The weeks passed by pretty quickly, the audition was getting closer and closer.

Everyone’s schedules were pretty set. Eunmi would practice with Daehyun 3 or 4 times a week, Taemin was as annoying as ever, and Jongin would mysteriously disappear at random times. Taemin was still trying to persuade him to come to the basketball court with him.

“Come on, little buddy, let’s go.” One Thursday afternoon, Taemin was pulling on Jongin’s arm. Jongin was sitting on the sofa watching TV while Taemin was standing up and tugging on his arm. 

“I don’t want to.”

“Come. On. You. Big. Fat. Pile. Of. Muscle.” Taemin pulled harder.

Jongin didn’t budge.

“YAH, COME WITH ME RIGHT NOW BEFORE I TEAR YOU TO PIECES!” Taemin yelled, frustrated. “Where is your nuisance of a sister?! Maybe she’ll be able to get you up.”

“She’s out.” Jongin replied, smiling.

“Out?! Out where?! She has no social life!” Taemin exclaimed, scratching his head.

Jongin shrugged, “I’m going to take Taeyeon to the park.” He stood up and went upstairs to go to Taeyeon’s room.

Taemin blew on his bangs and grumpily went to the kitchen.

The doorbell rang and Hyunki answered it. Onew and Key were at the door, they bowed at Hyunki.

“Is Taemin home?” Key asked.

“Taemin!” Hyunki called. “Your friends are here!”

“Tell them to come in! They don’t expect me to come to the door, do they?” Taemin called back.

Hyunki looked at them and opened the door wider, “You heard him.”

Key rolled his eyes as he and Onew took their shoes off when they entered the house.

“In here!” Taemin yelled from the kitchen. Onew and Key entered and saw Taemin scarfing down a packet of chips.

“Wow, you’re productive.” Key commented, putting his side bag down.

“I know.” Taemin said with his mouth full of chips.

“Where’s the rest of your family?” Onew asked, sitting down at the table.

“The kid is upstairs, he’s going to take Yeon to the park. As for the FatMuffin, I have no idea.” Taemin replied. “Eomoni is at work.”

“Let’s go to the park too!” Onew exclaimed as Taemin walked to the fridge and drank milk out of the carton.

“Sure.” Taemin wiped his lips.

Key coughed and then asked, “Do you have a cough drop or something? My throat hurts.”

“Uhh, look in there.” Taemin lazily pointed to the medicine cabinet.

Key opened it and looked through it for a packet of cough drops.

“What is this?” Key took out an asthma inhaler.

Taemin looked up from his chips, “Oh, it’s the kid’s asthma inhaler.”

“He has asthma?” Key asked, putting it back. “There’s like four in here!”

“Two are Yeon’s.”

“Oh yeah. Wow, your family has quite a few health problems.” He commented, taking a cough drop from a little bottle in the corner.

“I know. I'm the only healthy one.” Taemin said cockily. Then he thought about it. Does he not play because of his asthma?

“I’m going!” Jongin called from the foyer.

“We’re going!” Taeyeon echoed.

“Taeyeon!!!” Onew and Key ran out of the kitchen to go meet Taeyeon. Taemin rolled his eyes as he put the carton in the fridge. He picked Key’s bag up before following them.

He gave Key his bag and then put his shoes on, grabbing a hat from the closet along the way.

 “Going to the park!” Taemin yelled to Hyunki.

“Okay!” Hyunki answered from the living room. Taemin followed Jongin, Key, Onew, and Taeyeon outside.

Key and Onew were busy awing over Taeyeon.

“Aw, Taeyeon is that a new hair clip?” Onew asked, touching the clip in her hair.

She nodded, “Unnie bought it for me!”

“Does Taemin oppa ever buy anything for you?” Key snorted.

“Excuse me, but my blessings are enough. Right, Yeon?” he eyed her. She nodded obediently.

Taemin grinned and scooped her up. He spun her around and ran to the park with her in his arms.

Jongin, Key, and Onew followed and Taemin put Taeyeon down. She immediately ran to the swings.

“I’ll go push her!” Onew immediately volunteered as Jongin sat down on a bench.

“Me too! Swinging takes effort.” Key said, throwing his bag at Taemin. Taemin threw it on the bench and sat down beside Jongin.

“I can leave those two to babysit Yeon while we go play, you know.” Taemin said.

“No thanks.”

Taemin eyed him but Jongin didn’t notice. Taemin was being nice, for now. But soon he’d come up with another tactic to get him to play.

But Jongin was a pretty stubborn boy.

It would be a fierce battle between the two of them.

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

“YAY! I CAN DO IT!” Eunmi cheered excitedly. She had finally gotten the hang of the long note. Over the past two weeks, Daehyun had given her difficult vocal challenges to help her prepare and now she could do the high note perfectly.

Daehyun laughed and high-fived her, “Good job.”

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Well, I guess we can give your voice a rest for the rest of today. Let’s come up with ideas on how you’ll present yourself and the song.” Daehyun suggested.

“How I present myself?” Eunmi looked at him in a confused way.

