“Oh my God, there's only 24 hours until the audition!” Eunmi squealed at practice on Tuesday.

“Calm down,” Daehyun patted her arm. “Let's do the song again.”

Eunmi took a deep breath and put her hands in the piano. When it came to the part of the long note, Eunmi stopped.

“I know I'm going to mess this up,” she shook her head.

“What?! You can't start freaking out like that. Just do it like we practiced,” Daehyun instructed. “Start over.”

Eunmi nodded and started again. This time, she succeeded with the note and finished the entire song nicely.

“There. Good job, just do it like that at the audition and you'll do fine,” Daehyun nodded. “Be confident in what you’re singing, when you feel strong, your voice sounds strong. If you sing all nervously, your voice will be weak. Don’t be nervous, just think of it as another practice.”

Eunmi nodded, “Okay, got it. Are you coming?” she asked, referring to the audition.

“I don't see what me being there will do, your family is enough,” Daehyun said. “Besides, isn't the first cut done privately?”

Eunmi nodded, “We present the song in a room and then they're posting a list here of the six that made it. But the second cut is a performance in front of the other contestants and their parents and instructors, then the final competition is for an audience.”

“Exactly,” Daehyun nodded.”I'll come with you to see the list and the second cut performance.” He said before standing up.

Eunmi blinked, “How do you know I'll make it to the second cut?”

“I just do!” He called before opening the door and leaving. Eunmi stared at the doorway weirdly and he stuck his head back in.

He raised a fist, “Fighting. I know you'll do fine.”

Eunmi waved and he disappeared again. She gathered her things and left as well.

When she got home, Taeyeon was climbing on Taemin to get her doll from him.

“Oppa!” She yelled. “Give it to me!” She spotted Eunmi and shouted, “Unnie! Help me!”

Eunmi threw her bag on the couch and both girls were struggling to get the doll from Taemin.

“Shorties shorties,” Taemin snickered as he held the doll higher.  

“Give it to her, Taemin! What are you doing playing with a doll anyways?!” Eunmi yelled.

“Her head would make a great ball!”

Taeyeon let out a high pitched scream and pushed him. Taemin was caught off guard and fell to the ground.

“Haha!” Eunmi sat on him and took the doll. She got off of Taemin who groaned and handed the doll to Taeyeon.

“Here, Yeon,” she patted her head.

“Thanks unnie!” Taeyeon hugged her knees and ran out of the living room.

Eunmi shook her head, “A child you are, Lee Taemin, a child.”

“What about you? You're the one that just sat on me! And you're not light either,” he scoffed, slowly standing up.

“Yah, man up,” Eunmi jabbed his chest before going into the kitchen.

Ms. Kim was, as usual, making dinner.

“Nervous?” Ms. Kim asked, looking through the cabinets.

“Beyond,” Eunmi bit into a banana.

“Don't worry too much,” Ms. Kim said. “Should I get Jongin and Taemin to come along as well?”

Eunmi scoffed, “That makes me feel better.”

Her mother and Taeyeon were the ones accompanying her to the audition. She was scheduled for 5:45. The piano had all been arranged and all she needed was her voice to do magic.

Eunmi left the kitchen and went upstairs to make sure she had everything ready in her bag. All she needed were her music sheets and a water bottle, but she could not forget them.

Until the audition would be over, the nervousness would not leave her.

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

“Taemin, you have to stay home until we get back. A repairman is coming to fix the gutter pipe in the backyard. Just lead him there and let him do his work,” Ms. Kim told Taemin as she, Eunmi, Taeyeon prepared to leave. They were in the kitchen.

“What about the money?” Taemin asked, looking in the fridge.

“He’s coming around 6:15, by the time he’ll finish we should be home and I’ll pay him myself,” Ms. Kim said, grabbing her keys. “Eunmi! Taeyeon! Hurry up!”

Eunmi was upstairs making sure the stuff she needed was in her bag.

“Yeon, hurry, we have to go,” Eunmi said as she stood in Taeyeon’s doorway.

Taeyeon hid something behind her back, “Okay, unnie. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Eunmi nodded and went downstairs. She put on a coat and went into the kitchen to drink some more water. She grabbed a glass and poured water in it from the sink faucet.

