyone was seeing on tv for the past month was not the real leeteuk, not anymore. Something had been bothering him for weeks, and it was tearing him apart inside. Maybe it was the fact that we were pretty much strangers, in a strange bar, in a foreign country that made him open up to me.  

“What is the point of everything right now?” he asked, miserably. “I’m getting too old to be an idol. It’s all over in a few months anyways. I have to quit Super Junior to enlist in the army, and even after I get back … everything will be different. I don’t know why I’m even here in New York right now. I should just quit will I’m ahead … I don’t even feel like perform at the concert at all.”

His declaration shocked me, and I almost didn’t know what I say. Singing, dancing, entertaining, being an idol was his life and his career. And now he just wanted to completely give up? He was about to make the most important decision of his life, and I was the only one there to help him.

“Come with me, I need to show you a place,” I decided, getting up to my feet.

“Um…how do I know that you won’t kidnap me or something?” he asked, eyes narrowed.

“I don’t know. Do I look the type?” I gave him a skeptical look, and went to say my final good-byes to Vinny and Emma.

“Are you taking the hot guy home tonight? Damnn, Nana, you’re working it even on your last night in town,” Emma giggled.

“I’m not ‘taking him home’, Em,” I glared, giving her a hug and promising to visit and keep in touch.

I then grabbed my jacket from behind the bar, checked the pockets to make sure my phone and wallet were still inside, and headed for the door. Leeteuk caught up to me half way, and followed me out, hands in his pockets. I studied him for a moment, trying to decide the best route. Our destination was too far to walk, and the subway was a little sketchy at almost 2 in the morning. I couldn’t risk getting Leeteuk hurt, or seen and recognized, and I decided that the best thing to do was to hail a cab. Still, on this street, that was never going to happen. I turned, and started north up the block.

“Where are we going?” Leeteuk asked, trailing after me. He looked slightly apprehensive, and pulled his beanie even further down over his eyes. 

“Don’t you trust me?”

I truthfully expected him to say no. I mean…I really was just a stranger that he had met less than an hour ago who was taking him to who the hell knows where. I could be a stalker, or a crazy serial killer, and he was Leeteuk, a famous idol.

To my surprise, he nodded, then lengthed his strides to catch up to me. We walked side by side in comfortable silence. I snuck a look at him, and was surprised to see that he had relaxed. His shoulders were back as he walked, and I could tell that he really was trusting me. Why? I had no idea. Reaching a busier street, I expertly hailed a cab, and pushed Leeteuk in.

“Where to, Miss?” the driver asked, looking in the rear mirror.

“Midtown East, please. Skyline Heights on 53rd.”

As the cabbie naviagated north, Leeteuk pressed his forehead to the window, and gazed outside, watching the city go by. Steadily, the buildings got taller and then, the penthouses became more more luxurious. Still, we rode in silence.

The cab dropped us of in front of a high-scale apartment building located between midtown and the upper east side. Skyline Heights was filled with studio apartments and penthouses that went for a few million each. The revolving door was even trimmed in gold, and the floor that could be seen inside was solid marble. At this hour, there wasn’t a doorman outside, but a man in uniform sat behind the receptionist desk, reading a newspaper.

“Do you live here?” Leeteuk asked, getting out of the car behind me. He craned his neck, trying to see the top.

I gave him an incredulous look. “Are you kidding? I’m a photographer. Do you think I can afford a place like this?”

“Then what are we-”

I interrupted him by pulling him into the revolving door. “Just act like you belong,” I muttered. I strolled in, gave a casual nod to the receptionist, and pressed the up button for the elevator. Just as I expected, he just tipped his hat back, and went back to reading. When you act like you belonged, people usually assume that you do.

When the elevator doors closed, Leeteuk finally rounded on me. “Why the hell are we here?” he asked.

“You’ll see,” I told him. I pressed the button for the roof, and started the long ride up.

As soon as we got to the roof, Leeteuk realized why I had brought him up here. This building was one of the tallest on the edge of the upper east side, and looked over the businiess buildings of the busiest sections of Midtown Manhattan. Even at this hour, New York City was alive, and lights lit up ground in a grid that could see seen miles out.  

