The Unexpected Rhapsody || ✅

Chapter 8

"Goodness gracious!" lets out Himani along with a heavy sigh.

She takes a few steps forward until the wall in front of her disappears to reveal a tall stool standing in the middle of an empty room. The light purple wall behind the wooden stool highlights its presence. Empty until she sees a large tripod set in front of it. A tall man stands behind the camera, possibly changing some settings.

Her steps slow down as she searches for a way out. Did the Hitman just trick a little girl?

"Hey there, gorgeous!" the male's voice catches her attention. She stares at him without any movement.

"Come on here, I gotta take your pics."

"What for?" she questions as he hesitantly makes her way into the room.

"Go sit there on that stool. It's lonely without you." He winks.

So cheesy. She thinks.

She makes no movement to follow his instruction. "Umm... I think that you're mistaken. Or maybe I'm in the wrong room."

"Not at all, pretty girl! Our judges must've liked you enough to send you here to me."

"To you?"

"I mean, yeah... I'm your photographer. My job is to take magnificent pictures of yours and send them to the BigHit Corporation," he elaborates.

"I see. So, every girl who auditions here has to do this," nodding in consideration, she turns around, "Okay. I'll do it too, then." She stands right before the tall stool.

"Let me tell you a secret, girl. Not every participant gets the chance to meet me." He speaks in a hushed voice.

She rolls her eyes. "I'm so pleased to meet you. What's your good name, sir?" she asks, faking an interest.

"My name's Joseph. What about yours?"

"I'm sure you'll get to know it soon enough; if I'm important to this company, that is," she tries to imitate the man's conduct.

"Sassy, huh? I like it."

She finally sits on the stool.

"What do I do now?" she asks, more to herself.

"If you'd have watched any idol's video while they're in a shoot, you'd know what to do."

"Okay, I'll try. Kindly be patient with me."

"Don't worry."

She pops a couple of joints in her neck before relaxing her shoulders. Slowly, she extends her left leg towards the floor but keeps the right one in the first step of the stool. She sets her right hand behind her back and gently rests her left hand's wrist on top of her right knee. She wears an extremely subtle smile and looks at the camera with a stare which could burn all of her admirers, if she had any.

"Perfect!" he clicks his tongue and begins to take snaps of the girl in front of her.

"Oh God! I'm melting," he mutters.

She rolls her eyes for the nth time at such a remark.

~~

Lying down on the spacious couch in his office, Bang Shi Hyuk releases a heavy sigh. He removes his shoes and closes his eyes as he finds himself finally relaxing after a long day of continuous work. Apparently, he stayed at the audition's venue a bit longer than he had intended to.

The slow opening of his office door forces him to open his eyes. Seeing Jimin and Jungkook entering the room, he smiles softly and sits up, suddenly overcoming his fatigue.