“Yo, FatMuffin,” Taemin appeared in Eunmi’s doorway at around 4:00.

“Hm?” she asked, looking up from her music sheets. It was almost time for her to go meet Daehyun.

“Does Jongin play basketball?” he asked, leaning against the door frame.

“Why?” she asked, putting her music sheets in her bag and closing it.

He shrugged, “He seemed like he likes basketball.”

“Well, he does. Or, he did.” Eunmi said. “He used to play a lot before our parents divorced. My dad was the coach, I don’t really know much about what happened at practices and stuff. But my dad was really hard on the team apparently. Even after the divorce, Jongin played on that team. But a couple weeks later he came home after one game and said he didn’t want to play anymore.”

“Why?” Taemin asked.

Eunmi shrugged, “Beats me. He never talked much about it. Come to think of it, he doesn’t talk much about anything that’s important to him.”

Taemin nodded and pushed himself off of her door frame.

“Why are you asking?”

“We passed by a couple of kids playing and he was in his land of memories. It seemed important to him.” Taemin said before going to his room.

“Oppa,” Taeyeon followed him from her room. “Can you play with me? I’m so bored!”

“Play with your imaginary friend.” Taemin suggested, taking a seat at his desk.

“She’s being mean to me!” Taeyeon pouted. Taemin let out a tiny sigh.  One of the things I hate about kids: dealing with their imaginary friends.

“Can you talk to her for me?” Taeyeon blinked up at him from one side of his chair. 

Taemin closed his eyes and then opened them. He looked at down at the other side of his chair, “Sure. Princess Peaches, please be nice to Taeyeon. You are her imaginary friend after all and Yeon is the real person here. So if you aren’t nice to her, you’re doomed in the human world.”

“Oppa,” Taeyeon whispered. She pointed to the door where Jongin was now standing. “She’s over there.”

Taemin slapped a hand over his face and repeated what he had just said.

“Yay! You’re the best, oppa!” she gave him a hug before bounding out of the room with ‘Princess Peach’, not before poking Jongin in the leg.

“Done talking to air?” Jongin chuckled.

“Shut up.” Taemin muttered.

“Do you know where noona’s going?” he asked.

“I didn’t know she was going anywhere.” Taemin replied.

“Well she is. Do you know where?”

“Nope. Don’t know, don’t care.” Taemin answered, turning his laptop on. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing illegal.”

Jongin shrugged and then left. Eunmi was downstairs, getting ready to leave. Ms. Kim and Hyunki were both home at the time. Tuesdays were slow at the restaurant so Hyunki didn’t need to be there and Ms. Kim only worked Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

“I’m going out! Be back in an hour.” Eunmi told her mother in the kitchen.

“Where are you going? Out with Sara?” Ms. Kim asked.

Eunmi shook her head, “The community centre. To practice.”

“Practice for the audition?”

Eunmi nodded.

Ms. Kim smiled, “Okay, have fun.”

“Bye!” Eunmi called before leaving the house. When she got to the community centre, she found her way to the abandoned music room and entered it.

Daehyun was sitting at the piano as usual and Eunmi took a seat beside him.

“Did you bring the piano sheets?” he asked.

Eunmi nodded and took them out of her bag to place them on the piano.

“You know how to play, right? Play the whole song and then we’ll add the lyrics after.” Daehyun said.

“Okay.” Eunmi agreed. She flexed her fingers and placed her hands on the piano.

She began to play; she didn’t need to look at the piano and focused on the sheet. Ms. Park had taught her every place of every note on the piano.

Daehyun listened carefully and also watched carefully. A singer’s presence and aura were as important as the sound of the music.

When she finished she looked at him, “Well? How was that?”

“Pretty good since this was your first time playing it.” Daehyun commented. “You misread some notes, but that’s normal and it can be fixed if you play it a couple more times. You know the lyrics of the song, right?”

Eunmi nodded, “I’ve listened to it a million times.”

“Good. Now sing and play.” Daehyun instructed. Eunmi put her hands on the piano once again and began playing the beginning piano part and then began singing.

When the time for the long note came, Eunmi decided to give it a try. She was doing really well, except for the fact that her breath was short so the note wasn’t as long as it should have been. Nonetheless, she finished the song nicely.

“That was really good.” Daehyun complimented. “Obviously, we have to sharpen it up with more practice. But the main problem is your breath, which we can fix.”

“How? I have a really short breath.” Eunmi told him.

“You’ll work on it by expanding your breath by one second.” Daehyun said.

“One second?” Eunmi laughed.

“Yeah. It’s like an 11-second long, long note. You can do only do 7, we’ll work on going up second by second. Start again, from the third chorus. Go.” Daehyun pointed to the piano.

He could have fooled anyone into thinking he was an actual singing teacher. He was a very talented singer himself, he knew how to teach, and he had musical sense.

So they worked on doing the note in 8 seconds for the rest of class. Actually, Daehyun made her do the entire song over and over again with the high note 8 seconds long. He said it would give her a chance to practice the piano and the song together.

“Practice makes perfect.” He reminded at the end of the hour.

“Yeah, it also makes my throat dry.” Eunmi said, holding .

“You didn’t bring a water bottle?” Daehyun shook his head as he reached down. He picked up the water bottle near the leg of his seat and handed it to her.

“Thank you.” Eunmi smile gratefully as she took it from him and drank it.

“You can’t have a dry throat at the audition!” Daehyun flicked her forehead and stood up.

