The Magazine Corner: Late Morning: Anyone

[Isabel Liu]

After a fairly long morning, Isabel was tired. She had just finished applying for the NEA Entertainment on the second level. Isabel decided to take mini tour around the Music Department Level. After all, this place will be where she'll spend the rest of her career. Before doing her first album later on, she'll have to take a look around and get use to a new environment.

Isabel stepped out of the elevator and cautiously looked around. It is a new place after all; Isabel is a bit nervous, a little bit scared too. She walked a little further in to the level, observing the environment around. Isabel saw many doors leading to different rooms, and she will eventually work in one of them.

Seeing a new place is exciting, but a little bit lonely by herself. It would be great if she could quickly make acquaintance here. Isabel looked around the room again. Empty. Hmmm...quite unusual. It is usually packed with people. Looks like she'll have to meet other people tomorrow.

[LE TIEN]

Tien entered the building of NEA Entertainment and looked around. This was only her second time here. She walked over to the desk and signed in. She tried to ask the woman at the desk where the floors for the models were but she was just waved away. Tien shrugged and pulled her purse up higher on her shoulder. She strolled to the elevator and got in just in time before it closed. She pressed the third level to see if it was the right one.

Tien knew that it wasn't the second since she had spent the morning before on that level, filling in her application. Modeling in the agency she was formerly with was terrible. Nowadays they basically accepted anyone. This fueled the newer models confidence and gave them a "right" to flaunt it and act arrogant to the older ones. Tien had been a child model since she was seven so she was used to the industry but hated the girls arrogant attitude. Fed up, Tien left for the new agency she heard of in Korea. She had been here on vacations with her mother for the summer. She knew the language so why not? She took the chance.

Suddenly her cellphone made a ding sound which meant that she had a text. She looked in her purse and pulled her cellphone out and read the text. It was from her sister, asking her how Korea was. Tien began typing a reply as the elevator door opened. She stepped out and began walking without any idea of where she was. All of a sudden, she walked into a girl. "So sorry," she apologized. "I wasn't paying attention," she explained.

[Isabel Liu]

Isabel paced slowly around the hall, not sure what she's exactly waiting for: the elevator to open or someone she can talk to. She began to feel bored and decided to go home for the day. Take a long, bubble bath and make lemonades...nothing more. It just be an ordinary teen's summer day. She dared not to daydream more about her future. It's not like she's young anymore, when she had dreamed about fame and wealth all day long. Youth was a wonderful day - nothing to worry about, no stress. But now, Isabel must take respnsibility of her own life. She must choose every route carefully.

Ding! The elevator finally arrived (though Isabel don't recall clicking he button). The metal door slid open and a girl came out, possibly around the same age as herself. Isabel would had like to talk to her, but her mind was set: bubble bath and lemonade, she had no intention anymore to social.

THUMP!

Oww...

It wasn't a big collision, but Isabel hates it when someone bumps into her, even by accident.

"Oh,it's all right." said Isabel. Actually, not really. You have eyes, don't you? Isabel couldn't explain why she's now in her crappy mood. Maybe it was because of the long, tiring morning. She looked at the girl again. Isabel can somewhat "feel" that the girl is around the same level of thought as hers when she first came to the building earlier: confused and nervous.

"Hello, Isabel said more friendly this time. "Are you new to here?

[LE TIEN]

The girl she had collided into seemed to be around her age. "Hi," Tien greeted the girl. The girl looked kind of new to this so maybe she could make a friend. She heard the girl's question. "Yeah, I'm new here," she answered politely. She hoped that the girl didn't really take any offense when Tien bumped into her. "Are you also new? she asked. Tien put her cellphone back into her purse. My name is Tien Le," she introduced herself.

Tien wasn't really used to meeting people. Usually they already knew her since she's been a model most of her life. "What's your name?" she asked. Curiosity was sometimes a blessing and a curse for Tien. Sometimes she asked what she shouldn't and other times she was declared a clever girl. It's hard understanding some things and occasionally, it was better to leave it alone.

Another question struck her. Maybe she should ask which profession this girl chose. This might help Tien go to where the floor for models were. "If you don't mind me asking, what career did you choose?" she asked nicely. They might be able to be friends since they seemed close in age. Tien didn't really have time for friends since she mostly went to work or school. Even at school, she didn't make friends. All of her classmates were nervous around her. It didn't help much when her mother was a fashion designer for some of the top stars in Vietnam. Most of the kids at her school came from parents who worked in companies or owned a small store.

[Isabel Liu]

So she's also new. Isabel became interested. If this girl is also new, then it would be way easier to get to know each other and to become friends. "Oh yes, I'm new." said Isabel. "This is my first time here, I just finished applying on the second floor." Isabel told the girl. "I suppose your doing the same as well?"

