o n e

Zheng Yixia moved to Korea from China when she was very young. Her father owned a small town furniture business that earned them enough for a modest, middle class living. Still, Yixia was always happy because her father was happy. They bonded over football, and she prided herself in being the best in the neighborhood, even better than the boys who lived there. No one had been able to defeat her, until she met Choi Minho.

The two met when they were six and Minho's father was planning to buy a special piece of furniture for his wife on her birthday. He wanted it hand crafted and he had heard that Yixia's father was the person for the job.

Yixia had been playing football outside with the other boys when the two arrived. Minho's father, being a professional football player, encouraged his son to play with the other kids. The other kids, however, didn't want to play with him because they thought he was going to be stuck up, seeing that he came from a wealthy family. 

They went into Yixia's back yard where the two men were talking. 

"Yixia has never lost to anyone at football." Her father informed Choi Yunkyum pridefully. 

The football player gestured to his six year old son, equally full of confidence and pride in him. "Neither has Minho. Maybe they should play against each other, and see who the better one is."

Yixia liked the idea of defeating yet another boy, and she was confident in her skills. Her father agreed without a doubt as well. But as it would turn out, Minho defeated her in the friendly match that turned out all but friendly. He had gone to football camps and had a bit of formal training after all, even though his father didn't want him to become a football player.

Disappointed, but not giving up, Yixia trained every day and challenged Minho to a match every time she saw him. To Minho, it took him no effort to defeat Yixia. But it always took all of Yixia's efforts to try to defeat him. This continued until the piece of furniture was finished and Yixia thought she would never have to see Choi Minho again. They were from different worlds after all. He was of the upper class and went to the best schools. Yixia was from a middle class family and lived in a normal neighborhood.

But their father's became best friends, realizing that they had many of the same interests, and every weekend, the two would hang out together, bringing their children along. 

Since then, Minho and Yixia turned everything into a contest when they were together. 

And Minho always seemed to come out a winner. His victories only served to motivate her to keep working harder and she vowed she would one day be better than him.

Yixia even applied to the same high school as Minho, if only to continue competing with him at everything. But it was after their first year of high school that Choi Yunkyum went to visit his friend without his fourteen year old son. When Yixia wondered, trying to appear nonchalant, where Minho was, his father replied with satisfaction. "Minho-ssi was street casted last week by a talent scout at SM Entertainment." At the mention of that, Yixia felt her stomach, and her jaw drop in surprise. "He was invited to an audition this afternoon, and if he passes, they want him to join their company as soon as possible."

"But--" Yixia stammered with her response. "I thought he wanted to be a football player like you, uncle?"

It had been both their dreams ever since they were children. But most recently, Minho had been more quiet and appeared less interested in that dream. Yixia was coming to the realization that it was because of SM Entertainment and what they were offering him.

Yunkyum gave a shake of his head. "I told him to forget that dream since I never wanted either of my sons to follow my footsteps." His expression saddened as he explained, "When Minho and Minseok were younger, they always asked me when I would spend some time with them. And I hardly ever could because I was always training or out of town at a game, or some tournament. Those days I visited you guys over here were the few times I ever took Minho out of the house. As an idol, it won't matter because most of them marry when they're quite old. He'll probably have retired by the time he has children."

Yixia felt her heart sink in her chest. She never knew that about Minho. Then again, he never told her anything, since the two were always mostly concentrated on competing with each other. 

"Plus," His father added bluntly, momentarily forgetting his minute of sadness. "He doesn't have the physique for it. He is tall, but he's too skinny. I told him so. He needs to be lean, not lanky. He needs to have muscle, and Minho doesn't gain muscle very easily."

She gave a nod of her head and turned to hurry into the house. She hurried to her bedroom and grabbed her phone, as well as her backpack. She wasn't sure if there was a dress code at the agency for auditions, but she wasn't going to make any special effort to dress herself up. She had heard that for auditions, most agencies based themselves off a candidate's talent.

On her way out of the house, her father stopped her.

"Where are you going, Yixia?" He called to her with curiosity. Neither her father nor Minho's father knew where she was going or what she was planning to do. But knowing her, and knowing Minho, they knew it was something that had to do with the both of them. They always had to turn everything they did into a contest.

She turned to him and replied with determination, "I'm going to SM Entertainment. If Minho thinks he's going to become an idol and leave me behind, he's sadly mistaken. He may be number one around here, but not for long. I have to be able to beat him at something and this could be my chance." As she raced out the door, she added finally, "I'll be back in about three hours!"

"Be home before dark!" Her father called back.

-

a lot of exposition for our first chapter. but this takes place in 2006, when minho is about fourteen. our main character is also the same age and has never been able to defeat him at anything, so she switched schools to compete with him, and is even going to audition to sm entertainment.

also, i changed my main's name and nationality. she was korean at first. but now she will be chinese because i have already used this face claim in this universe.

turn up if you know where i used her?

because changing her name and nationality will make my use of her face claim in the past connect with this book. look at 2016 clary already plotting shit for 2017/18 clary. good job 2016 clary, you go 2016 clary.

i hope you all like the story. thank you for reading.

-clary