Blueberry Jellies | Seongjoong

10

"Why did you bring attention to yourself? Now Seonghwa thinks I'm a weirdo." Hongjoong groans, holding his head in his hands while his friends sit around him. They decided to have a quick meeting before Seonghwa returns.

"I'm sorry, but I was too shocked. A celebrity- your favourite celebrity- pretended to be a girl just to meet up with you? I can't believe this is happening." Wooyoung still sits in a state of shock.

"I agree. But how are you going to hide from him now that you just met up with him?" Mingi asks in a serious tone, genuinely worried for his friend who had been hiding for the past week.

"I can't hide now. It's over, from this day on I'm going to spend the rest of my days trying to pay off debt. I was about to move out from home to become more independant but now I'm just going to be a student in debt." Hongjoong feels like crying. Tears already start to make their way into his eyes as he tries to blink them away.

"Why did this have to happen to me, I never do anything wrong and now suddenly I'm getting punished for what? Why didn't any of you guys swap bodies with Seonghwa instead?" He whines to Mingi quietly.

"Honestly if I swapped with Seonghwa I'd be on cloud nine right now. You didn't even take advantage of the situation and just read a book like a loser. You could have really found out something interesting..." Mingi smirks suggestively.

"I knew it! You guys do know each other!" Seonghwa's voice comes from the front door and everyone stumbles on their chairs. They were so engrossed in the conversation that no one heard the door opening.

The three boys trip over themselves trying to run back to their table, leaving Hongjoong alone with Seonghwa once again.

"I'm sorry for lying, they were the ones who wanted to come themselves, I didn't invite anyone." Hongjoong defends himself. "Alright." Is all that Seonghwa says with a warm smile.

He stares into Hongjoong's eyes for a moment before clearing his throat.

"I wanted to meet you so we could talk about what happened." He begins.

"Look, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Why do you think we swapped bodies?" Seonghwa interrupts him before he fully panics.

Hongjoong sits up straight and his brain freezes. He's talking about something else.

"I'm not too sure, it was random and only lasted a day." Hongjoong's voice gets softer and calmer while he thinks harder. This is exactly what makes Seonghwa's heart flutter, but neither of them know that yet.

"I think it might be a good idea to describe our day before it all happened. That might help us solve something. Would it be okay if we borrowed your friends' pen and notebook?" Seonghwa suggests.

Hongjoong clenches his jaw and gradually turns in his seat to see what Seonghwa is talking about. Of course, San and Wooyoung are leaning in to listen to their conversation, San furiously scibbling down notes into his notebook.

Hongjoong lets out a loud sigh. "I'll get it off them." He gets up and approaches his friends. Without another word, he aggressively snatches the pen and notebook from San's hands before walking back, leaving his friends in a state of confusion.

"I'll start. In the morning I practiced my dancing and singing for my world tour, and then took a little break. Then I danced some more...and then some more. And then I went to sleep." Seonghwa explains, tapping his finger on his chin, deep in thought.

Hongjoong rushes while taking notes. As soon as Seonghwa mentions his tour, Hongjoong's frantic writing comes to a freeze. He feels his heart stop for a second before painfully beating on when he remembers that he didn't get a ticket for the tour. Even after all the preparation and anxiety, luck wasn't on his side. He tries to ignore the thoughts.

"Is everything okay?" Seonghwa's soft voice comes dancing into Hongjoong's ears and he calms down. The real Seonghwa is sitting in front of me, I don't need a concert!

"Yeah, sorry for blanking out." Hongjoong laughs it off. "For me I started the day in college, but after mine and my friends' classes were over, we went for a walk around town. We hung out a bit and then I went home." Hongjoong sheepishly says.

He realises how mundane his day really was and it makes him even more confused. Seonghwa seems to be in the same condition as his face is scrunched up.

"There isn't really anything in common between our days, is there?" Seonghwa notices. Hongjoong sadly nods. Seonghwa's eyes travel to his watch and he notices that he needs to go back to practice. He sees Hongjoong's face in front of him and decides to just go later.

He thinks hard for a topic of conversation, but there's nothing he can talk about while sounding natural. Hongjoong looks busy with the notebook, so he decides to just feast his eyes for now.

"I-Is there something on my face?" Hongjoong stutters, not daring to lift his head from the notebook. Seonghwa notices the other's face growing into a bright shade of crimson.

He realises he's still staring and tears his eyes away before clearing his throat.

"I'm already late to practice, I'll go now. Let's keep in touch." Seonghwa stands up, brushing imaginary dust off his trousers.

"...Only to figure out this situation, of course." He adds without making eye contact.

"Good idea, thanks for taking time out of your schedule to meet me." Hongjoong thanks the older.

With one last nod, Seonghwa exits the cafe. He runs into Jongho on his way to the car.

"I was just about to get you! Let's go." He lets out a sigh of relief before turning back around. The two men walk towards the car park together, until Jongho stops in front of a black tent.

"Why are you stopping?" Seonghwa asks, growing grumpy. "This is the same store I got your jellies from last time! It's really cheap." Jongho grows excited.

"You bought my jellies from such a shady store?" Seonghwa hisses into his manager's ear. Jongho flinches and takes a step back with his head hung low.

With a loud grunt, Seonghwa gives in to his cravings. "I'll take the blueberry ones." He states in a tired voice to the man at the tent, setting the money on the table while picking up the packet.

Why are there only two packets of the blueberry jellies? Everything else is stocked completely...whatever, must be a popular flavour.

The mysterious man doesn't say a word. He stands silently. His sunglasses hide where his eyes lay. Seonghwa shrugs when not a sound comes out of the man and he walks away with Jongho.

I wonder what caused me to switch with Hongjoong he thinks, while opening the packet of jellies.