"You know what? I don't really understand you and Ni-ki at all. Here and then you'd have a fight whenever he felt jealous of you being with Soul or you, being jealous of Takara. Then tomorrow or a few days later, you guys are hanging out as if nothing even happened! Then the cycle repeats again!"  Nina ranted as she watches Saeyoung, collecting the printed copies of their teammates' work.

It has been awhile since Saeyoung started making a conversation with Nina about, Ni-ki since the past few weeks have been a bit hectic because of Miss Yoo giving them tasks to do and their subject teachers stacking them up with projects that are due on an earlier date. But other than that, Ni-ki and Saeyoung has been doing well and there was nothing really interesting there to report about her and Ni-ki's status.

"Is me and Ni-ki that confusing to you?"  Saeyoung questioned, which the japanese-american girl responded by, vigorously nodding her head.

"Since both of you are confusing as hell, and to avoid any fights, why don't you just date each other? Simple as that!"

Saeyoung pursed her lips and sighed.  "If only it were that easy. I mean it's obvious that Ni-ki likes Takara and if I were to ask him out, that will leave me and Takara into bad terms. Well, probably..."

Nina has already expected that answer, in almost every talk they have that involves the oh so famous dancer of Adroit, the mention of Takara wouldn't be absent. "Saeyoung, I get that you care about Takara's feelings and that's really sweet of you but you need to think at times okay? What if Takara beats you to Ni-ki? What if the time you finally confess to him face to face, he already has Takara as his girl?"

Saeyoung stayed quiet. She didn't bother giving her friend an answer and continued checking the output of the editorial team, but deep down, Saeyoung was giving a lot of thought into Nina's words. As usual, they were on point and has bigger chances to even happen.

Nina scoffed.  "Goodness! Why are we even talking about Ni-ki and Takara anyways? Just eww! No."  she said before going back into her pile of work. Saeyoung stayed quiet and continued to sink into some pile of papers just to get herself distracted.

From the start of the conversation up until now, Saeyoung couldn't shake off the feeling on how Ni-ki and Takara were doing. She hasn't seen Takara for quite awhile and Ni-ki doesn't seem to be hanging out with her as well. They probably might be too busy coming up with another choreography for the team. Not sure, but one thing is sure, and that is, the second dance competition is coming up and it's obvious the news casting committee should be up runin' and using their cameras again.

Hopefully in this competition, she won't have to witness some unexpected scenes that may trigger or play with her emotions.

1 Month and 2 Weeks later. . .

"Alright good luck! And Saeyoung, don't get yourself hurt, like what happened in the first one."  Miss Yoo reminded. Saeyoung just gave her a small smile before entering the bus, along with her fellow team.

Yeah, hopefully she won't.

Sitting beside Nina, Saeyoung wore her headphones and stared at the view outside their window. A month has passed and it has been very rare for Ni-ki and Saeyoung to meet up lately, because of school work and preparations for today's event. Since they can't find time to actually meet up during weekdays, Ni-ki found a way and started calling her for at least 3-4 times a week after practice, while at school he would give her small waves or gestures whenever they'd pass each other around the halls.

"Where the heck is the dance team? We better get going or we'll be late." said Ze Yu who was on his phone, contacting Xin Long. Maybe even spamming him.

Typical Adroit Manueverz, always coming up late. Saeyoung said to herself. She can't lie that the dancers would always be the last one to show up, as if it's they're planning on creating a grand entrance as a team. Saeyoung cringed at the thought of it.

"Hey! Looks like someone can't take their eyes off you!"  Nina whispered teasingly to her ear. Saeyoung turned to the direction, Nina was looking at. As expected, their eyes met.

Ni-ki gave a side grin then casually winked at her before sitting down beisdes Takara. Nina squealed, shaking her friend who payed no attention to her at all. Saeyoung kept a straight face and stared at another direction. She has been thinking about her and Ni-ki's situation for awhile, deciding if they should continue this kind of action knowing that Ni-ki too, takes an interest in Takara. That's why she had planned to do something in mind.

To:  Kitty 💜
From:  Nishsimura Riki

anything wrong saeyoung?
u seem a lil' bit under the
weather :(
Sent ✔︎

Seeing his message, Saeyoung sighed and left it on seen. She didn't mean to be rude but she thinks its better to stay ignorant for at least a day, since she didn't want to become a victim of false hope once again. Who knows what might happen to Takara today that Ni-ki might immediately become superman and save her, as if Saeyoung was just an extra in the background.

"Oh wait, so the venue for the second competition is here at, Ryubyeol Arts School?"

"Well yes! The school principal gave her permission for the dance competition to be held here. And besides, I heard they have a huge area for us to perform in."  replied Lucy who admired the structure of the school right ahead of them.

"By the way, we should all be careful! A friend of mine who attends Ryubyeol Arts School told me that some parts of the school are still under construction. He doesn't know why but it's probably because they wanted to re-do some structures here and there. "  added Taki.

The ride didn't really take that long for them to reach the location. Saeyoung grabbed her bag and camera and exited the bus on her own, wanting to at least walk by herself for a while. With Lucy and Junghwan to lead the way to their assigned practice room, there was no doubt that she'd get lost again like what happened last time.

"Something wrong kitty? You haven't replied to my message earlier."  out of nowhere, Ni-ki popped up beside her, pouting.  "Remember, you could tell me anything."  he reminded as he gives her a sincere smile.

Saeyoung just nodded.  "Yeah, I remember." she says, not even daring to face him. She pursed her lips and walked ahead of him, while Ni-ki just stared at her worriedly. The girl was becoming distant and all Ni-ki wanted to do was run and give her a hug but he couldn't. He was holding his back.

