FOURTEEN

Cain had never had a job before, other than being an idol that is. He had no experience at all when it came to working at a café. It most definitely wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. There were machines he had to learn how to use in order to make the customers their drinks. He had seen the employees there before using them dozens of times but at the time he had just been a customer. He had never really paid much attention to how the employees did their jobs. All he knew was that he was going to have to be polite to all the customers and that included smiling, even if his cheek muscles were hurting like they were.

Since he had trouble working the cash register, the manager had him try working the machines to make the drinks. He wasn't making the drinks fast enough though and the customers had started to complain.

"If you aren't able to work the cash register or use a machine to make drinks, the least you could do is put that pretty face and body to use."

The manager told him this as he stared down at Abby's chest. It wasn't the first time Cain had caught the thirty something year old manager checking him out. Cain suspected he had only gotten the job because he was a girl now and a pretty one too. He had never noticed it before but all of the employees at the café were female, which made sense if the manager was a pervert.

"Being a waitress is actually probably better anyways. You get to move around instead of being on one spot and you get to meet people. I've actually been asked out by a few guys this way." 

Cain had been waitressing alongside DoRi for the past hour. She was nice and had been teaching him how to do the job. Even though he had messed up more than a few times, she had been patient with him the whole time. She looked to be around Abby's age so she was his noona but he was going to have to address her as unnie. 

"Thanks unnie, for helping me out." 

They were both cleaning tables which was what they were supposed to do when they weren't taking orders to the customers.

"It's my job as an unnie to help out. And as an unnie I'm going to help you out in more ways than one." 

He didn't know what she was talking about but he noticed her smiling while looking across the room at some guy. 

"That guy over there at 3'oclock, I've noticed he's been staring at you for a while now. I think he likes you. He's good looking so you should go see if he gives you his number."

Cain didn't know what Abby's type was since she had claimed to have no type but the guy who was across the room was the kind that would be any girl's type. Despite him being seated, Cain could see that the guy was tall, his long legs reached all the way down the chair across from him. And his arms which were crossed on the table were muscular but not too muscular, just the right amount. He had a jaw that was probably as sharp as a knife and he had a face that would be considered nice to look at. He was sure if Abby saw him she would fall in love with the guy. But there was no way he was going to be hooking her up with any guys, not while he was interested in her. Besides, he was the one in her body now and he had no interest in men.

"He looks to be around your age unnie. Why don't you go instead?"

He wasn't sure if what DoRi had told him was true about the guy checking him out but he really didn't want to find out. 

"Well I was going to until I noticed he had his eyes glued on you. Besides, don't you think older guys are better? You should really go for him." 

Were older guys really better? Was that what all women thought? Cain couldn't help but think back to Abby telling him how all the guys she had dated were her oppas. So if older guys really were better there was no way Abby was going to want to date him. He didn't have the experience that came with age. Abby had told him she had dated around eight guys but he had only dated two girls back when he was still in school. He hadn't been allowed to date as a trainee and neither had he been allowed for the first three years as an idol. How was he going to be able to compete with an older more experienced guy?

The guy must have noticed them staring because he was signaling them to go over. DoRi gushed at this and Cain couldn't help but roll his eyes. Noticing that he hadn't moved, DoRi grabbed him by the arm and they both ended up walking to the guy's table. Well it was more like he was pulled and pushed by her than him actually walking but nonetheless he was still standing in front of the guy.

"Abby. My aunt told me about you starting to go out more but I didn't believe her. She also said you had a new boyfriend, is that true?" 

"You know him?" DoRi whispered into his ear. 

He didn't but perhaps Abby did considering how he just knew her name while he wasn't even wearing a nametag since he hadn't been given one yet. Cain had to tell DoRi to leave. He needed to see who this guy was and who he was to Abby.

"I'm sorry but do I know you?" 

Acting innocent and perhaps even just forgetful was all he could really do. Abby had said she didn't know many people since she had Agoraphobia so he wondered if perhaps the guy was just confusing her for someone else with the same name. The guy laughed at his question.

