"We have a shooting today, and then practise until late." Joshua said as the boys packed their bags with the food Ophely had prepared the day before. "We probably won't be there for dinner."
"It's okay, if tomorrow is as full as today, please tell me so I'll make you all lunch too." Ophely answered. They were the only ones left in the kitchen, the other Seventeen members running around the dorm getting ready and packing their bags for the day. "I'll be at the dance studio by noon, so if I change with Jeonghan, you'll find me there."
"That's alright, I think in about six hours we'll be there." Joshua smiled and bid her goodbye, being the only one left in the apartment.
Ophely really hoped that she would be able to learn the choreography for the boy's new upcoming release, however, she wasn't the best dancer around and the boy's schedule was already filled to the brim. But until then, Ophely was going to study and do her homework for school, make herself lunch and pre-prepare dinner for later that day.
And what Ophely meant by that is a whole morning of boredom. Wake up early, follow lessons early, do the homework in the middle of the morning, and then start getting her lunch ready and starting to prepare dinner. At the same time she managed to talk with her best friend who was binge-watching a series at half three in the morning (French time zone). She would have to talk to her parents in the evening after practising the dance.
Lunch came quickly with Ophely eating her meal all the while finishing up dinner and putting it in boxes to put in the fridge. It always made her current life more pleasant to work in her own body, with a sense of familiarity.
Her phone in her pocket indicated a message being received, announcing the arrival of one of the Seventeen managers waiting for her at the entrance of the building downstairs. She picked up her belongings that she would need that afternoon and made her way to the front door putting her shoes on and leaving the dorm while making sure to close the door behind her.
Her bag rested against her back as she rode the elevator down, her phone in hand and an answer being written out for the manager. She wasn't wearing anything fancy, not that she had any sophisticated clothes in her closet, comfortable in her joggers, normal t-shirt and baggy sweater. This was how it had been for the previous days with the busier than ever boys. Waking up with them and making sure jeonghan had the most time in his own skin as possible, having half of the day to herself and then the afternoon spending time at the company practising in both bodies. So workout clothes were what was needed, trainers on her feet and her hair in a high ponytail; cap on her head and mask covering her face.
Once downstairs Ophely searched for the manager at the front of the building and followed the man once she saw him waving her over beside the usual car she used.
The ride followed in silence, Ophely messaging the boys' group chat to tell them that she was nearly at the studio.
-
It was boring, nobody could deny it. Waiting in an empty dance studio with no one else but you for company. But Ophely had nothing else to do. With her laptop on her knees, she worked on her school work, communicating with her friends for details about some things that they might have learned during the class. At least, with those that were still awake at half past five in the morning (Hint - Amélia) because they had a party on a Tuesday night and she hadn't slept at all.
The only thing she could hear in the room for some time was her typing on the keyboard and her spoon hitting the sides of her lunch box.
It was long, and not a schedule that Ophely had wished for herself. She sighed as she took a break and drank the raspberry yoghurt she had packed as a dessert, and then she was back on her homework. Before sighing again and rubbing her eyes. She saved her document and closed the lid of her computer as she took a break and cleared her mind. English, Korean, French, Korean. This was how her days had been going and her mind was simply jumbling the three languages together. Working on scientific things in the middle of a daily Korean course on management was really not working out.
"How long until they get here?" She asked the staff who had just entered the room.
"Not long, I have just received a message concerning them. They have left the venue and should be here before the half hour." Ophely looked down at her phone, checking the time. It was just past one in the afternoon.
"Thank you." Ophely exhaled as she took her empty box and laptop to the table in the room, dropping the computer on it and leaving the room to the bathroom, where she would be able to clean her recipient.
It was while she had her hands wet that she couldn't see the sink anymore. She suddenly felt much more tired.
With how this happened to be a daily occurrence, Ophely knew that she had just swapped bodies with Jeonghan.
-
"Just move your body like this." Minghao instructed her while he moved her body to the right position. "And then you can stand up while turning." The two had been at it for the past half hour and Ophely hadn't even memorised the moves for the first ten seconds of the song. Jeonghan was on the other side of the practice room discussing and practising the choreography and other details with the rest of the members. Even in her body, he was very capable of doing the dance moves with finesse and right on time too.
Ophely wanted to be good at it, putting all of her mind on it, but she just didn't have as much practice as the boys and therefore couldn't memorise as fast as they did the moves of the choreography.
"It's okay to not be good right away," A voice broke her out of her reverie. Minghao looked down at her knackered on the wooden floor. "We were all at your stage before. Hyper teens wanting to be the best, or just having a hard time dancing."
"I'm still tired."
