Eight Shots of Espresso | Na Jaemin

Chapter 4

It was the beginning of the semester and you were nervous as hell. During times like this, you would always call your parents to calm your nerves and that's exactly what you did. You dialed your father's number and he answered within a few seconds.

"Hello, my precious daughter! How are you?" he asked. He was still in his bed and you knew that if he stayed there past 6:30 AM, he would surely get his ass beaten by your mother.

"I'm nervous! Today's the first day of class. I'm just waiting for my roommate to finish and then we'll go together," you answered.

"What are you nervous about?" your father asked gently. "You have always been doing well since the beginning. This is just a piece of cake to you. There's nothing that you can't handle. You'll make a lot of good friends, people will surely like you. If you're worried about your grades, remember you don't have to stay on top all the time. Just focus on your studies, enjoy your youth, but not too much, and most importantly you are not---"

"Allowed to have a boyfriend until I'm forty, yes I know that. Thanks, Dad!" you smiled at him. Talking to him for a short while made a lot of difference your mood and you didn't feel as nervous as before.

"If you need us, we're always ready to listen to you, okay? We love you so much."

"I love you both!"

"Do you want to talk to your mother? I'll hand her the phone."

"I would love to but I don't want to be late on my first day. An hour is not enough for her litany."

"You know your mother so well. Alright then, good luck and take care. Your mother will surely get jealous that you called me."

"Please, I don't want to argue with her. I'll get going then. Bye! I love you!"

You hung up the call and shoved your phone inside your white tote bag. Right on cue, Giselle emerged from the bathroom.

"Who are you talking to?" Giselle asked. "Is it your boyfriend?"

"No, it's my father. I talked to him because I was nervous. I would have introduced you to my parents but we can't risk being late. I'll just do it when they come over," you told her.

"It would be an honor," Giselle replied and curtsied to which you giggled in response. "Your parents seemed nice and you're pretty close. I would love to meet them. I'll introduce you to my parents, too, once they decided to move their lazy ass and visit their beautiful daughter."

"Their beautiful daughter will surely have a long line of guys waiting for her," you said.

"And so are you!"

"Yeah, no. My father will beat them up. I am not allowed to have a boyfriend until I'm forty. My father is dead serious about it."

"What? Here I thought we could hangout with the handsome dudes from our department!"

"Who says I'll pass up the opportunity." You smirked at Giselle and she gasped at how evil your mind works. You high -fived each other and left the dorm, going to NeoU for the first day of class.

You and Giselle had different courses so you went your separate ways to go to your respective buildings. You made sure to bring your map with you just in case you get lost, which wasn't impossible because of how huge NeoU was.

"See you at lunch! I'm going to text you when my class is over," Giselle said and gave you a farewell hug.

"Let's meet each other at the cafeteria," you said and hugged her back before bidding her goodbye. Now that you're alone, you suddenly felt anxious. It didn't surprise you when you lost the ability to read the map because you were overwhelmed with negative emotions. You hated being alone in an unfamiliar place, let alone dealing with strangers.