Jia quickened her pace, almost jogging, as she made her way to the school auditorium. The usually chaotic hallways or bustling classes were all mostly empty. The school seemed more tranquil and calmer; save for the occasional loud cheers from their several sports grounds or the mixture of melodies from various instruments and music related clubs staying over for practice. Afterschool activities that required staying back felt fun largely because of that. It was almost like having the entire school to yourself. She whizzed past numerous empty windows and paused when she finally saw their large auditorium.

She was moments away from attending her first practice session for the drama. The whole thing can either go amazingly well or terribly bad; there's no in-between, she thought to herself. She checked her watch and took a deep breath to calm down. The last thing she wanted was to be late and frantic for their first session. She wanted to leave a good impression on everyone, and that included being punctual. She walked into the vast room; expecting to find Miss Na already on stage; but it was empty. She walked through the middle, scanning the rows of vacant chairs on either side. She figured she was early and gingerly walked to the frontmost row, staring at the wide stage. Having spent most of her childhood in the same school, she'd been on that stage plenty of times. She'd seen the auditorium go through numerous renovations and annual talent shows. She'd discovered a lot of her interest and talents on that very stage. It was hard to believe that in barely just two more years, she'd be seeing the last of it.

"Hey!" Said a cheerful voice from one of the side stages.

Jia nearly screamed, hearing the voice out of nowhere. She had been under the impression that she was alone; but apparently not.

Oblivious to her absolutely terrified state, Taehyung hopped over the stairs on the side. He was probably backstage, snooping around at the chance of not having any teacher's supervision.

"Hey." Jia replied, composing herself.

"Looks like you and I are the only ones on time." He smiled at her.

"Looks like it." Jia agreed, returning the smile.

He sat by the right end of a step and beckoned her to sit alongside him. She made her way towards him and awkwardly sat by the opposite end. He rummaged his pockets for something and took out two pieces of candy. He offered one to her but she declined it politely. He shrugged and tore off the wrapper on one, popping it into his mouth.

"So, did you read through the story?" He asked, pushing back the glasses on his nose.

"I did. I thought it would be boring at first but it got interesting mid-way." She nodded.

"I know right! I knew she was going to leave but I kept hoping she would come back, y'know? Like a TV soap ending... but I guess not." He said thoughtfully.

"I felt bad for her kids but other than that, she did what was right for her. Which is cool." Jia pointed out.

"True." He nodded along.

They both remained silent for a while. Jia realised she'd be spending a lot more time with this guy; especially considering how they played the lead couple on stage. Might as well get to know him more. She should have probably started with something less awkward like asking about his interests or his favourite movie and stuff; instead, she ended up blurting out "We have some weird scenes together, huh?"

Jia internally did a facepalm. 'Why are you like this?' she asked herself.

To her surprise, Taehyung's eyes went wide and he nodded vigorously. "You felt it too, right? Oh, Thank god." He said, reaching over to hit her on the arm.

She narrowed her eyes at that, but at least it didn't turn out to be a complete disaster. The play didn't have anything as intimate as one would think; but the flirting in itself felt cringey, especially since she had to do it on stage. Her only hope was that it would be censored to fit the school's audience.

"What's with the all the weird animal nicknames?" He asked, exasperated. "My little squirrel!" He said, making fun of the various names with which Helmer addressed Nora. "I gave up trying to understand the English text and actually read the translated version. And I thought maybe it was all just a translating error. But I see now that they're real."

"They're very real." Jia confirmed.

They continued chatting as more and more people entered; occupying random nooks and corner of the auditorium. They had thankfully moved onto a less awkward conversation involving their normal high-school shenanigans. Additionally, Jia understood the reasons as to why Taehyung was such a good actor. He was apparently part of a local theatre troupe.

"One of my dad's friend is a playwright who produces small scale plays. Initially, they just wanted me to fill in as an extra but they let me hang around now. I don't do any major roles, just tiny side ones here and there." He smiled proudly.

"That's so cool!" Jia said in awe. "So, none of this is new for you, huh?"

"School productions and professional productions are very different from each other but I guess I could say I'm not a stranger to being on stage." He pointed out.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Said Jungkook, hitting her head with a notebook.

"Ouch! Hey, what was that for?!" Jia exclaimed, scowling up at him.

"Hard to stop a habit. My bad." He smiled sheepishly at her.

Jia grabbed the notebook out of his hand. "For my safety." She reasoned. She opened the book and flipped through the pages. "Is this supposed to be your physics notebook?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Do you need mine to copy notes?" He smirked.

"I would ask but... it's pretty much all blank." She said, raising up the book.

"Gimme that." He frowned, snatching back the notebook.

"You're playing Dr Rank, right?" Taehyung questioned, looking up at the energetic Jungkook.

"Yup." He nodded. "Right?" He asked Jia hesitantly.

"You are Dr Rank; Torvald's closest friend." She said, gesturing at Taehyung.

"How are you today, best friend?" Taehyung joked, raising up his arm for a fist-bump.

Jungkook obliged, an amused smile playing on his lips. "Thanks for asking, best friend. I'm doing good." He said, playing along.

