Written by: SaMaNtHa
Requester: Channie
Choi Kyoru & Lee Taemin

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“Aish whatever, I quit. I'll just let my dreams go. They're never going to come true.” Choi Kyoru shouted at her mother as she threw herself onto the sofa that occupied most of the space in the living room. Her mother stared down at her daughter, shaking her head in disapproval.
“Did I raise such a loser?” Mrs. Choi sat on the wooden floor beside Kyoru, “Baby girl, you need to stop thinking like this. You've only auditioned a month ago, they'll call you don't worry. You have the most precious voice I've ever heard. If they don't call you then let it be and audition another time. If you quit and want to let your dreams go then stop acting like a baby and sit up.” Mrs. Choi's voice was stern as she patted Kyoru's head. Her daughter was so stressed over her audition. Whats so good about becoming a singer? All you do is sing and get mobbed by fans, you can't have a boyfriend and you have no privacy. Kyoru's mother shook her head, her hands on her knees to support her balance as she stood up.
“Stop moping around and get ready for dinner.” Mrs. Choi slapped her arm before walking away towards the kitchen. Seconds later Kyoru sat up straight on the sofa glaring at the floor as if it did something wrong to her. She sat there with a frown pasted on her face, her beautiful smile was being tucked away from her unhappiness.  
"Mom, I'm going to go kill myself now."  Kyoru walked towards the balcony door and slid it open, the gust of wind blew harshly at her causing her black hair to fly from her face, the sky was getting dark as clouds formed in the sky.  Wind blew violently with a light sound of thunder.  
"Aigoo, close that door would you?  Its going to rain soon, I don't want you to let in any rain."  Mrs. Choi scolded, Mrs. Choi rose her apron above her head taking it off and placing it on a hanger by the kitchen stove.  She walked towards Kyoru, closing the door herself.  Kyoru looked at her mother baffled, that she didn't even care that she was going to commit suicide.  Kyoru gave her mother a glare then scuffed off towards the living room sitting in her previous position.  She stared at the ceiling with a blank expression.
"Yah Kyoru come and eat, where's your father and your dongsaeng at?  Go get your father and brother."  Mrs. Choi shouted but Kyoru was too busy in her own world, she didn't move an inch; her eyes were still on the ceiling.  Mrs. Choi stood by the dinner table and looked at Kyoru to see if she was going to call them but she wasn't planning to so Mrs. Choi went to go get them herself.  She passed Kyoru and slightly kicked her. 

Once everyone was present at the table they looked at each other then at the food.  Kyoru's dongsaeng took the chopsticks in his hands shoving a mouthful of food in his mouth.  He didn't realize that his mother and father was looking at him.
"What?"  He whined before placing his rice bowl and chopsticks back on the table.  "Can't we just eat and get it over with?  I still have a game to finish you know."  His constant complaints irritated Mrs. Choi as she tapped his mouth to shut him up.  She then looked at Mr. Choi signaling him to look at Kyoru.  Mr. Choi was hesitant to speak but in the end was forced to speak.
"Whats wrong honey?"  He looked at Kyoru waiting for a reply.
"Nothing...."  Kyoru quickly said before grabbing her rice bowl from the table, trying to avoid anymore confrontations.
"SM didn't call her back.  It's been a month now and she's worry they'll never call her so she's moping around."  Mrs. Kim said, also grabbing her rice bowl.  
"Ah so that's the reason?  Kyoru ah, stop worrying, they'll call you I know it.  Look outside!  Its raining and thundering its a good sign!  They'll call you I know it.  They'll call in three...two...one..."  Everyone looked at the house phone waiting it to ring but nothing happened.
"Aish dad don't bring my hope-"  Kyoru spoke but was cut off by the sound of the telephone ringing.  "OMO!!!"  Kyoru jumped from the table and ran towards the living room where the phone was located.  She sat on the sofa and took a breath before picking up the phone.  "Yoboseyo?"  Kyoru spoke into the intercom with her sweetest voice.  "Oh okay...I'll go get him."  Kyoru held the phone to her chest.  "Dad it's for you.  Someone at the company needs you."  She threw the phone on the sofa then walked towards her bedroom slamming it shut before plopping on her plump bed.  

