A Job With Him

Can't Bring Me Down

The other judges just stared at Baekhyun, and so did I. I've not gone for many auditions so far, but I knew one thing for sure was that judges never ask that question.

"Umm... yes," I replied shortly after a long pause and rubbed the back of my neck. He smiled and just said, "Good, we know how problematic it can get when our trainees are dating in the beginning." Ahh... now the question makes sense. It is a problem when trainees date since it can interrupt their training and schedules. But wait... so was I in? He wouldn't have asked that if I wasn't going to get in anyway right? Judge Suho then spoke up and said that that was all and I could go. I bowed and thanked the three of them before turning around to make my exit.

Apparently, the company would email us whether we got in or not and so I walked back to the hotel. It was quite far from the company but I decided to take a stroll and look around the new environment. There were a lot of buildings and roads, like Singapore. But it must've been time for many adults to go home since the roads were filled with cars and walkways were crowded with pedestrians. I got stuck in the crowd and was moving along with them to a traffic light. I tried to get out of the crowd since I was going in an unexpected direction but the traffic light suddenly showed a green man and I was back to being pushed across the road. When I reached the other side, I knocked into someone who was walking towards me. He apologized at first but before I could even tell him that it was okay, he called out my name.

"Amber? Is that really you?" I recognized the voice and looked up to see a masked figure. The article of the scandal came back to my mind and I immediately got on my feet again. I then used all my might to push through the crowd in the opposite direction of where I was being pushed at first. I didn't know why but, I was running away from the man. I was running away from the one who broke my heart.

I heard my name constantly being called out for as I pushed through the crowd towards the hotel. "Just a little more and he'll lose me," I thought to myself as I ran towards the hotel entrance. Once I entered, I looked back to see that he wasn't there anymore. I took deep breaths and calmed my racing heart. I then took the lift to the floor with my room.

A few days passed ever since I bumped into Josh. I never tried to meet him to clear up anything about the scandal, perhaps because I was afraid of the cold hard truth. What if he really was dating Melissa? What if I was just a toy to him? I felt used and unloved. Not wanting to bring more despair upon myself, I decided to stay away from him and bring myself back up again. It didn't seem like he made any efforts in contacting me either. But anyway, I didn't need him. I needed a job, a passion, and a lot of self-love. Speaking of a job, I got through the auditions and received an email about how I had been accepted into the company. Now, I was on my way to ElyXiOn to sign the form and prepare to debut as a solo artist.

"Ms Lee Amber? Nice to see you again!" I heard a familiar voice behind me as I left the entertainment company. I turned back to see Byun Baekhyun waving and smiling cheerfully at me. I replied with a wide grin and bowed. He was my boss now technically.

"Oh don't need to do that. We're around the same age so let's just treat each other as friends. So, I see you have officially become a trainee here huh?"

"Hehe, yup! I'm really glad to be able to work under you. You have always been an inspiration to me and I promise to do my best and work hard like how you have been doing so since your debut. Maybe one day, I'll become a million-seller too," I giggled at the end and Baekhyun joined in as well. We chatted for a little while more until he got a call to go back to his office to meet his members. We parted and I walked back to the hotel to pack my things and moved into my new living place.

After arranging my stuff in my new dorm room, my phone rang and I saw an unfamiliar Korean number on it. I knew it was Korean since it started with "010". I picked it up and heard Baekhyun's voice.

"Hi, Amber! This is Baekhyun. How has your move been?"

"Hello Baekhyun. I just finished unpacking my stuff. Is there something you need to tell me about?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Please meet me back at the company ASAP."

"Okay, I'm on my way!" I ended the call and grabbed my coat to meet my boss.

I entered ElyXiOn and headed to the recording studio where Baekhyun told me to meet him via text. I saw him sitting in front of the table of controls where the recording room was behind. He noticed me welcomed me in with a bright smile.

"You really got here fast huh?" I chuckled at his remark and asked what was going on. He then explained how trainees in the company get mentored. For groups, they are mentored by older groups of the company while for solo artists like myself, we get mentored individually by the CEOs.

"The system seems pretty unique. It is since we are the only company who trains our artists this way. But it's cause we believe that everyone needs to receive special attention from the start so that they'll be able to continue their journey as an artist on their own afterwards. Which is why I am here. I will be your mentor." Baekhyun finishes and my eyes lit up. So THE Byun Baekhyun was going to be my PERSONAL mentor? This really is beyond anything I could imagine! Baekhyun's chuckle at my reaction snapped me back to reality and we started our first training session. He wanted to hear my full potential first so he instructed me to sing a variety of notes and songs in the recording room. I was able to pull off most of them but he quickly figured out that I had difficulty with songs that were originally sung by females. Probably due to the extremely high notes. He then taught me some tips and tricks on how to exercise my voice such as expanding my diaphragm and using my lungs to sing instead of my voice. In the end, I was exhausted but extremely proud of my progress as it was my first step to becoming a solo artist and to finally pursue my passion.