Donghae’s POV

When I had woken up the next morning and sent the morning text to my princess as usual I walked out to the kitchen for breakfast. Already sitting by the kitchen table was our leader Leeteuk and Kangin. I assumed that Ryeowook had cooked for them and then went back to bed again. He had been attending Immortal song the night before and probably felt tired after that. I took some juice out of the refrigerator and sat down in front of KangTeuk. They were discussing what seemed to be an important matter, judging by their serious faces.

“Good morning,” the both of them greeted me.

“Morning hyungs,” I greeted back. “What are you discussing?” I asked them and they looked up at me. I furrowed my eyebrows, taking a sip of my juice.

“Um…” Kangin started but turned to Leeteuk to continue, unsure of how to express himself. I began to worry, what had I missed? I had a bad feeling about the upcoming topic. Leeteuk inhaled a deep breath before he begun to speak. His voice had that serious tone he only used when the matter really needed to be taken seriously and when he wanted the members to approach the issue with professionalism, respect and maturity. I listened carefully as Leeteuk explained to me that they had planned on releasing our album earlier than expected. This meant that the date for filming the music video also had been moved forward. Leeteuk waited for my concern to show in my face but instead I surprised him by nodding. Although it did leave me a little bit of concern and worry about how Kayla would handle the situation, I calmed down by thinking that she would keep her cool as always. I replied Leeteuk, saying that I understood the situation as well as the reasons why these changes had been done and then I added that I didn’t think it would be a problem. Leeteuk smiled approvingly, proving to me that he saw me more mature than I had been in the past. I think Leeteuk still sees me as the insecure Donghae who never ate alone (still doesn’t if I’m not absolutely starving) and that needs company around the clock. Ever since Kayla came into my life I, Donghae, had tried my best to show people even more that taking responsibility wasn’t an issue for me any longer. The stress didn’t suffocate me like it had in the past, now I could grow from it instead. I used the hours when I was free to prioritise differently, mostly thinking about Kayla and the members. It pleased Leeteuk to see that I had become a man rather than the scared boy he’d met a few years ago. Our discussion developed further, taking more details into the matter. After about an hour the rest of the members had joined breakfast and we each took turns in saying our opinions. When the clock was time to get ready for work Leeteuk interrupted Heechul who had for the second time cut Eunhyuk mid-sentence. For this Eunhyuk sulked for two hours, then he recovered being his normal, cheerful self again. At SM we worked both harder and faster on our album: Hero. By 4 o’clock most of the members were tired. The manager had called for a meeting with us and the manager that would keep track of our work in Japan. Even though, each of us tried to concentrate throughout the meeting it ended up in the manager finishing early, telling us we lacked focus. Slumped down on our seats back at our practising room Leeteuk held a comforting speech. He said that all the hard work would pay off in the end, as it always did. It was just difficult to see the finish line right now but that it would get closer every day. It was a speech that he often held nowadays. The pressure on us as a group had increased an enormous amount in the last few years.

“Hey, we can do this,” Leeteuk said. “We pull through no matter what is thrown at us. We’re the last man standing, right?” he said, standing up. When no one responded loud enough he yelled “Right?!” then the members all stood up yelling back.

“Yes!” we answered him, holding up our fists in the air.

“But I’m still tired,” Kyuhyun complained, sitting down on his chair once more. His face had a defeated expression plastered on it.

“Maybe I can help with that?” a delicate voice spoke from behind my back. I smiled widely, turning around to see Kayla standing with a basket in her hand. She smiled at us all.

“Hi princess,” I breathed, relieved to see her.

“Hello,” she cooed cutely. “I managed to get in thanks to your manager and he told me you had had a rough day,” she said, her gentle eyes shining with love and care for all of us.

“Yes, we’ve had it pretty rough today,” Leeteuk replied her first. Kyuhyun followed by groaning and leaning his head backwards, staring up in the ceiling. He sure was exhausted the little maknae.

“Well what a great coincidence that I brought you some cupcakes then, baked this morning!” Kayla happily announced, holding up the basket. In seconds all of us were sitting down on the floor, munching on delicious cupcakes. I had Kayla in between my legs, leaning to a wall.

“Thank you for the cupcakes Kayla, they were needed,” Sungmin said to my princess who merely giggled cutely and told him that it was her pleasure to give us some more energy in order to be able to keep going. I finished my cupcake and wrapped my arms around her waist. I snuggled into her neck and hair, resting my chin on her shoulder.

“They were amazing,” I mumbled tiredly in Kayla’s ear. She leant her head against mine and kissed my temple.

“I’m glad you liked them,” she replied. “When will you be going to Japan?” she then asked, turning her head towards the leader. He thought for a while.

“I think it’s only three weeks left, if it isn’t two,” he responded. “And we’ll be gone for about two weeks,” he added. I felt Kayla nod against my head. I looked up at her and saw how her thinking mode had commenced. She wrinkled her nose and then lit up.

“What were you thinking of princess?” I asked, smiling at her cuteness. In my eyes her adorable side would never fail to cheer me up no matter how stressed nor upset I felt.

