"Hi there, 128! I'm Seulgi," a girl with sharp features greeted as she entered the room with bags upon bags. "I'm your roommate."

"Ah... Hi. I'm Irene," I responded, much less enthusiastic than she was. Partly due to how she just addressed me by my room number. I used to have this room all to myself, but with the new year, the administrators decided that they needed to cram as many people into empty spaces as possible, and thus I now have a living partner.

"I would shake your hand but mine is full. Is this bed mine?" she chirped. She was a bit too excited to be starting college. I could tell that she was a freshman due to her school-spirited sweater that looked crisp as ever.

Definite freshman, I thought.

I nodded at her question and she released her grasp on everything at once when she got to the side of the bed.

"Phew! My arms were about to fall off. Anyway, a real introduction," she said as she outstretched an arm. "Nice to meet you, Irene."

I stared at her hand for a bit before holding up my own to meet it. Her grip was firm and confident.

"Nice to meet you," I echoed.

She plopped herself on the cheap mattress that was provided by the school and leaned back on her hands. I stood, feeling slightly uncomfortable in the middle of my own room with the stranger in front of me. She seemed to notice and scooted to the side, hand tapping next to her as an invitation for me to join her on the empty bed. I offered a slight smile before rejecting the suggestion and moved to sit on my own bed that was a few feet across the room.

The room went silent for a while before she cleared and asked, "Wanna do some ice breakers?"

Oh boy.

"Like... what?" I asked.

"Like what you major in, why you chose to go here, et cetera!"

I shrugged.

"You go first," I suggested.

"Okay. Well, I'm Seulgi. I turned 18 last February. I'm majoring in performing arts, my dream is to become an idol, and I love bears."

I nodded as she spoke to show that I was listening. I raised an eyebrow when she mentioned wanting to become an idol, but I glossed over the fact. At the end of her sentence, I saw that she was waiting on my answer when she tilted her head expectantly.

"Irene. I'm a junior.  I'm a classical pianist... and dream? I don't currently have one."

Seulgi hummed and reached up to tap her knee triggering her kicking reflex. What an oddball.

"I'm a really outgoing person, and I hope we can become friends," she revealed. "When I heard that my roommate was going to be a junior instead of a freshman, I was definitely nervous, but you don't seem bad at all."

I huffed a short laugh. "Thank you... I guess."

"I was afraid that my mystery roommate would be totally shut off to social interaction but I guess the personality test put us together quite nicely, huh?"

At this point, she was talking a bit too much for my liking. I preferred a peaceful ambience with soft melodies playing in the background while I lay in bed doing absolutely nothing. However, now I have to entertain this girl so I can ensure that she cleans up her side of the room if I ever ask her to.

If anything, I'm just being a polite host. That was the extent of what I did.

"How long have you been playing the piano?" she asked.

I tilted my head, looking up in deep thought.

"For as long as I can remember."

"That's actually really cool. I'm in performing arts but mostly the dancing kind. I've been dancing for as long as I can remember as well," Seulgi replied.

Dancing. Something that I was most definitely not able to do. In elementary school, the PE teacher gave up on me because I wasn't able to do the grapevine correctly because I always started by crossing my legs instead of stepping outward. It was a nightmare. I haven't danced ever since.

Again, Seulgi broke the beat of silence and asked, "What's your favorite thing to do on campus?"

I took a minute to think about this question. Believe it or not, I actually don't enjoy playing the piano the most. I'd much rather curl up with sweats and binge watch The Vampire Diaries or something silly like that.

"Stay indoors."

Seulgi guffawed, slapping her knee, until she peeked one eye at me and saw that I was dead serious. "Oh, you meant that."

"Yup," I affirmed.

"Awkward."

"Not really," I said, misunderstanding her statement. "It's pretty nice indoors."

She stared at me for a period of time before chuckling again.

"I meant that the situation where I laughed at something that you meant seriously was awkward."

I watched her curiously as the smile died on her lips.

"You don't go out much, do you?" she asked.

"I'm in my own head most of the time," I responded.

She jutted out her bottom lip in deep thought.

"Is it a nice place to be?"

"Sometimes," I said as I shrugged.

