Remember when we met, Jaemin?

♡

"Wait... who did you say?"

"Woo Geurim!"

"Woo Geurim... Who's that?"

"Oh, c'mon, she's in our class. The shy and quiet girl that sits by the window."

"Oh her? No way!"

"Yes way! I just heard from my uncle that it was true. Geurim just got cast by people from SM Entertainment!"

The rumor had spread amongst the students of Incheon Haewoon Middle School. The rumor that Woo Geurim had been noticed and given the opportunity to be a trainee at the top class company, SM Entertainment.

What made this a big issue at the middle school was the duality of it all. Everyone, from students to teachers, who had known Woo Geurim, knew her as the introverted, quiet girl in the class. The very girl who would become a flustered mess when called on to answer a question in the middle of lesson. Also the same one who would much rather visit the library than to hang with friends.

Whenever people think of entertainers, they think of bright, extravagant people. Flashy, and that they know what they're doing whenever they perform. Confident and bold.

To define it as a person: Na Jaemin.

It had been only a few months prior that the currently 14 year old boy had been accepted into SM Entertainment. It had been a weird experience for him, as he had been cast randomly while he was doing volunteer work.

However, in comparison to Geurim, schoolmates knew about Jaemin's love of being on stage.

Jaemin had participated in every school show that would showcase his growing passion for performing. Nearly the whole school had known how much he strived to become an idol in his future. No doubt in anyone's mind that Jaemin would achieve that dream with how skilled and talented he already was right now. He had the charm and charisma. He was already an idol in the making.

Even if he hadn't been unexpectedly street casted, people would already assume he'd audition and make it in.

This was the complete opposite to Geurim, who had hidden her love for performing from her peers.

Geurim loved to dance.

What her schoolmates didn't know was that she enjoyed the joy and thrill of dancing, been doing so since she had been in diapers. Whenever the school bell rings to end the day, she usually rushes home so she can have as much time to practicing a dance she taught herself for that week. Geurim would fall so deeply into the choreography that she would sometimes not pay attention to her surroundings.

There was one day she was trying to learn a dance of Super Junior's and she didn't realize her parents had arrived home and were preparing food. It wasn't until she smelled the delicious food when she spotted her parents just casually chatting in the kitchen, finishing up the cooking. Seeing her parents suddenly there nearly made her trip over her own feet.

But it was only her family that knew about this great passion. Her parents could clearly see how much she admired and loved it all. If Geurim wasn't dancing a cover to a current song (or working on her school assignments), she would spend hours watching dance practice videos and music show performances of plenty of dance oriented artists.

It was actually her own parents who urged Geurim to follow her dreams of becoming a dancer. They never really had enough money to give her the lessons she would have wanted, rather than that, Geurim's parents gave her their full support. Actually, even her extended family gave little Geurim their full support. They have seen how their Geurim danced and sang themselves. They knew she could succeed.

However, Geurim never tried. There had been days when her parents help her sign up for auditions to music companies, both big and small because in that way, it'd help her get one step closer to her dream. Except, the young lass would never pull through with the plan. Far too shy and far too nervous, she would then back out in the last minute.

It was fine. Her parents never pushed her. She was still young, after all. They wanted her to gain more confidence in herself first.

Then came the day to grandfather's birthday celebration.

Geurim had planned on singing and dancing for her grandfather as a present. The celebration was only among her family, she was comfortable with them.

And so, she had decided to dance to a couple songs she was certain about: Girl's Generation's Into the New World, BTS's Boy In Luv, and Girl's Day's Darling.

Their small party was held at one of their favorite restaurants, in a somewhat private room that separated them from all the other customers. Geurim performed, a bright smile on her face and delight basically dripping off her body. Her family cheered and clapped along to the songs, even the birthday man himself was shimmying along to the beat. Everyone in that room were in their own world.

Although, it should be noted that the private room was not completely closed off. The room was only closed off with three walls, so there was still a big opening to that private room. And so, the Woo Family could still be seen and heard.

And one particular man had seen Woo Geurim perform too. He was in awe by the young girl that danced with an impressive amount of professionalism. He couldn't help but record the amazing performance on his phone.

After Geurim had done her last song and the man had finished his meal, he rushed over to the family celebration. Geurim's father had noticed him first.

"Hello! I couldn't help but see your young girl performing earlier and I'm honestly really impressed. I had to record it myself because I was so impressed." Before the family could question him on his odd actions, the man proceeded to take out a business card from his jacket pocket and gave it to Geurim's father. The card seemed legit enough and the moment they saw the company they worked at, they gasped. "You may not believe me but I work at SM. If you call me with the number I provided, I can get you a personal audition!"