“Nothing,” she answered and stood up. “I think I better be going,” she said. I gave her a disappointed pout.

“Already?” I asked sadly. She nodded.

“Yep, you need to practise and I have to get back to work,” she said and leant down, placing her hands on my knees to hold herself up and kissed me. I kissed her back, enjoying each moment of it and when she pulled away I saw her flashing her best smile at me. “I love you,” she cooed and winked at me.

“Love you more.” I chuckled and she bid the other members goodbye before she disappeared out of the room. When she was gone I refocused towards the rest of the gang.

“Wonder what she’s up to.” Eunhyuk squinted his eyes in suspicion. I laughed.

“We’ll probably see in the near future,” I told him, standing up again. Kayla had left me with more will to complete the work than I thought possible. “Let’s keep working,” I cheerfully told the other members. They agreed with me and after that well deserved break we began our practise again. We arranged another, more successful, meeting with our managers and by 11pm we were done for the day. We walked home, feeling satisfied with the things we’d produced this day. Walking to bed, I thought about the usual stuff. How blessed I was, how much happiness that existed in my life. I closed my eyes and went to sleep quickly, anticipating the upcoming days.

-

Leeteuk’s POV

This is getting out of hand, I thought as I watched the ten disorganized boys in the hallway, with their suitcases, over whom I apparently was the leader. I sighed. My hand rubbed over my forehead in despair. Why couldn’t they ever listen to their leader and follow order?! I cleared my throat loud and clear, making whatever activity the members were up to to cease.

“What’s missing?” I asked them. I wish I hadn’t because all the members now shouted out what their lost items were and how they couldn’t possibly leave without them. “Okay, stop!” I demanded silence once I talked. When they shut up I helped them to find whatever they were missing and then finally we headed out to the cars, taking us to the airport. We were going to Japan and the fans could make it complicated for us to make it into the airport, the reason to why we needed good margin from a time aspect. When we reached the airport a couple of hundred of fans were waiting excitedly for our arrival. The guards helped us transport through the massive crowed, all the way to the gate. Well there we boarded the plane without further complications and as soon as my landed on the seat and my belt was one I could at last breathe out. Each time you take a group of ten boys overseas then it will call for drama along the way. Nonetheless, we’d made it this time too. I sat next to Siwon who spent his plane travels reading his bible, giving me lots of time of time to rest instead of talking to someone, which most of the other members liked to do. I closed my eyes to go to sleep when suddenly I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Puzzled over the fact that I hadn’t turned it off I checked the text message it had received. It was from Kayla. I opened it and read a short note from her.

Hi, Teukkie oppa! ^^ Guessing you’re sitting on the airplane now aren’t you? I wanted to just ask you to take care of Donghae for me. Yes, I know you do that all the time but just to reassure myself more… ^///^ I hope your trip to Japan goes well! See you when you come back, thanks!

Your sincerely, Kayla

I smiled at the text. How lucky Donghae must be to have a girl that cares so much for him. My dongsaeng needed that. I trusted Kayla to fill the gap in Donghae’s heart. I believe she’d done so already and hoped that she’d continue doing that in the future. I typed a response to her and then turned off my phone. I quickly drifted off to sleep. Being the leader of a group with so many different personalities, desires and thoughts could be quite exhausting. However, they never disappointed me, my loyal dongsaengs. They never failed to excel my expectations, making me the proudest leader in the entire industry!

-

Yesung’s POV

“Well Donghae you know I don’t have that much experience with women but I’ll help any way I can,” I told my dongsaeng who was telling me his worries. He seemed to be extra scared of letting the rest of the world know about his and Kayla’s relationship. I frowned when he told me that he wasn’t sure that she’d be able to handle it. We, the artists, still were fragile when it came to extreme haters or extreme saesang fans. Those types of people were the worst you could encounter. If Kayla met any of them then she might get scared, Donghae said. I agreed to a hundred percent. After all, we were trained to handle it and yet we all had those days when a single word of hate could bring us down to the very bottom. A girl with no such experience would probably react even worse even if that girl was Kayla, a confident, calm, down to earth girl.

“Can’t you ask our manager to talk to the CEO and let Kayla take classes about confronting the media?” I asked Donghae. He turned to me with wide eyes on display, he gave away that this idea hadn’t crossed his mind. He nodded eagerly.

“Of course!” he exclaimed. “If she gets taught to deal with the media then she’ll come off as the perfect girl, even though she already is that for me,” he concluded out loud but more to himself than to me. I smiled; glad that I could help my dongsaeng. “Thanks hyung. That really helped a lot,” Donghae thanked me.

“No problem,” I assured him. “If there’s anything I can do, ever, then I’ll be happy to help,” I told him sincerely. I cared for every single one of my younger brothers and the same for my older brothers. Whenever they felt troubled, were in need of wise words or advice they could come to me. “Have you talked to her about going public soon?” I asked Donghae who nodded.

