Somchart is one of the few people I hold dear to my heart. And the story of us together is at times so sweet, so endearing, so passionate ... so perfect.

He was part of the pretty-darn-famous school band called the Ethics band, chiefly as the keyboardist, though I found out later that he composed songs, sang some, and played some guitar. I didn't encounter him until my freshman year - his senior year - when my friends and I saw some Ethics band performances. Honestly, I first had a crush on Matt the drummer, then the guitarist/singer JP, and finally I fell long and hard for the keyboardist. It was the song "Love Will Keep Us Alive" by the Eagles where I was looking for Somchart - and no one else. My best friend Tiffany noted that.

Then he graduated and left. It seemed that I forgot all about him until he resurfaced two or three years later, in the IRC chat room for our school (#ris on irc.cc.au.ac.th). He cracked jokes and called me a few names, mostly relating to my so-called redneck roots (longass story you don't want to hear). Then I got my ICQ working again. Somchart was one of the first people to be placed on my contact list.

So, yes, we met on the internet.

Okay, so after talking back and forth on ICQ and IRC about various things, we came to a conclusion that we had to meet up when he got back to Bangkok. Then somehow it all evolved. June 23 1998, he asked me to be his girl with the aid of an electronic greeting card.

He finally came in July, and he eventually got to my house. We started looking through the CD that he made me as a gift, until something went wrong and both of us reached out for the mouse. He didn't let go of my hand, and after a pretty awkward moment, we had our first kiss.

I remember catching the smell of his cologne, Nino Cerruti 1888. I distinctively remember how comfortable it felt to rest my head in the cradle of his wide shoulder. And I have imprinted into my memory the incredulous sensation of that kiss. It was so relaxed and it felt so right.

Later on, he shocked me one night. He called me and started to tell me about how he went to his ex-girlfriend's house to pick up his computer, and how he remembered spending time with her. I told him to get to the point. Somchart then said that, after that night, he realized that he loved me. This was so incredulous. You can not even describe the feeling when someone says those three little words to you first, without any prompt from you. It took me a while to come back down to earth and respond with the same. I felt it in my heart, but was so afraid to tell him.

We went to see so many movies. It was just this thing that we both wanted to do. If I remember correctly, we saw The Object of My Affection, Gang Related, Deep Impact, Lethal Weapon 4, Armageddon, and lastly The Mask of Zorro. Armageddon was perhaps the best of them all. The music was just so touching that I cried. I don't know about him. But what I do know, is that "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing" is our song. It says everything we ever wanted to say and more, embedded in the music, the lyrics, and the great, powerful emotion behind it all.

One of the strongest memories I have of the time I've spent with Somchart so far is, shortly after a rather intimate evening, I lay my head down on his chest in such a way that he had his arm around me and I had mine around his waist. I could hear each and every heartbeat, and I could still smell that Nino Cerruti. And, just for a moment, we were happy just like that. I was so comfortable and warm that I fell asleep.