~March 8 in America~

~your PoV~

 

The letter was in the envelope. Now all you needed to do was add the drawing and send it off. "Come on _______, I haven't got all day!" Your best friend, Alex, pouted.

 

This was it, your big chance to escape and be free. All you had to do was sent the letter and picture. But something was missing.

 

Alex demanded, "________ come on, it's not like he'll ever hear you sing, lets go!" That was it! You needed to send a recording of your voice.

 

"Alex, you're a genius!" You exclaimed. You ran around her bedroom looking for one thing. You opened her top desk drawer and saw exactly what you needed: a brand new SD card. You plugged the card into her computer and set everything up. 

 

"Alex, what's a k-pop song I sing often?" You wondered

 

"That's a rhetorical question right? You've got to be pulling my leg." She said

 

"Come on, I haven't got all day." You pleaded

 

"Oh alright, what's that one? You know, the only English lyrics are 'somebody else'" she stated.

 

You stared at her blankly. She has got to be joking. "You mean 'Somebody else' by se7en?" You questioned. It didn't matter the answer, you would sing that one any way. 

 

You quickly did a vocal warm up and got a glass of water ready. Here goes nothing. "nae ape i-nneun neol chama aneul su eop-seo" you had finished the first line and you were feeling pretty good. You belted out the lyrics to the rest of the song.

 

"Somebody else." As the last words of the song escaped your lips, one lonely tear shed from your eyes and landed in your lap. You took a large sip of water and wished the clapping in your head would stop, and then you realized your friend, Alex, was the one clapping.

 

You turned around in your chair and saw that Alex was standing up, the package forgotten, on the floor. You got out of your chair and picked up the package, making sure nothing was damaged. You then remembered that the computer was still recording what was going on.

 

You quickly got up and ran for the computer and turned off the recording, saved it onto the card and put the card in a case. You turned around and Alex's  clapping had ceased.

 

"Why did you stop? Was I that bad?" I asked.

 

"I'm not sure you noticed but my applause continued to the end of the recording. I just did you a favor." She said, very proud of herself.

 

Now was finally your chance to make yourself known. You slipped the drawing of Eli and the recording into the envelope hoping that it made its way to its rightful owner.

 

 

~March 12 in Korea~ 

~3rd person~

 

 

Eli slipped the key into the lock and turned it. The door opened inwards to the dorm. Dooly was waiting for him patiently on the couch. "Home sweet home" he said. Soon the other members would catch up and the dorm would get loud, so he went ahead and pulled a red bull can out of the fridge and headed to his and Kevin's room.

 

He soon heard Dongho enter, followed by Kiseop, Hoon, Soohyun, AJ and Kevin. Dooly ran into the room and curled up on his lap. Kevin came running into the room, "Oh come on Eli hyung, come and read our fan mail!"

 

"I think I'll pass this time, but thank you for offering, Kevin." Generally this would get Kevin to leave Eli alone, but not today.

 

"Come on, just because its the day before your birthday doesn't mean you have to be so down. I'm sure you'll get some great gifts this year!" Kevin explained

 

"Ok but only for a few minutes, I'm still tired from the flight." Eli got up from his bed and gently placed Dooly on the floor and walked into the front room where eight boxes were spread. 

 

"This one is yours Eli!" Kevin exclaimed, pointing to the box next to his own. He walked up to his box and pulled out a few gifts half heartedly. He had received countless cans of red bull and plenty of his favorite strawberry koala crackers.

 

"Hey look guys, this is all great and everything but I think I'll just go to my room and open the present you know, less pressure and all." Eli said drearily. He picked up his box and brought it to his room, trying not to step on poor little Dooly who had been neglected this whole time.

 

Eli didn't have the heart to open any more presents so he just decided to take a shower and go to bed early tonight.

-

When Eli got out of the shower, he was walking over to his bed when he noticed a carefully packed package mixed in with the other presents. He sat down on his bed and stared at the present. Whoever had sent the package had carefully made sure that every hangul character was placed correctly.

 

Kevin walked in and saw Eli staring at the package. Eli looked up and said, "Make sure the whole gang is in the front room, I want to open this one." He then got up and gathered a letter opener and his camera for someone to record him opening his present as Kevin went to go gather the boys.

 

As soon as everyone was gathered in the front room, Eli very meticulously opened the package. Inside we're three things. A letter, a drawing, and an SD card. Eli stared at the drawing for a long time. It has of him crouching down with a grey plaid shirt on, and his right arm crossed over his body while he lightly bit his thumb. 

 

Dongho was the first to speak, "why would someone send you a black and white picture of you, I mean we've all seen that picture a thousand times, it is one of your more popular ones." He didn't understand that it was a pencil drawing. Eli lightly ran his finger across the drawing hoping not to ruin it and looked at his offer to see the sure enough, there was a light coating of lead on his finger. 