"So you've already forgotten about me? Did that germaphobe of a boyfriend really made you forget me? My aunt said I probably still had a chance but why would I want to be with a freak that dates other freaks?" 

Aunt, that was the second time he mentioned that word. He had also mentioned a boyfriend, a germaphobe, could he be talking about Abby who was now him? They had never pretended to be dating though.

It took Cain a while to connect the dots but the guy in front of him could only be one person. 

"Jun?" 

"So you remember my name now." 

Cain had no idea why Abby's ex would even call her over to his table. Did he really just want to insult her or had he been hoping to get back together with her? Either way he couldn't think of anything else that was unluckier than running into Abby's ex on his first day of work. Well whatever. He was just going to have to ignore the guy. He was about to walk away when he felt someone tug at his arm, it was Jun.

"How long has it been? 6 years? And this is how you act the first time you see me? Are you not even thankful that I let you have my apartment for dirt cheap?"

Cain had no idea what the guys deal was but he was hurting him. Jun's grip on him was so tight that he didn't doubt it would leave a mark. He wondered if this was how he had treated Abby when they dated but there was no way he was going to let her treat her this way now. 

Abby didn't have long nails when they first switched bodies but since it had been around 16 days since they switched, Cain hadn't cut her nails. They had grown long enough for what it was that he wanted to do and it no longer mattered to him that he wasn't going to be the polite employee he was supposed to be. 

With the hand of his free arm, Cain pinched the hand that Jun was gripping him with. Surprised and hurt by the sudden pinch, Jun let go of his grip. Cain noticed that he had indeed left a mark on Abby's arm, he wouldn't be surprised if it even ended up bruising.

Jun stood up furious from his seat and raised his arm at him. Cain couldn't believe that a man would even try to beat up a woman. He may be shorter now but he at least still had his fast reflexes and an advantage over Jun. Because Jun was a guy he had a weakness, his balls. Cain kicked him down there with all his might before Jun even got around to hit him. 

It was when Jun was crouching that Cain noticed Abby had walked into the cafe. Her timing couldn't have been any more perfect. He walked over to her and grabbed her to take her to where Jun was. Abby was surprised by the suddenness but was shocked at seeing Jun there. She didn't know why Cain was there at the cafe or why Jun was crouching with a pained expression. She had really just went there because the members had wanted to go there.

"You asked if I had a boyfriend, right? Well I present to you my boyfriend. He's much better looking than you, don't you think? Oh and not only that but he's not a jerk like you."

Cain pulled Abby closer to his side and looked up to wink at her. He only hoped she would go along with it. 

"Oppa. You remember that I told you my ex was a jerk? Well this is him and look what he did to me." 

Cain showed Abby her arm that was not only red but had also started bruising. At this Abby's anger started to boil that before she realized it she had taken a swing at Jun, a punch straight to the eye. She felt lucky that she was in Cain's body otherwise the punch might have not been as strong.

"Hyung lied to me. Other me must have been his girlfriend." 

"So you were dating this whole time? Well as the leader, you don't have to worry about me saying anything. I'm sure the rest of the guys will keep this a secret too, right guys?" 

"Yup." All six other members replied in unison to their leader.

Abby had almost forgotten the members had been following right behind her. Cain hadn't noticed them either but they had been there the whole time, even when he called himself Abby's boyfriend. 

"She's so pretty. Is she really your girlfriend or do I still have a shot with her?" 

Cain shivered as Lucas winked at him. 

"Lucas! You won't really steal your dongsaeng's girlfriend, would you?!" Seth punched Lucas on the arm. 

"Ouch. That hurt." 

Abby wanted to correct the whole misunderstanding so she opened her mouth to speak but Cain pulled her down to whisper in her ear. 

"Just go along with it. It's not like we're able to tell them the truth." 

Not only that but Cain also liked the idea of the guys thinking he had a pretty girlfriend like Abby.

