Ophely had never really been hungover before, it wasn't something she would have done with her friends in high school even though some of her classmates more than indulged in alcohol during parties. However, she was glad that she had gotten that out of the way with people that she trusted (not all, but it had gone well). After taking the painkillers Jeonghan had left beside her bed that morning, Ophely had started feeling better after some time. She got up and left the bedroom for the bathroom. Though halfway through her shower she realised that she had forgotten to bring in her clothes. But then again it wasn't worse than the pain in her body and the ache of her muscles.
She went back to the bedroom to find it empty; She had to look at her phone to see what time it was. Ophely grumbled to herself tiredly as she dressed in some of the clean clothes they had yet to pack up.
"Good morning." She heard one of the boys say to her when she entered the kitchen, dragging her feet and messing up with her hair.
"Good day though." It was true, it was past noon.
Though she was up, Ophley was not hungry, so she just laid herself down on the kitchen island as the boys bustled around her, not all present as some had left for the company and some had decided to stay and rest a bit more. She let herself rest there in silence, ready to fall back asleep. She was gently lulling into one when she was woken up by hands in her hair.
The person fiddled with her hair, left for a second and came back brushing the tangled and wet locks into a neat head. Ophely didn't need to turn around to know who it was. The only one of the boys that would willingly come to her and help her had always been one person. Jeonghan.
"Thanks," She mumbled into her arms. Ready to go back to sleep with his gentle hands massaging her scalp, actually doing her hair up, but the feeling was the same. "How come you are not tired?"
"I didn't drink as much as you are some of the boys." He braided the curly locks together, "And I am used to getting up early." Well, Ophely could argue with that. It really depended on his mood, and how well his sleep had been. She pursed her lips, hearing another boy laugh in front of her. She opened one eye to see Wonwoo sliding her a bowl at the same time.
"What's that?" She asked Wonwoo, unsure of what he had made for her, seeing that none of the other boys had anything in front of them. "Thanks though." Ophely brought the bowl closer to her, inspecting the drink in it.
"Haejang-guk."
"Ah." She didn't really need any help understanding the name of the soup. It was literal. For her hangover.
As she drank the soup, Ophely's hair was still gently being tucked into a braid, Jeonghan slowly pulling out the random knots that she hadn't taken care of beforehand. His fingers were soft as they sifted through the strands, delicately pulling them together. "You're no angel." She mumbled, slowly drinking the soup Wonwoo had made for her. And some of the boys. Jeonghan hummed in response, huffing at the thought. Ophely had said the very opposite the night, she was rectifying her statement. "You're the devil in disguise."
"Why so?" He asked, already knowing what he had done wrong. He tied the end of her hair together, leaning back to see the overall picture.
"You know why." He took out a hairpin that he had found in his belonging while packing that week.
"I'm not sure I know what you are talking about." That sly smile was back on his face, which Ophely saw when she turned around to glare at him. He attached back some falling strands around her face with the clip. She continued glaring at him, huffing and turning back to finish her soup.
-
"Ophely!" A voice called out to the daydreaming teenager. She turned to look at the person, it was the boys' manager. "Can you come for a moment, we are missing a few hands." Ophely nodded and dropped her belongings in a neat corner of the room to come to the aid of the staff. It was the boy's summer comeback and a few crew members had called in sick just for that day.
"Can you help us with sorting out the boys' outfits and hand it to them when they come to you?" A short woman came to her, hands full and face a bit panicky. Ophely couldn't say no to her, she also wanted the performance to go well as she had followed all of the dance practice and had witnessed their hard work.
It went pretty rapidly between the make-up stations and the hair stations and the changing rooms. Ophely had just sat down next to the racks after having separated the boys', and then she stood up and took each of the hangers out to hand out to the boy that came. And it went like that for ten minutes, everybody speeding through the preparations. It was taking much longer than normally due to the fewer hands around the place. Ophely was of great help.
"Are you doing okay?" Jeonghan had asked as he came by to pick up his clothes. She responded positively with a smile. Which she had repeated as Joshua came by.
"Everything alright with you?" And then Vernon had done the same.
"You doing good?"
And then Wonwoo too. "Are you having a good time? I hope it isn't too hard on you."
Ophely could only say that she was doing okay and that she was glad to be useful for once. She busied herself with work and not just lagging behind with no real goal. It was weird, but welcome, to do something.
