Here's Chapter 16 for you lovely readers! Woot!

Another long chapter~ keke as always..

I hope you don't get bored reading all my long chapters...

Should I make it short next time?? *asking innocently* Haha. Kidding!

Thank you for all the comments!! ♥♥ 

Enjoy!!! 

Please don't forget to post your feedbacks~! ^^

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I Know

It was now four weeks since the couple's first date. The late-January thaw had come and gone and the air was now ripe with the cold air of February. More so than snow right now there was ice, something that usually mesmerized Sooyoung. The young girl, despite not ever being really too fond of winter, would often look at ice when thinking. It... Impressed her. Unlike the fickle and popular snow, ice was solid. It was strong and impenetrable, keeping all of the falling dead leaves and such out of the crisp water below it.

Although just as the frown came, it went. Sooyoung remembered the features of ice that she admired. She didn't see it as a flaw that she had a hard surface to get past. She didn't want all the water of her insides to stream out and waste, or get filled with dirt and dead things from autumn. It was altogether simpler and safer to keep the inside and outside separate from each other.

However, thoughts of winter's attributes flitted away when the thought of a certain friend crept into the girl's mind. Sooyoung had spent all day in the basement training to try clearing her head, but so far it wasn't working so much. With another forceful punch, the girl caused the anchors in the floor and ceiling that held the punching bag in place to rattle and drop some dust. She grunted, part frustrated and part to express her painful physical state, and stepped back.

Seriously... what did I ever do to you? Sheesh!

And then, grinding her teeth, Sooyoung began her kicking practice; swinging her leg into the side of the bag as long as it would have it. It wasn't so much that she was angry with Yuri, just confused; incredibly confused. The two girls got into spats on a regular basis, but this was different. For almost a month Yuri had been not only become extremely avoidant of her tall friend, but whenever they talked her tone was more annoyed than usual. This was different than one of their silly arguing moments, there was something behind it that no one was telling her; and as hypocritical as it may be, Sooyoung didn't like secrets.

On one hand it was something she could relate to with Yuri. Wanting to keep her life private was her decision – there was another swift kick – but Sooyoung's own desire to not feel helpless to her friends was overpowering her will to keep her distance. She would never admit it, but she wanted to help.

There was one final kick then, that successfully freed the weighted bag from its restraints and sent it rolling across the room, over to the feet of Sooyoung's girlfriend who had just come down to check on her.

"Sooyoung, don't break our equipment. We only get so much of a discount..." Jessica raised an eyebrow and picked up the bag by what was left of its top chain and planted it vertically in such a way that she was also casually leaning on it.

"Sorry." the girl said quietly between breaths, sweat making her azure hair glisten as she walked over to the elder one of the pair and placed an informal kiss on her lips, "I'll fix it up later... It'll give me something to do."

Jessica merely watched as Sooyoung nonchalantly took the bag from her side and placed it on the outer edge of the mats against the wall. She was concerned to say the least, as the latter had been acting strangely for nearly a month. At first she had jumped to the conclusion that it had something to do with their relationship, but quickly dismissed it after weeks of growth on the girl's part. It had indeed taken time, but Sooyoung came to realize the benefits of having the "girlfriend" role as opposed to the "friend" role. No... The source of the girl's stress was from something else.

"Soo... are you sure you're alright?" Jessica sighed.

"For the hundredth time, today, yes I'm fine." Sooyoung groaned back, although with a light-hearted undertone that implied she appreciated her concern.

"In that case, you wouldn't mind sparring with me for fun now would you?" Jessica’s eyes gleamed as that familiar grin came over the girl's features.

"We haven't practiced together in quite some time." she was already approaching.

"Mm…" Sooyoung nodded in agreement, but was now standing rather stiffly with her arms across her chest.

Her mind was clearly elsewhere... so much so that she was cleanly hit upside the head by Jessica who made her last few steps as swift as possible.

"Hey! We didn't take our places or declare the start yet! No fair!" she rubbed her head, had Jessica meant it to cause damage it would have been worse, but still, it wasn't exactly fun.

"So I bend the rules sometimes…" Jessica shrugged, "I figure at our level surprise attacks aren't a problem..."

She donned a patronizing expression and looked up in thought, finger placed on her chin.

"I guess I can be wrong."

