Lizzy didn't want to be there and it was obvious, before Kyunghee could even ask her if she needed help her piercing glare scared her away. She avoided eye contact and fast walked past Lizzy like she recognized her highschool bully for the first time in years. Though the freshman let out a sigh of relief, despite passing the Korean proficiency exam she was still anxious about speaking it to natives, so instead she avoided them like the plague and hoped for the best.

But for someone like Haneul, it was the complete opposite. Maybe it was the fact that her cleavage was hanging out of her shirt and she had a full face of makeup on at 9am but guys were approaching her left and right. Even without a dolly available by the time she got to her room she wasn't carrying not one piece of luggage, just her room key and card.

"You guys are so sweet, thank you for the help," she said as the three guys that offered to help her placed her stuff in the room. Lizzy rolled her eyes at the interaction; men are the same everywhere, she thought.

Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice message system.

She hung up the phone and went towards the blonde stranger who was exchanging numbers with the guys that helped her, the least she could do as a thank you for their heavylifting. Lizzy stood off to the side, trying not to look as awkward as she felt. 

"Gosh, people here are so nice," Haneul exclaimed with a smile. 

"I wonder why," Lizzy mumbled in mandarin scanning Haneul up and down once the two girls were alone, trying not to look as judgmental as she was truly being. As someone that grew up in a warm country, she could never understand why summer meant dressing skimpy to some people. It was possible to be comfortable in the heat without being practically . She barely said two words to her roommate and she already knew the kind of person she was, your typical hot rich girl that dominated every educational facility and made it a living hell for everyone else. The total opposite of Lizzy who spent her school years being the epitome of an invisible loser that was forced to live in the hell created by girls like her.

"I'm Haneul, it's nice to meet you," she said with a flip of her glossy blonde hair. The fact that it didn't look even slightly fried only proved Lizzy's rich accusations correct. 

"Lizzy," she simply responded.

"Liji, that's such a unique name. Are you foreigner?" Haneul pronounced it like any Korean person would, incorrect but as expected nonetheless.

Lizzy nodded, "I'm from Taiwan."

"Oh my god that's so cool, I love Thai food," Haneul confessed, Lizzy couldn't hide the judgment on her face at that one. "That's Thailand, I'm from Taiwan," she repeated hoping it would clear up her roommates brain fog that she also hoped wasn't a permanent thing.

"Right! Sorry, I'm like the worst at geology," Haneul apologized while scratching her head awkwardly.

It's permanent, please just kill me, Lizzy thought.

"I love your fit by the way, it's so...vintage," Haneul lied through her teeth, at least according to Lizzy. There was no way that a pair of knock off Adidas shorts and an old graphic tee that she had since middle school was considered vintage. Maybe that was her way of trying to recover from her lack of "geology" skills.

"Thanks," she responded anyways before trying to call her mom again, she had already given up hope that she would answer the phone since it was her 7th time calling in the last hour. But she'd do anything to get out of this conversation. Haneul moved her things to the available bunk bed, securing her spot on the top bunk. Lizzy occupied the loft-style bed with the desk underneath for herself. In the meantime, another girl walked in, her loud heyyyy was cut off by Haneul shushing her for Lizzy's sake.

"Oops sorry, I'm Yuna," she whispered introducing herself to Haneul.

"Haneul, and that's Lizzy, she's from Taiwan."

"Really? I didn't know this was a global dorm," Yuna glanced at Lizzy who was looking out the window pacing back and forth with her phone to her ear. "okay but can I just say how cute your outfit is."

Haneul practically blushed at the compliment, getting them from other girls was always more meaningful than guys. There was never an ulterior motive.

"Please, you're literally the cutest one here," Haneul enthused. Lizzy cringed at the conversation that she didn't want any part of, however, she knew that if she stayed on the phone without saying anything it'll look suspicious. Especially since the voice message tone came on long ago but instead of hanging up she was leaving her mom a voicemail of her breathing, something she'd definitely have to explain later.

She turned around to see Yuna and Haneul sitting on the bottom bunk talking about a party that one of the guys from earlier invited her to. "Oh hello, my name is Shin Yuna, nice to meet you," Yuna said to Lizzy so slowly that it was almost insulting.

"Nice to meet you too," Lizzy practically mumbled.

"Wow your Korean is so good!" Yuna said with a little clap. Lizzy didn't even bother letting her know that all international students had to pass a proficiency test in order to get accepted. 

"Isn't Taiwan like really cheap? How could you afford to come here?" Yuna asked. The silence was so loud that a pin dropping would've sounded like thunder. Just by their brief conversation, Lizzy already put her in the same category as Haneul. Rich, pretty, idiots.