- - -

As the night came upon the Choi household everyone fell asleep, all dreaming different dreams.  The rain has stopped leaving a trace of fog surrounding the atmosphere, the chilly wind blew through the empty streets and alleyway, everyone was asleep except  a group of people in a big company located in Seoul. In the SM building the managers and assistants sat in the meeting room, looking through hundreds of audition tapes.  Their heads were slowly falling down to their chest they were all tired from the days of watching tapes.  They needed to sleep but they couldn't sleep until they find the next big star.  Lee Soo Man wanted a new star to put out in the market.  The managers and assistants sat with their heads resting on their palms to help them focus on the videos.
"Play a different video he's not talented, he's off pitch and he can't even hold a note."  An older man said waving his hand in dismissal.  The lady by the tv ejected the dvd from the dvd player putting in a new dvd.  On the cover it read, 'Choi Kyoru singing Life by SHINee.'  The lady pressed play while everyone had their eyes on the blank screen, nothing was showing it already passed a minute, still the screen was pitch black. 
"Why isn't the dvd working?  Throw it out.  We have no time for low quality dvds like these."  The same man from before hollered.  The lady got up from her seat to turn off the dvd, before she got a chance to something was being heard.  A husky voice was filling the air, the melody and soothing vocals enveloped everyone by surprise.  The man rose his hands to stop the lady from pressing the stop button.  He stared at the screen at once he saw a young lady in her bedroom, showing her talent.  Her voice was unique, the huskiness in her voice was luring, her soothing vocals made the huskiness in her voice even better.  Her eyes capturing all the people present in the room, they looked at each other before speaking.
"Wow that young lady is very talented.  I think she'll be a good candidate.  Mr. Lee will be very pleased with her talent, if we train her more and coach her with her singing, she'll become the girl version of Park Hyo Shin."  A man in a white buckled up shirt suggested, he had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.  He looked at the others waiting for their response. 
"I think she'll also be a very talented singer, but she won't be the next Park Hyo Shin."  A lady stated, showing her biasness towards the nation's husky singer Park Hyo Shin.
"Stop it, I think it's safe to stop watching the other videos.  Lets call this a night.  I'll contact her tomorrow, and show Mr. Lee SM's new big star."  Everyone left after those words, finally they can return home and sleep.

- - -

The sun rose with its light creeping through the cracks of Kyoru's blinds.  She sat up in her bed exposing her big puffy red eyes.  So she did cry from disappointment, Kyoru rose her hands to her eyes, rubbing them softly.  She got up from her bed peeking outside through a crack in her blinds, the sun was high in the sky, outside looked decent.  People were already up walking the streets of Seoul, the sky was clear and blue, it was perfect.  Kyoru walked towards her door and walked out towards the bathroom, today was a Saturday so she slept in for an hour or so.  Once she finished washing up she walked downstairs to see her parents in shock, what happened?

"What's wrong?  Why do you guys look as if you've seen ghosts?"  Clueless, she sat on the sofa looking at her parents with amusement, they looked so shocked, it's funny.  Kyoru gave out a chuckle before waving her hands in their faces.  "Did something happen? Hello...” She let her hands fall down to her sides from her previous waving. “Aigoo, you two are so strange this morning. Did someone call? Why are you holding the phone?” Kyoru took the phone from her mothers hands and went through the previous numbers. “Whose this?” She put the phone a foot away from her mother's eyes then did the same to her father. They looked at it then back at Kyoru.
“Kyoru....They....you....they called while you were asleep....they....SM....SM company....they....called. CALL THEM BACK!” Mrs. Choi shouted the last words giving everyone a shock. Kyoru's eyes popped out of her cornea, hung wide open.
“OMO REALLY?”
“Yes, yes, call them back! You deserve, it daddy's little princess.” Mr. Choi patted Kyoru's cheeks before walking off to the kitchen. Mrs. Choi sat next to Kyoru as she held the phone to her ear, calling out to her dreams.

- - -

“Bye mom, bye dad, bye dongsaeng. I will miss you guys so much, but I won't be too far, and if I work hard enough you'll see me on tv!” Kyoru gave them a reassuring smile before walking towards the black car. With one last wave she disappeared.

