Ash

This morning is not going well.

After a very late start, due to the fact I forgot to set my alarm last night, I walk into my flat's kitchen and go to the fridge, only to find that I'm completely out of basically everything but butter. My toast burnt in the toaster and for some reason my laptop is playing up. On top of all of that, I'm pretty sure my period's coming.

I sit in my armchair, taking large bites from my buttered toast, hopelessly trying to revive my laptop. After a few minutes of punching every button there is, it finally flickers to life, the familiar lock screen flashing up and I type in my password at top speed. I sigh in relief when nothing glitches and my Wifi is working fine. A message pops up in the corner of my screen and I click on it, the link leading to my email inbox. I skim through the countless emails I've got, most of them from companies wanting to sell things to me. There's one from my friend who's currently living in Australia and I put it into starred, so I can read it later. Only then do my eyes land on an email which sets my heart racing.

An email from Big Hit Entertainment.

I hastily open it and start to read.

Dear Ms Dexter,

We are very happy to tell you that you have been accepted to take on the job. We expect to see you in two weeks to seal the agreement, at the Big Hit Entertainment building, in Seoul, Korea.

Kind Regards,

Bang Shi-Hyuk, CEO of Big Hit Entertainment.

I have to reread the email a few times, before it really sinks in.

They accepted me.

A smile lights up on my face, and I throw my hands in the air, squealing with joy. Finally, after moving on from my last company, someone has taken me on. I get up off the armchair, and run around the small room, but then stop dead in my tracks when I realise something.

I'm going to have to move to Korea.

But even this thought, the thought of leaving my friends and family behind doesn't dampen my mood. Because I just got a job, and I get to live in the one place I've always wanted to.

I whip out my phone from my jeans pocket and dial my mum, waiting impatiently for her to pick up. Several rings later, my mother's soft voice speaks over the phone.

"Ashley? Why are you calling? Is something wrong? Did you find your Soulmate?!"

"No, Mum. I got a new job!"

"That's lovely sweetheart! I'm so glad to hear that."

"I'm starting in two weeks, but......."

"What's wrong? Ashley?"

"I-uh, I have to move to Korea." I bite my lip nervously, waiting for her response.

"Oh sweetheart! You've always wanted to live in Korea!"

"But what about you?"

My mother laughs sweetly down the line.

"Is that what you're worried about? Ashley, I'll be alright here without you. Just go out there and live your life. These kinds of opportunity only come every once in a lifetime. If you miss me, you can always call me. And you might find your Soulmate out in Korea."

"But......"

"Go on. Go chase your dream, but remember I'll always be here if you ever need anyone to support you, alright?"

"T-thanks Mum." I now feel extremely guilty about leaving my mother.

"And don't feel guilty about leaving me. I know you're having second thoughts right now."

I chuckle slightly at my mother's perception, nearly choking on the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.

"H-how did you k-know?"

"Sweetheart, I've raised you all your life. I know you better than you probably know yourself. Now start packing your things, and I'll look for a place for you to stay until you can buy your own apartment."

"I-I love you Mum."

"I love you too Ashley. Now get packing!"

With that my mother hangs up, and I lift a hand to wipe away the tears rolling down my face, looking around at the small flat in which I've been living for the last three years. The place is homely, but also worn and in need of a complete makeover, and it's come to be my home. Leaving this place behind'll be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Just looking around the place, I remember every memory made here, every story that each of the objects here hold.

But Korea holds the promise of something new, a fresh start. A new chance to try and find my soulmate and to work in a place that truly makes me happy. I'm just hoping I have enough money to live there in relative comfort.

I let out a long sigh, before going to my cupboard and pulling my suitcases out. This is going to be a long day.

***

Nearly a week later, my flight touches down at Incheon international airport. I stare out of the small window at the massive structure that is the busiest airport in Korea. Making sure I have my hand luggage, I depart the plane and smile at the chilliness in the air. Even though it's April, there's still a lingering cold wind which I'm grateful for. I've never been a fan of the heat.

I make my way to pick up my luggage and after a few long minutes of waiting, my two suitcases come round, and I heave them off the conveyer belt. I make my way out of the area, to arrivals, where I know no one is waiting for me. I only have one friend in Korea and unfortunately he's working, and doesn't know I'm here.

