Anticipation

Gene awoke as Annabelle gently jerked on his right arm. He yawned and rubbed his eyes as she continued pulling on him until he yanked his arm away and sat up.
      Annabelle was fully dressed; she had black shoes with buttons on them, white leggings, a blue and white striped skirt, a blue long-sleeved shirt, and a white knit button-up sweater. Her hair was brushed; her face, washed; her eyes, wide open and staring at him from beside the bed.
     "Alright, I guess you're wanting me to get ready, right?"

     She nodded at her brother.
     He sighed and stepped out of bed. He opened his suitcase and stepped into the hotel bathroom. He put on a new pair of jeans, a t-shirt with diagrams depicting various types of small sports airplanes, and his leather bomber jacket. He shaved himself and brushed his teeth, then stepped out of the bathroom.
      Annabelle was sitting on her bed and looking at an open book laid out in front of her.
     "Whatcha reading?" Gene joked as he realized the book she was reading was in Korean. He began putting on his socks as he smirked at his sister.
     "Romans."
     "Wait, like the Romans from the Bible?" He momentarily faltered while pulling up his sock.
     Annabelle nodded and flipped the page.
     He glanced at the Korean Bible, then at his sister.
     "Since when can you read Korean?!" Gene sputtered.
     "Last year." She said calmly and brushed a strand of wavy black hair out of her face.
     "Why didn't you tell me?" He said, feeling strangely upset with his sister.
     "I did. Last Christmas. My card."
     Gene thought long and hard about what she was saying.
      He had no recollection of receiving her card.
     "I..."
     "You don't remember. I-I know." Annabelle hid her face.
      He thought about telling her that she could have told him again; he thought about how unreasonable it was for her to expect him to remember something she'd told him exactly once. He thought about blaming his parents for not telling him; he thought of all sorts of ways he could justify his forgetfulness.
      It didn't have to be solely his fault.
     "I'm sorry, Annabelle." He put his hand on his sister's shoulder. She didn't move immediately, so he swept her up into a hug and didn't let her go for several moments.
      Once they separated, her brushed a strand of hair out of his sister's face and smiled at her.
     "Can you speak it?"
     "Only a little."
     "Well, that's better than nothing." He pointed at himself, then lowered his voice. "Forgive me?" Annabelle hesitated for several moments, and Gene's eyes widened.
      After several long seconds of silence, she spoke again.
     "I... forgive you." Her voice sounded strangely forced. "Sorry for... hesitating."
     Gene smirked at his sister.
      "No offense taken." He looked at his phone. It was ten in the morning, so they still had some time to explore before Miya's fan meet-up at two pm. "Now, why don't we do some sightseeing?" Annabelle nodded vigorously, and moments later the two of them were walking out of their hotel room.
      They ended up boarding a rather crowded bus and riding to the YTN Seoul Tower. Annabelle had originally wanted to visit several other places, but the bus ride and the climb to the top of the tower took much longer than expected, so that by the time the two of them were taking photos with the city of Seoul in the background from the observation deck of the tower, it was already noon. After snapping several more pictures than they needed to, they left the tower and looked around for somewhere to eat.
      While they stood on the sidewalk half a mile away from the YTN Tower, Gene tried finding somewhere authentically local to eat that wouldn't hurt his wallet too much. He felt Annabelle tug on his bomber jacket and he looked down at her.
      "There's a McDouglas." She pointed across the street.
     Gene followed her finger and saw that she was correct.
     "You seriously wanna eat McDouglas in South Korea?"
     "It's different here."
     Gene frowned.
     "I did not use up two weeks of pay to go to South Korea so that we could eat at McDouglas."
     "It's different, I promise." She insisted politely.
     "You don't want to try something authentic?" He offered as he put his phone away.
     Annabelle shook her head.
     "South Korean food is weird."
     Gene's eye twitched as he looked down at his ten year old sister.
     "I think I hate you." He muttered, exasperated, as he held her hand and the two of them walked towards the McDouglas.
~~~
     Gene and Annabelle traveled down the sidewalk as they approached the convention center Miya's latest meet-up was happening at. The two of them stood in front of it silently for several moments as they took in the impressive sight of the glass rotunda that made up the main entrance. There were thousands of people gathered around the center. Gene blanched as he realized that practically everyone there wanted to see Miracle Miya.
     It took him several minutes to find out where Miya was, though that was only because Annabelle kept stopping to politely ask people where they should head. Eventually, he found out that she had taken up the entire ballroom for herself, but when he went towards it, he was informed that, unless he had purchased a VIP pass, he had to wait in line to meet with Miya.
     "Could you please tell me where the line is?" He asked the guard.
     "Right there, sir." The guard pointed at the line that was right beside him.
      It was at that moment that Gene realized the line to meet Miya went out of the ballroom, out of the convention center, and snaked around it twice.
      He looked at Annabelle. She had already begun pulling him towards the line. For a moment, he really considered abandoning the whole idea and going to some sort of airport or looking for an arcade or doing anything other than waiting in line for hours, and hours, and hours.
     As he stood in line with Annabelle, he was struck by the number of young women in line. He had been expecting a lot more creepy adult males, but it seemed like Miya actually had several fans who were only slightly younger than her. He considered the possibility that, perhaps, he was a cynical person.
      He had plenty of time to consider that possibility as the line went on and on for far too long. Each step was punctuated by a half minute of standing still. Annabelle seemed completely unbothered by the wait, which only made things harder for him. He didn't want to complain because his sister wasn't doing it, but since he couldn't complain, couldn't speak Korean, and didn't want to bother his sister, he was forced to endure the wait in silence for hours.
      He felt like he was losing his mind. After three and a half hours, the two of them had made it into the interior of the building. The weather was actually rather nice, so in Gene's opinion it was a lateral move. 
     He looked down at his younger sister from time to time, mostly to remind himself that she was there. He had been rather surprised by how calm she was being about their entire trip; the whole affair reminded him of being taken to the Indianapolis 500 by his father when he'd been twelve. He hadn't been able to shut up for one minute during that journey, and yet Annabelle had only given him a hug and tugged enthusiastically on his jacket.
     It was enough to make him wonder if they were actually related.
     After another hour, they stood in front of the large doors leading into the ballroom. The only thing stopping them from going inside was a piece of velvet rope hanging between two metal posts. Gene felt his stomach twisting inside him. His throat felt clogged. Sweat started forming on his back. He was really about to meet the woman he'd been sending letters to for the past seven months, and she was on the other side of those doors.
     "Well... You ready to meet-"
     "Quiet." Annabelle cut him off sharply. 
     Gene blinked slowly as what his sister did registered in his mind.
     "What did you-"
     "Shh!" Annabelle looked up at her brother and put a finger to her lips to shush him; her blue eyes narrowed. "I have been waiting for this moment ever since you told me we were going to meet her. Do not ruin this! I have planned and thought and calculated every single detail about this encounter non-stop; I do not need you bumbling and, and..."
     She stopped suddenly and looked away shamefully.
     "I'm sorry." She whispered.
     Gene took his sister's hand.
     "Why don't we calm down? We're here together."
     Annabelle nodded and clung to him.
     The ballroom doors opened; they stepped inside.