Gotta Be Somebody

At around six o'clock this winter morning Sooyoung was woken up by a strange disturbance in her sleep. The girl wasn't sure what it was, but it certainly was bothersome. She sat up with a start and then, after seeing her surroundings, leaned back on one extended arm while using the other to rub her eyes. Once she was conscious again her memory seemed to be wiped clean of whatever was bothering her in what she only assumed was the dream world.

Whatever it was felt real... Not like a nightmare though...

She now folded both of her arms in front of her to lean in that direction and look down at her hands.

Argh... I can't even think straight... I'm still half asleep...

Sooyoung didn't seem to care too much that she was talking to herself in her own mind. Instead, she tried to lean back in the bed and pulls the blanket back up over her shoulders. She rested her head on her pillow for a little while longer, but could only feel herself wake up more and more.

Urgh... I want to go back to sleep!

She cringed and tried to force her eyes shut but it failed; instead she opened one to look out the nearby window. It was still too early to even be light outside, but at this point the girl realized it was going to be one of those days where no matter how hard she tried, trying to get back to sleep was a futile task. It was even harder now that, after this long of being awake, her hunger was becoming more and more influential.

With a sigh, Sooyoung rolled herself up and out of bed, rubbing her face yet again with a yawn and tip-toeing downstairs to make breakfast. Luckily, this house was so newly built that none of the floorboards creaked, at least not loud enough to wake Jessica who was still sleeping down the hall. In short time she reached the kitchen where she proceeded to look for what she wanted to eat. It wasn't a good day for her at all so far. Everything she found made her change her mind to something else, although after a chilly wind blew through a small opening in the window the girl settled on something warm.

... Ramen...

Lazily, she pulled the bowl of instant noodles out of the cupboard and filled it with water before sticking it in the microwave. Sooyoung waited in silence for now, with her arms resting across her chest and her eyes focused on the sky slowing turning from black to a gray-blue. She only noticed it once more natural light was provided but it was actually snowing rather heavily.

This is Jessica’s kinda weather.

She took the hot ramen over to the island table in the middle of the room. Sooyoung kept herself occupied with whatever random thoughts came into her head as she ate; mostly about the weather. Even if winter wasn't her most favorite of seasons she was still hypnotized by the beauty of the snowfall. So much so that she didn't even realize it slow to a near-complete stop until a thump at the door broke her stare.

"What the hell?" she muttered aloud, going to check it out right away.

"Who'd be egging our house this early in the morning?"

... She was still a bit too tired to think clearly.

By the time she got there, whoever was there had gone but when Sooyoung opened the door she found a rather sizable box sitting on her doorstep: a package. Taking an educated guess that it wasn't some sort of letter bomb, the girl brought inside and set it by the inside of the door before looking at the name tag on it.

"For Jessica?" she asked aloud, though not taking much of it, after all it wasn't a big deal for her to be getting some sort of delivery.

In a few minutes there was another arrival though, making Sooyoung slightly more suspicious, but unlike the last one the delivery man was waiting at the door for an answer.

"Can I help you?" the groggy tall girl asked rhetorically, having already seen through the window that he was carrying a package.

"Yes I have a delivery for Ms. Jessica Jung, is she here?" he was holding a clipboard with some papers.

"Oh, well she's sleeping, can I sign for it?"

"Sorry, only her legal guardians or a spouse can sign for mail…" he leaned down to pick it up again, "That's okay, I'll just bring it down to the post office and she can get it—"

"I'm her fiancée." Sooyoung said.

She held out her hand for the item while mentally shoving away her surprise at it being the first time she called herself by that title. The girl rationalized it by merely being more convenient to not have to go to the post office later.

"Oh, that's fine then," he said, handing her the papers, "I thought you were her roommate."

"Yeah," she wanted to ignore the questionable thoughts about her relationship to Jessica, "Do you happen to know what it is?"

"Nope, sorry, my job is just delivery; it looked like that when I got it."

"Alright," she sighed, "Thanks then."

With a nod, the man got back into his truck and drove away, leaving Sooyoung to return inside and sit down next to the two boxes. For now she was only thinking that it was, perhaps, some equipment Jessica had delivered.

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Five hours later, at minimum three packages an hour; Sooyoung barely had the time to get fully dressed before another person was at her door with yet another delivery for Jessica. The tall girl was surrounded by piles of anonymous boxes of various sizes which were now starting to take up most of the living room along with many letters that were all delivered with the rest of their regular mail.

Another unusual occurrence was the fact that Jessica wasn't awake by now. Especially with a tournament coming up Sooyoung expected her to be up training whenever they weren't doing anything else.

Today is already weird...

Right on cue, Sooyoung finally heard footsteps on the floor above her, and they were approaching quickly. The younger girl turned in their direction and looked quite confused at Jessica running into the living room with a bright smile. It was the first time since they met that it appeared Sooyoung had actually gone unnoticed in her eyes. In her defense though, it wasn't like the latter was all too visible in what was soon becoming a mess.

"Happy Birthday to me!!" she cheered like a child while, quite literally, diving onto the sofa and looking around at the mountains of gifts.

"What?! It's your birthday?!" Sooyoung exclaimed taken aback when jumping out from behind one of the piles.

Despite being accidentally shocked, Jessica swiftly regained composure and nodded happily. The tall girl was stunned silent, so much so that her left shoulder even drooped down a little when her jaw fell. She had no idea.

