The Reason? - Yoon Jeonghan

Chapter 10 - 2/2

      "I don't get it."

      "The company made the group, they're called Seventeen. But the company doesn't work them, they make their own songs and choreographies. The company is like added support. Which is quite different from other K-pop groups." Her father stared blankly at her, Okay. Then that meant that what she said was useless. "Forget it, they work for a company, that's how they met. And the company pays for the flat we are living in."

      "So he is a public figure?" Her father asked.

      "Yes, but the company will issue a message for the fans that Jeonghan, the person I exchanged bodies with, won't be participating in any activities with the group or alone for the time being. Which makes me think that Jeonghan won't be able to partake in the Christmas activities with the family. What will you say to them?"

     "We thought about it," They said together, her mother continuing, "And we will say that you are unwell, so he stays home and works, sends you your studies, and we don't know what's really going to happen when we come back. Maybe we can all talk about it in an hour? That leaves us with time to chat." Ophely understood what they were saying, this information regarding Jeonghan will be important, probably, for their own conversation. So she stood up, signalling for her parents to pause, and went to the door. She wrenched it open and passed her head in the corridor, orienting her head towards the living room.

      "My parents said they'll excuse Jeonghan saying that I am sick!" Ophely loudly, "We'll talk some more about it all together in an hour!" She continued, and she shut the door walking back to her seat in front of the laptop. "Done, they know." Her smile was goofy as she looked back at her parents, they had always hated yelling in the house to pass information. "What?" She asked at their frowns. "They are normally extremely loud, really."

     "This guy," She asked her parents after a long pause, "Is he nice? Like I only know he takes care of his younger friends a lot. But I have no idea what he is like outside of all of that."

      "He is very nice, and respectful-" Her mother started to say.

      "But Koreans are very respectful of their elders and people they don't know."

      "Other than that, he keeps to himself. He tried reading in French the other day, he stayed with struggling with your English books." Her father said. "He also looked through all of your belongings, he managed to get into your phone and laptop, that's how he managed to get this surprise for you, his friends, he said, helped him make it possible on your side."

      "That's really nice of him." Ophely concluded, smiling at her parents, Talking with her parents always came naturally, she was happy to have this type of link with her parents. They could make jokes about her being without a boyfriend, and she could make jokes about them being lousy, it often led to heartfilled laughter.

     Her cat was also something that made her more at ease, he was there when she needed to cry. But he was back home, behind a screen she could only watch in envy. She missed home more than she thought, her heart ached to be there as she watched the house in the background of her parents, her cat on her father's lap, and a drawing they had made a month prior hanging on the wall to their left. She missed the warm house she had, house no wall stayed blank and empty, always something on it. She missed that as she looked behind herself where the wall was white, as he wall beside it and the ceiling, a poster or two were pinned beside the beds, but the fourth wall was empty too, a big closet with plain white doors. The ceiling was a darker shade in the kitchen, but that was it. Ophely also missed touching her art supplies as well as her sketchbook, it wasn't even finished.

      She was thankful for Flora, and how the girl had taken care of the situation, cared for her and took the matters in her own hands. Calling her father and staying with Jeonghan until her father came to pick her up.

     She longed to see them, less than a week from them and she was already acting like a spoiled little girl. Her friends, her cat, her parents and even her brother. She knew that Jeonghan would be the one to move, as the body she occupied was a public figure and that moving it would draw a lot of attention. And as Ophely didn't act like the man at all, rumours were going to fly all around them.

      She just hoped that her parents would fly to Korea with him. But that was just not possible, they had jobs back in France.

     A familiar ringtone emerged from the laptop in front of her, her mother's phone was ringing.

      "The hour passed." The woman said as she looked at the screen. "If that's okay with you, we had planned for all of you to use this laptop. Can you bring this one over to the group of boys?" Ophely nodded, understanding that there were other things that had priorities. She unplugged the charger from her side, rolled it up and took the computer in her hands, keeping the device turned one with the screen open.

     She walked down the corridor, her steps averting them of her presence. She only listened to silence as she walked closer to the living room, they must have heard her steps. As she got closer to them, finally walking into the bright room, they turned simultaneously towards her. Ophely stood there with her laptop. She cocked her head to the side as she saw all of them close to the screen, making it impossible for her to even get a glimpse of her own body through the screen.

      "You didn't see the time pass, did you?" Ophely asked them rhetorically, "It's time for the big meeting."

      She smiled at the boys and walked closer to them, they shuffled away from her, letting her pass through to the little table, she smiled at Jeonghan in her body as Jeonghan. It was very weird smiling to themselves while not in front of the mirror, weirder when the reflection didn't mirror your movements. Jeonghan smiled differently from how she would, his teeth didn't touch like they did when she smiled in her own body. Maybe he did the same in his body and she had been smiling out of character from the start.

      "I will go downstairs now." He said, shutting the screen off and leaving the premises of the bedroom.