Click!

She heard a sound coming from what seemed to be a camera, when she opened her eyes, she saw her older brother taking a picture of her, “Yah! What the heck are you doing in my room?!”

“Just checking up on you. You sleep in a weird manner. That thing with your tongue sticking out and one of your legs sticking out of the blanket. What’s up with that?” her brother asked with a confused expression on his face.

“You’re not even supposed to be here and the blanket thing, I do that to simply balance the temperature. If I sleep with the blanket on, it’ll be too hot and if I sleep without a blanket, it’ll be too cold. Now, if I stick one of my legs out, it’ll be JUST RIGHT! Do you get it now?” she said, annoyed at the fact that her brother woke her up.

“Whatever, I’m going to save these pictures on my computer for future use. You might go missing one day and I could print these photos and post them on walls. You know, like they do on movies and on TV shows when their pets go missing,” her brother said. He was now on the verge of doing a ROFL-LOL-LMAO combo because of his lame joke. 

She gritted her teeth in anger. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting dressed? Today’s the first day of school, right?”

“No, it’s orientation day for the freshmen. That’s going to be boring so I didn’t attend,” she said while double checking her luggage that she packed the night before. 

“Oh. Hopefully, by the time you get back here, everyone would be calling you Chef Kwon Yuri.”

“Yah! Are you trying to tell me that I can’t go back home ‘til I graduate?!”

Her brother smirked, “Yes. We’ll surely miss you.”
 

---

She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled sadly, “I wish you were here mom,” she said looking at the photo on her bedside table. She took the framed photo and put it inside her bag. 

She grabbed all her belongings and looked at her room one last time. I’m gonna miss this room... Eh? What the heck? Even if they tell me not go home I WILL go home, I live here, too. She pouted when she remembered what her brother told her.

She then went downstairs and saw her dad, teary eyed and holding onto her mom’s toque. “Yuri, look at you all grown up. You have to call all the time and tell us if some guy’s bothering you. I swear, if guys bug you or harass you in any way, I’ll let them experience hell on earth.” 

Her dad hugged her tightly. Her dad was always the protective type. He wasn’t too strict though, in fact, he spoils his children too much. He placed the toque on top of Yuri’s head and smiled, “Your mom would surely be proud of you.”

She showed a small smile and took off the toque. She looked at it with so much longing. 
 

---
 

When you’re gone, the pieces of my heart are missing you
When you’re gone, the face I came to know is missing, too
When you’re gone all the word I need to here to always get me through the day
And make it o---

She turned off the radio. Every time she hears that song she tears up. The chorus reminds her of her mom. Who is she kidding? Everything reminds her of her mom. Her car which she bought with her mom, even the passenger seat where her mom used to sit every time they would go shopping. They were close but she’s not that expressive towards anyone even her mom. She regretted not saying the words she should’ve said to her mom before she passed away. 

She was on her way to the university. It’s going to take her about two hours to reach her destination. She was feeling gloomy and so she decided to listen to an even more gloomy song. She picked a depressing song that wouldn’t remind her of her mom. She picked Taeyang’s “Wedding Dress” because she knows she wouldn’t be able to relate to any sad love song. Why a gloomy song? Simple, she had a different logic. She would listen to sad songs when she feels blue because for her listening to a happy song when you’re sad is not right. She would always defend her little theory by saying, “When you’re happy, I don’t see you listening to sad songs, so why would I listen to a happy song when I’m sad.”

Enough of her weird logic. She’s seventeen years old but she wasn’t the typical teenager. She never really cared much about dating and she doesn’t go boy crazy just like the other girls her age. She was always considered as one of the guys and she has never been in a relationship. She had already put in her head that whoever her first love would be, that person would also be her last. Someone should give her a whack in the head for wanting that. Sure, it’s possible… but it’s tough to achieve that, nowadays.

After two hours of driving while listening to sad love songs, she finally arrived. IU. I University…

 

---

IU. A university for the gifted. It doesn’t matter if you’re from a wealthy family or not. They only accept students who are talented in their chosen craft. If you applied in this school, you’re going to have to pass the examination and show your skills in front of the dean, Lee Ji Eun. 

Lee Ji Eun is the founder of the university. She’s a prodigy. A genius. She graduated college when she was only 14 years old. Absurd, right? But yes, she did just that. She now has a Bachelor’s Degree in Culinary Arts and Business Administration. Double Major, not too shabby, eh? She belongs to a family of chefs and restaurateurs. 

A year after she graduated, she decided to put up a university that would enhance a skill of an already gifted child. She named it I University. Her reason? Well, it has a nice ring to it and she loved the acronym, IU. The university has only been around for half a decade but it’s already one of the top schools in the country. It’s not really that hard to believe since their facilities, their staffs and the students are of high calibre.

The Facilities.

The students won’t be living in one building. Instead, the university provided house that are good for a maximum of ten people. There are a total of 200 houses around the university. The layout and designations of the houses are carefully planned so that the students wouldn’t be far from their classrooms. 

Houses are equipped with all the necessities. The living room has two couches, a plasma TV mounted on the wall and a coffee table. The house has four rooms and each room has a luxurious bathroom. 

