awakening.

Chapter 1

Abbigaile P.O.V

7:00 A.M.--Sweet morning light flooded through my new apartment's room. The atmosphere was clear and calm, pleasing. I enjoy mornings, when no one else is awake. I don't know why, maybe it's because I feel so at peace, and I don't have to make a sound if I don't want to. Yet as I rolled out of my comfortable white bed, the smell of spice tea greeted me, a new, delicious whiff each time I took a step towards the kitchen.

Karina, one of my best friends, was quietly making us two cups of tea on our way to work. See, Karina and I are from Chicago, Illinois. We went to middle school together when I transferred to her school for the last six months of 8th grade. We went to different high schools, but kept in touch the whole time. We're both 19 years old now. It's been a dream of ours to go to South Korea for so long. In February of my freshman year of college, my high school friend Julie, who lived in South Korea with her boyfriend Seokjin, had secretly filed an application for me to intern as a makeup artist of the K-Pop band BTS. I probably wasn't going to make it, but I figured Julie probably talked to Seokjin about it. So I ended up being granted the internship for the summer. The company generously paid for TWO plane tickets and a TWO-room apartment's four month rent. I learned in May that year that you were required to have a partner for the internship. For a day I panicked because I really looked forward to this opportunity, and now, since I didn't have a partner, I couldn't go to South Korea, much less take Karina with me with the extra ticket. And that's when I remembered: Karina was always the one who's makeup was on a whole new level and she did it herself. Not too much, and her eyeliner was always on point. I asked her about this later that day, and she was so excited she was smiling for the rest of the day.

So now here we are, living in the same apartment for 4 months. Today is our first day, and we are surprisingly both calm. Wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, and unshowered, I followed my nose to the tea, where Karina was already dressed. BTS's manager had specifically said NOT to dress up, and that just jeans and a T-shirt was okay for their uniform. 

Karina was dressed in blue jeans with a floral print, and a dark blue graphic T-shirt. Her green Adventure Time sweatshirt was draped over the chair at the bar where she was standing watching me.

"You okay?" She asked, softly laughing.

"Yes! Sorry. I zoned out. It's morning." I answered, joining her laughter.

"So do you want your tea, or.." She wondered aloud.

"Please!" I love tea. I drink it all day everyday. I accompanied her at the bar.

We drank our tea in silence for a couple minutes. It wasn't awkward at all. Quiet just felt right for this time of day, especially since we would be around people for the next ten hours. 

When I stood up, I announced I was going to get ready. After a relaxing shower, I put on a plain, comfortable T-shirt, medium colored blue skinny jeans, a couple silver bracelets, 3 medium length silver necklaces, and the rings I wear everyday, silver too. I let my hair stay curly. I straighten it too much anyway. I drew light shading of eyeliner on the waterlines of my eyes, and applied minimal amounts of mascara on.

We had a couple minutes left before it was time to leave, so both of us sat at the counter again and read. The thick book in my hands today, was a Stephen King book I'd never read yet, though it's one of his most popular works. The famous "Shining" of Danny Torrance fascinates me.

A knock sounded against the white door. I jogged to the percussion, my sock-clad feet sliding on the wooden flooring. Peeping through the peephole, I saw an excited, smiling Julie. Since we have no means of transportation, and we can't take the bus because of our lack of reading skills in Korean, Julie had offered to make Seokjin, who happened to be a member of BTS to drive Karina and I to the entertainment company.

"HI!" Julie said, jumping up and down. "Seokjin's waiting in the car. I can wait till you meet him!"

"Cool. Why don't you come in for a bit while we get our stuff?" I offered. She stepped inside and looked around.

Karina and her had already known each other as acquaintances the few times I'd introduced them to each other in high school. The warmly greeted each other as I grabbed my backpack, and stuffed The Shining into it, along with my hoodie, a few snacks, my computer, my headphones, and a charger for my laptop and my phone.

All three of us walked down the outdoor steps that led us to Seokjin's car. 

"Seokjin," Julie began, grinning genuinely, "These are Abbigaile, and Karina, the new makeup artist interns you were told about. They'll be coming on tour with you guys, and doing your makeup for shows."

"Nice to meet you," he said politely. Julie had sent me pictures of them together, but I had to admit, Seokjin in person was very handsome.

We all crawled into the car. I sat in the backseat with Karina, and I could tell we were both nervous, but excited. We exchanged little encouraging simpers throughout the car ride from Ilsan to the company in Seoul. 

Karina and I said goodbye to Julie, and Seokjin kissed her heartily before going inside the building for the long day ahead of us.

Seokjin went in ahead of us, joining his bandmates (he called them hyungs)in the dorms. Karina said she thought we had to to get IDs to pass. She heard a woman behind the front desk ahead speaking fluent English.

"Hello," I greeted the lady. "My name is Abbigaile Renault, and this is Karina Perez." I introduced us, gesturing to Karina. "We were selected as makeup artist interns for BTS, a band signed here. I was wondering if we needed to get IDs to pass?"

The woman gave us a warm beam. "So you two are the lucky girls from America who landed a rare internship here at BigHit. We've been waiting on your arrival for a while now." She smiled too as she handed us our IDs.

The scanner on the door examined out IDs then buzzed, and allowed us to pass.

"Are you ready?" I asked Karina, my nervousness growing stronger.

"Absolutely," She declared, and so we marched up the stairs to the start of the next four months.