Soon it was already 4 PM. They were in the middle of class when MyungSoo came. “Excuse me, AeLin ssi, it’s time to prepare.” MyungSoo said. AeLin stood up and grabbed her things. “Where are you going AeLin?” HyeSun said as she passed by her. “I’m going somewhere. Don’t worry, I’ll be sending you a message.” AeLin said and said goodbye. “I see you’ve made some friends.” MyungSoo said. “De, I guess I have.” AeLin said. “Also that one kid who I bumped into.” She said.

            Then as they were walking down the hallway she saw a guy with his back facing them in casual clothes. “Here we are.” MyungSoo said. “TaeMin ssi. Here she is.” MyungSoo said. Then he turned to face them. “?!” she thought. “OMMO!!” both of them yelled and pointed at each other. “Oh I need to go!” MyungSoo then rushed down the stairs. “You’re that guy with those fan girls!!” AeLin said. “And you’re that girl that bumped into me!” the boy said.

            “Hey, at least I didn’t let you fall on your back!” AeLin said. “You didn’t even say sorry and just rode off with your posies.” She added. “Oi, if you didn’t bump into me nothing like that could’ve happened. And those girls are not my posies.” The boy said. Then his phone rang. “Annyeong hasaeyo?” he answered. “De, de. Okay.” He said and put the phone down. He looked at AeLin with a “this is her??” expression. “The van is coming. You have extra clothes in there right? Go on and change.” TaeMin said. “I will. Hmp!” AeLin said and turned around. “You do know that the comfort rooms are the other way.” TaeMin said.

            AeLin looked at him with a pissed expression. “Fine.” AeLin said and went the other way. TaeMin decided to follow her in case she got lost. “So this is the new one? What an attitude.” TaeMin whispered to himself. After how many minutes she got out wearing the clothes JYPE gave her. “For a girl you do dress up a lot like a guy.” TaeMin said. AeLin just ignored him. “This guy is just like OkHyun!! Why am I stuck with such a guy??!!” she thought. Whyle they headed to the ground floor she got noticed something. “Wait, where did I see his face before?” she thought and stared at him.

            “What are you doing?” the student said as he noticed her continuous staring at him. “Huh? Uhm, oh, nothing.” She replied.  Some students were out on the lobbies. As they approached to pass by them she heard the girls’ murmurs. “Ommo, its TaeMin oppa!!” “He’s coming this way!!” she heard. TaeMin just bowed at them smiling when they passed by through them. “Pssh. What a show-off.” She thought. “Ommo, is that the trainee the rumours were talking about?” she heard them say that too. They got to the ground floor of the building. “Uhm, can I ask? You’re from what group?” she started.

            TaeMin paused and looked at her. He investigated her. “You’re not from around here are you?” TaeMin said. “Uhm, no. I’m from the Philippines.” She answered. “Oh yeah. You sure are clueless for a Korean living in the Philippines.” TaeMin said seemingly mocking her. “Is it my fault I don’t have interest with groups which have members like you.” AeLin said to herself. “I heard that.” TaeMin said. “Ugh! He really reminds me of OkHyun!!” she thought holding her fist down wanting to smack him.

        They went out of the building and then she saw the same vehicle her father had. “So they are all identical.” She said. “Identical what?” TaeMin said. “The cars. My dad has the same car.” AeLin said. “You really are clueless.” Then he scuffed. “OkHyun, why am I seeing you in this guy?????” she thought and just ignored him. “Anyways…to your question earlier. I’m a member of SHINee. My name is Lee TaeMin.” TaeMin said as they got into the van.

            “Oh now he’s acting kind.”She thought and looked at him in suspicion. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” TaeMin said. “Oh wait! SHINee?? I knew I’ve seen you before!! I saw SHINee on TV yesterday!” she said. “What a coincidence.” She said. “Anyways…my name…is Sha AeLin.” She replied and looked out the window as the van started to move. They were sitting parallel to each other. “Sha AeLin? I think I’ve heard that name before.” TaeMin said. “How old are you by the way?” he added. “I’m 13, oh wait, I guess I’m 14 in South Korea.” She answered. “What?! You’re still 14??” TaeMin said.

            “Any problem with that?” she said. “Oh, no…no.” he replied. Moments into the ride AeLin was already sitting beside TaeMin and was sleeping. “What a weird one.” TaeMin said as he looked at her. “I heard that.” She suddenly said. “TaeMin ah, how come you’re coming with me?” AeLin said and rubbed her eyes. “I need to meet up with the other members of SHINee at SM Entertainment to rehearse.” He replied. “Oh, can I watch?” AeLin said. “I don’t know with you. You’re trainee right? You might need to do other stuff and train.” TaeMin replied. “I became a trainee just yesterday. I didn’t want to though. I had no choice.” She said then they stopped.