“Yeah, we have,” he replied and then frowned. “It actually worries me a little because I know that Kayla is a careful girl and all but I can’t help but think that she doesn’t fully understand what it truthfully means to date an idol,” Donghae explained to me. “It’s like she sees me as too normal almost. I’m not normal. Though, it’s lovely to be that once in a while I can’t change the fact that whenever I step outside the door I could easily risk getting recognised and might have to run for pure life in order to escape crazy fans. That part of me isn’t what Kayla is used to and therefore she’s not fully aware of what dating me could implicate. If something goes wrong then she won’t be able to live where she lives now, since fans most certainly will find out where she has her apartment because she’s searchable, so very easily found by using a single click on a computer or a phone. Then she might not be able to work at the café without hearing questions about me 24/7. It’s more bothersome than she wants to realise and that scares me because if the chock kicks in-”

“Donghae, stop,” I cut him off. “She’s not leaving you,” I stated when I noticed that he headed into those ways of thinking. Donghae took a deep breath, lowering his head.

“Sorry, I got carried away,” he apologised. I patted his shoulder.

“It’s alright. Just try to not think about the negative when it isn’t even existent from the beginning,” I advised him. He nodded. “Get some rest,” I told him. “You need it,” I added when he was about to protest. He sighed again but followed my advice. When he had fallen asleep I took some memory notes that I’d converse with Leeteuk about this later. He needed to know it too. With only about half an hour until we would land I fell asleep also, deeply concerned for my little brother next to me. He thought too much, for too long. He let the negative thoughts get the best of him, when all he originally needed was to enjoy the positive, up-lifting moments. I made a promise to myself and to him that I’d be there for him no matter what. Because this guy needed a shoulder to rely on, how great that he had so many shoulders at his disposal.

-

Kayla’s POV

Hm, their plane should’ve landed two hours ago, I thought, glancing at the clock once more and then at my phone. Oh, stop worrying Kayla! He’s fine, I thought. I was at the café and not many customers that could keep me focused had arrived today. This meant I had more time wondering about why Donghae hadn’t texted me that they had arrived safely. I tapped the counter impatiently while stealing glances at the clock. The suspense was killing me! I needed to know that they had arrived safely! I groaned loudly as I stood up straight. Just then, Hyeorin came back from her break and saw the frustration I wore on my entire body.

“Woah, what happened to you?” she asked, not sounding in the least interested to begin with. I shrugged it off.

“Nothing,” I told her dryly. She huffed and went to take the orders of a newly arrived pair of customers. When she came back she prepared the coffee. “By the way,” she started, pouring up the correct amount of coffee beans in the espresso machine. “Did you hear that Nickhun was spotted with an anonymous girl? There’s footage that claims he hugged her and that they seemed to be intimate with one another,” Hyeorin babbled. I took little interest in what she had to say.

“I don’t even know who that guy is,” I told her, staring down at my phone. I heard a gasp and a loud crash from one of the glasses hitting the floor, though luckily not breaking. I quickly picked it up and apologised to the customers with a deep bow. I turned to Hyeorin furiously. “Watch what you’re doing!” I scolded her. She still had big, chocked eyes as a result of the comment I’d given her.

“He’s from 2pm! One of the big groups!” she instantly defended her dear idol. “You should know who he is,” she whined.

“Well I don’t,” I replied, getting more annoyed by the second. I took a deep breath. “Tell me about his scandal then,” I suggested and Hyeorin’s eyes lit up in pure happiness again. She opened and a bunch of words left it, making my brain fuzz together. I hardly understood any of her babble. However, I’m a good friend so I let her keep going until she felt finished.

“Honestly, normal girls who date idols must be insane.” Hyeorin finally ended her 30 minutes speech. Although, that last sentence had me become intrigued. What did she mean by that?

“Why would they be insane? Aren’t they lucky?” I asked Hyeorin who shook her head.

“No, they’re more like doomed,” she said, turning her back to me to wipe the counter. I got wide eyes and grabbed her arm.

“What do you mean doomed?” I asked. She pulled away.

“I mean that they probably don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into. I mean that girl that Nickhun hugged has received countless of hater mails, letters and I think some extreme saesang fans even attacked her last week,” Hyeorin said. I felt my whole body freeze. “She can consider herself lucky because Nickhun isn’t that popular. If the same thing had happened with someone like Junsu from DBSK or say Donghae from Super Junior then things could go even worse than that,” Hyeorin told the already horrified me. I gulped.

“But… how come nothing happened to me when Donghae and some of the other members were here at the café?” I asked Hyeorin curiously. She gave me an ‘are-you-dumb’-look.

“Well duh! How popular is our café? Not that popular! Besides, that day we had like two other customers which were two older ladies who doesn’t have any idea who Super Junior are,” Hyeorin explained to me. I nodded carefully. “Either way, if you see Donghae again then I suggest you keep your distance because I can promise you that you do not want crazy fans outside your window who yells hateful words to you,” Hyeorin continued and then walked to her next table. I swallowed hard.

“No, I guess not,” I whispered quietly to myself, walking over with the orders to my customers.

Yay! Another chapter! ^^ And things are starting to get complicated now... See what happens when the boys land in Japan and surprise chocks all of them! Thank you for reading~ Comment and subscribe as always if you like it :) LOVE YOU ALL<3