You look down as you try to position the yellow and blue ball correctly in your hands. This is it. This feeling of perfection. That moment when you feel than anything that’ll hit your wrist is going to end up in the right direction. You throw the ball high up in the air and begin your sprint.

Just as you had expected, the ball landed in the far right corner. The amateurish opponents had no chance. It didn’t surprise you at all, considering you’re already 7 and 0. The sun was shining bright and the air was dry. It hasn’t been raining for weeks and the heat was causing your shirt to darken in sweat. It was a good day to play your game and besides, you figured you wouldn’t have much to do anyways.

You managed to win the game as expected, but you decided the early win meant you could gain some extra practice afterwards. After all, you weren’t entirely convinced you smashed the service with enough power. Just as you get ready to slam the ball, you felt a lil sting on your wrist and rocket the ball into the distance. “KYAAA!” you heard someone scream and immediately you knew something went wrong. You sprint towards the direction of the voice.

“Ah.. are you okay?” you ask concernedly as you run around the bushes. You stop in your tracks when you see a girl standing there with your ball in her hands. Your eyes widen with disbelief as you begin to recognize the holy grail of mankind. It was Kim Taeyeon from Girls Generation. You pinch your cheeks to confirm reality from the dream, but the pain tells you it had to be real. She slowly approaches you and hands you the ball. You quickly bow and tell her you’re really sorry for it. She just chuckles and tells you “난 괜찮아. I’m okay.” Her accented voice makes you chuckle too. You watch her smile.

It’s been a while since you last felt this way. The joy of meeting someone special. Taeyeon never minded your lil attack on her. Instead she tells you that it must be fate in some way that the two of you met like this and invited you to join her in her free time. As you walk around your neighbourhood, Taeyeon tells you that she’s here for a commercial shoot, but that she’s taken an extra day off to enjoy the island for herself a bit. You could tell that’s true considering that she’s looking really casual in her white flowery summer dress and matching heels. Gorgeous, just as you’d imagine it to be when you first saw her on Youtube.

She wasn’t entirely sure where to go. Seeing her fumble around with her map made you smile. You suggest that you could guide her around too if she was willing. She nods. There generally much to see around your area, so you decided to just show her the places you hung around at. Taeyeon didn’t seem to mind. She was loving the nice weather. The suburban Filipino scenery was a nice change from the things the popstar usually went to. Correction, was told to go.

You hear a phone call coming from her handbag. The girl holds the phone and gestures that she’s gotta pick it up. You give her an affirming nod. The sudden phone call probably means she’s gotta leave soon. You can’t deny your slight disappointment. The day has been too amazing to end, but you’d understand if she had other things to do. People are busy, right?

She comes back and tells you she’s gotta go because she has dinner plans and her manager just wants to know that she’s safe. After all, the Philippines can be a rough place to be in. You agree and thank her for giving you a wonderful time. You sadly walk away before you feel a tap on your shoulders. “Would you want to have dinner with me?” she asks. The question left you in a stammer. It’s not possible for the girl you have worshipped for years to be asking you out, right? You look at her and see her twinkling eyes awaiting your reaction. You tell her you’d love to and she heaves a sigh of relief, almost like it was her who had been the more nervous person.

She brings you back to her hotel. Two men were standing guard at the front door of the royal suite. She hold onto the phone and asks you what you wanna eat, but you shrug and tell her that everything is fine. She shakes her head and tells you that she didn’t know either, but that she wanted to try the local goods. She hands you the phone and asks you to introduce her to some nice Filipino dishes. Reluctantly, you take up the offer and ask the receptionist for a couple of typical dishes to eat.

The food arrives quickly, served on a silver platter by a properly dressed waiter just as you had seen in the movies. As they open up the cover, beautifully cooked dishes were caressing the palates in your mouth and you can’t help yourself from drooling. Taeyeon laughs as she is amazed by your apparent hunger for high classed food. “먹자” she says as she gestures for you to dig in.

The two of you start eating. You are amazed by her eating manners which for the top star in Korea is somewhat… uncivilized. Some adobo on the left, lechon on the right, then a mouth of bulalo, it was like the girl has never eaten in the past several months. Not to mention her craving for alcohol. I mean, this girl could drink. One bottle, two bottles, three bottles. The more she drunk, the hungrier she got. You wonder how someone of this petite size could possibly eat as much as she did. Somehow that was what had happened.

After the dinner, the two of you laid on the bed, exhausted from trying to finish all the dishes that you had obviously ordered too much of. You’re holding onto your tummy like your life depends on it. The two begin to laugh at your silliness. As you turn around to look at her, she thanks you again for giving her such a wonderful time. Her eyes told you she loved every bit of it.

As you turn to the other side, you could feel an arm wrapped around your body. The girl was obviously drunk and was now holding you like a teddy bear. Her snores were loud, but you didn’t care. You were too tired to care. The warmth she exudes over the smell of alcohol had been something you have missed for a long time. Something that you had been wishing someone would do to you. Now it finally did and soon you too are drowned into a deep deep slumber.

By the time you wake up, the room had been emptied. Taeyeon was nowhere to be seen and all the food had been removed from the room. You were once again left on your own. As you turn to the other side, you find a note resting on cashmere pillow.

Hi Billy,

My apologies for leaving without a notice. I had to hurry to the airport and I didn’t want you to wake up unnecessarily. I had a lovely time with you. Thanks to you, I saw a very different beauty that I couldn’t have seen otherwise in the Philippines. The food tasted great too. I couldn’t have wished for a better experience than the one I had with you.

On the other side is my number. If you ever come to Korea, please give me a call. I will come and pick you up.

Thank you for being my friend and I’m sorry for acting strangely yesterday night. I am glad I had someone to accompany with during this time and not make me feel lonely.

Thank you Billy for everything.

Love,
Kim Taeyeon.

-ps. I had my manager write this in English for me. If there’s something wrong, let me know and I’ll kick his butt.