Aeri: The Idol's Child

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audition

inhale. exhale. inhale. exhale.

calming myself down, i took a step through the sliding door.

here i am, sm entertainment. i thought to myself.

"for audition?" a middle age woman with curly hair and a full bangs, perhaps a staff, approached me. when i nodded my head, her smile got wider.

"follow me." she said, walking ahead infront of me i followed her while roaming my eyes around the place.

this place is big. how can i even see him?

"here we go." the staff said as she extend her arm motioning me to come in. "do your best" she did the 'fighting' pose and i did the same as well. she then left as i enter the room, sighting a receptionist on the left i walked towards him.

"auditionee 32, you can take your seat there" he said and handed me my number.

"thank you." i muttered. he then pointed the chairs placed near the stage. there's a table in the middle down across the stage, perhaps for the judge. cameras being installed on each corner of the stage and right in front. sighing, i then sat on my seat.

are they already testing the projection? i have to do well then.

"nervous?" clumping my chest as i nearly got a heart attack by the sudden question of the person beside me. i looked at her and she just smiled, raised her hand making a 'v' pose. "gomenasai"

oh she's a japanese.

"it's okay. i was just shocked." her eyes twinkled and she extended her hands.

"i'm seika mizaki. 13. tokyo, japan." i guess it is really  japan's thing to introduce yourself with infos like that.

"lami lee. 10. busan." i said as i accepted the handshake she offered.

"kawaii. you're so young." she said pinching my cheeks. aww that hurts a bit.

"please standby for a bit. we'll start in ten." the assistant floor director said.

just like that seika released my cheek, finally. its all red now. i'm a little sensitive.

i glanced at my phone. 9:59am.
a minute to go and the audition started.

those who came as a group, performed together, some are soloist, just like me.

on the stage is seika, dancing to bang bang. she got the moves, the swag which contrasts her attitude. surely she'll be a main dancer, but a cute eonni off the stage.

"32 please you're next." i got off my seat and followed the staff backstage.
hearing the claps of the other auditionees, it seems like seika eonni has impressed everyone with her performance.

i breathed in and out.

"goodluck lami. do your best" seika eonni said as she walk happily to me.
i smiled at her and went to the stage. okay, there are a lot of people compare to earlier.

this is it.

"annyeonghaseyo. i'm lami lee. 10. please take care of me." i bowed 90°.

"okay, let's start. what will you do?" one of the judges asked, looking down at my application form and then to me then back to the form again.

"i'll sing miracles in december." yes the song sung by exo. i like it. it's my favorite song.

"let's hear you." just like that and i started singing mircales in december acapella.

finishing the song with my own style, i opened my eyes. nobody clapped nor reacted. did they not like it? my voice may not have been as beautiful as my father's.

few seconds passed and there, the claps, i'm hearing it.

can you hear it dad? they liked my song.  i thought to my self. with a smile on my face, i bowed again.

"lami, do you know that the song is sung by 3 people?" the judge asked.
i nodded.

"yes." i politely said.

"you did a great job. the breathing was perfect. the rhythm and wow, the emotions." the judge on the centre commented.

"for a 10 year old, you sing so perfect. you conveyed the message of the song to us. we felt it by heart." another one commented.

"what do you call that? we were like listening to an angel sing." the third judge said.

"thank you." i did my last bow as i am flattered with everything they commented.

walking back to my seat, i passed some auditionees murmuring about me.

'she's just 10. wow.'

'but she's so tall for her age.'

'she's so cute'

'she's taller than me. and i'm what? 15? oh mom dad you could have given me some height'

"hey lami, you didn't tell me you're an angel." seika eonni said as i sat beside her.

"i'm no angel eonni." i smiled.

"you're voice is daebak, sugoi, heol, great, awesome." she ruffled my hair which made me pout. "and you're so cute."

"i'm not a puppy eonni. but you were also great on stage too. your swag on the stage contrast your personally off stage, if i don't know your age, i could've thought you're younger than me." i told her.

"with our heights, yeah looks like i'm younger than you. how could you be 160cm when you're just 10? i'm 13 and i'm just 155cm. that's unfair." she said pouting.

i don't know why i'm tall for my age. my mom is not that tall and so is my dad.

"you can still grow til you're 30 eonni" i said laughing. just like what my dad believes, yeah i believe in that too.

my dad who never knew me, but i still adore him anyway.