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Every time the group decided to spend some time out of their dorms, Soyeon would always prefer to stay and work on their comeback. The girls understood and respected her commitment toward their career, but they've always wished that their leader, even just for once, would let loose and let herself enjoy with them. Nevertheless, they always remembered to surprise Soyeon with gifts and her favorite foods.
However, everyone grew tired and got used to Soyeon being left behind. They just enjoyed themselves and usually went home late, sometimes even forgetting to ask Soyeon if she would like to join them. The latter seemed to not mind, but she admits that she gets a bit upset about it. It's as if her response was already expected that they do not even bother asking anymore.
Everyone was like that recently, except for one person: Yuqi.
“Soyeon unnie, we’re going out for a while! Anything you want?”
The younger girl called out, quickly slipping on her boots and taking her wool jacket at the rack before wrapping it around her shoulders. Her brows furrowed and a small pout made her lips when she received no response, the rest of the girls already waiting outside. She decided to peek at the kitchen and saw that Soyeon already had her large headphones on, bopping to the music she recently created for their next comeback.
“Soyeon!” She yelled, waving her hands exaggeratedly in hopes that she’d get noticed.
Soyeon blinked a few times before she realized it was Yuqi who’s being weird again across the room. She couldn’t hear nor understand what she was saying due to the loud music on her headphones, so she just nodded her head and scurried her away. She assumed Yuqi was just letting her know that they’ll be going out again and would be home late. Soyeon never really liked the idea, but she knew better than stop those girls from spending their free time relaxing and de-stressing.
She recalled how they would shyly ask her first for permission, then eventually it became a habit of just asking her directly if she would like to join, as if not agreeing to the idea was ever an option. She smirked, turning the volume higher. She never really joined them with going out, choosing to stay and work on their songs. The members would just sigh in defeat and went on their ways nonetheless, and Soyeon didn’t mind at all.
But she noticed that recently, none of them had been asking her if she would love to join. At first, she brushed the idea off, thinking that they probably knew what response they’d get anyway. But she would admit that it made her slightly upset. It was true that she favored staying in their dorm to chill, but the thought of not being included nor considered made her sad.
Soyeon just sighed and tried to re-focus again on composing.
Yuqi waited for a response but was only met with a nod and a wave of her hand. She did not even hear a single word from Soyeon, and it made her quite unhappy. She took one last glance before she scurried away toward her members, who had been waiting and complaining about her already.
They all went to the night market that recently opened near their place, quite thankful for the few people around that surrounded the area. They honestly expected that it would be crowded given the hype it received a few days ago from the sns. But apparently, there were only a few tourists and locals who were minding their own businesses.
Shuhua was the first to excitedly dive into the stalls, pulling Soojin with her and pointing to every item she loved. As if on cue, Soojin rolled her eyes, but the cuteness in Shuhua’s aura and face betrayed her supposedly annoyed expression. In the end, she surrendered to her hints and bought almost—if not all—of the items Shuhua would love to have in their dorm. Did I also mention that Shuhua forgot her purse, too?
“Yah! I’m starting to doubt if you intentionally forgot your purse. Always!” Soojin scolded, to which Shuhua just shrugged.
“Mian~ I’ll treat you next time, I promise!” She grinned, “With my own money IN MY PURSE!” She said, emphasizing her purse to tell Soojin that she won’t forget it next time.
“Promise?”
Shuhua wrapped an arm around the older girl’s shoulder and clicked her tongue, thinking. “I’ll try.”
“YAH!”
Slapping Shuhua’s arm, the latter just let out a laugh and pushed Soojin to the next stall where they served some delicious Tteokbokki.
Not too far from the two was an anxious, but quite giddy Yuqi who was having a hard time choosing which item had the best color. She contemplated between a brown colored bucket hat and the one with a military colored print on it.
‘Both suits her either way,’ she thought, not realizing she took too long to decide that she did not notice Minnie pointed at both hats.
“Just buy both, she’ll love it.”
“Yeah, I think so too— yah!!’
Minnie smiled sheepishly at Yuqi who seemed to be quite surprised and embarrassed.
“How’d you know it was for Soyeon unnie!?”
“I don't.”
Yuqi would honestly love to bury herself now for blurting out unnecessary things. On the other hand, Minnie had this teasing smirk the whole time, annoying Yuqi the most. The former let out a playful scowl and pushed Minnie away.