Once the car stopped in front of the tall building the girl sitting in the car looked amazed, the structure of the building was amazing, the big pink SM logo made it all the better. This is it, this is was Kyoru was working for, she wanted to be part of the SM family, she wanted to share her talent with the world. She wanted to stand on stage and let her voice be heard, finally the day has come. Kyoru touched the door handle with her pale hand, her hands were shaking as if she'd just drunk 20 cups of coffee. 'Be strong Kyoru. This is it' she said to herself before confidently stepping out of the car, bowing to the driver she walked into the building. It was amazing, ten times better than the outside, it was so spacious, on the walls were photos of SM's stars. There on the wall had the faces of H.O.T, S.E.S, Shinhwa, BoA, TVXQ, Trax, Super Junior, The Grace, SNSD, SHINee, and f(x). Those were the stars everyone looked up to, those stars were the one's who helped trend K-Pop. Kyoru looked at the wall amazed, her mind was so focused on the wall that she didn't realize a man was behind her, observing her. Kyoru turned back to see a fat man with jeans and a brown shirt, at once she bowed and smiled at him. He nodded then opened his mouth to speak.

“You're Choi Kyoru right?” He looked at her from forehead to toes. Not giving her a chance to reply he began talking again, “Great, today from onwards you'll live in a dorm here in SM, you'll become one of our many trainees, so you need to behave and show us that you want to debut and become our next star.” Leading the way he walked down a long hallway passing many, many doors. Stopping in front of an elevator he clicked the up button, and waited for the doors to open, when it did he motioned Kyoru to step inside the elevator as she stepped in, he did too. They reached the third floor and got off.
“Here is where you'll be trained, the first floor are for trainees who will become actors, the second floor is for dancers, third floor is for singers, fifth is for gag idols, and the rest are for other reasons. We have 8 floors in total. Ah and my name is Mr. Jung.” He opened the door to a room with mirrors alongside the walls. People were in the room practicing their talents. There was also a man standing behind a piano, he must be one of the vocal teachers. Everyone stopped what they were doing when they saw Mr. Jung and the lady besides him.
“Attention everyone, this is the new trainee. Her name is....”
“Annyeonghaseyo, Choi Kyoru imnida.” She gave a 90 bow and smiled at the people who looked at her, they bowed back before going back to what they were doing before she came into the room.

- - -

As a week and months went by Kyoru began her training, she met her seniors. They heard about her talents from staffs in SM so they all had high hopes for her. Kyoru was also treated differently from the other trainees, Mr. Lee and the other staffs took care of her more because they knew in the long run she would be the one taking care of them with her future success, so she had the privilege to train on the 5th floor with her senior, SHINee and f(x).

“No, no, no hold your note for more than 7 seconds. Make sure to make is strong, sing from your stomach not from your throat. Singing from your throat makes you lose breath.” Mr. Yang slightly smacked Kyoru's stomach signaling for her to start over. Kyoru took a deep breath and this time she sung using her diaphragm holding her notes for more than 10 seconds. Mr. Yang nodded then played the piano instructing Kyoru to sing, Heart Damage by Navi. Once the singing practice was over she was headed to the dancing room to practice her dancing.
“Hey Kyoru, over here!” Minho stood up from his sitting position on the floor motioning Kyoru to go over to him. On the floor beside Minho was Taemin, the other three had a schedule so they weren't in the building. Kyoru smiled and walked towards Minho, trying her hardest not to blush. Her all time crush was Taemin, she loved his presence, his happy and bubbly personality made her days worth living. “Did you finish your vocal training?” Minho threw his arm over Kyoru's shoulders looking at her straight in the face.
“Yup. It's so tiring, I'm going to die...” Kyoru sighed flopping to the wooden floor. Taemin looked at her as his face lit up from his wide smile.
“Aigoo, our Kyoru is so tired. Aigoo, look at her.” Taemin smiled and laid on top of her while Minho laid on top of him.
“AHH! I can't breath, you guys are so FAT!” Kyoru screamed , her arms flying in every direction. Taemin and Minho laughed getting off of her.
Taemin laughed and looked at Kyoru, “I see you're not tired now!” He looked at her pinching her cheeks. “I hope you're not being pushed too hard. Most of the trainee's spends 2-5 years training to become an artist. But it seems they want you to debut within a year of training.” Taemin's voice was filled with concern. Kyoru felt warm with the thought of him caring for her she sat up sitting in a criss-cross position.
“I think I can do it. I want to fulfill their dreams. I want to debut soon so I can share my talent with everyone. I also want to become big like you guys!”
“I guess there is nothing to do but support you right? Kyoru Hwaiting!” Minho and Taemin said the last sentence in unison.

