When She Became A Pledis Trainee

CHAPTER 10: THE REPLY EMAIL

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This is a work of Fiction. Names, characters, places and incidences are either products of the author's imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Please refrain from reproduction, transmission, or storing in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the author. Thank you, and enjoy!!

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"'One more time with the English.'

'딸 아빠... 왜 울어요?'

'Dad, why are you crying?'

'아빠 그냥.'

'No reason.'

'딸 왜 슬퍼요?'

'Why are you sad?'

'아빠 그냥.'

'No reason.'"

I was studying Hangul in Computer room again. I signed up for a free trial of Hangul lessons online, where they email links of the lessons as well as daily 'Words of the Day'. I finished copying the first lesson and went back to my inbox to open the next links, when I recognized a new email. It was received just six minutes ago.

The sender's address is PLɛDIS's email address. I hovered the mouse cursor over the email then gulped first before clicking it, the thumping of my heart drowning out the steady hum of the air conditioner.

"Congratulations Miss May Lynne Saldajeno!

You have passed the first stage, the online auditions, and are therefore qualified for entering the second stage of selection process. If you are still interested, attached below are the address and other information for the second process. It involves meeting with the talent scouts personally so we recommend wearing casual, but comfortable clothes. Please prepare one audition song for the audition day. No need for an instrumental as everyone must sing in acapella for better appreciation of the vocal abilities and quality. Good luck and do prepare.

PLɛDIS Entertainment."

Below was an address for a hotel in Manila, as well as a time and date for the audition. I still have one week to prepare for it. I felt weirdly calm while reading that email, like the calm before the storm; a series of worries rocking through my head.

*

My first problem is my parents. I was so happy with the news, I wanted to tell them first, but I feared what this might entail. If I tell them, they'd know that I auditioned for the first stage. They'd want to know why, and I could just tell them that I just wanted to satisfy my need to take the opportunity, and was never really expecting to pass. But now, I'll be asking for permission to go to Manila for the second selection process. They'd want to know why. I can tell them that there is a slim chance that I'll make the cut, but they'll wonder why I wanted to take these opportunities and not focus on graduating and finding a job, especially now that my fourth year is almost over. Joining an entertainment agency implies that I must train for at least – ehem, I emphasize – at LEAST two years. They'll think that it will be two more fruitless years which will be spent training for an uncertain future (not all trainees get to debut) instead of having a job, gaining experience on my field of specialization, and taking home income.

My parents aren't money hungry (if you're thinking of them that way), and they're not wrong either for wanting me to focus on getting a job. They've experienced almost all levels of poverty all their lives and I am their only chance for turning our lives for the better. I am so close now, their first child to ever graduate college. Their first child to help lift them out of the poverty hole we are currently in. I actually have an older sister, but on her second year of college, she ran away from home (it's actually the seventh time she ran away from home) and this time we never found her. One year after that, she contacted us, informing us that she already had a son. I think she was so selfish for leaving us. She only needed two years to graduate but she threw that all away. I had always been a scholar since highschool so school fees weren't much of a problem for me, but on her case, my mother pays for her tuition by saving up the money she earned from doing laundry. I kept thinking that if she hadn't left, she could have graduated by now and is helping my parents work but instead, she chose short-lived happiness and a husband who eventually left her. She left the entire breadwinner-burden on me.

In the end, I told nobody about passing the first stage of auditions. I searched the place on Google maps and learned how I could get there (using the cheapest fare). I planned which piece I should practice and thought about an alibi I could use on the date of the selection day. I tell myself: "I won't get selected anyway right?"