UNISTAR : Invisible Moon [English Version]

ลำดับตอนที่ #6 : Chapter 4 : The Moon Behind The Clouds

Invisible Moon
 

Chapter 4

The Moon Behind The Clouds

"Invisible Moon...might be the moon that shined behind the clouds"

#WINisWIND

If you asked what P'In was like, everyone would say that P'In was the Invisible Moon.

But for me, P'In was like the light that shone brightly, unhidden and unfiltered.

After the orientation session ended — today was the first day, so there weren't many activities — I bought a take-away meal and went back to my dormitory. Then, I just played on my phone as there was nothing else to do.

It was my first time using Instagram to follow celebrities. Before this, I just signed up for an account and that was all. I didn't open it that much — zero followers — no matter how much I updated, nobody would see anyway.

But today, I was just interested in P'In. I wanted to know how a person like P'In posted on his account, which was followed by millions.

I found that his IG was distinctive, unlike other celebrities' accounts.

His Instagram was aesthetically pleasing, even without any of his selfies or portraits.

Most photos were of trees, flowers, birds, animals, nature and buildings, things that everyone could see daily. However, he also took shots of beautiful views that many people might not notice.

For instance, a picture of the grass that I saw every day, but the shot he took highlighted the leaf of the grass with its dew, accentuated by the morning orange sky in the background. The colours and tone were in harmony. Sometimes he took photos of a building or the tiles on the floor or the head of a pipe, with a beautiful contrast between light and shadow. Other times it would be things that most people overlooked, such as the stain on the floor, which created beautiful patterns.

P'In posted photos on Instagram without any captions and had never replied to any comments.

However, his IG could relieve people from stress and boredom.

What kind of person was P'In? A person who could view something as common as nature in such a beautiful way. P'In was probably very gentle and attentive, just that he had never shown off.

I eventually understood the meaning of 'update thrice a day' that P'In had said. Every UNISTAR member should update their IG or Twitter at least three times a day. Most members would update photos, tweets or posts on Facebook fan pages. However, other than on his IG, P'In had never posted anything by himself. And, even though he had hundreds of thousands of followers on IG, P'In didn't follow anyone.

Almost all the posts on P'In's Facebook fan page might have been posted by admins or staff from his agency. The posts were mostly about UNISTAR news, activities and live events. He didn't tweet anything on his Twitter as well, only retweeted others. He mostly retweeted for helping other people such as missing dogs or cats, donating money to support patients in need or about various charitable foundations.

In the past, I had the perception that all celebrities were very lucky - good-looking and always getting attention. But P'In had completely changed my mind for now.

One thing I could say was; P'In didn't become an idol because of any popularity or reputation.

P'In did it for something.

I was getting more and more curious about P'In, so I searched the hashtag #InvisibleMoon, which was flooded with tweets from fans. There were many interesting posts that wrote something like:

This world is In @abcdefg

The donation of the Intrakorn funding to develop careers in rural communities has already reached a hundred thousand baht. Thank you all DomKati for your cooperation. We will keep supporting N'In. #InvisibleMoon #UNISTAR

'DomKati' was the name of P'In's Fanclub, since P'In loved to eat all types of cuisine that had coconut milk (Kati) as an ingredient. So naturally, all his fans loved to eat those too. Some fans even opened shops selling food or desserts made from coconut milk, hoping that someday P'In might become a customer. P'In popularised Thai traditional food and desserts without even realising it.

Another thing about Intrakorn funding, I found that it was established by P'In's fanclub. This project was created after P'In had an interview on a TV programme. He was asked something like: 'If you have a lot of money, how are you going to use it?' P'In answered that he wanted to help people living in rural areas to earn income within their community, so they didn't have to leave their hometown to work in the city. P'In also said that he lived with his grandmother in the countryside since he was a child, and he knew that many villagers were very skilful in local art, crafting and culinary but they didn't know how to market their crafts.

That's the only thing P'In said and his fans voluntarily made this project a reality. P'In also helped to promote it.

I found one video where P'In was interviewed about the Intrakorn funding project.

"I just thought about it, but my fans did everything. Thank you very much."

"P'In is a very strange person." I muttered after I finished watching.

P'In kept it short, didn't show off, and didn't even seem to want any credit for this. P'In gave all the credit to his fans.

So P'In became popular because of this reason? I couldn't help but wonder.

And this wasn't the only project. There were plenty others — his fans created them without P'In saying any word as well — including an almshouse, food distribution, animal protector, elderly and disabled caregivers, donation of funds for Thai cultural foundation, reforestation and environment conservation, and so on.