It was that day. That was the most shocking thing that had ever happened in Woo Geurim's life. After a while of ditching intense, competitive public auditions before, this man claimed to give her this great opportunity.

That man's name was Park Namseok.

Of course the family was suspicious of Namseok at first. Who wouldn't be? He was a random guy that had approached them, admitted he had video recorded their youngest dancing, and said to be an employee of SM Entertainment. But, with caution, they decided to try their luck, because who knows? It wasn't like they had much to lose if they attacked this properly.

And they did it.

It was the real deal through pure luck. Namseok proved himself to be exactly who he said he was. He even allowed Geurim and her parents to come visit the SM building to believe him more.

And so Woo Geurim was scheduled to audition for the one and only SM Entertainment.

Before she could even audition, that was when the rumor had spread around school.

That week had been so awkward for her. Left and right, when she became noticed by her peers, they would go up to her and request she should dance or sing.

Every. Time.

Geurim's heart was already heavy by the intense anxiety that weighed on her as she thought about her SM audition, but all these people, so many she had never talked to before, was invading her space. So many of them tried to befriend her, trying to win her over with small snacks and compliments. Some have tried to do her favors.

But they didn't know her.

They wanted to be her friend because she had that possibility of being famous.

Was this something Na Jaemin was going through to? She couldn't even imagine as he was a naturally friendly boy...

No, he probably enjoys having so much friends. As for her? She felt uncomfortable.

And in that moment, she wanted to tell everyone that it was all a lie. Geurim didn't want to be known as the girl who got casted by SM. She wanted to go back to the one that passes like a ghost. Unrecognizable and invisible. She was happier that way.

One fortunate day, Geurim was able to come to school early and head to the library like she usually does. It was so pleasantly quiet with the lack of people. She greeted the librarian as she passed by the front desk and walked over to her favorite spot to be in the entire school, a table just by the grand windows.

Happily, she set down her things and took out her phone so to watch the latest performances from her favorite artists. With an earbud in each ear, she relaxed into her seat and let herself enjoy the dances before class starts in about 30 minutes.

Except... that peace had been interrupted far too soon.

Geurim took out one earbud and craned her head to look at the person who had tapped on her should in the middle of her watching EXO's Overdose. A gasp left her lips when she saw it was Na Jaemin that stood behind her.

"Hello... Geurim-ah," he greeted her in a somewhat meek tone.

"A-Ah, Jaemin." Geurim pursed her lips as she tried to find the right words to say, but her mind was coming up blank.

Jaemin didn't seem to have much of a plan for conversation either, as he awkwardly scratched at his cheek. "It must've been a rough week, huh?"

His words surprised her. She blinked up at him. For some reason, she didn't feel that uncomfortable around the boy. Maybe because he was the only other person that would know what she was going through. "I-It really has," she murmured out. "I get really nervous when someone approaches me."

"It feels too sudden, right?"

"Right." Huh, Geurim guessed that maybe he had reacted the same way as her when this exact thing happened to him. "Did you feel weird too when people tried to befriend you when you were accepted into SM?"

"Of course! You can tell when people are trying to be nice..." A sigh left Jaemin's lips. "Not everyone is bad though. Some people are just genuinely curious about the whole process. But then there's others... One time, one guy from class B-3 asked if I could help him audition at SM."

"Did you do it?"

"I... helped him sign up for an audition. But he didn't make it. Didn't talk to me since then."

"Goodness..."

Jaemin placed a hand on Geurim's shoulder. It initially jolted her but she didn't say much about it. "Don't worry too much about it. It'll pass eventually."

"I hope so..." Geurim then glanced around the library to see if anyone else was around. There were just a couple underclassmen around, none who would know who she was. She glimpsed back at Jaemin. "What are you doing in the library so early, if you don't mind me asking?"

"O-Oh, I had to return a library book... and grabbed the next one in the series." Now that he had said it, Geurim did notice he had a book in his hands. Curious, her eyes drifted over to see what it was. Her expression brightened when she saw it was the third book of Western author, Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus series, The Mark of Athena. The series, as well as the Percy Jackson series, were one of her favorites. Jaemin seemed to have caught the change of her facial expression. "Have you read this?"

"Oh yeah! I have," she beamed. "I'm currently waiting for the last book of the series to release the translation."

"Ah! I am too! I was actually rereading it all before it does to refresh my memory," Jaemin replied. "I'm really happy someone else had read this. Not a lot of people in our school reads it much. We need to discuss the last book when we get to read it." Again, Jaemin caught her by surprise. Are they really having a decent conversation right now? Geurim couldn't believe she managed to go a couple minutes of talking without stuttering much. "I-I mean, only if you want to."

