It was the day after we met when I stalked his Facebook looking over these photos of Bear and wondering why this handsome man would want to get to know me.

I’ve never seriously dated anyone outside of the Korean ethnicity and I had no idea what was in store.

I think I had self esteem issues and the idea of a non Korean person finding me attractive was puzzling.

When I first met Bear, I was immediately blown away by his looks. It was on the set of filming the last day of KTOWN season one and he was there as a guest of my producer Mike Le.

Had I known I would be planning the rest of my life with him, I wouldn’t have gotten so intoxicated and not remember our initial exchange of words.

I remember waking up to a horrible hangover and finding a friend request from Bear.

My immediate thought was, “oh yay, he thought I was cute!”

That was a Friday morning, June 15, 2012.

We exchanged a Facebook message initiated by me asking a ridiculous question. Basically I threw myself under the bus.

He responded with a text message, “so you don’t remember giving me your number?”

I was mortified.

We met the next day. Drinks at the Glendon in Westwood talking about our jobs, childhood, cars and coincidently Equinox.

This was the first date in a very long time with a non Korean.

Honestly I knew I was attracted but didn’t know him well enough to know if it would even turn into anything substantial.

I was not looking to date and I figured I’d go and keep myself amused with one of the best looking man I’ve ever met. I went into it as “just for fun.”

After that night we hung out again the following Thursday. Then again on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and almost everyday of the week for many months to come.

He was sweet but not a chump. Very kind but not a pushover. Had gentlemen qualities without an ego. Hard working but prioritized the time he would spend on me. Book and street smart without being pompous. He was everything I imagined a man that I would fall in love with would be. And hopefully, for the last time.

He treated me like how I would treat him. Every action was reciprocated and every gesture was genuine.

After the first few weeks I was in awe. I couldn’t believe what my heart was feeling. I couldn’t believe that I was falling for someone who I never imagined myself to be. Speaking of a person’s ethnicity of course. I guess I can say that I was ignorant and narrow minded. Limiting myself to people who weren’t meant to be my soul mate.

We moved slow, not because I wanted to but because he did. I followed his ways because everything I’ve done before when it came to relationships, had failed. So I assumed that maybe going against the grain would be more beneficial.

On July 18th 2012, we made it official. He was now my boyfriend. My first white boyfriend.

It was still unbelievable to me. I always wanted to date outside of my ethnicity but never thought it could work and or a bit afraid of the culture clash. I was comfortable with what I knew. And that was a Korean man boy.

Today marks the year we met.

One year ago today and prior, I was lost.