The Reason? - Yoon Jeonghan

Chapter 4

     It was awkward.

     The ride with Ophely's father was awkward, he drove calmly despite the reoccurring and repetitive glances he made towards her. Questions hung in the air, none being worded out, none being answered. Jeonghan ended up keeping to himself for the entire ride, he observed the landscape that passed by and appreciated the uninhabited countryside that the girl seemed to live in.

     For the first twenty minutes of the ride, a very flat landscape filled with vineyards was what he could see. Jeonghan was not prepared for the half hour that followed, not that the place was ugly, just sickening. The area they had entered was mountainous and the road followed the curves of the hills. Rocky dry land with a few steep ravenous parts were hidden behind the darkening sky, colored with vivid warm colours. Jeonghan kept his gaze on the road, hoping that that would help with the churning his stomach was doing.

     The evening was calm, not wild animals crossing quickly on the tarmac, but it wasn't the end of the afternoon for Jeonghan, his mind had not changed country as quickly as wished, he was still sleepy having only slept a maximum of three hours the night before, or the night that was actually coming, Korea being on the other side of the planet. He let his head fall against the window. No-one said a word during the hour- long ride.

     Jeonghan was asking himself questions regarding the life for the girl whose body he was currently possessing. Who was she? That was the first one he thought of. And, well, he didn't know the answer to that one. What was her style of living? Another one, and still no answer. He sighed. All he knew was that she was in high school with very concerned friends. Letting his eyelids drop, he wished for all of this to have been just a bad dream.

     But that wasn't the case as, not long after he had fallen asleep, he was awakened by a hand shaking his shoulder gently.

     "We 'ave arrived." The man said, his french accent clear and the words mumbled in his beard. Jeonghan stood up, still not used to the girl's body, and took her bag from in between his legs on the floor before swinging it onto his back when he had gotten out of the car.

     The sky was dark and a soft patter of rain fell from the endless black sky. Around him, Jeonghan could make out bushes of dry plants and a few more vehicles, too dark for him to identify them. The man, Ophely's father, had taken his phone out of his pocket and lit the torch, shining a path on the dirty ground and badly paved way to a set of exterior stairs. It wasn't like Jeonghan didn't like the dark, but he didn't like it somewhere he didn't know, he had nothing to guide him.

     To access the girl's home, Jeonghan had to climb the set of stairs outside, half of it sided into a bush, walk through the terrace and the main door was there. The older man opened the glass door and let himself in.

     Jeonghan stood for a moment outside the door, contemplating the situation. He heaved a sigh out, the slight warmth turning it to mist due to the cold, and walked closer to the door, the inside could be seen through. He felt like he was intruding inside the family. He wasn't part of this family, he was pushed inside the body of one of the members. He thought back at his family, he felt like an intruder. The only thing he could wish for himself, and the girl whose body he occupied, was that their families would accept this phenomenon.

     Shakily, he walked up to the door and walked through the entrance, he closed the door behind him and took off his shoes instinctively. Jeongnan turned around and smiled tightly at the couple and the boy in front of him, he felt awkward. Once again.