Upon arriving back from the hours long afternoon trek up the mountain and down again with one staff member, the members of Seventeen all sunk down in the soft couches in the living room, pushing the younger members out of the way comically. The boys who hadn't gone outside Seoul had just played games for the entire time, filming themselves for any future vlogs.
Ophely took her time to get out of her snow-soaked shoes and pants, gently removing her wet gloves and scarf and laying them on the radiator to dry out. She observed the boys as they bickered by themselves in the living room before slipping from the entrance to the kitchen. Dinner had not been prepared, the boys who were home had done nothing, prepared nothing for them all. She chuckled to herself as she took out ingredients to prepare a copious meal, warm and filling for the spent men in the apartment.
The heat from the gastops warmed her as she cooked, her nose still pink and runny, but Ophely didn't care as she was just greatly happy by the fact that she had seen snow after many years of not seeing any, the south of France wasn't know for its cold winter, more so for its wind and strong floods pre-winter. Not for the snow. The walk, the nature, and the cold had brought her out of the idol bubble she had been living in. It had brought her far from Jeonghan's duties as a working man, closer to herself.
So she wanted to make a warm meal to warm all of the boys up but also to thank those who had thought about the nice walk outside to make her feel more welcome. Ophely received some helping hands, some that went and came, all very enthusiastic to help and know what she was making, but also very bad at cooking and disastrous with a knife or a simple spoon. Wonwoo and Mingyu helped her with the name of the ingredients, making sure she used what she wanted to use (for example not to misidentify pepper as paprika), some had just been written in Korean and easy to understand, but others had been hard to imagine. They had been the helping hands to stay throughout the whole preparation. Ophely wasn't an ace at cooking Asian meals, less so Korean meals, but she still tried, learned and discovered new dishes that interested her. The best Asian meal she could make was instant noodles. Nowhere to go wrong with that. But she wanted to thank them with a good meal that was more developed than a cheap last-minute meal. She had talked to Joshua to ask about certain things to take in mind while cooking, like the eatability with chopsticks or other utensils. Asians didn't have the fork, spoon and knife combo. Just chopsticks and a spoon on the table.
What Ophely had managed to make for the boys was a good surprise, she didn't have a recipe but the whole meal was delicious. With what she found in the kitchen, she had made rice with chicken curry for thirteen hungry young male adults. They devoured the meal in less than an hour and a half. No left overs and no scrapes at the bottom of the bowls. It made her happy to have shared a meal with them. The boys were very nice, hyper and open to giving her compliments on her cooking every five minutes as, one by one, they refilled their bowl with more rice, meat and sauce.
Ophely slept soundly that night, curled up in her blanket and sheets, dreaming of a day her friends and all of Seventeen would have a meal together, prepared by her fantastic cooking friends, Flora was a real chef in that category. It was possible that that dream was a possibility that could possibly happen in all of the possible possibilities of the possible future. But it was still a dream, and she knew it. However, she still lulled to sleep with those fantasy images in her mind, a small smile gracing her lips.
-
It had only been one week since she had seen her family, but Ophely was slowly going insane by herself. The boys had helped, and letting her worries out loud in the middle of the night did too, but it wasn't the same as being with the ones who understood you. Well, now she was starting to question her own sanity. She wasn't going crazy, she knew that, but she wasn't in the same bubble of perpetually replenished happiness she used to live in. Being in another's body did that to you, living in a brand new environment did that too. It was a good thing that Jeonghan's body was in good health and could be more free without any problems, the only thing that Ophely wished he didn't have was that uncomfortable thing between his legs, that thing every other man had. It was uncomfortable. That's what having a male's body was, simple things like these were little things you get used to.
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.