“Could you please call Taemin back or something?”

I looked up at Chanyeol oppa who plopped down on the couch next to me. He looked annoyed. Park Chanyeol was one of the other five group mates of Jongin’s that I had to be extremely cautious about. They’ve lived with him just as long as I’ve dated Jongin, and, therefore, know just as much of his idiosyncrasies more than I would ever hope for.

“What?” I asked, confused. I put down one of Jongin’s manhwa books on the coffee table. Obviously, I wasn’t any interested in the swordplay, but I thought it might keep Jongin’s personality in check. So far, it worked. Throughout the day, no one had questioned me nor gave me any odd looks.

I wonder how Jongin is holding up. I hope Ji Yeon or Koo Rim haven’t noticed anything different.

“Call Taemin or,” he grabbed Jongin’s cellphone from the coffee table and it into my – Jongin’s – hands. “For God’s sake, text him back. Look,” he pressed the home button as the screen lit up. On the upper corner, I saw the distinct new SMS message icon. I pulled down the notifications menu to see 10 new text messages and 6 missed calls – all from Lee Taemin.

Lee Taemin, for those that are unaware of the goings-on of the Korean pop industry, was the youngest member of a contemporary (and in my opinion, strangely queer) band under the SM label called “SHINee”. Lee Taemin, for those that are unaware of the goings-on inside the Korean pop industry (which is most people, I suspect) is Jongin’s label-mate and a close friend of his. The two were prone to being compared with one another that I always wondered how they seemed to keep their friendship strong. With Taemin flitting across the globe for international performances and fan-meetings, I wondered if he was secretly aware that – soon enough – Jongin was going to steal his thunder with his impending debut.

“Holy ,” I cursed out, looking at the desperation of such a boy as I scrolled past his messages on Jongin’s phone.

“He called me several times too, just to ask if you’re okay.”

“Why?” I asked.

Chanyeol shrugged, grabbing the remote and changing the channels on the TV. “Beats me. I guess he can’t stand going a day without talking to you.”

“What?” I was utterly confused.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Chanyeol said, rolling his eyes. “You’re the one he always wants to be around.”

I pursed Jongin’s lips, keeping myself from giving off any hint that I didn’t know what he was talking about. But honestly, I really didn’t know what he was talking about. I wish I could implore more into this whole les un désespérés Taemin tale, but I had to be wary about being Jongin and not Min Seol. I’m sure Jongin knows more about it that I ever would, and if I let out the idea that I didn’t know what Chanyeol was implying, then they’d start to suspect other things. Like, oh, it’s actually his ex-girlfriend, Min Seol, inside his body.

I read the messages Taemin sent, trying to be as normal as possible and holding in my surprise.

Good Morning~~~~~

What are you doing today? Want to go out?

Are you there~?

No one’s at my dorm. Come over!

중인아ㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏ

ㅇㅇㅇㅇ

The rest of his messages were pretty much the same, with him whining and pining over Jongin through excessive use of unnecessary Hangeul characters and animated emojis. I never hung out with Taemin, but from what Jongin’s told me about SHINee’s magnae, the Taemin I saw through the texts he sent was definitely not the Taemin I heard about. This was certainly too weird for me.

“Do you think I’ll see him during dance practice today?” I asked Chanyeol op – I mean, hyung. I should watch out from saying oppa out loud.

Chanyeol hyung let out a derisive cackle. “Of course! He hardly ever misses your practices.”

I wanted to ask why, but I knew better than that. As Chanyeol was watching an afternoon variety show on MBC, I heard another one of Jongin’s housemates, Byun Baekhyun, gasp out in the foyer, “Oh, Min Seol-ah! It’s nice to see you here. This is definitely a surprise!”

I sat up, alerted to know that Jongin was here. I raced over to their dorm’s front door where Baekhyun stood, letting me – my body, I mean – in. I froze.

There are no words in the entire universe to appropriately describe the incongruous peculiarity of our situation. Seeing myself, my body, without the assistance of a reflection emanated off of a mirror was an encounter way above indescribable proportions. People usually told stories about “out of body” situations: their souls flying way above their heads, looking down at their own lifeless bodies lying on a hospital or death bed, but that was nothing compared to what Jongin and I were encountering right now.

We were like full figures made out of the dust of our past, coalescing the minute our bodies interacted with one another: gone, gone, gone and out of sanity for all we will ever know.

 A cold shiver raced up my – Jongin’s – spine, causing me to twitch slightly. Jongin, in my body, stood frozen by the doorway as well, our eyes locking with one another in a melodramatic sort of way. Baekhyun, that poor boy, stood between us, his gaze falling on my body then back to Jongin’s body, like an intrigued spectator at a tennis match.

He cleared his throat. “Um, are you two okay?”

I snapped back to reality (I doubt I can even call this a reality) and smiled sheepishly at him. “Oh, right. Yeah.” Then, cautiously, like walking on water for the first time, I moved towards Jongin. He, however, stayed planted on my feet by the door. He didn’t even bother to take off my shoes yet.

“Uh, M-min Seol,” I forced out, my vocal chords failing me. “Hi.”

Jongin continued to stare at me. This was causing Baekhyun too much confusion, so I pulled him out of the dorm room and closed the door behind us.

“Will you pull yourself together?” I scolded, jabbing his – my – shoulder. He stumbled back a little.

