"Whoo, go ladies!"

Came the cheers from Sujin, Woojoo, Seona, and their other friends of the female dance team. The four alongside Saerom, Yunjin, and two others, Song Hayoung and Lee Seoyeon, danced to 2 On for the others to critique any areas they may need to brush up on. 2 On was the last choreography after all the participants for the Mini Dance Showcase had practiced once classes were done for the day.

"I'm tired."

"Me, too."

The pair of sisters crashed to the floor, resting their tired bodies as the others lauged at their behavior due to knowing how it was.

"Oh, you'll get used to it." Jisun remarked with a laugh.

Jiwon came around to the pairs to give them either water or juice to re-energize them. The quartet took them thankfully while re-positioning themselves into a sitting position and drank the drinks.

"Anyway," Saerom interjected with a firm look.

"We're gonna check in with the others to see how they're doing for the Mini and Main showcases."

"You guys can hang out for as long as needed." Chaeyoung informed them with a smile.

"The boys will be in the other rooms practicing and won't be bothering you unless they need something from here, which I doubt though."

The quartet gave an OK sign, too tired to respond as the dance team members left to do what they needed to do while the others stuck around for a bit, but excused themselves as they had other plans for the day. They were only here for moral support and wanting to get a sneak peek of what to expect next month. Now, their friends didn't want to bother them as they knew the cousins needed a rest and some time to themselves to recharge after being thrown into the mini showcase out of the blue.

"Later, ladies."

"Yeah, take care."

"Please, rest well."

"Get home safely, too."

Came a few words before they bid one another goodbye.

"I'm gonna be so sore." Serena groaned, lying on her back now.

"I know right." Kierra agreed, doing the same, but on her stomach instead.

"I'm gonna take medicine before falling asleep tonight for sure."

"Oh, I should do that, too."

"We should all do that." Melanie remarked with a laugh as Linna nodded before hearing her phone go off.

"Ugh. Who would be calling me right now?"

Linna got up, went to her belongings, and checked her phone.

"Oh, it's Victor."

Victor was a cousin from their mothers' side.

"What's up?" Linna answered, returning to the others while putting him on speaker.

"Sup." Victor responded.

"What you doing?"

"Chilling. I got you on speaker. Isn't it like two in the morning over there?"

"Yeah, taking a break from gaming right now." He answered before asking a question.

"When are you guys coming again?"

"Uh..."

Linna looked over at Melanie before sliding the phone over as she had a better memory of their itinerary for their flight back home. Melanie moved the phone closer to her and spoke with her cousin.

"Hey. So, um, on our end, we're flying out on Wednesday afternoon at around two-thirty and we should arrive over there on your end around Wednesday morning at around ten-ten that same day. It's a nonstop flight for us and it'll be like twelve hours in total."

"Cool, cool."

"Why? You and Jackie are gonna pick us up?"

Jackie was another cousin from their mothers' side.

"Yeah. Where's Kierra and Serena."

"Here with me and Linna."

Melanie slid the phone in the middle of them all so that everyone could hear and talk better.

"Hi." Both Serena and Kierra responded with Victor doing the same.

"Yeah, sup, sup. So, I don't know if y'all saw the cousin chat, but they want y'all to bring lots of snacks we can't find here since y'all didn't come during Christmas. We just ran out a few days ago."

"I'll think about it." The quartet responded, followed by a laugh.

Despite Daniel, David, Victor, and Jackie being only the blood-related family to the quartet, they all also included others the four knew alongside Evan and Jeffrey like neighbors and childhood friends, considering them all as family as well. Still, both sets of sisters were the only females in the chat, having grown up mainly in a family of males on both sides.

"Aight then, I'm gonna go back to my game. Oh, wait, Serena."

"Hmm?" She hummed.

"You gonna play later?"

"Maybe. I dunno. If you don't see me, then no."

"Okay. Aight, see y'all near the end of June."

"Okay."

"Seeya."

"Late."

"Later."

Victor hung up as the four stayed where they were. They stayed like that for a moment longer until Kierra voiced something.

"We should go now if none of us want to run into you know who."

The four scrambled to their feet, collected their belongings, but froze in their spots when the doors burst opened with Ni-Ki, Jungwon, and Sunoo clamoring in.

"What are y'all doing here?"

"So, it's true?"

"I thought they were joking."

"Forget that." Kierra dismissed as she stared at the trio.

"Go back to practicing in the other rooms with the others."

