Meet Karen Woo.

After an hour of long drive, they as in Soohyun, Kevin and HyunA finally arrived at Kent Imperial College, the most elite college in Korea.

Kevin couldn’t hide his awe when he first arrived in front of the gate. This college was undoubtedly everyone’s dream college.

“Close your mouth, Kev. Flies are gonna land in there if you don’t close it soon.” Soohyun said as he unloaded the suitcase from the trunk which snapped Kevin out from his awe.

Kevin quickly shut his mouth up and let out a bashful smile.

“Here are your stuffs. Just go straight to the administration office and they will know what to do with you.” Soohyun said as he put Kevin’s baggage in front of him.

“Now, go. You don’t want to be late for your first day right?”

“Best of luck, Kev. Take care of yourself.” Soohyun hugged Kevin.

“Thanks hyung. You take care too.”

“Here. Let me do your make –up for one last time.” HyunA said to Kevin.

HyunA applied some extra make-up on Kevin’s face and neck to make sure his Adam’s apple was not that obvious. She also fixed Kevin’s wig a lil bit.

“Oh god, you’re so pretty that I wanna squish you.” HyunA clenched and unclenched both her fists and Kevin let out a small laugh.

“Take care Hyun.” Kevin said as he hugged HyunA and HyunA muttered a muffled ‘You too.’

Kevin took his baggage and went into the college after he bid them farewell.

Hello college life. Again.

---

Kevin finally arrived at the administration office after he got lost a couple of times in the campus. He thought the administration office would be an easy place to find but he was obviously wrong.

“Good morning.” Kevin greeted politely to the receptionist.

“Morning. How can I help you?”

“I’m the transferee, Karen Woo.” Somehow, introducing himself as ‘Karen Woo’ did feel really weird but he had to get used to it.

“Ah, the San Francisco transferee. Come in to the door on the left, Mrs. Jang has been expecting you.”

“Alright, thanks.” Kevin smiled and the receptionist returned the favour.

Kevin carefully made his way to the mentioned place.

He knocked on the door twice and came in after he heard a muffled ‘Come in.’

“Good morning. I’m Karen Woo.” Kevin greeted and bowed politely.

“Morning, Karen. Please, take a seat.” Mrs. Jang said warmly and Kevin obeyed.

Mrs. Jang asked Kevin some of the fundamental questions for new students.

“Your Korean is pretty good for someone who has been living in America for quite a while, by the way.”

Kevin gulped nervously. He forgot that he was supposed to act like a transferee from America with awkward Korean accents like when he first arrived in Korea several years ago.

Think quickly! Think quickly! Kevin was looking for an idea in his head.

“Well, I—I always speak Korean with my family back in America so that’s why my Korean is quite good.” Kevin made an on-the-spot lie.

Lying is slowly becoming a routine now. Kevin thought as he let out a small sigh through his mouth when it seemed like Mrs. Jang bought his lie. He wasn’t the type of person that told lies but because of this job, he had to.

“I see. That’s great then.”

“Anyways, I’ve read through your files and I must say, you’re a great addition to this college. Your previous academic records are great and your records are clean as well.”

“So, I would like to officially welcome you to this college.” Mrs. Jang stretched out her hand for a handshake.

“Thank you Mrs. Jang.” Kevin smiled as he shook Mrs. Jang’s hand.

“Here is your schedule and in a while, the dorm leader will come and take you to your room.” Mrs. Jang handed the paper to Kevin.

A knock was heard on the door and Mrs. Jang permitted the knocker to come in.

“Ah, here you are. We were just talking about you seconds ago. Here, take Karen to her room and show her around.” Mrs. Jang said to the girl and the girl simply replied ‘Yes, Mrs. Jang’ with a nod.

The girl seemed really sweet and nice. She was pretty too.

“Hi. I’m Chorong, the girls’ dorm leader. Welcome to our college.” The girl who introduced herself as Chorong said as she stretched her hand out for a handshake.

Kevin felt comfortable seeing her smile.

She seems nice.

“Hi, I’m Karen Woo.” Kevin shook her hand and smiled.

“Come. I’ll show you around.” Chorong smiled warmly and Kevin nodded.

They exited Mrs. Jang’s office when they had excused themselves from her. Chorong gave a tour around the campus to Kevin since it was his first day before they headed to Kevin’s dorm later on.

He later found out that Chorong was a final year student majoring in Arts.

---

“Here is your room. Room 24.” Chorong announced as they finally arrived in front of the dorm room.

“Thanks for  everything, nuna.” Kevin blurted. His eyes widened when he realized that ‘nuna’ slipped out from his mouth. He meant to call her sunbae but blurted out a ‘nuna’. How great.

Shoot. I’m dead. That’s it Kevin Woo. Today is your first and last day in here.

Chorong raised her eyebrow in confusion but soon let out a small laugh which confused Kevin.

“You mean unnie? I think you’re confused between nuna and unnie since you have been living outside of Korea for a long time.” Chorong smiled.