“I’m sorry!” Jongin cried, in my voice. Over the phone was weird enough, but actually hearing it in person was above all else. “I just… Oh, hey, you’re wearing my favorite shirt?” He pointed at the teal green long-sleeved baseball tee that I was wearing on his body. “It’s comfy, right?”

Typical Jongin with his inability to stick to one topic at a time.

“I actually like this shirt on you,” I told him.

“Hey, speaking of which, you know what I like on you?” He asked, suddenly feeling excited.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. He had on that tone that implicated he might say something dumb.  “What?”

He giggled uncontrollably before being able to stop himself. He finally answered, “Nothing.”

Oh my God, this little head.

“Excuse me?”

Jongin continued to break out in uproarious laughter, and I was just about to punch him on the shoulder when I quickly remembered that I’d be punching my shoulder and it wouldn’t be a good sight for someone to catch Jongin (or in this case, Jongin’s body) hitting his girlfriend.

That, and the fact that Taemin just appeared next to us out of nowhere.

 “Oh! Taeminnie,” Jongin said suddenly, noticing the older boy as he approached me.

Taemin gave him a look and my desire to punch Jongin refused to be subsided. He had to remember not to speak so informally to people like Taemin when he was in my body!

Taemin ignored Jongin and turned to me. He smiled and then cocked his head towards my body. “What is she doing here?”

I looked over at Jongin, who was still getting over the fact that Taemin was ignoring him. When words did not harbor any good reason, I turned to Jongin and asked, “Yeah, what are you doing here?”

“Well, I came here to talk to my girlfriend,” he said to Taemin. I rolled my eyes at yet another one of his bumbling missteps on the wrong direction.

Taemin snorted. “Your girlfriend?”

Jongin shook my head. “Oh, no! I meant, uh, boyfriend. Sorry, I’m just a little out of it right now. I almost failed my Physics quiz today, so… yeah.”

I widened my eyes in shock. “You what?”

Taemin raised an eyebrow. “…ok?”

“Jong – I mean, Min Seol, you failed what?!”

Jongin stepped back a little. “I said I almost failed it! But I didn’t alright? Chill out, will you?” He paused. “Which is why I’m here, actually. I needed to talk to you about someone who’s quite fond of you.”

“’Fond of me’?” I reiterated, puzzled.

“Yeah, does a certain Han Dong Ha ring a bell? Hm?” He put my hands on my hips, and tapped my left foot impatiently.

“Han Dong Ha?” Taemin spoke up. “Hey, isn’t that your ex-best friend from your old high school?”

“Yes, he is,” I replied tentatively, looking at Jongin. I really didn’t know where he was going with this. “Why do you bring him up?”

“Funny thing happened today,” he said. There was the slightest hint of satire in his tone, like he was about to retell a dark comedy tale. “So, I was taking a Physics quiz and, Jongin, you know what happened to us this morning, right? How our worlds – ”

“Right, yeah,” I cut him off, looking at Taemin nervously.

“Anyway, nobody told me that I was going to have a Physics quiz today,” Jongin continued. “So I obviously knew none of the answers on the quiz. And as I was just about to give up at life, guess what knight in shining armor happened to be my seatmate in class?”

Dong Ha, obviously. I nodded, waiting for him to go on.

“So, he gives me the answers to the quiz. Bless his poor, putrid soul for that,” he said bitterly.

“Ok…?” I said, still uncertain.

“And do you know why that sketchy mathlete decided to commit the biggest sin a smug prissy like him could commit just for Park Min Seol?”

I stayed silent.

“Because he likes you!” Jongin nearly yelled.

Taemin gasped loudly and before I could react to what Jongin just told me, I needed to do some serious damage control.

“He what?” Taemin looked scandalized.

Jongin’s gaze flickered towards Taemin, like he was just realizing now that we’ve got a third-party in our midst.

I grunted in annoyance and pulled Jongin away from Taemin, heading towards the elevators of their building so we could find a private place outside to talk.

“Hey, Jongin-ah! Where are you going?” Taemin asked. “We’re supposed to go to dance practice, remember? It’s almost five!”

“Not now, Taeminnie,” I said, pressing the elevator down button roughly in irritation. “I need to talk to Min Seol.”

“Don’t be late, then. I’ll wait for you,” Taemin said as Jongin and I boarded the cab inside the elevator. Once the elevator doors slid shut, I slapped Jongin on the arm. He glared at me.

“What are you hitting me for?!”

“Seriously? Taemin was right there! If you want to tell me something about me, then you’ve got to remember that you’re in my body! You can’t just use the pronoun you, you, you when you’re talking about me! Do you want him to think we’re crazy?”

“Min Seol, this entire situation is crazy! Do you think it matters if I get a little slip of the tongue?”

I was quickly realizing the extent of my boyfriend's logic. Sure, he might be a little slow and quite naïve, but if he tried and wasn't such an underachiever, then he could have displayed great comprehension of any given dilemma. 

"Ok, look," I sighed heavily. The elevator doors opened up to the ground floor where we stepped out. "While I was hanging out at your dorm obviously not going to school -"

"Hey, idols don't need to go to school!" Jongin quickly interjected. I dismissed his comment just as suddenly as he made it. 

" –I've gone over the events last night and I think I know what may have triggered all of this." 

We were out of the building by now, taking a seat on one of the concrete plant boxes by their entrance. 

"I think," I stated, ponderously. "Something I drank last night was the cause of all of this."

Jongin kicked a crushed soda can with the toe of my shoe. He looked at me, and I saw my own eyes flitter restlessly over the fea