The quietness came and went as Seulgi chattered on about her life before coming to Seungri University. Seulgi talked about her older brother and how he was moving on to becoming a successful businessman while I inserted short memoirs about my piano training years to not seem too uninterested.

It was comfortable. I didn't feel pressured to reveal anything too deep about my personal life yet there was also never a dull moment because Seulgi always seemed to have something to say about everything.

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. Seulgi still hadn't unpacked her clothes nor bedding but I would help with that later. Maybe this roommate thing isn't so bad after all.

"Do you eat in the cafeteria?" Seulgi asked.

"Usually, but the cafeteria isn't open yet because the quarter hasn't started."

"I'm so up for some pork belly right now, will you join me?" Seulgi earnestly asked. Her eyes dazzling with anticipation for my answer.

Well... I only ever go out to one place.

"Sure, but I'll pick the place."

"Heck yeah!" she exclaimed. "I'll buy."

"It's okay, I'll pay since I'm older, but just this once."

"Yes!" She pumped her fist in the air with extra energy gained from the knowledge that I was paying for the food.

I just laughed a bit and pulled on my jacket since the air was getting cooler because we were entering autumn.

As we walked to the bus stop, Seulgi talked about how she would have never been able to get into Seungri University if she didn't work extra hard on extracurricular activities and her personal statement essays. She said that her grades were on the lower end and her college entrance exam scores weren't all that pretty either.

To be honest, I was quite jealous. She had all this experience just in high school alone and she was able to independently earn a spot in the school. I had my mom to back me up and I got in with my family's name. Nothing else was considered when I was applying. I went through levels and levels of auditions before I was accepted in, but even then I knew it was just a facade to show everyone else that I fairly got in.

Not that I wasn't good enough, I definitely was one of the top students in my class. Other people were envious of me because I came from what seemingly was such a perfect family. However, perfect was suffocating.

I had to watch how I walked, spoke, and ate throughout my time spent with my family. They also wanted me to live at home when I got to University and have the driver give me a ride every morning to school. I argued against it stating the numbers as to how much more successful a college student is when they live on campus.

"Do you have a bus pass?" I asked Seulgi.

She held up her own version of the student bus card and smiled.

"I try to be prepared," she said.

The bus arrived and we climbed on board, each of us tapping our student cards on the reader. I sat down on the window seat and Seulgi settled in next to me.

"I love the bus," Seulgi said.

"Why?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"There's not a real reason. I just liked riding on it as a kid. It was fun to pull the cord and hear the 'ding.'"

I never rode on the bus before coming to University, and boy, was that a spectacle. I was watching people before me tap their student cards onto the reader and I tried but the stupid thing didn't want to read my card. I decided to pull out all my change to find out that I was short for the ride. I got off the bus, humiliated, and walked to my destination instead. I later found out that I had to get a special transit student card to use on buses that I had to pay for.

When my mom found out that I needed money to buy the bus pass, she was overly dramatic in how her "poor Joohyun-ie is growing up and having to take public transportation" and offered to have the driver follow me around instead.

Sigh.

Anyway, we were approaching our stop and Seulgi excitedly looked over to me.

"Do you want to pull it?" she asked, offering me the chance to take over her most favorite action.

"You do it," I said as I leaned into the seat behind me.

She reached over and pulled the cord that was hanging by the window. A whiff of her candy perfume reached my nose and my inhale brought the scent to my lungs. It was the smell of strawberries and it was so sweet I felt like I could get a cavity off of the scent alone.

We both hopped off the bus after it came to a complete stop and the doors opened with a "woosh."

"So do you know a good one?" Seulgi asked.

"Yeah, follow me," I replied, heading in the direction of the familiar BBQ restaurant.

The restaurant was bustling with people due to the lunch rush. The air was hazy due to smoke from the meat cooking on each tabletop, and I knew that I was going to leave the restaurant smelling like freshly grilled marinated beef.

"Joohyun, dear! Come, sit. Oh, and you brought a friend! How wonderful!" greeted the restaurant's owner, a nice middle-aged woman with permed hair and slight makeup that made her look full of youth.

We settled in at the corner of the room and I ordered a plate of uncooked pork belly. The lady lit the grill with a gas lighter and turned the heat to high before disappearing to get us our meat.

"So Joohyun is your Korean name, I'm assuming?"

"Yes, Joohyun is my Korean name."