She tried to shoo them away, but the trio stuck around instead to bother the quartet with Ni-Ki connecting his phone to the bluetooth.

"Let's have a dance jam."

"No." The cousins declined.

"Oh, c'mon, let's just jam out." Jungwon pleaded with Sunoo eyeing them knowingly.

"Y'all are already participating in the mini showcase with us anyway."

"Yeah." Ni-Ki chimed in with a smirk.

"It's no different when y'all did those performances."

"Nah, that's different." Serena disagreed.

"Anyway, we were gonna get something to eat just now."

A partial truth as they were gonna get food on their way home after practice were over. Just, not right now.

"Oh, then let's order and have it deliver here instead." Jungwon insisted as Sunoo brought out his phone while looking at the others.

"I'll order the food. What should we get?"

The cousins gave in as they joined in on the discussion of what to get for dinner and joining in on the dance jam after ordering. Eventually, the others came to join the group soon afterwards, even ordering more food. The cousins tried their best to avoid a certain someone, but that was inevitable as basically everyone mingled with one another and talked to each other openly. It didn't help that Sunoo, Ni-Ki, and Jungwon sat with the cousins while eating, causing the other four to join their circle, too. Still, it wasn't as bad as the quartet thought and the night passed by fairly chill without any incidents.

"Taeha says that you and Sunghoon don't even act like a couple when he walks you to your classes."

Linna heard a female voice speak from behind her while washing her hands after using the toilet. She glanced up and used the mirror to talk to Rika without turning to face her. Linna actually forgot that she had Taeha in her classes.

"We prefer to keep things subtle as we're focusing more on our studies."

Linna had no clue how she could even remain calm and speak without showing that she was lying. She had to give major credits to her sister and cousin for low-key teaching her and Melanie this skill over the years. If not, Linna may have gotten caught way earlier than right now.

"Then why don't I ever see you at their dance events until now?"

Rika crossed her arms over her chest while glaring at Linna through the mirror still. Linna finished washing her hands, shook them in the sink, and went to dry them, still not bothering to face the other woman.

"I don't always have to go to his events or always stick to him like glue, Choi Rika. He knows that I'm supporting him from out of sight and that's all that matters."

Tonight was the Mini Dance Showcase before the main event in less than a month and Linna and the other three were hanging out with their friends before the actual performances. She had to use the toilet and knew she should've waited a little longer. Anyway, Linna cast Rika with a pointed look.

"Besides, why does it matter to you, Choi Rika, about my relationship with my boyfriend, when you're the one not dating him? Like, why are you so concerned about another woman's man? Shouldn't you be worrying about your own relationship with your boyfriend though?"

"Because I know that it can't be real as I've known him longer than you, Jung Jiyeon."

Linna inwardly groaned, automatically thinking of this moment as one of those cliche plots used in dramas and wished she wasn't even in one right now. Linna really didn't want to bother anymore with Rika as the others were still waiting for her to come out.

"Whether you've known someone longer or not, Choi Rika, that doesn't mean you have the right to decide what's right by them or not. The same with who can date or not date either. Because Park Sunghoon is his own person and if he wants to date me than you, then that's a 'you problem' that you need to fix and maybe even ask yourself about it."

Linna shot her with a smirk before walking past her. Rika silently fumed, knowing Linna was right, but hated her for it. Once Linna exited the bathrooms, she let out a relieved breath.

"You good?" Kierra asked her sister when she finally came out.

'Yeah, just some people hogging up the sink."

Linna didn't want to tell them just yet of her run-in with Rika as she knew they'll do something about it if Rika decides to do something. She already witnessed that first hand not that long ago.

"I know right." Melanie agreed.

"Anyway, let's go." Serena urged while motioning her head to leave.

"Gotta meet up with the others to run over some things."

"Go, Hyebi!" The dance team cheered in a large huddle.

Both males and females surrounded one another as they wished each other 'good luck'. The cousins did the same with those around them while psyching themselves up before their performances.

"Good luck, Hayoun. You'll do great." Jay wished Kierra, coming over to her with a reassuring smile.

"Uh, thanks, Jay. The same to you." Kierra responded, flashing him a small smile, welcoming the change of pace.

"Good luck, Youngseo." Jake said with a bright smile as Melanie smiled right back.

"Oh, thank you, Jake. You, too."

"Good luck, Jiyeon." Sunghoon told Linna while coming up to her with a smile.

