Lesson Three

Oh Sehun has always believed that talent could be trained, even up to perfection. Sure, talents were often innate, but hey, if one trained hard enough, surely one would still be able to surpass those with innate talents. After all, you know what they say - practice makes perfect.

But for once, he thought that singing would never be his thing, not even if he trained intensely for it, day and night.

His one year anniversary of becoming a trainee passed with little thought. That fateful day, Sehun was scolded by his vocal coach harshly after he stopped to breathe in the middle of the song for the nth time that day.

"Breathe through your diaphragm, not your throat!" His vocal coach had stood up, waving his arms in the air in frustration. Sehun winced. "Oh God, it's been one year and you can't even get the simplest technique right! How did you even get accepted into SM in the first place?"

And then he stomped off, but not before warning Sehun to only look for him when he mastered the breathing technique and could sing a reasonably stable note.

So he had indeed remained in that small room for hours, using up all the breath he had. But as with all his previous attempts, all his efforts were going nowhere.

Sehun had hit a hard rock that he could not break.

He himself knew that this situation was completely different from the dancing problem he first had when he just became a trainee. At least with dancing, he had the fundamentals down and was able to solve the problem by putting his heart and soul into the dance.

But with singing... Well, even he had wanted to put his whole body into it, it was impossible, since he couldn't even freaking breathe properly while singing without looking like someone who hyperventilated.

If there was an untalented award, Sehun was almost completely sure that it would go to him.

But he didn't want to accept that he couldn't sing for his life. If there was one thing Sehun had learnt from being in SM, it was that he could never give up, no matter what. Once you do, there's no turning back.

I'm not untalented, he told himself. It's just that, I'm... tired. Yeah! I'm tired! I just need to rest a while before trying again.

Sehun was darn sure he was on the brink of tears when even resting didn't work out for him.

He just couldn't understand. Why didn't practice make perfect? It should have! He had always gone by that principle, and even that backfired on him.

Frustrated by his own thoughts, Sehun buried his head in his hands, and didn't move until he felt someone poking his ribs.

"Sehun oppa! I heard that you skipped lunch and dinner! Do you know how bad that will do to your health?" Soojung crossed her arms and pouted. Sehun couldn't help but laugh - she was always the worrywart amongst the two. He ruffled her hair and told her, "I'll be fine, just need to perfect my singing, that's all. I think you should worry about yourself more though. Aren't you debuting in a few months?"

"Five, to be exact." Soojung put out her palm to show him. "But seriously! I overheard your vocal coach talking about you to the others. Are you sure you're more than just okay? You're always telling others you're fine, when actually, you're not."

Sehun looked at her. She was giving him a face of genuine concern. In SM, Soojung was his first friend, and probably the only friend whom he could possibly talk to about his problems without feeling self-conscious. That most likely had a lot to do with the fact that Soojung had already seen through him on the first day.

He took in a deep breath, and started explaining. "Well... I can't, um, sing. I mean, I can, but I can't, because-"

"Hold on a second," Soojung cut in and scratched her head. "So can you sing, or can you not sing?"

Sehun pursed his lips. He wasn't quite sure what to tell her. He might have been able to, but yet he couldn't, because of... reasons?

"You see," he started off. "I can't sing at the moment, but if given more time, surely I could. I'm not joking!" He gave her a serious expression.

Unexpectedly, she laughed out loud. Sehun raised his eyebrows.

"You know what's wrong oppa? You can't admit that you can't sing."

Sehun was about to retort back when Soojung quickly explained, "I mean, it's not meant in the bad way. It's more like... How do I put it across? When you admit your shortcomings, you will learn from them, and then improve. But if you just plain out deny it, you're never going to learn!"

She then stood up. Sehun stared at her.

"Okay, let me start the ball rolling," she told him. After dramatically clearing (which caused Sehun to laugh once again), she spoke out in a louder voice than before. "I admit, I can't sing as well as Sunyoung unnie. I admit, I can't speak Korean as well as Sooyeon unnie. I admit, I'm not as cute and lovable as Jinri."

"But even so," she continued on, still with a strong and steady voice. "I will continue to improve myself, and become a better Jung Soojung!"

Silence hung in the air for a moment. Soojung then turned to him, and smiled. "Now it's your turn!" she said, pointing at him.

Sehun slowly stood up. He thought that maybe she was right. Maybe admitting would be the way. No, it had to - he didn't have much time left.

He faced the mirror, seeing Soojung and himself clearly. Then he shouted, "I admit that I can't sing for my life! I need to work on my mistakes and correct them, not blindly try to skip over them!"

Soojung clapped her hands in delight. "So now do you know what you should be working on?"

Sehun nodded his head firmly. "I guess my breathing techniques? I kept trying to avoid it and just try to sing to my best ability."

Her eyes twinkled. "I'm sure you can do it! Work hard!" She exchanged a fist bump with him.

She was about to leave the room, when Sehun stopped her. "By the way..."

Soojung cocked her head to the side, anticipating his question.

"I don't think you'll ever be cuter than Jinri."

"Hey! Sehun oppa, you're a meanie!"

Sehun's vocal coach was by far, more than impressed with his singing. In a short span of a few hours, his singing had improved more than he had originally anticipated.

He nodded his head, contented with Sehun's progress. "You learn fast! How did you manage to accomplish it? I bet someone taught you that," he teased.

Little did he know, Sehun was silently agreeing to his words, smirking just so slightly.

~~~

[A/N] Hey there! Sorry for the late update, I thought I had more time to write since I had three days off on the weekdays, but turns out I was even busier :/ But here it is now! By the way, don't you find SeStal's interaction a bit more endearing than before? That's because it's been one year, so obviously they're going to be closer to each other ^^ And is it weird that I like my own writing? LOL XD Please do not mind me :P

And if you haven't please read my YoonKai oneshot, Not Too Young! :)

Not to mention, how did I even get 30 subbies for just chapters? :O I think you guys are awesome! I wanna cry ;~;

Anyway, see you in the next chapter! (hopefully soon ;)) Please comment and subscribe if you like it as well :)