The Reason? - Yoon Jeonghan

Chapter 14

     Ophely laughed to herself thinking about Jeonghan dealing with her breasts. After a whole week of being in his body and his in hers, she could laugh about those things. If she wasn't used to having the simple thing boys had in between their legs, then he must be feeling something similar with the two balloons attached to her chest. Breasts. Boobs. She knew that he must change his usual moves to accommodate the added volume, as she was sure knowing Seventeen's dances were not always mindful of those.

     Why was she even thinking about that? She sighed exasperated in her bed that morning, watching the ceiling, imagining each boy with boobs on their chests. She gagged and immediately told herself to forget that image forever.

     Why had she even thought about that?

     But how she wished for those moments to last longer, only thinking about fun and useless things like those. Boys with boobs. There were more things to be preoccupied about. Like the entire change of scenery that, after a week, was starting to feel somewhat like a home. Like Korean being a third language she could now speak, and how she was struggling to study for her upcoming exams as well as learn a new choreography that was really hard while being a Medicare dancer at best. And then there were the worries that Ophely could do nothing about, such as if Jeonghan was trying to learn French and English on his side, or if he was making an effort to talk to her parents. Whatever Jeonghan did, it was out of her hands. She could do nothing but hear what happened after it happened.

     Ophely could only wish for Jeonghan to take care of her body, just like she was taking care of his by dancing every day until exhaustion.

     It had only been a week, and a week only. But practice was key, if she didn't draw most of the days, just like dancing, then her body would stiffen.

-

      Dokyeom came back into the apartment five minutes after the elderly lady from downstairs had called. He had, indeed, a package in his hands. And on it was none of the boys' names, but it had been written in Korean. The address was right. So who was it for?

      "Who's it addressed to?" Jun asked from his place on the couch, right beside Ophely as they played video games on the console.

     "It's for Mi-seu-jeu," He started reading the weird name in front, the writing seemingly familiar, but he still had a hard time distinguishing the letters. "Pay- Pae- Peni thingy," The boys were now watching him read the recipient on the parcel with curious eyes, at least the ones in the room. Silence and saccated syllables followed until DK's eyes just lit up, understand who it was addressed to. "Oh, it's for Ophely!"

     "Me?" The girl turned around from her place on the sofa, eyes wide and looking right at her elder. "Where is it from?"

     "France."

     "Oh."

     "You get a package from Jeonghan, who is all away in France, and all you can say is 'Oh'?" The8 asked incredulous, comically moving his head around as he pushed the girl off from her seat. "Go open it, it was Christmas yesterday!"

     It was weird, being surrounded by so many people during Christmas, it had been a long time since she had done the festivities with more than ten people, and the numerous gazes from the boys were a bit unnerving. It was when the parcel laid in her hands that Ophely had had a good look at it. It wasn't big, it was small, the cardboard box surrounding it making it bigger than it was. When opened, the box was small, just big enough to be bigger than a phone.

      Inside it was something that she never had expected to get her hands on. Only seeing it on the internet and supporting the creator. Never had she thought about owning one of those.

      But what made her cry in front of the boys was simply the thought of the present. She hadn't even been in Jeonghan's body for two weeks that he had already thought about buying her a Christmas gift, they could have even reverted back to their own bodies in the time. Less than a week and he had already purchased it, sending it all the way from the UK to Korea for a girl he had never met.

      And he was stuck back there, all alone as her parents went around France to celebrate Christmas with the rest of her family, without any present from her.

     The boys urged her to open the little metal tin, hoping to understand why the girl was tearing up in front of such a small box. None expected to find paints in it. They were proud of Jeonghan as he had found a present that meant a lot for the girl, but they were still unsure of how to react at the sight of the little watercolour pans.

      It was Joshua who realised that there was a letter inside the shipping box, one piece of paper that Ophely hadn't seen. He discretely went to retrieve it, unfolded it and read the piece of paper. It was a handwritten letter from the creator of the paints, thanking the buyer for supporting her small business, the letter was deep. Joshua understood why it had meant a lot to Ophely. By buying her those paints, Jeonghan had given support to that independent creator. Something that Ophely couldn't do without much money.