“I won’t.” Eunmi stuck her lip out and rubbed her forehead. “Kinda finger do you have? Is it made of steel?”

“Maybe. See you next practice.” Daehyun said, putting his hands in his pockets and leaving the room.

“Thanks!” Eunmi called as she put her stuff and the water bottle I her bag. She slung it over her shoulder and walked out of the room as well. She walked down the hall and out of the community centre.

She smiled happily. That was a good practice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, kid.” Taemin walked into Jongin’s room. “Come, we’re going to the park with Yeon.”

Jongin looked up from his homework, “We are?”

“Yup. Oh and wear something comfortable.” Taemin said before going to his room to change.

Jongin shrugged and put his stuff away. He grabbed some clothes from his closet and went to change.

When Taemin got downstairs, Ms. Kim looked at his attire, “Going somewhere?”

“Park.” Taemin replied. “I’m taking Yeon and Jongin too.”

“Okay. Don’t take too long though, dinner will be in an hour or so.” Ms. Kim told him before going into the living room.

“HURRY IT UP, YOU TWO!” Taemin yelled up the stairs.

“I’m here!” Taeyeon bounded down the stairs in a cute skirt with a flowery shirt. Her skipping rope was in her hand.

“Coming.” Jongin came down the stairs. He, like Taemin, was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

“Great. Let’s go.” Taemin led them to the front door. At that moment, Eunmi came in.

She looked at them, surprised, “Are you guys going somewhere?”

“Park! Unnie come with us! Pleassee.” Taeyeon begged.

“Uh, sure. Let me go put my stuff away.” Eunmi said before running upstairs.

“Meet you there!” Taemin called before leaving the house with the other two.

Eunmi tied her hair up and put her bag in her room. She put her phone in her pocket and went downstairs.

“Are you joining them?” Ms. Kim asked from the bottom of the stairs.

“Yup! I haven’t been to the park in a while.” Eunmi replied. “Be back soon!”

“Okay, be careful!” Ms. Kim called before Eunmi opened the door and left.

She saw the other three walking and quickly caught up with them.

“Thanks for waiting for me.” She huffed.

“No problem.” Taemin answered. “You take Yeon to the swings and slides and whatnot. I’ll take the kid.”

“Take me where?” Jongin asked, puzzled.

“Don’t ask questions, kiddo.”

“Unnie, you’ll push me on the swings right?” Taeyeon asked, taking Eunmi’s hand and swinging it.

“Of course.” Eunmi smiled.

“I hope Sunye is there!” Taeyeon jumped. Sunye was Onew’s little sister, she was a bit older than Taeyeon but they played well together.

They arrived at the park and Taeyeon immediately led Eunmi to the swings. Sunye was on one of them and Onew was pushing her.

“Hi Eunmi.” He smiled at her. He looked around and waved at Jongin and Taemin. “HI JONGIN! HI TAEMINNIE!”

“Could he be more embarrassing?” Taemin muttered. “You, come with me.” Taemin led Jongin the other way.

“Where are we going?” Jongin asked, walking next to him.

Taemin didn’t reply and led him to the basketball court past the trees. The same one the kids had been playing on earlier. There was a basketball lying near the benches.

“I’ve always wanted to know how to play basketball.” Taemin walked to the benches and picked the basketball up. He threw it in the air and caught it. “Teach me.”

Jongin swallowed, “I can’t. I don’t know how to play.”

“Why don’t you look me in the eye and tell me that?” Taemin put the basketball under his right arm.

“I think I’ll go play with Taeyeon.” Jongin turned around and began walking away.

“Are you afraid?” Taemin asked. Jongin stopped.

“Coward.” Taemin said when he didn’t answer.

“You wouldn’t want to play either if all your coach did was yell at you.” Jongin said quietly. “You wouldn’t want to play if the coach that always ridiculed you was your own father.

“So you’re going to let your past stop you from going further?” Taemin asked, bouncing the ball on the concrete. The last piece of information had taken him by surprise, but he wasn’t going to let it stop him. Jongin was holding back and he wanted him to let everything out.

Jongin looked away and continued walking.

“There are no chances in life, unless you take one.” Taemin said. “If you continue walking away, you’ll never know what could have been.”

Jongin didn’t reply and continued walking away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After dinner, while the family was minding their own business, Jongin quietly crept out of the house to go on a walk. With difficulty, he had persuaded Taeyeon to go upstairs and make a necklace out of beads.

He and Taemin weren’t on best terms right now, but they’d be fine soon enough.

He walked to the court Taemin had taken him to, the basketball was still there.

He stood in front of it and stared at it, the evening light made it look like it was glowing. It had been so long since he had picked one up.

Slowly, he bent down and touched the ball. He let it roll into his hands and pressed his thumbs down on it.

He held it with one hand and let it drop. When the ball came back up, he slapped it. He did it again and soon enough, he began bouncing the ball around the court.

An old feeling reached his heart and body, he smiled a little.

He stood a familiar distance away from the net and bounced the ball three times, just like he used to, before throwing it in the net.

Even after 2 and a half years, he could still get it in the net.

“Nice shot, BallMonster.” A familiar voice said from behind him.

Jongin turned around and realization hit him hard. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heeeyyy

I wonder who the familiar voice belongs to.

Just kidding, I already know.

(It's been a while kay)

Have you guys ever had to talk to imaginary person? We've all done it, guys.

Course I have an imaginary friend too ;D IT'S HOYAAA LOL

I'm watching Monstar, I actually really like the drama so far :) I'm on ep 5

Not much to say today.

See ya later~! :D