"Oh, nice to meet you Tien." Isabel thought it was a pretty name, though she had never heard of it before. "I'm Isabel, Isabel Liu." she introduced herself with her English name, which she thought would be easier for her to remember. Anyways, she hate it when other pronounce her name "Rubbing" when it's suppose to be pronounced like "Roo bing". "I just came to Korea from China, actually."

Isabel heard Tien ask her of her career choice. "I'm a singer." replied Isabel. "My friends always said I'd have made a good model. But I've never been interested in modeling." She would also liked to an actress, if it weren't for her special talent in singing. Her past agent had said Isabel would be more successful as a singer. "Have you had any singing experiences before?" Isabel supposed she was also a singer. After all, she is at the Music level.

[LE TIEN]

"Actually, I applied yesterday but as it was getting late, I left so I'm back today to check the building out," Tien explained. So far the building was nice. Though, she did hope to find the floor for models soon. The girl introduced herself as Isabel Liu. That was a pretty name. Isabel actually sounded like a name from the Europe or Spain. It reminded her of a queen she read about but the name was spelled Isabelle. "Isabel's a pretty name. I suppose it's not Chinese, is it?" Tien asked.

Isabel explained that she had just come to Korea from China. Tien actually clapped her hands. At least she wouldn't be the only foreigner in this place. "Really? That's kind of like me but I came from Vietnam," Tien said. China and Vietnam were pretty close. The cultures in Vietnam influenced some of Vietnam's customs.

A flush rose to Tien's face when Isabel replied to her question, saying that she was a singer. Now, it made it obvious that she was on the wrong floor. She heard Isabel go on. "You'd actually make a good model. Since you're going to be a singer, you need to attend photo shoots sometimes too," Tien told the girl. Isabel asked her if she had any experience singing. Tien's blush became a little redder. She made her answer lighter so she wouldn't feel as embarrassed as she already was. "Only if you count singing karaoke. Actually, I'm a model. I've been one since I was seven. I was looking for the level for models but the receptionist waved me away because she was on the phone," she replied with a little smile. She decided to draw the subject away from her mistake. "So how long have you been singing?" Tien asked Isabel.

[Isabel Liu]

"Isabel?" Isabel slightly chucked. "No, it's not Chinese. Isabel is my English name that I had from school. My real name is Ru Bing. But on the application, I applied my name as Isabel because it would be much simpler." Isabel explained to Tien. "Anyways, they always pronounce my name 'rubbing'." She smiled thinking about her strange nickname her friends always gave her.

The other girl, Tien, says she's from Vietnam? Isabel couldn't help feeling relieved finding that she's not the only foreigner around. "Vietnam?" said Isabel. "That's even farther away from here than Shanghai is! It must of been a long plane ride!" Isabel never enjoyed flying transportations. She always feels sick during the launch and landing. She always try to travel by train or car as much as possible.

"Oh, thanks," Isabel replied modestly. "Yes, I had heard we'd have to take photo shoots. I hope it's not much work, is it?" She asked curiously, hoping that Tien would have some experience with photo shoots.

Oh, so she's actually a model. Isabel had thought Tien did look more like a model type, with a great figure and everything. "Well, the modeling department is on the sixth level, I believe." Isabel recalled seeing level departments. "I love karaoke. That was actually how I found my interest in singing. I was only seven years old then. I officially took lessons around nine, I think." Isabel explained to Tien.

[LE TIEN]

Tien gave a smile at Isabel's explanation of her name. "That's interesting," she commented. Isabel remarked on how long her plane ride must have been. "If you flew like me, you wouldn't care how long it was," she said. She couldn't help but feel a little sense of pride. She had flown first class because her mother had wanted the best for her "little girl". Since Tien was the youngest, her mother and older sister pampered her.

Her father didn't because her parents had divorced when she was five. He was a wealthy man who had many affairs. Her mother was fed up with it and demanded a divorce. After long hours at court, her mother gained custody of her Tien and her sister. After that, Tien never saw her father again. Well, physically in front of her. He was on newspapers sometimes. Tien usually just threw that paper in the trash, not wanting her mother to see it.

"Well, photo shoots depend on who you work with. Sometimes, there are days you get praised and days where you're yelled at. That's happened to me plenty of times. You might not be posing the way that they want or your arrogant co-worker refuses to cooperate." Tien explained, reliving her worst photo shoot. Her co-worker had been one of those new models who believed that they had a "right" to brag about their good fortune of being discovered.