Probably the main attraction in the whole house, if you can call it that, is the kitchen. The founder made sure that every kitchen is equipped with top notched kitchen equipment; oven, stove, fridge, mixer, etc. She has a soft spot for Culinary Students for obvious reasons.

The reason why she built houses inside the university for the students is that a whole building could burn down just because of crazy students. She knows because she’s experienced it first hand, when she was still in college, so she thought that it would be a good idea to build individual houses. 


---

Five girls were sitting on the couch, waiting for someone to speak up. They were all talking earlier about trivial things but after a few minutes, they were welcomed by an eerie silence. Taeyeon decided to talk but then got cut off by Jessica. Jessica saw her step sister descending the stairs.

“Where’d you go?” she pulled Tiffany and whispered her next words, “It was so awkward. No one could think of anything to say.”

“I was “redecorating” my room,” she said grinning widely.

Jessica nodded, “By that you mean, you’ve changed the bed cover, curtains and other stuff with everything that’s pink. You know very well that you’ll be having a roommate. She might not like pink as much as you do.”

“”You know me too well and please, everyone likes pink.”

“Hi.”

They turned their head towards the sound of a voice. The girl standing in front of them had angelic features, innocent looking eyes and chubby but cute cheeks.

Yoona gasped, “You!” She pointed at the girl.

The girl smiled and chuckled. Yoona couldn’t help but let out a giggle as well.

“You’re stalking me,” Yoona stated confidently.

The girl just smiled sweetly.

“SEOHYUN-AH!! Where’s my DS Lite? I’ve been looking for it every-,” the short girl who just entered the house called but when she saw Yoona, her face turned red and she became more agitated, “What the hell is she doing here?” she turned to the girl named Seohyun.

Seo Ju Hyun. She prefers to be called Seohyun, though. This tall and baby faced girl is a Music Major. Music is her passion. Not only does she know how to sing she also knows how to play different musical instruments but her favourite is the piano.

“I didn’t tell you she was also studying here? Well, she is and it seems like we’re going to be housemates. Isn’t that fun, Sunny unnie?”

Lee Sunny. Seohyun’s older cousin. Seohyun got accelerated so she’s in the same level as her cousin. Same case with Yoona. Sunny’s into Arts that’s why she decided to take up Fine Arts.

Sunny answered back in a much more irritated tone, “Fun?! That girl broke up with you on the day of your graduation! I remember you crying over it!”

Everyone in the room was shocked to find out something new about their new housemate especially Jessica who seemed to have a little crush on Yoona. “You two were together? As an item? Seriously?” she asked.

Before Yoona could answer, Taeyeon started sniggering which turned into a laughing fit after a few seconds.

Jessica looked at her with murderous eyes and said, “Why are you laughing? Is that even a laugh? You sound like you’re out of breath and you’re going to die any minute now.”

Taeyeon stopped laughing. She was slightly offended with the blonde girl’s comment but she shrugged it off. “I just find it funny that a former couple would be living together. This is so~ gonna cause a drama.”

“What’s so funny about that?” she asked, still armed with her death glare.

Yoona answered quickly for Taeyeon, “I think it’s funny,” she smiled, “But I don’t think it’ll cause any future drama. Seohyun and I are still friends.” She then turned to Seohyun with a teasing smile, “Although… I didn’t know she cried about our break-up.”

“You smug! Of course, she did. You—“

Sunny was cut off by her younger cousin, “Unnie, let’s not talk about this. Yoona-yah, it’s nice to see you again and no, I’m not stalking you. We're just assigned to live here, too,” she showed her angelic smile again.

“So the two of you were really together? Like really? Seriously?” Jessica asked again.

“Oh my god! Jessie, YES YES YES! They were together!” Tiffany yelled.

“No need to shout,” she replied casually.

Tiffany just sighed and looked at the two girls. “Sorry about that.”

“Guys, this is Seohyun and that short girl is her cousin, Sunny,” Yoona introduced the two.

“Hey! Don’t call me short!” Sunny pouted.

As usual, everyone introduced themselves. Earlier that day, the first six girls told each other what rooms they were assigned to. Yoona would be in the same room with Jessica and Taeyeon. Sooyoung would be in room 17C and Hyoyeon would be in 17D. 

When they sat down to talk to the two new girls, they found out that Seohyun would be rooming with Sooyoung and Sunny would be roommates with Hyoyeon. This means that whoever the last girl is, she would be roommates with Tiffany.

One more girl and we could get these introductions over with. I’m getting tired of saying ‘Hi. I’m Jessica.’ 


---


Yuri parked her car in front of Villa 17. She got out of her car, hauled her belongings and walked towards the huge house. She took out her keys and entered the house. She was welcomed by no one. The other girls decided to stay in the biggest room which is now shared by Taeyeon, Jessica and Yoona. It seemed like the girls didn’t hear Yuri.

Yuri immediately went upstairs and headed for her room, 17A. She opened the door using her keys and the moment she laid her eyes upon the room, gaped.

“What the fu—“