Once they finished talking Mrs. Jae walked into the room ready to help Kyoru with her dancing skills. As the sun fell within the horizon everyone in the company was still up practicing. In one of the practice room Kyoru was practicing her singing and dancing, the music was banging from every corner of the room as sweat glistened on her pale skin, her shirt clung to her but she couldn't stop, she needed to be perfect. Kyoru was dancing, facing the mirror when someone walked into the room throwing her a bottle of water and a small face towel.

“Stop, sit down and take a break would you?” It was Key by the door watching Kyoru pant. Kyoru looked at his reflection on the mirror shaking her head.
“No can do Mr. Key, I need to be perfect. I need to show them that they should let me debut within the next two months. I want to become a singer as soon as possible.” Key looked at Kyoru with an admiring smile.
“Well taking a short break won't kill you. If you over work yourself, I'll tell your oppa Taemin, and he'll be angry.” Key's words slapped Kyoru in the face; at once she stopped the music and gulped down the ice cold water at the same time wiping her sweat away from her eyes. With a smile she went back to her training. Key shook his head then walked away. She works too hard.

- - -

“Let's choose between these two girls.” Mr. Ha displayed two photo, one of Choi Kyoru, the other of Im Sunghee on the big projector. All the managers, and assistants, and other staffs looked at each of the photos mumbling to themselves.
“I think it'll be safer to debut Choi Kyoru, I believe she has more talent, she has a very unique but strong voice, her dancing needs work but we can change that.” One of the coordinators stated.
“I agree, by debuting Choi Kyoru she'll make more money.” One after another everyone said the same thing, so after the conference, Mr. Jung walked into Mr. Lee's office telling him about the decision they made, Mr. Lee nodded after hearing that Choi Kyoru would debut. Mr. Jung walked towards the practice room where Kyoru was located and told her the good news.

“Ah really? Thank you! Thank you! I will work hard, I won't disappoint you I promise!” Kyoru jumped around once Mr. Jung left, she did it, she was finally debuting! She quickly ran to SHINee's practicing room. Kicking the door opened she screamed as loud as she could,
“I DID IT! I REALLY DID IT! I'M GOING TO DEBUT IN A MONTH!” She jumped up and down waiting for the guys response, but no one seemed to care, they were in the back of the room sitting in a circle with their backs to her. “Yah....I...I just...forget it.” Kyoru turned her backs to SHINee as she reached for the doorknob. Before she opened it a loud cheer was being heard.
“CONGRADULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!” The five sweet voices shouted at once they looked at Kyoru as she turned around. Her eyes were moist as tears filled them.
“Aigoo, she's crying!” Onew ran towards Kyoru embracing her. “We're so sorry, we were trying to surprise you don't cry. You're supposed to be happy. Come on stop being a big baby.” Onew squeezed her then let her go. The other boys came rushing over also hugging her excluding Taemin since he was in charge of holding the cake. Taemin looked at her and gave her a nudge with his shoulder, he smiled down at her noticing her red cheeks. Everyone settled down and began celebrating.

- - -

“We need to get ready for your mini album. Today we're going to listen to some songs for you to sing and put it in your album. We also need to get you your debut song. OH and one last thing, since you're not really well known we're going to use a promotion strategy as in using one of your seniors in your album so fans will buy it. How about....featuring SHINee's Minho and Taemin for a song in the album?” Mr. Jung asked as he looked at Kyoru, Kyoru sat on the other side of the table, excited about the featuring.
“Umm, I think thats a good idea! But what if their fans oppose the idea of them being in my album? What if they think I'm just using them for my own fame? What if-”
“Stop your worries it won't matter, their fans are opened minded they'll like you as much as they like SHINee. You have great talent so it'll be fine.”
“Oh, okay. I trust you Mr. Jung.” After the conversation they began listening to different songs to include in her debut album.

After hours and hours of listening to songs they finally chose 5 songs, excluding the title track. Mr. Lee was going to find a song writer to write a song for her debut single. Once they chose the songs, Mr. Jung excused Kyoru so she could go practice. She walked down the hall and saw Minho.