I hail a taxi and load my luggage into the boot, before sitting in the back and telling the driver the address. My mother found a nice apartment near enough to the Big Hit Entertainment building, which is being rented out by a private owner. I have enough money to live comfortably there for a good few months, before I have to find my own place.

The drive takes a while, but before I know it, we're driving through Seoul, heading towards the apartment. Soon we're pulling up outside the building and I get out, paying the driver, then getting my luggage. I walk into the building and take the elevator up to the 6th floor. I then make my way to my door and key in the code on the small box next to the door, which has the apartment key in it. I open the door with ease and smile at the sight behind it.

The apartment is modest and simple, with a nice white classy design. There's a sofa to my right, facing a tv on the wall, and in front of me is a small walk-in kitchen. There's a glass dining table with chairs all around it, and when I look to my far right, there's a white door, which I'm guessing leads to the bedroom. I pull my suitcases in, and dump my bags on the dining table, before heading into the bedroom.

A double bed, with flawless white sheets, a glass bedside table and desk. And then again to my right, a door leading to the en-suite bathroom. I mentally thank my mother for the great find.

I start to unpack my things, but give up halfway through and opt instead for slumping onto the sofa, flipping through the channels on the tv. I'm met with loads of Korean news and entertainment channels, and it's not long before I give up. I get out my phone and log onto the Wifi here, with the password that the owner gave me. I then look through my news feed, glancing at a couple of them, but none of them really catch my eye. And then I spot the teaser for BTS's comeback, and click on it, a smile growing on my face as I watch them. The teaser is for a song called Boy with Luv and I smile even wider when I remember that this is the kind of thing I'll be helping to produce when I'm working at Big Hit.

I search through my bag and get out my laptop, which turns on easily, much to my delight. I then open up my producing program and look through the half-completed songs already on there, some of them with Korean lyrics, others written in English.

I speak fluent Korean, due to the fact I'm half Korean. My father was Korean, my mother English, but he left before I was born. My mother didn't want me to forget my heritage, and since she's fluent in Korean as well, she would spend her time on the weekends teaching me how to spell not only in English, but in Korean as well. After my father left, we never heard from him again. My mother hates any mention of him, but I've always wanted to meet him, just once at least, so I could get to know who my other parent was, even if he hadn't been around to actually be a parent.

The night goes by quickly, with me editing and rewriting songs until past one in the morning, before I go to bed.

The week goes on like that, with me alternating spending my time working in my apartment and exploring the city. Soon enough the day comes around and I find myself unusually bubbling and energetic in the morning. I get dressed in a simple white blouse with black suit trousers and a black jacket over the top. This is dressier than what I normally wear, but I have no idea what I'll be expected to wear, so dressing up is a failsafe.

I don't really feel like eating, what with the butterflies in my stomach, so I just chug down a glass of water and make my way out of the apartment, double checking I have everything I need and then I lock the door.

The elevator ride down to the ground floor is slow and I rush out as soon as the doors open, not wanting to be late, even though I still have at least an hour until the meeting. I decide to walk to the building, having already scoped out the route a couple of days ago and I set off down the road, walking towards the Big Hit entertainment building.

When I get there, I flash my invitation in front of the security guards, who nod their heads and let me through. The building lobby is massive and so I head to the reception desk.

"Hi, I'm Ashley Dexter. I have a meeting with Bang Shi-Hyuk at 9:00?" I say in Korean.

The woman nods her head at me.

"If you head over to the elevators over there, press the button for the 8th floor. His office'll be just down the corridor. Just knock because he's already waiting for you. Don't worry you're not late." She adds after seeing the panic appear on my face.

"Thank you." I bow my head and walk to the elevator.

The ride up to the 8th floor is quiet, with no one else in the lift. It's only eight in the morning, so the place isn't too busy yet. The doors open up on the 8th floor, and I take a deep breath before stepping out of the elevator and making my way to the door at the end of the corridor.

Once I reach it, I lift up my shaking hand and knock twice, waiting for a reply.

"Come in."

I nervously open the door and step inside, to see Bang Shi-Hyuk, the CEO of Big Hit Entertainment sat behind his desk, a warm smile on his face.

"Ah, Ms Dexter, please come and sit down." He gestures at the seat the opposite him.

I walk over and sit down, giving him a small smile.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I heard your work on that song and once I found out you had applied for a job here, I knew that I needed to hire you. Although if you don't mind me asking, what happened to the other company you were working for?"

