Chapter 1: "How it all began".

“It’s a battle for the finest.” Aunt Vivian explained to us across the table, in her state of the art office. “You compete in pairs. The final winners are offered a flexible 5 to 8 year contract with the agency." pausing, she took a sip of her tea before continuing, “It’s extremely rare that SM Entertainment is actually offering such a deal. The winning pair would be treated as a form of a project team and move around the company’s artistes and work with them as a part of the group. After making their rounds as a project duo, they will get exclusive debut under SM Entertainment.”

Shawna and I were silent after the explanation, taking in the information. We knew the Korean music industry well, having like their music for a long time now. It was indeed very, very rare for SM entertainment to produce an audition/competition in search for talents like that. Their company was not in any way at all, lacking talents. I was silent, weighing our options. We just graduated from our arts academy last December, where we had been heavily involved in music competitions and performances in and out of the school. Often at these competitions, we bring back many awards with us, along with mass recognition to the school and the two cousins who had been invited to travel throughout Asia, to perform in various artistic academies.

You see, Shawna and I were once considered child prodigies. We are both very much artistically inclined, but also pretty sporty and had quite the brain capacity too−well, at least according to our aunt. Besides singing, I play the violin, drums, double bass, piano and all forms of guitars. I also dance, at first it was ballet, but I immediately stopped after looking at the pointe shoes my feet would eventually have to fit into, so I took on Hip Hop, Popping and Jazz dancing in the end. Shawna on the other hand, finished her ballet, and took on hip-hop and jazz in recent years. Besides performing arts, our parents made sure we were also heavily involved in sports. We took on horse riding since we were 6 and are still riding every weekend. We also actively participate in sports like Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Baseball, Soccer and Tennis, just to name a few. As for the brain capacity part? I don’t wanna brag, but it’s amazing what staying in multiple countries when you were young could do. We both speak fluent English, Chinese (of course, it’s our first and second language.) and French and Korean, which we learned when we stayed in those two countries when we were younger. I took on Japanese and some Spanish in school and Shawna took on Italian and some German.

Shawna and I are cousins by our half british moms. Shawna’s mom, Aunt Vanessa and my mom, Victoria Blakes, had moved to my hometown Singapore for their jobs where they met both their future husbands. My dad was what the Koreans would call a “second-generation chaebol”. An inheritor to a family business of a media enterprise business, which he still successfully runs here in SG and now overseas too while Uncle Nick, was a professional photographer. Both our moms worked in the fashion industry. Aunt Vanessa is now a renowned fashion photographer, working alongside Uncle Nick. My mom has become the chief Asia fashion editor and director for magazines like Vogue, W, Harper’s Baazar, Elle, Marie Claire etc. Their jobs required them to travel a lot, so as children, we followed. And we really followed them everywhere.

But a couple of years ago, when we were 16, our parents decided the two of us should settle down in our hometown, Singapore and finish high school. So the two of us, under our mothers’ youngest sister, Aunt Vivian’s care, have been living in our own apartment for 2 years now. Our parents continue to travel the world, occasionally dropping by home to check on us.

As for singing, Shawna and I have always wanted to be singers. We were trained in so many forms of vocal studies, contemporary, jazz and classical, you name it, we know it. But as for pursuing it professionally, we never actively did so. But ever since Aunt Viv heard us sing, she made sure we took it seriously and even managed to encourage our parents to allow us to pursue a career out of it, once we were done with school. So for the past 2 months after we just graduated, Shawna and I have been actively recording in our own studio at home, creating recording demos.

But this…this competition is a once in a lifetime thing and if we do succeed, our lives would take a complete 180 degree change. That’s only if we succeed.

I met Shawna’s gaze and knew without a doubt we were both in for this.

“I’m game.”

“Count me in.”

We grinned at our Aunt. We’re so in for this.

Hi folks! I'm so sorry it's been so long! But I re-read my story and I thought it was so bad! So i decided to let it undergo some major editing! For previous fans, don't worry! I'm not going to change the story line, but i'm just going to edit away all the unnecessary stuff! So please continue to support Rebirth! I'll be back soon! Hope you like this edited chapter more!

x

smyg225

​p.s pleaseeee do comment omg