Nobody Like You

Stop Being Naked

Lia

I don't understand Yeju.

What could have been a fun night of eating and hanging out with my apartment mate turned into yet another lonely dinner in my room—and eating the burger that Yeju tossed onto the floor.

And here I thought we were getting along.

Rubbing my eyes, I walk into the kitchen. The mess in the area is worse than what I had to clean up yesterday morning. Dirty pans stack over the sink, while blotches of sauce pepper the stove. Two empty wine bottles lay next to a plate of unfinished pasta.

What the heck? Did Yeju invite a friend over again last night? I don't remember hearing anything, but I did sleep earlier than normal because of how exhausted I was from my time at the lab.

I pinch my nose bridge. This is a never-ending nightmare. I really need to find a new apartment to move into or I'm going to wither and die this semester. Yeju is the worse apartment mate ever, and if she screams at me in the lab again...

I shudder at that memory, blinking back the tears that threaten to spill. I cannot believe how cruel she was when I was just trying to help.

But after she calmed down, she was... nice, surprisingly. I remember her simple explanations, the way she would glance over at me to see if I was following, the way she would mull over my questions, answering them as though I were not just an undergraduate student. I remember the tiny sparkle of joy as she looked at her presentation slides, and the cool concentration as she calculated the weight of salts to add to the bottle.

I remember how she offered to get us takeout as an apology.

Why must she ruin everything after that? What am I supposed to do, never call my friend while I'm in the apartment?

Yeah, well, perhaps that's the best way to avoid future explosions. Argh.

I let out a small huff before cleaning the kitchen. When I am done, I pour myself cereal and milk—with Yeju's carton of milk. I don't take people's things like this, but Yeju owes me this much after chugging most of mine down yesterday.

As I eat, I scroll through my phone. My group chat with RJ and Chloe has a bunch of messages. RJ sent a few creative curses at Yeju, while Chloe was apologizing for causing Yeju to go off on me. I quickly reply, egging RJ on and assuring Chloe that it's not her fault. It's Yeju's and Yeju's only.

As usual, there are a lot of notifications from my family group chat. And as usual, it's my mother nagging about Romeo. I do not even bother reading through it before marking the chat as 'read' and getting out of it.

Instead, I spend the next fifteen minutes looking through listings on various websites. As expected, there aren't a lot of apartments in this area. Some places are offering their living room space for rent. I am not that desperate to leave... yet. Oh, there is a room looking for a person to fill, but it's an additional thirty-minute walk from here. I groan. Maybe I should reach out to Yuna and beg to switch places with her...

As I exit the website, I decide to check my email. I almost choke on the rest of my cereal.

Professor Song emailed me. At five-thirty in the morning!

I jolt up, knocking over my empty bowl as I read.

Hi Lia,

It was a pleasure chatting with you yesterday. It is rare to come across a student who has such passion and drive for science as you.

I want you to get the best experience from the lab, and therefore, I am emailing you to reiterate some of the other projects that are available in the lab, should you want to change your project. I always encourage my students to pursue their interests, so please do not feel like you have to stick with the first project you've chosen.