Aerin’s POV

My whole body was so focused on being scared; my ears were unaware that the piano had begun to play a familiar melody.  Without any sign of stage fright, Jinwoon’s beautiful started singing the first verse; his face full of emotion, like he had been captured by the deep feelings of the song.

Gosh, I really wanted to walk off before it was my turn to sing, but when I glanced at the back of the stage just to my left, Yoseob’s brilliant smile warmed me.  He made his index and middle fingers stick out into a peace sign, and gestured for me to look at him while singing.

“Doego sipeo, eoseo nae mameul badajwo.”  Jinwoon had finished singing the last line of the first chorus, and ohmygosh, it sounded amazing.

Now how was I supposed to match up to that?

I took a deep long breath during the instrumental part, and still locking my eyes with Yoseob’s beautiful brown ones, the lyrics along with the melody floated out of my mouth.  Totally unaware and caught in the moment, I was actually singing in front of a large audience, and I sounded fine.  Returning Yoseob’s encouraging wink with a smile, I shifted my gaze from him to the audience and occasionally at Jinwoon.  My body swayed to the beat of the music.  Once the song ended, followed by our bows, the audience’s loud applause filled the big auditorium.

My heart was racing fast; my cheeks were burning hot; and an electrifying feeling sizzled through my body.  Finally, Jinwoon and I returned to the backstage with the rest of the performers.  With a giant smile plastered on to my face, I flew into Yoseob’s opened arms.

“You were wonderful!”  His arms wrapped around me, offering me his familiar touch, and I could smell his light-scented cologne that he put on just for the show.

“Aerin-ah, you were amazing!  And we totally killed them out there!”  Jinwoon hi-fived me while Yoseob released me from the hug, but still had one arm around my waist.

The rest of the members flooded over to congratulate us and give us hi-fives.  Being on stage gave me an exhilarating feeling; it felt almost magical.  Although I didn’t get off to a very good start – having stage fright and all – but in the end, I managed to pull myself together – with the help of Yoseob – and put on a good show for the audience with Jinwoon.  My heart was still beating rapidly, not showing any signs of calming down from the exciting performance I had just experienced.

We watched the rest of the talent show from backstage, and we witnessed the perfect duo performance put on by Taecyeon and his friend, Jang Wooyoung.  Wooyoung was also a senior, like the rest of us, at Shinhwa High School, but his dance skills definitely exceeded BEAST.  The both put together was a fabulous duo.  No matter how much I disliked Taecyeon, I had to admit, the boy is very talented, but he just lacked a bit of decency in his personality.

The annual talent show finally concluded, and most of the audience cleared out, leaving only the performers, their parents, and a few men in suits.  While BEAST had been called out in private by one of the men in suits, Jaemin oppa and Mom rushed to give me hugs.

“Yah Aerin!  You didn’t us that you were going to be in the talent show!”  Jaemin freed his arms, but held me at arm-length to smile brightly at me.

“That’s right!  We would’ve brought the camera!”  Mom smiled too, but there was a hint of regret in her smile.

“I didn’t know that I was going to be in it.  One of the performers was missing his partner, so I subbed in.”

“But you were amazing!” exclaimed Jaemin, ruffling my perfectly-combed hair.  “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“AERIN-AH!”  Suddenly an excited call came from BEAST as they rushed to surround me with the speed of lightning; they were grinning like fools.  “GUESS WHAT!”

“WHAT?”  I wanted to match their excited tone.

“You know the entertainment company called Cube Entertainment?”  Junhyung asked, after they’ve all calmed down enough to speak.

I nodded.  Cube Entertainment was a new entertainment company founded by a former employee of JYP Entertainment (one of the Big 3 entertainment companies in the country).

“A scout from the company came and saw our performance,” said Hyunseung.

“And they thought we were AWESOME!”  Kikwang emphasized the word ‘awesome’ for dramatic purposes.

“NOW THEY WANT TO SIGN US!”  Dongwoon blurt out, shortly after Kikwang finished.

“OHMYGOSH!”  I screamed and hugged the guys so tightly that when I let go, they were all grabbing their throats and chests to breathe.  “CONGRATS GUYS!”

“But of course, we have to become trainees before we can debut.”  Doojoon said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Although Cube Entertainment was a new agency, I was sure BEAST would be big in the future.  Also, getting the opportunity to be signed by a talents agency showed that BEAST had talent.

“But wait, there’s more,” the corner of Yoseob’s mouth lifted to a smile as the BEAST boys backed spread out to make room for a man, in a casual yet presentable suit and jacket, to enter our circle.  “This is Mr. Kang, and he wants to talk to you.”  After Yoseob’s introduction, BEAST pulled my family away – politely of course, and seemed to be explaining what was happening to them as they walked – leaving me alone with Mr. Kang.

“Annyeonghaseyo,” I bowed a 90 degrees bow to demonstrate politeness, which the man returned.  “How can I help you?”

“I am a talent scout from Cube Entertainment, and I must say, your performance was incredible.”  His smile was warm, so I bowed again and thanked him, but there seemed to be more than just complimenting me.  “Aerin-shi, I can see a bright path for you as an entertainer, and Cube wants someone with talent like yours.”

Oh wow!  It’s not every day that you get scouted by a talents agency, which means that opportunities like this only come once in a lifetime.  Being on stage gave me a wonderful feeling that I’ve never felt before, and it was amazing!  But my thought was interrupted as I remembered what had happened this morning – I had been accepted into the university of my dreams.  All my life, I’ve been working towards that goal – to get into University of British Columbia – and now that I’ve achieved it, I might have to give it up.  So was I working for nothing?

“Um, do you guys happen to have a base in Canada?  The university that I am going to is in Canada.”

“I’m sorry, we don’t.  And I’m afraid that you can’t always fly back and forth from one side of the world to the other.”  Mr. Kang said in a more serious tone than before.  “We need you to be committed to your training before you can successfully debut.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Kang.  Thanks for the offer, but please give me some time to consider it.”  I bowed again.

“Of course.  If you do decide to join us, feel free to call me.”  Mr. Kang handed me his professionally-printed business card.

My heartbeat accelerated with surprise, but my stomach wrenched with confusion as I stared blankly at the card, silent.  After Mr. Kang left, BEAST came back to join me, but my family was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s my oppa and eomma?”  I asked the guys.

“We told them all about how Mr. Kang wanted to scout you, and they were bursting with excitement!”  Dongwoon explained.

“And they’re scared that the restaurant won’t have any seats left for us to have a celebration dinner, so they went ahead to book the seats.”  Yoseob added; then after hearing no response from me, his concerned tone cut through my thoughts.  “Aerin-ah, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t be a trainee here, and go to a university in Canada.”  My voice was so soft that it sounded more like I was debating with myself than talking out aloud.

 “Just go to university here then.”  Holding my hand in his, Yoseob’s answer came out almost immediately.  A smile plastered his face, and he sounded like his suggestion would fix my dilemma.

I instantly glared at him, raising the volume in my voice so I was no longer whispering, and coating my words with a harsh accusing tone before they rushed out of my mouth.  “Do you have any idea what UBC means to me?  How can you just tell me to give it up like that?”

Yoseob’s hands immediately dropped mine, and a hurtful and surprised look pooled in his sparkling brown eyes.

“I’m not really feeling well.  Dongwoon-ah, can you tell my eomma and oppa that they can continue the celebration dinner without me?”  I directed my request at the maknae.  “I’m gonna go out for a walk.  You guys have fun.”  I let a smile make an appearnce my face before I turned my back at Yoseob and Dongwoon to exit the auditorium.