Isabel told her where the Department for Models were. "Thank you," Tien said, flashing Isabel a sweet smile. "That's cool. Something similar to that happened to me. I was just seven years old. My mother had made a fashion line for children and decided to use me as a model. One of the outfits had me dressed in pure white. That was how I discovered that I wanted to be a model," she told Isabel her story of her discovery of being a model. "It was also how my stage name, Angelic Princess came to be," she said, giggling. It was an embarrassing name because she wasn't angelic or the sweetest person.

[Isabel Liu]

"Well, I prefer trains and cars. You know - the transportations that stay on the ground." Isabel told Tien, smiling a bit. Even ships and boats are better than planes. She remember reading some cool transportations in some of her favorote childhood books...Harry Potter...yes...wouldn't it be freat to travel by floo powder, or apparating? Isabel loved fantasy as a child, and she still does. "It wouldn't be bad to just teleport from one place to another." commented Isabel, not sure whether to use the word 'apparate' or not. Harry Potter's one of her favorite discussing topics, at least at home where all her friends loves it.

Isabel listened carefully to Tien's explaination of photo shoot. "Oh really? How long should it take finish a photo shoot?" asked Isabel. She hoped photo shoot sessions should seem like one of those artistic photo shoots she took before, whe she was younger. It did take quite a while, but it was quite fun actually. Isabel have never experienced professional, profession photo shoots though.

Isabel listened to Tien's story. She do like listening to stories like that. "Aww... Isabel smiled at the nickname. Angelic Princess. "My mother always encouraged art. She always says 'Earth without art is just Eh. That's why she backed me up when my dad wanted me to go to business school. she told Tien. Isabel...business school? No, those don't go together.

[LE TIEN]

Tien saw that Isabel didn't seem so fond of traveling on an airplane. She gave a smile. "Teleporting from one place to another would be cool. It kind of reminds me of a series I read. It was called Harry Potter. The series was basically all the rage during one point," she told Isabel. It was a famous book series. She read the book in two languages, Vietnamese and English. Once she read the English version, she found that the Vietnamese translation wasn't accurate but at least they didn't make up a word in it.

Isabel asked her how long a photo shoot would take. "As I said, it depends on who you work with. Cooperative people won't take long for it to finish. The people who refuse to work with you will probably drag it into a two hours. Don't worry if you're stuck in those. You'll get a break during them," Tien explained. When she was at a photo shoot for a magazine, her co-worker had thrown a hissy fit because she wasn't at the center of it. It took three hours for it to be done. Her co-worker was jealous of Tien because she belonged to the agency longer and she had been in more magazines.

She was told by Isabel that her father had wanted her to go to business school. "I'm glad your grandmother supported you. If she hadn't you wouldn't be here. I'm just happy because my mother supported my choice in being a model. I don't think my father is happy about me though. He never liked my mother being a designer. He would most likely not be happy that I didn't choose a "reasonable" job," Tien said. Even when her father wasn't there, he still threw a shadow over her life. Her father wasn't probably happy with her family. Her older sister was an actress, her mother a designer, and herself a model weren't what her father would consider a great family. "Irresponsible" was the word he used to describe her family. She heard him use the day after her first photo shoot was published. He had called her mother just to tell her that. The thought of it fueled her anger at him. "So did you come here with your family or alone?" she asked, changing the subject.

[Isabel Liu]

Isabel's face sort of lit up at the mention of Harry Potter. "Harry Potter, yes. That is where I got the idea from." said Isabel. So Tien does know Harry Potter. "Have you read them?" asked Isabel. All her friends has read the series, and she has never yet met anyone that didn't like them after reading the whole series. Isabel thought it was wonderful - perfect, almost. And Isabel is a very picky person.

Isabel listened thoughtfully to Tien's explaination. "For you, do you think they're okay?" she asked Tien. "On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy photo shoots?" Isabel hopes it would be no lower than five. She had asked her other friends about photo shoots. Some says it's all right, some say it's just awful. So now she's all confused. It wouldn't hurt to ask more people about it, right?

The young singer smiled at Tien's story. Isabel was quite glad they're finding any things alike. "Yeah, I wouldn't trade singing for the world." said Isabel, recalling the older times once more. Her father was a small business man himself, of course he would have wanted Isabel to be the same. But her mother was different. Isabel's mother told her she wanted to be a singer herself when she was younger. Isabel was shocked, but she never had the courage to ask why she didn't pursue in singing.

"No, just myself." replied Isabel. Her mother had wanted to come badly, but Isabel told her she would take care of herself. Isabel wouldn't want her mother to travel with some heart problems. "How about you?"

