My Best Mistake ✓

2

My walking pace was faster than normal. Nerves creeping up to my brain and my hands getting all sweaty.

Shit. Please don't be late. Please don't be late.

You don't even listen to their music or know their names it's not like you're a fan, why are you so nervous?!

Well, let's see I'm nervous because they're the most popular Koreans on the planet!

I was wearing black skinny jeans and a blue button-up top that tied at the front. I was professional looking but the conversations I was having with myself inside my head made me look otherwise. The air was cold and the hallway was empty or so I thought. Two women passed by me one pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose blurting something out, "Lunatic."

"Do you think she's a trainee?"

"Nah. She's not pretty enough..."

I frantically ran my hands through my hair ignoring their whispering.

Sheesh. You think people would be nicer around here.

Breathe Bo-Ra.

With my glasses on my face and my black hair flowing along my shoulders, I stood in front of his office.

"Hello, Mr. Kim?" I said as I opened the glass door to his office, peaking my head in.

He got up from his wooden desk, which had packets of papers stacked on each other like a never-ending skyscraper.

Woah. Why are those packets so thick?

"Ahh. Bo-ra! I can't wait for you to meet the boys. I'm sure you'll be charmed," he said winking at me as he left the room.

A sweet old man. He was not really old but probably around the age my parents would have been that day or at least what I think they would have been.

I fiddled with my hair, trying to flatten it out as I observed his office. In front of his desk there was a seating area and to the right was a glass bookcase full of awards from bottom to top. Like a diamond in a display case, my eyes were drawn to the neverending shine of silver and gold.

MNET Asian Music Awards. Best Male Group.

Melon Music Awards. Album of the Year. New Artist of the Year.

I started to count them with my fingers.

25

26

27

Damn. How many awards have these guys wo-

CLANG!

I froze in place and my heart skipped a beat. I stayed there looking at the bookcase with my back towards the door. The sound of the metal handle pounded against the wall echoed in my ear along with the voices storming the room like a wild pack of horses.

"HoSeok be careful!" a distant voice shouted.

My heart began to beat faster. I turned my head ever so slightly to see their silhouettes enter through the door one after the other, their footsteps creating random echoes that resonated in my ear.

I didn't know they could be so rambunctious.

I backed up and leaned against Mr. Kim's desk almost knocking down the stacks of paper. Luckily I had caught them. But in my fit of nervousness, my glasses skewed and my eyes drifted to see a boy in a purple hoodie jumping onto one of the seven black chairs placed around the rectangle center table. Settling into the chairs, a few of them noticed me and my stillness. My face was blank and my arms still awkwardly held the leaning tower of papers that sunk into my weak arms. Though they were still too engrossed in their conversation to notice me leaning the tower back.