Chapter Six - Another Morning

Curled up on the living room sofa Yoona sat wrapped in the soft comfort and warmth of her duvet. She was waiting for Hyoyeon to arrive to the apartment and still hadn’t figured out what to tell her or what to do. Earlier Hyoyeon had called her telling that she had managed to get a hold of Hyomin and had the whole afternoon off which meant that Yoona had to make a decision before she arrived. Whether to act as Sunny and not tell the truth, or to tell everything and hope for the best. No matter how hard she thought she couldn’t think of an alternative to these two choices.

It had been about half an hour since Hyoyeon’s call which meant that she would be arriving at the apartment pretty soon. Sunny lived close to the pre-school she worked at, which is why Hyoyeon was so willing and able to come check up on her friend at such a short notice. Yoona had already left her door unlocked so that once Hyoyeon arrived she could just walk in and Yoona wouldn’t have to move from her comfortable location.

It was then the doorbell rang Yoona’s eyes darting towards the corridor. You couldn’t see the door as the entrance was just barely hidden behind a corridor to the side of the living room.

“It’s open!” Yoona shouted as loud as she could to make sure that Hyoyeon would hear it. She did and in the next moment the front door opened and closed rapidly.

“Sunny where are you?” Hyoyeon asked as she was taking her shoes off in the hallway and soon appeared into view. She was wearing slightly baggy jeans, a simple white top and a dark green cargo jacket from which she had rolled the sleeves up past her elbows. Her blonde hair was free flowing in the air as if it was alive. She entered the room speed walking her way across the living room floor towards Yoona in a split second, jumped onto the sofa next to Yoona startling her slightly in the process. Hyoyeon was a really active person.

“Sunny what’s… what is that?” She pointed Yoona in the face. She still had the pink moustache and goatee she had done with the lipstick earlier that morning adorning her face. She had forgotten to wipe it off.

“Did you get cravings and suddenly wish you could switch your body and become a man?” Hyoyeon joked wiping some of the lipstick off her face.

Yoona laughed with her but found it ironic that Hyoyeon would say that of all things, because here she was sitting in Hyoyeon’s friend’s body. She was once again brought back to the thought of how to tell Hyoyeon about her predicament. How could you ever convince anybody that you had switched bodies with someone? It wasn’t something you could explain away, nobody would believe that.

Hyoyeon stopped laughing and her smiling face slowly faded a little as she looked at Yoona more. She slung her hand around Yoona’s shoulder and pulled her in, their faces touching each other.

“You are awfully quiet. You really must be sick.” Hyoyeon now turned Yoona’s head so they had their foreheads together and closed her eyes while Yoona stared at the other girl. The slightly parted lips, breathed down her neck and Hyoyeon’s gentle fingers holding her head made Yoona flush. Too close for comfort.

Hyoyeon opened her eyes and tilted her head while looking at Yoona awkwardly. “You don’t feel like you have a fever though.”

What was wrong with her friend today? It was the same thing yesterday. Hyoyeon had her day off which was the reason she had not been at work. Sunny sent her a text message in the morning stating that she didn’t feel too well and would possibly have to ask Hyoyeon to come and take her place sometime during the day if she started to feel worse. Hyoyeon had told her friend to take better care of her body as she had seemed to be getting worse since last week.

In the end right after lunch Sunny had sent a message saying that she couldn’t work today and would like to go home. Hyoyeon went to work to take Sunny’s place. That had been the last contact she had with her friend until this morning, worrying Hyoyeon to no end about her friend’s condition.

Hyoyeon was still holding Yoona’s head in her hand. She was not quite sure why but something seemed off. She didn’t know what but something bugged her, she couldn’t place her finger on it. Hyoyeon pulled Yoona once again closer so their foreheads were touching, closing her eyes and felt that same strange feeling. Something definitely didn’t feel right.

Yoona’s body, or Sunny’s to be exact, shuddered under Hyoyeon’s touch. She was a very active person who seemed to be extremely close to Sunny. Hyoyeon was the type to like close contact with her friend and with people. No wonder she was suited to taking care of children. You had to be able to touch others in that job. But her touch had a special feel to it. It was warming and calming and although Yoona feared the moment she had to tell Hyoyeon the truth, she felt calm and safe in Hyoyeon’s hands.

