A Place in This World (Taylor Swift)

A few years back I have never dreamed of becoming a KPop idol. In fact, call me weird but I used to avoid KPop altogether - favoring JPop bands like Arashi and KAT-TUN though at that time I cannot understand any Japanese. This was my own way of forgetting what I have left behind in Korea. One day, my mother suddenly informed us that we (my siblings and I) had to leave for the Philippines because that is the only way that her income can support us since education in the Philippines is good but cheap. It was difficult to adjust. Everything was so different but the people were welcoming. 

My dad had passed away a long time ago. That was why my mother was working hard just to support us. I thought about the ways that I could help her and the only feasible option that I found was to join a talent show. I auditioned for a local talent show and luckily my "Mahal ko kayo~" stint made the Filipino people vote me on the said show. 

Those were the times when Meteor Garden was the hype and so Chinese, Japanese and Korean-looking people are generally the trend. So I basically owe Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu for winning the contest. Kekeke. Anyways, my stint in the Philippines lasted for a while, it was good while it lasted - it paid the bills, kept my siblings on school, and fed my family.

I received an invitation from the then budding YG Entertainment to join their ranks and to train to become an idol in S. Korea. I did not immediately accept though. After all, my career in the Philippines was still present - at least I thought so.

When the novelty of my Asian face wore off, I was in a pinch since we had no other source of income at that time. I was forced by economic necessity to do odd roles and at one time, I even posed for a controversial photo in an attempt to widen the roles that were offered to me (since most of them were tweetums and sweet types). 

When this failed, I then went and accepted YG Entertainment's invitation. I told YG that I will first try to observe the ins and outs of the S. Korean entertainment industry. Having the experience on the Philippine scene and knowing the rigorous nature of entering the Korean entertainment scene, I had no choice but to stay and train for a while. That's when I met them - Jiyong, Youngbae, Seunghyun, Seungri, Daesung and Hyunseung.

They were nearing their debut when I met them. I was wondering why YG invited me here when YGE was a boys' domain. Apparently, he plans to debut a girl group sometime in the future. Slowly, the number of the YG family increased: Gummy, Hanbyul, Dongwook, etc. I was really excited to join theses talented people but unfortunately, after months of training, I was still not enough. It was with a heavy heart that I packed my bags and left YGE. It was hard saying goodbye to the boys especially Soy Sauce Crab Paste a.k.a. Jiyong since we have all become close during my training period.

I disappeared for a while and when I came back to the Philippines, my boyfriend ditched me, my career was non-existent and my savings was near empty. I was immediately losing all hope when one day I checked my me2day. Jiyong commented. It was may be a small occurrence for him but t