Soyee’s POV

“Ew, none of these are good enough to post.”

I lay in my bunk, scowling as I scrolled through my gallery.

I needed to decide on a selca to post on the band’s Instagram for our one-year anniversary, but none of the ones I had taken seemed post-worthy.

As I was still swiping through my pictures, I heard Sally fidgeting around below me.

Locking my phone, I peeked over my bunk railing to peer down at her.

She was sitting at our desk, grumbling to herself.

From the crumpled up papers surrounding her, I assumed that she was working on her Korean homework.

Jelpi had been giving her a lot of assignments so that she could improve her Korean skills.

Even for the other members, who were all native speakers of the language, the worksheets were rather tedious.

I watched her for a while, just observing her really.

She was constantly sighing and running her hands through her hair in frustration.

She looked beautiful.

But I felt bad.

When she was conversing with the girls and me, she spoke relatively well, only a few hang-up’s here and there.

But when it came time for testing her skills with a worksheet or an interview, she struggled quite a bit.

I think that it was because she gets nervous.

When she wasn't under pressure, most of her words would roll delicately off her tongue, almost as if Korean were her first language.

Giving up, she crumpled up another piece of paper and slammed it next to her on the desk.

I smiled sorrowfully, deciding then that I should go try to help, whether it be comforting her or assisting her with her work.

I climbed as quietly as I could down the ladder of our bunkbeds, feeling like any noise would disturb Sally’s concentration.

I approached her desk, immediately pressing a soft hand to her shoulder.

She turned to me, a tired smile quickly appearing on her face.

Although I could tell that she was upset, warmth still radiated from her shy grin.

“You looked like you were having some trouble,” she sighed at the truth behind my words, “Anything I could do to help?”

She turned back to her work, once again taking a pencil in her hand.

“Unless you’re a wizard who can suddenly make me speak fluent Korean, I don’t think so.”

I know that it wasn’t supposed to be a dig at me, but I still felt a little hurt by her words.

I wanted nothing more than to just see Sally succeed and be happy.

Hurrying to a stool across the bedroom, I dragged it over and took a seat next to her.

“Let me at least try,” I said in a much lower tone than I had anticipated, resting my hand meekly on top of hers.

Her writing halted as she stared at our hands.

“Fine, but you’ll just be wasting your time. I’ve been at these practice sheets for an hour now and I still haven’t gotten it.”

Little did she know, no time that I spent with her could ever be a waste.

I moved my hand away from hers so that she could resume her task.

She sat staring at the page in front of her, her brow furrowing as she tried to comprehend the words on the paper.

When she still did not begin writing, I put my hand in the middle of the paper that she had been working on.

“Let’s try something else,” I said, a smile in my voice.

I gripped the arms of her rolling chair and twisted it so that she was facing me.

“Sojin-ah,” she sighed, although halfheartedly, “I’ve tried everything. Nothing new is going to make me any better.”

Her hands were fiddling with each other in her lap, another one of her frustrated habits.

My hands found hers, stilling their movements, but remaining on her thighs.

“Let me try to help you,” I slid my hands back into my own lap, “Now let’s see.”

I reached over her to retrieve the practice sheet she had been working on.

Quickly skimming over the questions, I looked back up at her.

She was eyeing her hands with a slight frown on her face.

Trying to distract her from her hands, I recited the first scenario aloud to her.

She once again furrowed her brow, pouting into the air.

“So,” I said, “If someone were to ask you that, what would your response be?”

Sally clicked her tongue, sliding down into her chair in defeat.

“I don’t know,” she huffed.

I racked my brain, trying to come up with some way to make her understand.

Suddenly, I was hit with an idea.

An idiotic one, but it was an idea no less.

“Unnie~,” I said with my best aegyo, “I know how to help. Close your eyes.”

She rolled her eyes, but quickly gave in to my demand.

“Soyee, how is this going to help?” she smiled playfully, “I can’t even see my worksheet.”

I laughed, loving that a cheeky grin of hers.

“Just trust me.”

I pulled her rolling chair closer to me, eliciting a startled squeak out of her.

Her eyes opened hastily, so she could gently slap my shoulder.

“Don’t scare me like that.”

I laughed a bit before pointing in a faux-stern way at her.

“Close your eyes, Sally Bear.”

She stuck her tongue out at me before once more closing her eyes.

I read her another scenario, a slightly easier one that I had found towards the bottom of the page, and asked her my previous question.

“If someone were to ask you that-”

She cut me off.

“What would my response be?”

Eyes still closed, she smiled at me, and of course, I smiled back, like a complete pabo.

“I don’t know…”

She hesitated, a few small sighs falling from her lips every once in a while, but she hadn’t completely given up yet, so I wanted to give her time.