"She has to go back to work guys. Let's just order our drinks and get out of here." 

All Abby really wanted was to get out of the situation they were in. She had never planned on Cain and her to act as if they were dating and it would only really feel weird to her since she would basically be pretending to date herself. 

"So you're an idol and because of that you can't date, right?" 

She had forgotten all about Jun being there but he was now standing right in front of her. He was probably only 2 or 3 inches taller than Cain but it felt like he was towering over her. 

"Your members said they won't tell on you for dating but I'm not one of your members." 

Abby had known Jun long enough to know where he was going with this and she wanted nothing more than to wipe that scheming smile off his face. 

"If you say even a word of this Abby will tell your aunt." 

Jun's smile quickly disappeared at this. He had been running his aunt's company and because of this his aunt held a power over him. Mrs. Lee had always been a fan of discipline and if she were to know about Jun doing anything to hurt Abby, she had no doubt his aunt would punish him in some sort of way.

"Whatever. It's not like you guys won't be found out sooner or later." Jun finally left them at this.

When Abby turned around she saw that all of the members had sat down at the table where Jun had been sitting. There had only been four chairs but it looked like three of the guys had grabbed chairs from an empty table nearby and they were now huddled around the too small table. Abby was glad for the tables being so small otherwise she would have been expected to sit with them. She much preferred to stand than to sit on chairs where others had sat. 

"So...now that he's gone, can you tell your leader how you two met?" 

Joel was looking at Abby, expecting an answer from her but that was only because he thought he was talking to Cain. And since he was the one that started all this, she was going to let him do all the explaining. She stomped on Cain's foot while making sure that none of the guys noticed. She had only really hurt herself by doing that but it was fine since she wasn't going to be the one to actually feel the pain.

"We actually just met recently. It's been what, two weeks and two days?" 

Cain looked at Abby and took her nod as a sign to proceed. 

"I had to get my vaccination for CoVid-19 and that's where I met Cain, at the clinic." 

"That's it? Well who asked who out first?" 

Joel had never seemed as interested in one of his group members as he was then. Cain was after all the first in their group to break the dating rule and yet he was one of the younger members.

"Cain did." 

He answered himself since he knew that if he were able to that he would have actually been the one to have asked her out. 

"Well congrats on being an oppa now." 

Joel patted Abby on the back as she started to laugh. 

"Dude. Why are you laughing?" 

He had just called him her oppa but that was far from the truth. Cain knew why Abby was laughing so he decided to correct his leader.

"I'm actually his noona."

"Hyung's other me is an older woman?!" 

Abby thought it was cute how Josiah kept referring to her as other me. 

"A noona? You don't look that old. Surely you're not my noona." 

Joel was the oldest member in the group and he was sure the girl he was looking at could not be even a day older than him.

"She's 5 years older than you." Abby corrects him.

All of the members jaws looked like they were about to drop at the revelation. She didn't want them start acting any differently with her just because of her age but she also didn't want another younger guy calling himself her oppa. She just sometimes really didn't like how this age difference thing worked in Korea.

"Wow! Not only did Cain score a pretty girlfriend but a noona too! Lucky dog!" 

This was the second time Lucas had called her pretty that Abby couldn't help but blush. 

"Omg! Look at your red face hyung! You're as red as a tomato!" 

Josiah who was sitting nearest to where Abby was standing got up and poked her cheek. He had been one of the members that had grabbed a chair from another table and he was touching her face.

"Excuse me but I have to go to the restroom." 

Cain followed after her as she briskly walked away. All of the members had started whistling behind them. 

"Josiah touching you on the face bothered you, didn't it? I'm so sorry. He tends to be touchy like that since I've always been like that with him. Let me grab a disinfectant wipe for you." 

Cain went to the café's supply closet where he had seen a box with disinfectant wipes. 

"It's fine. I'll just go to the restroom and wash my face there." 

"There's no soap. I was actually supposed to fill the soap dispensers but then the whole Jun thing happened and I didn't get the chance to get around to it." 

