One step at a time

Chapter Ten - Anticipation

I hadn't been able to sleep much of the night before, so when I woke up, I was still tired. Today was the day of the auditions. They were being held at 12. My friends and I had decided to meet up an hour before so we could calm down and offer each other support.
When we woke up the morning after the sleep over, Hyo Rin had decided to talk to me again. I was glad. I didn't want to lose my best friend. Ho Jin had  also been talking to me a lot over the past few days. We were rekindling our friendship that we lost so long ago. I was glad to have him back as well.  
I showered and washed my hair, and prepared myself in the bathroom. I then chose smart but casual clothes to wear to the auditions, as I didn't want to seem too eager, however I wanted to show that I had actually bothered.
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Hands wrapped around an icy smoothie, I waited outside of the cafe for my friends. The cold drink was causing moisture to wet my hands. Nerves were starting to affect me as I was sitting alone and had nothing else to focus on. Sun Rays were gently warming my skin, as Hyo Rin appeared and sat opposite me.
"Are you excited?" It was clear by her voice that she was. I could only nod.
She went inside to order a drink for herself, and as soon as she left, Chan Hee and So Hyun arrived.
"Hey Seo Young, we're just going to order we'll be back soon" they both told me and left. I was left alone again, with nothing but my thoughts for company.
Soon after all three of them returned, excitement obvious on their faces. We drank while chatting about our thoughts about the auditions. I appeared to be the only one with doubts about them.
After finishing it was getting close to 12, so we decided to walk to the SM building. I had passed this building on many occasions, only now I was starting to worry as I approached it. There were lines of hopefuls waiting outside, many of them still practicing their audition pieces. Some of them were good, and others were exceptionally good. All the while I was looking at them, my worry increased as my chances to get in decreased. None of my friends seemed affected, or at least they didn't show it. We joined the end of the line to get into the building and settled in for a slow wait.
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At least half and hour has passed and we had reached the front of the queue. "Well that didn't take forever" Hyo Rin said sarcastically "Now let's go!" She pushed us forward and into the reception. A sign showed us to the reception where we were asked to tick our name off of a sheet for the singers and dancers portion of the auditionees, then we were directed to a large room where a group of young men and women our age were already waiting. "We'll call your name when we are ready for you, you will be auditioning in groups today for dancing, and then we will call you back for singing." One of the staff told us, as she closed the door to the room. We went and sat down together as chatting resumed with everyone. "Ok now I'm actually here I'm feeling a bit nervous" Chan Hee said to us.
"Just now?" I ask in disbelief "I've been nervous this whole time" I admitted "I'm going to go use the bathroom, I'll be back soon" I said and got up to leave.
Cautiously opening the door, I noticed some staff members outside. "Please can you tell me where the toilets are?" I asked politely. One of the females vaguely directed to her left down the corridor. "Just down there and it should be on the right" I nodded a thanks and followed her hand.
What surprised me was that there was no one in the corridor except for me. I had expected the SM building to be full of people everywhere, but it had seemed the crowd outside wasn't as big as it seemed. Maybe they had already auditioned. I had reached the bathroom and entered, returning outside moments later after I had finished. Again there was no one outside, and I began to walk back the way I had come. Behind me I heard the ding of an elevator reaching the floor I was on. Becoming alert to the noise, I turned to face it to see a baby faced man coming out. He stopped outside of the lift and stared at me, almost shocked that anyone would meet him at the bottom. "Shit, I forgot they were today" he whispered. "I'm gonna go this way please, don't follow me" he said quickly and began to walk off in the opposite direction to me.
"Why would I follow you?" I asked him.
"Maybe because.. You know... I'm Kim Minseok" Still no response from me.
"Xiumin... Of EXO" he said in a bored tone, almost as if I should already know this already.
"Oh cool, well bye then" I responded. He looked at me, confused that I could be this calm.
"What?" I responded to his look. "I'm not some crazy fan girl, I mean I didn't even know who you were" I waved at him and began to walk away. I just heard a chuckle behind me, and louder footsteps as he carried on walking in the opposite direction.
I reached the room we were waiting in, and moments after I had sat back down with my friends, another staff member entered the room. "Ok so can these people stand up: Park Hyo Rin, Lee Chan Hee..." She read off a multitude of names, and people around the room began standing up, including my two friends. "Good luck" I wished them both and hugged them. So Hyun did the same, and then they followed the crowd out of the door.
"I hope they do well" I told So Hyun.
"Same, I wish they both get accepted, them out of all of us wanted it most" So Hyun said and I agreed
After moments waiting, the room again grew noisy with excitement as the remaining hopefuls began talking again. Me and So Hyun began talking with some of them. The majority of us were nervous, so I was relieved a bit that I wasn't the only one.
Half an hour passed, and another staff member came in. "Ok the rest of you come in, and tell me your name as you pass me." He said. My heart sped up. This was finally it.