On the bright side, Min Seol looks good .

It’s embarrassing to say that I’ve been dating her for two years and yet not once have I seen her without clothes on. It’s a shame, really, because she’s got nothing to be ashamed of. I don’t even understand why she sleeps with so many clothes on (a tattered, old shirt; thick, fleece sweater; cotton pajama bottoms from the Gap)! If I knew she looked this good underneath all this garb, I would have definitely told her to wear something more interesting.

Then I wondered: if I’m in her body, was she in mine?

I quickly raced back to her bed to pull her clothes back on me – I mean, her. True, the first thing I did when I found out I was inside her body (no ual innuendos there, s) was strip off her clothes and stand in front of her mirror, but who’s to judge? I’m sure any teenage boy like me with ual hormones developed the minute I’ve hit puberty would die to see what their girlfriend looked like when . Or, any woman, actually. And in conclusion, I was one lucky bastard.

“Was” is the keyword here. So is “bastard”. Not like it’s a major factor or anything, but seriously! I broke up with Min Seol! Just look at her body! Am I stupid, or am I stupid?

Ok, I’m sidetracking way too far from the point over here.

As soon as her clothes were back on, I grabbed her iPhone which lied underneath her pillow. When I opened it, the screen lit up to her SMS inbox, specifically the messages sent between her and me. The last message was sent by me last night, right before our huge spat outside her apartment parking lot. However, in the text box, I noticed that she was in the middle of writing a new message right before she abandoned it. It read:

Jongin-ah, I’m really sorry for what I said. I know I sounded selfish. But please don’t do this, not after we’ve been together for so long. It’s too much to just break up after one big fight. We can work on this, can we? I just really want you to know that I lo

And then it stopped there. She was going to tell me she loved me.

Feeling overwhelmed, I sank back down on her bed, staring into space. It’s a big deal to me, really. I remember the first time I told her I loved her: it was about a year ago. I said it after our trip to Everland on our way back home. I took her hand and taking a felt tip marker from her bag, I wrote it on her palm. Truthfully, she didn’t say it back, because I think she thought I was just being cute and was only playing around.

And now, when things are as ty as they are, she finally says it back. I looked at the picture of her and her family that sat on her bedside table. I smiled to myself, thinking about Min Seol and how we were so stupid last night.

Suddenly, her phone began to vibrate in her hands. I looked down at the caller ID.

It’s my number! Instantaneously, I answered.

“Y-yeobosaey-yo?” I stuttered, my heart beating erratically in nervousness and anticipation. It was weird hearing my voice in my head, but hearing Min Seol’s voice through my ears. I bit my – Min Seol’s – lips.

“W-who is this?” I heard my voice through the phone line. I began to panic, like I was into some weird Twilight Zone episode.

“Th-this is… I… You… Are you Min Seol?” I asked.

For a second there was silence, then she asked, “How do you know?                      

“Min Seol!” I exclaimed, jumping up.

“Jongin?” She said uncertainly. Like she was just throwing a guess out there.

“Min Seol!” I cried out again desperately.

“Jongin!” She finally replied in shock. “What the… Why… What the hell is going on Kim Jongin!”

It was definitely strange beyond explanation to hear my voice cry out my own name, nagging me.

“Min Seol, I-I don’t know!”

“Where are you?” She asked.

“I’m at your place. I just woke up!”

She paused. Then said, “Wait there. I’ll be there right now.”

“Quickly, please! I don’t know what to do!” I said before she hung up. I laid her phone back down and seriously thought about our entire situation. All fun and girlfriends aside, I only began to realize that just got real. And not just any ; fantastical, ethereal that only happened in the manhwa novels I read. I bit into Min Seol’s manicured nails, accidentally chipping off some of the clear nail polish on it. She was probably going to get mad at me for it, but what did that matter now that I was in the body of my girlfriend?

“Min Seol-ah~”

I looked up at her door where I could hear the muffled voice of her younger brother, Min Sung, calling for her. Panic-stricken, I hid myself under her blankets. Min Sung swung open her bedroom door, the sound of her mother cooking breakfast resonating from her family’s kitchen and straight into her room. For a twelve year old boy, Min Sung seemed way too cheery in the morning.

“Noona~” he called out in a singsong voice as he rocked me back and forth. I held onto Min Seol’s pink comforter as if my life depended on it.

“Noona!” He grunted out this time and pulled on her comforter. Thus began our tug of war with Min Seol’s panda-dazzled blanket. With a scrawny, fruity boy like Min Sung, pulling that blanket away from his grip would have been a cakewalk, but since I was in Min Seol’s malnourished body, this was proving to be a total workout. Which was a good thing to take note of: tell Min Seol to work out more.