Apart from waiting tables, Cain had also been given bathroom duties such as refiling the soap dispensers and toilet paper. He was lucky that DoRi was the one to have the job of actually cleaning the bathrooms.

"I just really wish I could take a hot shower right now." 

She sighed and approached Cain. Not realizing what she was doing, she placed her head on top of his shoulder which was really her shoulder but at the moment it was Cain's. Because of this, he felt his heart as it started to beat faster.

"It must have been an exhausting day for you so far, hasn't it?" 

He had only been with her for a few minutes and he could already tell she was having a hard time. 

"It has. But the worst part was me not being able to find those showers at EVE." 

He should have known she would want to know where the showers were and yet he had forgotten to tell her. Usually the guys always showered at the same time which was at the end of their practice. Since they only had one bathroom at the dorms, they needed to take advantage of the showers they had at EVE.

"You're not planning on going in the showers with the guys, are you?" 

Cain couldn't help but feel jealous at the thought. He remembered how shy Abby had been that first time they were going to shower together and he only hoped she still had that shyness to her.

"Of course not. Lucas did walk in on me when I was taking a shower last night though. I had locked the door but he opened it and got in just so that he could take a piss, can you believe that?" Cain's eyes widened at this. 

"And you saw him?!" 

He didn't care if Lucas ended up seeing his naked body but for Abby to see him was a whole different thing. 

"No. Luckily I was still in the shower when I heard him so the shower curtain prevented me from seeing him." 

Cain took a sigh of relief. Members walking in to use the bathroom while others were showering was actually very common but he didn't like the fact that Abby was going to be exposed to such barbaric behavior. He only wished the guys would stop doing that at least while she was still in his body.

"I'll draw you a map to show you were the showers are. The guys always take their showers after practice but you can try taking one just before practice ends or if you prefer to take a longer shower, wait until after they are done with theirs."

"I think I'll wait until after they are done. And thanks for what you did back there with Jun. I don't know why you did it but you didn't have to lie to him and pretend that you were my boyfriend." 

Abby hadn't known what exactly Jun might have told Cain but she remembered the bruise he had left on her. She had also seen how he had been crouching and that could only mean one thing. 

"You kicked him in the balls, didn't you?" 

"Hard enough that he won't ever be able to reproduce little douches like him." 

Abby laughed and even though her laugh sounded just like his own, there was something different about it to Cain and he liked that he was the one that had made her laugh.

"I thought I was going to find you two making out since neither of you were coming out." 

Abby who just barely realized she had hear head on Cain's shoulder, pulled away at hearing Joel's voice. 

"I hate to break you two up but we have to go. Our vocal trainer just texted me, he's waiting for us." 

Cain noticed Abby's hands start to shake at this, it was one of the first symptoms of her panic attacks. If she didn't manage to calm down she would soon start to get shortness of breath. 

"You'll be fine. You practiced more than enough for this and each time you did better than the last so don't worry." 

Cain grabbed a disinfectant wipe and wiped her face with it. It felt weird thinking of his face as hers, he didn't think he'll be getting used to it anytime soon. He did however like the fact that their body switching had brought them close. He would have probably never even met her had it not been for that fateful day.

Joel who was still there saw their interaction as weird but cute at the same time. He had never thought wiping someone's face with a disinfectant wipe would be romantic but somehow they made it look that way. And he thought her words to him had been sweet. Cain had always been insecure about his rapping so Joel was glad that he had found someone that believed in him. He could only wish that someday he too would find someone like that and not only him but the other members as well.

Abby was bombard with questions the moment they stepped out of the café. She actually wished they were in the van at that moment instead of walking because at least in the van she would only have three guys asking her questions instead of seven. She didn't even know how to answer any of them and it wasn't like she could text Cain to ask him what to tell them. 

One thing was for certain though and that was that she and Cain were going to have to talk more about this since she was sure the members were going to persist with the questions. It was important for both of them to match their story. It was going to be hard keeping up the charade but she knew Cain had been right when he said they couldn't tell the guys the truth. 

