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Part 2

"Good luck!" Jimin whispered and gave her a thumbs up. As soon as April walked into the room and the door closes, Jimin heard someone walking up behind him.

"Hey, what the fuck took you so long to get the coffee?"

Jimin looked behind him to see Taehyung walking with a lollipop in his mouth. As soon as he approached Jimin, he noticed the stain on his shirt and frowned. "Is that where my coffee went to?"

Jimin chuckled and stared at the two half empty cups of coffee in his hand. "Yeah this one's for you," he said and pushed a cup towards Taehyung. He gave him a look.

"Come on man, I asked for coffee."

"Can you stop being irritating and just take the damn drink?" Jimin uttered and gave him a deathly glare.

Taehyung just sighed and took the cup from him. "I was gonna go check out the auditions. Is someone in there already?" Taehyung sucked on his lollipop and was about to open the door when Jimin intercepted and blocked his way.

"You're not allowed to, remember," Jimin said with a glint in his eyes.

"Oh come on, can't I just take a peek at one of the girls?"

"No," Jimin said and blocked Taehyung again as he was about to corner around him. Taehyung lowered his eyes and yelled in frustration.

"Come on, can't you just let me see this one girl I may have to end up pretending to like for three months?"

"Taehyung, buddy, calm your hormones man." Jimin pushed him back and cocked his head to the side. "You're just gonna have to wait until you finally meet her. In the meantime let's cook up some ideas on how you're gonna woe her."

"How am I supposed to woe her if I don't even like her though."

"You never know, feelings could potentially develop."

"The world is so nasty. Why do people find it entertaining to see other people get their hearts and feelings played?"

"Hey, it's the path we chose. If they can play with our hearts, then we can also play with theirs."

Taehyung observed Jimin as he pondered on the last sentence. It was true, people can play with each other's feelings. It was only a matter of how one plays the game. Taehyung just let out a small chuckle as he sucked on the strawberry lollipop someone gave to him as a present for being his ridiculously cute self. Maybe the playground was meant for Taehyung after all.

---

April walked into the brightly lit room. It was small but cozy, book cases were built in on all four walls. The room smelt like a mixture of hazelnut flavored coffee and old books. She stared into the middle of the room to find a small young woman with her head bowed down, sitting by herself.

"Um," April started, unsure of what she should do as she stood by the door with her hands clutching her bag.

"Come, come," a voice said.

April looked around cautiously. It appeared that the woman sitting by herself was calling her out. She gulped and approached her. The woman looked young. She was also quite tiny, dressed in a pastel pink, her hair up in a big bun. She wore thick black spectacles, too big for her face. April noticed just how cute she looked.

"Come sit," she said, her voice sweet and high pitched.

April, confused, decided to follow her instructions. "Is this the audition for the-"

"Pick a card," the young woman interrupted as she fixed her glasses and pointed her small fingers to the large deck of cards neatly placed in front of her. April just licked her lips and decided to follow what she said and picked up a random card.

"Place it down on my right," she said. "And then pick another one."

April thought it may be another prank. But the young woman looked so serious. Is this part of the audition process? April thought to herself as she picked up another card.

"Now place it down on my left," she called out in her sweet voice. "Now open them."

April placed the cards down as directed and opened them. The right card showed a chalice and the card on the left showed a lion. The young woman pursed her lips and nodded. "Yes, yes," she muttered to herself. "You are one stubborn young woman."

April just watched as she piled the cards to the side and motioned her to do another round of card selection. No matter how she looked at it, this was very much a tarot card reading session. April wanted to burst out laughing at this ridiculousness. How could they possibly hire a fortune teller to be the casting judge?

"Now turn them over," the young woman said and April did the exact same action as she did before. This time the right card showed a tree and the left card showed a snake. The woman tilted her head to the side and scrunched her face as if she was in deep thought.

"As I suspected," she said. "You have confessed your love to someone a long time ago."

April's body froze. What did she just say?

"You knew him when you were a child, didn't you? You proposed to him but he never answered you back."

April's eyes popped wide open at her words. Nobody ever knew of her proposal. No one. How did she know?

"Now pick it again, pick at it again," she continued as she motioned for April to do the same card selection. She picked two cards and placed them down in front of the fortune teller lady. She closed her eyes and tapped her hand on the right card.

"It's a ring," she said and opened it. The card did show a ring. The young lady made a broad smile and opened her eyes. She stared into April's eyes so intensely, in such a scrutinizing manner that it made her body shiver for some unknown reason.

"I found you."

April looked at her in confusion. "I beg your pardon?"

The fortune teller smiled, showing her bunny teeth pointed at her. "You are the one. I found you."

"Uh..."

April had no idea how to react. But before she could say anything, the fortune teller opened the other card. It was a picture of a scythe. April wasn't sure what it meant but the card did not make her feel good.

"You show so much promise but you will not get by easily. There will be pain and it will be a difficult journey for you."

April let out a sigh. What was she saying? She thought to herself. A part of her wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it was, but a part of her wanted to know more.

"Okay, I'm not sure what this is about but I am here to audition."

The young woman laughed and closed the cards face down. She looked up at April and said "yet you are still the chosen one."

Suddenly one of the bookshelves opened and a crew of cameramen came out as if they have been hiding there all this time. The door to the room also opened and another group of people walked in with their cameras and lights.

"Congratulations, you are selected." A voice of a woman spoke loudly in the room.

April felt all the attention was suddenly on her. Her mouth dropped open and she looked around in surprise. The woman who congratulated her walked in front of her and lend out a hand. She was beautiful, her dark brown hair all up in a neat bun. She had a microphone in her hand and motioned for April to talk.

"You have been selected as our first female lead in our new show Seoul Mate. How do you feel?"

April had no idea what to say. She felt frozen, unable to show a reaction besides being surprised out of her mind. Out of the corner of April's eyes, she saw the young man she met earlier, leaning by the door sill. He had his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. April didn't get to observe more as she suddenly disappeared from view.

What in the world just happened?

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Thank you for your support!

Love,

jeje_bts