The bathroom was cold and silent. Sunlight flooded in from the lone window on the far wall, the radiator humming somewhere inside the room. Voices drifted in from outside, gradually getting louder as their owners pass by the door, before disappearing again and letting the silence return, unbroken. 
 

Inside the last stall, Cha Eun Jae sat on the toilet cover, elbows on her knees and head cradled in her hands. She took another deep breath, exhaling slowly through .

'I got this' she repeated to herself, over and over. Her feet itched to tap repeatedly on the floor. A nervous tic. She ignored it and closed her eyes.

There is nothing to be afraid of, she reasoned, There were hundreds of them going through their first day of medical school, and she was one of the best. First impressions are important and she intended to make her mark today. In order to do that, she needed to stop hiding in the bathroom. 

Eun Jae opened her eyes and stood up, straightening her clothes. She flipped the lock open and went to the sink to wash her hands. Admiring her reflection on the mirror, she was relieved to see that her waterproof make-up was still in place. She practiced lifting the corners of , just slightly. Satisfied, she washed her hands. Just as she was touching up on her lip gloss, two girls came in. Eun Jae smiled at them briefly before returning her eyes to the mirror.

"I'm so nervous, my hands are all clammy." one of the girls moaned.

"Me too," her friend agreed, "I didn't eat anything for breakfast because I felt like like throwing up. I just want this day to be over."

"Excuse me...Are you both first years too?" Eun Jae asked

The first girl nodded at her, "Are you in our class? You're so tall."

Eun Jae smiled softly at the compliment, "Thanks. I'm Cha Eun Jae."

"I'm Lee Hyorin, and this is Kim Seulgi." 

"Nice to meet you both. Do you live here in Seoul?"

"Actually...we're from Busan," Seulgi replied, "we just arrived here yesterday."

"Ahh, you must live in the school dorms?" Eun Jae guessed, and the two girls nodded again, "I lived in Seoul all my life, if you need help looking for places to shop or eat, let me know and I'll make sure to recommend you nice ones!"

"Thank you, that's really helpful." Hyorin said happily, "Everything is so expensive here on campus, we really need to find a supermart to buy snacks and supplies but we don't know where."

Eun Jae grinned, "Don't worry! Shopping is one of my expertise so I got you girls covered."

The three girls grinned at each other and headed out of the bathroom, talking excitedly about their pre-med schools and family backgrounds as they headed towards the orientation room. The room was almost full, and there was an anticipatory energy in the air. There were no three vacant seats together, so the trio were forced to go their separate ways, with a promise to re-convene after the orientation. Eun Jae quickly scanned the room for an empty chair, she spotted one at the rightmost end of the back row, beside a tall guy with messy brown hair.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" Eun Jae asked him as she approached.

The guy was busy doodling in his notebook, and seemed to not even notice her. She cleared a bit loudly until he looked up, his piercing brown eyes seemed to be reading her thoughts, and it caught her off-balanced. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet and said, "Is that seat empty?"
The guy turned to the chair beside him, as if noticing it for the first time. He looked back at her, nodded, and went back to his doodling.

Eun Jae frowned, debating if she should try and look for a different place to sit. However, an authoritative voice came from the front of room "Good morning! Take your seats everyone, we will begin our orientation." 

Eun Jae had no choice but to sit down quickly, placing her bag on the floor and taking her notebook and pen out. She stole another glance at the guy beside her and noticed him looking at her. She smiled at him briefly and looked away, focusing on the professor instead as her brain kicks into study mode. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"What a long morning."

"I'm starving, let's go find the canteen."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Uh...not really."

Seo Woo Jin tucked his notebook under his arm and left the room wordlessly. It has been a long morning, he acknowledged, and his brain felt fried from trying to absord all the information they were given. 

Caffeine, he thought, two strong cups should do it.

Woo Jin strolled down the hallway, trying to remember where he saw the vending machine earlier. There were lots of excited chatter in the air, from former classmates meeting each other again to new acquiantances. Woo Jin silently glided past them, focused on his task. He's seen several familiar faces from his high school and college in the orientation room, but none of them paid him any attention. It suited Woo Jin just fine, as he wasn't in the mood to try and navigate an awkward social interaction with people he never got to know before. 

Woo Jin finally found the machine. It was in the corner of a small grassy quad in the middle of the building. He reached inside his pocket, searching for change. He took out what's left of his money for the week, sighing heavily. He needed to work overtime again, the room rent needed to be paid before the landlord remembers he hadn't wired the money last month. 

Woo Jin glanced at the choices available in the machine and did a double-take at the prices, his jaw dropped open.

1,100won for a cup of coffee? This is just extortion! He won't last long in this uni if he can't even afford the coffee!

After several minutes of self-debate, he conceded defeat and fed the right change into the machine. He lamented the fact that the cup was only a third full and took it to the empty bench near the machine, sitting down to slowly enjoy his drink. He counted the money he has left, running his dinner options in his head. His stomach growled in reply, but he ignored it and opened his notebook instead. He stared at his calendar and began to calculate how much overtime he needed to do for the rest of the month.

He was enjoying the relative peace when a bright voice broke the silence. 

"Mom, stop worrying! I told you, I settled well and unpacked yesterday," the girl said aloud to her phone as she crossed the quad, sitting on the bench across from him, "Our orientation just finished, I'm about to get lunch...Yes, I'll eat something good. Wait, why not a ramyun? I swear I could eat two bowls right now after that orientation."

Woo Jin glanced at the girl just as she noticed him. She was the same girl who sat beside him in class, he looked back at his notebook. 

"Fine, I'll have a salad instead," the girl continued in a lower voice, "How are you?...I'll try and come home on the weekend. What did my brother say?...Really? as if he did so well on his first day...Nervous?" the girl laughed forcefully, "Why would I be nervous? I've been working hard to get here so I'm just excited."

'Eight shifts this month at the convenience store should do it, and maybe I can look for work closer to the uni too' Woo Jin thought as he wrote.

"Honestly, you worry too much. I'm fine. I'm always fine." the girl continued cheerfully, "Oh, mom! I have to go okay? I will call you tonight."

He had some experience working in coffee shops, and there should be plenty off-campus. He'll need to put some time in to looking for one later today and see if they were hiring. 

"Right...bye mom...Have your lunch too. Bye." the girl stood up and headed to the vending machine with a sigh. 

Woo Jin finished the rest of his coffee and stood up, dropping the cup in the bin. He noticed the girl still standing in front of the vending machine, checking her bag and pockets for change. Finally, she groaned in frustration, "Why didn't I bring any change with me?" she muttered to herself, "this is so annoying."

Woo Jin fished inside his pockets and took out some change. He tapped the girl's shoulder, "Hey."

The girl turned around, "Oh, hi."

"Here you go." Woo Jin said, dropping the change into her hand.

She stared at the coins dumbly, "What?"

Woo Jin pointed at the vending machine, "For your drink?"

She blinked at him several times, "Oh, um...thank you. really." her face broke into a grateful smile, "Sorry to trouble you, I'll pay you back."

Woo Jin shrugged, "It's fine." he said, walking away.

"Hey, wait!"

He stopped and looked back at her, waiting.

"You're in my class, right?" she said, uncertain, "I'm Cha Eun Jae, by the way."

He nodded a little, "Seo Woo Jin."

They stared at each other silently, but after a second Eun Jae blinked and cleared "Well...nice to meet you. Thank you again."

"Sure." he said, then he left and walked back inside the building, already thinking of where he will look for work tonight.