"I did not sign up for this." Serena grumbled while painting.

"For reals. Why are we even here?" Kierra inquired as she, too, was painting.

The pair were helping Riki with his art banner that was due next Friday as he resorted in asking the two for assistance. Besides wanting to get it done and over with, Riki will be busy with the dance team after school, too. The trio were in one of the high school's art rooms and it's been less than an hour since they started.

"Why didn't you bother the other two to help, too?" Serena asked out loud, not really expecting an answer.

"Both Yiseul and Chaewon have tutoring while the both of you are free."

"Don't you have other friends that can help you?" Kierra questioned despite enjoying herself.

"Even though this isn't due until next week and could ask them instead."

"I do, but they're busy and you two are never busy."

"What makes you think that?" Serena asked, pausing in mid-coloring.

Riki didn't look up as he continued to draw his main character in the center of the banner.

"Because the two of you have no life besides work and school."

"Yeah, that's true." The female pair agreed.

The trio continued to work until Riki got bored and ended up fingerpainting onto his two friends.

"Yah! Nishimura Riki?!"

Both Kierra and Serena wiped off the colored paint from their cheeks and glared at the younger male. He laughed with a cheeky expression, clearly enjoying what he had just done. Just as the pair were about to retaliate and Riki was about to make a run for it, both of the classroom's doors opened revealing two others, Heeseung and Jay.

"Yo, Ni-Ki! We're here."

"Let's hurry so we can get to dance practice."

Both parties just stared at one another until Serena broke the silence.

"Alright, cool then. Yeon and I are gonna dip."

Serena softly smacked Riki on the right cheek with her left hand that was painted yellow to get back at the younger male.

"Yeah, your friends can help you now. Let's go, Jin."

Kierra did the same thing, but with her right hand against his left cheek, leaving a red handprint. The females admired their artwork with a grin.

"Very nice."

"What an artwork."

The two giggled while they waved at Riki.

"Wait." Riki called out to them.

"Nah." The pair responded, laughing.

"Yiyeon! Chaejin!"

The females ignored the younger male while waving at him again.

"Okay, buh-bye, Riki!"

The quartet tended to use Riki's real name while others called him by his nickname, Ni-Ki. Both grabbed their belongings with their clean hand, shot an amused smile at the three males, and dashed out of the classroom with another giggle. Bemused, Jay and Heeseung stared after the female duo before focusing their attention onto Riki. The younger male shrugged while shaking his head with a sheepish laugh as he wiped off the paint from his cheeks.

"I don't have that much left to do."

Melanie was working on a few math problems, using the formula that Jake had to re-explain to her as she didn't quite understand it when the teacher went over it last week, when she felt eyes on her a moment later. She briefly glanced up to Jake staring at her.

"How's it going?" He asked as he flashed her a friendly smile.

"Much easier. Thanks."

She returned the same gesture.

"No problem, Chaewon."

Despite being an English speaker she didn't use it to communicate with the male, believing he would try and connect with her more than they already do. Melanie's eyes returned to her paper yet the feeling of being stared at remained, but not as strongly as before. She finished the rest of the problems before handing it over for Jake to review. Just then the timer on his phone went off, signaling the end of their tutoring session.

"Ah, sorry. It seems our session ends here." He apologized as she shook her head.

"It's okay, Jake, but thank you for the much needed help."

"Yeah, Chaewon, I don't mind. You're easy to teach and learn quickly."

Just before he handed Melanie her paper back, Jake quickly took a photo of it.

"I'll review your work after dance practice and let you know if something is wrong."

"Awesome, and no rush. This isn't due until next Tuesday."

"Okay, cool."

The pair collected their materials, packed up their things, and headed to the entrance of the library together.

"I'll see you in class next Wednesday then. Yeah?"

Jake cast Melanie with another friendly smile as she briefly nodded.

"Yeah. Take care."

"Later."

He shot her another smile before heading off first. Melanie turned the other way, ran a hand through her hair, and just hoped that her sister or her older cousin wouldn't ask her about Jake if the rumors spread on further than what Linna had already came across it.

"I heard you and some kid named Jake are lovers now or something like that."

Serena directed her attention onto her sister with a teasing look as Kierra gasped, dramatically in a playful way. The quartet were having snacks and drinks at their workplace in a corner booth.

"Yeah. I can't believe you didn't tell us that you had a boyfriend. We all could have hooked up with someone for a quadruple date later on."

Linna snickered at the situation as Melanie rolled her eyes at the older two.

"We're not lovers and I don't have a boyfriend."

Melanie scoffed.

"Where did you even hear that from?"

