2 weeks later, Jongdae got a callback. He was ecstatic to hear that he was going through to the 'semi finals'. His excitement soon turned to despair when he heard that he needed to go to Seoul to audition again. He knew his parents were going to be at work all day and that just left his brother.

"What's in it for me?" asked Jongdeok.

Jongdae sighed. "I will do your chores for the week."

Jongdeok smirked. "Month."

Jongdae fumed. "Fine. Now will you please take me to Seoul."

"I don't know Jongdae-ya, you're asking me to miss university, the thing that I need to get a good job, to travel 1 hour and 30 minutes to take you to an audition you may or may not pass."

Jongdae bit the inside of his cheek to keep him from yelling at his brother. "What else do you want?"

Jongdeok pretended to think for a bit before a grin stretched across his face. "I'll let you know."

Jongdae knew he was going to regret it but he was desperate. "Fine, whatever. Now take me to Seoul."

Jongdeok patted Jongdae's head. "Sure thing princess."

Jongdae whined. "I'm a manly man!"

The car journey to Seoul consisted of Jongdae trying to do vocal warm ups and Jongdeok telling him to shut up so he doesn't crash the car.

Once they arrived at the location the SM staff had specified, Jongdae got out of the car.

"I'll call you once I'm done." he informed Jongdeok.

"I'm not your servant."

Jongdae stomped his feet. "Hyung you promised."

Jongdeok sighed and raised his hand in resignation before getting back into his car and driving away. Jongdae silently entered the building and was greeted by one of the staff members.

"Name?" asked the woman expressionlessly.

"K-K-Kim Jongdae." Jongdae managed to shuttered out.

The woman gave him a once over before glancing back at her list. She quickly found his name and ticked it off. She gave him a pass before turning and walking off.

"Follow me." she said shortly.

Jongdae had to practically run to keep up with her.

How is she faster than me in those giant heels?

The woman stopped abruptly, gestured to a door before turning on her heels and walking back the way they had just come.

Jongdae gulped before opening the door. The room was filled with boys and girls who were practicing their own things.

One of the boys came up to him. Jongdae took a few seconds to check him out. He was wearing casual clothing, had a nice eye smile and a cute hair cut.

"Hi, I'm Byun Baekhyun, what's your name?" the boy asked.

"Kim Jongdae." he replied with a smile.

"This is pretty exciting isn't it? Any one of us could become the next big thing." Baekhyun wiggled his eyebrows.

Jongdae threw his head back and laughed in good nature. "Is this your way of checking out the competition."

Baekhyun dramatically put one hand on his chest, imitated a hurt expression and gasped. "I'm hurt that you would even think that way. I was merely trying to make friends."

Jongdae laughed again. "Alright, since we're gonna be friends I'm gonna need to know if you're my hyung or not."

Baekhyun shrugged. "I never really bothered with honorific but I was born in May 1992."

"September 1992. Do you want me to call you hyung?"

Baekhyun waved him off. "Nah. Friends don't really call each other hyungs, we call each other es and bastards."

Jongdae smiled and decided that he really liked Baekhyun. They exchanged numbers and continued to talk until Baekhyun got called into a separate room. Baekhyun didn't come back after that and Jongdae figured that there was a different exit that the applicants used after they were done.  He decided to use his time wisely and do more vocal exercises until he was called up.

He was called up to sing 30 minutes later. He hurried into the room and bowed deeply to the judges before introducing himself and the song he was singing. He cleared his mind and just sang. He pretended that this audition wouldn't decide his future, he pretended he was alone and he sang his heart out. When he finished he saw that some of the judges were smiling.

"That's great Jongdae. Your singing is really powerful." said one of the judges.

Jongdae glowed and bowed. "Thank you so much."

"Can you dance or rap?" asked another judge.

His expression fell. "Umm..er...um-"

"We'll just put on some music and you can just freestyle to it."

The judge got up, the stereo and crushed Jongdae's dreams.

Jongdae ran out of the building as soon as they let him go. He was so busy trying to wipe the frustrated tears out of his eyes that he almost bumped into his brother.

"Yo maggot, watch it!" Jongdeok shouted.

"Sorry." mumbled Jongdae as he continued to furiously rub his face hoping to diminish any signs of tears.

Jongdeok finally noticed the condition his brother was in and gestured for him to get into the car. The trip back home was a silent one.

When they had arrived, Jongdae turned to his brother. "Please give me a list of all your chores."

Jongdeok opened his mouth to say something but thought against it at the last minute. He nodded and followed Jongdae into the house. By the time Jongdae had changed into casual wear, his brother had managed to provide him with a list of chores that he could do.

He was half way through with washing the dishes when his mother entered the kitchen. She silently pulled him away from the sink and into her arms. That's when Jongdae's tears made another appearance.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked softly whist his hair.

"It was horrible eomma." he hiccupped out. "I thought all I had to do was sing but then they asked me to dance! I saw some of the dancers whilst I was waiting and they were way better than me. I blew it eomma, I blew it! I can't believe I blew my chance. I was so close."

Mrs Kim held her baby as he cried into her dress. "It's ok sweetheart. There will be other chances. Besides, you may have done well, you'll never know until they get back to you. Have a little faith."

She kissed the top of his head and continued to hold him until he calmed down. He allowed his mother to comfort him with her word even though he knew he wouldn't get in.

Oemma's right, there will be plenty of other chances to get into a company. And SM isn't the only company out there, there are so many more. So what if I don't get into SM, it's not going to be the end of the world.