"Good luck to you, too, Sunghoon." Linna wished him back with a smile of her own.

"Good luck, Minseo. You got this." Heeseung cheered Serena on as she laughed with a nod.

"Ah, thank you, Heeseung,.Good luck to you as well."

The eight then wished the rest around them before they all went their separate ways to go about the show. Chaeyoung found the cousins shortly afterwards to brush up on the choreography and to go over any worries the four may have. And so, the Mini Dance Showcase went on, one by one with various performances from both the dance teams taking turns to show off their skills they've been practicing since the start of the spring term. Just to give them a taste of what was to come for the main showcase. Once the quartet were done with their performance, they decided to change out of their clothes to watch the rest of the showcase with their other friends and Seohoo in the crowd and cheer on the rest.

"I still don't believe that the two of you are dating, Park Youngseo." Nara confronted Melanie, alone, outside of the restroom.

Melanie needed to use the bathroom during the show and unfortunately ran into Nara when coming out.

"Okay, that's cool, Kim Nara."

Melanie really didn't have it in her at the moment to argue or even put up a fight if needed with Nara after already dealing with her nonsense this whole semester. After Linna told them about her incident with Rika, Melanie thought she was prepared, but she was just more annoyed and tired than anything else. Nara blocked her path.

"I will be cheering the loudest for Jake and there's nothing you can do about it, Park Youngseo."

"Don't care, Kim Nara. Go ahead. He knows what's up." Melanie dismissed her while walking away.

Nara shouted after her, annoyed.

"It isn't real and I will make him mine, Park Youngseo!"

Melanie casually glanced over her shoulder with a nonchalant look.

"Well, Kim Nara, hopefully your boyfriend doesn't mind you having another one."

Melanie gave her a peace sign while adding a few more choice words.

"Because I know Jake wouldn't like sharing his girlfriend with someone else though."

Melanie flashed a smug smile, swiftly turned around, and disregarded the angry way Nara stomped her feet as she strutted off in the opposite direction. Melanie shook her head, bewildered, wondering if she should've came with the others to avoid something like this. Luckily, Nara didn't do anything, but still, it could've turned for the worst if her sister and cousins were with her, too. She definitely didn't want another incident like that time a while back.

"You good?" Linna asked when Melanie joined the rest.

"Yeah, just had a little run-in with Kim Nara just now."

"Just like me with Choi Rika."

"Something like that."

"Well, I'm glad you're good."

"Me, too, but hopefully nothing else happens or they're gonna have to answer to our sisters."

"For real and after the last encounter, I know their ready to throw hands to get them to back off for sure."

"Yeah, no kidding."

The two share a quiet giggle as they watched the rest of the performers even though their sisters cast them with puzzled looks while they shook their heads to indicate that it was nothing to worry about. Serena and Kierra backed off and focused on the rest of the performing acts while joining the others in cheering.

"Whoo!"

"Let's go!"

Nearing the end of the mini showcase though, the quartet's friends invited them out for a small celebration, but the cousins declined as they already had plans with Seohoo. However, those plans fell through at the last minute when Seohoo informed the four that he was going on a group date instead and told them he'll make it up to them another time. Before the pair of sisters could relish in the fact that they could just go home and chill now, they were unexpectedly pulled along by Ni-Ki, Jungwon, and Sunoo to hangout instead. To which didn't turn out so bad as they had thought, but the feelings inside them stirred a little more than normal that night.

"Looks good, Youngseo." Jake said as he handed Melanie back her paper.

"Thanks, Jake."

She let out a deep breath, feeling slightly relieved after hearing those words.

"I really thought I wouldn't get it in the end as this seems way difficult than before."

Jake chuckled.

"Like I keep saying, you're a fast learner and easy to teach. Have more confidence in yourself."

"Thanks, Jake, but I still think I'll do poorly on the finals coming up in two weeks though."

"No worries, Youngseo. Just keep doing what you've been doing all this time. Besides, you still got me."

He flashed her a smile as a small smile graced her lips, too.

"Thanks and I do, don't I?"

Melanie happily scanned the paper while Jake quietly observed her with a soft smile on his face. The pair were nearing the end of their math tutoring despite a mishap from earlier. Nara happened to followed Melanie to the library in hopes of seeking Jake's help with her own mathematic studies just the two of them. Of course, Jake politely declined. Nara persisted, stating she needed the extra help and continued the argument that was until her boyfriend came to