“Hyoyeon,” Yoona carefully began. She had to tell the truth as soon as possible. “I have-…”

“So Sunny, how’s your little sister doing? Still studying hard in the university?” Hyoyeon cut Yoona off before she could start. She let go of the girl and got up from the couch making her way to the kitchen. Yoona wasn’t sure what to say, but figured that she should say at least something.

“Uhm yeah, she is,” Yoona lied. The moment she let it out of her lips she knew she should not have said anything of the sort.

“Hmmm…” Hyoyeon hummed from the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator door and took out orange juice which she then poured into a glass for herself. Placing the juice back into the fridge she made her way to the arc that separated the living room and the kitchen, leaning in on the frame.

Yoona had to reveal it now. Whether Hyoyeon believed her or not she had to do it.

“Actually no. I don’t know anything about a sister,” Yoona started. She got up from the couch, the duvet she had been so warmly wrapped in falling onto the floor. She looked directly at Hyoyeon who was drinking her orange juice, eyebrows raised in question. “I… this will sound crazy I know and you probably won’t believe me but. I’m not Sunny.”

Hyoyeon’s eyes grew wider as she stared at Yoona. She didn’t move from her position under the arc though and Yoona grew nervous from the lack of reaction that Hyoyeon showed.

“I’m, well how do I put this, I’m stuck in your friend Sunny’s body. Inside here,” Yoona patted her chest realizing how soft and well endowed it was and just how awkward it was to touch somebody else’s body. She stopped patting it, letting her arms hang loose at her side instead. “Inside is me. My name is Im Yoona and… and I have no idea what happened.”

Hyoyeon kept on staring at Yoona, the latter feeling more nervous with each passing second. She knew she sounded like a crazy person and that Hyoyeon would mostly likely think that her friend was playing with her. But she couldn’t think of anything else. The only way she could try and convince her was through talking. Or possibly later on, by showing her all she knew about herself as Im Yoona and the lack of knowledge she had of who Soonkyu really was.

“I know this sounds crazy and unbelievable but… you have to believe me!”

Hyoyeon placed the glass of orange juice onto the counter and slowly made her way to Yoona, who was beginning to tremble. Fear gripped her and she was scared of the reaction that Hyoyeon might have to what she had just told her.

She stopped right in front of her staring deep into the eyes of Sunny’s as if peering through them into the soul that inhabited the body, staring into Yoona. She lifted her hands up and took hold of Yoona’s head with both of her hands from each side and pulled her in so their foreheads touched once more, still staring with a serious look.

“Where is Sunny?” Hyoyeon finally said her voice low and serious, a little husky and slightly threatening. “Where has she gone?”

Yoona’s eyes widened and she couldn’t find the words to respond. Did Hyoyeon really believe her or was she just playing with her? “I… I don’t know. Honestly I have no clue,” she finally managed to blurt out.

A smile began to spread on Hyoyeon’s lips and soon she let go of Yoona and began laughing really hard, falling onto the couch while still laughing. Yoona stared at Hyoyeon, lost and confused. What was going on? Did she really believe her or was she just fooling around? From what Yoona could gather so far, Hyoyeon seemed like a person who liked to play a lot, much like herself.

In a short moment Hyoyeon stopped laughing and looked up at Yoona from the couch. She was still standing there, her arms to her sides, a puzzled look on her face. Hyoyeon’s expression and tone once again changed to a serious one. She became a totally different person. “So you weren’t joking were you?”

Yoona shook her head in response. She didn’t know what to say any more. The whole situation had turned into a big huge pile of awkward.

“This is just… weird,” Hyoyeon began. She slouched on the couch and her right hand went to her forehead, rubbing it hard. “I thought this stuff only happened at the shrine but I guess I should have known better.”

Yoona’s head tilted to the side in question, her eyebrows lowering which made her eyes scrunch up. “Shrine?”

