.I met them. I met all three of them. I cried, I almost walked away, but I got to spend a few minutes with them together, I was the only one in the room with them, the manager that gave me info to send the first picture away to...I talked to him, I asked if I could take a few more pictures for the magazine, I showed him my press badge and he asked me to hold on, he went inside and he asked them if it was okay (he asked if they had make-up on actually...) and they said it was fine.
When I walked in I was already teary eyed. Tiffany was the first one to talk to me, she said "You're all alone?", I told her that I had a couple of friends outside the door (I asked two of them to come with me, they said no, for me to go alone), she noticed my cheeks I guess. I took a couple of pictures (about five or so) before Taeyeon asked me to stop, she said "Are you okay? What's wrong?", she put a hand on my shoulder...she touched me. I started crying. I told them everything, I explained that I was so fond of them, I grew up with them, and that my name was Tiffany too. I told Tiffany that my mother used to be a photographer before she passed away, and that I dropped everything I had in Texas to take a risk out here and do what I know she and I both loved.
...I made them cry. Tiffany cried first and Seohyun gave her a hug, Taeyeon gave me a hug. Then the other two hugged me as well. I'm never going to forget what they each said to me. Seohyun told me (in Korean, and part English): "Your mother is smiling at you. You're a special person. I'm proud for you." (that last part she said in English.
Taeyeon held my hands and said "You traveled far for your mother's dream, it must not only be her's. You're a great photographer, you have much passion." she didn't cry as much as the other two, but she gave my hands a squeeze, said that she was proud of my courage.
And Tiffany...oh Tiffany...I had never heard that she did this before, but she went to her vanity and picked up a card, it looked kind of tattered, I think she takes it with her everywhere. It had a picture of her mother inside, and she wrote a quote (in English) from The Notebook, she said. I looked it up afterwards and it was true. It said "I love you. I am who I am because of you. You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I've ever had, and no matter what happens to us in the future, everyday we were together was the greatest day of my life."
She hugged me for a while and cried with me. She asked me to remember that when I'm alone and sad here...because that's what she used to do. She told me that my mother was hugging me from heaven, and that she was proud to have someone like me as a fan. She told me that she would remember me, and appreciated me sharing my story, and that it must have been incredibly hard for me to tell that story to complete strangers. She said she hoped to see me for many years.
I told them they weren't strangers, they have been my family for over seven years, and that no matter all of the struggles in my and their lives that I always came back to them. I never lost faith.
Their manager knocked on the door and said they didn't have much time. They each hugged me again and showed me out. I think in that first picture you can sense a little bit of worry on Tiffany's face. I don't know if it was because of me, or what...but I waited to get clearance on those pictures so I could send them to you