"I take back what I said about you not going out often, then. That woman knew your name, you must come often enough for her to even recognize you, much less know your name," Seulgi said.

I offered up a meek smile to the speaking girl.

"I come here a lot throughout the school year," I revealed.

"Ooh, that's good then. We can go out together," Seulgi chirped.

"I guess," I half-heartedly replied.

I would much rather hang out with myself. Being anti-social didn't mean that I was lonely; I was just an introvert.

"Meat is coming!" The owner of the restaurant yelled as she weaved through the crowd of people to get to our table.

She placed a wide plate with a variety of uncooked meat on it, not just the pork belly that I asked for.

"What is all of this, aunty?" I asked.

"You girls are too skinny. Half of this plate is service so eat lots!" She said.

"But this is so much! I only ordered pork belly, ma'am!"

"You don't worry about that," she chided. "You're like the daughter I never had and you come here so often. You even brought a friend this time. Eat a lot, okay?"

Seulgi watched our banter in amusement, the other end of the chopsticks she was holding was in , waiting on the go to be able to eat.

The owner stalked away, obviously proud with herself while leaving us with a mound full of meat and a side plate of lettuce.

"Ugh, I don't think we can finish this. We'll have to get the rest for takeout," I told Seulgi.

"You have little faith," she said, smiling, as she pulled a slab of pork belly and laid it across the hot grill, causing it to sizzle and pop.

"I forget that you dance. Workouts must be tiring, huh?" I asked as an attempt to make conversation.

I mentally slapped my forehead. Of course workouts are tiring, Irene. Stupid.

"Yeah, they are. That's why I eat a lot, to keep up my energy."

From the many side dishes on the table, I picked up a potato that had been marinated in soy sauce and plopped it into my mouth, enjoying the way it melted and the savory yet sweet flavor of the dish. Seulgi pressed down on the meat with the tongs that were provided, causing the meat to sputter even more.

"What's your favorite food?" I asked.

"The food that we're eating right now: pork belly," she replied, munching on some seasoned bean sprouts. "What's yours?"

"I like carp bread the most. I love red bean paste in pastries," I told her, my eyes twinkling with happy feelings as I talked about my favorite food.

Come to think of it, I haven't had carp bread in a while.

Seulgi grabbed a piece of meat from the grill and plopped it into , but immediately she spat it out.

"Hot! Hot!" She exclaimed.

I immediately grabbed a napkin to dab the grease running down her chin that was mixed with saliva. Gross.

"Can't take you anywhere," I chided as I threw the napkin at her lap.

"Thanks," she said as she grinned like a child.

After we finished our meal, I left enough money to pay for the entire plate of meat and we left the restaurant quickly before the owner could catch up to me to try to make me not pay for the "service" meal.

"You know, she really gave you that plate of meat for free, right? You didn't have to pay for it," said Seulgi.

"I know, but I really don't like freebies. If I have enough money, I should pay for it fairly. They're running a restaurant not a charity service," I explained. "I still can't believe that you ate all of that."

Seulgi swung her arms around her body and clapped them as they met. She had a skip in every step and I was amazed that she wasn't in a food coma after all the food she had eaten.

"That's really cool of you, paying for the food like that," claimed Seulgi.

"Nah," I replied, waving my hand in front of my face. "It's just a human thing to do."

"So you're saying I'm not human?"

"I'm not saying that-"

"Irene here says I'm not human, everybody!" shouted Seulgi.

I punched her in the arm, trying to get her to shut up.

"She's also assaulting me! Someone, quick, call the po-"

"Shut up!" I yelled.

She stuck out her tongue at me.

"I really can't take you anywhere," I said as I shook my head.

I was shocked at how close we were getting to each other, and it only had been a few hours since I met her. There's something about her air that screamed "friendly" and "approachable."

Also, we were going to be roommates for the rest of the year, might as well get well acquainted now than later.

❖◆❖

Once we got back to the campus, I decided to give her a mini tour of our dorm. It was an all women's dorm and was always spotless due to having a rotating cleaning schedule for everyone in the dorm to follow.

I saw clueless freshmen walking through the halls looking for their room number that was printed on a sheet with their bags trailing behind them and I just had to reminisce about the time when I was like that, two years ago.

"Irene, what do you do on weekends?" asked Seulgi.

