Soul Theory

Chapter 4. I'm Calm. You Calm?

This was not what Minjung expected for their first day. She tucked the last of her pants into her new-but-old dorm-given drawer. Verise had mentioned she'd be traveling with a coworker, but it never struck Minjung that she'd have to compete for her roommate's attention.

Not much of a competition, either. One look at Kenny and Minjung understood his appeal. Tall, long and wavy locks, a well-defined and broad face, sharp monolid eyes, sturdy forearms. A man. Verise had omitted the part where her coworker was a hunk. Minjung conceded to the likelihood that she'd be off gallivanting with her handsome man-friend given the chance, too.

Nervous compulsion. Minjung checked the time every several minutes. Weirdly, it was also keeping her on task. This level of productivity was unprecedented for her. Never in her wildest dreams did she see herself three-quarters of the way finished with unpacking her bags on the first day of her move-in, let alone the first hour of it. Reality was she was alone with little better to do.

Verise and Kenny suggested picking up dinner at a Korean fried chicken shop downtown. That was over forty minutes ago. The last message Minjung had received from Verise was a picture of the menu. Minjung replied with her choices. Nothing since. Certainly, if she was this anxious about what was taking them so long, she could ask. Text. Call. Anything besides stew in her dorm room alone and frenetic.

She channeled the energy into her to-do list. Their dorm room was a symmetrical container with two beds, two shelves, two desks, two chairs, and two small drawers, each, nested in the corners of two open-layout closets flanking either side of the door. Though the rest of her things would arrive next week, Minjung had hauled the essentials with her, her "must have" books notwithstanding. She calculated their placements on the shelf. The anthology of Akutagawa stories moved in next to Heart Berries which was next to Who Fears Death which was next to, last but not least, her prized collection of personally-bound "enemies to lovers" fanfiction stories no longer available online (bound with permission, of course). Her fingers slid over their smooth, matte spines; she pondered which one would make the perfect distraction. She'd rather write, but she hadn't had a chance to talk with Verise about the new scenes she'd already written on her own. Her stomach acids gurgled. It'll be fine, she hoped.

After arranging her makeup and hygiene items on the drawer top, she was appalled to find herself finished unpacking. Without further ado, Minjung opened her laptop at her desk, daring to write some more. The clock in the corner gnawed at her. An hour and a half, going on two. Surely, that was more than enough time for a check-in to be reasonable.

She tapped Verise's name in her call log, and let the ringing begin. It rang. And rang. With every ring, she fought the urge to slam the red button and chuck the phone across the room; pretend it was a butt dial. She didn't want to be clingy or bothersome. That said, the map had shown that the shop was 1.2 miles away. No way that was a 90-minute mission.

The door handle began jingling. The little light above it went green. Minjung was on her seventh ring. Phone hanging by her ear, she gaped at the opening door.

"Is that my phone–Kenny–can you–"

"Yeah. Watch out."

A plume of fried chicken seasonings and oils stepped into the room first. A man's arm stretched the door open. A smaller frame topped with long, brown hair ducked underneath it, entering next. Behind her, Kenny grabbed the food bags in Verise's hands, enabling her free hand to shuffle through her purse.

"Hey. Welcome back." Minjung hit the red button with great relief. "That was me."

"Oh! What timing. I know. I know. We took forever." Verise looked up at Minjung with round, guilty eyes. She flung her bag atop her bed and stepped into Minjung's side of the room. "Whoa. Things are looking pretty official over here." She peered at the various accouterments that lived there now.