“H-Hey Mina-unnie!” Chaeyoung called out to their art model as soon as class ended, successfully gaining the girl’s attention.

“Yes, Chaeyoungie?” Mina smiled back as she approached the small artist, who gulped before opening to speak.

“Are you free to uh, h-hang out?” she could feel her heartbeat pumping loudly within her chest.

She felt super nervous from being so direct, yet she kept on recalling her friend’s warnings that triggered her to do so in the first place.

“I can’t believe Sana ships them together!” Momo’s voice from the sudden phone call she recieved at 11 PM last night echoed within her head, “Chaeng, you must step up your game or else she’s going to slip out of your grasp before you even know it.”

“It depends on when you’re talking about.” Mina’s voice immediately snapped the flustered artist out of it, “I’ll be quite busy until tomorrow afternoon.”

“O-Oh, how come?” Chaeyoung couldn’t help but pout slightly.

Mina smiled as she poked the girl’s cheeks. “I’m in an act for the opening ceremony tomorrow. Jeongyeon-unnie is also going to perform with me.”

“Wait- really?!” the younger gasped in awe, although the latter sentence made her heart skip a beat from jealousy. She managed to hide the negative emotions from her. “That’s super cool!”

“Will you be able to come and watch us?” Mina tilted her head in anticipation, “I’d love to hear your thoughts about it afterwards.”

How could Chaeyoung possibly decline?

“I-I’d love to! What time should I be there?”

“I believe the performances start at 2:30 PM, but I don’t know when we’re supposed to go on stage.”

Chaeyoung hastily whipped out her phone to set up a reminder. “2:30, gotcha. I’ll make sure to be there to support you, unnie!”

“Thank you. It’ll mean a lot to me.” Mina gave her friend a quick squeeze before waving her goodbye. “I have to get to my next class now. I’ll see you soon, Chaeyoungie!”

As soon as Mina was no longer in sight, Chaeyoung wrapped her arms around her own body, melting from the girl’s previous embrace.

She was too dazed by what had just happened to notice the pair of mischievous eyes that were focused on her in the distance.

“Crushing hard, I see.” Ms. Son couldn’t help but to laugh out loud as her art student jumped in shock, who completely forgot her teacher’s existence within the room. The girl’s face immediately flushed red while her body burnt up from embarrassment.

“P-P-Please pretend you saw nothing!” she bowed 90 degrees frantically as she begged, “I can’t let her know yet!”

“Your facial expressions hides nothing though, Son Chaeyoung.”

“R-Really?!”

“I mean, you were clearly drooling over her just now.” Ms. Son grinned playfully, “Are you preying on our beautiful model? Do I have to help her apply for a restraining order?”

“W-What are you saying, Ms. Son?!” the petite student whined while the woman giggled some more.

An embarrassed Son Chaeyoung was entertaining to tease.

“I’m purely joking, Chaeyoung-yang. I wish you the very best.” Ms. Son’s smile became gentle as she approached her student to give her a pat on the back. “I’m sure you’re capable of obtaining anything if you put your mind and effort to it, even if it’s the heart of another person.”

Chaeyoung’s eyes sparkled from the words of encouragement. “You really think so, Ms. Son?”

The kind woman nodded, “Of course. Besides, it seems like she adores you already.”

“5, 6, 7, 8!” Ms. Yoon clapped to the beat of the soundtrack while her students moved energetically on stage.

It was the last chance for the two groups of students to rehearse in class before the actual ceremony arrives.

Everyone had their own movements and the lyrics memorised by now, and were purely trying to perfect what they can.

Mina and the rest of the ballerinas could be seen stretching out their limbs, while the musical performers were already busy on stage since they took up the majority of the act’s proportion, meaning they had a lot more to ace.

“Jeongyeon, your movements need to be bolder!” Ms. Yoon yelled as she monitored her kids in the front rows, “Remember to control your facial expressions! You’re a successful showman and a proud father of two. Is that the face Barnum would make on stage?!”

The main protagonist of the musical could only grit her teeth tighter when her teacher’s words travelled to her ears, adjusting her acting as she continued to run around the stage like a busy maniac.

It was incredibly difficult to be a musical performer since they were required to sing, dance, and act all at the same time.

It’s even more of a burden to be the main star of the stage, whose every little detail mattered; most of the audience’s attention would be focused on them throughout the whole duration of the act, while even the tiniest mistake could be seen under the bright stage lights- especially by their tough teacher who had the eyesight of an eagle.

Ms. Yoon shook her heard before calling for a break. “Everyone take 5!”