"So, I take it you didn't read the play?" Jia asked, moving up a couple of stairs to make room for Jungkook.

He sat down a few steps underneath her and shook his head in reply. "Which is why I have you. Now hurry up and tell me what it is, or you get a flick to your forehead." He smiled innocently at her.

"Oh no, I'm so scared." Jia said sarcastically. "Please don't hur-Ow!" Before she could finish, Jungkook had reached up and flicked her forehead. "Dude, that really hurt." She said rubbing her forehead.

"Aww really?" He mocked back. "I'm so sorry but-hey!" It was Jia's turn to flick him on the forehead. While he was still in shock, she managed to sneak in two more attacks. "Three?! What the hell?" He exclaimed looking back at her murderously.

"One for this." She said, pointing to her forehead. "One for hitting me with a book. And the other for not asking politely." She explained.

"Is this how all your classes are going to be? Because if so, I want out."

"You have signed up for hell, Jeon Jungkook." She said, with a sinister smirk.

He reached up to flick her forehead again, but this time, she held onto his hand and managed to lean away. "Na-uh. Bad, Jungkook." She said, as though addressing a pet. "No assaulting the teacher." She said solemnly.

Meanwhile, Taehyung observed their banter with great interest. He watched as she intertwined both of her hands with Jungkook's, probably in an attempt to keep them away from hurting her. But for an outsider, it suspiciously looked like flirting. Taehyung had his doubts. Why not? As far as he was concerned, they were both single and looked comfortably close to each other. Jia must have caught him ogling at their intertwined hands, for she quickly separated her hands away from the other boy's.

"The story." Jia said abruptly, clearing her throat. She summarised the main events of the story as crisply and interestingly as she could. From countless tutoring sessions with Mina, she had learned that the best way to sustain the learner's interest in the subject was to adapt it to their interests. Especially for stories, she'd realised that explaining it in the 'new generation lingo' caught more attention than a tardy methodical explanation. Of course, she'd use other ways to sneak in the important points using more such clever disguises. For instance, her version of Julius Caesar involved a lot more "bitch, you did not" and a lot less confusing archaic dialect. As ridiculous as it sounded, it worked.

"And then, she nope-d the heck out of that family. She was like 'This toxic relationship ain't for me' and then, set out on a journey to find her true self." Jia concluded.

Jungkook had listened to the whole story with complete concentration. Towards the end, she could see his jaw hanging slightly open. "So, she just leaves him? Forever? He gasped.

"Most likely forever; yeah." Jia answered.

"I can understand why she did that but I'm sad that they split up." He said, still gaping. He looked down at his lap, seemingly pondering over her words. "Wait, so I play a creep who ends up dying of terminal illness?"

"That's one way of putting it." Jia mused.

"And you guys play husband and wife?" Jungkook asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jia looked at Taehyung and their eyes met awkwardly before she nodded a yes.

"Couples, huh?" Jungkook oohed, wiggling his eyebrows flirtatiously. "How's married life, you guys?" He asked, teasing them.

Jia looked at him with pure disgust written all over her face. Taehyung narrowed his eyes at Jungkook, but quickly replaced it with a playful smile.

"It's going good actually. But you can't relate, can you? You're just a love-sick loner who hits on married woman." Taehyung titled his head, smiling mischievously.

"Oh wow." Jia said, laughing out loud. "Good one." She said, high-fiving the spectacled boy.

Jungkook was rendered speechless but he was thankfully saved from further embarrassment as Miss Na entered the hall. She huffed and panted as she hurried onto the stage. The trio cleared out from the stairs and watched her in anticipation.

"I'm so sorry for being late. We had an emergency staff meeting." She said, struggling to catch her breath. "Ten minutes. It's okay. Let's just get started." She said, taking a quick peak at her watch.

There was a total of eleven kids who had gathered in the auditorium. Together, they made a huge semi-circle and sat on the stage facing the teacher. Miss Na sat amidst them on a chair and looked around, smiling warmly at everyone.

"Welcome to your first session. Before we begin, I just want to give everyone a round of applause for being such good sports." Everyone joined her as she clapped her hands. "Some of you already have experience acting on stage while for most of you here, all of this is new. But don't worry, we're just here to have fun." She assured. "Let's begin with a simple vocal exercise, shall we?"

***

"See you tomorrow." Jia said, waving goodbye to both Taehyung and Jungkook. They walked till the end of a corridor and split ways as she took a detour. She jogged silently and smiled at the occupied music room. The sound of melodious piano notes filled the eerily quiet hallways. She stood by one of the classrooms, close enough to see Yoongi and far enough to stay out of Mr. Han's sight. A short while later, the practice session came to an end and she watched as the professor walked out of the room. She waited long enough for him to vanish completely out of site and tip-toed her way into the room.

He sat with his back turned to her, his shoulders hunched over a book propped next to the piano. Silently, she made her way in and gently covered his eyes from behind. He must have been startled, for he gripped her wrist tightly, and she gasped aloud in response. At that, the grip suddenly softened and she could feel his eyebrows move beneath her palms.

