September 20, 2000

14 year old Lee Hyukjae sat in a corner of the intimidating Dance Studio pressing buttons on his cellphone randomly, lines of impatience clearly drawn on his face.

"Where the heck are you Kim Junsu? You are dead when I find you!" he mumbled under his breath, lifting his head to stare at the grandfather clock for the 30th time in the past half hour.  “I just hope no one walks in,” he prayed fervently. His insides felt like a melting pot of nerves, butterflies, exhaustion and exhilaration – he had finally done it!

The contracts had been signed, hands shaken – starting today he was officially an SM Entertainment trainee. And one step closer to achieving his dream.

With a groan he flexed his fingers – the tips were in pain from messaging almost everyone he knew with the good news – he had run out of people after 20 minutes – but it still didn’t feel real. He needed to celebrate, to jump around and cheer crazily… or just to have someone tell him it’s real.

The door to the room suddenly creaked open. Hyukjae immediately straightened up … it could be Junsu but it could also be anyone from the company – an instructor, a senior trainee, or perhaps one of SM’s Super idols - H.O.T, Shinhwa or Fly to The Sky. Oh god! Even though he was a boy, he was pretty sure he would start hyperventilating like his boy crazy sister if he saw them.

“Be cool Hyukjae…” he whispered to himself and drew his gaze up with a deep breath.. and then stopped short – there was a petite red haired girl standing in the doorway, her hand still on the knob, a curious look on her face.

He didn’t know how to react – she looked young but with her fiery hair and confident aura, she could be that famous trainee – Boa – Junsu had told him about. So he shot up from the floor with a jerk and bowed low, “Please sit down” and rushed towards the exit, feeling a warm flush overcoming his face.

“Oppa! Wait” he heard a tinkle of laughter behind him.

‘Oppa? she must be talking on the phone or something,’he thought without looking back.

“You’re Hyukjae oppa, right?” he felt a light grip on his arm and turned around wide eyed.

“Y..y..yes?” he stuttered. Something about the familiar sweet way she called him “oppa” made his heart beat irregularly. ‘Probably just surprise,’ he concluded and brushed it off.

“My name is Hyoyeon,” she grinned at him – her eyes were unbelievably pure and white, he was almost blinded for a second – “I’m sorry for calling you oppa even though we’ve never met before. But Junsu oppa talks about you all the time.. like seriously.. all the time!” she paused to giggle and he could feel his lips automatically turn up too. “So I feel like I’ve known you forever, you know?”

“This is going to sound strange..” he said slowly rubbing the back of his head,  “but I actually do.”

“Oh! I almost forgot!” she shouted suddenly, “Congrats! I heard you passed the auditions,” and held her hand up for a hi-five.

Hyukjae’s hand met Hyoyeon’s before he even realized it; the grin on his face so wide his gums were revealed in all their glory, “I did, didn’t I?” When their eyes met, he felt his nerves slowly melt away.. but the butterflies didn’t.

Junsu had arrived soon after with a big group of trainee hyungs who immediately proceeded to pat Hyoyeon's head or pinch her cheeks affectionately. "Oppa! that hurts!" she nudged one of the boys and Hyukjae felt a flicker of some weird emotion. Her voice sounded just as warm and sweet when calling the others "Oppa."  Seconds later another young girl trainee - Jessica - entered the room and dragged Hyoyeon away squealing about some hair scrunchie crisis; while the boys started to chant for Hyukjae to show them his audition moves.

Hyukjae could hear the two girls' voices in the hallway right outside the room and a part of him was disappointed he didn't get to say goodbye to Hyoyeon, or at least thank her politely... but there was no way the trainee hyungs were going to let him go so easily - specially since big-mouth Junsu had apparently been boasting about his best friend's Jang Woo Hyuk dance moves. So he stayed behind..

His gaze would unconsciously wander towards the door every so often though...he wasn't exactly sure why..

After about fifteen minutes, two heads popped in the doorway, "Goodbye oppas! See you all later." Everyone apart from Hyukjae yelled back rowdily - he wasn't sure he was all that special anymore. However a second later, Hyoyeon called out his name "Hyukjae oppa, welcome and good luck!" and his eyes stopped searching. 

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hey guys, the author here. i'm sorry about this boring update. I am used to writing long chapters but i wanted to try something short so that I can update often. everyday if i can. but that said, i have a lot of schoolwork so i can't edit the chapters as well as i would like so the flow might be abrupt in some places. but honestly, i just want to write hyohyuk moments so i hope you still read and enjoy