Click, Click, Click.

    My finger hits the button several times to capture the beautiful scenery. I stood on a pathway that many people used for exercising. The pathway rounded the Hans River that divided the two Koreas.

    The lake itself was so large that I read was the fourth longest river here. There were several boats that were going up and down the lake. A huge bridge overlooked part of the lake to connect the two Koreas.

    Reviewing the photos taken, I sigh with frustration. I just couldn’t get the perfect picture. I try different angles, snapping more and more pictures. Standing, sitting, jumping, and even laying down on the ground to get different shots when finally, after loading up my sd card with tons of pictures, I capture a nice picture.

    All of the pictures were nice, but this one was beyond nice. It captured what my eyes saw. It wasn’t just high quality; It was perfect quality.

    Finally satisfied with the photo, I let the camera hang from my neck and I stretch to get my unused muscles.

    I pack up the camera equipment like the extra lens and place them in their respective spots in the small bag that came with it when I bought it. It wasn’t until I zipped everything up that I noticed a young man to my left.

    My camera still hung at my neck and my hand itched to lift it to snap a picture.

    The young man was like an angel that came to torture me. His perfect features highlighted his beautiful face. And on top of that, he was humming a beautiful song that I didn’t know.

    Before I knew it, my camera was up and my eye was looking at the young man through the focus. And my finger hit the capture button.

    Kachick! goes my camera and I air through my clenched teeth hoping that the sound was not heard.

    The man glances over and I mentally slap myself. He stopped humming and approached me.

    I put my hand up. “Sorry. I’ll delete it!”

    “Wait,” the man says in Korean. I could only understand him because I minored in several languages and Korean was one of them. I only knew the basics in other few languages, but I took interest in Korean specifically and took more classes in it. I would say that my Korean was pretty good.

    I took a moment and replied in Korean, “I’m really sorry. Uh,” and then in English, “Delete? … Picture?”

    He shakes his head. In English, with an accent, “It’s okay. Chen.”

    It took me a moment that he was introducing himself and I take his offered hand. “I’m Tessa.”

    “Do you speak Korean?” he asks in his native language. He gives me an encouraging smile.

    “A little bit,” I reply in Korean.

    “Do you want a picture?” he asks.

    “No, I got it,” I say with a nervous smile.

    “You don’t know who I am, do you?” he asks with a curious gaze. When he registers my confused look, he takes my hand -- the one not carrying my equipment bag -- and leads me through the pathway and up to the sidewalk where a bunch of cars were parked.

    “Um, where are you taking me?” It probably should have registered into my mind earlier, but I was being led somewhere by a stranger named Chen. I probably should have been feeling threatened or a red light should have sounded in my head, but he didn’t make me feel anything like that. I was actually interested to where we were going and who he was.

    “Here,” he says and leads me into a coffee shop. “It’s my hyung’s shop. It’s been a dream of his to open one.” It took me a moment to comprehend what he said, but I got the jist of it. “Sit and wait a moment.”

    I take a seat by the window while he went to the young man at the counter. They seemed to be close and I suspected that it must have been his hyung.

    He comes back with two small coffees and hands me one, taking a seat on the other side of the table. Smiling, he seemed to be waiting for something. And then I realized that he was waiting for me to taste the coffee and I hurry to grab it, nearly spilling it.

    Lifting it up to my lips, I take a small sip. I was surprised in how it tasted. It was clearly coffee and yet it also didn’t taste like it at all!

    I couldn’t keep the surprise off my face and Chen seemed to have noticed with the delighted smile he had on his face. Clearing my throat, I set the coffee down and ask, “Who is he?” in Korean.

    “My hyung. He’s Xiumin.”

    “Oh,” was all I could say.

    “Do you like it?” he asks.

    I nod. “It’s good.” He grins and puts out his hand. Confused, I give him a high five and he laughs. Shaking his head, he points to the camera hung around my neck.

    It wasn’t as though I was protective of my camera, though I was, or reluctant to give it to a stranger, but many people didn’t understand the point or the reason behind taking so many pictures of one scenery. One picture never looked the same as another, but to other people, it was just a waste of space.

    I suppose I was ready to be criticized when I handed Chen my camera. To my surprise, he turned the camera to show me the latest picture I took, which was him.

    I felt my face burn up and quickly say, “I’ll delete it, I promise. I’m really sorry I took a picture of you without asking. I usually don’t do that kind of stuff.” I realized that I was rambling on in English, but he seemed to understand well enough.

    “I like it,” he says with a smile. “Do you want to take more?”

    “I’ve never really taken pictures of people before,” I admit. “I only capture scenery.”

    “I’m good at modelling,” he grins as though it was a joke of some sorts. “Hyung can attest to that.”

    “Okay,” I say finally. It could have been good practice for me. Who knew where my future led me?

    “Come.” He takes my hand and leads me to the back. I hadn’t finished my coffee and was disappointed that I didn’t get to drink more before he led me off to some other place. It turns out, we just went to the back of the coffee shop.

    The back was stored with boxes and boxes of supplies that were needed to make delicious coffee.

    But we didn’t stop. Through the back and up a flight of stairs and then out through a door, I found myself on a balcony that overlooked come of the buildings with the Hans River in the back. It was a beautiful sight.

    And then, to my surprise, Chen started posing and I found myself snapping pictures before I could even comprehend what was happening. I was in a daze that afternoon, laughing along with him as I took pictures.

    That night, Chen saw me off to my hotel that I was staying at for a couple of days. It was my last day in Korea before I flew off to Paris to take more pictures. It was disappointing that I would no longer meet that handsome man again, but I had the memories in my camera, which was more than I could have hoped for.

    On the plane ride to Paris, I uploaded all the pictures onto my laptop from my camera, reviewing it all. I also did some reasearch and found that Chen was in a group named Exo. Oh how surprised and disappointed I was at the news. Especially when I didn’t even get an autograph.

    I looked through the pictures, however on the plane. All the pictures I took were beautiful. The scenery and Chen. But there was just one picture that was perfect. He was so natural in this pose looking over the Hans river. It was the first one I ever took of him.