Loved Since Forever

Rachel - Present Day

After settling into her temporary home for the week, Rachel went to the WaWas across the street for provisions. Luckily the Langham hotel has a mini-fridge. She got some water, yogurt, and bananas. This would be sufficient for the next couple of days.

In her head, she keeps thinking back to the airport and seeing Taecyeon being shuttled around by that large crew of people. It brought back a lot of memories and questions that she has been harboring for two years. She wonders if he is filming a movie or a drama.

Should I reach out and see if he wants to have drinks? Ugh, I actually shouldn't drink around him, probably.

She thinks about what happened last time, and the fallout it caused. It was not an easy time.

Her head is consumed with all these thoughts as she gets to the checkout. An older woman with the biggest hair that Rachel has seen since the Jersey Shore was around is unenthusiastically scanning Rachel's few items and placing them into the reusable bag that she has brought from Canada.

It was such a beautiful night at 7:30p, in June. Rachel thought that she might even run the risk of bumping into colleagues and promenade on the rooftop for a cocktail. The Langham has a wonderful bar on the top of the main building that she has never been to.

She crosses the street and notices that the dutiful doorman opens the door for her. A gesture that at this moment she is very grateful for after the less than fun encounter at the WaWas.

"Thank you very much," she tells him with a little bow, with a currently self-inflated ego.

"You have a good day now," he responds with a huge smile.

Whoever said that New Yorkers are rude just doesn't have the proper vocabulary. Rachel would call New Yorkers passionate. It is one of their finest qualities. Passion is a great thing for anyone to have. To be so passionate about something, or someone that you become protective. Rachel thinks about how she will have that one day about something other than work. She promises herself that.

The hotel lobby is still bustling with an unusually large number of people. They are carrying filming equipment, tables, and other stuff. She feels like today is an odd day after seeing Taec at the airport -

Oh god. Are they filming here?

In the elevator, she opens Instagram. The last picture posted on his Instagram was of him with Jun from 2PM drinking soju in Korea. Nothing about filming, nothing about being in America, and nothing about his happenings. She knows how monitored and filtered his life is on social media. The only thing that he has control over is his Facebook page. But that is mainly because he made it when they were still in high school, back when users had to be invited to join and can still throw sheep at each other.

On Rachel's Facebook, she has 158 notifications.

Damn, I'm really bad at keeping up with social media.

She searches for his account and the last picture posted was him at Miami-Dade with the caption:

STAYING HUMBLE IS A FULL-CONTACT SPORT.

She chuckles a little knowing that he likes to pretend to be bougie. They would make fun of those types of people, the ones who would post for attention. But anyways, alas, nothing about New York, and no messages from him. Every time she has sent him messages before, he hasn't answered. So humiliating. He probably thinks she is desperate. For the record, she's not. They only had a thing that could have been more like one-ish times, and it was the best time she has ever had, but it ended when he had to fly back to Korea, and Rachel back to Canada. Their lives resumed to reality.

Rachel desperately needs to shower. She smells like airplane. The bathroom is sleek and modern with a double sink. She has already taken up half of the vanity for her skincare. Got to keep up appearances, ya know? Otherwise, her PR department will find out. She runs the shower and goes into the closet to look for an outfit that would be appropriate enough for a cocktail on a rooftop bar. The emerald green sheath dress by Calvin Klein might be the ticket. After a quick shower, change, and makeup, the clock says 8:25 pm. Still, time to go up to meet some peers. Rachel puts her hair in a high bun, that way she doesn't have to let it dry completely.

She takes the elevator down to the lobby of the hotel and follows the signs to the bar. This leads her to yet another elevator that goes up. She is getting a bad feeling about this now. Nothing can just be easy. The elevator is quiet going up, and she takes full advantage of the silence. The last few seconds of serenity before the chaos.

The doors open and reveal an incredible sight. String lights decorating the terrace, the bar, and the gazebo.

Wow.

She hasn't been to a place like this in a while. Since Paris, probably. It kind of reminds her of Il Volo in Paris on Rue de Vaugirard. The beautiful weather, the aesthetic. She does love this kind of night. Very romantic. She wasn't the only person to think that since there are couples littering the booths and open chairs on the terrace. She guesses this is the place where young couples go now. She low key understands the appeal. The ambiance is romantic, the music is just quiet enough to be intimate. This is not what she was expecting at all. There are no way convention-goers will be at a place like this. A small relief.

This is great news for her. She decides to have only one drink to say that she did it, and then go back to the comfort of room 4017 and the warm bed that awaits her there. There were groups of people standing at various high-top tables surrounding the bar. She looks back and smiles a little at the group of guys sitting since they all stared at her when she entered their personal space to get to the bar. They dressed too well to be straight. She guesses they can also be European.

"Girl, I love this look for you," the blonde one says.

"Hmm, yes. Professional chic," the Latino one says.

The third, an Asian man, stays quiet and stares at me as if he has seen me before. Yep, she called it. Those two are gay, the third is still unknown, but it doesn't matter. He is on his phone anyways. He definitely spends time in the gym. She gets some sort of security or police officer vibes off him. Maybe military?

"What will you have, babes?" the bartender says.

"A martini, please, 2 olives".

The men over at the table look impressed by her order. As the bartender was making Rachels drink she faced the group of guys.

"You don't think this is a little too dressed for this type of place? Everyone else is very stylish," she asked.

"Girl, your look is timeless. Sheath dresses will never go out of style and it fits your figure perfectly," the blonde one said again.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," she told him. They laughed hysterically. It could have been the alcohol was flowing freely, or it could have been Rachel's charming behavior, but the group opened their circle to invite her into the now empty space they created for her at the table.

"I like you, what's your name," the blonde said.

"Rachel," she went in for a handshake.

"Rachel, I'm Kevin," The blonde said and reciprocated my shake. He pointed at the Asian. "This is Daniel, and this is Pascal," now pointing to the Latino.

"Hi", she said with a little bow. Daniel seemed disinterested, he was furiously texting now and almost ignoring her. She has not seen someone text with such vigor.

"Your martini, 2 olives," the bartender said, "do you want me to charge it to your room?"

"4017 please, thank you".

Rachel looks back over to the table of her new acquaintances, "Well men, have a good night, make good choices." They laughed even louder, everyone except for stickler not-fun-at-all, Daniel.

"Honey we always do!" Pascal said very loudly with a laugh. They seem to be having a good time.