Buenos Aires Fans Discuss Meeting ‘Happy’ Liam Payne Before Death

Many fans of Liam PayneHis work met him in Buenos Aires in the weeks before his tragic and sudden death at the age of 31.

“I met him on September 30 at the door of the hotel. I mean I was passing by,” Noelia Veronwho had been a fan of Payne’s work since childhood, was only remembered Us Weekly on Friday, October 18. “I waited there for a while to photograph him because I couldn’t believe it. He approached the fans, took pictures.”

Verón, 29, added, “We shared a moment. In my case I [jokingly] he told him that I ran away [school building]; I had left class and he made a joke about it, like, ‘I couldn’t believe it’ [and asked] what kind of class I was doing, what I was learning.”

According to Verón, his experience with the One Direction alum was “very fun.”

“He looked beautiful,” she said. “The relationship with the fans was different. He took the time to greet each of them, to take a picture, to be there, to share. He lived everything with many emotions, everything that happened on that September 30.”

Payne and girlfriend Kate Cassidy he visited Argentina between September and October, where he even caught up with his former teammate Niall HoranA solo concert. On Wednesday, October 16, news broke that Payne had died from a third-floor hotel balcony. He had several serious accidents, including “bleeding both internally and externally.” (Cassidy left town a few days ago, according to a social media video.)

Our fan Luana Matzkin she met Payne again earlier this month when she was out with her sister.

“It was crazy. We came running, we knew he might leave at that time,” Matzkin recalled Us in a separate interview on Friday. “I was there taking pictures and I was shaking since I saw him from a distance. It was crazy to be around him.”

He added that the singer seemed “very happy” to him. “He stayed for an hour or more taking pictures with all the fans there.”

Matzkin added that “over 100” fans are waiting to meet Payne, who makes sure to greet everyone.

“He was always taking pictures with everyone, listening to everyone, hugging them,” he said Us. “He was very happy, laughing, talking to his girlfriend, talking to his friend. They were waiting for them to go to dinner later and he was still taking pictures.”

For Matzkin, it was “a dream come true” to meet Payne in person.

“To me, you are an angel, an incredible person,” he said quickly. “When I was a little girl, it was always something unattainable, I could only think about it. And I always thought, ‘If I meet him, what can I tell him?’ … I couldn’t tell him anything. I asked him to sign an autograph, but I couldn’t tell him anything about everything I was thinking.”

After both Verón and Matzkin heard of Payne’s death, they went to the CasaSur Palermo hotel where he died.

“Yes, I knew it was true, [but] it’s like the world has fallen on me, the person I looked up to for more than 10 years is gone,” said Matzkin on Friday.

Matzkin and his sister, Kiarawere rushed to the hotel by their mother. Romina Mohadebwho said Payne’s death was “a very important loss to them.”

“It is their childhood, it is part of their life, their love,” Mohadeb said Us.

Payne is survived by his parents, two older sisters and a 7-year-old son, Bear, who he shares with ex Cheryl Cole. Payne’s father, Geofftraveled to Argentina on Friday with One Direction’s ex-tour manager Paul Higgins.

With reporting by Luciana Arias