"Ugh. So glad today's the last day of rehearsals before the final show this Saturday."

Serena voiced out loud as she and the other three arrived on campus around a little after eight on this Monday morning.

"Well, Saturday morning we're gonna go through one last practice run before the final performance in the evening."

Katherine mentioned as Serena groaned.

"Och. Hopefully it runs smoothly and we don't have to cover for anybody or something."

"Because you said that now we're gonna end up doing that." Melanie stated with a look as Serena sighed.

"Anyways, I'm  gonna miss the whole practice though."

Katherine commented with a sad tone.

"Waking up. Practicing. Then going over everything and mingling. Yeah, I'ma miss it."

Jasmine nodded with an equal attitude as her twin.

"For sure, especially mingling with all the other participants."

Everyone eyed her knowingly, but she chuckled.

"Yes because of the Nu Chi Theta members, but it really felt close to being idols in a sense."

"Y'all should've majored in one of the Performing Arts then."

Melanie remarked with a chuckle.

"I mean Communications and Psychology aren't bad majors, but a minor in a Performing Arts wouldn't have been bad for the two of y'all even if your parents didn't want you to pursue that music life."

"True." The twins chimed while Jasmine continued speaking.

"Still, living our university lives like this wasn't a waste either. So either way, we still had our moments."

"Anyways," Serena re-directed the topic, "No more stages after this and looking towards summer vacation. Right?!"

She glanced at the trio as they cast her a secretive look.

"What's that look for? I don't like y'all's faces right now."

"Did you forget about the Royal May Day?"

Melanie inquired as Serena dismissed it.

"We never participated in that so I never thought about it and that's one of the events that Gina has never bothered us about either."

She then glared at them.

"Why? Did one of y'all get nominated or something?"

Katherine let out a sheepish chuckle while slightly raising her hand.

"I did."

"What? Shut up. No way. Really? How come I didn't know?"

"Because you were watching your food show the day she informed all of us." Jasmine answered with a laugh.

"Food Wars!, but technically it kinda is that. So, yeah, understandable."

Before Serena could ask Katherine more about the subject their attention turned towards a group of female schoolmates surrounding some other female schoolmates when they neared the auditorium. Melanie happened to make out the ones being surrounded.

"I think that's Natty and Jyurie being bullied. Probably their ex-friends?"

"Let's go." Jasmine suggested with a sharp tone.

She was the first one to hurried over just as Jyurie was pushed to the ground by one of them and Natty rushed to aid her. The trio followed suit to prevent another incident to occur as the quartet overheard the conversation of what may have caused the whole thing.

"How could you make it and we didn't?"

"Yeah! What did you do to buy your way in?!"

"I can't believe you had the nerve to do the same song as us and get picked compared to us.

Three of the five girls shouted as the quartet pushed their way through the group with Jasmine and Serena standing in protective mode. while Katherine and Melanie knelt down to assist Natty and Jyurie back onto their feet to make sure they were okay. The quartet recognized each of Jyurie's ex-friends from the photo that Jyurie had shared and hoped they'll leave her alone after this encounter.

"What are you looking at?"

The one named Sina snarled at them with disdain as another, Tia, gave them a once over with an equally disgusted look.

"This doesn't concern you so get lost."

"It does now since Jyurie is a friend." Jasmine responded with a firm tone not backing down.

"Jyurie doesn't have any other friends except that little one over there."

A third, Mincha, inputted while another, Soah, wanted to add in her two cents.

"Yeah, we were her friends before she betrayed us by going after the guy that Rola was crushing on."

Rola stood front and center clearly giving off the aura that she was the most superior of them all with a smug look.

"Jyurie doesn't deserve anything that comes her way. All of that should've been mine."

Jasmine tried not to roll her eyes and spoke in a neutral tone.

"Look, since y'all aren't friends anymore, then leave her alone."

"No." Rola declined.

"We need to find out why her group got chosen over ours as we were clearly the better of the two."