“Well, you’re not going to sing this song and wear black clothes and punk jewelry.” Daehyun rolled his eyes.

“Ohhh, riiight.” Eunmi nodded.

“I was thinking like a sundress? Something calm and not that noticeable so that everyone can focus more on the song.” Daehyun said. “We can’t go too overboard since it’s only the first cut.”

Eunmi nodded, “I think that’s a good idea.”

“What about a piano? We can’t take this one…” Daehyun said, looking at the old piano.

“I think they’ll have one. It said on the sheet if we needed any instruments we just had to let them know a few days before the audition.” Eunmi told him.

Daehyun nodded, “Okay, so make sure you tell them. Show me the dress you want to wear next class.”

“Okay.” Eunmi nodded.

“That’s it for today then.” He stood up. “See you next time.” he smiled and walked to the door.

“Thanks, bye!” Eunmi called. She put her things in her bag before walking out as well. She walked to the new part of the community centre and to the front desk. She asked the lady for a request sheet for an instrument.

After filling it out and thanking her, Eunmi headed home.

As she was walking, she spotted Taemin and Jongin walking ahead of her with Taeyeon holding both of their hands in between.

Eunmi ran and put her hands on Jongin’s shoulder so she could jump up.

“Oh my God-” Jongin said, startled. He looked back and breathed out, “Oh, hi noona. Where’ve you been?”

“Hi unnie!”

“So, where did you sneak off to, huh FatMuffin?” Taemin asked as Eunmi walked beside them.

“I was just, ya know, on a walk.” She nervously smiled. “Then I went to rehearse for the audition.”

“Oh yeah. How’s that coming along?” Jongin asked.

“Great.” She smiled.

“When is it, anyways?” Taemin asked.

“3 weeks?” Eunmi tried to remember.

“Then why have you been practicing so early?!” Taemin yelped.

“Practice makes perfect.” Eunmi said.

“Unnie, I want to listen!” Taeyeon jumped up and down.

“Oh, I don’t. Please do it another time.” Taemin covered his ears.

“You can listen another time. My throat is a little dry right now.” Eunmi said, elbowing Taemin.

“Okay, unnie,” Taeyeon beamed.

Taemin openly held his water bottle and took a huge gulp from it.

“Oh you have water? I need some.” she reached for it but Taemin grinned and held it out of her reach.

“Say ‘Please oh mighty Taemin who is absolutely perfect in every single way.’” Taemin ordered.

“No! Give me water!” Eunmi jumped up and down.

“Say please oh mighty Taemin.” He said.

“PLEASE!” Eunmi yelled.

Taemin sighed and gave her the water bottle, “We’ll work on that and your temper later on.” He patted her head as she drank the water.

“Oh shut up.” she muttered as she wiped her lips.

When they got home, Eunmi headed upstairs to do her homework. Taeyeon was watching TV with Ms. Kim and Jongin went to the kitchen for a snack.

“Hey, FatMuffin, what’re you doing?” Taemin walked into her room.

“Homework.” She answered, flipping through her math textbook. All her school stuff was sprawled over her bed.

“Oh great, I can copy this.” Taemin took her physics homework from her bed and walked away.

“Hey! Give that back!” Eunmi hopped off her bed and ran after him.

“I need it!”

“There’s a reason you gets 60’s, you know! Did you even pass that last test we had?!” Eunmi yelled as she caught up with him.

“Actually.” Taemin turned around and Eunmi bumped into his chest. “I did pretty good.”

“No way.” Eunmi stepped back and raised an eyebrow. She snatched her homework from him.

He walked into his room and picked the test up from his desk, “I got an 81%.”

“Liar, let me see.” Eunmi reached for it but Taemin held it away. “Show me!”

“Nope.”

“See, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Then show me!” Eunmi exclaimed, but Taemin just took her homework and ran away.

“HEY!” Eunmi chased him again. He ran down the stairs and Eunmi followed at top speed.

“Get back here, Lying McLiar Face!” Eunmi said. Taemin didn’t stop running and Eunmi tackled him to the ground in the living room where Taeyeon was watching TV. Ms. Kim had gone to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

“Oof!” Taemin groaned as he turned around to look at Eunmi who was sitting on him. “Geez FatMuffin, how much do you eat?”

“Give me my homework and show me your test!” Eunmi reached for her homework but Taemin threw it across the room. She rolled her eyes, “Whatever. I know you’re lying about the test.

Taemin shoved it in her face, “I know. I was lying.”

Eunmi’s jaw dropped, “85?!”

Taemin grinned and pushed her off of him. He stood up did a fist pump, “Yeah, baby!”

“B-But how?” she asked.

“That stuff we learn in class actually shows up on tests. All I have to do is listen!” Taemin exclaimed. “What did you get?”

“88.” She answered, standing up. “What happened to your c-average?!”

“It died.” He yawned. “I’m going to go frame this.” He went back upstairs.

“Unnie, where did Jongin oppa go?” Taeyeon asked.

“Um, not sure.” Eunmi scratched her head after she de-wrinkled her homework from the floor.