3 days later, Jongdae gets a phone call from SM. He didn't really want to answer it because he suspected it was a rejection but in the end he thought he should handle this like a man. He almost dropped his phone when the man on the other end said he'd gotten through to the 'finals'.

He didn't waste his breath trying to convince his brother to take him to Seoul, instead he wasted his money. He travel 2 and a half hours on public transport until he reached the familiar building. This time a man was there to greet him.

"You must be Kim Jongdae." the man says and beckons him to follow him.

Jongdae was surprised. "How-"

"The other boy already arrived. Let's get this started."

The man lead him to a room where he came face to face with Baekhyun.

"Baekhyunnie?" Jongdae asked in surprise.

Baekhyun groaned. "Jongdae-ya? Oh no, not you. This is so bad."

Jongdae frowned. "Why is this bad?"

Baekhyun gave him a sassy look. "Are you an idiot? They'll only pick one of us and I'll feel bad either way. I'll feel bad if they pick me because I robbed you of your dream and I'll feel bad if they don't because I don't get to do my dream."

"! I never thought of it like that."

"It's a good thing you're pretty because you're not smart."

"Oh shut up."

"I was going to text you and ask you how the audition went but I couldn't bring myself to do it in case you said it went bad and then I told you I got through."

"I understand, I felt the same way." Then Jongdae came up with an idea. "Let's make a promise to each other."

Baekhyun raised a brow. "What kind of promise?"

"Let's promise that no matter what happens, we'll stay friends and the one who doesn't get in will be supportive of the other and vice versa." He stuck his hand out.

Baekhyun grinned and gripped it. "Deal."

They shook on it before starting their vocal warm ups. Baekhyun was called up first again and 10 minutes later, it was Jongdae's turn.

He confidently went into the room and sang like his life depended on it, which it kind of did. When he was done, he was told that he'd have to come back tomorrow for their final decision. On his way out he noticed that Baekhyun was waiting for him.

Baekhyun linked their arms together. "Wanna go paint the town red?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

Jongdae threw his head back and laughed. "Sure, why not?"

Jongdae got home around 1 am after a great day and night out with Baekhyun. As soon as he got through the door, his mother gathered him in a tight embrace.

"Do you know what time it is?" Thundered his father behind his mother. "We were worried sick! You weren't picking up your phone and no one had seen you or knew where you were. We thought something terrible had happened. Explain yourself!"

Mrs Kim pulled away from her son so he could speak. The tears running down her face squeezed Jongdae's heart and filled him with guilt.

"I'm sorry for worrying you eomma, appa. SM gave me another callback, so I went. I made friends with the boy I was up against and he wanted to explore Seoul. I didn't realise where the time went. My phone ran out of battery so I couldn't call you or receive any calls. SM told me to go back tomorrow for the final decision. I am truly sorry for making you worry." Jongdae said as sincerely as he could.

"I thought...you were...I thought...I was imaging the worst." Mrs Kim sobbed out.

Jongdae rushed to hug his mother. "Eomma I would never!"

"You were....so broken up...about...about the audition...I couldn't find you so...never do that to me again Jongdae!"

Jongdae didn't realise he was crying until his vision started to blur. He nodded and held on to his mother. Silently, his father joined in the hug.

"You really worried us Jongdae." he said gruffly and Jongdae realised he was crying too.

"I'm really really really sorry." He cried out brokenly.

"I'm taking you to Seoul tomorrow." his father declared.

"What about your work?"

"I can miss a day so I don't have to worry about whether you're safe or not."

Mrs Kim wiped her tears away quickly and gave Jongdae a smile. "I'm so proud of you. I hope you get in sweetheart."

Jongdae looked into his mother's eyes and gave a reassuring smile. "Thank you eomma, and I'm really very sorry."

"Shh, it's ok. You're safe now. Get some sleep, you're going to Seoul tomorrow."

True to his words, Mr Kim drove Jongdae to SME this time. The outside of the building was scattered with girls but there was someone outside to meet him to usher  him in. The man took him to an office where he waited until Baekhyun also came in. Baekhyun squeezed his hand in support and he squeezed back. A woman entered the room and faced them.

"Boys, I know I said that only one of you was going to get in." They both nod. "Well since both of you are so good at singing, we've decided to keep you both."

Jongdae's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

The woman smiled. "Yes."

They both squealed and hugged each other before remembering their manners and bowing several times to the woman.

"My name is Yoon Eunju, I'll be showing you around the company. Do you live in Seoul?" They shook their heads. "Then you have a week to move into our trainee quarters. I'll give you both the details of that later, let's take the tour first. Follow me."

She took them around the building and explained where the drama studios were, the recording studios, where they would be doing most of their vocal lessons, where the instruments could be found, where the trainee common rooms were, the eating area, etc.

"And this is the dance studios." She said as she opened the door.

Jongdae saw that a few trainees were dancing but one really caught his eyes. He was dancing to 'Mirotic' by DBSK, one of Jongdae's favourite groups, but he wasn't following the original choreography, he was freestyling it. His movements were so fluid, and at times sharp, it was like an arrow made from water. Jongdae had no doubt that he could be the totally embodiment of dance.

I bet if I looked up dance in the dictionary, I would see that guys face and probably his body. I wonder if with enough practise I could be like that guy. Keep dreaming Jongdae, that is something he was probably born with. How the hell does he move like that? Does he even have bones? I bet he doesn't have bones. Oh my God! That should be illegal.

Eunji noticed that Jongdae was paying rapt attention to the dancer and decided to interrupt his thoughts. "That's Yixing, he's one of our most talented dancers."

As soon as she said his name, Yixing turned around and locked eyes with Jongdae.