What do you do with a minute with Lucky Blue Smith? You hug him, of course!
A group of fans tested their luck and waited at Conrad Manila Hotel to get a chance to meet the young model who had a Penshoppe press conference and fashion show scheduled today, and for about 8 hours, stood idly for serendipity to happen.
(READ: Lucky Blue Smith to his Filipino fans: “You guys are the best”)
Waiting for a couple of hours was nothing compared to the years they spent dreaming of breathing the same air as their idol. This time it was no longer a (day)dream, and only walls stood between them.
The bouncers then let them in on a secret: Behave and you shall be rewarded. And behave they did.
The group of fans kept mostly to themselves. They carried no banners nor did anything to make a scene—all they did was to try to sneak a peek each time the conference room doors were opened to let members of the media in for their one-on-one interviews with Lucky Blue.
“Please tell him we love him and that we’ve waited so long to see him,” they ask Inquirer Super to pass the message on, to which Lucky Blue responds automatically: I love you guys too.
Among the group of fans was Ninna Layug, who started following the model-slash-social media celebrity before he charmed the rest of the cyber world, gaining more than 2 million Instagram and 250,000 Twitter followers to date.
“He had just about 100,000 followers when I followed him on Twitter. Back then he followed me and when I tweeted in Tagalog he would click favorite,” the 17-year-old fan said.
Layug also said at that time when Lucky Blue was very active in his online accounts, fans like herself were able to exchange direct messages with him on social media.
“Amidst the fame he’s still very grounded and even when he’s busy now, he’s still very appreciative of his fans. We really feel that he tries to interact with us (on social media) whenever he has the time,” she said.
And in that group of about 15 Filipino fans, they all agreed that Lucky Blue’s ultimate charm was in the way he reached out to his followers.
The members of the group each boasted about their own posts that Lucky Blue noticed—whether he gifted them with a like or comment, such trivial notifications were moments worth treasuring for the die-hard fans.
In the middle of their conversations, the conference room’s doors finally opened. They were told they could have a group photo with Lucky Blue.
Finally. Their only mission of the day—to meet Lucky Blue in the flesh just inches away—was about to turn into an Instagram post.
But Lucky Blue was more than generous enough to spend all the time he could spare with his fans—about 60 seconds each—like they were all playing Minute to Win It.
They each lined up for their turn to bask in this magical run-in and create a memory with Lucky Blue. They exchange a few words, hugs, letters, and some much-warranted eye contact with his hypnotizing clear blue eyes.
“I gave him a letter a while ago, telling him how he inspired me and changed my life in some ways,” Layug said.
“I’m a (college) dormer and I was sad to be away from my family a lot. When I get to talk to him (online) it heightens my mood and makes my day,” she added.
The internet and fandoms indeed make the world a smaller place. For Layug, her fellow Lucky Charms have been recording videos of Lucky Blue greeting her whenever they got chance street encounters during his fashion week appearances.
Apart from the fact that they’ve exchanged messages, this was how Lucky Blue became familiar with her name (Ninna from Manila rhymes too, so it’s pretty catchy enough to remember).
With her phone at the ready, she recorded her whole minute with the Penshoppe “cool kid” where Lucky Blue offered nothing but a tender smile and warmness.
Their interaction was no longer just online and while savoring the reality—with photos to convince them the next day that it wasn’t just a dream—all the fans said: Mission accomplished.