"Um, Kierra and I overheard this group of girls talking at the school gate when we left earlier. They mentioned a 'Chaewon' and I thought nothing of it until I heard the name 'Jake' right after, and thought of you since he tutors you in math and y'all know one another."

"Seriously, people love the gossip." Melanie mumbled, annoyed.

"What else did they say?" Linna probed more than Melanie, interested.

Kierra replied this time in a nonchalant attitude.

"They were upset about some spelling on a letter and that Jake couldn't have done it. So believed that Melanie was the one that did it instead. Or something like that. The girls were clearly upset and angered. What did you do, Melanie?"

"I did nothing, Kierra, but apparently I guess I'm being blamed for giving Park Gaeul her love letter to Jake. Because she didn't tell him it was from her so Jake gave the letter back to me instead."

"Wow, that ."

"Mmhmm."

"So, are you and this Park Gaeul person friends?" Serena inqured, curious.

"Not even. We just know one another since high school."

Linna frowned.

"How come I can't remember her?"

"You were in a different class for our three years of high school."

"Oh, yeah, right."

"Anyways," Kierra re-directed the topic back to Jake.

"How did your math tutoring go with Jake then?"

Melanie shrugged nonchalantly.

"Same as normal."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. He helped me work through one of the formulas I didn't understand and corrected my homework while working me through what I got incorrect. He's gonna check a few more after dance practice and let me know before I turn it in. Other than that, we both know the real story and there's no point in correcting the situation unless they ask like y'all did."

The three hummed in agreement as Kierra cast her sister with a knowing look.

"So when are you gonna confess to Park Sunghoon?"

"I don't have a crush on him."

Once again, Linna answered too quickly which made Kierra sister more.

"Yeah, you do. I know. Actually, Serena noticed first, but same difference."

She glanced at the three of them with a cheeky look.

"Maybe we can go on that quardruple date."

"No!" Both Melanie an Linna answered causing their sisters to raise a brow, amused.

"Oh?"

Just as Kierra was about to probe, Serena changed the subject.

"Hey, Kierra, who's the model in your photographs?"

Kierra almost spit out her drink, but recovered as she chuckled sheepishly.

"What photographs?"

"The one for your collage project."

"Oh yeah. How is that going?"

"Can we see some?"

The younger two asked with smiles. Kierra cast Serena a side-eyed to which the latter just smiled in response.

"Um, it's going well and I don't have any on me."

"We can view her portfolio at home. The model, he is quite handsome, and looks our age. I think he goes to school here, too."

Serena knew Kierra wanted to throttle her, but she wanted her cousin to have just a taste of her own medicine.

"Ooh, who is it?"

"Is it someone we know?"

Kierra kept calm although her eyes stared firmly at Serena, but sighed while bringing out her phone. She went through it before finding what she was looking for and showed it to the younger two.

"It's Jay."

"Ooh la la." The younger two cooed as they began teasing the older woman.

"I blame you."

Kierra shifted her attention onto Serena.

"Hey, like I said, it's not my fault that your path keeps crossing with his since high school."

Serena laughed as Kierra scowled.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"What's wrong with Jay?"

"Yeah, what did he ever do to you?"

Kierra knew the two were teasing, but still.

"Everything." Kierra grumbled.

"I thought you two were friends?" Linna asked with a small smile.

"No?"

"He thinks we're friends." Kierra corrected as Melanie shook her head.

"That's mean."

"Don't care."

"I mean you have to if he's your model for your picture assignements." Serena reasoned causing Kierra to groan.

"I know, but still..."

Kierra calmed herself down.

"It's okay. When this semester is over, Jay won't be my model any longer."

"Why is he your model?"

"Or how did he become your model?"

Melanie and Linna probed, interested in Kierra's life than their own.

"Our professors are related or best friends or something. Anyways, they thought it would be cool to collaborate or something like that."

"So what does he get out of it for being your muse?" Serena inquired a second later, curious.

"His muse in return." Kierra mumbled, but the others heard her clearly.

"Really?" The younger two began another round of teasing Kierra while Serena glanced from one to the other.

"Hey, maybe the three of you can go on a triple date then."

"No!" The trio replied just too fast, causing Serena to laugh at the situation.

Kierra jerked awake by the ringtone of her phone. She groaned as she lifted her head, trying to locate her phone before finding it. She checked the caller ID to see Kana's name.

"Hello?" She answered groggily.

Her attention went back to dozing off before waking up again.

"Hmm?" She hummed, having missed Kana's question.

"Uh..."

Kierra rotated to lie on her side with her mobile device lying against her hair as Kana repeated her question.

"Before you called, I was taking a nap. Not sure about the others, but I think they're sleeping, too. What's up?"

Kana went on to explain her current dilemma  with Kierra responding after her friend finished.

"Don't you have your own friends or