I was still curious as to why his fans were so willing to organise these charity projects for him. I continued searching and finally understood that because P'In did all of these regularly, he was communicating with his fans without using words or advertisements, only by his actions.

P'In is nirvana @hijklmn

My brother is a veterinarian, he met P'In carrying an injured stray dog — hit by a car - to the animal hospital. Oh! if I knew earlier I would have asked my brother to snap P'In's photo. #InvisibleMoon #UNISTAR

Kati jaa @katikati

Please look at this photo. Is that P'In? Someone saw P'In buying the flowers to help a poor blind elderly. #InvisibleMoon #UNISTAR

My Invisible Husband @inininin

This morning my friend saw a very handsome college student giving food to a homeless person — around the pedestrian near XU - that student must be P'In! #InvisibleMoon #UNISTAR

loving playing music @anniann

Yesterday I was trying to find donors for my Thai musical band funding. Suddenly, I received a thousand-baht banknote from nowhere. One woman nearby said a handsome college student gave it to me, but he left right after that. Is that P'In? *scream* *happy* #InvisibleMoon #UNISTAR

After going through countless tweets, I didn't know how to feel.

P'In himself had never told, posted or promoted people to do charity, he only did many things without telling anyone. Others found out about the things he did because they accidentally saw him doing them. P'In wasn't invisible to me, but most people couldn't see because P'In tended to stay in the blind spot, blended in the surroundings. If some people didn't have introverted or observing habits, or they were there when he wasn't intending to hide, they might not see P'In at all. Seeing him in public was such a lucky coincidence.

Nevertheless, even if it was only a coincidence, there were still many good stories about P'In. I couldn't imagine how much good P'In actually did.

I thought of when P'In did the cleaning job alone, and no one knew.

What kind of person was P'In? The more I found out, the more interested I became. P'In wasn't like anybody I had ever met.

I continued to scroll through twitter and found another tweet.

Wanna have hubby Intrakorn @myhusbandisin

Tmr at 6 am, DomKati will meet in front of the temple nearby XU. Pls dress appropriately and mind your manners. This giving alms to a monk is really important to N'In. We must respect this, please follow the rules. #InvisibleMoon #UNISTAR

'P'In will give alms to a monk?' I thought.

I could conclude from the comments that it wasn't easy to meet P'In in daily life. If it wasn't a special event or a fanmeet, it would be almost impossible to meet him, as P'In was the Invisible Moon. The only exception was every morning when P'In came to give alms to a monk. P'In would appear for 5-10 minutes — like a shooting star that appeared only for a few seconds — which was a good chance for the fans to look at P'In.

Someone uploaded photos which showed a large group of fans praying for blessings with P'In - no one bothered him. All the fans gave way for P'In to give alms to a monk and made a libation peacefully until he was done - he didn't even need a bodyguard.

The reason his fans acted this politely, even though they all yearned to see P'In, could be explained. It's because once, there were some fans who didn't keep their manners and got blamed.

IN FC @intrakornFC

Bored with some rude fans. Don't you know? P'In gives alms to dedicate to his late parents. If you don't respect your idol, you should at least respect the deceased.

"P'In doesn't have parents anymore?" I mumbled. That might be the reason why P'In was always emotionless.

Although I was a fading person in my family, at least my parents didn't forget to give me money or food. I could also still discuss things with them sometimes. My life wasn't that difficult. But for P'In who didn't have parents anymore, it must be really sad.

After using my phone for a long time, I laid down on my bed. There's another orientation session tomorrow and I need to join the session at 10 a.m. It might take a long time and end late in the afternoon.

'Should I go and see P'In give alms in the morning?'

Since it was only my second night in this dormitory, I was still unfamiliar with the place. I stayed awake on the first night and today I woke up around 5 a.m. I remembered that P'In would be giving alms to the monk every morning. I was lazily lying and rolling around on my bed for a while, but couldn't continue to sleep. So I decided to get up.

"Just go for a stroll. It won't cost anything." I told myself. It was good to get up early and go for a walk. Once the semester commenced, I wouldn't be as free as this anymore.

So I got ready and got out of my dorm. There was a small temple near my university, and many peddlers were selling food around it. People could buy food here for breakfast or for the monks' alms.

What surprised me was the dozens of young women waiting here. Some also carried the light placards —'Intrakorn FC' and 'DomKati' — but most of them were buying food for alms.