"Study," I simply replied.

"You don't go out to parties or anything? I heard there were lots of parties here, especially by the arts majors.

"Those rumors are true for the most part. The dance majors love throwing parties. I just don't like parties."

"At one point, I will drag you out of our room for a party. Mark my words," said Seulgi.

I gave her a weird look and walked toward our room.

"Wait for me!" called out Seulgi as she ran toward me.

I entered our room and browsed through my open closet. I smelled strongly of seared meat and I didn't like that one bit. Picking out a hoodie and a pair of sweats, I undid my blouse and shrugged it off.

The door to the room clicked shut and I heard a strangled oh come from Seulgi. 

Without looking back at her, I said, "Sorry I'm used to having this room all to myself. You don't mind if I change in here, do you?"

"Ah... no," she replied. Her voice was uncharacteristically small.

I walked over to the full body length mirror and checked my skin for any blemishes, before pulling the hoodie over my sports bra. I felt no movement in the room and I turned around to see Seulgi facing the wall on the other side of the room.

She must have felt uncomfortable, whoops.

I quickly changed my pants and told her, "I'm done changing you can turn around now."

"O-okay."

I raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on her odd behavior. She was surprisingly shy when it came to these kinds of things. I would have expected her to be more open. Liberal.

I laid back on my bed and grabbed my unfinished book to read.

She ped her suitcase and began to organize her clothes into her closet.

"Hey, do you have any extra hangers I can use? I didn't know the school didn't provide hangers," said Seulgi.

"Yeah, I have a few," I responded.

I hopped off my bed and opened my closet. Grabbing a few stray hangers, I placed them on her bare mattress.

"What can I help with?" I asked.

It wasn't a matter of if she needed any help. She was getting help from me, whether she wanted it or not.

"Um, can you just hand me my pants that are in rolls in the valise?"

"Sure... and you call it a valise?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Nothing, just curious."

It was her turn to give me an odd look but she turned around to hang up some of her shirts.

Most of her pants were just tight, exercise and yoga bottoms that came in a variety of colors and patterns. After I finished handing her pants, I dug through a little more to ensure that I didn't miss any. I came into contact with her underwear instead and immediately retracted my hand as if I had been burned.

"Whoops, didn't mean for you to see those," Seulgi said as she closed the suitcase.

"It was my fault, sorry," I replied.

"Nah, no worries. We're adults here." She laughed.

I laughed a bit along with her to lessen the awkwardness of the situation.

"Do you want me to help you set up your bed?" I asked.

"Yeah, that would be nice. Thank you," she said as she pulled out the bag with her bedsheets.

Together, we huffed and puffed until we were able to complete the set up for her bed. It was cute, full of orange print, and very energetic-like. Well matched with her personality.

"I'm guessing you like orange," I said.

"You've guessed correctly."

Seulgi checked the time on the digital clock on top of my night stand and her eyes widened.

"Orientation starts in five minutes! Are you coming? I have to go," she blabbered as she quickly redressed herself in a fresh shirt and one of her two pairs of ripped jeans.

"I already went freshman year, I don't need to go again. But have fun!" I called out behind her as she left the room.

I closed the door and sighed. It wasn't that bad to have a roommate. I just had to entertain her often and then she'd be easy to order around. I laid back on my bed and opened up my phone. She'd be a while, wouldn't she?

I opened up a fiction written by one of my favorite writing blogs and untied my sweatpants. I slid my hand under my hoodie and ran it under my bra. I rolled my between my forefinger and thumb as I read the story.

The two women in the story were now fully , caressing each other and I moved my hand down to intensely rub my crotch.

Mmph, I muffled my groan of pleasure.

The heat pooled between my legs and I felt my heart's pace rise above and beyond what I thought was possible.

The story was coming to its and so was I. My eyes squeezed shut and I dropped my phone, leaving it forgotten to the side. I quickened my pace and rubbed my  faster.

Faster, my body begged me.

But then, my hand stopped. Cold. The blood that was rising to my face drained away as quick as an ocean wave.

Because right then and there at that very moment, Seulgi bursted into the room to ask me where the main hall was to avoid getting lost.

My hand was in my pants, and my mouth was curled up to say the very word that my brain was now screaming in alarm.

.