“Yah, why are you pushing me?!” She teased, “Am I not helping you?”
“Just go!”
Yuqi stuck her tongue out at her and huffed, causing Minnie to laugh before she jogged back toward Miyeon, who seemed to be enthralled with the little crystal, hand-made bracelets.
Yuqi haggled and hoarded a lot of items before she decided to go back early, texting the rest of her members while halting a taxi. She was surprised by the amount of bags she was holding: three medium-sized paper bags on her right, two at her left, and a few take out boxes. Nevertheless, a satisfied and excited smile plastered on her face.
Soyeon was too drowned with working on the composition for their next comeback and was also too bored with the seemingly gloomy and lethargic atmosphere in their dorm. She decided to take some break and grabbed some snacks before she turned her camera on, going live with the Neverland to fill up the dreading silence.
“Annyeong!” Soyeon greeted, “How are you Neverlands~”
She was behind her production table, a snack on her hand while she waved at the fans. She smiled as she read the comments and answered a few questions as well.
“Dae. The members are out to check out someplace that opened recently near us. Yes, I’m currently alone…” The sadness hinted her tone, and her eyes briefly looked down before she smiled once again. “But don’t worry, they never left me here. I needed to work on something… Yes, our next comeback,” she winked teasingly, “I’m working on it so please look forward to it!”
With the mention of a comeback, the comments bombarded her instantly with exciting questions and even asked for some spoilers. This made Soyeon laugh and teased the Neverland a bit more.
“You know I can’t---“
“Soyeoniieee~”
Soyeon immediately went off frame to check who just called her, though how could she ever mistake the owner of that cute, deep voice.
“Omo, Oogi is here!” She tried to act like she was surprised in front of the camera, but everyone knew Soyeon could barely hide her excitement, especially when Yuqi showed up with lots of bags, showing them to Soyeon while teasingly raising her brows up and down.
“You bought a lot!” Soyeon commented, not knowing that there was already a huge grin on her face.
“Dae!!!”
Even if Yuqi was quite far, her voice echoed through the room that even the fans were laughing at how loud the girl could be.
Soyeon completely forgot she was on live (since she was using a tripod and her phone was a little far from her) that she squealed when Yuqi brought the bags in front of her. The fans were just watching happily.
“I bought them for you!!!” Yuqi excitedly said, placing the take out boxes beside the bags as well, “And this too! Oh, you should check the first bag! I’m sure you’ll love it!”
Soyeon was honestly overwhelmed by the number of gifts Yuqi bought her. She wasn’t exactly paying attention to Yuqi’s endless rambles and talks about the new place and just nodded here and there, giving Yuqi the appropriate responses.
“Yah! Are you listening!?”
Soyeon looked up, slightly surprised by the sudden loud voice. “Dae!” She shouted back, giving Yuqi two thumbs up.
Yuqi sat cross-legged across Soyeon and pouted, pointing at the bags she bought. Soyeon found her cute that she could not even hide the smile on her face. Yuqi loved getting attention, especially receiving genuine appreciation of her actions. She knew Yuqi has been waiting for her to say something about the gifts.
Which reminded Soyeon, “Did this cost a lot?”
“Dae!” Yuqi happily answered. Soyeon just raised a brow at the unfiltered response of the girl, who’s now acting like a cute puppy in front of her.
“Jinjja?”She commented, “Are these…” Soyeon paused, her arms gesturing at the bags, “All for me?”
“Dae!!!” Yuqi bounced on her seat.
Soyeon was speechless for a moment before she looked at Yuqi and asked, “What did you buy for yourself then?”
Now it was Yuqi’s turn to be speechless. “Oh… “
As if the realization only hit her just now, a soft blush crossed her cheeks and at that moment, she broke eye contact with Soyeon and scratched the back of her head. “Good question.”
Soyeon raised a brow at her, confused and intrigued.
“I mean---“Yuqi stammered, “I really felt bad that you’re always working here alone, and I wanted to make you feel special or something…”
Soyeon was taken aback. She never really thought that Yuqi felt that way, nor that the younger girl was this sweet and thoughtful. The blush on Yuqi’s face just assured Soyeon that she was really sincere, after all, she was just the most expressive and honest out of the members. She’d say anything in front of your face because that was what she felt, and Soyeon really admired her for that. She liked that side of her the most, and now that Yuqi was embarrassed like a cute puppy, she couldn’t help but feel touched by her kindness.