“Wow,” he breathed, looking over the railings at the ant-sized cars below us. I stayed back, and took a seat on the grass patch the rich residents here had grown.

“There are almost 7 billion people in this world, Park Jungsu, and we’re just one of that 7 billion. I don’t matter. No matter what anyone tries to tell me, in the big picture, I don’t matter. I’m a drop of water in several oceans, but you’re Super Junior’s Leeteuk. While my decisions are barely a ripple, yours would be more of a tidal wave or tsunami, one that affects thousands, millions of people. If you skip out on the concert and just quit Super Junior, you’re disappointing them all.”  

I let my words sink in, and I laid back onto my back and put my hands under my head. It was a clear night today, and the sky was clear of smog. The stars shined bright, and I tried to remember what I had learned about constellations in high school. Where was the big dipper supposed to be again?

“So basically, no pressure, right?” Leeteuk let out  a little laugh, and sat down next to me. He took off his white jacket, probably wanting to avoid grass stains, and laid down as well.

“I’m not candy-coating it, so no. A lot of pressure is on you, but I think you already know the what you want to do.”

We were both silent for a few minutes, just listening to the sounds of the cars passing, feeling the cool night breeze, and watching the beautiful stars twinkle.

“You’re so lucky that I’m not a murderer or crazy stalker,” I chuckled.

Leeteuk turned his face to mine, and grinned. “You don’t look the type.”

I put Leeteuk into a cab from Midtown, and gave the driver directions and cab fare. I didn’t ask him his decision, because I didn’t need to; I could already tell what that was going to be. Instead, I went home and finished packing, deciding that I wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight. I had a flight to catch in less than 4 hours.

Leeteuk POV

Madison Square Garden. SM Town live, sold out concert, everything had been amazing, and I only had one person to thank. It wasn’t until the cab was half way back to the hotel that I realized I had forgotten to ask the girl from the bar her name. It wasn’t fair, really, because she knew mine.

When I got back to the hotel room, I was met by a worried members, who demanded to know where I had gone at such a late hour when I should have been sleeping.

“New York City is dangerous,” Sungmin had chided. “Your English is mediocre, and you could have gotten in serious trouble.”

But I didn’t, so it was okay. Instead, I had waved them off, and climbed into bed to catch a few hours of sleep before the press conferences the next day.

The concert was a catharsis in several ways. I realized that in the end, I loved performing. Everything about being onstage was exhiliarating. I loved to dance, I loved to sing, and I loved my Super Junior members and SM labelmates. I walked off the stage realizing that it didn’t matter if it was all coming to an end; I had accomplished a great deal to cherish and be proud of, and I was going to see it to the end.

That was the last day that we were in New York. After the concert, we were allowed to all take a week’s vacation, and all the members prepared to scatter. Eunhyuk was headed for England, Kyuhyun for Spain, and Ryeowook for Italy. I was going on vacation with Donghae and his girlfriend, and had a flight out the next morning for Los Angeles, California.

I visited that same bar again after the concert. I wanted to finally get her name, and to tell her that she had saved my career, and my life. She was all I could think about for the last 24 hours, and I needed her to know that. Instead, I was told by her not-so-friendly friend that her name was Haena, and she had gone back home to her parents.

I decided that it was fate that we were to meet so coincidentally on her last day, and fate again that we were to be seperated so quickly and not meet again. Maybe she was my guardian angel, sent to guide me that night. I left for California feeling disappointed, but happier than I had been in a long, long time.

[A/N]: I guess only fate could possibly bring these two together again, right? *wink wink*

Anyways, Teukie playing with the baby in Hello Baby is just adorable....(even if he is cuter than the baby), and he is so polite to everyone (even if he seems a little pretentious). That Teuk POV probably won't happen again, but I felt the need for it there. Like I said, for this story, I will be pretending that he isn't in We Got Married or Hello Baby, but everything else will be realistic. If you want to know about Donghae and his girlfriend or Teukie's stay in Los Angeles, CA, this does cross-over in my other story, Crazy Beautiful.