Because I was a fading person, I could easily insert myself into this group. It had been so long since I had participated in giving alms for the monks, the last time was probably during a Buddhist ceremony at my old school. Since I had already gotten up early, I bought some food for the monk's alms. I chose my all time favourite — sticky rice with shredded pork - and waited for the time.

Would P'In really come? I thought. But the fans were patiently waiting.

"What dishes do you think P'In made for the alms today?"

"Well, the day before yesterday, P'In made coconut milk noodles. And yesterday he made sticky rice desserts. They looked so yummy!"

"Do you mean P'In looks yum?"

"That's right. Ah~"

"I wanna taste P'In, oops...! The meal P'In made."

"Yeah, I watched the TV programme, 'Moons in the kitchen', when I saw P'Wayu eating P'In's dishes, oh my God, it made me salivate!"

So based on what they are saying, P'In cooked them himself every time? He might need to get up at 4 or 5 a.m. every day! Oh, and P'In was actually able to cook? The fans just said the TV programme was called 'Moons in the kitchen'? I must watch it when I have time.

"P'In is here! Arhh~"

Suddenly, the fans screamed, making me turn to look.

Oh, P'In actually came.

P'In wore casual clothes, not a uniform as the semester hadn't commenced. However, it was a casual piece from the Maxxwell brand — a subsidiary of MW Inc. – which UNISTAR acts as the brand ambassador. I assumed that the company might have given him complimentary clothes, so he couldn't wear other brands when he wasn't wearing the university uniform.

I saw P'In carrying a plastic bag, inside it were nine boxes of appetising food — Thai rice with green curry and fried ground pork.

"Must be green curry with coconut shoots."

"P'In mainly cooks coconut milk dishes."

"I wanna be 'green' in the curry, so P'In can 'carry' me. Ahh~"

"What was that homophone joke? Did you copy P'Wayu?"

"Please be quiet."

The fans' babbling voices became silent when P'In placed the food he prepared in the monk's alms bowl.

After he was done, the fans did the same. Many monks were waiting for the alms in front of the temple.

Generally, when giving alms to one monk, that monk would pray blessings after that. However, P'In and his fans might have come here too often, as it seemed like every monk was waiting for everyone to finish before starting to pray the blessings.

Then, I joined in giving alms.

P'In was also waiting. Some of his fans greeted him with a smile or a wave, but his face was still emotionless, only a few reactions — nodding slightly. But this was enough to excite his fans.

After the fans were done, every monk was preparing to pray. All fans bent their bodies down and raised their hands in salute to pay respect. P'In as well.

"Please pay attention to the blessings." One monk said.

"Believe me, when it comes to merit, the one who does it will be the one who gets it. Please don't do it to wish for becoming his girlfriend or getting married to him. This is all about destiny. If you two are soulmates, then you will become a couple. If it isn't meant to be, it just isn't. It's not something we can decide. When you give the alms, it is for making the merit. You do a good thing, then good things will come to you."

This monk sermoned for quite a while and then began to pray the blessings. P'In attentively raised his hands to pay respect, at that moment, I heard his fans whisper.

"Oh no, his sermon hit my weak spot."

"Yeah, how does the monk know that we want P'In?"

"Even if we do this for a thousand days, if we aren't P'In's soulmate, then there is no hope at all?"

Well, I thought the monk probably saw P'In and the same group of fans every day, so he preached like that hoping that the fans would realise the truth. So they should do a good thing without too many expectations and suffer in the end.

After the monks finished praying, P'In was already gone. Many fans were looking for P'In but failed, so they dispersed. However, when I looked carefully, I found that P'In was pouring water for libation behind the big tree near the fence.

While I was looking at P'In, I heard the fans talking.

"Will you go to the Maxxwell event this evening?"

"Of course! I wanna see P'In again. Ah~"

"Yeah, going to see my husband walking on the runway, he'd be so mesmerising."

Oh right, I saw an announcement on the UNISTAR official page informing that today all UNISTAR members would be joining the event at the city centre mall, launching a new fashion collection as they were the Maxxwell brand ambassadors.

I didn't know what time the orientation session would end today. I usually wasn't interested in celebrities, so I couldn't understand why I was so interested in P'In.

Eh! Where is P'In going?

I saw P'In walking to another tree and took two plastic bags. Inside one of them was two more boxes of prepared meals, but I couldn't see the contents of the other bag. Then, he walked across the road.

Was he going to give another alms? I thought. But he might not be because he was already done. Then, where was he taking the meal?

I saw the time on my phone - it's only half-past six. The orientation session would start around 10 a.m., so I still had time.

Since I was already here, I figured following him a little more might be alright.

☽------------☽