a beautiful man...

There's this really beautiful guy that I haven't seen in person but I can just go nuts imagining that one day he'll sweep me off my feet and our story goes on to happily ever after.

Foolish me to even think that it can go further than watching him on the tube. Then again that's the massive gift of imagination. It can take you places and give you the pleasure of meeting people behind those faces. Nothing and no one can stop you from knowing and feeling the person.

And so I met him in New York a couple of summers ago during one of his long breaks from work. I was reading a book on a bench at central park and he was circling the place taking pictures of whatever or whoever caught his eye. When I felt that the glare of the sun was too much for me I decided to head home. Holding a book in one hand and a can of pineapple orange juice in the other, I got up from the bench. He was too engrossed clicking his cam while walking. Not surprisingly, we slammed into each other. And for a tall hefty guy to hit me, I was easily knocked down.

That same day, around noon, I was rushing down the subway as I was already late for a meeting. I hurriedly went in as the place was packed and positioned myself standing and clinging at a steel pole for support during the ride. We just started moving when he tapped me at the back, nods and directed me to a seat he just vacated. We smiled, nodded and I thanked him as I took his seat. At the next stop, he looked my way, smiled and nods again and got off.

I was so exhausted from my meeting that went on for hours from lunch to late in the afternoon that I decided to eat out for supper. I went for a quick nap, then took a bath and changed before I went out that evening feeling refreshed. It was almost 7 when I left the apartment and walked to this small resto bar that I regularly eat when I don't feel like cooking. I sat in my regular table and not long after I ordered, there he was again in front of me holding a bottle of drink, smiling.

When I looked up to him, he immediately introduced himself shyly. We didn't get to those opening lines during our earlier encounters. He asked if I was with someone and if not, if it was okay for him to join me. He was a welcome company of course. He looked Asian and I figured that with the constant nodding and the accent, he must have been Chinese, Japanese or Korean.

We talked about the incidents of our meetings and laughed realizing that it was the third time that our paths crossed that day. I instantly felt at ease chatting with him and though we were both Asians, we communicated in English as I don't understand a single Korean word then. We had a great time that night and it was more gratifying for me considering he paid the bill. We lost track of time that it was late when he walked me home to my place. Incidentally, he was just staying at an apartment a block away from where I live.

We met again almost every day after that. He was a sporty kind of guy so he became my badminton and running buddy in most of my mornings and we hang out a lot in the evenings to eat at different places, watch movies or just go sightseeing. I learned a few Korean words from him and he picks up fast in learning my dialect. A month later, he was set to go back home and requested that I drive him to the airport when he leaves.

After unloading his luggage from the car at the airport that day, he turned to me and handed me a piece of paper, sort of a claim slip. He said that he left something for me at a photo developing center near my place. He asked me to pick it up on the way home as it was already finished and paid for. He didn't tell me what it was but he said it's something I might like. Before he went in the terminal, we kissed, hugged, smiled, nodded again and he walked away.

'It was just the thing that will not pass my mind' - I mused and sighed... As instructed, I passed by the developing center and picked up what he left me. I was guessing it probably was a framed photo of a picture that he took during his brief stay. As soon as I reached my place, I hurriedly unwrapped the thing and excitedly pulled it out from it's box.

I smiled when I saw it... a picture of me sitting on a bench at central park reading a book.

At the back of the frame he wrote:

I saw you first...
I will see you again...
- Bae Yong Joon

The capacity
of our imagination
is boundless
and it has led me
to meet such
a beautiful man.