It was weird to see them perform from a screen and not while they practised or went on concerts, where Ophely could watch from the sidelines. Here, the space next to the stage was packed with the other performers as well as some technical staff.
It felt weird. Really. For Ophely to be there and actually do something without having this sensation at the bottom of her stomach that something was going to go wrong. This time she felt none of that. She was relaxed as she observed the boys perform for the first time since their MV had dropped two days before.
Though one thing hadn't changed for her, or the rest of the staff, or the members; they still finished the performance all sweaty and out of breath. They hadn't won that time, but it wasn't a worry for now, the adrenaline piped through their veins. High energy and loud laughs followed them as they went back to the changing room to get changed and take a rest.
Ophely watched as they went in front of her, already taking their jackets off and undoing other parts of their outfits. First up was Vernon with his bracelets in his hands as well as the bandana and the heavy sweatshirt. The warm weather wasn't any help. But she quickly took the belongings and put them back where they needed to be so that everything ran smoothly for her. One third of the boys went to her to either put some clothes down on the racks or get their clothes back to change into.
They had logically separated themselves with the members that had more layers, like Wonwoo and Scoups coming her way and The8 and Dino going to get their makeup off first. Overall, it was hectic.
But somehow she liked it. It was better to be rushing around with clothes draped on hangers than worrying yourself sick with the possibility of one second not being in the right body anymore. But following the concerts the boys had had in late June, and now a comeback mid-July, she was less nervous with exchanging with Jeonghan. It hadn't happened once. Maybe now that they were more comfortable with one another could they control when (or when not) to switch bodies.
It was less taxing on her with that. Though, yet again, it wasn't really done with, because she had yet to go back to her country and meet up with her parents. She hadn't been able to celebrate the end of high school with her friend, only Seventeen. It wasn't the same even though she had a great time.
Ophely sighed as she leaned her head against the van's window. She was tired, really, even if she wasn't the one to perform. She had, once again, yet to be used to the entire hectic schedule the boys had been following for over three years. "How many more performances are there for this song?" She asked quietly to Jeonghan who sat beside her, scrolling on his phone as they rode back home.
"Too many to count, I don't know. At least four more this week. And next week we have a few too, I think." They both sighed together, "And then we have a few concerts in Seoul and around Asia." He turned to face her. "I thought you also had access to our schedule?"
"I do, my memory is just less than impeccable."
It was quiet the rest of the way, everyone tired due to their busy schedule. Ophely could only think about how tired the men could be. It wasn't just dancing on stage and one! Voila! No, there was no way she could feel it. She could compare it to her fatigue from the constant switch and practice she had had in February, but it was grander now.
Maybe grander wasn't the right word. Fuller. It was summer and the weather was much higher, going outside wasn't any nicer, and then just following concret after concert, again, in the same year could only be tiring.
Ophely was shaken awake a few minutes later, Jeonghan was picking up his bag as were the other boys. They were near the new dorms.
Even after a month of living there, it was still weird for Ophely to go up the more stairs and separate from the rest of the boys. She didn't make as much food as she had before. But it wasn't ever a fixed number, some of the boys liked to spend time in the other dorms, between flour six and eight there was a lot of passage. And tonight was no exception, everyone tired, they decided to eat all together. Ophely fixed up some stir fried noodles and cooked vegetables that she had prepared earlier that day.
"Eat well!" She told the thirteen men as they were all served.
-
I'm not one for Author's Notes, but here's one!
I am sorry for not updating in such a long time. I had a lot going on and just needed to take a break from writing for some time. This story was still at the back of my mind everyday though.
I know I scared a few of you with not updating in a long time (just over a month if I'm not wrong (maybe even more T^T)) and that is a long time. Even for me. As I didn't do anything for my other stories either ... Quite an inactive account this summer.
I am not stopping my writing for 'The Reason?', nor am I discontinuing this story. I love it dearly and want to finish it. I think there should be around ten more chapters.
Again, I write this story for me, but most importantly for all of you out there. I want to here your suggestions regarding what you might want to see as the story starts to end. Couples? No couples? Sequels? Other members? Some old characters coming back? I had had this story all planned out for years, yet the ending had never been truly anything more than a blur.
Overall, I wish you a good reading as well as a nice day!
Take care and drinks lot in this hot weather <3
Love,
Nick <3