My Soulmates are IDOLS Books 2+3 | 18+ [SoulBond Series]

239:in love

JieMi

'Mommy! When I grow up, I want to be an idol!'

JieMi was seven when he knew for sure what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He'd discovered his dream when he was four, on a stage that smelt like dust and old, wet wood. It'd been nothing special, a tiny wooden plank with plastic seats. But when the lights turned on, and dust motes eddied and churned, the music had drummed in his chest and pulled him to his feet.

He'd been in a trance that compelled him to move. It pushed his fear for people out of his head, pushed the anxiety that boiled in his gut. The eyes that burned into his tiny body were no longer unwelcoming gazes, sharp pointed ends of gilded arrows, but ropes that lifted him up to the sky.

It had been like dancing in the stars with wings attached to his back. He was on the clouds that hovered over the setting sun, soaring over the stars and the planets in the galaxy, coursing through the waves in the ocean. Colour saturated his world when he danced, and the grey was replaced by a powerful splash of vibrancy that touched his soul.

Performing was turning the lock over his chest and exposing his beautiful soul to the world, singing was streams of golden silk, dancing was his transformation into a golden phoenix from the heavens. JieMi loved it. He loved to perform, he loved it so much that he wanted more.

'Mommy! I want to audition! I want to be an idol.'

'Baby...You're still young. We can do that later when you're older.'

'Mommy please! It's my dream! It's my dream!'

He started then after tearful nights and consistent begging. His parents only complied because they saw the sincerity in his words. He entered, one foot into stardom. The contract? Another foot into his grave.

He was willingly tied, roped, mummified, and then dumped into harsh dirt as the sun shone over his back. He'd given up his freedom for a collar over his neck and a whip to his naked back. It was then when he realised that it wasn't all fun and games, not with the law that threatened everything. Not with the rules chaining him to their feet.

He signed the agreement under the watchful eye of a lawyer. He gave up 10 years of his life, earned rising debt that he couldn't pay unless he debuted. And competition against thousands just like him who were all aiming for a single spot in a role that could possibly never flourish.

He realised then, surrounded by thousands of eleven-year olds that they were all just like him, that he was a slave to a factory. One that churned out products each year tailored for the greatest profit. The factory didn't care about the defects, it didn't care about the rejects even if they were humans. They were koi fishes, desperately gobbling at the tiniest of bread, unknowing that it would poison their stomachs and kill them from the inside. He was just a small fry in a sea of millions.

Talent was everywhere.

Luck was abysmal.

Hard work brought him nowhere.

'You're gaining too much weight. Just 1000 calories a day is enough for you.'

But JieMi was hungry...He was so hungry that water down his throat hurt him when it swirled in his empty, cramping stomach. There were guidelines he had to follow, numbers on a chart of paper that dictated his goals. He needed to be this tall, this skinny, and with only this much fat. His face had to be chiselled, but it couldn't be with his youth. His teacher shook his head when the tape that wrapped over his thighs were inches over the green lines. His teachers scoffed when he whined about food, the growing boy in him begging for more.