After biting her bottom lip once, she smacked her lips, a popping sound replacing the preceding silence.

“Is it…” She answered my question, as I looked at the key that was written on the bottom of the page.

I was overjoyed. She had gotten it right.

However, my plan that I had come up with before suddenly hit me, and I realized how nervous I was.

Why hadn’t I been nervous when I first proposed it, though?

I took in a deep breath.

I was going to go through with it.

If not for my sake, Sally’s.

“Sojin-ah,” Oh god, I hadn’t responded to her yet, “Did I get it right?”

I leaned over to her, my hesitant hands gently cupping her cheeks.

I watched my fingers tremble against her flesh.

God, why was I doing this? It was a stupid plan.

Yet, I kept leaning in closer to Sally.

No matter how much my mind yelled to abort, my body just wouldn’t listen.

When I was mere centimeters from Sally’s lips, I closed my eyes, just taking her in with my other senses.

I could feel her breath softly against my face, sending a chill down my spine.

I could smell her perfume. Tangerines. It always was.

I could feel her soft skin under my fingertips, and I never wanted to let go.

It was too late to go back. I wanted to also be able to know what she tasted like.

“Soy-”

My name was forgotten as I connected our lips.

It was an innocent peck that only lasted a brief moment.

I pulled away to look at her.

Sally sat motionless, her hands still in her lap and her eyes still closed.

For that, I’m thankful because my face had to have been the color of a tomato.

All of a sudden, though, my nerves set in again.

Why wasn’t she saying anything?

Good job, Sojin. You went and messed everything up. She trusted you to help her with her Korean and you took advantage of her-

My thoughts were interrupted by her voice.

“Sooo, did I get it right?”

I couldn’t help the nervous laugh that escaped my lips.

“Yes, you pabo. And you can open your eyes now.”

She did so, immediately beaming at me.

“Was there a reason for that?”

I looked down, suddenly unable to look anywhere near her eyes.

“An incentive,” she looked at me confused, as if she didn’t understand.

I shook my head, quickly rephrasing myself.

“A reward,” she nodded this time, her smile still present on her face so I continued, “Every time you get an answer right, you’ll get one. It’s to motivate you to learn Korean.”

She again didn’t say anything, which just made my nervousness peak.

“I’ll get one of what?”

I panicked, flustered from the entirety of the situation.

“A kiss. I mean, if you want,” words were suddenly flying out of my mouth as if I has no control over them, “I didn’t even ask you before I did it. I get if you’re upset with me. It’s just that I’ve liked you for a while and-”

Her sweet giggle filled the room.

I felt her take my hands in hers, calming me to the point where I could stop my words.

“I think that is a good idea, Soyee. I like it,” she paused, “I like you.”

My eyes widened a bit as my heart sped up to a, no doubt, inhuman pace.

I couldn’t believe that she had agreed so easily.

Heck, I couldn’t believe that she had agreed at all.

And most of all, I couldn’t believe that she liked me back.

The excitement within me boiled over, filling me with a childlike giddiness.

I placed my hands on her cheeks again, pulling Sally in for another kiss.

And then another, followed by a few more pecks.

Until I pulled back, an excited smile glowing from me.

Her smile matched mine, making all of the nervousness that had been in my body before dissipate.

She didn’t hate the kiss, and she doesn’t hate me.

“Hey, pabo,” she laughed, “It’s not a reward if you kiss me when I didn’t get a question right.”

She was right, but I never wanted to stop kissing her.

“Xiening,” I had gotten the pronunciation of her name down because I really cared about her, “What’s two times eight?”

She furrowed her brows before answering smoothly.

“Sixteen, obviously.”

"Correct," I said quickly.

Then without hesitation, my lips found hers again.

We stayed like this for a while, just giggling happily against each other’s mouths until we heard a knock at the door.

“Soyee! Sally!”

We pulled away from each other as the door creaked open.

It was our leader-nim.

Sally immediately perked up to greet her.

“Hana unnie,” she beamed and waved, and I swear it was the cutest thing in existence.

Hana bowed to us with a smile of her own.

“Dinner is ready. Mimi and I made kimbap, so hurry down.”

She turned to leave, but she stopped before the door shut.

“Oh, and Sally. How are your lessons coming?”

Sally and I shared knowing smiles before she got up to follow Hana into the kitchen.

I walked behind the pair, watching Sally excitedly go on about her progress.

She did, however, leave out the part about us kissing.

The whole time that she talked to Hana, though, her Korean was flawless, and I couldn’t help but smile.

She was already working hard for me.

-

A/N: It isn't that good, I know. I just really like Soyee and Sally together, and I feel like there aren’t enough gugudan fics, so I wrote one to cover both bases. :P