ROCK PAPER SCISSORS

 

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I woke up to the knocking of my door. It’s most probably Johnny, seems like he wanted to drop by before leaving for his training today.

 

“Good morning Sarang.” He said with a smiling face.

 

“Morning John.” I said still with my eyes closed, not wanting to wake up right now, but sadly I have to.

 

“So, ready for today?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, I guess” I said, while rolling on the bed and turning to face him.

“So… let’s just have a little recap about the directions again. Walk to the bus station and look at the digital display screen for when the next bus arrives and where it goes to. If that’s confusing then, use the Seoul Bus App. I showed you the other day, you remember right?”

 

I nodded, my mind finally waking up and trying to recall what all Johnny had showed me on the app and how I could use it to get to university.

 

“Make sure that you get down at Yonsei University bus stop and not Ewha University bus stop. They’re nearby each other. After you get down at the bus stop it’s about a four minute walk. If you get lost, ask around for directions. And if you need anything call me! ” Johnny explained while pointing at the map he opened on my phone. He waved goodbye and then bolted out the door, cause he was already running late for training.

 

The University was allowing new students to visit the campus this weekend. It gives us a chance to explore the huge campus before classes start. And it’ll help us to figure out which building is where and what classroom we have to go to, otherwise on the first day of university there’d be puzzled freshmen running around everywhere.

 Johnny would’ve tagged along with me but he already took a day off 3 days ago, so that he could show me around Seoul. We went to Namsan tower, Gyeongbkgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village.

 

 I really wanted to go the Hangang park near the Han river, but we didn’t have enough time cause I had to do some shopping too. Mainly groceries and stationary shopping.

 

 Stationary, because university is going to start soon. And groceries because I have to cook for myself for as long as I stay in Johnny’s dorm building. Johnny and the rest of the trainees eat at the cafeteria of their company. But I don’t have that luxury.

Till now I’ve managed to get by on ramen noodles, bread ,fruits and the food Johnny would get for me when he’d come back from training in the night.

 

 

                             I can’t believe a week has already gone by. The day after I arrived, I woke up past noon. I blame the jetlag. I unpacked some of my clothes and arranged them in the closet. Half the closet was nearly empty. It’s probably used by that guy, Ten. But he’s not here, so it’s mine for the time being. I should thank him when I get the chance.

 The next day Johnny gave me some books that I could use to improve my Korean. Apparently I’m at a fourth grade level of reading and writing Hangul, according to Johnny. I think I can speak Korean quite well, at a conversational level. But I definitely need to work on it. I spent the rest of my days prepping for university by researching about my courses and also by doodling and painting whenever I was bored studying Korean/Hangul.

                              Though we shared the same room, I didn’t see Lucas around that much. In fact we haven’t even spoken, ever since that incident

 

“Oh. I guess I forgot to mention that he has a girlfriend. I didn’t think it would be a problem.” Johnny said, holding back a laugh at my situation.

“So you walked in on them?!

 Were they …

 you know ..?”

Mark asked me, very curious to know what exactly I saw.

“GOSH! They were just hugging or something like that. WHY DID I HAVE TO SEE THAT!?”

“You should be glad that they were just hugging when you walked in.” Johnny said, as if he trying to make me see the silver lining. I rolled my eyes at that comment.

Mark suddenly burst out laughing.

Is my bad luck really that humorous?

Mark tried to stop laughing and went on to say “I just realized. Lucas must’ve been sooooo happy when he found out the room would be all to himself cause Ten was leaving. He probably wanted to spend quality time with his girlfriend. But then you arrived. And now his girlfriend is probably mad as heck, thinking why did a random girl come to Lucas’ room. And now he has to explain to her that you’re his new roommate.”

“You really didn’t quite think this through, huh John?” I deadpanned.

Johnny mouthed an ‘I’m sorry’ and hid behind Mark.

 

If Lucas didn’t hate me before, he’d definitely hate me now.

I invaded his room. Got into an argument with him. Walked in on him and his girlfriend when they were in an intimate position. And now have potentially caused them to get into a fight.