“Minho-ah!” Kyoru ran towards Minho to tell him the good news.
“Wha really? Featuring Me and Taemin? REALLY? This is sooo cool!” Minho embraced Kyoru but she didn't hug him back. Minho released her to take a look at her. “What's wrong?” Kyoru didn't respond but looked down at her shoes. “Ah, don't tell me...you like...no, you can't like me. AH, you like Taemin? That's why you can't sing with him? I knew it since the first day, you're eyes were all over him.” Minho chuckled before cupping Kyoru's face with his hands. “Why are you being such a fan girl? It's okay to have a crush on him, I can help you if you want me to.” Minho whispered the last words in Kyoru's ears. Kyoru looked up at him with hopeful eyes,
“You mean it?”
“Of course! Killing two birds with one stone, I can help you confess to Taemin, so you can do great on your album! A win win situation right?” Kyoru nodded and hugged Minho. They walked towards the elevator to go to the 5th floor to meet the other SHINee members.
“So, why do you like Taemin out of the five of us?” Minho's questioned.
“I don't know, he's sweet. His personality is very good too, every time I see him it makes my day special.”
“Aigoo, look at you blush as you talk about him. How can you like him so much? You're such a school girl!” Minho began teasing Kyoru poking her red cheeks and such. Once they reached the 5th floor they walking into SHINee's practice room and told everyone the good news. Taemin sat on the floor and smiled.
“I get to have a duet with you while Minho hyung raps? That is so awesome!” Taemin smiled happily at Kyoru while she blushed. Minho let out a giggle before embracing Kyoru once again to help hide he red cheeks.

- - -

In the recording stood Kyoru, she was finally going to start recording for her album, through the glass window you could see her emotion pact singing, her lips moving to the lyrics. Her hands moving up and down as if controlling her pitch, her foot tapped on the wooden floor counting the beats in her head. SHINee sat on the couch watching her occupied with two older guys who were controlling the equipments. Jonghyun also kept beat as he listened to Kyoru's voice, he tapped his finger on his knee taking in the voice of Kyoru. Taemin stood closest by the window and watched as she sung, her voice was amazing something words couldn't describe. Taemin's eyes were glued to her, his ears wanting to hear more. Once the recording of the second song was over Mr. Jung told Kyoru to come out of the recording room so she can listen to the song she sung. When she got out of the room the SHINee members shouted and scream overflowing her with complements. Kyoru looked at Taemin as he smiled at her, he couldn't speak he couldn't say anything so he simply gave her a thumbs up. Kyoru smiled then walked to where Mr. Jung was and listened to her recording. After listening he gave her some tips before sending her off to record her third song.
“Hey guys we have to go. You guys have a schedule at 3 its already 1:30 so come on.” SHINee's manager appeared by the doorway.
“Aww, I don't want to go. I want to listen to Kyoru sing some more...” Key whined but eventually walked out of the studio. Everyone left except Taemin he was too engulfed by Kyoru and didn't hear what his manager has said.
“Taemin, aren't you going? Everyone left already.” Mr. Jung said tapping Taemin from behind.
“Huh? Ohh....I didn't realize. I have to go now. Take care of Kyoru.” With that he ran out the room with blood rushing to his face from embarrassment.

A couple of days went past, since Kyoru prepared for her album she was too busy to play with the boys which made her sad but she needs to get used to it. Today was her free day since her voice wasn't projecting like usual a sign that she needed rest. She walked towards SHINee's practicing room and sat next to Minho.
“Hey Kyoru! Let's go talk somewhere.” Minho shouted over the music before leading Kyoru out of the room.
“Why? What's wrong?”
“Nothing, it's almost time for us to record the song and you haven't even confessed to Taemin, how can you sing if you keep blushing and being embarrassed in front of Taemin?” Minho was serious when he spoke. He was right, the past days Kyoru was becoming a wreck whenever Taemin walks by her voice would crack because of her embarrassment. She wanted to look pretty while singing causing her to get off key and unfocused. That didn't happen in the recording room because the windows were tainted to help singers focus.
“I don't know what to do. What if it gets worse? What if he runs away and what if I get so sad that I can't sing anymore? I don't know what to do Minho. I don't know...”
“I...I don't know either but we need to figure something out before the recording date or you're screwed.” Minho and Kyoru stood outside the practice room leaning their backs against the wall and thought to themselves. “Ah I got it! This is what we'll do.” Minho whispered in Kyoru's ears. “I'll tell the other members to go play or something. Come to the practice room at 6pm tonight and we'll start the plan.”
Kyoru looked a bit scared, “Will it work?”
“Of course it will! Okay go and rest. Come here refreshed and look pretty!”