“FatMuffin, at this rate, all you’ll be showing the judges is how to burp Good Day, not sing it,” Taemin snorted, leaning against the counter.

Eunmi snorted as spit the water back into the sink. She looked at Taemin and burst into laughter.

“What? It’s true,” he shrugged.

Her expression turned serious, “Yah, are you trying to wish me good luck or bad?”

“Well……”

Eunmi punched his arm and put the glass away.

“Eunmi, come on!” Ms. Kim was in the foyer with Taeyeon. Eunmi once again made sure her music sheets and water bottle were in her bag and walked out of the kitchen.

“Break a leg!” Taemin called. “Literally!”

Eunmi smiled and shook her head as she followed Taeyeon and her mother to the car. The ride was silent, Eunmi’s nervousness was taking up all the air in it. Taeyeon was playing with her bag and Ms. Kim was just keeping her eyes on the road.

When they arrived at the community centre, Eunmi quickly signed in and went into the waiting room. Chen’s mother was sitting in one of the chairs. The music room where the people were auditioning was across the hall.

Eunmi and Taeyeon bowed to Chen’s mother. Ms. Kim knew Chen’s mother well so they happily greeted each other and began talking quietly.

Eunmi anxiously played with her nails and Taeyeon took something out of her bag.

“Here, unnie,” Taeyeon handed her a hand-made card. For a seven-year-old, it was very neat and nice. There were a lot of colours and the cover read ‘Good Luck!’

Eunmi opened it and found little encouraging messages in it.

Noona, I know you’ll do great, fighting! Don’t be nervous, I know you’re playing with your nails. Don’t do that.  –Your amazing brother, Jongin

Eunmi-ah, we’re proud of you and we know you’ll do well. Good luck! –Abeoji who will always support you

Unnie, you have a beautiful voice! If the judges don’t like it, that’s their stupidity! But I know your voice can wow anyone –Little Yeon

Eunmi, you’ve always had a nice voice and I know you’ve practiced hard. The results will be good! Fighting –Loving umma

Bff~! Good luck with your audition! You’ll do amazing, I know it! Don’t worry, if you do good, we’ll go out for milkshakes, if you do bad, we’ll still go~! But I really think the chances that the second option will happen is like 100 to 0. See you at school tomorrow :) –Sara the bestest friend ever

Kekeke, I taught Yeon the word ‘stupidity’. And that’s what you’ll be if you don’t do well, got it?! Oh and don’t do that weird thing with your nails….. you’ll destroy them. With all the water you’ve been drinking, I hope you don’t have to pee and I hope you don’t blow up like Jongin told me. Oh wait, I do :) *carelessly* ……good luck –Your amazing stepbrother whom you love so much and would not be able to live without because I’m so funny and amazing.

Eunmi smiled widely as she read all the messages. Some of the anxiety she was feeling went away.

“It was my idea to make you a card!” Taeyeon said cheerfully.

“Aw, thank you so much, Yeon,” Eunmi gave her a hug. “I really love it.”

Taeyeon beamed happily as Eunmi’s phone vibrated in her bag. She took it out and found two messages; one old, one new.

From: Jongin

[Received at 4:55] Ahh, sorry I couldn’t be there, noona. Stupid after school classes T_T Good luck! You’ll do fine, as long as you don’t blow up. Sehun says ‘Fighting!’We’re cheering you on from this dingy, dark classroom ^^

From: Daehyun

[Received at 5:38] You’ve probably heard this a lot, but good luck! You’ll do fine! Don’t worry and just do like we practiced, okay? Just pretend we’re in that abandoned music room that I’m not sure we’re even allowed to use :D

Eunmi replied to Jongin with ‘Thanks, kiddos!’ and to Daehyun with ‘Thanks, teach. You’ve really helped me!’

As she put her phone away, Chen came entered the room. He let out a big sigh of relief.

“Jongdae-ah, how was it?” his mother asked as he walked over.

“Better than I thought, the judges are really nice,” he smiled. He bowed at Ms. Kim, ruffled Taeyeon’s hair, and smiled at Eunmi.

“Do you think you did well?” Eunmi asked.

