Hearing the loud ringing of the school bell, Nina and Mijin couldn't help but stare at they're friend, who started to fix her things in a rush. The teacher just left the classroom a few seconds ago and Saeyoung easily grabbed most of her classmate's attention just by standing up and hurriedly tend to her things. The girl didn't mind their stares at all, she just wanted to run and exit the school gates as soon as possible.

Unaware of Saeyoung, her extra shirt suddenly fell out of her bag. Nina was the first person to notice so she picked it up, exchanging glances with Mijin who seemed to be on the same page as her.

"Excuse me, Saeyoung? We don't have Physical Ed's class today, remember?"

"H-Huh? Of course! We only have those classes during Fridays and Thursdays."  she replied, paying attention to the books she was arranging rather than looking straight at Nina and Mijin's direction.

Mijin lifted her left eyebrow.  "Then why did you bring an extra shirt?"  she questioned. Saeyoung looked up to Mijin who straight up walked to her bag and surprisingly pulled out her adidas pants. Mijin's lip parted.  "You even brought pants? Okay what's going on?"

Saeyoung just shooked her head.  "Nothing." she retrieved her clothes from her friends, putting it back inside her bag. She zipped it close, then grabbing the strap, swinging it on her shoulder.

"And where the fuck are you going? It's lunch time, not dismissal time."  Nina cleared it out if any case her friend forgot her own class schedule.

Saeyoung pursed her lips.  "Umm...I have an appointment with my doctor today so...I won't be able to complete my whole day of class today.

"But weren't you absent just yesterday?"

"I-I was but again, the doctor wants to see me right now so..yeah." Saeyoung waved a small good bye to her two friends and walked out of the room.

Nina clicked her tongue.  "Something's going on, I can feel it. But let's save that thought for later, Chaeji must be waiting for us at the cafeteria." she linked her arms with Mijin and quietly went to the cafeteria to eat.

Curiosity filled the girls' table. They were casually guessing what Saeyoung has been up to the past few days, slowly, the girls were forming a hypothesis when they were disturb by the presence of a boy standing in front of the table.

"Xinlong! What's up?"

Xinlong roamed his eyes around, hoping he would find the person he was looking for. Chaeji noticed this and instantly spoke. She  knew what his real business was.  "If you're looking for Saeyoung, then sorry. She's not here."

"But didn't she attend school today? I saw her wandering around the hallways earlier this morning."

"She left 30 minutes ago. She said that she had an appointment with the doctor today."  Mijin replied.

"How about you?"  Nina pointed the tip of her chopsticks at the boy.  "What's you're business with my friend?"  she questioned, now stuffing her mouth with her chicken teriyaki.

"You know if Ni-ki sent you here just to find Saeyoung and ask about her whereabouts, then you should've told him that- "

"No, Ni-ki did not send me here. Actually, I came here voluntarily to say thanks to Saeyoung for lending me her notes. But since she isn't here then, I'd see you ladies later."  he gave a quick bow before going back to his table.

Feeling a bit dubious, Mijin gazed at Ni-ki's table. Once she found herself eye to eye with the japanese boy, who too was staring at they're table, Ni-ki looked away and began to drink his water.

"Okay, Soul and Saeyoung. Go!"  Jeongseob cued Jinwoo to play the music.

Soul and Saeyoung started dancing they're solo part of the routine. And in this segment, Saeyoung gets to play 'hard to get' with Soul while he needs to play along with her and flirt at the same time.

The korean version of Jay Park's song, 'Me Like Yuh' is the song that played during Soul and Saeyoung's fragment of the choreography and once the second chorus of the song hits, the pairs, Jeongseob and Jieun, Jinwoo and Yoon enters the scene and dance along with Soul and Saeyoung.

After 'Me Like Yuh', every pair needs to be at they're designated positions once the remix starts playing Meghan Trainor's 'Dear Future Husband' as the last song of the choreo.

"Good job everyone, let's take five."  they're dance teacher announced.

Wiping her face with her towel, Jieun approached Saeyoung with her mask in hand.  "Saeyoung, our tailor wanted me to pass you, you're mask. The design of it didn't really take long to finish, and you can finally get used to wearing it. All we have to do is tie the mask tight and for sure it won't ever come off no matter how much you move you're head."  Jieun went on ahead and tightly tied the strings of the mask into four knots.

"Thanks."

Saeyoung faced the mirror and admired the colors and designs that were put into it, just by seeing the butterfly wing design placed on the right side, it was pretty obvious that the creator was inspired by butterflies, or maybe fairies that made the mask look enchanting.