Hyoyeon looked up at Yoona and patted on the seat next to her. “Sit back down and wrap yourself into the duvet, lemme explain.”

Yoona slowly made her way next Hyoyeon and carefully sat down cuddling herself into the duvet. She felt much more secure in it and so hugged herself even tighter. The magical power of a blanket. It was always able to hide you from the monsters under your bed or in your closet.

“I’ve… seen something like this before, possession by a spirit-…”

“I’m not-…” Yoona began but quickly stopped talking as Hyoyeon’s looked at her, as if asking not to be interrupted. “I’m not a spirit…”

“Well, okay but I’ve seen possession before. Most people wouldn’t believe it but you are lucky that I’m one of them who do,” Hyoyeon continued. She leaned back on the couch and pulled her legs in so she was sitting crossed legged on the couch.

“If you are who you say you are, which I can’t be sure of yet, then you will want to leave that body as quickly as possible yeah? And I want to find where my friend is, what happened to Sunny.”

Yoona nodded.

“Well, I have-… had…” Hyoyeon paused, “There is a friend of mine who I’ve known since childhood. She lives at a shrine. I experienced possession by spirit there and I know it happens, so we can go visit her to see what is up.”

“Your friend is working at the shrine?”

“Yeah she is the shrine maiden of the place. She specializes in, well, stuff like this.”

Yoona’s eyes lighted up. She leaned in towards Hyoyeon hope filling her heart anew. “So you believe me then?!”

“I believe this stuff could happen but I didn’t say I believed you. But, if Sunny actually pulled a prank like this off and took it this far, it would most likely be the end of our friendship. This is too far. Also, Sunny doesn’t have a little sister. She has big sisters. I asked it to see how you would respond and…” Hyoyeon looked at Yoona, who slightly pulled back into her duvet. Silence fell over the two for a moment. Yoona looked away while Hyoyeon kept on looking at her.

“I didn’t take you to be one that would have believed in stuff like this,” Yoona finally said turning to look at Hyoyeon.

“Well you don’t know me now do you?”

“True…” Yoona once again looked away, slightly taken aback.

“I’m sorry if I come off a little rude but you do realize that you’ve just stolen my friend’s body and don’t know, or for all I know, won’t tell where she is.”

Yoona nodded slowly. Of course she would be agitated. The fact that Hyoyeon even entertained the thought that possession was possible was a miracle and since she did would be worried and hostile towards her. Even though Yoona didn’t know what she had done it was her fault that Sunny was gone and she was there instead.

“Since you are here, I’m guessing that you don’t have your apartment keys or any of your belongings right?”

Yoona turned to look at Hyoyeon once more, nodding carefully.

“Wouldn’t anybody miss you though? Do you know what happened to your body?” Hyoyeon asked.

“No clue. I just… woke up here.”

Both of them were quiet for a moment. Hyoyeon was thinking hard what to do and believe. Here was Sunny sitting next to her, who claimed that she was not herself but somebody wholly different. Another person. This person claimed she had somehow taken over Sunny’s body yet had no clue how it happened and why it happened, or what happened to her real self. She knew this kind of stuff could be possible as she had experienced it before but…

Increasing worry filled Hyoyeon. If it was Sunny, she was either playing a crazy prank which Hyoyeon had already told her she wouldn’t tolerate if it was taken this far. So she could rule that out because Sunny would have stopped the prank by then. The possibility of Sunny suddenly losing her mind and developing schizophrenia was also possible. And unlike most people, she found it plausible that possession by something or someone was also an option.

Most people would probably take their friend to the hospital to get checked but Hyoyeon knew that her friend at the shrine could tell if it was possession or not. If it was not it would mean that Sunny was crazy. Or fooling around, though taking it this far also meant that she was crazy nonetheless.

“Do you have a friend you can call or contact?” Hyoyeon finally spoke up. She looked over at Yoona who nodded.

“I have a friend, Seohyun, but… I can’t remember her number.”

“Do you know where she would be right now?”

“Yes. We work together so at the moment she would be at work. That is if she went to work after last night. I was supposed to call her but I didn’t. She would be worrying over me.”