"The, uh, the workplace environment wasn't the best, which drove me to quit."

The CEO nods his head in understanding.

"Well, I assure you that the workplace environment here is very different."

He gives me a reassuring smile.

"As a music producer and writer, you'll be working a lot with the members to help them produce music and I have a feeling you'll spend a lot of time particularly with RM or Namjoon, as he does most of the lyric writing for the group's songs. I have nothing against you becoming friends with the members and I support any relationships, especially soulmate bonds, that go on between my staff and the group's members, but I would be very grateful if no scandals were created."

I smile at him and nod my head.

Suddenly there's a knock at the door and a young woman around my age comes in.

"Ms Dexter, I'd like you to meet Lee Eunbi, one of our other music producers. You're also going to be working very closely with her as well."

The dark haired woman flashes me a bright smile.

"Nice to meet you Ms Dexter."

I shake her outstretched hand. "Call me Ash."

"Ms Lee will escort you to your new studio and after that she'll introduce you to the boys. I figured that if you're going to be working with them it's best that you get to meet them outside of a session first." Bang Shi-Hyuk says to me and I nod my head.

"I'm looking forward to what you can bring to this company Ms Dexter. Feel free to come and talk to me about any worries you have at anytime."

"Thank you Sir." I get up, bowing my head and then I follow Eunbi out of the office.

"He's a lot nicer than my past bosses." I comment to her and she nods her head.

"He's the nicest boss I've ever met." She gives me a smile, "I'm so excited to be working with you."

"Me too. I feel like we're going to get on well."

She leads me back down the corridor and presses on the elevator button. We wait for a few seconds before the doors open. She presses the button for the 5th floor and soon the doors open on a long winding corridor, with pictures of all the artists on the cream walls.

"This is Bangtan's floor, but it also has all of their selected producer's studios as well as some of the member's own personal studios. Both of our studios are on this floor."

Eunbi walks out of the elevator and leads me down the corridor.

"Can I ask you question?" I say to her.

"Of course. Feel free to ask me anything."

I smile at her easy manner, "What's the dress code here?"

"Oh, you can just wear casual clothes. Don't worry about suits or anything. The only time we wear formal clothing is when we all gather together for the annual performance summary. Everyone comes to that, even the idols."

We stop a couple of turns later, in front of a wood styled door.

"This is your studio."

I open the door and look around the place in awe. Although it's small, it's bigger than studios I've had before. It looks much more comfortable than my last studio, which was the janitor's closet, slightly refurbished, but they still stored the mops and brushes in there.

"Do you like it?" Eunbi asks nervously.

"I love it!" I find myself grinning uncontrollably at Eunbi, whose face lights up when she sees how happy I am.

"I mean, it's probably not at nice as your last one....."

I turn to her, scoffing loudly. "Are you kidding me? My old studio was a janitor's closet! This is heaven compared to that."

"I'll help you move in tomorrow, if you want?" Eunbi looks at me shyly, but her shyness disappears when she notices my wide grin.

"That would be great."

"Come on. I'll take you to see the boys."

I walk with her out of the studio and we turn to the right, carrying on down the corridor. A few minutes later we're standing outside a door which leads to one of the many dance practise rooms.

Eunbi pushes the door open and I'm instantly attacked by the smell of sweat and the loud beats coming from a stereo in the corner of the room. The room is decorated with woody caramel walls, one of the walls a full mirror. The floor is bright white with scuff marks everywhere, from when people have danced a little too hard. The four people inside stop dancing abruptly when they see that they're not alone and Seokjin jogs over to the stereo, turning the music off.

"Hey Noona. Who's that?" Jungkook asks Eunbi, who frowns and looks around for the other three members.

"Oh, they're at a photoshoot for the rest of the day." Jimin says.

"Noona? What's going on?" Taehyung asks and the vocal line all turn towards us.

"Well, I was hoping to do this with all of you here, but I guess they can meet her later."

"Is she your soulmate?" Jimin asks and Eunbi laughs lightly, shaking her head.

"No Jimin, this is Ash, your new music producer and writer."

She gestures at me and I give them a small smile.

"Hi."

"You look strangely familiar........... You're We Rose Supreme!" Jungkook yells and the rest of the vocal line looks at me in surprise.

"Wow. Bang PD said we we're getting an amazing new producer, but I didn't think that he meant he was hiring literally the best producer of the decade." Seokjin says which makes me blush.

