P R O L O G U E
Maybe it started when I started noticing the pattern. Or it started way before, when I began to get those obviously low reviews during weekly evaluations. Nothing Xuejun said upped my mood and I realised that the rare praises I got from our stone-faced mentor had nothing to do with my talent —or the lack of it— and more to do with the fact that I might be his favourite. Let me tell you, recognising your own lack of talent isn't a nice feeling.
Bad reviews were just the beginning. Talks about debuting a new boy group rolled in and along with it came the talks about which trainees might debut in it. You'd think hard work can get you anywhere. Maybe it did back when my grandpa courted my grandma. He died in the 1960s though, so that was hardly any proof. My hard work wasn't getting me even a free coffee.
That day, when the list of names dropped, I didn't dare look at Xuejun's face as realisation bound us in a tight vice. The words Winter Chu weren't anywhere near it. While his name was on the top: bold and shiny.
•••
My mum always used to say how moving in was easier than moving out and I had to give it to her. For once, she was absolutely right. Especially when you're trying to move out without alerting your roommate who might return any second.
My three years with Liu Xuejun at PBS was reduced to mere sharpie marked cardboard boxes waiting to be moved. But the pathetically low luggage weighed me down like a mountain of boulders. Honestly, where's some TNT when you want to do some healthy blasting of the heart?
By the time Xuejun realised I was missing, I had boarded our mentor, Park Tae Joo's, MINI Cooper. And by the time he called, I was in my new dorm.
"It's Coffee again," the new guy said, pointing at my phone which was ringing nonstop. "You might want to take it."
"Who are you?" I asked instead.
"Lee Ha Joon," he said, thrusting a hand.
Back then, I didn't know it would be the start of the brotherhood of the runaway lads. And newsflash, no, we did not later go on to become the next big young adult novel or its equally popular film adaptation.
But it did start everything that came after. Everything that made my life a big whooping mess of mint chocolate ice cream with Liu Xuejun as the cherry on top. Oh, did I tell you? I hate mint chocolate.
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Stardom For Dummies
HumorSeventeen-year-old Winter Chu has seen it all. Shrivelling sleep schedules, diets, his picture perfect mentor's booger, a fat zero in maths. You name it, he has seen it. Or that's what he likes to believe. Exactly why Winter cannot fathom how he fa...