Did I never ask her? That'd be pretty well... stupid of me... But crap I didn't get her anything! I'm such an !

Fortunately Sooyoung's train of self-loathing thought was stopped when she was pulled down on the couch next to the now-nineteen-year-old.

"Which one should I open first?" Jessica asked, stopping Sooyoung's eyes from spinning around from her dazed state of mind.

"Uhh, open the letters first... or well, now that I know it's your birthday, I guess they're cards, anyways it'll ease you into it," she chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck, "You need to calm down a little."

"Good thinking Sooyoung!" she replied, not quite adhering to the thought of calming herself which made the other girl laugh even more at her behavior.

Seeing that Jessica was clearly going to be enthralled by the stack of cards, at least for a while, Sooyoung saw that as a chance for her to escape to the kitchen. She shook her head and ruffled her hair in frustration. The first thing she thought of, as something to delay Jessica in finding out that she hadn't got her a real gift yet, was making her breakfast. And while she wasn't much of a chef, Sooyoung knew enough to make a decent quality "fancy" breakfast.

By the time her platter of fruit salad, cheeses, eggs, and some scones (which Sooyoung didn't even know they had until now), Jessica had gone through all of the cards and was starting on the big gifts. Nevertheless, she was back to normal enough now to give the younger girl priority for her attention.

"Aww, Youngie made me breakfast for my present?" she noticed her uneasy, shy smile, "Come sit, we'll open things together."

"Umm... okay?" she was still reeling in from the hectic morning, "And this isn't your real present!"

She shut her eyes tightly; irritated with herself.

"I'm getting you something better; you're just going to have to wait until later!"

She pouted and looked away. However, the point she was trying to make was ignored by Jessica who was now munching on the food with glee, leaving Sooyoung to roll her eyes and wait patiently.

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About an hour or so later, every package had been opened and both girls were resting on the sofa, spent from all the excitement.

"By the way, who were all those from?" Sooyoung asked.

"My fans." she gave a half-hearted sigh, "They mean well, and at least know what I like... but I don't think it'll ever stop being strange."

The tall girl laughed.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll ever stop finding it funny either," she turned to her with a grin, "But if they ever step over the line let me know and I'll pound 'em!"

She jokingly punched her fist into her palm, getting an amused reaction.

"Thank you. That probably won't happen though, they know their place around me... or well," she looked up in thought, "It appears that they have their own little code of conduct that forbids them from any further contact with me... I suppose it's so that it's fair... I don't fully understand. I'm not all that special."

"Hah!" Sooyoung sat up.

"You don't give yourself enough credit. You're the strongest person in your dojo, possibly in your whole style, I'm sure there's a ton of people who find that alone really attractive."

Jessica’s eyes sparked a little. It sounded like a compliment, and Sooyoung was the one saying it, yet it wasn't from her. She had to force all of her energy into not asking her directly if she was one of those people, convincing herself that if anything Sooyoung held mere admiration and respect for her in that area; which was nice as well, just not the same.

"Your parents didn't get you anything?" the tall girl continued, unaware of the other's hidden thoughts.

"Oh, every year they give me a little after-dinner party at their house, nothing special."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Sooyoung whined, getting a raised eyebrow in response.

"I didn't think you'd want to come. It's just going to be my parents, my friends, and a few of the highest ranking members... But if you do want to I'd be really happy."

"Yeah of course I'll come, when is it? I have something I need to do first..." she tried to hide her shyness; after all she was referring to going out to get Jessica a proper birthday gift.

"They asked for me to be there at eight tonight."

"Okay so how about we go get dinner at say, six? Then afterwards we can go to your parents?"

Jessica smirked.

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

"What!?" Sooyoung blushed hard, "No! I just mean! Gah! Just to eat and that's all!"

"Heehee, I know, I was only teasing you." good for Jessica, she had planned it enough so that she could have a question to change the subject as fast as possible, in case Sooyoung took it worse.

"Where do you plan on going though?"

"Well it's your birthday, it's only right that you choose."

After some thorough decision making, Jessica chose a semi-formal restaurant that she hadn't been to in years. Agreeing to meet there, Sooyoung got her personal things together in her wallet that she stuffed in her coat pocket before heading out into the town just below the hill which their house was atop.

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Sooyoung exhaled a shivering breath as she pulled her scarf closer to her. Even when she was dressed for the season, it was still quite cold on the streets of the town. At first she was annoyed by the fact that such temperatures made it impossible for her to use her bike to get through the streets faster, but after thinking about it, seeing as how she didn't have a particular destination in mind it was best to explore by foot.

The girl stood on the corner of an intersection, waiting for the light to change and looking down the street. This was the shopping district so she was bound to find something here but she wasn't going to rest until she found the perfect gift.

I feel so bad that I didn't even know...

As soon as the light changed, Sooyoung headed forward to look in the window of the first store in sight. It was a jewelry store, and despite the fact that their merchandise were both of fine quality and pretty enough, the girl couldn't put her finger on something unfitting about it. She could see Jessica accepting it happily, but not wearing it because she wanted to.

With a sigh she continued on to the next store, and the next, and the next, finding only mediocre gifts. Needless to say Sooyoung was starting to get frustrated at her lack of success. After passing by every store in the first section the girl sat down on a nearby bench to rest her feet. She groaned and stretched her arms out across the back planks of wood then crossed one leg over her knee while leaning her head back, feeling the few remaining snowflakes fall on her.