"I-I'm not the producer of the decade." I protest, but the vocal line and Eunbi give me really looks, "I'm serious."

"Well so am I. It's going to be great to work with you." Seokjin replies.

"Likewise. What are you guys practising?"

They all give each other smirks, before turning to me.

"I'm guessing you've heard the teaser for Boy With Luv?" Taehyung says and I nod.

"Our comeback is in two weeks. We're rehearsing the dances for the album."

"Want to watch?" Jimin says.

"Sure."

Jungkook turns the stereo back on and the four men get into their positions. Eunbi and I move to the front so we can see them clearly. A slightly familiar beat begins, which I recognise as Boy with Luv and they begin to dance. By the time they finish, panting hard, I'm speechless.

"I-I..........."

Eunbi chuckles from beside me.

"I think you broke her." She turns to me with a smirk, "You haven't even seen the full performance yet, since the rap line isn't here. You're going to die when you see the whole thing."

"How are you completely fine?!" I ask in an accusatory tone.

"I've known these guys long enough to get over their charisma. Believe me, once you've seen them snog a lamppost, the effect kind of wears off."

"Hey, that was one time! And in my defense I was very drunk!" Taehyung protests and both Eunbi and I laugh at his blushing face.

"But seriously, that was amazing. You're going to give Armys a heart attack and something tells me that this song is going to be very popular overseas."

The vocal line smile at my comments and Eunbi gives me a look, which says we should be going. I say goodbye to the four men and head out of the dance studio with Eunbi hot on my heels.

"It's a shame that you didn't get to meet all of them today, but I guess you can see them after the comeback."

"After?" I ask her as she falls into step beside me.

She nods her head almost solemnly. "From tomorrow, their schedule gets so hectic, they have literally no free time, except for eight hours or so to sleep and a few snack breaks in between. There's no way that they're going to be able to meet you properly for the next three or four weeks."

"That gives me time to fully settle into my studio and working here."

"Can I ask something slightly personal?" Eunbi asks and I nod, "Have you found your soulmate yet?"

I shake my head. "I'm hoping that I'll find them here in Seoul. Afterall, I'm already 24. A good amount of my friends have already found their soulmates and constantly rub it in my face."

"I know how you feel. A couple of months ago I found my soulmate, but before that all my friends would show off that they had soulmates and I didn't."

"Tell me about your soulmate."

"Well she's the sweetest person I've ever met and she has the cutest smile." A dazed dreamy look appears on Eunbi's face and I feel a smile of my own rise up onto my lips, "I think I lucked out with my soulmate tattoo as well."

She lifts up her hoodie sleeve, to reveal a single word written neatly in the familiar cursive soulmate font on her right inner wrist.

Gorgeous

"Yeah you did. Imagine having something embarrassing on your arm."

Eunbi grins as she pulls her sleeve back down.

Everyone has a soulmate, someone in the world who is destined for them. Your soulmate is almost always around the same age as you, but doesn't always have to be the same nationality. Because of that, travel is big worldwide, with people exploring every corner of the earth to try and find their soulmate. You find your soulmate by locking eyes with them, so everyone tries to look directly into everyone's eyes when talking to them, which I find kind of anxiety inducing. I'm not really one for holding eye contact, but until I find my soulmate, I'm forced to stare at everyone I meet.

Once you look directly into your soulmate's eyes, a kind of euphoria takes over your senses. People describe it as almost epiphany like, others saying that time freezes when they see their fated for the first time. And then comes the last part of the bonding. The person's thought at the time of bonding is imprinted into their soulmate's skin, on their right wrist. Some people end up having really weird things imprinted on their wrists, whilst others get seriously romantic stuff. The imprinting is supposedly extremely painful, but since I've never experienced it, I have no idea what to expect.

"Hopefully you'll find your soulmate soon. If it'll make you feel any better, you can come with me and my soulmate to the cinema tonight?"

"And watch you be heartachingly adorable, whilst I have no one? No thank you." I grump, a small pout forming on my lips.

"Suit yourself. I'll give you my number so that you can call me if you change your mind." Eunbi smiles at me and I find myself feeling content. Even though I've only been in this country a week, it's already starting to feel like home.

---------------------------

I don't know when I'll post (sorry, its going to be a bit random)

And thank you for deciding to read my story, even if you give up after this chapter or halfway through, thank you for giving my writing a go.

Alys xx