The displeased woman immediately made herself onstage towards Jeongyeon, who was desperately gasping for air after giving the choreography her all.

“Jeongyeon, what’s wrong with you today?” the performance-art teacher frowned as she watched the girl pant on. “The ceremony is tomorrow and you’re not bringing your A-game.”

The performer gulped down her exhaustion as she briefly lifted up her head to meet the eyes of her teacher.

“I’m sorry.” was all she managed to mutter out before she focused back on catching her breaths.

She let her sweat beads drip onto the wooden floor since she lacked the energy to even grab her towel from her backpack.

All her other classmates had taken a seat somewhere within the theatre while chugging down mouthfuls of water.

They had all worked hard yet the teacher was still not satisfied, especially with their main star.

The group of dancers from Ms. Kim’s class all had their attention on the two, since they were equally confused about Jeongyeon’s sudden lack of enthusiasm as the frustrated woman.

“I know you can do much better than this. I’ve seen your potential and this really isn’t it. It’s showtime tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Yoon.”

“You’ve been a student here for three whole years. You should know exactly how important our opening ceremonies are. Our school is known for our Fine Art programs, so the media will definitely have its attention on the performances- which is more of a reason to get yourself together. Do you hear me, Yoo Jeongyeon?”

“Yes, Ms. Yoon.”

Jeongyeon praised the Lords when she finally heard the school bell ring soundly across the campus, setting her free from the claws of her strict teacher; she managed to drag her body out of the theatre, but instantly crashed back down onto the nearest bench she could reach.

Both of her friends gathered to her side, wanting to check up on her before they had to leave for their next lesson.

“Yah, you alright?” one asked with great concern, “You’re struggling more than usual today, Mr. Barnum.”

“Yeah Jeongyeon-ah. Are you feeling unwell? Bbom-ssaem sure gave you an earful.” the other added, placing a hand on her friend’s back as she observed the star’s facial expression.

Jeongyeon seemed to be in some sort of pain, yet they couldn’t figure out the reason based on her appearance; the performer seemed perfectly fine apart from the extreme level of fatigueness expressed clearly on her face.

It made it harder for them as the Barnum-actress wasn’t planning on revealing anything to her friends either.

“It’s okay, you guys go ahead. I’ll just rest back at the dorms. I’m done with my classes for today.”

The tone of her voice made the girls uneasy, yet they knew they shouldn’t make her repeat herself, especially when she barely had the energy to give them a reply.

Hesitantly, the two girls gave their friend a final pat on the back before leaving her alone.

Yoo Jeongyeon remained slumping on the bench alone for a few more minutes until she sensed someone approaching her.

She slowly opened her eyes when she can no longer hear the person’s footsteps, who turned out to be another friend of hers.

“Is everything alright?”

The softness of the person’s voice immediately made the ends of her lips arch into a faint smile, yet she still lacked the energy to respond properly.

“Tough run today.” she forced out an answer while sitting herself up properly to face the dancer.

Myoui Mina merely stared on without another word.

Jeongyeon felt confused from her weird behaviour, yet she didn’t question it.

They remained like that for a few minutes until the timid ballerina finally spoke up again.

“Show me your leg.”

“H-Huh?”

Before the performer could even react properly to the sudden request, Mina had already grabbed onto the legs of her sweatpants and pulled them upwards, revealing Jeongyeon’s bare skin.

The dancer let out an audible gasp as she saw the state of her friend’s limb.

Although there were small bruises here and there from constantly sliding across the stage as the showman, what had shocked her so greatly was the performer’s left knee cap, which was dangerously bruised to the shade of blue and purple.

Jeongyeon couldn’t help but let out a wince as Mina’s finger accidentally brushed against it.

“Oh my gosh, I knew something was wrong with your leg but- why didn’t you tell anyone?!” Mina cried as her gaze faltered from the sight, unable to imagine the pain she had gone through during their entire rehearsal. It all made sense now.

How Jeongyeon didn’t seem to give it her all; how small her movements were compared to their previous runs, it all came together like small pieces of a puzzle.

“I’m sorry, I just… couldn’t.” Jeongyeon apologised as she bit her bottom lip, no longer hiding the pain to herself since she was already exposed by her observant friend. “I can’t become a burden to you guys now. Not when the actual performance is tomorrow.”

“But… what exactly happened for you to end up like… this?”

The performer opened , yet she was at a loss for words.

Jeongyeon was ashamed and embarrassed; she felt frustrated for ending up in such a condition and was apologetic towards Mina since they were both the key factors to their stage. She knew her condition would affect them all greatly as a whole- heck, she was the protagonist of the musical.