“Can’t say……” Chen trailed off. “My voice didn’t break and the judges didn’t look like they hated it so I guess that’s good.”

Eunmi nodded, “Do I go in right now or….?”

“They’ll call you in, you ordered a piano, right? They still have to discuss me and bring the piano in so it’ll be a couple of minutes,” Chen said.

“We should go now,” Chen’s mother stood up. “My mother has an appointment at the hospital so we should go.”

Ms. Kim and Chen’s mother exchanged goodbyes. Chen gave Eunmi a ‘fighting’ sign and gave her an encouraging smile, saying she would do fine. Eunmi nodded and waved as he and his mother left.

Eunmi carefully put Taeyeon’s card in her bag and took her music sheets out and place them on her lap. Then she started gulping down her water bottle.

“Eunmi, I think that’s enough,” Ms. Kim gently took the water away from her.

“What if my voice cracks?!”

“It won’t, you’ve drunken more water this week than you have in your entire life,” Ms. Kim said, screwing the lid of the water bottle on.

“Kim Eunmi,” a middle aged woman entered the waiting room. “It is your turn now.”

Eunmi shakily nodded as she stood up, clutching the music sheets tightly.

“Unnie, good luck!” Taeyeon smiled.

“You’ll do fine,” Ms. Kim assured, rubbing Eunmi’s arm.

Eunmi nodded again and followed the woman across the hall and into the other room. Her piano was near the back door and on the other side was a table with three judges behind it.

“Hello, Kim Eunmi,” one smiled as the middle aged woman left. There were two women and a man in between them. The woman who spoke looked kind and gentle, the other woman looked a bit more strict but soft at the same time, the man looked, well, carefree. “I’m Lee Minyoung, this is Song Taewon, and she is Amy Choi.”

Eunmi bowed, “Hello.”

“Don’t be nervous,” Taewon said. “Do you know how many nervous breakdowns I’ve seen today? Man….”

Amy and Minyoung elbowed him and Minyoung smiled at Eunmi.

“You can take a seat at the piano,” Amy said. “I hope your piano skills are much more polished than the ones I’ve seen today.”

Eunmi swallowed hard. Are my piano skills polished? I DON’T KNOW!

“Whenever you’re ready, kid,” Taewon nodded, picking his pencil up and tapping it on his clipboard.

“What song are you doing?” Minyoung asked.

“Good Day by IU,” Eunmi answered.

The judges looked surprised.

“Very well, let’s see how you perform the song,” Amy said, Eunmi felt like she was the most judgemental and picky.

Eunmi nodded and walked to the piano. She put the papers on the piano and sat down. She stretched her fingers and remembered Daehyun’s words.

Be confident in what you’re singing, when you feel strong, your voice sounds strong. If you sing all nervously, your voice will be weak. Don’t be nervous, just think of it as another practice.

Eunmi closed her eyes and nodded before putting her hands on the piano. She opened her eyes and began playing.

As she was, she was more focused on the song and remembering her practices with Daehyun to remember that there were three judges in front of her. She didn’t even look at the music sheets, she had practiced so much that she knew what notes to play. She thought she would forget the lyrics and when she tried to think of what came next, she couldn’t. The lyrics just automatically flowed from .

As the note drew closer, her hands became sweaty. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before carrying out the note.

Her voice didn’t crack, but she couldn’t hear herself over the drumming of her heart. As she closed at the end of the song, her heart rate turned normal and she played the last piano part with ease.

When she finished, she let the last note ring before putting her hands in her lap. She let out a shaky breath, she couldn’t remember if she sang well at the moment and could only hope she didn’t ruin the judges’ ears.  

Slowly, she looked at the judges. Their faces didn’t show much expression. Taewon nodded in an impressed manner but that was it.

“You may go now,” Minyoung smiled. “Thank you for coming.”

Eunmi grabbed her music sheets before bowing and hurrying out the room. She leaned against the door after she closed it, letting out another long breath. Then she walked into the waiting room where Taeyeon and her mother were.

“How did it go?” Ms. Kim immediately asked as she and Taeyeon stood up.

“I don’t know….. I just sang like I did at practice so I hope it went well,” Eunmi nodded hopefully.

