The Reason? - Yoon Jeonghan

Chapter 8

     Jeonghan woke up in the same bed he fell asleep in. The one that belonged to the teenage girl. Again. The second time in a row. It was clear that he could only wish to be transported back to his body in Korea now. But what could be done to get back to where he once was? That was a question he had no answer to, nor did his friends who had answered to his email the previous day, and during the night.

      That actually made a new problem appear in this equation, both Jeonghan and Ophely had things to do in their own bodies, like practising for the comeback and concert Seventeen will hold after the holidays, and the events they will partake in before the new year – the next one taking place in less than a week. And Ophely had her midterms right after the holidays were to end.

      Jeonghan laid in bed a few more minutes, his body having woken up for the second time in a row at half past five in the morning as if it had an internal clock integrated inside it. The ceiling filled with painting and artworks amazed him each time he looked at them. Each drawing, however well they were done, had its own feeling. They inspired sadness, or joy, and nostalgia depending which way you looked towards, just like songs. Art that way of doing things. The language of art was universal, whoever watched, looked, observed, listened to it would feel something, often what the artist wanted to transpire.

       Jeonghan felt like he knew Ophely, as if he had had a conversation with her where they told each other their deepest secrets and her heart was wide open for him to see how it worked. But he never exchanged a single word with her.

       The phone rang at six on the clock, her morning alarm Jeonghan had yet to turn off for the holidays.

      Jeonghan dressed up, banged his head twice on the low ceiling beams, and left the room to have a little breakfast down in the living room, which was similar to his apartment where the three rooms (kitchen, dining and living room) were connected and separated by different furniture. It was quite early in the morning as the girl's parents were still sleeping, Ophely's father wasn't going to take long before getting up too.

      The girl had a cold hot chocolate every morning, he found that out simply by looking in her sketchbooks, where she sometimes wrote little things about the day or a specific event that took place, and one morning she had no chocolate for her drink, and that had changed her entire morning routine. What Jeonghan meant by 'cold hot chocolate' was simple, the girl prepared a hot chocolate but didn't heat it up in the microwave, she drank it cold. Which Jeonghan found out to be quite refreshing, even in the middle of winter.

       Now on break, Jeonghan had as much time as he needed to find a way to get back to his body. The first way he found, but you couldn't be sure as this was quite magical, was to maybe have the two bodies meet and the mind would get back into the right container. If that didn't work, then Jeonghan was dry on ideas. He didn't know what could reverse this ethereal spell that transported him, well part of him, on the other side of Earth.

      The man took a sheet of paper from the stack that laid beside the printer and picked a pen up from the girl's desk before writing his ideas down. He thought that maybe brainstorming could help with understanding the situation. So he started putting down the facts, what was true, then speculating on the things.

      At first Jeonghan had thought that his situation would be just like in the animated movie 'Your Name', and that he'll be back where he should be before he knew it, but that proved to be wrong. And also the fact that there was no problem with the times, he was in the same timeline as he was in before the exchange. He couldn't know either if there was going to be a natural catastrophe happening in 2018. He didn't have a futuristic vision. No magical powers to battle this magical thing.

      Half an hour and Jeonghan was no further than when he woke up. The only idea he had was to meet the girl in person. And that had to wait because Ophely was in his body during a tightly scheduled time, her parents were working and he was in the body of a minor. He had thought about flying to Korea, but that would be impossible while being underage, and that move would be quite sudden to the girl's family, who each year celebrated Christmas together, it would be rude. Maybe he could feign sick for the holidays? That would only work if her parents accepted, which they should as he was not their daughter, and he didn't know how to speak French.

      This whole ordeal was a mess. Jeonghan closed his eyes and massaged his temples, hoping for something to happen, for an idea to just pop into his head by magic. It would still be better if he just popped back into his own body.

      He groaned in frustration, this was going nowhere.

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      He laid in bed again because walking in a circle would do him no good, especially to his head. He'd have to talk to her parents one day or the other. About their daughter, of course, and the very needy schedule he had.

      He had needs back in Korea that he needed to fulfil, more precisely his work that couldn't be done by distance, especially in the wrong body. There was the necessity to have a deep conversation, all of us – the girl, her parents, his group mates, him and his boss. Of course, that was if they hadn't already talked with his manager back in Korea.

      They had compromised. They would, all three of them, video call Seventeen at lunch so they could catch them in the afternoon after their schedule. That's when the parents would talk with their daughter about the plan, and he'll explain in Korea what happened and what will happen to his group mates. His boss will have to wait until they were face to face back in his office in Korea for their talk.

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      Jeonghan sat nervously in front of the computer, his legs shaking under the desk in the girl's bedroom. Her parents were downstairs, waiting in front of their own screen, waiting for the person to call them.

      They should be there in less than two minutes.