Your tendons pop as you lift Krystal’s last box of clothing onto your knees. You manage to get a shoulder underneath. Arms trembling, you heave the box above your head.

“Yes!” you triumphantly shout.

Riiiiiiiiiip!

You tentatively look up at the underside of the box. A hairline crack runs through the surface, widening by the second.

Uh oh.

The box splits in half. A deluge of clothes rains down and buries you.

“Oh my God! Amber! Are you okay?” Krystal’s voice is strangely muffled. A hand snakes through the pile and grasps a tuft of your hair.

“Yeowch! Let go of me!” you howl as she pulls.

“Ah, sorry! Just trying to help.”

She lets go and you claw your way out of the mountain of clothes. But were these clothes? You hold a piece up to the light. It looks like an oddly shaped handkerchief with about a tenth of the material. And extremely lacy around the edges.

Krystal whacks your sore head.

“Ewww what the hell Amber! Why are you looking at my lingerie?” she shrieks, snatching the garment from your hands.

 “Shoot, I’m sorry! I had no idea!” You immediately avert your gaze, heat blooming all over your cheeks.

Krystal sniffs suspiciously at you and starts picking up her underwear. You try to move out of the way without stepping on any of her clothes.

“Yo!”

You freeze with one foot in the air.

“Get your shoe off that!” Krystal tugs an exceptionally frilly piece out from under your other foot. “This is my favorite piece from Eres. But now it’s got your footprint on it.”

You duck your head contritely, feeling extremely self conscious. Krystal huffs and hastily gathers the rest of her scattered lingerie. She scooches into your room. You lean forward and stick your head in. Every corner is occupied, stacked to the ceiling with boxes. It’s a good thing that your roommate is currently abroad because not even a skinny ghost can fit. Krystal is squeezed against the wall trying to stuff her lingerie into a box b with red soled heels. After a few tries, she gives up and piles all her underwear on top. You furtively look around the hallway, but the coast is clear.

In hindsight, getting Krystal’s belongings out of Kai’s dorm was the easy part. Krystal texted his housekeeper and found out that Kai went out for a drive. Apparently he always did that when he was mad. You and Krystal then spent the entire afternoon packing up. The hard part was moving the boxes to your dorm, a full mile away on the South Campus. Krystal wanted to call professional movers, but you convinced her that booking them and having them come would take longer than doing it yourselves. Not to mention more expensive. So, you went and grabbed your long board and rolled the boxes down to your room.

“There! All done.” Krystal beams proudly at you. “I’ve never done this much work in my life. We should celebrate!”

You grin at her simple satisfaction. But then as you admire your full room you realize there’s nowhere to sleep.

“Er, Krystal? Great job and all, but we may need to rearrange some of this,” you start, but she shushes you and pulls out her phone. She dials a number and waits.

“Hi, is there anything for tonight?” She taps her foot impatiently. “What!” She looks scandalized. “Are you sure? Let me speak to your manager.” She scowls at your ceiling. “Hi, yes, this is Krystal. Krystal Jung. I was told there’s nothing available but that can’t be true.” She rolls her eyes at you, but then perks up. “Ah, you do? That’s perfect! We’ll take it.” She snaps her phone shut.  “I got us a room at the Mandarin. We can stay there until the school gives me a dorm. They’re sending a car for us right now.”

Your jaw drops.

“I can’t afford that dude!”

Krystal just airily waves her hand.

“It’s free. I used my points. Grab some clothes and let’s go.”

She takes a handful of lingerie and yanks a few dresses out of another box, shoving them into her large handbag. You contemplate climbing over her luggage to get to your closet but give up that idea. Re-wearing your clothes isn’t the worst thing in the world. Hopefully you won’t stink. You gesture for her to get out of the room first. She has to squeeze past you to do so, her warm body momentarily flush against yours. For some reason your heart thuds loudly. You try to ignore it as you carefully lock the door. It’s dark already outside. The courtyard clock says it’s almost nine. Was it only yesterday night that you first cuddled with her?

“They said the car should be here soon—there!”

A huge shiny black SUV pulls up. The driver’s door opens and a smartly dressed man in a tweed coat pops out. He opens the passenger’s door and inclines his head.

“Miss Jung?”

“Yes,” Krystal replies, stepping forward.  

He eyes her large bag and bows deeply.  She takes his proffered hand and climbs up into the car. You try to get in too, but the driver steps in front of you and shuts the door in your face. He elbows you out of the way as he scrambles back into the driver’s seat and deliberately closes his door.

“Uh, I’m with her,” you squeak, but that comes out more like a question rather than a statement. The car rumbles to life. “Yo!” You anxiously rap on his window and try to catch the driver’s eye but the windows are so out all you see is your reflection. The car starts moving and you have to jog beside it to keep up.

“Krystal!” you bellow, pounding on her window, “Krystal! Help me!”

The car screeches to a halt and you trip and slam your forehead into the sideview mirror. The driver’s door flies open and the man jumps out with a curse. He hurriedly jumps over your prone body and examines the mirror. You can only gape as he carefully wipes the mirror and readjusts it. Finally, with the loudest sigh you’ve ever heard, he looks down and surveys you. The way he looks at you involuntarily makes you look at yourself, at your holey pants and ragged shirt. There is a stark contrast between you and the pristine exquisiteness of the car.

The passenger window slowly rolls down.

“Amber, hurry up,” Krystal faintly commands from inside.

You can see a muscle jumping in the man’s jaw, but he stoops to offer you a hand. You ignore it as you agonizingly pick yourself up. He looks offended as he withdraws his hand and resentfully opens the passenger door. You have a sudden of inspiration.

“Looks like my head didn’t damage your mirror,” you say, “here, let me clean it for you.”

And you wipe your dusty hands all over the glass.

The man’s face turns white. You give him a devilish smile. He glares at you, the white quickly replaced with puce. You coolly stare back. You’re not afraid of him. Maybe it’s because Krystal is paying him, but the feeling that you control him lends you power.

Suddenly you hate yourself. Did money make you better than him? You quickly turn away and climb into the car.  

Behind you, he spits just where your feet were.

“Jeez, what took you so long?” Krystal pouts, staring some photo app on her phone.

You don’t answer. She looks up and takes in your tattered appearance. “Uh, what happened?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Your insides are a confused riot of emotions.

There's an awkward silence.

“Well, we’ll be there in no time. The hotel’s really close by,” she randomly says.

You take the bait.

“So we could’ve walked there?”

“Walk?” She looks at you like you sprouted another head. “Walk in the dark?”

“I thought you walked at night, you know, to parties and stuff.”

“Yeah but that’s in school. Where it’s safe.”

Okay, maybe she had a point, being a woman and all. Out of the corner of your eye you see her observing you, surreptitiously looking at your torn pants. But she doesn’t say anything and you don’t either.

A few minutes later, the car halts in front of the most glamorous and architecturally imposing building you’ve ever seen. It is shaped like a giant castle surro