            TaeMin got a bit surprised. “Just yesterday? The auditions are next week and the past auditions were like a year ago. How did she become a trainee that fast?” TaeMin said and got out of the car. AeLin was taken by an employee as soon as she went into the building. TaeMin went to where they were supposed to rehearse. He went to the 3^rd floor where a rehearsal room was prepared. He knocked on the door. “Come in.” a voice said. “Ah, TaeMin, you’re here.” Another said.

            It was the other SHINee members. Onew, JongHyun, Key, and MinHo; they are the SHINee members. Some of the members were on the floor particularly Onew and JongHyun who were playing around. Key and MinHo were doing their dance routines for their song ‘Ring Ding Dong’. “How was school?” Key said as he grabbed a towel and wiped his sweat off. “It was quieter than usual. I also met this girl.” He answered.

            “Ooh. A girl huh. TaeMin ah, is she beautiful??” Onew said teasing him. “Hyung! It’s not like that! I just met her. She bumped into me. She’s also a SM Entertainment trainee.” He answered while taking his jacket off. “A trainee? What batch? Last year?” MinHo said. “Just yesterday.” He answered. “Weird huh?” he added. “Yesterday? How did that happen??” JongHyun then stood up. “I don’t know either. She went here with me though. She said her name was Sha AeLin.” He said and did some stretching. “Sha AeLin?” Key said. “Sounds familiar.” He added. Soon they started with the rehearsals.

            Later that day the SHINee members decided to roam around for a while in their break time. They were still sweating so they had some towels with them. When they turned to a corner they saw Lee Soo Man and some other board members go into a rehearsal room. “What’s that?” JongHyun said. “Let’s find out.” MinHo said. Then they headed off to the door and opened it slowly just enough to sneak a peek. It was weird for Lee Soo Man to be going into rehearsal rooms like that.

            There were no other debuted groups there rather than SHINee since most of them were on other activities and on tour. “Oh, I can see a girl.” Onew said. “Shh. They might hear us.” JongHyun said. The room had a camera filming her. It was natural for trainees to have camras film them whenever they perform for the officials. “Okay then,AeLin ssi please go to the centre.” An official said. “De.” she replied then they saw her go to the centre. “Ommo, its AeLin!” TaeMIn said. The door was facing the mirrored wall so they were careful not to get caught.

            “Annyeong hasaeyo, Sha AeLin imnida. I’m 14 years old.” She greeted Soo Man and the other board members present. “So that’s her.” JongHyun said. “She’s a cute one. Good job TaeMin. Keke.” Onew again. “You sure are tall for a 14-year-old.” One board member said. “Okay, so please show us your talent.” A board member said. She was handed a microphone. She sang a song by a ballad song by a certain American singer.

            The SHINee members were speechless hearing her sing. “Ommo.” Key said. They were dazed. Her voice was really beautiful and unique. Then Soo Man gave the signal for her to stop. “The singing was good. Since it was in English we’re still having second thoughts. Three days from now, I want you to perform one Korean ballad song and one song from a Korean idol group.” Soo Man said.

            AeLin just kept on nodding and her nervousness was clear in her eyes. “Since your parents are both capable of training you for a while I guess they could pick the songs and dance for you.” He added. “De.” she replied. “SHINee.” Soo Man said out of the blue. They SHINee members got surprised. “Did he see us?” Onew said. “Come in. You’ve been hiding there for quite a while.” He added. The members were hesitant at first but decided to just go in.

            “Mianhe yo.” They said and bowed. “You’re supposed to be rehearsing. What are you doing here?” Soo Man said rather coldly. “We were just passing by when we saw you go into the rehearsal room.” Onew said. “We’re really sorry.” Key said. “SHINee, you’ve already made a lot of tracks, you’re professionals already…” he said. “Ommo, they’re getting in trouble?” she thought. “…so, what do you think about her?” he said calmly. The members exhaled in relief. “I thought we were going to get a scolding there.” JongHyun said to himself.

            The SHINee members looked at her. “?! So these are the SHINee members. They look better in person.” She thought. She smiled awkwardly and bowed. “Annyeong hasaeyo. Sha AeLin imnida.” She said. “Annyeong hasaeyo.” JongHyun said.  “Your vocals are really good AeLin ssi.” Onew said. “We’ll hope to see you more around here.” Key said. “I’ll be going now.” Soo Man said and along with the other board members they left the room.

            OkRyo was waiting in SM’s office. He was instructed to stay there and watch her daughter’s performance through the camera filming there. “How was she?” he said as the board members and SM came. “I thought you were watching.” Soo Man said. “I was, but I just wanted to ask how you think it was.” OkRyo said rather nervous. “It was…one of the best auditions that SM Entertainment had.” A board member said. “We still have to see though. She’s going to be living under a dorm starting tomorrow night.” Soo Man said. Her appa was rather heartbroken with that news.

            “Tommorow?” he said.