[LE TIEN]

"I have in both Vietnamese and English. The English one made a little more sense and everything seemed to fit more in place than the Vietnamese translation," Tien answered with a smile. So Isabel also read them. Tien felt happy because she now had someone to talk to about the series. Most of her classmates have read it but they were too shy around her so she never talked to them. The only time she ever talked to her classmates were when they had to work on the project. She always hoped that after that, they would begin speaking to her but it never happened. After the project, they would never speak to her again. Basically her only friend was her sister.

She listened as Isabel asked her another question. "I guess I have to say about a seven even with the long hours. The clothes and makeup are really fun. The same with the effects they add. I also dabble in a little photography which is cool," she replied. The photography classes she took were fun. She mostly took pictures of nature. She never tried taking pictures of people.

Suddenly an idea struck her. "Since I'm pretty good with a camera, you could do a test of a photo shoot?" she offered. Sure, it wasn't going to be as professional but a test might help her. Tien did have a pretty large wardrobe. She also knew how to do makeup so it might work. So, Isabel had come alone like her. She was happy to find that they had a couple things in common. "I came alone too. My mother couldn't come since her studio is back in Vietnam. My sister was because she had a movie in the works so I'm all alone," Tien told her.

[Isabel Liu]

Wow. Both Vietnamese and English? "I've only read the Chinese version." said Isabel. "I tried scanning through the original English version, but there were so many vocabulary words I've never even seen before." Isabel wasn't at all great with reading in English. In fact, she barely passed the class in school. Speaking and listening in English isn't much of a problem for her. But reading is just a difficult thing for Isabel. "The Chinese version was great too. I thought everything made enough sense. Except that the translations of the names were bit funny."

"Oh yeah, trying out the clothes are fun." Isabel always liked trying out new clothes. Especially at the store, when she could just spend the whole day there trying out half of the clothes in the store, then ending up buying only 1% of those she tried out. "Looks like I'll have to wait and experience it myself." said Isabel.

A test photo shoot? "Ooooh...that's actually sounds great. Sure!" Isabel exclaimed, she never done any professional shooting before. "But how are we going to do that? She asked.

Hmm...so they both came here alone. Isabel smiled at Tien. "Since we both came alone, then we can take care of each other in this new country. said Isabel, taking Tien's hands as a friendly comfort.

[LE TIEN]

Tien laughed when Isabel mentioned the names being weird. "I understand that part. I remember reading over the internet that one of the translations for the house of Hufflepuff was Lufa-Lufa. For some reason, once they say that, it sounds like a bird name to me," she said with a smile. She guessed that the English translation would make more sense since it was originally written in English. The translations to Vietnamese were a little rocky. "So who's your favorite character in the series?" she asked, interested in the answer. Tien's favorite was Luna Lovegood. She seemed to be a dreamy girl yet still so independent.

Despite that, Tien was more like Ginny. She had a bit of a temper on her and was really loyal. It didn't hurt when she was a pretty good liar. This came in handy when she was a model. In the modeling industry, the new ones were the arrogant ones. They always challenged the older models. The older had to put up a facade to show that they were not hurt in the slightest. This was the game they played when they were in entertainment.

"Trying out clothes is really fun. I have a lot of clothes at home but I rarely wear them", Tien added with a laugh. "Well, maybe we could do a test if we go to one of the photo shoot rooms they have here. Well, if they let us," she said. She watched as Isabel take her hands in a friendly gesture and heard her words. "I hope that we will be able to help each other," Tien said with a soft smile.

[Isabel Liu]

Lufa Lufa? Isabel couldn't help but to giggle at that name. "I think it sounds all right, sounds like Luna's twin sister or something." said Isabel through her continuous giggles. Speaking of Hufflepuff..."What Hogwarts House do you think you'd fit most into?" asked Isabel. She had always thought the Hogwarts Houses were the most interesting. Back at home, she and her friends would always argue about which House is the best.

"My favorite character? Isabel thought about it for a moment, then said: "My favorite character is probably Albus Dumbledore." said Isabel finally. "He's so wise, and the book portrayal of him was so magnificent. He's got to be my favorite." plus...he's got style. "How about you?" In the past, Isabel's favorite had been Luna Lovegood. She loved her quirkiness and uniqueness. She still loves Luna's fun personality, but after reading about Dumbledore's sacrifice and nobleness, Isabel couldn't help it but to switch her favorite to Dumbledore.

Isabel listened to Tien's plan. "Oh, okay. That sounds great!" A test photo shoot...gotta be interesting. "I'm pretty sure they'll allow us to use one of the empty rooms." said Isabel. She suddenly have an urge to shop. Of course, it's not a real photo shoot, but Isabel want to look nice.