She sat in the large office quietly, her bluey-grey eyes darting between the door and the clock ticking on the wall. She was incredibly nervous, and wondered why she had even put herself in the position she was currently in. Her hopes were crashing as each minute passed in silence, although inside her chest her heart was beating frantically, feeling as if it would jump out of her any moment now. Her ribs were aching from irregular breathing and she fiddled with her bracelets, a habit she did whenever she was out of her comfort zone.

Rochelle didn’t even know why she applied for the job. She only had the summer free before she started at Seoul City University for her first semester, and that was going to be challenging enough, as she wasn’t Korean born. In fact she was still learning the language after moving from New Zealand eight months previous with her Mum and best friend Kate. It was crazy enough that they had shipped themselves all this way because they wanted a change, and now she was sitting in the office of Seoul’s entertainment magazine, K Beats. She had seriously deluded herself thinking that she even had a chance here.

“Miss Ellis?” a male voice asked at the door and she spun around, nodding her head. He smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry for keeping you here so long, my last appointment took quite some time.”

“It’s fine,” she replied with a nervous smile and the older man reached for her hand to shake it. “I’m thankful that you’d take the time to meet with me Mr. Lee.”

“Well, we’re always glad to welcome new faces to the team.” The editor smiled and then scanned over what she suspected to be her CV. He nodded a couple of times. “Impressive, you worked for a magazine back in New Zealand?”

She nodded. “Only part time, but the experience really made me want to get more into journalism. I was working for a local magazine about the music talent in Christchurch, the city I’m from. I would interview new bands and then write a review about their gig I would attend, and their basic information.”

“How old are you?” he enquired and she smiled weakly.

“I’m twenty-one here in Korea aging.”

“Very impressive,” he replied and looked up at her. “Can you understand Korean?”

“I have to admit, I’m still learning but I know enough to understand most conversations. I’ve been learning for a few years,” she said and Mr. Lee nodded.

“Well I have to say there aren’t many out there that are of English descent that would be hired for a job as a Korean interviewer.”

“I understand, thank you so much for your time,” she said quickly, hoping the dejection would hold out until she was out of the building. The editor shook his head and chuckled.

“Please, allow me to finish. There are however, plenty of musicians and bands that fortunately can communicate in more than one language,” he commented with a smile and Rochelle sat back down slowly. “I need someone to cover the summer festivals here in Seoul. More specifically, I’m hoping you can prove to handle the responsibility of interviewing a particular band for me. You’re younger than most of our journo’s so I think you’d be able to relate and get closer to them.”

“Does, does this mean I have a job?” she asked slowly and Mr. Lee chuckled again at her astonishment.

“Call me a mystic but I see good things coming your way Rochelle,” he told her and she blinked a couple of times, feeling unable to control her emotions.

“Oh my goodness,” she breathed and the editor grinned.

“Here, give this to Song-Min at the reception,” he said, handing her a sheet of paper. “She’ll give you a call when we need you to come back in to finalise everything.”

“Thank you,” she managed to say, getting up onto her wobbly legs and after fare-welling the Head Editor, she took herself dazedly to the reception, giving the pretty Korean woman the slip Mr. Lee had given her.

“Congratulations,” she said in Korean warmly and Rochelle nodded numbly, her mind only being able to cope with simple actions.

Because all she could think of was how she had succeeded to get herself a job. And not just any job, but one that would allow her creativity to shine, as she met the talent in this country. Kate had been right that morning as she had flittered around preparing for the interview.

Good things were to come of Rochelle in Korea.