The next morning flew by: each class felt like minutes instead of hours, and when I got home after school, I showered and dried my pitch-black hair to get ready for the show. At 3:00, I walked to school and met my friends and Jeremy in the cafeteria and we quietly acted the play out with each other…

            There was 2 hours before show time, and everyone was back stage getting his or her makeup ready, and I was sitting on a chair getting my hair styled. The school always goes all out for musicals, and in the beginning of the year we had a fundraiser for hiring stylists to pay off some of the money for it.

            The time was currently 5:00, and the show would start at 6:30. Kiara could be seen in front of a mirror doing lip trills and singing softly some of the songs in the musical. At this time, the cast was all quiet and warming up; the dancers were going through the choreography, and Mr. DofGa was on the stage, perfecting the props. Jeremy was silently reading through the script while he was waiting for his costume.

            All while Kiara was warming her voice up, she was thinking about her older brother and her family back in Korea. She longed for them to be able to see her perform and clap in the audience with her. Although the whole musical would be recorded, it wasn’t the same to Kiara. She always went through these thoughts every single time she was about to perform.

           In the past years, she didn’t think that much of Hyukjae not being able to see her at her best because of his promotions and schedules. Now that she was older, Kiara grew sadder and sadder at her older brother for not being able to see her perform. She longed for her family to be able to see her perform live; her family knew about her musical abilities, but Kiara thought that they were unaware of the extent that she could sing and dance and act.

            Jeremy jolted Kiara out of her thoughts when he called her over. She shook her head as if to rid her mind of the melancholy thoughts of her family and jogged over to him.            

            “You alright?”

            Kiara looked at him and said, “I’m fine. Why?”    

            “I don’t know, you looked really sad to me,” he paused awkwardly and continued after hesitation. “It looked like you had a lot on your mind.”

            Kiara sighed and looked down at her feet. “Well, I don’t really know if you could relate to this, but it kind of has to do with my family.”

            Jeremy nodded and asked, “Is your family in Korea too?”

            She looked at him, surprised. “How’d you know?”

            He grinned and replied back, “I’ve been living here with my aunt since 3^rd grade. My family’s in Seoul, and I’ll forever be here in the States.”

            Kiara nodded understandingly and thought over whether or not she should tell him about Hyukjae.

            She looked back up at him and saw the genuine look in his eyes. Kiara decided that she could trust him and that he wouldn’t freak out like everyone else did in Korea.

            “Do you, by any chance, know a group called Super Junior?”

            Jeremy nodded quickly and said, “My older sister is obsessed with them. I think they’re alright.”

            “You’ll believe me right? You know that I’m telling the truth?” She made sure.

            Jeremy nodded his head again and remained quiet, waiting for Kiara to continue.

            “I’ll just come right out with it okay?” Kiara warned.

“My brother is Lee Hyukjae. Better known as Eunhyuk, the dancing machine, of Super Junior.”

            And right when she admitted the truth to Jeremy, Mr. DofGa ordered everyone to get into their costumes. The tradition of his musicals was to get into costumes a half an hour before show time and pass around a rubber ducky to each cast member to wish.

            When Jeremy got the ducky, his eyes searched and found Kiara, who was sitting on a stool nervously. This was his first year of performing as a part of Mr. DofGa’s production, and he wanted to make a good impression on everyone, especially Kiara.

            He cleared his throat and said, “Thank you to everyone here that helped me to become more comfortable. Being a part of the Romeo and Juliet production has really helped me in becoming more familiar with everyone and making new friends.

            “Most importantly, it’s helped me to be able to become a part of a family, and I’ve made really precious memories that I’ll forever treasure.” He chuckled with everyone that cringed at the cheesiness.

            “Yeah, I know that this is really cheesy,” he said, “but the last of year of middle school has really been fun to spend with all you guys, and I hope that I’ll get a chance to work like this next year in high school.”

            Everyone clapped at Jeremy’s monologue, and he smiled and passed the rubber ducky to Mr. DofGa.

            The director said a few last words before the performance, and all this while, Kiara was gazing at Jeremy intently. She had expected him to be in shock at the sudden truth of her brother, but he wasn’t the least bit surprised. Kiara really thanked him with all her heart for not freaking out and treating her differently like everyone else did in Korea. She thanked God for letting her meet this guy, and Kiara hoped that she’d be able to act with him in the future.