Although she lacked the courage to explain, she also didn’t want to hide away the truth to the caring student who was now kneeling before her, looking up at her with worried eyes. Mina deserved to know.

She took a deep breath before trying again.

“… I got myself involved in a fight.” Jeongyeon finally revealed after hesitating for a while, “There were these two girls who were brawling right outside of the dorms and I just happened to stumble across them on my way back. One of them was really wasted and was beating the crap out of the other, so I stepped in, wanting to stop them from inflicting any further injuries. I guess I got careless since the drunk chick struck my knee with her heels when she was still aiming for the other girl.”

Mina couldn’t believe her ears.

She never realised Jeongyeon would put herself in danger like that, especially for two strangers whom she just happened to come across as a passerby.

She couldn’t understand what the older girl was thinking, yet she couldn’t help but admire her for her bravery and selflessness.

“I instantly collapsed onto the floor from the kick. But hey, at least that got them to stop.” the performer managed to chuckle, but she earned herself a death glare instead of a giggle she had hoped to hear.

“This is not a laughing matter, Jeongyeon-unnie!” Mina bellowed out of nowhere, startling the older greatly.

Jeongyeon, who finally made eye-contact with her friend after retelling the story, never knew how serious and hurt the ballerina’s expression had been until now.

She was also incredibly surprised by Mina’s personal record-breaking volume since the timid girl had always spoken in the softest, most delicate voice she had ever heard a human speak. It was eye-opening to hear Mina shout in anger, thus she knew she must’ve crossed the line in order to have triggered that side of the girl to come out.

“I-I’m sorry, Mina. I just didn’t wish for you guys to worry about me so much…”

“Why wouldn’t I be worried about you, Jeongyeon-unnie? You’re my precious friend, and look how injured you are!” Mina snapped with tears forming around her eyes, shocking Jeongyeon even more. “You’re only going to make it worse if you force yourself to perform tomorrow. Please unnie, don’t go that far…”

“Mina…” Jeongyeon found herself pulling the girl into her arms, clinging tightly onto her torso. “I’m sorry, but I really can’t afford to back out now- not when my sister’s finally coming to see me on stage for the first time.”

Mina blinked blankly as her tears rolled down her cheeks, her hand clutching onto Jeongyeon’s back. “Your sister…?”

“Yeah, my sister, who’s a professional actress. She was the one who introduced me to the world of performance art, and that’s why I’m here today.” Jeongyeon confessed while snuggling her face deeper into the crook of Mina’s neck, holding back her own tears. “She never had the time to see any of my proper performances for the past 3 years as she’s always busy with work, but when I told her that I was going to be P.T. Barnum for the ceremony, she instantly promised that she’ll come because The Greatest Showman was her favourite musical movie.”

“B-But your knee…”

“It’s what I get for being too nosy, I suppose.” Jeongyeon chuckled weakly, “But I want to make sure my sister sees me on that stage tomorrow, even if it’s only for 4 minutes.”

Realising she couldn’t force her friend to change her mind, Mina could only let out a sigh while removing herself from Jeongyeon’s embrace.

“Can we at least get it treated so it wouldn’t worsen too fast? Or are you also scared of hospital-like places?” her second question caught Jeongyeon’s attention with its randomness.

“Why would I be scared of hospitals?” she chuckled while holding onto her leg, which hurt just from laughing too hard.

“Oh, it’s just that Chaeyoungie refused to go to the infirmary for her twisted ankle because of that reason.” Mina smiled sheepishly, confused to why she had brought it up herself.

Jeongyeon’s smile faded upon hearing the specific name. “Your mind is still filled with her even when you’re with me?” she couldn’t help but express her jealousy, surprising Mina a little with her straightforwardness.

“Well, I had a class with her prior to ours. I invited her to come see our performance tomorrow.” the dancer replied lowly. “Was it… a bad move to invite her…?”

“Of course not. Why would it be?” the older girl forced out a smile, obviously conflicting with her own feelings. “You should invite all your friends to come tomorrow.”

“Well, the only other people who I call ‘friends’ apart from you and Chaeyoungie are Sa-tang and Momorin whom you’ve already met twice, so I guess that shouldn’t be hard.” the dancer giggled shyly, which infected the performer who also found herself smiling along.

Jeongyeon decided to move on from their topic. “Anyways, are you free right now?” Mina gave her a quick nod as her response. “Can you accompany me to the infirmary then?”

Mina’s eyebrows raised themselves as her soft smile turned into a mischievous grin.

“So you are scared of hospital-like places.”

“… You caught me.”