Meeting Park Junkuk

His name is Park Junkuk. You can call him Chris as he prefers English. We met at an international party located in the middle of downtown Seoul. I remember walking into the large room and feeling overwhelmed by the number of people who attended. Following my friends, I placed my bag onto the bench cushion and sat down. On the table were two large pitchers of beer, five bottles of soju, and a tray of yummy snacks. I began to pour myself a beer, when my Korean friend reached over, smiled, and filled my glass for me (as is the Korean custom to allow your friends to pour your drink). With each sip I began to relax and noticed the bright ambiance of color. Good beer, good friends.

Then I noticed him. He was sitting at the table next to mine, wearing a blueish t-shirt with yellow lettering, 'Heritage.' He had a strong jaw, thick black hair, and sharp eyes. He looked very calm. By this time, everyone at the table was playing a game of gung gung chil (007, as in James Bond). It's pretty fun to play while drinking, especially when in the good company of Koreans. How you play is this. You start by sitting in a circle or around a table with your friends. You point your finger at a friend and say, "Gung." Then, they point their finger at a new friend and say, "Gung." The third person points at another friend and says, "Chil." The last person points their finger at someone else and says, "Bang." But here's the catch... the friends sitting next to this person have to hold up their hands like a stick 'em up. The slower person takes a drink, and if the person who was pointed at raises their hands by accident, well, they take a drink too. It's supposed to go very fast and so your reflexes have to be strong.

So later on at the event, I was mingling around the floor. Then, I saw him. At that time I didn't know who he was, but I thought I would smile at him to see what would happen. After all, I couldn't just assume he spoke English because he was at the international party. I'd met plenty of goers who have limited speaking abilities when it comes to English. Ok, so I walked up to him and smiled. He read my name tag, "Amanda?" Good. "Ohhh, hi," I believe were my exact words.

The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur, but we followed each other around from spot to spot in the company of our friends. Seoul is a city that never sleeps. Restaurants and bars stay open until the break of dawn. We were sitting down at a small restaurant and ordering bowls of spicy noodles. He passed me a set of chopsticks. I was hypnotized as I watched the long, curly noodles slide from the bowl to his mouth in long, smooth slurps. Over a bowl of noodles in a cozy corner, we decided it was time to go home. It was nearly 6 am. I said, "Nice meeting you," and followed my friends to the taxi. I sat near the window and peered through it to catch of glimpse of that kind and handsome man called Chris. I watched him walk towards to subway train. His brown messenger bag was slung over his back. His strong muscles filled out his snug t-shirt. Will I ever see you again? I wonder.

Two days passed. I remember I was walking home from a day of shopping and had just exited the subway. My phone started to ring and I didn't recognize the number on the caller ID, but somehow I knew it was Chris calling.

"Hello?" I smiled.
"Amanda? Do you know who is this?" I could hear him smiling.
"Yesssss." I did.
"Who is this?" He wanted to make sure.
"It's Chris, I think."
"Wow. You remember that. Did you have good day?"
"Yesssss, I went shopping. I bought some new shoes. It was very fun." Just ask me.
"That's good. Good. So, you want have dinner with me?" I could still hear his smile.
"Yesssss." Yesssss. Yessssss.
"Good. Next weekend? I call you back. Have good night."
"Sounds good. Have a good night," I was too thrilled to know I would be seeing him again.