"I heard Taiwan has really good desserts," Haneul piped up with a smile to break the awkward silence. 

"I heard that too! What do they speak in Taiwan anyways? Thai?" Yuna added as tone deaf as ever.

"Basically," Lizzy gave up, it was too early in the year for her to deal with this already. She kept checking her phone hoping her mom would call her back so she could have a reason to leave the conversation. 

"Ooh, can you teach me how to say something? How do you say.. nice to meet you?" Yuna and Haneul both leaned forward in anticipation, ready to learn, even though at this point Lizzy doubted that was possible.

"Wo yao si," Lizzy said as she watched the two girls repeat after her multiple times trying not to laugh at their terrible pronounciations. The real meaning behind it only making it that much funnier. 

"Oh yeah Lizzy, do you want to go with us to a party later?" Haneul asked. 

"You said it too fast, you have to talk slow so she understands," Yuna said to Haneul before turning to Lizzy and repeating the same question like she was talking to a two year old. If Lizzy knew she could get away with it she would've punched Yuna in the face by now, but instead she replied with a simple, "no thanks."

"It's okay, we still have a few days to convince her," Yuna started to say as she got up and stretched, "if I meet a Taiwanese guy at the party I'll impress him with my Thai. Hi, my name is Shin Yuna, wo yao si."

Lizzy couldn't help but burst out laughing, her first expression of joy during their whole encounter. Both Haneul and Yuna looked at each other then back at Lizzy like they were experiencing a supernatural possession in real life. Lizzy and her roommates might be two completely different kinda of people, and she definitely wasnt looking forward to attending any parties. But one thing was for sure, seeing Yuna say I want to die in mandarin after introducing herself to someone would make it all worth it.

Eunchae was trying to stay positive, but the moment she stepped out of her taxi the only thing she could think about was how he was somewhere in her vicinity. With a suitcase in each hand and a handbag on her shoulder, she trudged forward with her head down letting the wind guide her to her destination, hoping it wouldn't lead her astray. Her hands couldn’t count how many people she bumped into with one in particular knocking her to the ground. She dismissed his apologies, despite his voice not sounding familiar she refused to spare him a glance in fear of seeing the unwanted face. Instead quickly collected her things and kept moving. 

In her room Paige was on FaceTime with her brother Peter, both unpacking but on different sides of the country. “Do you see my Yankees hat in your bag? The blue one?” Peter asked her.

“No, why?” Paige didn’t look any extra but based her response on what she already saw.

“Because I swear I packed it but I can’t find it in mine and I know it wasn’t in my room when we left.” A bunch of noise was coming from the other side of the phone like Peter was flipping his room upside-down.

“It’s a good thing you lost that thing, it was gross” Peter wore that hat for almost all special occasions and it never once saw a washing machine.

“It was a lucky hat, why would I risk washing the lucky away?”

“You know that’s all just superstition right? Good luck and bad luck doesn’t actually exist.” Paige was more of a believer of hard work than good luck. She had no problem taking accountability for her actions instead of hiding behind the excuse of being unlucky.

“Really? Then how come every time I wore that hat something good happened to me?” Peter retaliated. His arms were crossed and he was staring at the screen like he just made an irrefutable point, but as logical as Paige was there was a reason for everything.

“Because you’re paying more attention to the good things that happen when you have the hat on, duh. Gosh how come I have more sense than you and I’m the one that got waitlisted?” Getting waitlisted for Yonsei was going to take a while for Paige to get over, a bit of a hit to her confidence but she’d never admit it, especially since her luck-believing brother was currently a senior there. 

“Maybe because you don’t have a lucky hat,” Peter teased with a grin. 

“You know what, I’m this close to hanging up,” Paige expressed with her fingers the line of hair of patience she had left. But as Eunchae entered the room making way more noise than necessary to bring in two suitcases, almost leaving a dent in the wall at her aggression, it was clear which one of the two was truly runnning low on patience.

She let her luggage fall to the floor near the entrance and kicked off her shoes allowing them to land wherever they felt best. She looked out the window before closing the blinds completely and taking in a long breath to calm herself down with her back facing Paige. There was a minute of silence as Paige waited to see what the stranger would do next, at this point she was just hoping she wouldn't be living with a psychopath for the next year. "I'll talk to you later Pete," Paige said. Before her brother could respond she hung up. 

"Uhm...Hi– my name is Paige, are you okay?" She said as she slowly inched towards Eunchae.

