Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to get recruited by a company as a trainee. I was street casted in my hometown of San Diego just a few months ago. I loved singing so I accepted the invitation and auditioned for JYP. I passed all 3 rounds and before I knew it, I was already in. I moved to Korea a month after passing my 3rd round of audition because I had to finish the school year. I live with my mom but my dad had to stay back in America to take care of the family business. It was like a miracle and it all happened so fast that I don't even know if I'm ready for all this. But there's no turning back now.

Today is my first day of training. I have already signed a contract with the company and they agreed to take care of everything I need from food to shelter to clothing. I moved into the dorm yesterday and today is the day I officially start training. Let's see uhm... my first class today is singing. I walked into the training room to see that the teacher was already there and a few trainees. There weren't a lot of them and I don't see anyone that seems like someone who speaks english which cuz I can barely speak korean. My korean lessons haven't started yet.

I took my seat on the floor amongst the other trainees as the teacher was talking about something that I couldn't really understand but I think it's something about interaction and something that has to do about body language. I took out my journal and wrote down as much as I can, thankful that I can at least read and write Hangul. As I was busy jotting down my notes, I suddenly felt weight on my right shoulder. I looked to my side and saw a small girl leaning her head over to my notebook.

"Pen" she said. I furrowed my eyebrow in confusion before I realized that she was talking about my pen. 

"Uhm, this?" I said as I pointed at my pen. "Pen" she simply said. 

"You want to borrow this?" I said reaching out my pen to her. "Pen" she repeated the same response while smiling. I mentally facepalmed myself at the silliness of this girl, who looks like she was 12 or something. Things were getting awkward really fast so I decided to do something to change the mood.

"Apple" I said. She gave me a confused look. "What?" she tilted her head in confusion.

"Apple Pen!" I said and laughed really hard. Man I don't even know why I laughed at my own joke even if it's terrible. I guess it was the look on her face that made me crack up. I sat there laughing like an idiot alone but after a few seconds, she eventually started laughing as well. She's actually quite cute, despite her weirdness. We were laughing for god knows how long. We weren't even speaking, just laughing like two idiots who've known each other for 5 years, well 5 minutes to be exact. 

"I think I'll call you Pen from now on" I told her. She simply smiled at me but I could tell that she didn't get what I just said.

"I'm Apple, you're Pen ok?" I said and raised my thumb. "OK" she smiled. She is really cute. Her eyes are so big and her smile is so wide like a rainbow. It makes me wander what a girl like her is doing in a place like this at this early in her life. I don't even know if she's hit high school and yet here she is, spending possibly the next 5 years of her life training.

Our vocal coach said he would be checking our voices one by one privately and I was called first. Thankfully, once we got to the private room my vocal coach started speaking english. I was asked to harmonize from my lowest notes to the highest. When I reached my high note my coach told me to hold it and I lasted for about 10 seconds holding that same note. Nothing much happened in my vocal class today, my coach just said she wanted to test my vocal range and told me I can go early since today was my first day. As soon as I left the room I looked for that small girl again but couldn't find her. I searched all over the room to no avail, until I saw her entering the room I just came from and realized it was her turn now. Too bad I couldn't stick around to hear her sing as I have another class afterwards. I don't even know her name yet.

The Next Day

Man yesterday was exhausting. The vocal training might not have been much but the dance class sure was something else. They made me dance 5 different types of routines in one day with a group of other trainees. I was the least experienced in the group as I saw everyone else catch on with the dance pretty quickly. It took me a while to just get one routine right as I have never been good at dancing and as if that wasn't enough, I had to do 4 more after that.

By the time I got home, I crashed on my bed and didn't even bother to change my clothes. I didn't see that small cub during dance practice, but hopefully I get to see her again today.

Looks like I lucked out. She is here again, in the same class as yesterday.

"Pen!" I called her. "Apple!" she said and ran to me. Before I could even process what happened, I found myself locked in her arms in an embrace. It's only the second time I've seen her but why is my heart trembling already. She's so small, her head only reaches my chest XD

"Ok class let's begin" the teacher announces and we start our class. We did a few vocal runs as a class before the teacher asked us to go up in front and sing our favorite song. A few trainees went before me and I have to admit I was nervous despite only having little people in the room. I gathered up all the courage I could muster and walked up in front when my name was called. I sang "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia and got applauded by the class, but I wasn't prepared for what happened next.

The teacher gestured for the small girl to come up in front and I was really excited to finally hear her sing. I watched as she walked up to the front ever so confidently. As soon as she opened I was shook like an earthquake.

She started... rapping.

I have never heard this song before so I assumed it was something she wrote herself. I was completely unaware that mouth was wide open the whole time, only realzing it when a fly nearly entered my mouth. She was amazing!  she just oozed with confidence the entire time. I was so shook and breatheless after performance that I didn't realize someone else was already in front singing. 

After everyone was finshed with their turns, the teacher dismissed us for today. I packed my stuff and noticed small girl doing the same thing. Not wiling to let this oppurtunity slide, I walked up to her and asked if she wanted to hang after classes.

She luckily accepted, but not before laughing at my super embarassing korean. I pouted despite being overjoyed that she accepted my invitation. I can't believe im pouting at a kid right now.

We spent the entire day walking around Seoul doing various things like eating, watching a movie, and just plain strolling despite having little money. Communication was surprisingly fine despite not being fluent in each other's languages. I admit there were lots of times we said things the other did not understand, but the way she looked at me whenever I said something in deep english was just priceless. She looked like a baby cub lost in the woods.

We were sitting in a cafe after the small girl pulled me into one and forced me to buy coffee just because she didn't want to drink alone. I decided to take the time to get to know her more.

"Uhm... I've had a really great time today and yet I don't even know your name" I said, trying my best not to sound cheesy.

"Chaeyoung" she told me. So that's her name, I got used to calling her 'Pen' but I like her real name even more.

"So Chaeyoung... what do you like to do. Like what are your hobbies?" I asked her. "Uhm... I like rap" she said. 

"and uhm... sing" she continued as she tried her english conversation skills. "You sing? How come I've never heard you sing before?" I asked her.

She only looked down and clutched her coffee closer to her.

"Coffee is hot..." she smiled and reluctantly blew on her cup. I flinched at the slight awkwardness of the situation so I just decided to do the same thing. Sipping my coffee gently, I looked over to Chaeyoung who seemed a little uncomfortable, she kept looking down and couldn't meet me in the eyes. No longer taking the silence, I decided to change the topic.

"So how long have you been training?" I tried to ask her in korean this time. I saw her face lighten up a bit probably because of my terrible korean, but in all honesty i'm glad to see her brighten up even though I feel embarassed right now.

"You funny" she chuckled a bit. My heart warmed up at the sound of her laugh. "Study more korean" she said.<