“Ugh,” Min Sung sighed, leaving the room in defeat. I heard him call his mother, telling her that “Min Seol’s not waking up, eomma!” Ok, now, that’s worse. Min Seol’s mother told Min Sung to go ahead and take his shower first while she went over to Min Seol’s room. As she got closer, I racked my brain for a possible escape route.

“Yah! Min Seol!” Her mother yelled from the threshold of her room. I flinched at the piercing screech of her mother’s voice. Living with a bunch of guys for the last few years, I had been deprived of the sound of a mother’s nag (if you don’t count Kyungsoo-hyung’s nagging, of course), so I almost forgotten that awful cry of death. And thank God I did.

Slowly, I got up out of bed, hoping she wouldn’t notice anything different.

Min Seol’s mother took one good look at me, and the panic inside began to go on overdrive. What? Could she tell her boyfriend was inside her body?

“How are you feeling?” She asked.

I blinked. “Uh, fine, I guess?”

“Why do you talk like that?”

“Like what?” I asked her.

“Like that,” she said, pointing at nothing in particular. “It’s high. What do you think you’re playing at?”

Oh, right. No need to try to fake a voice, Jongin. God, I am so stupid sometimes. I wonder how Min Seol puts up with that all the time.

“Oh, sorry,” I said, falsetto lacking this time. “Sorry.”

Her mom narrowed her eyes in scrutiny before saying, “Just get ready for school, Min Seol. You’ll be late.”

She left the room and I got out of her bed. I picked up Min Seol’s iPhone, hoping to see a new message or call from her. Things weren’t getting any better and it would totally help if she was here to tell me what to do next! When no new SMS message or incoming call appeared, I felt like I just wanted to fling myself off the roof of her building.

Cautiously, I left her bedroom. Since her little brother was still taking his shower, I thought I might just sit at their dinner table where her mother had already set down their breakfast. As I took my place near the head, she placed a bowl of rice on the table for me.

“Eat your breakfast quickly and get in the shower as soon as your brother is done,” she instructed, ing metal chopsticks into my – Min Seol’s – hands.

I nodded and immediately picked up a piece of scrambled egg as commanded to do so. Shoving the food into my mouth, I wondered why Min Seol was so skinny – especially if her mother’s cooking was this good. I stacked my bowl of rice with scrambled egg, pieces of hot dog, and bulgogi that I assumed was leftover from their dinner last night. Just as I wolfing down my breakfast, Mr. Park took the seat next to me at the head of the table. I froze instantly.

“Slow down there, Min Seol,” he said, his deep voice reverberating through me and stringing my already frazzled nerves. “You’re going to choke on your food.”

I slowly put my bowl down, avoiding Mr. Park’s gaze.

To put it in perspective, I am scared of Min Seol’s dad to the point that I can’t even look at him. For the two years that Min Seol and I were together, I’ve only met him twice: the first time was during their family outing and I “bumped” into them (ok, truthfully, Min Seol might have mentioned that they were going to the COEX Aquarium and I just decided to follow suit because, why not?) and the second time was when he caught us making out in a deserted lot by their apartment building. His reaction? Let’s just say I didn’t get to see or talk to my girlfriend for a painstakingly long time.

They say third time’s the charm. Well it definitely is, now that I’m actually having breakfast with him.

And ok, it might help that I’m in Min Seol’s body, but that still doesn’t change anything because I’ve still got my own mentality here!

From the corner of my eye, I could still see her dad watching me. Shakily, I said, “I’m done with breakfast, eomma!”

Her mother turned around from the vegetables she was chopping on her kitchen counter to give me an odd look. That’s totally not helping me. How was I supposed to know how Min Seol conducted her morning rituals?

By the grace and mercy of God in Heaven, angels began to sing hallelujah as soon as Min Sung opened the door of their bathroom. Without missing a beat, I raced towards the bathroom, pushing her little brother aside in the process.

“Ouch!” He squealed in a voice that was too high for a boy like him. “Eomma~! Did you see what noona did to me?”

I closed the door behind me before I could hear her mother respond. Finally. Peace and quiet while I tried to gather my thoughts. I bent over the porcelain sink, looking at my reflection in the mirror.

Still Min Seol’s face. That’s kind of good, I guess. At least I wasn’t having breakfast with Min Seol’s family in my body or else that would further complicate my goal to be in great terms with them. But the down side is that I was still, in fact, stuck in her body.

I looked over at her shower.

For now, though, the advantages outweighed the cons because I get to see Min Seol’s body again!

//+//

“Where are you?!” I hissed into her phone. I stood in the middle of her room with a towel tightly wrapped around her beautiful body after my shower (which was ended tragically when her father began knocking on the bathroom door urging me to hurry up).

“Jongin!” She said in hushed tones over the line. “I’m sorry! I was about to leave the dorm when Kyungsoo-oppa caught me. I gave him the excuse that you needed to run to the store, but he told your manager and made me stay put!”

“Kyungsoo-hyung!” I grumble