fifteen.

                                    

                                          
"You, out of the frame!" Madison sternly directed my boyfriend, then corrected herself with a much more fatal statement. "No, out of here altogether!"
"You clicked, like, one picture of us together. Click on," he said to her in annoyance before turning to me and smiling once again.
"I'm pretty sure there's two zeros after that one," I remarked with a snicker that died down with Minho's next words.
"And still they won't be enough to capture how pretty you look in a hanbok."
His hands framed my burning cheeks and I stood up on my tip toes, but before our lips could meet, my redhead friend's hand came between us to create a barrier as she cleared her throat. 
She handed Minho's phone back to him with a wide smile. "I've clicked a thousand pictures just like you asked. Now we've got a performance to do, so if you would just let go of our little dancer." She grabbed my arm and began walking with me in the direction of the stage.
"Do well!" Minho cheered as he sent a flying kiss my way, which I caught, and happily nodded at him in acknowledgement for his words. 
"Maddy, Mihee's looking for you," Eunice informed, stopping us midway. She tilted her head, presumably trying to remember the rest of it. "Something about needing help with the fireworks?"
"Shoot, they're for my other performance!" Madison turned to me with a sheepish smile. "I guess I should have let you guys have a few more. I've got to go check if everything is fine."
"It's not a problem. Go," I told her with an understanding smile.
"You're the best!" She gave me a side hug and ran off, leaving me looking after her with a fond smile.
"So, Florence. Mun. Acosta," Eunice said my name slowly as she looked me up and down, making me look at her with big eyes. "I thought, of a hundred different ways to sabotage you when I learned that you and Minho were seeing each other, but after spending time with you at rehearsals, and learning that you love bows as much as I do, you've been deemed innocent."
"Thank you?" 
I was unsure what an appropriate response to her speech could be. Her head tilted so sharply I reigned in the urge to jump on the spot. Had I given the wrong answer?
"That doesn't mean you're off the hook. Hurt him even once, and you'll regret it," she threatened with a long finger pointed at my face. We were forced to look to the side upon hearing Madison's cheery voice, and saw her and Mihee coming our way. My intimidator's pointer finger immediately went back in her palm to make a fist, and she gave me a bright smile as the duo drew closer. "Fighting!"
"Fighting!" 
My reciprocation of her stance was comparatively mild, but it did its job well as Madison and Mihee joined in on our cheers, and soon enough it was our turn to perform.
"How could you not tell me?"
We were hardly a minute into our performance when I heard the phrase whispered by Yuri's voice—most probably to Kitty with how much time they'd been spending together—while our faces were hidden by the big fans. Without her face visible to me and also simultaneously focusing on our performance, I found it hard to distinguish the emotions behind it.
Kitty hesitantly answered her as we changed positions. "I thought Alex was my brother and that my mom was the one who was pregnant. It wasn't until we snuck out of detention that day and went to Lee's house—"
"You've known since detention?"
"You broke into Professor Lee's house?"
Now she had my attention. Well, more than before. Unfortunately, my shocked query was ignored rightfully in favor of answering bigger things, like how it was looking like Professor Finnerty wasn't Kitty's brother after all, but Yuri's instead.