Kierra rested her head on her backpack while waiting for Jay to arrive at the school's cafeteria the following Monday. He had called her late last night to help him with some of his sketches that were due on Wednesday after returning home. At first, she was gonna ignored his calls due to the interaction they already had earlier that day, but after reading some of the messages, Kierra ended up picking up his call because of how desperate he sounded in needing help. She didn't know why he needed the help or even waited this long to work on it in the first place, but here she was for some odd reason. Then again, they consulted with one another a lot last semester and maybe Jay just did it out of habit.

"Good morning."

Just as Kierra was about to drift off to sleep while waiting, she heard a familiar voice greet her softly while hearing something else being placed onto the table.

"Morning." She mumbled as her eyes fluttered opened as she slowly lifted her head to spot an earl grey milk tea that was placed in front of her.

It was one of her favorite drink flavors yet didn't know why it was there in the first place. Kierra hadn't asked Jay to get her something. Her eyes slowly shifted over to Jay, comfortably sitting across from her with a notebook in hand and his own regular earl grey tea in the other.

"Oh, you didn't have to get me anything."

"Oh, don't mind it, Yiyeon. I was getting something for myself anyway."

"Oh, I see. Um, so how much was it? I'll pay you back for getting me one anyway."

Kierra reached to grab her wallet out of her backpack, but Jay declined.

"You don't have to pay me back Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Um, just think of it as a 'thank you' for meeting me so early before classes started."

Kierra quietly backed off from the topic.

"Oh, okay. Well, um, thank you."

"Welcome. Now, thank you for agreeing to meet me so early."

"Yeah, you're welcome, too."

He flashed her with a smile before setting the items onto the table.

"So, I have several sketches, but I feel like it's missing something."

"Like what exactly?"

Jay flipped open his sketchbook to show her the drawings he had done these past few weeks.

"Is there any way you can help me make these more presentable?"

Kierra stared at them before taking another long sip of her drink while slowly nodding tentatively.

"How presentable do you want them though? Because I think they look fine as they are, Jay."

Jay cast her with another smile before going into detail. Kierra listened intently and hoped that she could survive the day before classes ended.

"Do you want a bagel or a sandwich?" Linna asked Melanie as the two had gotten ready for school and were about to eat breakfast.

"Um, a bagel, please. Thanks." Melanie answered while opening the fridge to grab the bottle of orange juice.

"Do you want juice or milk?"

"Apple juice, please. Welcome and thanks."

"Okay, welcome."

Linna went about making them breakfast as Melanie poured them a glass of juice. They each realized that their sisters weren't around as by now they would have been making double the meal.

"I'm gonna check on the other two." Melanie said as she set the glasses onto the small dining table.

Linna nodded as she finished spreading cream cheese onto the bagels while making herself a sandwich. Melanie returned shortly afterwards.

"Well, Serena's not feeling well and is skipping classes for today."

"Oh, no. Might be because she fell into the pool despite taking a warm shower last night."

"Yeah, maybe. She probably slept soon after though and didn't let her hair try after showering."

"Yeah, true, too."

"Anyway, she made me light one of those candles that we got on White Day."

"Oh, nice. They smelled nice and I've been trying to use them less to keep them longer, but it's hard to resist. I'm almost out."

"I know right. Me, too."

"Mmhmm. By the way, maybe we should make Serena some soup before we leave then. Yeah?"

"Nah, she said she's just gonna sleep it off and see how she feels when she wakes up. She'll eat then or something."

"Hopefully nothing happens with the candle then."

"Nah, I got her window slightly opened to help air it out and left the door ajar, too."

Melanie cast Linna a knowing look.

"I even set her alarm as a reminder to put out the candle after an hour, too. All just in case something does happen once we leave."

"Okay, good call, because I would be worrying to be honest."

"No need. Aunt Jiwon got the fire alarms checked a week ago so we're all set if we can't be reach for sure."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. How about Kierra?"

"Well, Serena mentioned that Kierra went to meet Jay this morning. I didn't find her in her room or the other rooms either."

Linna cast Melanie with a playful look.

"Ooh la la."

She laughed as she set a plate in front of her cousin.

"So that's who she was talking onto the phone late last night when I wanted to trade one of the candles with her."

"About what?"

The pair settled down to eat.

"Dunno, but she wasn't too happy about having to wake up early to meet him for whatever reason she had to."

"Must be school related."

"Oh, true. She did grumble about artwork or something like that."

"Oh, I see. By the way, any thoughts of actively pursuing Sunghoon today or writing another letter?"

Linna almost choked on her sandwich, but luckily prevented herself from doing that. Melanie laughed at the incident with an apologetic look.

"My bad."

"Right. Anyway, no. I'm just gonna go to my classes like normal."

Linna re-directed the same question at Melanie for fun.

"How about you?"

"How about me what?"

"Any thoughts of actively pursuing Jake today, too?"

Melanie scowled before rolling her eyes.

"I already told y'all that we're not like that at all. He's just cute. Eye-candy, really. Anyway, I really only see him for our Wednesday class and our Thursday tutoring session. Other than that, that's about it."

"Oh, I see. Maybe because of that, then you'll end up seeing him today."

"Yeah, right. If so, then I hope you run into Sunghoon more than usual today, too."

"Yeah, no, I take it back. I think I'm good."

Melanie stood to clear her dishes while glancing at the clock on the wall, turning to shoot her cousin a mischievous look.

"We gotta get to class and you can admire your Ice Prince from afar or with another secret love letter in the making."

Linna scowled this time with a roll of her eyes as Melanie laughed.

Serena jerked awake upon hearing her phone going off. Her left hand automatically searched above her head for her mobile device. She brought it towards her face and saw that the caller was her friend, Baek Seona. She checked the time, a few minutes after twelve. A little over an hour since the last time she woke up to light up the candle again after putting it out. She realized she forgot to set the timer and became grateful for the call.

"Hello?"

Serena placed the phone against her ear as she lied on her side still feeling unwell.

"Where are you?"

Came Seona's question as Serena slowly responded.

"At home. Not feeling well. What's up?"

Silence. Serena gave her friend some time to reply despite feeling a bit groggy still.

"Hecheatedonme."

Despite Seona's quick mumbling and her own well-being at the moment, Serena still got the gist of what she meant and knew it was about her friend's boyfriend, Lee Yejun. The cousins never liked the guy as he always gave them bad vibes even when they attended the same high school, but Seona really liked him despite her friends' displeasure. The couple continued with their relationship when they entered Hyebi University.

"He's been cheating on me with different women throughout our relationship."

Serena stayed quiet, allowing Seona to just talk. Serena was always the go-to person to dump feelings and stories on.

"I had the feeling, but actual proof came right before my eyes today."

Seona sigh heavily.

"I don't know if you know of her or whatever, but her name is Seo Yuri."

"Faintly." Serena answered, not sure if it was the same person or not.

"Well, she's suppose to be a good friend of mine, but friends don't do this to each other, especially with their friend's boyfriend."

Seona controlled her breathing before speaking again.

"Yejun and I were supposed to meet after our morning classes for an early special lunch since we couldn't meet for our date yesterday. So he was gonna make it up to me. When I get to the cafeteria, I see my boyfriend with my good friend."

Seona scoffed again.

"I'm pretty sure the two had a date yesterday and that's why he couldn't meet up with me."

Serena heard another deep sigh from her friend.

"I confronted them after witnessing the pair acting all lovey-dovey."

A bitter laugh left Seona's lips.

"I broke up with him without making too much of a scene right then and there. I blocked the both of them and deleted anything related to them, too. I'm so done with Lee Yejun and it's over between us. I'm done with Seo Yuri, t