"Jia? Is that you?" He asked to confirm.

"Yeah, it's me." She said, withdrawing her arms sheepishly.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, turning around to look at her.

"Drama practice, remember?" She said, rubbing her wrists.

"Ah, the one with Miss Na?" He seemed a little disturbed; eyes darting frantically from her to the door behind her. He also eyed her hands from time to time.

"Yeah, that's the one." She nodded. She turned around to look at the door and then turned back to him. "Is everything okay?"

He licked his lips nervously. "Jia, listen." He said, lowering his voice. "Wait for me by the school gate, okay? I'll pack up the stuff here and meet you there in five minutes."

"Okay...?" She said uncertainly. Jia didn't understand why he seemed so anxious but she decided not to question it.

She stood by the gate, waiting, just as he had asked her to. She leaned against the bricked walls, fiddling with the strings of her backpack. She peaked in through the sills of the gate and watched with amusement as Yoongi ran up to her. He stopped abruptly next to her and leant on the wall, panting as though he ran a marathon.

"Why did you run?" Jia asked, raising an eyebrow.

He looked to her sideways and shook his head. He wordlessly grabbed her wrist, yanking her as he quietly quickened his steps past the school compound. When they were at a considerable distance away from the school gates, he loosened his grip and instead, intertwined his fingers with hers. Beads of sweat ran down his temple and he somehow managed to steady his breathing.

"That was the most exercise I've done this whole week." He said, smiling at her sheepishly. They continued to walk on the pavement, going straight.

"I can see that." She chuckled. "But what was it all about?"

"You probably might not know this but there's a camera in the music room." He said awkwardly.

"What?!" Jia asked, horrified.

"Yeah, they installed one because there's been a few cases of missing instruments." He affirmed, nodding.

Jia clamped her mouth with her palm. "Oh no. What if someone was watching it?" She couldn't even comprehend the embarrassment she felt.

"It's unlikely that there's someone always monitoring it. But if someone decides to play it back..." He trailed off.

"We're dead." Jia blinked.

"Relax, I'm sure no one's gonna see it. And besides, it's not like we did anything too scandalous. I'm just letting you know in case we do decide to get scandalous in the future." He said, smirking at her.

"No. Please, stop." She said, covering her red ears with her hands.

"And by scandalous, I meant stealing the guitar." He said shrugging. "Oh my god, Jia! Were you thinking of something else?" He teased, lightly bumping his shoulders to hers. Jia rolled her eyes and hit him playfully.

Yoongi pushed open the jingling door to Lily's and looked around to find an empty spot. Fortunately, they found a vacant table and were on their way when Jia accidentally bumped into someone. The other person dropped a few books and Jia knelt down to help, apologising profusely. She picked up the remaining books and handed it back to the girl, apologising yet again. To her amusement, Arden Kim smiled at her, assuring her that it was okay. Jia smiled back and nodded politely before making her way to Yoongi.

She made herself comfortable on the chair and she turned around to find Arden seated against a guy. It was the same dude she'd seen at the party, one of Yoongi's classmate. 'Oh boy.' Jia thought. If they're together at Lily's, it would only be a matter of hours before everyone in the school knew. She looked around and sure enough, most of the school's students were sneaking glances at the couple. 'Jungkook's going to be even more miserable...' she mumbled to herself.

Shooing the thoughts away, she turned back around and focused on the boy sitting across her. He propped his elbow onto the table and rested his chin on his palm, his long fingers extending all the way to the side of his temple.

He grinned at her, exposing his adorable gummy smile. "I'm so glad you got the part. We get to spend more time together and I even get to walk you home."

Jia couldn't help but smile back. "Ooh, are you that happy?" She inquired. Unlike most, Yoongi had to stay back at school for Piano lessons almost every day. Now that she had to stay back too, they'd get to see each other more often.

"I am." He nodded. "It's like the universe is making arrangements for us to hangout more."

"The universe ships us." Jia giggled, blushing at the cheesiness of her own words. "If it makes you that happy, I can stay back every day just for you." Jia winked, shyly drawing patterns on the table.

"That sounds like a very good plan." Yoongi agreed. "Perhaps then, we could actually be scandalous in the music room." He said, smiling back coyly.

"I don't mind." Jia said, biting her lower lip.

Yoongi looked at her in surprise, taken aback by her reply. His ears slowly turned red and his lips parted in disbelief. "R-really?"

Jia nodded in all seriousness. "I don't mind stealing a guitar or two." She said, shrugging.

He stared at her, blinking in confusion. When the realisation finally dawned on him, he groaned, pulling his hand away from hers. "Ah, Yun Jia!" He whined.

"Oh my god, Yoongi! Were you expecting something else?" Jia taunted, feigning a horrified expression.

"Had my hopes up for nothing." He muttered, looking away. He folded his hands over his chest and huffed comically.

Jia doubled over with laughter, trying to grab back the attention of a disappointed Yoongi. Jia made a mental note to thank Jungkook for getting her into trouble. If all 'punishments' were actually this good, she wouldn't mind getting into trouble more often.