"No, I'm having like the worst day ever!" Eunchae whined before turning around, her hair was a mess and she had sweat stains on her dress, her eyes were watery like she was ready to start sobbing any second if Paige said the wrong thing. "It took me like two hours to curl my hair this morning and the stupid heat managed to ruin it in 10 minutes. And now I have stains on my new Marine Serre dress because some guy couldn't watch where he was going," Eunchae ranted before letting out a deep sigh, "My name is Eunchae by the way, was that your boyfriend on the phone? He was cute." She continued sadly as she plopped on the non-occupied bed.

"Gross," Paige mumbled at the comment about her brother.

"I know I look gross, imagine how I feel! Ugh, it's all his fault~" Eunchae said before screaming into the pillow. 

"No- I- that's not what I meant-" Paige pleaded.

"It's okay, I appreciate your honesty. But I swear I'm the unluckiest person to have ever walked on earth." 

Paige didn't want to break it to Eunchae that there were literally people starving and going through war as they spoke, instead just sat next to her and gave her a pat on the back. "Did you eat? Maybe we can get lunch together and explore campus, I'm sure you'll feel better after some good food. My treat."

Eunchae sat up to look at Paige, her nose was tinted red and her mascara smugged a bit under her eye. "You got a little something.." Paige motioned towards the area in question on her own face. Eunchae pulled out a handheld mirror from her bag and instantly started crying again at the state of her face. "Oh my god I look like a raccoon. Just throw me in the dumpster already," She wailed.

"No it's not that bad, I can fix it for you," Paige said trying to maintain her optimism. She wasn't in the running to become a makeup artist or anything, but she did have enough skills to enhance her features as some may call it. She enjoyed playing around with different simplistic looks and even practiced on her brother when she was younger, so fixing Eunchae's eyeliner was easy work for her.

The two girls basically skipped all the steps in the roommate timeline, they shouldn't have been at this point until 3-6 months into knowing each other. But there they were, both sitting on Eunchae's bed with Paige fixing Eunchae's makeup as she occasionally sniffled from the crying she previously did like they were two besties having a much needed after break up sleepover. But instead of her own, Paige was using Eunchae's makeup since the other claimed that certain brands were too cheap for her skin.

"I'm sorry I was such a mess earlier, i didn't expect everything to hit me all at once like that. Usually I'm not this embarrassing," Eunchae confessed.

"It's okay, we all have our bad days." 

"At this point I just hope I don't have a bad year, knowing that he's here just makes me anxious." Typically Paige wasn't the type to pry but Eunchae mentioned the unnamed man a few times already and the suspense was killing her. "Who?" 

"My ex, he goes here too. I know what you're thinking, who cares he's just an ex, you shouldn't let that ruin your whole day. But it's easier said than done." Eunchae heard it all before from her friends back at home and she didn't need to hear it again, especially not from a total stranger. 

"I'm sure it'll be fine, this might not comfort you much since we just met but you have me if you need a shoulder to cry on or someone to hide behind," Paige assured her with a chuckle as she completed the final touches of Eunchae's eyeliner. "And done."

Eunchae took her little mirror and gave her first genuine smile of the day. "I love it! Wait, let me change before we go."

Paige organized some of the mess that was lingering on her bed, under a few pieces of clothes lay the blue Yankees hat her brother mentioned earlier. She was contemplating shipping it to her brother yet thought that someone else needed it more instead. "Hey Eunchae, you can borrow this if you want. It's my brothers lucky hat, apparently it helped him get into Yonsei so maybe it can help you avoid your ex."

"Your brother goes to Yonsei? So he's cute and smart, good to know," Eunchae teased as she took the hat and placed it on her head. Paige left out the fact that her brother refused to wash it or else Eunchae wouldn't touch it with a six foot pole. But Eunchae needed all the luck she could get, having to go to the same college as your ex wasn't the most ideal situation, especially when your parents are pissed that you're on the other side of the country. Her life was a hot mess and all she wanted to do was whine and cry until her parents fixed it for her but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

On the bright side, at least she got assigned a pretty roommate that could do makeup. As for Paige, she was just happy that her roommate was just heartbroken and not a total psychopath, she hoped.

"I can't believe mom and dad couldn't drop us off," Addison complained. The twins were in the elevator of Chungsam Hall with beads of sweat dripping down their faces. The dolly had all their stuff packed on top of one another but pushing it was still a big pain.

“You know if they could they would,” Madison replied. As the older of the two twins by two minutes, she often took a neutral stance on matters. But Addison rolled her eyes at her sisters typical response, “gosh you sound just like mom.”

When the floor hit 6 they pushed the dolly out, Addison walking backwards pulling the dolly with Madison guiding her while pushing it. 

“W-welcome, are you guys moving in?” Kyunghee said hesitantly as she was walking past them, her stuttering indicating that she was way out of her element.

