Hey there!

Hey there, cute Korean guy who sat next to me on the train.

You don’t know me. But I’d like you to. I’d also like if you had appreciated all of the efforts I put into getting you to notice me. These efforts include, but are not limited to, casually opening to my phones wallpaper, which happens to be the photo I took of GDragon. If you’d just looked over and noticed me almost waving the photograph under your nose, you could have asked “Hey, is that GDragon?” and I’d confirm, not only yes it was, but that I’d taken it myself after speaking at KCon last year. You could have been suitably impressed.

Or maybe you could have noticed me slowly scrolling through music, again with my phone tilted ever so gently in your direction, hoping you’d see it was filled with a large and varied collection of Korean music from the obvious Kpop, to rap, to Kindie. Again, you could have been impressed that not only did I know what Kpop was, but you could have appreciated that I’ve moved beyond that. I’m not sure why you didn’t take notice of this. Really, how long does one scroll through their album list? Usually, you’re in, you choose one, you’re out. I was sucking up valuable battery time in order for you to notice me.

If that didn’t work, maybe you could have listened to me, just a little bit, as I softly hummed along to various Korean songs. This required effort you know. It wasn’t easy. It’s almost a science to hum just loud enough for you to possibly hear, but not loud enough to bring others notice to me. This train performance was just for you. 

Or perhaps, you could have noticed me casually reading  over your shoulder. Oh yeah, I can read Korean. Okay….well it’s more like I can sound out Korean…very slowly. I even have my own Kakao Talk account. Oh yeah, I’m in the know. We could have become Kakao Talk buddies.

Maybe if you’d turned your head just slightly, you would have noticed me trying to figure out what you were listening to. From the looks of it, it may have been Lee Jun Ki, but I guess I’ll never know for sure. Yeah, it would have been weird at first, you noticing me staring at your phone, but we could have gotten past that! All it would have taken was a look, a questioning eyebrow that said “What are you doing you nosy freak?” and I would have explained my love of Korean music and we could have bonded, and then I’d tell you I was actually on my way to go see a Korean Movie–and maybe you’d like to join me. But you never looked up Cute Korean Guy. You never looked away from your phone. And the loss is yours, as you missed out on what could have been an odd but beautiful encounter.

I was sad to leave you on the 23rd street stop. I’d like to feel that in your heart, you felt it too.

Sincerely,

The Lady Next To You

P.S. I would also like to mention, in case you didn’t realize, I was leaning into your seat, not because I was too big for mine (It was just a poofy coat!), or because I was trying to creep into your personal space, but because the guy on the other side was taking up his seat and half of mine–just thought you should know.