- - -

Kyoru looked at the clock that hung on the blue walls. The hour hand was inching towards 6pm. She was nervous, she didn't know how to calm down but if she wants to be successful she needs to get this over with so she could become a great singer, with nothing holding her back.
“Okay here goes! Hwaiting Choi Kyoru you can do this!” With her chant she bravely stepped forward and got into the elevator. As the elevator stopped Kyoru took a deep breath before walking into SHINee's practice room.

Taemin's POV

-Moments before Kyoru's arrival-

“Are you ready? You know what to do right?” Minho's whisper was being heard throughout the small practice room.
“Yeah I think so, but what if she turns me down? I don't even know if she likes me the way I like her.” Taemin whined.
“No, No think she'll like you. Who wouldn't? Now just go as the plan okay? She'll be here at 6, I'll go dim the lights. Remember when she comes you start singing, make sure to block the black words on the mirror.” As Minho said so, he dimmed the lights and counted down from 10.
“Okay Taemin you can do this!” I said to myself. I've liked Kyoru since the day I saw her, her looks were like of a goddess, her voice is something I've never heard before, it's something I look forward to. I want her to know I like her before we start our duet. If I don't I'll be too nervous to sing with her, I don't want to mess up and make her suffer. I need to be a man and grab a hold of her. Just like Onew Hyung said, I need to confess. I closed my eyes when Minho hyung dimmed the lights, my heart was beating faster and faster as he counted. When I heard the number 1 I began to sing, at the exact moment Kyoru walked in. She was beautiful. I sung Let Me Be The One by SS501,
“FIRST THING FIRST, the words I want to tell you. Although I don’t know where I should start,
I’ve been quite anxious Even now I’m feeling a little shy… I’ll try to gather up more courage. You know that I can’t say these types of awkward phrases. Once in a lifetime, I think that time is now. I’ll start here BABY please listen, LET ME BE THE ONE.” I tired my hardest to sing but she was making me breathless. Her hands were covering , I swear I'm seeing tears roll down her cheeks but I don't know. I don't know what to do. The lyrics aren't coming out of my mouth anymore. I'm standing still like and idiot. I don't know what to do. I've been practicing so hard but nothing is coming out. I was so scared but then I heard singing again, I listened carefully it's her voice. It's Kyoru's voice, why is she singing? I'm the one whose supposed to be singing.
LET ME BE THE ONE, the only one for you. I want it to be me.
LET ME BE THE ONE, the entire day, I only think of you
LET ME BE THE ONE, I’ll promise you, that I’ll live for you
LET ME BE THE ONE, for eternity, I’ll love only you.

Minho turned the lights on and hugged us both then started to laugh. “You two are so cute! I didn't think my plan would work!” Minho stepped aside as I looked at him confused. What worked? I chocked, how did his plan work? “Don't you two get it? You two share the same affection!” Now I understood, Kyoru liked me too. I took a step towards Kyoru and took out a pen from my pocket. And began to write. Once I finished I kissed the back of her hands motioning her to read the message I wrote.
“I like you Choi Kyoru, let's work hard!” Kyoru read out loud. Her face lit up as she took the pen from my hand and wrote on my palm.
“I like you too! Let's work hard!” I read out loud. I was so happy, I couldn't help but embrace her.

- - -

“Okay start!” Mr. Jung motioned Taemin and Kyoru to start recording the duet. They sung and looked into each others eyes filled with love.

Finally the album was completed, and now Kyoru can finally debut.

- - -

Kyoru stood on Music Bank and sung her debut song Broken Arrow. Her voice once again mesmerized the audience, there was one in particular in the audience that was mesmerized, his name was Lee Taemin, he sat amongst the audience and watched his beloved sing. She was something he needed in his life, she was something no one can have but him.

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I hope you liked it, it was kind of rushed so I hope it wasn't too bad...sorry if its not what you were looking for, thank you for requesting though! L