Love From Afar ~ Eric Nam

Chapter 2

On July 18, 2022 I'm on my way to the airport to fly out of the country all by myself for the first time. I'll be flying from San Francisco, California to Seoul, South Korea. This is something I've always wanted to do. I've always wanted to go to South Korea. I just didn't expect to go all alone. I saved up enough money over the past summer to buy myself a plane ticket, cover my accommodation for the two to three weeks I'll be there, and spending money to buy some stuff while I'm there. I'm quite proud of myself that I saved up a total of $5,000 for this trip to Korea. It'll give me the financial freedom to do a lot. That aside, I'm so excited to be going on this trip to Korea. One of my dreams is finally coming true.

I board my plane bound for Seoul, South Korea. I'm flying with Korea Air. The flight will be around 12 hours. I sit at my window seat and watch as the ground below me disappears and the plane soars into the clouds. I set my phone to airplane mode and put in my headphones. I start listening to Eric's album Before We Begin. His sweet vocals fill my head for the first 25 minutes of my flight. Then, I listen to There and Back Again. This has got to be one of my favorite Eric Nam albums. It's got bops and emotional songs that would make you cry. I just love this album.

*12 Hours Later*
When I finally touch down at Incheon International Airport, I make my way out of the plane. Then, I search for baggage claim, grabbing my two large suitcases. Once I've got my suitcases, I then make my way outside to hail a taxi. It's required that all foreigners entering Korea that they quarantine for one week, so I'm taken to a government quarantine facility. I'm supposed to stay in this room for a full week to quarantine. That's why I planned for 3 weeks, instead of just 2 weeks to include quarantine time in my vacation. Quarantine is always the most boring part about traveling. I'm just stuck in this small room, and I can't go out or anything.

A week passes by slowly, but when my quarantine is finally over, I can escape and explore the city. The first place I go to is a book cafe. I order a caramel macchiato and browse the romantic comedy section. As I'm wandering around the cafe, I can't believe my eyes.
"Eric?" I asked.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Eric asked.
"I was about to ask the same thing to you. I just got out of quarantine and I'm visiting Korea for the first time." I said.
"I just finished tour about two weeks ago. I decided to come to Korea afterwards." Eric said.
"That's fun. Wanna sit with me?" I asked.
"Sure." Eric said.
Eric and I walk over to a table and sit together.
"I don't know if you remember, but we exchanged some messages on Instagram." I said.
"That was you?" Eric asked.
"Yeah. I made a cover of your song, Admit." I said.
"Oh, yeah. Now I remember." Eric said.
"I can't believe I'm meeting you in Korea of all places." I said.
"Well, it's so nice to meet you. It's nice to put a face to the messages." Eric said.
"Right. Can I just say, you are so handsome." I said.
"Wow, thank you. So, you went to one of my shows back in February?" Eric asked.
"Yeah. It was amazing, you were amazing. I still have videos from that concert on my phone." I said.
"That's awesome. I'm glad you enjoyed it." Eric said.
"I took a friend of mine who didn't know you were. She left the concert loving you and her favorite song you performed was Paradise." I said.
"Oh, I love that one too." Eric said.
"When you're up on stage, dancing and singing. Ugh, it's everything to me. You're also quite the comedian." I said.
"Thank you. I try to be funny sometimes." Eric said.
I take a sip of my coffee and I can't stop staring at Eric. I can't believe this is even happening right now.
"I've been a huge fan of yours since 2019. I'm so happy to finally be meeting you." I said.
"Thanks for supporting me all these years. Damn, you're too sweet." Eric said.
"Aww, thanks." I said.
"So, what are you up to here in Korea?" Eric asked.
"Oh, I don't know yet. I was planning on visiting some entertainment companies." I said.
"That's fun." Eric said.
"I kind of want to visit Dive Studios, but I have no idea where it is." I said.
"I could show you. We can go there together." Eric said.
"I'm down." I said.
"Let's go then." Eric said.
"Okay." I said.

I follow Eric out of the cafe. He hails a taxi and asks the taxi driver to take us to the address of Dive Studios. I can't believe that Eric is taking me to Dive Studios right now. I would have never expected this to happen while I'm visiting Korea. We arrive to Dive Studios and Eric leads me in. Eric gives me a tour of the building. He shows me where the various podcasts are filmed, where the reality show Hwaiting was filmed, and all the interviews with various celebrities that he's filmed in this building. This is a really cool place.
"So that's pretty much everything." Eric said.
"This place is so cool." I said.
"My brothers and I build this place from the ground up, and I'm so glad to see where it's gone." Eric said.
"You definitely worked hard for this company and you got all you worked for." I said.
"Exactly." Eric said.
"Could you recommend some places I should go to in Seoul?" I asked.
"Sure. Gangnam is cool. There's Itaewon where's there is a lot of diversity. Myeong-dong is for the people who love shopping. Hmm, what else?" Eric asked himself.
"That's good. I wrote down your suggestions. Thanks so much, Eric. Is there is any way we could keep in touch?" I asked.
"Do you have KakaoTalk?" Eric asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"Then, we can exchange QR codes and become friends on KakaoTalk." Eric said.
"Oh, yeah. Here you go." I said.
Eric and I exchange KakaoTalk QR codes. Now we're friends on KakaoTalk. I can text him whenever I want.