 

 

                                              Lucas wakes up earlier than I do, and goes to bed later than me. By the time he comes back from training, its past 10, sometimes 11. After coming back, every night he talks on the phone for a while. Probably with his girlfriend. He speaks in Mandarin, or maybe its Cantonese, I’m not sure.

Johnny didn’t tell me Lucas was Chinese. Well Johnny didn’t tell me anything anyways so what can I expect from him? But Johnny did tell me this. That Lucas was relatively a new trainee at SM. That’s why Johnny and the guys in his dorm train together.

 

 

 It was nice having the room all to myself during the day. I could do whatever I do in a day at peace.  Lucas wouldn’t really acknowledge my existence when he came back to the room at night. At first I felt that the silence was kind of awkward, but it would be more awkward if we spoke. So not talking to each other became normal. Anyways we weren’t friends or anything so what would we talk about. Plus he doesn’t necessarily have positive feelings towards my staying in the room.

 

 

Like every day, even today Lucas was already out of the room by the time I woke up. I need to get ready and head to university now. I’m nervous, but excited too. I’ve seen pictures and maps of the university before, so I have a rough idea of how to navigate around campus. But its not the same as going there in person and exploring around.

 

I looked at the time it was 8:00. I was planning to leave at 9.00. Just when I was about to get up, I heard the door unlock.

Johnny left in such a hurry, he must’ve left something behind.

 

To my surprise, it wasn’t Johnny. It was Lucas.

 

Or was it?

Am I still sleepy? Or was I just over thinking ?

 

He saw me and stopped for a second when I got up, still sleepy and walked slowly towards him till we were facing each other.

He looked like he was out of breath. Beads of sweat adorned his forehead, and it looked like his whole body was drenched. His clothes were sticking to his body, outlining his muscular build. The sunlight seeping through the window directly hit his face. And somehow he looked shiny which made me think this was a dream.

 

I couldn’t process what I was thinking, and before I knew it

 

“What are you staring at?”

 

That’s when I realized, this isn’t some dream, he was really standing right there.

My eyes widened. Did I really just stare at him all this time?

I think all of my interactions with Lucas simply have to involve me embarrassing myself in front if him.

There was no expression on his face, as usual.

 

“Umm… I’m sorry.” I said while looking at the floor and turning away. What else could I say to him after staring at him like he was a deity that appeared in my dreams.

 

“Are you going to take a shower now?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, I need to visit the university today.” I said, as I tidied up my bed.

 

“You gotta wait, cause I need to take a shower first.” He said, or rather stated with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

 

“But I’m already a little late, I’ll be out soon.” I turned around to look at him. 

 

“Okay I can’t fight this right now, I have to go to training as well, let’s just sort it out with a game of rock paper scissors.”

 

Oh, we’re playing now, are we?

 

“Okay, but just so you know, I’m good at this.” I said with a cheeky smile. 

 

“We’ll see about that.”, he rolled his eyes at me.

 

“Rock paper scissors” we said in unison.

 

I kept paper cause most guys keep rock, its typical guy logic, or so I thought,  but this time it didn’t work that way.

 

He kept scissors.

 

“Looks like you aren’t that good at this.” He said with a smirk on face and marched his way to the bathroom.

 

I sighed and sat on my bed with a look of defeat. "How did that happen?" I murmured to myself

 

“You need to get your things organized around here.” He came out of the bathroom with my clothes I kept there the other day.  I was going to take them out after I woke up today.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry, lemme take them.” I got up to take my clothes.

 

He handed me the small pile of clothes and when I was about to turn, my bra fell off………

 

I was embarrassed, I looked behind hoping he wouldn’t have seen this.

 

We made awkward eye contact for a solid 10 seconds which felt like straight up hours and my tongue was tied, he then looked away and gave out a light chuckle.

Did Lucas just SMILE

 

“Sweet moses, you did me this time” I told to myself.

 

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After having breakfast I got ready and started from dorm. I texted Johnny I was leaving. I followed the instructions given by Johnny. Though I felt a little lost I found my way to the university.

