The Reason? - Yoon Jeonghan

Chapter 9

      "Now I want you to write 'neo-mu'. Right, that's correct. Then 'an-nyeong-ha-se-yo', jwi-seong-hab-ni-da'. You're getting quite good at it, try making your letters smaller, your handwriting is huge, we won't have enough paper for you to work on tomorrow." Ophely was working, really putting a lot of effort into learning Korean, because languages made her happy. It made her feel independent, she hated relying on others like she currently was on Seventeen, but Vernon was a fun person to be with, he made the lessons lively, not that the ones with Joshua weren't, it was just another atmosphere. (a lot, hello (formal),

      Working with the boys, being able to simply say hi to them in the corridors or as she passed by them made her feel more integrated, made her feel welcome, especially when each man smiled like a proud father when she talked, even two words.

-

      Ophely was dead, she was drenched in sweat and her legs were about to give out, the boys had been impressed with her dancing during practice, some said that it was in her body (which wasn't hers) and that it was used to dancing. But she was still tired, she was sure that she had made a lot of mistakes, her timing was often off and she had bumped into each of the group members while the formation changed, but she did agree that dancing was a bit already inside the body, she wouldn't have been able to dance like that in her own skin.

      Hoshi was going to end up killing her if he continued like he had that afternoon. He and the other dance instructors under the company together made a death machine. They were making her dance like it was her last day on Earth, her limbs were already sore, even after a very long warming up session before dancing. One day was okay, but if she had to do that again the next day, that was going to be the death of her, her second death. More painful than the last.

      And Joshua, nor Vernon, had told her that they had dance practice before the surprise, she was going to be dragged to wherever they wanted her to be, literally drag her there. She had no energy, just enough to lay in bed for a good ten hours and more. And these boys did this every day? For an entire day and not half an afternoon? These men were crazy, amazing at what they did, but really bonkers. Ophely was dead weight as she laid in the middle of the practice room, music blasting out of speakers placed in every corner. She was in her own pool of sweat, laying in it, for over half an hour, cooling her body down.

      One of the boys, presumably Seungkwan, came over to her with a cold water bottle. She nearly didn't see him come as her eyes were half closed. He dangled the bottle on top of her face until she took it out of his hands, graceful.

      "정말 고마워." She breathed out as she unscrewed the lid, tipping the content of the container in her mouth hastily. He just smiled at her, glad to see a part of his friend back. He often behaved the same way, laying down in the middle of a room because of his tiredness. She was also very polite. ("Thank you so much.")

      Did she have enough energy to stand up? Maybe not enough, but she still had to stand up, take a shower, and make her way to the surprise.

      Fifteen minutes later, after a very cold shower and another bottle of water emptied, Ophely was to an extent awake. She still dragged her body out of the showers, and into the living room, but she wasn't as knackered as she had been before.

      "So, what's this surprise you have?" She asked Joshua as she laid down on the ground next to the couch in the living room, not finding a good place to sit on the furniture itself. She looked back up, assessing the situation more than she had as she came into the room. Her short hair dripped from the shower, still wet. Ophely was lazy, and short hair was another excuse for her to not dry her hair, it dried quickly for the small volume. The wetness cooled her down. But as she looked over at the boys, when Joshua didn't answer her, she saw that they were all hurdled over two laptops on the little table. "What's up with you all?" Vernon seemed to have finally heard her.

      "That's the surprise, I'll bring it to your bedroom." He said energetically, "You can already go there."

      "Okay." She answered, unsure of what they were preparing, but she still did as told, picking Jeonghan's body up from the floor, ruffled her hair to get some water out and made her way over to her bedroom. Ophely walked past the bathroom, going back on her steps, and opened the bedroom door. She sat on her bed, waiting for Vernon to come, or anybody for that matter. She hoped that they weren't excluding her from anything they were doing, because being left alone, in the dark, isn't something very pleasant to experience.

      Ophely didn't have to wait for long, as less than five minutes later Vernon came into her room, a laptop in hand. She watched him from where she sat as he moved around the room, setting the object down on the table in the corner of the room. "Come here." He called out to her, plugging the computer in. "It's ready."

      The girl stood up, apprehending what the surprise was, because there weren't many things that she wished to have, most of them she didn't know. But as she got closer to the screen, she saw what was on it, or hoped that she was seeing well. She widened her eyes, furrowed them, and rubbed them on after the other, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. But a black cat making its appearance on the screen told her everything she needed to know.

      What she saw was the truth. She cried silently, sitting in front of the laptop. Her hands going to hide her face from the shock.

      "Comment ils ont fait?" She asked herself, moved by their action. She let the tears stream down her face for five minutes, no sound coming from the laptop either. ("How did they do that?")