"It's already been over three weeks since everything was announced and rehearsals have been going on," Melanie began with a puzzled look, "So why are y'all even bothering these two about it now?"

"Because she doesn't deserve it." Rola repeated herself with the other four behind her agreeing and shooting them mean looks.

"Why don't you go ask Haji, Ray, Jenny, and the others of the committee about why you weren't chosen." Serena suggested in a firm tone as she was beginning to be tired of this whole thing.

"Jyurie and Natty have nothing to do with who gets to be part of it or not."

"She totally has something to do with this." Tia countered.

"Yeah." Soah agreed.

"How could she get four other girls to help her out and succeed in being in the final lineup at the last minute?"

"I know right. It doesn't add up." Sina said with a harsh tone.

"So she had to have cheated or something."

"Yeah. It doesn't add up and we want answers." Mincha said with a snarky tone.

"Then asked Daeyoung, Aaron, Sulhee, Lina, and Dohyun about it, too. They can give you the answers about that just like I mentioned earlier about the other three." Serena suggested one more time.

"For real. Jyurie isn't even in charge of it so she doesn't know."

Just as the others were about to protest and say some more hurtful things they were interrupted by a male voice.

"Is everything okay?"

The females turned their attention to see who it was that wanted to intervene and realized that it was Taeyong along with Hendery, YangYang, Jeno, Mark, Sungchan, and Johnny beside him. Taeyong was the one that spoke and he didn't look too happy after sweeping his eyes over his fellow schoolmates. He repeated his question while looking between the girls and noticed that Jyurie was amongst them.

"Jyurie?"

Just as Taeyong was gonna make his way over, Rola immediately stepped in to block his path from going over to Jyurie.

"Is Jyurie your girlfriend?"

Taeyong shifted his attention onto Rola and gave her a once over before sweeping his gaze over the rest of her buddies before landing them back on her.

"And if she is?"

Rola and company gasped and started mumbling amongst one another with frantic looks while the quintet heard Jyurie scoff a second later. Upon hearing that scoff from Jyurie, the quintet knew what that could only mean and suppressed a laugh from escaping. They caught the eyes of the other Nu Chi Theta members as they, too, held back a laugh.

"How could you choose her for a girlfriend? She's so plain." Rola asked in disbelief.

"Then should I choose you instead?" Taeyong mused with a of his head, but his eyes stated otherwise.

"Of course." She answered confidently like it was obvious.

"Why?"

"Why? You ask. I'm prettier. I'm popular. I'm not a boring person that's for sure."

Rola smirked while shooting Jyurie a dirty look. Then she began listing her reasons for why she was more qualified to be Taeyong's girlfriend than Jyurie.

"I got the money. I have a fashion sense. My hair is perfect. I seriously have bigger s, that's for sure. I actually have friends and I'm not a loner. I have more friends than she could count on one hand. My friends can even date your friends and our circle could just grow bigger with the right people fitting in. I mean Soah looks like a model and would look gorgeous with Sungchan as they could be like a powerful good-looking couple. Tia has studied abroad and can totally converse easily with Hendery, Johnny, YangYang, and Mark. Sina loves sports and maybe she could even go bike riding with Jeno. As for Mincha she co-"

"Enough."

Taeyong cut her off and shot her a dark look.

"From this day forward, you and your friends will leave Jyurie alone. The same goes for Jyurie's friends, Natty, Melanie, Katherine, Serena, and Jasmine. You and your friends will leave them alone, too. Somehow if I find out that you and your friends are still messing with her or them, then y'all will regret not heeding my warning."

The gaze went over to the other four girls and the other females noticed the shivers that they got upon seeing the male's dark gaze.

"Got it?" He directed it towards Rola who finally got the hint.

Rola could only nod, not daring to reply before running off with the rest of her buddies in tow not even glancing back. Jyurie came from behind the others and stood beside Taeyong with a knowing look.

"Did you really have to go that far, Tyongie?"

Please log in to read the full chapter