"How are you?"

Jongin slowly gets into the kitchen, eyes still half-closed and messy hair framing his handsome sleepy face. He rubs his eyes and nods for no particular reasons, prompting his noona to laugh at him.

"Sit down for breakfast. You have to eat a lot today!" 

Today. Jongin can only now remember why he has been woken up at 5 Am and his stomach immediately closes, his face getting pale.

"Oh God, Jongin, please. Eat something."  Byul desperately tries to help him but at first, the struggle seems useless. He would just shake his head furiously at the attempt "What the hell, Kim Jongin? You have an audition today, how can you expect to survive it without a proper breakfast?" 

The boy holds his stomach and pouts, forcefully giving up at eating the breakfast the woman serves him eventually, because she is right after all. 

Today is the day of his audition for none other than SM Entertainment. Jongin could vomit at the solely thought of it.

"You are going to do great," Byul reassures him while caressing his back sweetly, patting here and there at some points "Who would they accept if not you? You have trained for years, you are handsome, have charisma and some mad dancing skills! Besides, who would resist your face, Jongin?"

Jongin can't help but to send her a thankful look at the nice words, although they did not help much to the cause.

"I also have a daughter." 

As the delicate issue is brought up, silence falls on them both. His noona doesn't stop caressing him as he buries his face in his palms.

"Noona, what if I am simply messing around?" he asks and the sound comes weak "Wait if I've wasted my entire life chasing an impossible dream?"

"What is this thing you are talking about? Where is the boy who, at three-years-old, used to tell everyone he would have become the biggest star in Korea?"

"He didn't have a daughter."

"Jongin."

Byul's tone gets serious now. The boy turns his head slightly to stare into the woman's eyes. "Jongin, you are talented. You have the passion, you have the need to pass that audition. You have devoted your entire life to dance, and to Yeonsu, and you've managed to do both. You can't give up now." 

The boy shuts his eyes closed as he tries to hold his tears back. He cheers up from his noona's touch. 

"You have worked so hard Jongin, you have done everything to make us happy. Whatever happens today, you will always be our sunshine."

She helps him to get up, leaving some soft slaps on his face and Jongin pouts, amusedly.

"Come on, get ready, Kim Jongin!" Byul exclaims to cheer him up and lighten up the atmosphere "Give them hell!" 

Jongin laughs heartily and sends his noona a lingering look before leaving for a shower and to get ready. It's not until he dresses up in a simple white t-shirt and grey sweatpants and look at himself in the mirror that he truly starts believing in himself.

He has always practiced so hard, despite Yeonsu, despite his difficult family background, despite all the little part-time jobs he has taken to survive. He has never given up dancing. There had to be a reason, and Jongin wanted to find it. Today, at that audition. 

He hugs his noona who holds him tight in her arms and pats his back gently, leaves a gentle kiss on a sleepy Yeonsu and heads out. 

He is ready.

---

Despite arriving quite early at the majestic building of SM Ent., Jongin finds himself surrounded by so many people already. He looks around, lost, tries to get a clue of how many of them there are today, but he gives up when he notices they have far surpassed 150 at only 7.30 AM. He sighs heavily, greeting a representative who gives him a name tag and a number with a gloom look. 

That's everything he is by now, a number.

He tries to shake off the feeling of being just nothing among so many people, because he knows it doesn't help the cause. He has worked too hard to feel scared, he has overcome worse battles, also. Pouting, he tries to find a little spot in the building to settle down, hopefully having enough space to practice some move while waiting for his name to be called. In the end, he decides that he won't practice anything, and just sit down because looking around and observing his "rivals" seems to be a more appropriate choice. 

By 11 AM, his body starts to feel sore, and his self-esteem has slightly increased. Many people could perform moves Jongin knew when he was 6 already, most of the people he has observed has never studied in proper dance classes, lot of them were amazing but it was not like Jongin could expect to be the only good dancer among hundreds of them, after all. 

He stands up, stretching his body and deciding that he has gotten tried of all that looking around. Walking toward a little internal café of the building Jongin meets some interested eyes staring at him, and he can't help but get annoyed.

He shakes his head, sitting on one of the stool of the café and asking for a bottle of water. 

The waiter, a chubby, fun-looking man around his 40s, greets him with a bright smile.

"Audition?" 

Jongin nods slowly and the man shows him a firm fist. "Fighting!" he says in awkward english, and the younger boy can't help but smile at that. 

"Fighting." he repeats, trying to actually take strength from it. He is drinking his water with greed when he notices the older man's eyes sudden excitement at the sight of someone getting close to them.

"Luhannie!" he greets with a loud, cheerful scream "Good morning, dear. You're here for the tea, aren't you?" 

Jongin follows the man's stare and notice the figure is now standing right beside him, smiling shyly at the waiter. He's a young boy, blondish, with a beautiful face and big ey-

Oh wait.

The boy turns toward him and tilts his head lightly as a greeting, but stops himself as he meets Jongin's incredulous eyes.