"I'd like to," she interjected in. She could feel her cheeks warm when she realized how rash she had said that, she didn't mean to cut him off. "I've only really gushed about the book to online forums. It would be nice to talk about it to someone else for a change."

"Awesome!"

"Excuse me, you're being too loud over here." The two kids whipped their head around and saw the librarian just standing behind them. A guilty look crossed Jaemin's face as he repeatedly apologized to the older woman for disturbing the quietness of the library. She gave one stern stare at the boy before she moved on to returning some books to their right places on the shelves.

Jaemin took this opportunity to sit down in the empty seat next to Geurim. This would be a better way to talk. The closer they were, the better they could hear each other talk while being quiet enough. Geurim was flustered at the boy's actions, but still, for some reason, she didn't mind.

For once, she enjoyed the company.

"You were watching EXO before I interrupted you, right?" he whispered over to her. She nodded over at him. "They're really cool."

"Did you meet them?"

"I... uh."

His hesitation didn't go unnoticed. "You did?"

"I never told anyone about it."

"Whoa, so awesome..."

"Hey, you'll be able to meet them too soon enough." It was then the anxiety finally crawled back to Geurim. She peered down to her dimly lit phone as her mind wandered to the upcoming weekend. That was when she was suppose to audition. She had been practicing so hard to give a great performance for the SM people, but the nervousness ate her up inside. "What's wrong?"

Geurim uttered to him. "I haven't been accepted yet. My audition isn't until Saturday."

"Really?" An awkwardness passed them. "Sorry... but, hey. You were cast for a reason. You must've been very impressive if someone wanted you for SM."

"Ah, did you hear those rumors too?"

"Yeah, and everyone is curious to how good you must be. I'm sure, in whatever you do, you're great at it... What are you into?"

"I... dance."

"Oh? Like me!" Jaemin's loud voice echoed about the library. The two quickly glanced over to wherever the librarian was at. She, again, gave another stare, much more intense this time, with an index finger over her lips. Her tolerance for them must be decreasing with every passing second now. Jaemin sheepishly turned back around. "So, you must be covering a dance for your audition, right?"

"I am. I'm planning to dance and sing to f(x)'s Rum Pum Pum Pum."

"That sounds so cool! Do you have any other songs you're planning on showing them?"

"I can maybe show them my cover of TVXQ oppas' Catch Me? Or maybe to some songs by Super Junior oppas?"

Jaemin gaped at her. "You can dance to some of their songs?"

"I-It's just a hobby of mine to learn dances, so I know I bit."

"So cool..."

For the rest of the time being, Jaemin had continued giving Geurim words of encouragement for her audition, as well as gave her tips for what to do for a successful one. And Geurim listened to it all, taking in all of his words seriously. After the much needed talk, their conversation then fallen into topics of favorite groups and singers. In the midst of their chat, they didn't realize how much louder their voices had gotten the more they delved more into talking about about their faves.

Soon enough, the librarian had kicked the two of them out of the sacred library. This was an absolute first for Geurim. While she would probably be peeved to be kicked out of her favorite place, she didn't mind it too much today.

Her and Jaemin actually laughed over it. And besides, it was already about time they head to their own classes. They had bid their goodbyes from there.

Not once had she thought she'd be able to talk to Na Jaemin like this. He was known as the kid that managed to become a trainee at SM Entertainment from this school. He had garnered a reputation of being well-liked and friendly with a contagious bright smile. But Geurim didn't know any other thing about him. Before, he was only a name in her memory, just a schoolmate from another class.

But just within those thirty minutes, she learned so much about him and connected with him in more ways than she thought.

That day was when their unexpected friendship had begun.

Na Jaemin, the sunshine guy that everyone knew and respected in school.

And Woo Geurim, the once invisible girl that everyone only knew to an artificial level.

The weirdest duo their middle school had seen... but undoubtedly the most talented.

A/n: Lemme introduce Park Namseok, he'll be playing an integral role to this story~

Name: Park Namseok
        - fun fact, i may have just mixed together certain BTS members' names lol.
Age: 31 (as of present time), he was 27 when he met Geurim
Portrayed by Son Seungwon

So, I've been inspired to make a chapter for precious Jaemin! Idk if I'd update this again so soon, but who knows~ I'm still on my NCT kick so that might help me a lot lol!

Guys, please don't forget to comment and vote if you liked the chapter! Doesn't hurt to do so~

Also, if ya haven't already, pls watch Yestoday! The mv is so artistically aesthetic 😍 (and is fueling my love for Lucas, uh oh).

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

— Bianca