 

As soon as I entered I felt overwhelmed and nervous. It’s a beautiful and large campus, just like in the pictures I’ve seen. I was a little confused to find my way around the enormous place. I saw few people walking but was a little shy to ask for directions right away.

 

 Since I’m majoring in Fine Arts, firstly I want to check out the art block/building. I’d probably be spending most of my days running in and out of there anyways.

 I walk a little further trying to find the art block but there were not many new students there. I thought it was a better idea to turn on the google maps to identify the block.

I followed the directions but as the voice over was on, the directions were coming out loud in and weird robotic voice.

I noticed few stares from people and was trying to mute it but it didn’t stop.

 

 

“Turn left in 30m to find the art block” it kept on repeating.

 

“Turn left in 30m to find the art block” I heard a guys voice from behind trying to imitate the voice coming from my phone. Uni hasn’t even started and people are already making fun of me -_- ???

 

I turned back but there wasn’t anyone there.

 

“You’ll find the management block to your right. ” the phone kept going on.

“How do I make it stop!!”

“You’ll find the management block to your right.” I heard that voice again.

 

I turned behind to find absolutely nothing again. As I turned again to move, there was this guy right in front of me, smiling at me while running a hand through his chocolate brown hair.

 

“Hi there, looking for the art block?” he said imitating the robotic voice from before.

 

“You scared me.” I said with a short smile.

 

“Haha, sorry, I’m Haechan.” He said while extending his hand for a shake. His hands were warm, and he had great skin. I might just ask him his skin care routine, cause he was literally glowing like the sun. It's not weird to do that, is it?

 

“Hi, I’m Sarang.” I said while shaking his hand.

 

“So, you’re a new student here?” he asked, though he probably already knew the answer to that question.

 

“Yeah” I said, “What about you?”

 

“I’m new here too, majoring in Fine Arts !!” he beamed.

 

“Oh wow, me too !” I exclaimed. So the first person I run into on campus is in the same class as me, that’s nice. I’m glad to meet someone with the same major as me.

 

“You want to go to the Art Block right? I’m also headed there, let’s go together, I know the directions better than Google” he said smiling.

 

We walked for a while before finding the art block and searched for our classroom. We made small talk as we walked, asking questions, and getting to know each other a little. I learned that he was born and brought up in Seoul, and that he was looking to get a minor degree in the Musical Arts. Though we just met, Haechan was quite friendly, not hesitant to crack a joke or make a sarcastic remark.

 

“Looks like we’re in the same class.” He said pointing at my name, on a list that was put up on a bulletin board outside of the classroom.

“That’s cool” I said with a smile.

 

We went around and saw the other buildings on campus, identifying our lecture halls, and calculating the time between classes and how much time it’d take to run from one class to the other.

As we walked around campus Haechan and I talked for a while. He told me he’s going to move into the university dorm this Sunday, before our classes start, and that his parents also live in Seoul.

I told him that I’m thinking of applying for a minor in Psychology, and he said that he was thinking of doing the same, but he just loves music too much.

 

 

“The ramen place around the corner is the best here, come on let’s eat,” He said and then glanced at his watch that just struck 1’oclock , “it’s lunch time !”

“Thank god, I was really hungry” I said as I followed him.

The place was small but cute. We ordered two ramen and ate while talking about our courses, hobbies and other things.

After we ate he walked me to the bus stop. “My dorm is just five minutes from here”

 

 

“Oh, nice. I guess I’ll have to move to the college dorm after the classes start” I said. This weekend wouldn’t be possible cause Johnny said he has this evaluation thing coming up. And I can’t shift all my stuff out of the current dorm and bring it to campus all my myself. He said he’d help me shift after Uni starts.

 

“Hey isn’t that your bus” he said pointing to a bus coming our way.

 

“Yep, gotta go, I’ll see you in class then, bye Haechan” I said waving at him.

 

“Bye Sarang , see you soon” he said.

 

 

I think I just made my first friend from university.

 

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