One step at a time

Chapter Eight - Old Friends

As soon as I had unlocked the door to my house, the full effect of what I had done hit me. I had agreed to audition for SM, with two weeks to prepare. The most famous idol company in Korea, and me with a small amount of time to prepare something good enough to get in.
Sighing, I went through a plan in my head. I decided what song I would sing to showcase my voice most, however I had no idea what I sang best, so I decided to sing one of my favourite songs. They hadn't specialised a genre of song so I decided to sing "Eyes, Nose, Lips" by Taeyang. With the dancing part of the audition they said they would provide music so I wasn't going to worry about that. If what Hyo Rin had said about my dancing was true, then I should hopefully have nothing to worry about, but I decided to practice dancing to some songs to refresh my mind.
Once I had finished with the small dance practice, I found an instrumental version of Eyes, nose, lips, and printed off lyrics. I played it through and read the lyrics to get a feel for the song, and then I began to sing it. Halfway through my brother walked in.
"What the hell are you doing you maniac" He shouted at me.
I froze, not wanting to reveal that I was auditioning for SM.
"J...just singing" I quietly mumbled.
"Well can you shut up." He replied with a smirk on his face.
"Why? Something important going on?" I folded my arms across my chest. "Talking to the girlfriend" I further implied.
His face developed a pink glow. "N...no not like that" It was his turn to be embarrassed. He fled from my doorway, leaving me able to practice in peace again.
After practicing for the next few hours, taking breaks and having dinner in between, I decided I had done enough, after all I had chosen the song I was going to perform and all I had to do was practice singing it and learn the words

Hey little sheit what you doing?

It was Hyo Rin. I guessed she wanted to know what song I had decided to sing.

I'm practicing for the audition. I'm going to sing Eyes, Nose, Lips. What are you doing?

I already knew she was going to be singing an EXO song, and whatever song she said, I wouldn't know, unless it was one that was played all the time on the radio.

It's a surprise... You're not knowing until the audition

A bit unfair

But anyway I'm done practicing and I'm bored, wanna Skype?

I replied with a yes, and turned my laptop on. We spent the rest of the night skyping, discussing the usual stuff, which included EXO. I knew nearly everything about the EXO members because of her, however not their faces. Half the conversation was her talking about Chanyeol. I didn't mind her talking about them, as it's not as if I hated them.
After we had finished talking, I didn't want to sleep just yet. Looking back at Hyo Rin's profile picture of Chanyeol, I decided to investigate EXO further, I mean what harm could it do. I might end up liking them.
I went onto iTunes as I figured it would be the easiest way to listen to them, and searched EXO. A multitude of their albums appeared. I discovered they sang in Korean and Chinese, which is pretty cool I had to admit. I clicked on the short samples of each of their songs in their first album and listened to them. They were pretty good, I preferred the other songs on their album compared to the more well known ones as they had more feeling.
That was all I did to research EXO. I yawned and told my self to sleep.

Sunlight illuminated my room, as I woke up drowsy. Stretching out along my bed, I blinked multiple times. Holding tight to my duvet, I regained sense. I checked the time on my phone. It was 10 AM, on the 6th of August, three days before the auditions. Over the past two weeks I had been practicing every day for at least three hours, maybe even more. I felt confident that I knew what I was doing, after all I could only do my best. I had kept in contact with my friends, and they seemed to be practicing a lot as well, and they were all very good. Today we had agreed that they were going to come to my house at 1PM to perform in front of each other because we wanted to see how we were doing.
I shower and get dressed. Then I spend my time before they come practicing again, and then just sitting scrolling through Twitter and Instagram.
My mother calls me from downstairs to alert me that someone has arrived. Walking down the stairs, I see through the glass beside my door, and I'm made aware that the figure is not feminine. It's probably one of Seo Jun's friends.
"Seo Jun! One of your minions is here!" I shout up the stairs. There's no response. I sigh, realising I'll have to open the door.
I open the door to see a tall, young man, probably only a year older than me. He has dark brown hair with a fringe that just reaches his eye brows. He's dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt. It's Yi Ho Jin, not one of my brothers friends. Yi Ho Jin is our neighbours son. He started college last year, so it was a surprise to see him here. We used to be close friends when we were younger, even closer than me and Hyo Rin are, but we gradually stopped talking to each other as much because we went to different schools, and were busy with our own lives.
"Oh, Seo Young, good to see you" He smiles at me.
"And you" I reply. There's a moment of awkward silence before us, as I lower my head and look to the floor.
"Erm" he coughs "I just came over to see your brother"
Him and my brother were friends? My brother had never really spoken to him, so this seemed odd.
"Oh yeah.. Well come in" I hold the door open and he brushes past me. "Just wait in the lounge"
I walk silently up the stairs and barge into my brothers room.
"Why didn't you tell me you had invited people round, I have my friends coming remember?!" I sternly whisper to him, trying not to be too loud because of who was downstairs.
"Huh" my brother sat up from lying on his bed reading. "I didn't invite anyone..." He scratches his head, trying to remember.
"Well Ho Jin is here" I tell him.
"Oh, really? I haven't seen him in months." My brother states, and then goes back to reading.
He really is an idiot. I decided not to waste anymore time trying to talk to him, and go back to Ho Jin.
"I'm sorry but he isn't coming down to talk to you, I don't know why" I tell Ho Jin as soon as I enter the room.
"Oh, that's ok" he says thoughtfully, and then ends with a smile at me.
"It's been a while since we've seen each other, hasn't it?" He asks me. Of course it has, he left for college last September.
Again we sit in silence, neither of us knowing what to say. I'm sat on the edge of the couch, him on the other end. I turn to him, and notice he was looking at me expectantly. "I have friends coming in..." I look at the clock "an hour..." I trail off. I had more time than I thought I did.
"Oh, I'm sorry if I'm intruding, I just wanted to see you again..." He stops, as if he's said something he shouldn't have. "I'll go now." He begins to get up. I reach out and touch his hand, and he flinches away.
"Well bye then" he smiles at me. I smile back, however he's already turned away.