“He always disappears at this time.” Taeyeon frowned.

Eunmi looked at the time, it was around 6 and she nodded in agreement, “Yeah, you’re right. Let me go ask Taemin.” She jogged upstairs to Taemin’s room.

“Do you know where Jongin is?” she asked from his doorway.  He was playing on his laptop.

“Nope, I thought you knew.” Taemin said, looking up.

Eunmi left his room and went downstairs to the kitchen, “Umma, do you know where Jongin is?”

She nodded as she stirred the rice, “He said he was going to our old area.”

“Our old area? Why?” she asked.

“He didn’t say. He said he would be back soon though.” Ms. Kim replied.

“Where’s this area?” Taemin asked, entering the kitchen. Ms. Kim told him and he wrote it down in his phone

“Well, I’ll go pick him up.” Taemin grabbed his jacket and left the house.

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

Jongin walked to an old basketball court he used to always practice on.

He remembered the fun he had with his team when he was younger, a lot of good memories took place on this court.

“It’s been a while, young man.” A frail voice said.

Jongin turned around and saw a familiar old man sitting on the bench a few feet away from the edge of the court. He was wearing a sweater over his plaid shirt and his walking stick was beside him, just like it used to be.

His eyes widened, “Ajhussi, y-you’re still here?”

“Well, I understand that you’d think I’d be at my grave, but nope, I’m here.” He chuckled.

He turned red, “N-no, that’s not what I meant. I mean you still sit here and watch kids play?”

He nodded, “You know how I used to play, it makes me happy when young children are having fun playing the sport I love too.”

Jongin nodded and sat down to his right. That was his spot, it had been so long since he had sat there. A tiny bit of the hole in his heart seemed to fill up.

“I’ve waited for you, it’s nice seeing you again.” He said after a long silence. “You, of all the players I’ve seen on this court, are still the most talented. You played well, young man. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you play.”

When Jongin had been younger, Mr. Kang would always happily watch him play basketball. Even if he wasn’t playing with anyone else, Jongin would never fail to impress the old man. He would sit beside him in the evenings and have long talks with him. Jongin loved spending time with him. Some kids thought it was weird how he talked to the old man so often, but Jongin didn’t care; the man was his friend.

After a particularly harsh incident and the divorce between his parents, Jongin came to Mr. Kang for comfort. Jongin really admired him, he was a role model to him. The old man couldn’t play, he couldn’t even play when he was young because he had heart troubles, but that didn’t stop him. The man was such a motivation and Jongin looked up to him. He would always seek wise words from him.

Jongin swallowed, “It’s been a while since I’ve played as well.”

“Why?”

“You know what happened.” Jongin whispered. “I disappoint myself every time I hold a basketball.”

“Why do you let that stop you?” he said. “You listen to me, I wasn’t even allowed to play. My doctors told me that no matter what, I couldn’t play. I was called names from left, right, front, and back. But I didn’t let that stop me and if you do, you’ll regret it for your entire life. Why do you let little incidents get in the way of what you want, hm?”

“Cuz he’s a coward.” Taemin walked out from behind a tree and bounced a basketball onto the court.

“No, I’m not.” Jongin whispered.

Taemin rolled his eyes, “Sure you’re not. That’s why you’re sitting there like a sack of potatoes waiting to be skinned alive. Because you’re a coward.”

“I’m not.” Jongin repeated again in a whisper.

“Of course you are. You’re letting your failures control you, Kim. That’s exactly what cowards do.” Taemin said. He had struck a nerve now, Jongin’s blood boiled at the familiar words.

“Shut up.” Jongin said, giving him a hard stare. Mr. Kang watched in interest as the two brothers stared at each other.

“Coward, coward, coward.” Taemin taunted.

“SHUT UP!” Jongin yelled, he breathed in and out heavily.

“Why don’t you make me? Try and get the ball, Kim.” Temin bounced it between both hands. “Unless you’re scared.”

Furiously, Jongin stood up and charged for him. Taemin turned around and defended the ball.

But Jongin was mad now and he used a special technique he had used a couple of years ago and stole the ball.

He held one arm out as Taemin tried to take the ball. He blocked him well and then ran to the hoop to dunk the ball in. Jongin jumped and forced the ball through the hoop with great force. He hung onto the hoop for as long as he could before swinging off.

Panting, he looked at Taemin and Mr. Kang. Mr. Kang smiled proudly and winked.

Taemin grinned, flexing his fingers and neck, “Guess training starts now.”

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

Hey hey heeyy

How are you?? Good? Good :)

This was a long chapter o.o Not sure if I like it or not but whatever.

I'm hungry, even though I just had dinner. Man, I'm always hungry.

Are you guys reading the Dull One? Tbh, I wouldn't have put the pieces together if it hadn't been for the comments..... this is where everyone I know would confirm that I'm really slow but you know, it's not my fault. Nothing was clearly stated in the chapter :/

The story has so many upvotes! I swear it has the most on this site.

I'm gunna go dream about food. :)

Byebye~! :D

PS I remembered to unclick 'Hide Chapter' ;)