"As you can see, the mask is dark blue. Meaning, the color of our costumes are in the same color as it."

"How'd you know?"  Saeyoung questioned.

"Color coding. It's not the team's first time performing a ballroom themed dance."  Jieun passed Saeyoung a spare choco pie and invited her to sit.  "Every year, the judges assigns each team a color of they're choice, like what I said color coding. So the judges won't have a hard time guessing on which school is performing right in front of them during the competition. Last year, we were red but this year, it's blue."

"And if I were to guess, Adroit's color for this year is, Purple."  May added.  "And if you're thinking that us, Hyevin and the other schools might be wearing masks, well you're wrong.  All of the dancers will show they're faces, except for you of course."  she clarified.

Crystal Clear, Saeyoung would definitely be the odd one out of all the dancers who are to compete. She just hopes that she won't receive too much attention from the audience just because she's the only one who gets to hide her identity in front of many.

She's afraid that her leg might slip once she catches the people's eyes, on her.

As the girl dug deep into her thoughts, Jinwoo's claps managed to grab her attention. He gave her smile of approval.  "Doing well, Juliet. I never knew that you'd be able to catch with Captain Romeo."

"Well, it just takes practice. You know?"

Jinwoo nodded.  "Right. Anyways..." his tongue clicked.  "How are you and you're boyfriend doing? For sure he wouldn't like the idea of you, representing his rivals."

Saeyoung choked at the boy's words. She didn't know where this was coming from.  "B-Boyfriend? Sorry I don't have a boyfriend."  she laughed at her statement.

"You don't? Then who is Nishimura Riki to you? For sure the both of you had something before."

The girl bit her inner lip.  "Who is Nishimura Riki to me?" she mumbled. She heaved a heavy sigh before facing Jinwoo with the confidence she has.  "My schoolmate. My teammate. Obviously."  laughter suddenly came up after her reply. Deep inside, the least she could say is 'friend' but they're situation looked so far from being friends.

The image of her and Ni-ki, felt a bit blurry.

"Oh, so you aren't together?"

"No. He is Takara's boyfriend."

Jinwoo gasped.  "Takara? As in Yasuda Takara? The girl that KOPD League's, Yamamoto Yasuo has a crush on?" the girl nodded at him. Jinwoo brushed back his hair with a surprised expression written on his face.  "Well that took a 160° degree turn, now didn't it?"

Saeyoung shrugged.  "I guess so."

"Then I won't be surprised if Ni-ki and Takara were to be partners at the competition."  Jinwoo grinned at her before grabbing his face towel, rushing back to Zihao, Soul and Jeongseob.

Surprisingly, Soul had his eyes on her. He gave Saeyoung a reassuring smile and a thumbs up as a symbol of encouragement and his appreciation. He mouthed a  'are you okay?'  which she answered with a simple nod.

Wonyoung saw this small interaction and went to approach the girl.  "I think you should forget you're feelings for Ni-ki. I mean, Soul is all set and available."  she teased.

"Look, believe me when I say that they are still here on Earth, alive."  the man on the phone puts emphasis at the last word.

The boy's forehead creased. He took a halt into his steps, processing what the caller said. He badly wanted to believe him but he didn't want to get his hopes up for something unrealistic─ well for him, to say the least.

"A-Are you sure? Maybe they just looked like them? You're probably mistaking those people for someone who died years ago."

The caller scoffed.  "Look, we'll try to do a background check on them just to make sure. Let's not let this pass, bro. Who knows, maybe they didn't die at all? Maybe they are still out there, looking for they're son after all these years."

"Fine." he sighed in defeat.  "Do whatever you wish to find information, as much as I'd like to help, I can't. I still have a competition to attend to."

"Aye! Aye! Sir!"  the caller exclaimed, before initially ending the call.

Tying his shoe laces, his mind was occupied by the thought of call he had just a few minutes ago, he moved on from the incident that happened years ago and he's somehow satisfied with his current life. He doesn't want anything else.

All he wanted was to avoid conflicts that could mess with the life he has right now.

Avoid it.

Avoid everything that would make him part with his loved ones.

Avoid leaving.

But he can't avoid the feeling of hope at his friend's words. He wanted to see them again.

A sudden call managed to interrupt his thoughts, he wanted to be alone right now. He wanted time for himself but the caller just ruined it for him.

"Hello? Is there anything wrong?" he asked.

"Saeyoung!"  the caller spoke out.

"What happened to her?"

"Something happened to Saeyoung!"