“That sounded wrong, doesn’t it?” Yuqi suddenly mumbled.
Soyeon squinted her eyes at her in confusion, but Yuqi took it the wrong way.
“Aniyo, aniyo!!” She waved her hands exaggeratedly in defense, blushing madly at the suspicious glare of Soyeon. “I mean, you’re already special in every way, and I wanted to really make you feel that way... wait, what?” Yuqi rambled, her cheeks turning red.
Let us not forget the Neverlands who were still watching this adorable vlive and were squealing in their spots at the embarrassed Yuqi, and Soyeon’s fond expression toward the girl. YuYeon is sailing!
“ANIYO!!” Yuqi shouted in defeat, standing up to emphasize her point even when Soyeon hadn’t uttered a single response yet. “YOU’RE SPECIAL TO ME, JEON SOYEON AH!” A satisfied and determined expression made its way to her face, pleased at how she concluded her internal arguments.
“Mwo?” Soyeon scoffed in awe and disbelief. Yuqi does surprise her in every way possible. And today only sounded like she was confessing. “Aish, jinjja, Oogi ya.”
Yuqi was about to argue once again when her hand had hit Soyeon’s phone.
A loud, deafening squeal was heard through the audio that caused some Neverland to aggressively pull out their earphones
(RIP ears).It was only then that Soyeon realized that she was still live, and the conversation that happened just now was all caught and heard by whoever was listening.
A face of Yuqi then appeared, with Soyeon’s dumbfounded face at the back.
“You’re live?” Yuqi asked casually.
“Oogi ya, turn it off,” Soyeon whispered demandingly.
And that was the last thing Neverlands saw during that vlive.
As soon as Yuqi turned the live off, Soyeon lets out a frustrated and defeated groan. Her voice almost crying with the embarrassment and stupidity she did. On the other hand, Yuqi just realized what happened and was already laughing when she went to try to comfort their leader. But each time she would caress Soyeon’s back, the older girl would glare at her for laughing, and Yuqi found it too cute to handle that she’d only end up laughing more.
“Don’t laugh at my misery!!!” Soyeon cried.
“I’ll watch the vlive tomorrow!!” Yuqi responded in between laughter, earning another groan from the older girl.
When the atmosphere finally settled down-- though Soyeon was still sulky, and Yuqi still couldn’t help her giggles-- Soyeon asked if the members will be home late again.
“Probably.” Yuqi just shrugged. “Double date.”
“Ah… “Soyeon responded briefly.
Yuqi cleared her throat to lighten up the sudden awkward atmosphere. “So Uhm, I guess we should rest, too, don’t you think?” She asked, barely looking at Soyeon.
Whenever the topic of the relationship came and there’s only the two of them, it seemed that the mood would suddenly grow thick and heavy. Even awkward. Yuqi would eventually try to lift it but Soyeon… Soyeon would never look her way. It was as if she always wanted to say something but was always trying to hold herself. Yuqi was confused, but would usually brush it off, not wanting to upset or bother the older girl.
Just as when she was about to leave, Soyeon held her wrist to stop her, but her face still looking the other way. Yuqi contemplated whether she should sit back again or just wait for her to speak up. When she was about to sit, however, Soyeon suddenly spoke, causing for Yuqi to frantically stand again while mumbling incoherent ‘mianhae.’
“Oogi ya…” Soyeon called softly.
“Dae?”
A few seconds had passed and there was still no response from the older girl. Yuqi was getting confused and quite anxious about Soeyon’s silence. The agonizing anticipation of Soyeon’s words either took her breath away or sweat her worries away. None seemed appealing so Yuqi had to endure it all.
“So---“
“Yourespecialtometoo.”
Yuqi blinked. “Yah! I’m a foreigner! Speak slowly Jeon Soyeon!!!”
Soyeon shrugged and teasingly pushed Yuqi away, “I’m a rapper, and I’m not sorry.”
Yuqi, on the other hand, sulked and clung to her while convincing Soyeon to repeat what she just said, to which the older girl just rolled her eyes.
Teasing and bothering Yuqi has always been her favorite hobby, after all.