"Hey, Chaewon, if you need more tutoring sessions besides maths due to midterms coming up in three weeks, then do let me know." Jake informed Melanie, coming up to her after class.

"I'm free to help you study as much as needed before I have dance practices, too."

Melanie glanced at him with a grateful smile.

"Actually, that would be great, Jake. Wait, you won't be too busy?"

"Nah. Dance helps relieve stress and studying isn't as stressful as others make it out to be."

"I thought you correcting people's grammer was a stress reliever." She mused as Jake laugh.

"Some times, but no, I won't be too busy."

"Okay, cool, because honestly I could use all the help with it."

Jake flashed her a smile.

"Great. We could even have a study session later today."

"Oh, yeah, that'll be cool." She readily agreed.

"Oh, wait."

Melanie remembered something and shot him an apologetic look.

"Ah, sorry, but I already have plans for after school today. So, not today."

"Oh."

Jake's smile dimmed a bit. Melanie didn't notice as she continued packing up her things.

"It's alright, Chaewon. No worries, but we're still on for tomorrow, right?"

"Oh, yes, most definitely. Please. There's another formula I don't get and hope you'll explain it better to than my professor. He's so tough and I just don't get it and it's too late to change the class."

"I'll try my best."

Jake nodded with a chuckle as he waited for Melanie to pack up the her last material into her backpack. Soon the pair headed towards the door to exit the classroom before separating in different directions.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Right. Tomorrow."

Jake wondered what plans she had later today. As for the plans, it was a meet up with Jiwoo for the auditions happening in two weeks before the actual show itself. Since it was after midterms, some took advantage of having fun to sing and or dance to their hearts' content while others just got a head start on studying even more.

"Hmm, everything looks so good in person."

Serena scanned the menu and displays while standing inside the shop of Beard Papa's, after leaving campus. The nurse didn't wake her in time for her first class, figuring she needed the rest upon how she arrived to the infirmary. When Serena did wake, she realized it was now later in the afternoon. She dismissed the issue with Ni-Ki for now while messaging a classmate about the lessons for today as she had him in both of her Monday classes. As a thank you, she visited the bakery to buy the said classmate his favorite treats here.

"So Hyunkyung wanted a creme brulee, a fondant, and a cheesecake. I'll get myself one of each, too."

She continued to scan the items while thinking of her sister and cousins, too. She already missed her first and second class and decided to ditch her final class.

"Maybe I'll grab one of each with the four different fillings. That makes it thirty-two choux creams in total. Wow. Do I wanna do that though?"

Serena had a quiet conversation with herself.

"Yes, yes I do."

She chuckled, enjoying the moment despite what others may think.

"Hmm, maybe I'll get them each the other three, too. So that's twelve in total. Overall, that's forty-seven items I have to carry around back to school."

Serena continued talking to herself.

"So, like do I really wanna do all that? Nah, I'll just do enough for us."

Everything looked and smelled delicious, yet then again, she just needed enough for her, her sister, her cousins, and Jiwoo while they discuss in detail for the talent show. She remembered that she still needed to get some for Hyunkyung as she'll be seeing him soon, too. She continued to contemplate over all the desserts.

"Hey, Jinae, wanna get bubble tea?"

She heard someone asked from next to her and replied automatically.

"Not today. Maybe another time."

Once the words processed in her head and she found the voice familiar did she shift her attention to see Ni-Ki standing closely beside her with an amused look on his face. She took a step back to give her and him some space while eyeing the younger male suspiciously.

"Hi." She greeted with a flat tone.

"That's not a friendly greeting."

"Yeah, don't care."

She caught movements from behind him as her eyes shifted to see Heeseung, Sunoo, and Jungwon as well. She greeted the trio in the same manner, but with more of a polite smile gracing her features instead as the trio returned the same gestures.

"What are you getting, Jinae?" Sunoo asked as Serena shrugged.

"Haven't decided yet."

"What is your favorite thing to get then?" Jungwon asked a second later as Serena looked at the menu.

"Um, it's either the original with vanilla or with chocolate, but then I like getting the fondant, too."

Ni-Ki sidled up next to her while softly nudging her. She knew what he wanted her to do.

