chasing him.

04 : Auditions.

Four weeks flew by quickly. Before I knew it, I was sitting at some salon trying to get my new (hopefully, idol-worthy) haircut. Sorn was sitting at the waiting room with the rest of our stuff. We hit the salon last after a whole day of shopping. I have to admit, I was a bit excited.

I was a bit closer to meeting Jungkook.

"Are you sure you want to cut your hair like this guy?" Sasha, Sorn's long time hairdresser and a transvestite asked. She looked skeptical when I asked her to have my hair exactly like this Japanese idol Sorn got off from the net.

"Khæ̀ thả mạn (just do it)." Sorn said to Sasha in Thai. I just smiled when Sasha grumbled to herself about how I'm going to look so much cuter with the hairstyle of her choice.

When I walked out of the salon, I now have cherry red hair with a hairstyle like an idol.

"You're going to pull this off beautifully! Luckily you have this androgynous look so people can't really tell. Hell, I can even see some girls checking you out already!" We were both walking out towards our car with my guy things in tow.

About a week ago, I asked this guy in my Medieval English class who I know has been crushing on me to run a medical check up. It was at some small private clinic and the doctor there agreed to give out a false but somehow looked like a legit medical report.

That night, I played another session of DDR before taking a shower. Sorn was laying out the clothes I'm going to wear for tomorrow's audition in the living room.

I was just checking out my new hair as it lay flat on my head and looking so short when Sorn gave out this excited scream.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Come here!" She screamed from the living room.

"What? What?" I ran to the living room to find her gawking at the TV, with tears in her eyes.

"Look!" It was a commercial for the auditions tomorrow. Seven handsome Korean guys were in it, giving a prince-like smile to the camera.

"Hello Thailand! We are BTS and we are looking for our eighth member. We hope you, Thais, have what it takes to be an idol." My eyes were glued to only one person in the commercial.

He looked a bit different from the last time I saw him. He now has a different hairstyle but the gentle look in his face remained the same.

The image of Jungkook and the thought that I might see him tomorrow knocked the wind out of me. I plopped myself on the couch and I got a bit choked up. Seeing how I reacted to the commercial, Sorn sat down beside me and wrapped her arms around me.

Next morning, both Sorn and I woke up at 4 am to get myself ready. After I showered, Sorn helped me put on my bindings and we spent a good half an hour to keep them secured. Then we moved on to my hair. Luckily Sorn had some expertise (looks like Sorn is just the kind of friend you need when you want to go undercover eh?) in hairstyling considering the fact that spends about an hour on her hair every day.

After putting on the outfit we bought yesterday, we went through the details so that I sound convincing.

"Shit, we totally forgot about your name!"

"Lucky for me, I have thought of a name." I grinned. Sorn was about to rebut what I just said but I continued, "Limario Manoban. From now on, my name is Limario Manoban." When I introduced myself, I went into my guy mode and I think I just freaked out my best friend.

"Whoa, you sounded like a guy just now!" Excitement took over Sorn and we high fived.

We arrived at Sheraton Hotel an hour early before the audition started and the whole floor was packed with candidates registering.

"Looks like they're going to conduct a screen test first." I told Sorn when an Indian woman gave me the itinerary.

"Oh okay...you go register while I go check out the competition." Sorn winked at me and disappeared into the crowd.

After I registered and they gave out my number, I went to look for Sorn when some people from the crowd started screaming. A huge mass of people were huddling at something and some people started taking pictures.

"Make way, make way!" One of the men controlling the crowd boomed. I tried to catch a glimpse of the celebrity who just arrived, hoping that it would be Jungkook.

It seemed that the crowd followed the celebrity until he disappeared into the audition room.

Someone tapped on my shoulder and when I turned it was Sorn, grinning.

"Looks like Thai men are not interested in being an idol. Half of the expected number only showed up."

"Did you see who came through just now?" I asked. Sorn just shrugged and told me that it was impossible for her to see because they were just too many people.

"But it's good news Lisa! Now the ratio is a lot smaller." I gave her a somewhat strained smile. Being there made me realize what a joke I am.

Compared to those who showed up today, I'm a downright joke. How am I supposed to compete with these guys who must've waited for this moment their whole lives? How am I going to compete with people of real talent compared to me who trained on DDR and can barely sing?

Hours seemed to flow by when they finally called my number.

"Number 865! You're up!"

I turned to Sorn and she gave me a nervous smile.

"Good luck."

"Sorn before I go in, I'd just like to thank you for...being here with me..." We both hugged.

"...and if I don't make it through, I'll take it that it's simply not meant to be between Jungkook and I." Sorn gave a small nod and she said a little prayer for me and blew the air around my head.

I opened my eyes and she said, "My prayers are with you Lisa."

When I entered the audition room, the place was set up with a lot of stuff that you can see at the TV set. They asked me to stand in front of a camera and people adjusted the lights so that it'll make me look good. I hope.

There was a panel where five people from the agency sat at the back of the room. Sitting in the middle is a handsome Korean guy with shades on. He gave me a friendly smile and I smiled back.

It wasn't Jungkook.

I recognized him though. He is the leader of BTS, Kim Namjoon.