"Again, congratulations on the performance everybody! Everyone did a splendid job earli─"

"You guys! Takara is in the infirmary!" informed Miihi, who immediately grabbed everyone's attention.

The dance team and news casting team of Adroit exchanged worried looks and immediately ran down to Ryubyeol's infirmary. Wondering what kind of accident the girl was in, they were all hoping that it wouldn't entirely affect the team or they won't get the chance to compete in the competition after this.

Takara was one of the best members they had in the crew, and if something terrible happens to her, for sure it's gonna be a major problem, especially to Ni-ki, and Saeyoung is already preparing herself for the outcome. Another hurtful scene that is yet to take place in just a few seconds.

"Geez! Why do accidents keeps on happening? First, it was Saeyoung and then now, it was Takara. Is Adroit students a target of karma or what?"  Ze Yu complained.

Reaching the school's infirmary the students from Adroit sighed in relief as they saw their teammates finely sitting down at the bed but sadly they easily noticed some bandages wrapped around Ni-ki's head, but he didn't seem to be in a bad condition at all which made them worry less.

"Yah! Nishimura Riki! What the hell happened?"  questioned a worried-sick Jungwon who immediately approached his dongsaeng, not forgetting to give him a light hit at the back of his head.  "You should be more careful! Oh gosh, Jay hyung is gonna be hella mad at you once he hears about this."

Saeyoung watched as her friends and schoolmates approach Ni-ki and Takara, while she watched them near the door. She could tell that these two were out, alone together before this accident happened, and she is very willing to know the reason why. Her heart is already preparing itself for whatever reason Ni-ki and Takara are about to give out.

Takara gave her friends a sincere smile, as she scratched the back of her head.  "Actually, the reason on why me and Ni-ki is in this state is because, he saved me from a falling debris earlier. If he wasn't able to cover me, my head  would have been damaged and I'd be delivered straight to the hospital."

"So he protected her huh?" Nina muttered to herself. She looked back at Saeyoung's direction and saw her walking out of the room. She felt sorry for her friend, it must be painful to hear that.

Walking out of the infirmary, Saeyoung proceeded to the rooftop. She wanted to be alone and think for awhile before going back to her teammates, looking bothered and lost. Her feelings are a mess and she kept debating whether she should keep going for Ni-ki or not. At times, she has already thought of surrendering, and give way for Takara but some part of her still wanted to keep going.

Is it really that difficult to try and move on?

Reaching the rooftop, Saeyoung stared at the sunset. The view was beautiful but her view of Ni-ki and Takara was a sore to the eye. She now wondered on why she kept going for him when she keeps getting hurt later on. She preferred someone who's much more loyal─well everyone wants that, but here she is chasing a guy who she knew liked another girl, and it was tiring. Saeyoung doesn't want this.

"Is this just some sort of play...." Saeyoung quietly uttered under her breath.

"What play?"

Shocked to hear a sudden response, she immediately turned to her side and saw a boy, who too was staring at the view right in front of them.

"S-Soul?"

Soul hummed in reply.  "You don't look okay, what happened?"

It surprised Saeyoung to see that Soul seems to be aware that the girl was having a hard time. Is she that easy to read? Saeyoung chuckled.  "Nothing. I just wanted to see how beautiful the sunset looks up here."  she lied.

"I'm not buying it. You're eyes tells a different story."  Soul replied, easily detected that the girl was lying.  "You know you could use me right? I don't really mind. As long as it'll make you happy."  he says, smiling at the view of the orange sky.

Saeyoung looked down. Just by hearing his offer, it made her want to cry. She didn't know why she felt sensitive all of a sudden but hot tears started streaming down her face. Saeyoung shooked her head, wiping the tears off.  "No, I don't want to use anybody...."

Soul stood near her and slowly started rubbing her back in circles.  "You're a kind girl, I know you won't. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here and I'm willing to be used by you just to help you regain happiness again."

"Y-You're an idiot..." she silenty whispered, balling her fist. A few more tears coming out of her eyes.

"Saeyoung?"

"You're an idiot!"  she clearly spoke out, with more tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were red and he was able to see wet stains on her cheeks.  "Soul, I'm so sorry! I don't deserve you, nor you're kindness!" she went down on her knees and started crying.

Soul's lips parted and slowly kneeled down to her size. He watches as Saeyoung covers her eyes, tears streaming down her face, he didn't bother to carefully pull her to his embrace and rub her back. "Soul, I'm tired... I'm so tired of everything"

Soon enough the boy started to sniffle. He didn't know that she was holding on to this kind of pain for so long, it hurt him. Soul felt really bad for her, so he tightened his embrace.  "Let it all out, let go of the pain Saeyoung. Stop holding it in anymore."  he softly whispered into her ears.

After a few minutes, Saeyoung was able to calm down. Soul continued on comforting her, since there were still some tears running down the side of her cheeks. He gave her a small smile before he started wiping the tears off with his thumb, the two were now staring at each other eye to eye.

"Saeyoung?"

Looking over at the side, Soul and Saeyoung noticed Nina who was staring at them, shocked. And then came the unexpected, Ni-ki. As boy entered the rooftop, the sudden sight of his arch enemy having Saeyoung in his embrace has awoken something in him, take note that it wasn't something good.

"Ni-ki?"

_____________________________________

Ayoo! So yeah, I'm back from my hiatus! It's been awhile huh? Thank you all so much for waiting, thank you! And hopefully these three chapters was able to make it up for the days, I was on hiatus.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter so far ♡︎