Chapter One:

 

“Come on Mel,” Grace pulled on my arm. “Do this for me please?”

            She was pulling out the puppy dog eyes on me again. I hate the puppy dog eyes. They have the effect of making you freeze then suddenly give in. I sighed.

 

“Fine,” I gave in. “I’ll do it for you.”

 

“Yes yes yes!” she exclaimed jumping happily. “I’m so ecstatic!”

“You’re always ecstatic Gee,” I chuckled as we walked into the building.

 

            I looked around and saw a lot of girls dressed in short-shorts and tank-tops trying to look cool with their headphones plugged in. I pulled a little at the hood of my sweater feeling a little overdressed as people put it with my cargo shorts, white t-shirt and black zip-up hoodie. Compared to Grace I looked pretty normal though, mainly because we were dressed almost identical except her shirt had some sort of graphic on it. Wait that’s my shirt!

“Oh wow this place is big,” she said looking up and around like a kid for the first time in a candy store. “I can’t wait to audition!”

 

            I smiled and walked over to the front desk where a very mean looking lady handed us clipboards with applications to fill out.

 

What is your main priority for joining SM Entertainment?

 

To dance and sing of course, what else should be my priority?

 

Who is your favorite SME artist?

 

Uhhh… GOD? Oh jeez I’m so old school…

 

What is your talent?

 

“These questions are kind of lame,” I said as Grace nodded in agreement.

“But we have to do them,” she said seemingly irritated with the clipboard.

 

            When we had finished we gave them to the front desk lady who sneered at us and then gave us numbers that I attached to the front of my hoodie. I sat back down waiting for my number to be called as Grace was fidgeting with everything around her.

 

“Stop being nervous,” I said stopping her hand from moving. “It’s annoying.”

 

“It’s just—”

 

“Number 316,” a woman walked out from one of the rooms and called out.

 

“That’s me,” I said getting up. “Don’t get nervous, you can do this. We can do this.”

 

“Good luck Melony,” Grace said as I nodded and walked toward the room the lady had come out of.

 

“Please come in,” she smiled warmly and I stepped into the room where six people were sitting at a long table.

 

“Number 316,” the man sitting in the middle said. “What will you sing for us?”

 

“Hello I’m Melony Lander, or known as number 316, I’ll be singing ‘Never Gonna Let You Go’ by Faith Evans.”

 

            The music started and the soft melody could be heard as I gently eased into the words. When the song came to an end I breathed out and looked up. They were staring at me a couple with jaws dropped.

 

“How long have you been singing?” the only girl out of the six of them asked.

 

“Since I was six,” I said.

 

“I see,” she smiled looking over what probably was my application. Why do they ask if the answer is right there in front of them?

 

            A few more moments later they had me dance then asked numerous questions. They were asking me about my work ethic and the like, then about my school grades.

 

“It says you took a break from music and dance for awhile, why is that?” one of the male members of the investigators asked.

 

“Family problems caused me to have to quit for a little bit,” I answered grim.

 

“We’ll contact you if we’d like for you to join or not,” the man in the middle said and gestured for me to leave.

 

            I turned and went out the door and Grace wasn’t where I had left her. She was nowhere to be seen so I suspected that she had been taken into another audition room so I sat down and waited. I watched the clock tick by as more people were going in and out of the audition room but Grace wasn’t one of them. She had disappeared on me so I tried to call her, almost five times later I got up and decided to check the bathroom.

 

“Oppa, was she really that good?” I heard Grace’s familiar voice.

 

“She was great! She’s going to be the next BoA!” an unfamiliar voice exclaimed.

 

            I looked around the corner to see Grace and one of the adjudicators from the audition standing there. I probably looked like a kid trying to sneak a peek or eavesdrop on someone’s conversation, but I’m obviously innocent. I was just looking for Grace and I had finally found her.

 

“Hey what are you doing?”

 

            I turned back and two things happened, one: I came face to face to the most beautiful person ever in the history of Koreans and two: his glare on me was so intense that I think I was going to fall over from fright.

 

“Mel what are you doing here?” Grace came over to me as she soon realized I was there. “Have you been standing there for long?”

 

“If you wanted an autograph you could’ve just asked instead of acting like a stalker,” said the same pretty boy who was glaring at me.

 

“Who are you?” I asked turning to him.

 

“Mel this is Jaejoong from DBSK,” Grace answered for him. “Oppa this is Melony but you probably already know because she just auditioned.”

 

“No he was in the bathroom at the time,” the boy Grace was just talking to said.

 

“Well oppa this is Melony and she’s just been chosen to be a SM trainee,” Grace said excited. “Aren’t you excited Mel?”

“Yeah, uh-huh,” I said not really sure what to say of it. Then something hit me like a flying rock. “How do you know if I made it or not?”

 

“Well… I wa—was…” she trailed off.

 

“You set this up,” I said pointing my finger at her. “You made it the last time you auditioned and set this up, didn’t you?”

 

“Mel it’s not what you think!” Grace put her hands up in defense. “I just didn’t want to do this without you!”

 

“Gee you should’ve just told me,” I said grabbing one of her hands. “I would’ve auditioned either way.”

 

“That’s a lie,” she said her voice suspicious.

 

“I guess we’ll never know because you never asked,” I replied laughing haughtily.

 

Two Hours Later…

 

“Hey dad,” I started interrupting his dinner.

“Yeah Melony?” he asked as Tami looked up too.

 

“Grace and I auditioned for an entertainment company,” I said fidgeting with my food. “And we got in but I was wondering if it was alright with you if I took this as a chance to further my music career.”

 

“Yeah sure,” he answered not really even thinking about it.

 

“It’s in Seoul dad,” I said surprised he would say yes.

 

“Then all the better,” he said smiling at me. “You’ll love it there. You know it’s where I first met your mom.”

 

            My mouth hung slack as I listened to what he was saying. Five years of my life wasted of trying to be a better person ever since unni left. Ever since she ran away I had been working my a.ss off to become a better student, to major in whatever my dad wanted me to and here he was willing to let me throw it all away.

 

“Are you kidding?” I said in disbelief.

 

“What Melony?” he asked looking confused. “You want to go so I’m letting you. It’s what you’ve always wanted.”

 

“You’re right,” I said standing up from the table. “I’ll be leaving in a few days and I’m so f.ucking glad that I won’t be anywhere near the two of you.”

 

            I my heel and out of the dining room and ran up to my room starting to pack up clothes. I could feel my eyes start to water but I promised myself that I wouldn’t cry because of someone like him. Because to me he was a monster that stole the dreams from me that pushed my sister and my mother out of my life and worst of all shoved his poison down my throat.

A/N: Here's chapter one!! I hope you enjoy and don't forget to leave a comment!! :)