"You are.. the brother of that baby, aren't you?" his eyes are wide in surprise "Yeonsu?" 

Jongin gets from his regular skin color to an embarrassing pink in a matter of seconds, reacting to the boy's presence exactly like the first time he met him, four days earlier.

"Yes," he says "Luhan-sshi, how are you?"

Luhan's eyes become soft at his shuttering question. "I am good, thank you uhm- Jongin-sshi?" he asks after reading the name on the white tag.

Jongin nods and Luhan smiles, that angelic smile Jongin didn't manage to forget since the bracelet incident. 

"What an incredible coincidence. You are here for the audition?" the blonde asks, happily surprised and Jongin nods again.

He smiles, because he likes it that Luhan is so bright and happy after having meeting him.

"I thought we would never meet again." the boy admits shyly, enough for Jongin's heart to skip a beat. He then sends him an encouraging, shy smile but their dialogue is interrupted by the chubby waiter who calls for Luhan's attention to inform the tea are ready. The blonde boy takes a big tray with lots of cups of tea on it and Jongin immediately gets down from his seat "Do you need any help?" 

"No, I'm fine." the boy answers way too quickly, blushing "You should just focus on your audition." 

He then smiles, staring into Jongin's intense eyes. "I get a nice vibe from you. I hope to meet you again soon.. as a mate." 

The boy's nice words and his angelic face make Jongin's stomach writhe.

"Thank you so much," he murmurs, a shy smile on his handsome face "I'll do more than my best."

Luhan sends him a bright last smile before greeting him and the man behind the counter. Jongin stares, hopeful that just like last time, they could lock eyes again. And they do. Luhan turns to him while walking away and this makes Jongin smile widely. It's just an embarrassed stare, but it's enough.

Now Jongin is absolutely sure he wants to meet that boy again.

"You must be one lucky guy." the waiter's voice takes him back to reality and Jongin quickly turns around to face him, embarrassed. His questioningly eyes make the man's eyes open widely  "Do you think SM trainees just go around and spends nice words to everyone here? Besides," he explains while Jongin blushes "Luhan is one of those rare black pearls for the company. You are staying under a lucky star to have him blush at you, kid." 

Kid? 

Jongin almost chokes and the man immediately helps him out with some strong smacks on his shoulders which did not really help at all. 

"Thank you." Jongin ironically exclaims between the coughing, still stuck on the name he has been called with. A sudden thought flies over to his little Yeonsu and he decides he has already unfocused too much from the real reason of his staying there. 

He greets the chubby man and goes back to his previous position. Fifteen minutes later the group of dancers he got into is called to perform, and Jongin can't actually believe it is really time for it.

Before it's too late he collects his breath, listens to the instructions and focuses. If things will go as he has planned, this day will be remembered as the beginning of Asia's next big star.

--

He gets home at nearly 9pm, exhausted, and Yeonsu immediately jumps into his arms.

"Oppa!" she screams in joy "How did it go? How, how?" 

Jongin leans a kiss on her cheek and his noona appears from the kitchen, smiling widely at him. "It went well, didn't it?"

Although the boy had planned to play a prank on the two, he just can't hold his excited smile back. Byul-noona lets out a joyful scream, "Of course it went well!" 

The three of them hug tight, and Yeonsu and Byul torture Jongin with kisses and lovingly pinches. He couldn't smile more at the feeling of being home. 

"So how was it, hard?" his noona asks once they are done cuddling and Jongin sits down to devour his dinner.

He nods, collecting the various moments of the day and telling the worth-telling ones.

"The group audition was easy I must say," he begins "I survived together with other two guys among 15 of us."

"Impressive." Byul says and Yeonsu claps happily.

"The next part has been a nightmare. I had to wait forever, it was so nerve-wracking." 

Yeonsu sends him an enchanted glare. "But oppa, you got in, didn't you?" 

Jongin blushes at the question. He has seen lot of talented dancers getting cut off by SM's own dancers-meeting them, best thing ever if you ask him.

"Honestly? They told me I was the face and talent they were looking for." he confesses, much to the two's shock.

His noona starts to cry. 

"Why are you acting like this now?" he asks while Yeonsu giggles "I brought home good news and you're crying!"

"Because I'm so proud of you and I'm so happy, Jongin." she exclaims, hitting the boy's arm hard. 

He doesn't complain, leaning his left arm on her shoulders and cuddling her. Yeonsu blows him a silent kiss while she steals vegetables from the dinner table and Jongin opens up into an amused, happy smile.

He feels like he is living the most beautiful day of his entire life, and nothing could ruin it. His beloved family around him, his dream starting to become reality. He is happy. 

And when his eyes meet the pink bracelet on Yeonsu's little wrist, that bracelet she has fallen in love with so much that she would never remove it, his smile only gets brighter.

He will be able to meet Luhan soon, as a mate.

A/N

I feel soo strange at the idea of making Jongin join SM so late XD But yeah.. it's for the plot :3 

Let me know what you think^^