Ah, New York. The city that never sleeps. Jungwoo is finally at his dream destination, for study abroad of course. Even though his parents did not fully agree to his decision to leave Seoul, they allowed him to go for educational purposes. He is a business and finance major with hopes of landing a job in one of South Korea's most prestigious companies. Well...his parents want him to settle down in the motherland. Jungwoo wants to find a job elsewhere, preferably in NYC. 

The young man can't help but smile as he happily roams the streets of Manhattan. It's exactly how he pictured it to be: lively, crowded, and smelly. It is perfect.  Jungwoo does his best to avoid bumping into people while making his way to the check-in destination at NYU (New York University). He notices a crowd gathering around the corner and lets his curiosity to get the best of him, pushing through the crowd to get to the front. There is a man playing a sick beat with a set of buckets. Jungwoo nods his head along to the addicting music. He takes out his phone to snapchat the performance, but also makes sure to keep a good grip on his suitcase, so he doesn't get robbed.

When the performance is over, Jungwoo drops a dollar bill in the man's donation hat to praise his performance. Then, he continues on to his destination. The Google maps app on his phone informs him that NYU is only five minutes away. A few asian women, possibly around his age, send flirtatious stares his way when they pass by. He manages a small smile for them, which is a mistake because they take it as a sign of interest.

"Excuse me?" The tall and slender one in the middle proclaims in English, which forces him to stop walking and focus his attention on them. She smiles seductively.

"Yes?" Jungwoo answers back in the foreign language. He is actually fairly fluent in English, but occasionally forgets how to pronounce words every now and then.

"I'm Claire. What's your name? Where are you from?" She asks twirling a finger in her hair. Her friends giggle.

"Kim Jungwoo. I'm a student from South Korea."

She smirks. "You're very handsome, oppa."

A small blush appears on Jungwoo's face. "Thank you..." He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. "I should be on my way. I'm late." He gives them another friendly smile and turns on his heel, walking away with his suitcase strolling behind. He arrives at his destination and walks into the building for check-in.

The elderly woman sitting at the front desk greets him. "Good afternoon. Welcome to NYU. May I get your name, please?"

"Yes. My name is Kim Jungwoo."

"Welcome, Kim Jungwoo. Are you an international student?"

"Yes. I'm studying abroad for a year."

She smiles. "Wonderful!" She grabs a clipboard to find his name on the list. "Here you are." She marks a check next to his name and looks through a box to find his envelope. "This envelope contains your student ID access card, the key to your apartment, a copy of the house rules, and some general information about what to expect at orientation." She hands it to him. 

Jungwoo opens the envelope to see the address for the apartment. "What's the fastest way to get the apartment?"

"The complex is only four blocks down from this building."

"Awesome. Thank you." He puts the envelope in his backpack and bids farewell to the woman before leaving. He walks the four blocks down to the apartment and swipes into the building using the ID access card. His apartment is on the fifth floor. Luckily, there's an elevator.  He takes it up to the fifth floor and finds his apartment number, 53. Before unlocking it and going in, he takes a deep breath. He knows he has a roommate and prays they are nice.

Finally, he walks in and gasps. The apartment is fully furnished. It's so homely and antique. The living room is fairly small, big enough for a few people but definitely not suitable for any parties which isn't much of a concern since he is an introvert. Due to the lack of noise and no greeting, he assumes his roommate hasn't arrived yet. Check-in ends tomorrow night. 

Jungwoo closes the front door, slipping off his shoes for more comfort. He continues to explore the rest of the apartment. The kitchen and dining room are connected to the living room. He continues onto a narrow hallway. There's only one door to the left which is the bathroom. He checks it out. Much to his surprise, the bathroom is a suitable size with enough room to manuever. Sadly, there's isn't a tub for bathing. The shower is for standing only with transparent sliding doors.

Jungwoo strolls out of the bathroom and opens one of the doors to a bedroom. Again, the size is appropriate. The walls are painted navy blue. There's a small desk to do homework, a dresser, and closet to store his clothes. Resting on top of the twin size bed are sheets, blankets, and towels for use. He likes the room. Maybe, he'll stay in this one. He checks the other room to make sure it isn’t better. It looks exactly the same as the other one.

Jungwoo decides to choose it since it’s closer to the living room and further away from the bathroom. He gets his suitcase and brings it to the room. First, he unpacks, storing all his clothes and belongings in the necessary compartments. Then, he makes his bed and decides to take a shower.

He listens to music while showering. When he finishes, he wraps a towel around his waist and dries his hair. His stomach starts to growl. He hasn’t had a full meal since leaving Seoul. Too bad the university doesn’t provide free groceries.

The sound of the door closing grabs Jungwoo attention. Is that his roommate? He quickly dresses into jeans and a t-shirt, eager to meet the roommate. His roommate is also a fellow asian man with brown hair and brown eyes.

Jungwoo finds him handsome and smiles sheepishly. “Hi…you must be my roommate. I’m Jungwoo. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Haechan. It’s nice to meet you too.” The lad has a bit of an accent. “Nice little apartment we have here. Let me guess, you took the good room?”

Jungwoo laughs a little. “No. The rooms are actually the same. I just picked the one closer to the living room.”

“Fair enough. I'm assuming you're korean.” Haechan says a little too knowingly.

"How did you guess?" He fakes excitement which makes the younger man laugh. "I'm from Seoul."

"Me too. You're English is very good. Is your korean any good?"

"I don't know. You tell me," Jungwoo says in their native tongue. "I've lived in Seoul all my life until now. But I've also been studying the English language since I was a kid." 

"That's cool." Haechan continues to speak in English. "I'm here to perfect my English. Hey, but don't worry. If we need to talk about someone, I'll gladly participate. Anyway, I will go unpack." Haechan grabs his luggage and goes to his room, leaving Jungwoo to ponder about their interaction.

The intense growling from stomach releases Jungwoo from his thoughts. It continues to growl to the point where it becomes unbearable. He makes his way over to Haechan's room. Luckily, the door is open. Jungwoo leans in the doorway. "So...we have no food in the fridge. I was thinking maybe we could go out to eat and also do some grocery shopping too."

"Sounds like a good plan," Haechan replies. "We can go after I finish unpacking."

"Cool." Jungwoo walks back to his room and slips on a sweater. He scrolls through instagram to pass time and to take his mind off the hunger. 

"Ready?" Haechan's voice asks from outside the door a few minutes later.

"Yes." Jungwoo grabs his wallet and opens the door. "I'm starving. Are you locking the apartment?"

"I guess so. Where do you want to eat?"

"Somewhere with pizza and pasta." Jungwoo walks out of the apartment first. 

Haechan locks the door. "Italian restaurant?"

"That sounds great. To Little Italy we go!" Jungwoo says excitedly.

"Do you how to get there?"

"No, but google will take us. Thank god for technology." He puts in the address. "It's a twenty minute walk from here."

"Not bad." 

The students take the elevator down to the first floor and step back onto the stree