Nobody Like You

Stop Being Naked

Professor Song proceeds to describe, in great detail and with citations, five different projects in her lab. There are links for extra reading, as well as the names of all the individual mentors for each project. The five projects span all areas of microbiology; the variety of the research in this lab is amazing.

My heart swells with excitement. This email is filled with so much information that it taught me more than any microbiology class ever will. Once again, I am blown away by Professor Song's dedication. And she's so thoughtful too. Yesterday's meeting with her, as cool as it was, went way too fast, and I was too awestruck to ask questions. But now, I have the answers in my inbox.

Strangely, Yeju's project is not included in the email. Maybe Professor Song knew Yeju had already explained everything to me.

As I read through the projects and ponder about them, my mind drifts over to Yeju's project. Colibactin. An inhibitor that blocks bacteria from making it. Growing bacteria mutants. The idea excites me more than any of the other projects listed.

But do I want to continue working with Yeju? She's mean, annoying, and loses her temper easily. And she has ruined every one of my nights in this apartment—all two of them.

Then again... she was good at teaching...

Her serious, pensive expression floats into my mind. The way her brows furrowed slightly, the way she hummed under her breath.

And the way she smiled at me at the end.

I tap my fingers on my lips while my other hand scrolls up and down through the email. Clicking on the hyperlinks, I try to read through the linked research articles, but I barely understand any of them.

Instead, I hop over to a search engine and type in 'colibactin'. A research article by Professor Song pops up as the first result. Because of Yeju's explanation yesterday, I understand the article. At least, the first few paragraphs of it. I understand it and I love it.

Yeah, I think I want to stick with this project. If Yeju screams at me again in the lab, I'll consider these other projects. But for now, I love this project too much to part with it.

I draft an email back to Professor Song, thanking her for the resources and telling her about my decision to stay on Yeju's project.

Alright, that's one good thing that happened today, at least.

Humming to myself, I go to the bathroom for a quick shower. And once again, I walk into a mess I did not expect to walk into.

All my towels—my hand towel, my face towel, my body towel, and my washcloth—are all over the floor. And wrinkled too, as though someone stepped on them.

What. The. Heck?

My trembling hands ball into fists. Yeju can mess up the kitchen, drink my milk, and play her shitty music, but to touch the towels I use to clean myself? That's my personal hygiene she's messing with!

"That's it!"

I storm out of the bathroom and slam Yeju's door open.

"Seriously, Yeju? Why would you throw my—"

I stop, instantly regretting my decision.

Yeju is laying naked on the bed. Her hair spreads out over her pillow in a brown and blonde mess, not covering the parts that need to be covered. The tattoos on her belly I saw yesterday extend to her hips and connect to her trimmed landing strip. And her left arm—flowered with her signature tattoos that I missed in the lab—drapes across her bed and under the other woman.

Oh gosh. The woman from yesterday is here too. And she's also naked.

I spin on my heel and shut the door behind me. It takes me a few more seconds before I can breathe again.

Why, oh, why did I enter Yeju's room? Of course she sleeps naked; she doesn't even wear a full set of clothes in the common area!

My heart pounds in my ears as I shake my head vigorously, hoping to shake what I saw out of my brain. Yeju's toned body. The tattoos on her arms. Her long legs. The tattoos on her hips and her...

No, no, no. Stop. Get that image out!

The door opens behind me and I let out a yelp. Oh, it's that other woman, fully clothed now. I didn't even know Yeju had her come over last night. I was sleeping too soundly to hear a thing, thankfully.

Once again, she gives me an awkward smile as she clutches her bag and dashes out of the apartment.

I hear shuffles behind Yeju's door and jolt again. Nope, nope, I need to get out of here before she comes out of the room too. I don't know how I can face her after this.

And I badly need a shower now.

I grab more clean towels from my room and head back to the bathroom, attempting to wash away the thoughts in my head. It does not work, so I dry myself down and prepare to leave the apartment as far away from Yeju as possible.

As I bound out of the door, I hear footsteps behind me. I do not need to turn around to know that it's Yeju. I pick up my pace; she remains right behind me. I turn the corner; she turns the corner too.

Flustered, I whirl around to face her. "Why are you following me?"

Yeju raises her eyebrows. She is now—thank the gods—covered sufficiently, with her arm tattoos still visible in her tank top.

"I go to the same school as you, dumbass," she says with a snort.

"Oh." I blink. "Right."

She rolls her eyes and walks past me, bumping me aside with her shoulder.

My face burns as hot as the sun above me, but I have no choice but to trail behind her.

Argh, why is the most annoying person working on the most interesting project?