English Korean

Chapter Two

I walked through the local park with my puppy black and white husky, Hero, is running around at the end of his lead.

“Slow down, Hero.” I grumbled. It is 10 in the morning and I generally don't like mornings.

I stopped at a small coffee cart and got a latte and kept walking Hero. We got to a quiet spot and I played fetch with him for a while. Suddenly, my phone starts to ring, causing me to jump and spill my coffee everywhere.

“Dammit! You stupid idiot!” I exclaimed then answered my phone.

“Hello, this is Amila LaBeau.” I said in a cheerful voice.

“Amila-ssi, this is a representative of YG entertainment. The CEO, Yang Hyun-suk-ssi, would like me to inform you that you have been accepted for training. Please stop by tomorrow at 11am so you can start your training.” a woman's voice informs me from the other line of the phone.

“Oh, um, thank you. I will be there tomorrow. Thank you very much.” I said and the woman hung up.

I stood frozen thinking over what just happened. I let out an excited squeal and jump up and down.

“I GOT IN!” I shouted at the top of my lungs and squeal once again. I think a few passers by gave me weird looks.

THE NEXT DAY @ 11am

I look at the YG building nervously. Today, I meet everyone and start my training. I take deep, gulp then walk inside the building.

“Amila-ssi. You made it.” the CEO greeted me as soon as I walked in.

“Yank Hyun-suk-ssi, hello! How are you?” I asked politely with a bow.

“Very good thank you. I wanted to personally thank you for your audition and we indeed 'Listen'-ed to what you had to say. I can tell it meant a lot to you.” he told me with a kind smile.

“Thank you very much. This means a lot to me.” I smiled widely at my new boss.

“This way. We need to talk about your trainee plan and what you would like to achieve out of this.” he said and led me to his office where a few others were waiting.

“Amila-ssi, these are our top producers in the company: Teddy-ssi, Choice-ssi and Tablo-ssi. Men, this is the wonderful Amila LaBeau.” he introduced all of us.

“It's nice to meet you.” we all greeted each other with a small bow, or in my case a larger one.

“I saw your audition and can I say, that song was very powerful in both sound and lyrics.” Tablo-ssi added.

“Thank you, Tablo-ssi.” I smiled at him and gave him a nod.

“Are you from one of the southern states?” he asked.

“Texas.” I give them a shy smile.

“So, your audition was recorded so all three of them could see it. Everyone is interested in mentoring you. Your training will include dancing lessons, language lessons, singing lessons and celebrity lessons. Basically how we are going to make you famous.” he told me.

“Okay. When would you like me to arrive everyday?” I asked fine with the schedule.

“7am. Do you have school?” the CEO asked.

“I am taking online college courses for drama.” I told him.

“When were you born?” Choice-ssi asked.

“8th of September, 1988. I skipped a few grades.” I explained. I am only 16 (18 in South Korea). I'm yet to have my birthday this year.

We all sit around a table and talk about, well, me really.

“Tell us a bit about you, Amila-ssi.” the CEO said.

“Well, my full name is Amila Angela LaBeau but please call me Mila, everybody does. I'm from the 3^rd Ward in Houston, Texas. I have a little sister but she lives with our dad in America while I live in Seoul with my mama. I don't see my sister very often but we do keep in contact.” told them a few other random facts about me, myself and I.

“Teddy-ssi, can you take Mila-ssi to her dance lesson. The lesson should just be starting.” Sajang-nim dismisses us and Teddy-ssi leads me to my first lesson.

“Any tips?” I asked when we stood in front of the dance studio.

“Listen carefully. You should be fine. The first lesson is always to see what you can do.” he told me and I nodded then entered to dance studio.

“Hello, sorry I'm late.” I bowed in greeting to the dance teacher.

“You must be Amila-ssi! I'm Kim Junhyuk, your dance teacher. Just get warmed up then we will start.” he greeted me and I nodded. I dumped my stuff where everyone else's are and put on my dance shoes.

I found an empty space and started stretching and to the beat for the music playing. When Junhyuk-ssi called for everyone, we gathered around him.

“Okay, everyone. We have a new girl to our training class. This is Amila-ssi, please treat her well.” he introduced me to everyone and I gave them a little wave and bow.

“Amila-ssi, we are going to observe you while you dance freestyle to a song. We just want to know your abilities. If you know the song, please sing along to see if you can cope with singing and dancing.” he said and everyone went to sit down in front of the mirror.

'Lady Marmalade' started to blast through the speakers and I smiled at the familiar tune.

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj1G3w_YDQs with out the second verse and chorus)

The ones watching applaud and I smile in thanks.

“Well done, Amila-ssi. Everyone take a break.” Junhyuk-ssi announced and everyone cheered. They must have been in for in for a tough lesson if they are responding like that.

“That was very good, Amila-ssi.” a boy, around my age, came up behind me and told me with a cheerful smile.

“Thank you very much...” I let the sentence hang to indicate I don't know his name.

“Lee Seunghyun, it's nice to meet you.” he stuck out his hand for me to shake.

“It's nice to meet you too, Seunghyun-ssi. Please just call me Mila, everyone does.” I smiled at him and shook his hand.

“Okay, Mila-ssi.” he smiled widely at me.

“You are the first person to greet me with a handshake. You must know your Western World knowledge.” I told him appreciatively.

“I saw it in a k-drama once so I thought it was how you would greet people in America.” he sheepishly told me.

I giggled and we went back to training soon after our conversation. When I turned around to walk back to our teacher, I full body smacked into someone and it sent us to the floor.

“Damn. Sor-” I started to say to the person I bumped into and froze when I caught site of him.

The guy in front of me is very handsome. Kind of cute looking but still very handsome.

“Sorry, Amila-ssi. I wasn't looking where I was going.” he got up the walked away.

I didn't even get his name...