“Alright get dressed,” Hyoyeon got up from the couch reaching her hand out to Yoona, “We’ll go and meet your friend.”

Yoona carefully reached out and placed her hand into Hyoyeon’s who yanked her off the couch. Yoona held onto the duvet, wrapping it up in her arms as she walked off out of the living room back into Sunny’s room to put socks on and a longer sleeved shirt on top of her blue t-shirt.

The thought of meeting Seohyun filled Yoona with anxiousness and made her increasingly scared about what was to come. Was Seohyun worried about her? She must be since Yoona had gone. But then how was she going to convince Seohyun, the usual sceptic that she was now in Sunny’s body? She might believe her since she knew about the dreams and seemed to believe them, but this was on a level of its own.

Yoona walked out of Sunny’s room to find Hyoyeon standing at the doorway, ready to leave.

“Let’s go. I want to know what you did to my friend as soon as possible,” Hyoyeon said before opening the door and walking out of the apartment. Yoona felt awful and slightly scared of Hyoyeon. She walked over to the front door, put her shoes on, took the apartment keys from the bowl she had found them in earlier that morning and walked out locking the door behind her and running after Hyoyeon.


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It was noon and clear blue skies covered the whole length of the city. It was a perfectly beautiful day, one that had not been seen in a while. Assisted by a light breeze there were only a few stray clouds drifting by and the temperature wasn’t scorching hot.

On the forty-third floor of the searing skyscraper filled with offices, the view of the city was splendid. It spread to immeasurable lengths and gave the illusion of seeing beyond the horizon. The sun gleamed off the paned glass walls of the numerous skyscrapers adjoined to this particular one, and they filled the city centre with their mass and hulk, speaking of their wealth and in comparison showed the minute position of each pedestrian. They were insignificant.

A tall, well built man was watching as the cars drifted below, stuck in the traffic of the packed city centre. He straightened his collar and flattened his trousers, feeling restricted around his chest. He must have either gained more weight or muscle. This meant that he would have to buy new shirts in bulk again. He tended to buy many of the same size and style at a time, simpler that way. Why have a huge variety of different clothes if you had a style that worked.

Behind him he heard a knock on his timber office door. He turned around making his way from the full wall glass window to his desk and as he sat down, called for the person to enter. The door to the office opened, someone dressed in regular office working attire walked in closing the door behind him. He walked over to the desk and gave a courteous bow.

“Anything yet?” The person sitting on the chair asked the recently arrived. He exhibited a sense of authority with his voice and demeanour. With every word he said, he sounded slightly threatening, like we would burst into action if you didn’t listen or do as told.

“Nothing. We’ve tried to find her through all the different wavelengths and all the sensors but it seems like she dropped off the grid,” the standing figure answered. “But other than that, everything is going according to plan.”

“Well it should be going according to plan, since we failed at achieving the main goal of the experiment.” The seated man rubbed his forehead sighing out loud. They had failed at their main objective so far and it and things were going to get a lot harder in the future. His superiors were not going to be happy about this. He was not going to be pleased.

“I’ll be taking a lot of heat from the men upstairs,” he said as he straightened himself on the chair. He looked at the man standing in front of him. He was older than him by a couple of years, though felt quite a lot older since he himself appeared younger than he actually was. “Keep looking for her. Don’t stop until you find her.”

“Yes, JongKook-nim.”

“And Jaesuk,” the man sitting, JongKook, leaned forward placing his elbows on his desk, a menacing smile spread across his lips. His naturally small eyes shrunk more than they already were, his gaze peering through the small slits. “Keep an eye on her little friend, Seohyun. If the need arises we can use her as leverage.”

Yoo Jaesuk, the man who had been standing, shuddered as he listened to the words of his superior. He was a menacing man. He bowed once again, and then made his way out of the office walking speedily along the corridor to the elevators and called one up. He couldn’t fail this objective. If he messed up, it was most certainly an end to his career or possibly an end to something more precious.

The elevator arrived and he entered it, pressed the button to take him down to his own office on the seventh floor. He would keep an eye on Seohyun and report anything and everything he witnessed. This was his way to climb the ranks.