"You can ask Dokyeom about our trainee days, he wasn't close to being a dancer. He came here to be a singer, and his body was very stiff. He had a hard time learning our choreographies too. As did Seungcheol and Seungkwan, the latter still being the slowest of us to learn the dance moves. We're not all dancers, and you never wanted to dance, so it is normal to be having a hard time." Ophely smiled up at him, sitting up and reaching for her water bottle beside her next to the floor to ceiling mirrors. Taking the second one and handing it to the man, thanking him for his recomforting words. "We're going back at it in five minutes, don't thank me yet." With that, he left her with the screen tablet to do a runthrough with the rest of the group.
Ophely went back to studying the video they had already filmed of themselves at the start of their practice. All thirteen of them were there and synchronised. She tried to integrate every little advice she had gotten from Jun, Minghao, Vernon and even Jeonghan. So she watched the video in slow-motion and distinguished every movement from the other, separating each one and finding the rhythm and the beat of the music. She chanted the beats in her head as she watched the video on the tablet, her eyes following her own figure on the screen. Somehow, she was happy that she and Jeonghan had exchanged that fast, glad to be able to easily recognise her position as her smaller long-haired figure was more easily distinguished from the boys'.
A soft hand fell on her shoulder. Startling her.
"Sorry, Ophely." He said, "We're going back to learning in smaller groups the moves. Do you want to join us?" Ophely turned to face her form squatting beside her on the ground. She looked back behind the boy to see who he was talking about; the boys had separated into three groups, one of them looking at the couple on the ground. Mingyu, Minghao and Jihoon stood a few metres behind them.
"Yeah." She answered Jeonghan and stood up, ready to tackle the dance!
-
She was not ready to tackle the dance. She was rubbish at it and her feet kept getting mixed up. But the boys were really helping her. They weren't chatty and telling her what to do, but more calmly explaining how to do each move. It was also maybe the first time that she actually got to talk with Mingyu. One of the tall members who didn't chatter that much.
But one thing was sure, there wasn't much enthusiasm in helping. It seemed to her that they were there just because they had to (or maybe because Jeonghan had asked them to be nice to her because she was kind of alone with them). Either way, they were there and helping her learn. Well, as much as she could learn complicated choreographies, synchronisation, moves she hadn't even known existed, and so on.
She was exhausted, and quite glad that she had prepared dinner that morning, way too tired to even put the vegetables in the microwave. It was Joshua that had done it for her, and them all. Before bringing both of their plates to her on kitchen's table with their own cutlery.
"Thanks." She muttered. "Enjoy your meal." They all had their own personal routines. Ophely as well. She didn't wait a second longer before digging in. She watched the rest of the boys mingle in pairs or bigger groups as they ate, conversing around what had happened during the day or other things. She didn't want to bother them. What would she even talk about? The fact that she had a cat? No, there wasn't much conversation subject they could discuss altogether..
"Are you tired?" Joshua asked her, not wanting the girl to feel left out. He knew how it was to be in a completely new environment with people she didn't know. "We had quite a busy day, with the entire morning posing for a brand, and then you had to practise the dance too. It's not easy." He didn't need her to respond, but he would like her to talk to all of them, and not keep everything to herself. It was going to be hard on her after a while if she continued like that.
Getting into a more comfortable position on the chair, she sighed, knowing that he was right. "Yeah. It's tiring. I don't like dancing much, and practising for hours on end isn't going to make me love it any more. But I really don't want to hinder Jeonghan in his work, nor any of you." She ate a bit, trying not to look up to catch Joshua looking straight at her, his own chopsticks in hand. "I don't - It doesn't feel normal to talk to any of you. Like this is a crazy pipe dream. It just feels weird. A bit uncomfortable in the body. And with it changing every half day, it isn't good either" Joshua was this calm person that she could talk to in English, somehow speaking in that language making it more secretive. While in Jeonghan's body she felt that she could talk to the boys more easily, but as Ophely - it was much harder. "I just feel knackered whenever Jeonghan and I exchange bodies. Like my exhaustion and his own were combined.
I am knackered, and I haven't even started school here yet. We haven't figured out how to solve this body problem. My parents are worried too. However, I can't really tell them that I don't enjoy being here and that it is extremely hard. I can't tell them that I don't like Korea currently, nor do I like having to room with thirteen full grown men. I just like how peaceful it is for one third of the day. Where I just get to do things on my own. There isn't this constant reminder that I am not where I should be. I just feel like I am on holiday but I am just so weary." By now, she was just pushing her food on her plate with the tip of her chopsticks. Eyres brimming with unshed tears. "I don't know how long I can keep up with your lives." Joshua wanted to bring her in for a hug, but the girl was already standing up from her seat, leaving the kitchen area while wiping her sweatshirt's sleeve at her damp eyes.
He didn't follow her as she left the room down the corridor to where she had been sleeping.