"Hey, could you get me a va-"

"No." She promptly answered, interrupting him, but her tone seemed more playful than outright rejection.

"Oh, c'mon. You owe me."

"I'm pretty sure you're the one that owes me."

"Since when?"

Serena eyed him before facing ahead again. She didn't want to interact, but knew the male would continue to bother her.

"Don't y'all have dance practice or something?"

"We came to buy snacks for our break."

"I see, but this seems like something y'all should not be getting."

"It's delicious, but how about getting me the chocolate with vanilla."

"No."

Serena glanced at him, then at the other three.

"Could like one of you take care of him, please?"

"No." Sunoo deadpanned.

"No way."

"He's your problem now." Jungwon remarked with a cheeky laugh.

Heeseung remained silent, but an amused expression graced his features. Serena just rolled her eyes as she eyed Ni-Ki.

"Go away."

"Aww, don't be like that."

Ni-Ki nudged her playfully and Serena returned the same gesture. Eventually the two went at it for a few seconds more with Serena giving up.

"Whatever."

Serena ignored him and focused her attention onto the menu, but Ni-Ki persisted.

"So, will you buy me a vanilla choux cream though?"

"I thought you wanted the chocolate one?"

"That too."

"I'll think about it."

She could hear the other three laughed behind her, but Ni-Ki persisted.

"Please? You owe me remember?"

Serena groaned, having forgotten.

"Ugh, whatever, but on another condition that you stop talking about me to your friends."

"I don't talk about you to them."

Serena cast him with a knowing look as Ni-Ki sheepishly laughed when she asked him on how Heeseung even knew she was out sick and her classes. He laughed before agreeing although he added a small condition for her to buy him food and snacks every now and then. Serena tiredly agreed. The other three were bemused by the whole interaction. Heeseung just smiled at the situation, wondering if they'll have enough time to get the order and eat before their break was up. Still, his eyes lingered over to Serena, wondering if she was always like this despite being in the same grade since they were in high school. Then again, he recalled the two of them never really hung outside of school and he focused more on his studies and group of friends than his other classmates.

"Gosh, this chocolate cream puff is so delicious!"

Jiwoo did a little dance after taking a bite of the treat while nodding, equally happy.

"And I love it! Thanks, Jinae!"

"You're welcome."

Serena smiled while looking around at the other four as they were sitting at one of their campus' tables, enjoying the treats from Beard Papa's.

"I really like this creme brulee though."

Kierra munched on the said treat while looking over at Serena.

"Thanks."

"Welcome."

Serena had wanted to give Hyunkyung his portion, but he had other things to do and took a rain check for another time. So, Serena let the others enjoy them instead.

"So, Jiwoo," Linna began after swallowing, "What songs did you want to do for auditions?"

"Yeah, are we just singing? Just dancing? Or both?" Melanie asked for clarification.

"Well, I was thinking we could do both." Jiwoo answered as she looked at them a bit worried.

"Unless it's too short of a notice and we could do one or the other. I just know that our schedule hasn't matched up until now"

"We can do both." The cousins replied in unison.

"Really?"

"Yes."

Jiwoo released a relieved breath before focusing again.

"Awesome. So, auditions are two Sundays from now with the announcments for the final lineup will be posted on the nineteenth, the day before the first day of exams. Then the talent show will be on the last day of April."

Jiwoo cast them a concerned look.

"Honestly, it doesn't give us that much time to practice and how it'll fit into our schedules. Plus, I dunno if y'all still wanna go through with it as midterms are coming up and I know that's pretty crucial for a lot of us."

"No, worries. We'll managed." Linna said with a knowing look.

"We're used to it."

"Yeah, it's nothing new." Melanie agreed as the older two frowned.

"Unfortunately."

But they brushed it off once seeing Jiwoo's worrying face.

"But, yeah, Jiwoo, don't worry about it."

"I really appreciate it and thank you."

"You're welcome." The four responded.

Jiwoo pulled out a notebook of her plans and ideas of how to go about the talent show.

"So, we can practices this weekend at the school's gym or dance rooms if y'all are free to do so. We can