“No we're going to meet our sister, we're triplets," Addison said so casually that it was hard for Kyunghee to detect the sarcasm. Madison's eyebrows furrowed, flustered that Addison let her annoyance trickle down to utter strangers. "Behave," she mouthed in German to her sister before taking over the conversation.

"Oh okay well, I’m Kyunghee, your RA. I actually have paperwork for you guys to sign but I left them on my desk so I'll be back," Kyunghee gave a short introduction before running off.

"Are you insane? What would mom think if she saw you acting like that," Madison complained now that it was just the two of them, her shyness was stopping her from speaking up earlier. 

"Well it's a good thing we're finally away from her isn't it," Addison said as she got the dolly rolling again with a yank. The door opened to reveal a double occupancy room, two loft style beds with a ladder leading up to it and a desk underneath on either side on the room. Beside each are a dresser and a closet against the white walls. The lackluster design didn't do much to help improve Addison's mood, "I can't believe we're sharing a room together."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun, we don't have to worry about interrupting anyone when we come late from practice or their bad habits. I mean imagine if you had a roommate as messy as you, you'd be living in a pigsty." Madison was unloading the dolly as she talked while Addison looked out the window. Seeing the other students socializing and making new friends only making Madison's words that more irritating. 

"Yeah, I'm going to check out our neighbors," Addison blurted out as she gathered a few things to take with her.

"You're not going to help me unpack?"

"Later."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Nope." Addison jumped over the luggage on the floor and made her way out the door.

"Wait which side of the room do you want?" Madison screamed to Addison who was already in the hallway but managed to scream back, "I don't care, you choose!"

Madison remained in the room on her own unpacking both her and her sisters things, she let out a soft sigh. It wasn't unusual for her to pick up her sisters slack, as the older one of the two by two minutes she felt a sense of responsibility over her little sister. She was more methodical than Addison, liked doing things in the proper order which was usually work then play. But Madison was genuinely looking forward to the school year with Addison and dominating the tennis scene, they've only been practicing practically all their lives.

As Madison thought about all the matches she planned on winning that year, Kyunghee knocked on the opened door. "I have your paperwork," she said softly.

Madison thanked her, quickly signing her own and handing it back to her. "I'll make sure Addison gets this back to you ASAP." She smiled.

"Where is your sister anyways?" 

The sudden question threw Madison off, she didn't expect to engage in anymore conversation with the RA and Kyunghee honestly surprised herself because it wasn't like her to ask more than she needed to. 

"She went to meet the neighbors,"

"Really? I saw her get in the elevator earlier though." Kyunghee confessed, she felt bad breaking the truth to her but thought she should know.

"Oh right, I totally forgot that she said she wanted to find a coffee shop on campus. Do you know any good ones?" Madison lied to save herself from embarrassment though Kyunghee could see right through it by her way she sheepishly rubbed her nape. 

"We actually have a place called Happy Bean Cafe that's pretty popular, its not far from here actually." 

"Great! I'll text it to her, thank you,” Madison said as she took out her phone and sent a text to Addison.

Where did you go?

She wasn't going to send a real text but the feeling of Kyunghee staring at her made her want to at least make the action look real. Besides, she wanted to know where her sister could've gone when they barely knew the area. She knew this was going to happen sooner or later, one of the main reasons she wanted to stick together. What if she got lost? Or hurt? Or kidnapped by a deranged parent? The possibilites were endless.

"I-If you need anything or anyone please don't be afraid to reach out to me or knock on my door," Kyunghee gave a warm smile that matched her gentle voice yet the innards of her eyebrows were facing up like a puppy getting ready to start whining. Looking at Madison gave her a sense of familiarity and she wasn't sure why.

"Thank you, I'll make sure to keep that in mind, it was nice meeting you," Madison said before disappearing back into her room. She immediately called Addison but her call went straight to voicemail. She looked at her room that was in a state of chaos, putting into perspective how jumbled her mind currently felt. Fighting with her inner clean freak whether to leave it or not, she chose the former and soon found herself outside.

Unsure of which way to turn or what to do, her breathing became faster, the people around her started to blur into one and the sounds muffled. She did everything with Addison for as long as they were alive and the possibility of something happening to her made her panic. She walked aimlessly, unable to even recollect if she went right or left. It was when she took a second to catch her breath and wipe her sweat that in the distance she saw Addison sitting with a group of strangers, laughing at who knows what. 

She sighed in relief at the sight of her carbon copy, a smile plastered on her face looking at her other half. Their eyes met while Addison was mid laugh and in the end only one of them was left smiling.