She

Chapter 1 - The Roommate

It is her fault. They sent her reminder e-mails and all her friends told her that she had to hurry but, for many reasons, she thought she would be okay. But here she is, on the first day of the semester, not entirely sure where she will live for the rest of the year.

And she should have checked her school e-mails, but she did not want to do that between her odd jobs here and there and her summer of road trips and couch-surfing. She is still not entirely sure whether she has even brought her laptop back with her, but that is what her savings are for.

"Park!" A familiar voice calls, and before she can turn around, she stumbles forward as Nari climbs on her back over her backpack. She laughs in Chaeyoung's ear, and Chaeyoung somehow manages to shrug her off and turn around to hug her. "Where have you been? We woke up in Busan that morning, and you had gone!"

Chaeyoung smirks and shrugs her shoulders coyly. The morning in question was over two months ago during the weekend they were supposed to raise hell in the city. They had met there about a week or so after last semester finished with plans to get incredibly drunk and have careless fun. There had been a dozen of them, but on their final morning, Chaeyoung had decided on an alternative plan to head home to Melbourne.

She had spent the next few weeks working at a bar in Gimcheon.

"You're unbelievable," Nari states, but she grins like she expects no less. Chaeyoung smiles innocently, knowing what stuff her best friend thinks she got up to.

It is not the scrubbing floors and sketching pictures of temples that Chaeyoung spent her time doing. Nari thinks that she has been sleeping in the bed of some beautiful god or goddess when, in reality, she has been sleeping in the cot in the mud room of some old lady's house. From Gimcheon, she had followed an offer to work for a weeklong festival in Daejeon. After that, Chaeyoung managed to wangle some weeks of work in Gyeonju. She had bypassed Seoul and headed north, working here and sleeping there, to end her summer in Chuncheon before returning to school.

"Which residence hall did you get matched to?" Nari asks, and Chaeyoung groans, rolling her eyes and shrugging off her backpack.

She drops onto a nearby wall. "I have no idea," she admits. "I left it to the last minute, so I've got to head over to the residency director's office to find out."

Nari gives her a knowing, disappointed look. "Chaeng ... "

"I know, I know," Chaeyoung grumbles, picking up her bags again and hoisting them onto her back. "Do not bother. I messed up, and I will figure it out."

Nari gives her an unimpressed look. Chaeyoung kisses her cheek before wandering away.

~~~~~

"You got everything?"

Jisoo looks around the room and finds the usual three duffle bags and backpack she takes everywhere. They are beside her box of schoolbooks and stationery, and she gives Jiyoon a look before the older girl snorts and rolls her eyes.

"Right, of course," Jiyoon says as she slips her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. She gives Jisoo the same look she always does without saying anything. "Did you want me to help stay and unpack?"

Jisoo shakes her head. "No, I'm good." Jiyoon gives her another knowing look, but she quickly ignores it. "Thanks for letting me crash this summer."

Jiyoon laughs at that and pulls Jisoo into an uncomfortable hug. "No problem," she says to Jisoo's frown. "Anytime. You know that."

Jisoo nods, and she is grateful. She is grateful, but she'd never say it out loud. That would be weird.