The first time I saw him, I was utterly intimidated. Seriously. He was so handsome. So unapologetically good-looking. No, not pretty pretty like a Jude Law or a young Leonardo DiCaprio, but believe me, he radiated like a sun in the sky. Though it was hot summer, he topped his radiance by wearing a fine navy-colored pinstripe suit. Wool, it looked like. Fine Italian Wool, and I think he wore a white shirt with it and – very gentlemanly – a white handkerchief sticking out of his jacket’s chest pocket. Maybe it wasn’t white, maybe it was a different color, maybe it even had paisleys on it. I don’t recall, but I do recall that he carried this handkerchief with him during the middle of the day. I adored this detail: A handkerchief ready to offer to a lady in need. Just as his looks were sending all kinds of messages, so was his posture. He was standing straight – wow, he’s tall! – straight and light. There was something about him that made him look as if he was moving, even while he was standing still. Here he was. Standing right in front of me. It might have done for real, maybe I imagine it, but I remember that my jaw dropped when my eyes met his.

Plung.

Drop.

Voilà.

My inner me was trembling, shaking actually. Shaking from this very second, I saw him. All the courage I had scraped up to finally enter this wondrous place – where we were finding us now, facing each other – was gone in a whiff.

It was a new restaurant. Newest new. It had just opened a few weeks earlier. My friend Erika’s friend’s brother was somehow involved with this new place, and the food was supposed to be really good.

“Go have lunch there. The burgers are supposed to be fantastic,” Erika had said and so I thought to give it a try.

I saw the restaurant early on as I was walking towards it and what I saw made me feel that I – alone – just couldn’t go in. The large window front was opened wide and gave sight to magazine-like people. Soft music was coming out from inside and wrapped around me like a kind invitation. Though the decor wanted to have a rustic edge, it oozed super hipness. Not a single person in that place looked to be on their own – alone. ‘Nah ha, I’m not going to be the single, lonely girl to be stared at by the super crowd. I’m just not,’ my mind was telling me.

Insecure yet curious as a child, I kept a safe distance from the restaurant while keeping it in the corner of my eye from the other side of the street. Slowly, I walked on. If you have ever seen an insecure yet curious child, you might remember seeing it holding on to mommy’s skirt, burying one eye in its pleats, while the other peeks and checks what’s happening. Keep this picture because that’s exactly how I continued walking – except for the skirt thing. My right eye checked out the stores on my side of the street while the other observed.

‘Oh, here’s a magazine shop – ooh yeah, I do need to buy that magazine!’ my mind settled into play.

You know, I truly came to New York City somehow sensing that I would meet Ryan Reynolds. Yeah… Yap… feel free, go on and laugh. I know… Why did I sense that? What do I know!? I just felt like I would. And then, at the airport, he was smiling at me. Straight to my face. Right across from a magazine cover. And such a darling smile it was! However, because I was tired, running late, and just wanted to get to Max and Erika’s, I left him there. Smiling. He and I, yeah, we would find another time. Freak! Anyways, back to this shop here at this corner, right across the restaurant, here I would come back to and finally pick up a copy of smiling Ryan.