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youngeun considers herself a pretty average student. no, she wasn't at the top of their class, but at least she wasn't at the rock bottom. however, there is something that youngeun hates to the core and that is math. there is just something, something about math that makes her not like it. she’s not sure herself, maybe it’s because of algebra and their annoying Xs and Ys, or maybe it’s because of geometry that requires a lot of her imagination to picture all the shapes inside her head. but whatever the reason is, youngeun hates math and that’s final.
so imagine the horror when she realized that she completely forgot about the math test that they had today because she was too busy pulling an all-nighter for her chemistry assignment. to make it worse, the topic tested was on calculus which was one of her weakest areas in math. when her friend jia had reminded her of the test that morning, it felt like her world was falling apart.
"don't worry, i'm sure it won't be that hard." jia had tried to reassure her, but it was no use. maybe she should just pretend that she’s sick or something so the teacher will excuse her from the test.
she decides against doing that in the end. because no matter how bad she is at math, youngeun is even worse at acting and there was no way her teacher would believe her.
unfortunately for her, this means that she has no choice but to struggle her way through the test. currently, it has been thirty minutes since the test started and youngeun still hasn't finished a single question.
"i'm gonna flunk this so hard... at this rate, how am i going to attend the same university as ch-"
"hey... you alright?" youngeun instinctively flinched when she heard a voice. she took a quick glance at her surroundings and saw everyone engrossed in doing the test.
"it's me. chaehyun." the voice in her head continued. oh right. youngeun totally forgot about that.
chaehyun is youngeun's soulmate. soulmates who have met each other have the ability to communicate through thoughts. the only problem here is that youngeun actually hasn't met chaehyun before.
ok well, they technically did, but it was in such a big crowd that youngeun wouldn't even be able to figure out who was chaehyun among the sea of people that were there.
her friends had decided to drag youngeun to a university fair about a few weeks ago, something about how they should visit different universities to help with their decision on what university to attend since it was already their final year of high school. it wasn't on the top of her list of things to do but youngeun agreed to go only because jia had promised to treat her to ice cream if she went. so that was how youngeun first "met" chaehyun. she thought she had gone crazy when she first heard a girl's voice in her head after she returned home at night from the university fair. despite some minor confusion in the beginning, they soon connected the dots and figured out they were soulmates.
youngeun did consider searching for chaehyun on social media just so she can satisfy her curiosity on how her soulmate looks like, but it didn't help that her soulmate had a very common name which made it difficult for youngeun to find her. to be honest, youngeun didn't really mind, it made chaehyun somewhat more mysterious for her.
unlike her fellow companion, chaehyun actually managed to find a picture of youngeun from the dance competition she represented her high school in earlier this year. all she did was to search for youngeun's name alongside the name of her high school, something that if youngeun thought about doing for chaehyun with the name of her university she would have been able to find the countless videos of chaehyun singing during school festivals.
chaehyun wasn't sure if it was just because youngeun was her soulmate but everything about her face was chaehyun's type. from her little dimple to her cute smile, chaehyun couldn't help but imagine the mess she'll be when they actually meet up and see each other properly for the first time.
speaking of meet ups, they never made plans to meet up even though they technically could, considering they have the ability to communicate with each other now. youngeun's high school was almost an hour and a half away from chaehyun's university and she didn't want to bother the older girl. besides, chaehyun said that they should leave it up to fate for them to meet each other again. youngeun thinks it's actually because chaehyun's lazy to make the trip to find her. but in reality, chaehyun just didn't think it was right to make a high schooler travel all the way to find her but she wasn't ready to be the one making the trip and seeing youngeun for the first time.
-
youngeun was brought back into reality when she heard chaehyun's honey-like voice speaking to her.
"youngeun? did you hear what i said?"
"sorry, i was kinda lost in my own thoughts." youngeun replied, looking around to make sure she didn't seem suspicious to anyone. chaehyun wasn't even suppose to have heard youngeun worrying about the test earlier but it seems that she subconsciously spoke to chaehyun when she didn't intend to.
thankfully, everyone seemed to be preoccupied with doing the test and her teacher was too busy having a staring contest with the whiteboard to even spare a glance at her.
"i asked if you were okay and whether everything was alright," youngeun could hear the concern in chaehyun's voice. there was something about her voice that always seem to carry so much emotions and youngeun could usually tell how chaehyun was feeling just by listening to her voice when she spoke.
right now, hearing chaehyun's voice made youngeun feel kinda warm and fuzzy inside for some reason. but she decides to put those thoughts away in the back of her mind. she has a math test to worry about for now and thinking about chaehyun's voice can be saved for later.
as she looked at her test paper, an idea suddenly popped into youngeun's mind. it wouldn't hurt to ask chaehyun for help right? she seems like the smart kind anyways, and she's a university student on top of that. of course, it would technically be considered as cheating, but no one has to know and it could just be a secret between the two of them.
"chaehyun, are you good at math?" youngeun desperately prays that her soulmate is at least decent in high school math.
"i'm a math major." chaehyun replies and youngeun has to bite her lip to prevent herself from screaming in joy during an ongoing test. she always thought chaehyun was a music major since the girl was apparently part of the music club in her university so finding out that she actually was a math major felt like winning the lottery for youngeun.