Sooyoung's right shoulder dropped to the side while her eye seemed to get an uncontrollable twitch in response to the comment – in addition to her previous state of frustration. Then, shaking her head clear, she locked eyes with the girl a few feet away. Fists clenched tightly, she sprang forward and launched a powerful strike to Jessica’s abdomen, which, while evaded, gave her the chance to swing her leg around and hit the side of her shoulder.

Jessica stepped as quickly as she could, allowing the shockwave to bounce through her down to her feet to gain some distance. Her disadvantage became clear soon in their match, with a groan she raised her guard to defend as best as possible against a barrage of fast punches that wouldn't let up. She was limited by her clothing, regular day-wear like the jeans she was wearing made sidestepping not as clean as it usually was, and with attacks this fast she had no choice but to endure until a better opening presented itself.

However, Sooyoung's head was not at all in the game. Even with the nature of being an offensive striking type, she knew better than to concentrate on the same area and repeat the same technique this long. She had lost track of this being a spar with her girlfriend, and fell back into frustration with her friend, doing nothing more than burning off her energy.

That said, it wasn't much longer before this was her undoing. Her arms had eventually grown weary and when preparing to switch to kicks were too weak to hold up a proper defense. In the split second that she reeled back and raised her right knee Jessica had moved out of its trajectory and grabbed hold of Sooyoung's left arm. Then, with the simplest of techniques, she pulled down. Sooyoung easily fell, but as she landed a more specific annoyance smeared across her face. Of course it wasn't Jessica that was making her so upset, but she wasted no time in somersaulting back and then jumping to her feet before running in with a sweep of her legs.

Luckily, with the running start Jessica could see what was coming and once again evaded it, but was surprised that Sooyoung lacked the sense to stay low when coming out of her missed attack. Normally a difference in height wouldn't matter but the latter should have realized that with Jessica’s legs restricted and her style utilizing grabs and the like, staying low would be the best way to avoid that. However, with a frustrated cry, and eliminating the last of her energy the girl leapt as high as she could in an attempt to deliver a spinning hook kick, but while airborne.

Jessica gasped a little but made sure to end this. She already thought that Sooyoung was worn out and only challenged her to a friendly match. If she was going to keep wearing herself out like this, it would be dangerous to her health. The girl swiftly ducked while reaching up to take hold of Sooyoung's ankle. Using the momentum to her advantage, Jessica twisted Sooyoung around in order to rotate once and land on her front side with her arms pinned under her.

As if that wasn't enough, after her thud on the ground, Sooyoung felt the weight of her girlfriend on her back. She was straddling her with her palms on her shoulder blades to keep her from moving. At first the girl fidgeted to regain control of the fight, but after a deep sigh and the pain sinking in she had realized it was already over. Still, with a pout, she remained silent for quite some time.

"Mou Youngie... What is it?" Jessica relaxed her pressure now, certain that the girl beneath her wasn't going to be escaping, and instead slid down so that she was now lying on Sooyoung's back and hugging around her neck.

"Yuri..." her eyes shifted to the side, "She's being so annoying!"

"Ah, but don't you always get into little spats with her?"

"Usually she pisses me off by being in my face all the time... Now she's ignoring me. And it's not for any stupid reason like teasing me about us having alone time... or whatever she thinks we're doing. It's like she genuinely doesn't want to talk to me and won't say why."

"Hmm, that does sound troublesome. Have you asked Hyoyeon about it?"

"No... I was going to but then every time I thought of asking I just got angry and thought if Yuri wanted to talk to me then she would so there's no point in dragging other people into this."

Admittedly, the girl did seem to have a point, but despite what either of them would say to deny it, Jessica knew that they had a very close bond and did not wish to see it broken. With a quiet mumble, she rolled off Sooyoung's back to lie down on her own beside her.

"I think you should. The worst that could happen is that she doesn't know, in which case she would probably want to help you."

Sooyoung’s eyes still gazed around absent-mindedly, her thoughts on the matter at hand, but stopped once she nodded in affirmation. Perhaps she shouldn't be so opposed to help – or less opposed anyway. Talking to Hyoyeon would certainly be more productive than being down here beating their training equipment senseless. Sooyoung’s arms twitched a little when she moved them to her sides and bent her elbows in an attempt to push herself up.

"Uwah!" although unfortunately she hadn't realized her earlier strain until now and slipped, hitting her head on the floor mat.

"Ow... I can't move... Stop laughing!"

