He took a deep breath and stood outside the door. The large poster calling for auditions was staring him in the face as he debated whether he was making the right decision or not. He had always had a passion for dancing and his mom had put in a lot of effort to take him to lessons, so it was either do or die now.

            “Are you going in or not?” another voice sounded next to him and Junhong looked down to see a girl his age looking at him curiously.

            He blushed and scratched his head. “I’m not sure if I’m ready for this.”

            She had on the outfit of a dancer and he knew that she must be here to audition as well. “Me neither,” she admitted and together, the two of them sat on the bench provided conveniently in front of the building.

            He looked at her. “I’m Junhong.”

            She introduced herself and then the two of them lapsed into silence. He saw her wring her hands and tap her feet. A gaggle of people passed them and entered the building. She turned to look at him with wide eyes. “They’re so brave,” she whispered.

            Junhong nodded and swallowed. “Maybe we should go in too,” he mumbled.

            Together, they stood up and then sat back down immediately. “Nope, can’t do it,” they chorused at the same time. Their eyes met and she cracked a smile.

            She sighed. “What are you here for?”

            “Dance, and rap. I’ve been practicing my rap for a long time and I’ve been having dance lessons for over three years now.”

            She nodded, absolutely impressed. “Wow. I’m just here for dance. I don’t think I’m going to even think about singing. I’d be happy being a professional backup dancer.”

            Junhong shrugged. “Who knows if I can make it. We all have such large dreams but only a few of us would make it.”

            She glowered at him. “Thanks for being so optimistic,” she complained.

            He sighed. “Sometimes, we have to be honest with ourselves. If you have too high hopes then they’ll be crushed easier.”

            “You’re pretty wise. How old are you?”

            “Nine.”

            She looked taken aback. “How are you so philosophical when you’re only nine?”

            He looked at her. “Well, how about you?”

            “I’m your noona. I’m eleven. I guess I need to compete with all you younger kids too now.”

            Junhong laughed and eyed the poster again. The date was bolded and the times were glaring at him. He had to enter now or forever lose his chance. He stood up and stretched, bending his body and trying to get loose. She stood up with him and started doing her exercises too.

            The two of them shook out their legs and she did a couple of lunges and then a split. She took a deep breath. “Hey, we can partner up for the auditions. Do you want to?”

            “We can? But how would that work?”

            She smiled. “Sometimes, they understand that doing things alone can be more nerve-wrecking. They also want to see how well you would get along with the other trainees, so they do prefer if you could audition with someone. But that’s for dancing. I guess for rap, it’s every man for himself.”

            Junhong brightened. “I think that would be great. What song have you been planning to do?”

            She shrugged. “Not sure, but I guess I can adapt to whatever song you’re doing.”

            He was quiet for a while. “You seem to be really experienced in this, Noona.”

            The older girl looked down. “Yeah, this would be my third round of auditions. I’m about to give up.”

            He pumped a fist in the air and did a small victory dance for her. “Have faith in yourself! Hwaiting!” Junhong spun around and did a karate kick in the air before landing again and smiling at her.

            She laughed then and they bumped fists. “Alright, let’s go.”

            Together, they pushed through the doors and walked into the intimidating room. It was filled with scouts and people who came to audition. All around, there were people warming up their throats and people stretching. Junhong felt awkward, unsure if he should join in with the mass pre-preparation or sit back and wait.

            Slowly, the people trickled in as they went. When the announcer called his name and his partner’s, Junhong jumped up and they walked into the secluded door.

            “Are you here for dancing? Please tell us a little bit more about yourselves.” The woman seemed nice enough and they answered dutifully.

            Junhong nervously handed her his CD mix and the noona smiled at him. “Let’s rock this,” she whispered and he gave her a thumbs up.

            The music started and he let his training and instinct take over. She was just as energetic, dancing with him and keeping up pace. Even though they had different routines, she was able to adapt and adjust to him.

            When the audition was over, she bowed to him and handed him her phone number. “Call me when you get news.”

            He nodded, promising that he would. A few months later, he received a call from her. She had been taken in. He waited for his own news before calling her back. “Noona, TS took me.” They went out to celebrate, and when he debuted, and she scored her first performance, they looked back together on the day when they first pushed through the glass doors and took on their dreams.

this is for StephanieBD

I'm so glad you guys really liked the Daehyun one. It was really something that hit me by inspiration and I was worried it would be a hit or miss.