"why the sudden question?" chaehyun asked. it has only been a few weeks since the two found out that they were soulmates, and to be honest, youngeun still wasn't used to the fact that she had a soulmate. maybe it's because they haven't met in real life and chaehyun was just a voice in her head, or maybe because they didn't get the chance to get to know more about each other yet. like sure, they talked almost every night if they had the time but it was more of a "how was your day?" kind of thing. youngeun wonders if she's even at the level where she could ask chaehyun for help.
she justifies it with the fact that her grades are on the line and that it could possibly affect her goal of attending the same university as chaehyun.
"well... you see, i'm actually having a math test right now and it's on calculus which is like the bane of my existence." youngeun was subtly trying to hint to chaehyun that she needed her help, making sure that she sounded like she was in distress.
silence.
internally, youngeun panicked as she thought she had made a bad impression of herself on the older girl, considering they were still getting to know each other. she was ready to take back what she said when chaehyun finally replied.
"so, are you suggesting that i help you cheat in your test?" with chaehyun especially emphasizing on the word "cheat".
"please...? i really need to pass this test. i'm usually not like this, i swear." somehow, chaehyun can imagine a very cute youngeun pouting and begging her for help. she slightly regrets (she doesn't!) looking up youngeun's name online and finding that photo of her. ever since, she has been able to put a face on her soulmate and she always ends up imagining youngeun talking to her whenever they communicate and it makes resisting youngeun's request something extra hard for her to do. chaehyun ends up caving in to youngeun's request, because, who wouldn't after imagining that?
"let me grab a piece of paper and pen," youngeun hears chaehyun's reluctant reply and she thanks every possible person she can think of for letting her have such a wonderful soulmate.
"so what's the first question? by the way, don't think that i'll just let you have an easy time and only give you the answers. you're going to help me do the calculations too."
for some reason, youngeun feels like she's going to have a tough time with this. in spite of that, she doesn't mind it that much, maybe because it's chaehyun.
-
youngeun puts down her pen as the teacher announces the end of the test and she passes her paper to her teacher, glad that the torturous two hours was over. at least chaehyun's presence made it way better for her. she tried really hard throughout the test to listen to chaehyun's explanations but she kept getting distracted by chaehyun's voice which resulted in the older girl constantly nagging at her to pay attention.
"thank goodness you were here chaehyun, if not i might have just handed in a blank paper to be honest." youngeun lets out a sigh of relief at the fact she is finally done with the test and doesn't have to deal with the idea of failing and having to go for supplementary lessons.
"i'd have to reflect later about the fact that i just helped you cheat in an exam," the slight disapproval was evident in chaehyun's voice but youngeun chooses to ignore it.
"if i pass this exam and get good grades, i'd have a great shot at getting into your university and that means i can finally meet you chae!" chaehyun could hear the glee in youngeun's voice and her heart couldn't help but skip a beat, especially after hearing youngeun call her by her nickname for the first time.
"i'll let you off this time but next time don't forget your tests and remember to study for them. you can't always rely on me for help. you were lucky that i happened to be free today!" chaehyun lightly chides youngeun.
"ok ok, i'll treat you to something as a thank you for helping me with the test." youngeun resists the urge to let out a laugh at how chaehyun sounded like a nagging mother to her.
"treat me something?"
"yea, don't tell me you don't want to meet me?" youngeun whines as she starts packing up the things on her table.
"i didn't mean it like that! i was just surprised that's all. although, i don't think i should be making a high schooler treat me food?"
"you're only two years older than me! besides i'll be in university next year." youngeun mentally rolls her eyes but it's not like chaehyun can even see it.
youngeun was slightly worried when she didn't hear a reply from chaehyun, did she go too far with the banter? she thought they were close enough for that.
(actually chaehyun was just panicking over how cute youngeun sounded when she said that)
"you can treat me when you enter my university then." youngeun noted how shy chaehyun sounded when she said that. she grins as she thought of the perfect reply to her soulmate.
"but i want to meet you soon so that i can finally put a face to my soulmate that has the sweetest voice."
was that a squeal youngeun heard? she couldn't help but let out a chuckle at how cute chaehyun was. she was about to reply when she finally noticed an annoyed jia standing in front of her table.
"youngeun, we're going to be late for dance practice if you don't stop talking to your soulmate right now." jia groans, thinking at first that youngeun was staring off into space when she was actually just having a conversation with her soulmate.
"oops! i have to go chae, jia and i are late for dance practice and she looks like she's going to kill me any moment. we shall discuss plans for our meet up later tonight!"
chaehyun tries to not let out an actual scream while at the university library after hearing what youngeun just said.
as youngeun gets dragged away by jia to their dance practice, her lips curve up to a smile knowing that she actually has the chance to defeat the math god now, and it's all thanks to her soulmate. meanwhile, chaehyun thinks maybe she should take the leap and finally travel the almost two hours long journey to meet her soulmate so she can tutor the poor high schooler on math before her teacher finds out what she did (and of course finally meet youngeun).