Unconditionally Bae

3. New Roommate

I spent the next few days exploring my new surroundings. The place was huge and I wondered how often people got lost there.
The medical department felt like it was in a different part of the county. I was going to lose a lot of weight before I got used to the commute. However, the website said there were transit buses within the grounds, I had yet to see one.

It also said that there was a running clinic at the medical department that was run by the trainers and practicing students. Looking at it, it looked more like a hospital than a clinic. It looked better equipped than the local hospital where my grandparents lived and that was supposed to be a level two hospital.

There were labs inside the clinic with students working on one thing or the other. There were other students working on dummies and others on actual patients. It had me excited thinking of getting to experience all that but I doubted that the first years would get to experience all that in the first year.

The medical department was busier compared to all other buildings I had come across and I easily walked around without anyone noticing my presence.

I was about to leave the building when an older man called me over. He was holding on to a younger man who had a deep cut on his leg.

“Take him to the ER and have him stitched up,” the man said. I was about to tell him I wasn’t a medical student…yet, but he left the younger man with me before I could say anything.

“I’ll only help you get there,” I told him as he put his hand over my shoulder.

“Aren’t you a medical student?”

“Not yet. I’m yet to attend a single class or register…I did register but I can’t say I’m a medical student,”

“Then why did you report so early? Isn’t orientation day next week?”

“Yeah, I came three days ago. I didn’t want the hustle of missing out on a place or getting substandard service because the staffs’ exhausted plus I like to be prepared,”

When we got to the room, there weren’t a lot of people inside but it still looked busy and there was a line.

“Since you’ll be doing this is a few months, can’t you just clean it up and wrap it or something? Then I’ll be on my way,”

“Your wound looks deep,”

“Then stitch it up. How hard could it be for an upcoming doctor?”

Although I initially refused to do anything without any authorisation from anyone, the injured guy managed to convince me to attend to him. It was just a basic wound after all. It didn’t require a doctor or anything that’s what he kept telling me.

I had experience with such wounds. Since Clare was always busy working and we couldn’t afford to go to the hospital for minor injuries, I had to learn how to take care and stitch up wounds. I was about to wrap it when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Where’s your lab coat?” the newcomer asked. My heart dropped down to my tummy and did a few flips. I couldn’t get in trouble before I even started classes.
“Relax Ryan, he’s just helping me out,” the injured boy said.

“Who authorized it? Everything here is accounted for and there’s a procedure to it all. He should know that if he is a medical student and you Timothy, have been here enough times to know that,”

“I don’t understand what the big deal is, I was injured and he helped me instead of letting me bleed out and die, isn’t that one of the duties of a doctor? Or would you prefer if he let me bleed out and die?”

“Ba- Ryan started before he stopped and cleared his throat, “You know I don’t like how lightly you take your health,”

“It was just a small cut, I’ll be okay,”

“A small cut doesn’t need stitches and I’m nagging again,” Ryan sighed out loud before pinching the bridge of his nose. All I could do was look for opportunities to get away from them, “Move,” he said putting on a pair of surgical gloves, “Let me see the damage done,” he inspected my work before he looked at me, “This is good work. Which department are you from?”

“This is the first time I’ve heard you compliment anyone,” Timothy said

“You make me sound like an asshole,”

“Maybe because you are,”

“You’re lucky I like you,”

“You mean ‘love me’,” Ryan smiled or was he blushing? His reaction had me with more questions than answers, like why the fuck would a grown man blush from another man’s words? He wasn’t some girl and they were both very masculine looking men, there was no way they were gay.

“Which department are you from?” Ryan asked in a stern voice

“He’s a fresher medical student,” Timothy said getting comfortable on the bed.

“They don’t report until tomorrow and classes don’t start until after orientation,”

“Apparently, he likes to be prepared so he came early,” Timothy said not giving me a chance to speak for myself.

“What’s your name?” Ryan asked and I hesitated. Timothy looked at me waiting to hear my answer. I didn’t know if I was in trouble and I didn’t want to start off in a bad note so I lied.

“Otis,” I said

“Well, Otis, come see me when you’ve started classes. We could use more hands around here after classes,” Ryan said and for a moment I regretted giving them the wrong name but I wasn’t going to take it back.

“Okay, good bye,” I said and quickly walked away not waiting to listen to what Timothy was saying.

Time seemed to be going slower than usual but eventually classes started and my roommate had yet to report. Would I have the room to myself if he didn’t report or would they reassign it to someone else? I wondered but it wasn’t my business so I wasn’t going to kill myself over it.

**
A week after classes had started, I came in to my room to find someone unpacking.

“Hi,” I said as I set my bag down on my bed. The boy who looked more like a teenager than a young adult looked at me from head to toe before responding. “I’m Curtis,” I said trying to keep the smile on my face despite his reaction.

“I’m Gael,” he said and went back to what he was doing.

“Your accent isn’t from around here,” I said trying to make conversation with the stonewall infront of me. He was going to be my roommate after all.

“Yeah, we just moved back here,” that was all he said and then went silent. Great, I was going to share a room with a stuck up kid for a whole freaking year. He might as well have told me to shut the fuck up.

“What’s your major?” I asked after a few minutes of very awkward silence between us. I wasn’t very social myself but this kid was on a different level but I could at least get to know some basics about him.

“Oh, I’m not-

“Gael, go help dad bring the other boxes,” a voice interrupted as the door swung open. The new guy was carrying a huge box which hid his upper body.

“I’m not done here,” Gael retorted

“Do you need help with that?” I asked going over to help out with the large box and we carefully placed it on the floor. When I finally saw his face, I could have sworn I had seen him before.

“Why couldn’t you just ask dad to get the movers to do this?” Gael asked

“Because doing things on your own builds character and I don’t want to be confused for another spoilt rich kid,”

“But you are another spoilt rich kid,”

“But no one has to know that,” I watched as the two young men, who I could tell were brothers from their similar features, went back and forth with each other and it stirred something in my heart. Would Cyrus and I still be close if he were alive? Cyrus had a smart mouth like Gael and I could tell they would have hit it off if they had met.

Cyrus preferred to be around people that challenged him. It was at such moments that had me missing him more.