“I’ve encountered a lot of similar problems with foreign students before so it’s not a new thing.”

Kevin was quite surprised when he heard Chorong’s remark but he managed to keep his cool and let out a ‘Yeah..that must be it’ and smiled like an innocent kid.

“Here’s a quick Korean lesson for you. Unnie is for girls to call older girls while Nuna is for boys to call older girls. Simple, right?”

“Right. Thanks for the quick lesson, unnie.” Kevin acted like he just knew that by emphasizing on the word ‘unnie’.

“Don’t mention it. I better go now. See you around.” Chorong smiled.

She was about to leave when the dorm room’s door suddenly opened revealing Krystal who looked like she was about to go somewhere. Krystal halted her steps when she realized there were people standing outside her room.

“Unnie, what are you doing here? And who is this tall girl?” Krystal asked, surprised to find the dorm leader was standing in front of her room.

Did this chick just swallow a street lamp or something?  Krystal thought as she eyed Kevin from head to toe.

“This is your new roommate. She is a transferee from San Francisco.”

“Hi, I’m Karen.” Kevin offered a handshake.

“Krystal.” Krystal said, deadpanned with her arms crossed. She simply ignored the handshake offer.

Kevin retracted his hand back, embarrassed when his handshake was ignored.

Damn arrogant. Thank God, I’ll only be living with you for three friggin’ months. Kevin put on a strained smile after being embarrassed earlier.

“If there’s nothing else, I shall go now. My boyfriend is waiting for me.” Krystal bowed slightly to Chorong and walked past Kevin. She couldn’t care less about her new roommate.

“Sorry about that. She’s a little arrogant but she isn’t that bad. I’m sure you girls can sort things out later on.” Chorong smiled encouragingly to Kevin as she gave a pat on Kevin’s shoulder.

Kevin just nodded and smiled gratefully.

Thanks to her, my first day in college wasn’t that bad. Kevin thought as he saw Chorong’s smile.

---

The dorm room was quite spacious for two occupants with two single beds at each ends of the room and a bathroom. Next to each bed, there was a nightstand and study desk. Dressers were also provided.

Kevin was more than satisfied with his accommodation.

“This college isn’t called elite for nothing.” Kevin said as he sat on his bed, taking a little deserved break after he finished arranging his stuffs.

He observed the other end of the room which was Krystal’s space. Both ends were totally the opposite, like the room was divided into two. His space was neat and tidy while Krystal’s looked like a tsunami just hit it. Books were scattered everywhere on her bed and desk. Her clothes were on the floor and study desk was a mess as well.

“Am I the guy or she is?” Kevin shook his head at the sight of the shipwreck.

He decided to clean up the mess without much thinking.

He began by picking up all Krystal’s clothes that were lying on the floor and put them into the laundry basket. He then proceeded to Krystal’s bed and picked up all the books and arranged them properly on the desk. He reminisced about his college days when he saw all the books because he was familiar with them since he was a business major himself when he was in college.

He then noticed a framed picture of Krystal and a very beautiful young woman smiling happily in each other’s arms. Kevin smiled at the sight.

How nice if she can just smile like this often. Kevin thought when he saw Krystal’s smile in the photo.

“She must be her older sister, Jessica.” Kevin guessed as he remembered Soohyun had mentioned her once.

Kevin was about to put the framed picture back to its place when a loud voice startled him causing him to nearly drop the picture but thank heaven, he didn’t or else he would be in a bigger mess. He recognized the voice as Krystal’s. He didn’t expect Krystal to be back this soon.

“What are you doing in my space?!” Krystal shouted when she saw Kevin invaded her space. She totally hated it when people did that.

Kevin froze in his spot still holding the picture, speechless.

Krystal marched angrily towards Kevin and snatched the picture from Kevin’s hand.

“What do you think you’re doing huh, new kid?”  Krystal glared at Kevin with her arms crossed below her chest.

Whoa. She’s scary.

“I—I’m sorry. It’s just that…I’m trying to be a good roommate for you. T—That’s all. I swear.” Kevin stuttered. Krystal’s glare was just that scary.

“Look, Miss Good-roommate-wannabe, I do not appreciate your kind act so please stay away from my zone. I really hate it when people invade my privacy.” Krystal pushed Kevin away to his space.

“Stupid.” She muttered.

“S—Sorry.” That was all Kevin managed to say. He was hurt when Krystal misunderstood his good intention and he wanted to defend himself but other part inside of him knew that he was wrong too for invading Krystal’s privacy.

“Just stay away from me. Don’t even talk to me.” Krystal glared and walked out of the room soon after as she shut the door loudly.

Kevin sighed when he heard the loud bang.

He sat on his bed and lightly pinched the bridge of his nose, regretting everything that just happened.

I should’ve known more about her.

Sigh. Now, her first impression of me is bad.

Kevin shook his head.

---

A/N: Sorry if this chapter is not satisfactory enough. I will try to make the next one better. :)