Prelude to Romance

Chapter 1: First Day

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 her mouth.

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 her mouth, 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 her throat 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 repeated, "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.