Jessica delicately covered her lips from showing the cute expression she was making, giggling at the way her girlfriend was proudly trying to struggle her way off the floor. It lasted just long enough for her to enjoy Sooyoung's grumbling and pouting but alas she proceeded to help her. Rolling up onto her feet in a single motion, Jessica leaned over, took hold of the girl's arms, and lifted.

Sooyoung staggered for a second once she was placed back on her feet, still holding onto Jessica’s shoulder for support for a moment. She tried insisting that she could walk on her own, but the latter refused to let go just to see the exhausted girl fall again.

"Damn it just let me walk!" she continued to squirm away, "I'm fine now!"

"No you're not!" Jessica retaliated. Being right and all, she too wouldn't let up her own stubbornness, using her quicker movements to scoop behind Sooyoung's knees. [A/N: Did I make Jessica carry Sooyoung again??!!! Anyway… ]

"W-what are you?!" the younger girl had now become quite stiff, also trying to hide her face that was becoming pink.

"I'm carrying you, what does it look like?" she presented an impenetrable grin, adjusting her grip for a second to accommodate the girl in her arms.

Despite Sooyoung's initial protest, she knew deep down that Jessica was correct. She had over-trained and now this was the punishment for her weakness. Yes, it was punishment. If it was a consequence of improper training then it was tough, and cool, and all those other things that the biker thought important.

And so, in "honorable defeat" Sooyoung relaxed into the hold.

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Soon after being carried up to the main floor and seated on the couch in the living room, Sooyoung had her phone out and was searching for Hyoyeon in her list of phone numbers. Jessica had taken it upon herself to get a lunch put together for the two of them to help the girl regain her strength after her intense practice earlier. Sooyoung was still for a moment, her thumb hovering over the call button, trying to think of what to say first. She shook her head then, it was nothing. She was just calling Hyoyeon to see what's up, there was no need to be so concerned about words, and they called each other all the time.

"Hello?" came the voice on the other end of the line after a few seconds of ringing.

"Hey…" Sooyoung replied, unsure again how to continue.

"How are things? Getting along well with your girlfriend?" her grin was nearly visible with that kind of tone.

Sooyoung just sighed and muttered some sort of grunt that indicated that yes everything was fine, and that wasn't the reason she called.

"The one I'm worried about is Yul…" Hyoyeon was oddly silent at the mention of the other girl's name, in such a way that she was intently waiting to hear what Sooyoung had to say on the matter.

"She hasn't called me to hang out in almost a month which is weird enough, but whenever I call her she's blown me off and didn't spend more than a few minutes talking."

"Mm…" the blonde hummed in response, "She's always been rather closed off though, that's what I've been telling myself anyway..."

"You mean you've been having the same problem?"

"Yeah, I even went to her place a few times to see if she was okay but she wouldn't even let me in."

"I think we should go see her together, I mean, we have to figure out what's going on. We gave her a month to sort out whatever it was and if she couldn't do it without our help, than we at least deserve an explanation."

She could hear some chuckling.

"What's so funny?"

"You care!" Hyoyeon chimed, eliciting another groan from the tall girl.

"Shut up, I do not. I just don't like being treated this way."

"You two are the bestest friends aren't you! Closer than you are even to me!" Apparently the request to shut up was not heeded in the slightest.

Sooyoung on the other hand simply spat out a time and told Hyoyeon to meet her at Yuri’s apartment then before hanging up. She folded her arms over her chest and fell into the back cushions with a scowl. Even after all this time, it still bugged her for people to see her with friends. She would always attempt to maintain that cold loner exterior, no matter what she allowed to be done to her in the comforts of her own home. At that same moment, Sooyoung opened an eye to look towards the sound of Jessica sitting down and placing a tray with their food down on the table in front of her.

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Within a few hours, Sooyoung's bike was slowing to a stop in front of a familiar apartment complex. She had already gone to pick up Hyoyeon from her house, and now the two girls were dismounting from the Ducati. They locked both of their helmets in the compartment at the back of the machine before heading up to the first set of locked doors. Sooyoung was standing coolly against the wall of the atrium opposite to where Hyoyeon was dialing the buzz code to Yuri’s apartment.

"Who's there?" the call box tersely demanded.

"Geez Yul, we don't even get a 'Hello' anymore?" Sooyoung argued, right off the bat, getting a glance from Hyoyeon to perhaps be more sensitive.

"I think what Sooyoung is trying to say is