kidults.

07 | vocal exam

—— 2045, 1 august

he felt all anxiety possible in his body when his name was called into the examination room— only a few seemed to manage to obtain honorable nods from the producer and the idol, and that just made jungwon even more terrified for his fate even when yiying gave him a smile to soothe his nerves.

the judges— or what miu vocal students call vocal critics, sat on provided chairs and had papers in front of them on the white rectangle table. the famous idol seemed sleepy but she still kept a smile on her face as the producer didn't try to hide his sleepiness as the examination started at 9am.

it was now 11 in the morning, jungwon could recall.
"your university identification card and full name please,"

"45-040209, choi-yoon jungwon." he stated nervously, fiddling with his fingers as the producer (now at least fifty,) in front of him wrote down everything on thin sheet of paper.
"and the song you're singing today?"

he froze.

there was only one song that came up to his mind when he was practicing a month prior — it was a song, written and produced by jay and him, and it was specially close to him because it contained that raw feeling of blossoming feelings.
he doubted jay knew of that because despite the boy playing the guitar and singing the lyrics to jungwon, he didn't know what it meant to the younger boy.
he didn't know how special this song was to him.

all he could was sing the lyrics with the beat he thought off, eyes staring into jungwon for a while before looking back at his guitar to focus on the tuning and strumming.
he could still feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest when he met eyes with jay as he thought back to the moment.

orange flower was what jay called the song, but to jungwon, it was named you complete me because as cliche as it sounded, jay completed jungwon like no other even if they share a few conversations here and there.
he fell first, and hoped that jay would fall for him too.

"it's a self-produced song." the idol's eyes seemed to light up at the sound of what jungwon had finally spoken after moments of silence, and woozi seemed now curious to what he implied as, self-produced.

"i produced it with a friend of mine as a silly little thing that was meant to be enjoyed between us as we tested but i like the song a lot so i.. wanted to.. sing it today." he nervously spoke, giving a nervous smile to the two judgers who nodded.
"do you need an instrument to help you keep the beat?" asked the producer, and jungwon shakes his head, "there's no need, i'll just sing it like so because he played the guitar as i was singing it."

(spoiler; he doesn't know how to play any instrument.)

woozi made a gesture to start and jungwon took a deep breathe in before starting.

i was far — i was far
i was falling
before you shined on me
it was dark — it was dark
it was dark before you woke me up

a flower in your hand
you smile brightly at me yeah
the curse disappears
so i'm yours right now

color my world
it's full of you
love of my heart
it's in my empty world

in full blossom
love is like a warm sunlight
a blooming orange flower

color me with all of you
love of my heart
it's deep in my heart

in full blossom
i feel you yeah
love is like a flower
only you fill me up

jungwon stops, "i'll stop here." and woozi nods with a small smile.
"it's a shame that you stopped there, it sounds like a nice song." he spoke, smiling a bit before writing down the score as it was still an exam that tested your vocal range. it was a test that would sort you into a class with the same vocal range.

the vocal student's eyes widen, a compliment?
he felt happy. he felt joy— and excitement.
he wasn't gonna fail this course (oh thank god!)

woozi turns to the bright idol by his side, "how was it yi?"
the idol smiles brightly, "it's what i expected from jungwon, it must be a song that has very special feelings to you for you to sing with such emotions. thank you so much for sharing such a piece with us jungwon, you may leave now." she smiled as she also note down her marking for jungwon while the student left the classroom with shaky legs.

he stepped out and his vocal friends surrounded him instantly, "how was it jungwon?" junghwan asked first as jungwon felt his legs crumble. he fell to the floor right there— nervousness finally had caught him by the neck and was now punishing him by making him sit on the floor, just by the side of the door.
"oh my god.. that was scary.. but at least i passed.. " he told them, and the other two in his group nod.

"i mean it's not everyday our vocal critics are famous people from within the industry we all wanna go in to work," jongho spoke as he helped jungwon up because junghwan seemed to forget about him on the floor while talking to taerae.
"i'm sure we'll all do fine." he added on, patting jungwon's back softly as he held his arms to gain control over his legs again.

"so, does anyone know where sunoo went?"
"good question junghwan, you always ask the perfect questions at the wrong time." exclaimed taerae as junghwan just looked confused all together.
"i'm just curious! and how is asking where sunoo went a bad question?"

"because i'm right here, dumbass." sunoo spoke behind him, scaring junghwan in the process. "so how was the exam wonnie?" he asked, sipping on his pororo peach flavored drink.

"they liked my song." and sunoo makes a confused face. "your song?"

"i made my own song with jay-hyung a month back and i sang it today and they liked it." jungwon proudly smiled, but his friends seemed to only smirk and show smug faces when they heard who helped him.
jungwon realizes his mistake of letting a name slip.

—— 🍒 author's notes
just a little thing!! the lyrics of orange flower there aren't completely correct. since spotify hasn't released lyrics for orange flower i had to go through youtube and look through two translations.
so from color my world to the ending, i had to make sense of the lyrics and changed them up a bit

i hope you enjoyed this chapter, bcs next chap is based on true life which means angst