The next day she woke up early again even though she had not had the best night’s sleep.  Taking a brief look at her phone she had no messages from Junmyeon so heavily she dragged herself up into the bathroom. 

It was 6am and while she stared at herself in the mirror she mentally thought ‘ you Junmyeon.’  It wasn’t that she was upset that she hadn’t heard from him, or maybe she was, she was too tired at this time of the morning to care but she would show him. She decided right then and there to go to the casting later that day.  She dragged herself into the kitchen and made a coffee, turning on the tv, she mentally planned what to wear and what to look like. It was only 6.30 am so she had time to get ready. Flipping the business card the woman had passed her yesterday through her fingers, she realised she had no idea where the place was to go to the casting. Frowning to herself she wondered what to do.

Just then she had an idea. She’d text Jungmin and ask him if he knew the place. He text back almost immediately to her surprise and told her he did, asking did she need a lift?  She told him definitely and she needed to be there before midday. So, he agreed to be waiting in the basement for her about half past 11. Feeling good she took a long, perfumed bath, using her best products in her hair and on her skin. Drying out her lengthy hair carefully, and decided to leave it down and simple and not to over style herself.  With a towel wrapped around her she made her way to the wardrobe and decided to stick with the simple theme. She selected a simple white button down and dark blue jeans with flat black boots. She could not be bothered with heels not at midday. 

At 11.20 she seized her coat, scarf and hat and made her way out of the apartment. She waited for the elevator to pop open and as it did out came Jongdae and Minseok who both abruptly stopped speaking to stare at her. She made her way past them with her eyes turned down trying to avoid their silence and gazes.  Desperately pressing the button for the basement and praying the doors to close she fleetingly looked up to see both men still stood in the hall way looking right at her. What was going on with these weirdo EXO guys?

Shaking the thought of them off her and getting back into her good mood, Jungmin was waiting for her in the basement next to his car.

'Hi Miss,' He said brightly, springing to life as she approached.

'Hi, Jungmin nice to see you again,' she returned his smile.

She jumped in the car and off they went. It was a short journey and by quarter to 12 they had pulled up outside a tall glass building.

'I don't know how long I'll be,' she apologised to Jungmin. 

'It's ok miss I'll be here,' he told her with a smile. 

So, in she went not knowing at all what to expect. There was a very pretty girl behind a very grand looking reception desk she decided to approach and ask.

'Yes, Miss, the casting is on floor 4 room 12 give them your name and wait to be called,' Alex thanked her and made her way up. 

The butterflies began to fly around her stomach, nerves bubbling up, burning in .

As the elevator popped open she saw a line of women sitting waiting to be called. Some were Korean. Some were western, most looked tall, with dark hair. That make her feel even more edgy.  Filing past them she made her way into the small room and came face to face with the woman who had given her the card yesterday.

‘You came!!’ she exclaimed excitedly, her plump face lighting up. 

‘Yeah!’ Alex returned her excitement, feeling slightly better about the decision to turn up.  ‘I thought I’d give it a go,’ she shrugged, smiling apologetically.

‘Come, come, come.’ Hae-soo directed her into a chair and made her fill out about a dozen different forms, explaining each one as they went along. 

‘Ok so Alex, this casting is for a music video, the director of the video is looking for a specific type of girl.’ She began to whisper ‘Actually he is looking for someone exactly like you, but they haven’t put the specifics out there just in case someone else fits the part better.  There will be an initial call, you’ll be brought in, asked a few basic questions, have your picture taken, and if all goes well you’ll be asked to stay and meet the artist and then you’ll be told what you need to do, now any questions?’

Alex smiled, taking in all the information, it seemed simple enough, ‘No that seems ok,’ she shook her head. 

‘Ok, someone will call your name in a few minutes ok?’ she directed her back outside where she took a seat with the other models.  She looked down the row.  There were around 30 girls, by the looks of it between the ages of 18 and 25, no one looked as old as she was, though fortunately for her she didn’t look her age, probably due to her petite size and the fact she had no wrinkles, but still, she always got asked for her ID back home whenever she was buying anything you need to be over 18 for. 

‘Hi, I’m Mel.’ A girl opposite her addressed her quietly. 

Alex looked up, she was around 20 maybe, extremely tall, with short dark hair.  She had beautiful blue eyes though and was extremely striking, the total opposite to Alex though.

‘Hey, I’m Alex, nice to meet you.’ She whispered back shyly.

‘Have you ever done something like this before?’ Mel asked her looking apprehensive.

‘No, never, one of the women in there met me on the street and asked me to come down.’ Alex shrugged. ‘How about you?’

‘Oh, you’re so lucky!’ Mel whispered excitedly.  Alex, could not for the life of her work out why that was a good thing.  It must have shown on her face as Mel continued, ‘Most people who get picked for jobs like this are picked out on the street, signed models find these kinds of jobs really hard to get.’

Alex felt a little better, ‘Oh wow I had no idea.’

‘Yeah, I’m with an agency, I’ve done a few photo shoots but no videos or anything.’ Mel explained.

‘I’m not sure this is really my thing, I don’t know if I’ll be any good.’ Alex admitted, bowing her head to eye up the other girls again.

‘Nah, you’ll be fine, don’t worry, besides you’re gorgeous.’ She winked, her bright blue eyes flashing.

Alex smiled back in appreciation.  ‘Thanks, where are you from?’

‘I’m from Kazakhstan, my family moved here when I was quite young,’ Mel explained.

‘Oh wow, You’re English is so good.’ Alex was shocked.

‘Yeah, I’ve been speaking English since I was young, my father is from Australia.’ Mel clarified. ‘What about you?’ She asked.

‘I’m a writer, I’ve only been here about a week, I’m originally from England.’ Alex told her feeling shy.

‘Oh, a writer that’s so cool!’ Mel seemed so genuinely happy at meeting Alex and finding out she was a writer. 

‘Alexandra!’ A man shouted from a different doorway.

‘Oh, that’s me.’ She said towards Mel, standing up.

‘Good luck!’ she wished happily. 

Alex made her way over to the door and followed the man into a smaller room than before.  To the right was a white background, with soft lighting all around, and to the left was a table, behind which sat three people, Hae-soo, and two men, one of whom looked around mid-50s and she took to be the director. 

‘Just stand there.’ The man who called her name pointed at an x on the floor just in front of the white screen.

‘Right ok.’ She followed his orders.

‘So, Alexandra, we are just going to take a few test shots and ask you some questions ok?’ Hae-soo began.

‘Sure ok.’ Alex answered trying to sound like she did this a lot. 

‘This is the director, Kim Kyhunmin, and this is a representative of the artists company Choi Moonkin.’

Alex nodded towards them both politely.

Before she knew it, she was being photographed and asked to move into all different positions, show different emotions, filmed and asked to run, jump and walk and then she was being asked every question she could think of, from where she’s lived, what she likes, to her weight and height. 

The whole thing took around 30 minutes and it seemed to go well.  The three people behind the table had a monitor obviously watching as each photograph was taken, and they seemed satisfied with her answers.  But she couldn’t be sure how well this whole thing had gone. 

‘Ok so Alex, we want you to come back this afternoon for a test run with the artist ok?’ Hae-soo told her as she was gathering her things.

‘Really?’ Alex cried in shock.  She really couldn’t believe it.  This was a call back!  She must have done ok.

‘Yes!’ Hae-soo grinned knowingly.  ‘Be back here at 6pm, I know it’s a bit late, but that’s how these things happen, we’ll tell you the details of the job then, the pay, and you’ll do a short filming with the artist to check how everything looks, all being well, you’