The First of Our Memories

      Ji Eun nervously pinched herself as she entered the trainee filled room. Some people she had seen during her audition, but many others were sunbaes that had been with the agency for a long time. She took a deep breath and pinched herself again.

     Every once in awhile the agency would clear out all the trainees who weren't making any progress or just weren’t making the cut. Ji Eun decided to go into the agency to be a singer and  was still fairly new at Loen. This would be her first time being evaluated since her first audition.

 

“I wonder how many of us will actually debut?” Someone asked breaking the tension everyone was holding in.

“I heard they were getting stricter this year oppa!” another girl shrieked.

“What if they ask me to go under the knife?” someone else piped up.

 

“Yah! Will you all just shut up? I’m going to tell you the directions now!” a Manager-Ahjussi spoke up.

 

Ji Eun found her way to the back of the room and sighed before hearing her stomach growl loudly. A few people turned around and looked at her.

 

“Oh, jesomida- please carry on.”she blushed embarrassingly. She held her breath until the last person turned back around.

“Aigoo...”She hit herself on the head silently and tried to listen to whatever the ahjusshi in the front had to say. Ji Eun slid down the wall and crossed her legs on the floor. she nearly jumped when she found she wasn’t alone. Another person laid stretched out in the corner, asleep and not really paying attention to his surroundings. Ji Eun looked around briefly to see if anyone else noticed him. although his hood covered half his face, Ji Eun could still tell he was handsome and well kept.

“Omo...” Ji Eun felt the color creep into her face as she continued looking as the sleeping stranger.

‘How does a person look that good?’ She thought and tried to pull herself away. Ji Eun found that listening to the instructions properly was  way too hard. She glanced back at  the stranger. He looked calm, his chest moved up and down peacefully and Ji Eun blushed again realizing she was staring. The guy stirred now awake and reached into his pocket for something. Ji Eun snapped her head forward and forced herself to listen.

“Trainees, you will be evaluated on the skills we told you to work on in the beginning of the month.” He started.”For some of you, that might be dancing, for others it could be english skills.”He seemed to glare at her for a second but continued to scan the room. Ji Eun gulped knowing that this evaluation could be her last.

 

“But surprisingly, the boss doesn’t want to know all of that. He wants to see your ability of choosing a partner that will be good for you.” He shrugged his shoulders. Ji Eun glanced around for any friendly faces, anyone that could look good with her. She sighed again before she glanced back and the stranger who to her surprise, wasn’t asleep anymore. This time she really did jump.

“Omo.” She tried to cover her faces with her hands to hide her embarrassment, but eventually turned back to the stranger. He chuckled.

“Do you want to be my partner?” He asked in perfect english. Ji Eun quickly tried to remember all those times she fell asleep at her hakwon, when she really should have been studying her english.

“Umm...Yes, I would--want to be.... your...umm..Partner.” She replied brokenly hoping her response was correct. He grinned and stood up, offering his hand to help her up also.

‘He must be foreign...’ Ji Eun marveled at his height compared to hers.

‘Maybe we could make this work.’ She thought.

 

“You have fifteen minutes to get to know your partner and sell yourselves to us.” the Ajusshi called out before he left the room.

 

“Where are you from?” Ji Eun asked.

“Philippines.” He replied.” I am sorry, my korean is not that well.” He spoke in korean before shrugged nervously.

“ You sound fine to me.” Ji Eun grinned hopeful that their language barrier would be gone for a little while.

“Umm, My name is Ji Eun.” She tried in english.

“nae ileum-eun Sang Hyun imnida.” He replied bowing slightly.

‘Sang Hyun...’she liked his name, she replayed it over and over in her head.

“Lets speak informally from now on. I’ll teach you slang, and you can teach me english?” She smiled and touched his arm unconsciously. Ji eun felt his warmth spread through her fingertips and tried to withdraw her hand as naturally as possible. Sang Hyun nodded and pulled at his collar.

“Its hot in here.” He piped up.

“Hot?” She asked looking around. There was a lot of moving around, and people getting situated. Ji Eun looked back to find Sang Hyun’s gaze blazing against hers. She blushed and looked away. She spotted a guitar in corner of the room and headed towards it. Picking it up she scurried to the exit door and motioned for Sang Hyun to follow her.

“Follow me.” She mouthed. Sang Hyun glanced around and followed the girl to the hallway.

“I’ll see where you take me.” He sighed happily under his breath.