Now if Jun were to tell his aunt about her supposedly "dating" Cain, then that would be another problem. It was one thing to pretend with the members but a whole different thing to pretend with her parents. Abby knew they were expecting her to marry soon so if she were to date someone, they would expect that relationship to be a serious one.

They had just arrived at EVE when she received a text from Cain. It was a photo of a napkin with a map to the showers drawn on it and along with it he sent the lyrics to the Dora The Explorer I'm the map song.

< ~If there's a place you got to go. I'm the one you need to know. ~ I'm the map. I'm the map. I'm the map. ~ If there's a place you got to get. I can get you there I bet. ~ I'm the map. I'm the map. I'm the map~ >

Abby didn't know that Cain even knew about Dora since it wasn't even a Korean cartoon but she figured he must have started watching it when he started learning Spanish. He had told her that he also wanted to learn a bit of English along with Spanish so watching a kids cartoon like Dora would have actually been a perfect way for him to learn both languages. But him sending her the song lyrics along with a hand drawn map was something she had not expected from him. She thought it was cute. 

Abby  hadn't noticed but she was smiling at the text and it ended up being Abel that pointed this out to her. 

"You're smiling while looking at your phone. That could only mean one thing, you're talking to your noona aren't you?" 

Abby shoved the phone away in her hoodie before Abel could see the text from Cain.

"And why would you think that? Simply because I'm smiling?" 

"Well I could tell that she really likes you so I would assume that makes you happy." 

Abby didn't know what to say to that. He must have been imagining things if he thought Cain liked her. 

"Well anyone liking me would makes me happy, isn't that true for anyone?" 

"Yea but the feeling is different depending on who it is that likes you. Because if it's someone that you like that likes you back, wouldn't that make you happier?" 

Abby had always hated these kinds of questions and would much rather avoid them. 

"Whatever you say dude. Is it my turn now?" 

The vocalists had already had their turn and it was the rappers turn now. She had been too distracted by the text to see who had just gone but she was supposed to be the last one to go.

"They want us both to do our parts together." 

Abel gave her a sheet of paper with lyrics on it. Her parts were highlighted while he had his parts highlighted on his paper. It was time, she was going to have to test her skills. If she couldn't do this during a simple practice then she was most definitely not going to be able to do it at all.

Abby had gotten stuck on several occasions and each time she had to stop and redo her parts. She felt just like the first night she practiced with Cain except she was feeling more nervous because she was feeling pressured. 

Abel hadn't even gotten a single part wrong and yet he was still being forced to do them again simply because she kept messing her parts up. She was lucky they weren't recording and that it was simply just practice. The vocal coach had however grown impatient and made them take a 15 minute break. She had to text Cain in that time.

<I can't do it.>

<What do you mean?>

<I keep messing up. The coach has me redoing my parts from the beginning each time I mess up and because of this Abel has to as well. I feel bad for him.>

<Did the coach give you a break? Is that why you're texting me right now.>

He knew the coach tended to give them short breaks whenever any of the members were having trouble.

<Yea, a 15 minute break.>

<I think you're just nervous, especially since others are there. Feeling pressured only makes the nervousness worse. But feeling confident in your rap helps so make sure to feel that confidence when you're rapping. Just remember that you're not really a rapper yet you're still good at rapping. I wouldn't lie to you. So if being around several people makes you feel nervous, ask Abel to go over it with you. Do it with just him and you will notice a difference. Once you're back in that room with everyone just imagine that you are rapping in front of one person and keep your eyes on that one person.>

The only person that Abby thought she wouldn't feel so nervous around wasn't there, Cain. She knew that if only he were there, she would be able to feel more at ease. But he wasn't there so she was going to have to settle for the next best thing, a mirror. There had been a mirror in the room and she was just going to have to stand in front of it while she rapped, that way it would be like Cain were there with her.