 

Eli looked up at Dongho and showed him his finger, "I- but- how- THAT'S AMAZING!" Eli winced as Dongho's voice rose. Next was the letter. Clearly the fan hasn't studied the Korean language enough to write a full letter in hangul. The letter was in English and it read:

 

"Dear Eli hyung,

Happy early, late, or on-time birthday (depending on when you get this)!!!! Included in the package should be a portrait of you that I worked really hard on (I hope you like it, it took me a whole week straight to finish). 

 

When I first got into k-pop, to me it was an experience I had never endured, and it was a bumpy road (unlike the one your bladder experienced) learning what all these songs meant. I then later branched out and started listening to all sorts of artists and groups. Recently I got into U-KISS and I promise, you have changed my perspective on a lot of things. 

 

First, you really got me into singing and performing music. Second, you helped me realize that even if you haven't experience what you're singing about, so long as you believe it is true, then you can sing with as much passion as anyone who has been through that experience. Third, it doesn't matter what other people think of you, so long as you believe in yourself then you can do whatever you dream.

 

You all have definitely made a large impact in my life and I'm grateful that I know about you guys, because if I had not known about k-pop, then I would probably be like any other teenage high school girl doing who-knows-what! But you thought me how to be different and how to stand out without being labeled as something I'm not.

 

KissMe,

___________

 

PS: there should also be and SD card in there, it's a sample of me singing, I felt the package wouldn't be complete without it. I would totally understand if you never listened to it. 

 

Saranghae!"

 

Eli looked down at the SD card and wondered if it was really worth his time to listen to the sample. "Good night guys, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." He said and got up and walked out of the room and into his own room with the package. Eli would not get any sleep that night, thinking about the sample that this fan,__________, had sent.

 

In the middle of the night, Eli couldn't take the suspense any more and got up as quietly as he could manage, hoping as to not wake up Kevin, and walked out into the practice room, which was named exactly for its purpose- to practice. Eli the compute and hoped that nobody heard as the computer started up. 

 

The recording was obviously a second though because you could hear shuffling before the singing started.  "nae ape i-nneun neol chama aneul su eop-seo" it took Eli a minute to recognize that it was "somebody else" by Se7en. 

 

"Why is it that you're always listening to our competition?" A mysterious voice said. Eli turned around to see AJ standing in the doorway.

 

"This is different, AJ, this isn't actually Se7en singing, this is a fan who sent a sample of her voice." Eli explained.

 

"But why are you listening? I mean its not like you'll ever meet her and for all we know she could have edited her voice to make it sound that good." AJ responded and then walked out of the room.

 

"But this is different..." Eli said to himself feeling a little disheveled. He felt like there was something different about this fan. And it was Eli's job to do something about it.

-

The next morning Eli had a meeting with his manager. He had an hour and a half before the meeting, that was enough time to come up with a small speech pitching his idea. 

 

Eli felt that his speech wasn't good enough. He felt like there was something missing. There was  this empty unsureness in his speech.

 

Kevin came in and said, "Eli, you can't be stressed on your birthday. I know the manager wants to see you but that doesn't mean anything bad, I mean its your birthday for goodness sake! He can't fire you on your birthday." Kevin was right, there wasn't any real reason to be worried. But he also gave Eli and idea. Eli would use his birthday as his plan b if the speech didn't work.

-

Standing in his manager's office, Eli waited as his manager finished up a small meeting with someone else and then there would be no turning back. "All you have to do is ask for some time to find her. But you do need time." Eli thought to himself. 

 

"Ok, yes Eli, as you know since today is your birthday, you get a free day. Now is there anything specific you would like to talk about?" The manager asked.

 

Eli looked down at his hands "Actually yes, I had one very specific thing in mind, and it's not what I usually ask for." Eli looked up to see his manager had pulled out a case of red bull, like usual. He sighed knowing it would take a bit of explaining. Out if his pocket, Eli pulled out the SD card and placed it on his manager's desk. "A fan sent this to me for my birthday. I listened and I want to find her. That is what I am asking of the company, is to let me go and find her, bring her back, start a career for her. She has potential." Eli sighed hoping it was enough. 

 

His manager sighed "Eli I am going to say yes this one time just because you don't usually ask for this kind of thing, but you need to remember that because the company won't be providing everything for you, you need to be on your best behavior." 

 

"Yes sir! I will not let you down. But when I do bring back this fan, do consider hiring her?" Eli pleaded.

 

"Yes, of course," his manager said and Eli got up to go. "Oh and Eli, if you need anything do let me know?"