Reia ran her fingertips over her stomach, trying to calm both the butterflies and the goose bumps. The air in the auditorium was cold on her next to bare body and all she could do was hope that, with all the other girls in the room, the temperature would rise at least a few degrees. It wasn't like she wanted to be there in the first place. With only an email saying that the top hundred billed girls in the agency were invited to a casting call for an extremely lucrative contract, Reia knew nothing about why she was here with the number 47 pinned to her bra strap. And though the email had specified all one hundred of them were invited, there must have been some sort of pre screening by the agency. When she arrived, Reia had watched several girls get turned away with no explanation. By a guess, and judging by the highest number she could see, Reia imagined only fifty of them were left.

She couldn't help but wonder what she had done to procure a spot in this select group of girls. Sure, she had been with the company for many years and previously worked with some big names in the industry. But at the same time, there were girls in this auditorium who had been on the runway at Paris Fashion Week. Reia knew that her European blood made her special compared to the other girls, but not more special than some of the girls who had been turned away. She had seen girls who modeled for Calvin Klein get rejected from this mysterious casting call. She was sure that she wasn't the only one wondering what the criteria had been to get into this very room.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here today." A booming voice from the other side of the auditorium shook Reia from her thoughts.

Where the voice had come from stood a man who Reia recognized as the director of the agency. He rarely ever dealt directly with the models, and Reia had only ever seen him in pictures. He was smaller than she imagined, a stout man with friendly eyes set in a stern looking face.

"You are about to have the casting call of a lifetime!" He exclaimed, clapping his hands together abruptly. 

Reia flinched at the sound as it echoed around the hall. She watched the director walk to the center of the house, facing all the girls on the stage. He glanced over them with what could have either been excitement or mild annoyance before going on to explain the situation.

"As I'm sure some of you know," he began, "the son of the owner of this company is of marrying age."

He let his eyes scan the crowd of girls before continuing on.

"A man of his stature needs a beautiful woman at his side." The director nodded curtly as if to emphasize this. "He needs a respectable, intelligent woman who can stand by his side in the light of the media. His wife would need to be able to handle the limelight of his social status as well as rise to a social stature to match his. In short, you girls have all been hand picked to be considered for a chance to marry the son of our owner, Kim Seokjin."

A wave of murmurs filled the hall as the girls turned to each other in varying degrees of shock and excitement. Reia politely listened to her neighbor, number 28, babble about how handsome Seokjin was. As 28 whispered still, Reia wondered if she had ever even seen a picture of the prodigal son. She had heard about him, sure, and even she had fantasized about a handsome rich boy with a rumored heart of gold. But at the same time, Reia knew she didn't have time to waste investigating a boy she would probably never interact with. Here she was now, though: in a lineup of girls made to be his potential bride.

Distracted, Reia didn't notice when a hush fell over the auditorium. When she realized that 28 had stopped talking, she turned her attention towards a man making his way towards the stage. He was dressed well in a suit that had to be tailor-made and held himself in a way that demanded the attention he was receiving. It took her a moment, but Reia realized that this man must have been Kim Seokjin.

"Well, at least now we can all say the son of our owner has seen us in our underwear," Reia whispered to 28.

"Shh!" She replied sharply, perhaps a little too much so as it brought Seokjin's attention to the two girls.

"Red hair," he murmured with an air of amusement as he walked towards Reia.

As he came closer, Reia became more and more conscious of her bare skin. She swallowed and straightened her back, suddenly more nervous than she had been for any other casting call. It was odd the way he looked at her with his soft, kind eyes. No one had every really looked at Reia with that much interest or intruige. Rather than looking at her like a live mannequin like many people in her line of work, Seokjin looked at her like she was a human with a past and stories to tell.

"Were you born with red hair?" He asked as he stood before her.

"Yes," Reia said quietly.

"It's beautiful," he said. "Are you Korean born?"

"Yes." She nodded. "But my mother is Irish. My father met her on business."

"Interesting." He smiled, his eyes crinkling up. "Tell me, what's your name?"

"Reia," she replied.

"What a lovely name." He smiled once more. "What does it mean?"

"Queen," Reia said, smiling softly as she remembered her mother telling her that one day she would rule the world.

"It's a befitting name for a girl of your beauty and poise." Seokjin nodded.

"Thank you, sir." Reia bowed her head, suddenly very aware of all the other girls staring at the two of them.

"Please, call me Jin," he laughed lightly. 

Reia looked up at Jin and, for the first time, really saw his face. It was kind, much more so than she would have imagined. He didn't at all look like the son of the owner of a big name modeling agency. Taken aback, Reia didn't notice when she whispered his name.

"Jin." Her lips barely parted as she looked directly into his eyes.

"That's it!" He smiled. "Now, where's your favorite place to read a book?"

"Eh?" Reia blinked, surprised by the seemingly random question.

"I want to know more than your name and your red hair, Reia," Jin said, effectively ignoring the fourty-nine other girls in the auditorium.

Reia thought for a moment. With her work, she never really had time to relax and read a book.

"When I was little," she started slowly, "I used to climb up into this big tree in my yard to read."

"A tree, huh?" Jin looked as if he were thinking about this before beaming at Reia. "I like that."

"With all due respect, sir-"

"Jin."

"Jin." Reia corrected herself. "There are loads of other girls here. Maybe you should talk to them as well."

"You're a kind girl, Reia. Thinking about the other girls, wanting to give them a fair shot." Jin smiled. "The truth is, I had looked through all of your profiles before coming here. I had a clear idea of a few girls I wanted to talk to. But in your file your hair was dyed black. I'm glad you have your natural hair now, otherwise I'm not sure we'd be talking."

"I don't think I fully understand what you're saying." Reia frowned.

"What I'm saying is I pick you," Jin said gently.

"Pardon?" Reia's voice came out shriller than she wanted and it echoed around the hall.

"I like you, Reia," Jin laughed at her shock. "I think we can get along quite well. I think you and I will not only look good together, but that we could make a good couple. That's why I'm asking you to become my wife."

All Reia could do was blink in silence at Jin. Sure, she had known the reason for this casting call was to find him a wife, but it was almost ridiculous the way he actually expected to marry someone he knew hardly nothing about. He could read her file all he wanted, but that didn't even begin to equate to knowing her. And knowing her favorite place to read a book wasn't going to be enough to form a marriage upon. The whole situation was crazy, really. Why couldn't he just find someone to marry the way everyone else did? 

"So what do you say, Reia?" Jin smiled brightly.

With so many thoughts buzzing through her head, Reia hardly heard herself answer.

"Yes."