She tightened her autumn coloured coat as the cold breeze crept in. A long exhale slipped off her pale pink lips. Gongju wasn’t that much of an entertainment for tourism, yet she felt like she could spend another hours walking around the area. It was her third visit to the place, only to walk around, enjoy the air, and walk all around again. She wandered from one alley to the other, looking at each house, guessing. ‘Could it be the one, or was it the one next to it?’ were the questions which she couldn’t help popping in her head.

The long brown haired girl closed her eyes as she recalled to a specific incident a couple years ago, when she was in London, visiting her grandparents. Being a Korean-English born, she and her family would always go to London twice a year to pay their elders a visit. It was an ordinary rainy day in London, when she bumped in to a lost tourist.

The scene was playing vividly in her mind…

“Ah!” she felt a hit on her left arm. She looked back only to find a guilty yet shocked pair of eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’m very sorry…” he apologized. She knew he couldn’t speak English right at the moment from his awkward pronunciation. He bowed twice—which made her suspect he was a Korean too, for bowing was very common in the society.

She tested her hunch by replying in Korean, “It’s okay.”

She got the answer right away as his eyes goggled in surprise. “Are you a Korean?” he asked. She nodded with a smile as an answer.

“Oh, thank goodness. I’m a tourist here, and I got lost. Do you know where this café is?” he talked more freely as he showed her a picture of a café. It was unexpectedly her favourite café, so she took him there.

“You don’t have to walk me there, though. You can just show me the direction,” he said, worrying himself might be a burden to her.

She was chuckling when she shook her head. “No, it’s totally fine. Besides, it’s not that far, and I’m heading that way anyway.”

He seemed hesitant for a second, but he was reassured as soon as he saw her smile. Just then she realized how breathtaking his smile was. In fact, she found herself almost falling for the smile. Or so she thought, as she denied the sudden fastening heartbeat.

They already reached the place before she knew it. She told him to get in as she reached out her hand for a farewell.

He took that hand and held it tightly. “Thank you very much for all the trouble taking me here,” he said with a smile which made her heart throbbed.

She was about to open when he continued, “May I know your name? I realized we didn’t get to greet each other properly.”

A smile was carved across her face when she replied, “Jang Mi. Han Jang Mi.”

“Kim Jaejoong,” he said.

She would stay for another minute, but she knew that was just one encounter which life let to happen. So she bid her goodbye.

“Well then, take care, Jaejoong-sshi. Don’t get lost,” she said before she left.

She opened her eyes as she smiled rather bitterly. It was only a week after that moment of encounter when she found out he was a well-known star. Super famous, even. Having to move from one country to another for her entire life—thanks to her ambassador father—made her hardly aware of those Korean stars. She had been living in Korea for only a year, and her neighborhood was all but Koreans.

And so she tried to get to know him, which then she found out Gongju was his hometown. After that, she found herself already visiting Gongju for the third time, wandering around without knowing what exactly to expect.

Actually she did know what she was expecting. She was only expecting for another encounter. She was only expecting to see that smile again.