“You did fine, I know it,” Ms. Kim gave her a hug and Taeyeon jumped up, “Unnie, you did great!”

Eunmi laughed and ruffled her hair.

“Let’s go, we can get ice cream on the way,” Ms. Kim smiled and walked out of the room with Eunmi and Taeyeon behind her.

Glad that’s over…… I just hope I did well enough to make it into the next 6.

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

The list that had the names of the six that had passed the first cut was to be posted at noon on Saturday. As promised, Daehyun would see it with her.

That morning, Eunmi was making eggs for herself and Taeyeon. The two boys were still upstairs. Jongin was sleeping and Taemin was probably lying in his bed, playing on his phone.

She was pretty calm after the audition, she had done her best and could only hope for good results. The entire family supported her (with of course the one member who did it in the most vague way possible) and she was grateful for that. She had celebrated with Sara and Chen, Sara treated the two of them at a café on Friday.

Eunmi recalled how Taemin had cracked the egg and gently banged it on the counter. She opened it over the bowl and it nicely poured into it.

Eunmi blinked and grinned to herself. She took her phone out with one hand and held the shell in front of the bowl in the other. Feeling lazy, she snapped a photo of it and sent it to Taemin.

[Sent at 11:15] Yah, look at this. I cracked the egg with utter perfection.

She threw the shell away and Taemin replied with ‘Lazy aren’t we? Congrats, you should be on Masterchef Korea.                 NOT.

Eunmi made a face and continued to make the egg, hoping she would cook it well. But she didn’t fry it as well as she had cracked it. Pieces of the eggs were breaking off.

Taemin snuck up behind her and said, “It’s no use if you know how to crack an egg and it turns out like that.”

Eunmi pushed him away, “Shut up.”

“It’s a doughnut egg!” he laughed and opened the fridge.

Eunmi shook her head and managed to make the egg edible before calling Taeyeon to the kitchen to eat it. Breakfast was usual, Eunmi and Taemin fighting and Taeyeon innocently eating.

“I have to go now, wake Jongin up!” Eunmi called as she put her jacket on.

“Where are you going?” Taemin asked.

“To see the results, be back soon!” Eunmi left the house before Taemin could ask who with.

When she got to the community centre, there were many people there, all craning their necks to see if they made it onto the list. Eunmi didn’t feel so sure anymore (not that she had been in the first place), there were so many people. What were the chances that she would be one of the 6? She wasn’t sure she could make it that far.

“Stop thinking such negative thoughts,” a voice said in her ear. She jumped and looked beside her to find Daehyun grinning like a goof. “You said it went fine, so stop worrying.”

“Let’s just go look at it,” Eunmi dragged him along into the crowd. It was a struggle, but she managed to get a clear view of the list with Daehyun.

The six chosen to compete to be in the top four are (in no specific order):

Kim Jongdae- 16

Kim Junmyeon-18

Jung Soojung-16

Choi Haneul-17

Kim Minseok-19

Kim Eunmi-16

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

Heeeyyy

Yay! Eunmi did well :)

I took my other fic down xD that was like the millionth time. I've changed the idea a bit.

I just watched School 2013 again.

OMG ASDFGHJKLL;LKJOWIJEUHREHSBANCJSHVB NEVER GETTING OVER THIS DRAMA OHMAGERD

IT'S JUST SO ASDFGHKL

I can't even.... it's just so amazing.

Now I'm watching Lee Jongsuk and Kim Woobin on Running Man :D They have long legs.... but they sure aren't very stretchy xD (did I spell that right?)

I really wanna do a poll but my computer is being stupid so when I figure out how to fix the problem I shall poll it! (that didn't make sense, did it?)

But how did you guys find this fic? Okay, probably cuz you were looking through the tags or read my other ones. But why'd you click on it? xD I mean my foreword..... oh mai gosh..... I've fixed it up a bit but like when I first put it up -GIANT THUMBS DOWN- For paradise, I came up with a not-so-horrible forword when I finished it so I guess the same will apply for this fic :D

That's all I'm not too lazy to type out, so byebye~! ^^

PS I'ma speed things up now, I don't want this story as long as paradise and I want to finish it before school starts so yeah~! Hopefully, all will go as planned :)