Eden Island: Chapter 4

Chapter 4: My New Home

Mikayla had led us to a large, towering building set seperately from the school. She led us inside to a spacious lobby area. She motioned for one of the uniform-clad employees to come over. She pointed at my bag.

“Girls, 302,” she said. He nodded, and just stood there. She pointed to Wurin’s bag. “Boys, 309.” He nodded, and took both and walked over to the elevator. He disappeared into the elevator with a ding. Mikayla turned to us.

“Alright, lemme explain the dorm system real quick. So the dorm is divided in two. Over there,” she said, motioning to the far left, “is the boy’s side. They get half. The other side is girl’s. The floors are arranged by grade. 1–5 are freshmen. 6–10 are sophmores. 11–15 are juniors. 16–20 are seniors. You guys are on the 15th floor. Yuna, you’re at one end of the hall, and Wurin, you’re at the other. Congrats,” she said, smiling.

“There are floor activities, and a common room in the middle of the floor. They don’t really care what happens at night, so long as you don’t make too much noise. It’s sorta like a nicer hotel. I think you’ll like it. Your roommates should be here any minute now,” she explained.

As if on cue, a gentle ping sounded, and the elevator doors opened to reveal a boy and girl. They stepped out, and walked up to us. The boy looked me up and down. The girl smiled and held out a hand, which I shook. Her hands were warm and soft.

The girl was Asian, with big brown eyes and short brown hair, pushed back by a pair of trendy sunglasses. She wore a long-sleeved black shirt, a leather jacket with a butterfly on the back, and full length jeans. She was pretty tall for a girl, about 5'6, my height.

“I’m Na-bi Choi,” she said excitedly. I smiled. Her name meant butterfly, and there was a butterfly on her jacket. She smiled back.

“Yuna Seo,” I said with enthusiasm. I knew that they had probably put me with what was likely the only other Korean girl in my grade on purpose, but I didn’t mind.

The boy still looked at us judgementally. I didn’t like the way his eyes probed me, and lingered on my legs. It made me feel as if I was on display. Na-bi slapped him.

“Quit gawking, Liam. She seems like a dancer, not a track and field type. Or volleyball. But not a runner.” she looked back at me. “Am I right?” I nodded.

The boy, Liam, slumped. She slapped him again. “You can’t just hope that everyone you meet is gonna join your stupid track and field team! Cut it out!” she scolded. She whirled to face me.

“Sorry about him. He thinks everyone wants to do track and field. Spoiler alert: not everyone does.” she rolled her eyes. “Everyone thinks that when he does that, it’s ’cause he wants you, but actually, he just wants to see whether you’re a runner.” I laughed.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I ran track once upon a time, but I decided I was a volleyball and dance kinda girl.” I explained. Liam wilted.

He was fairly tall, with the thin, toned build of a runner. He had dark, caramel-coloured skin, and bright green eyes and long lashes. He had curly brown in the typical Tik Tok boy style. He had an angled jawline, and seemed like the type to be popular with the girls. He wore a compression shirt, a bag across his chest, and sweater, and a pair of black jeans. He recovered quickly and looked at Wurin.

Wurin’s hands flew up, and he laughed.

“I play basketball and I dance, man, I can’t run,” he said. I was intrigued. He danced? Interesting.

Liam shook Wurin’s hand, his prior disappointment gone. How come he’d gone back to normal so fast? He looked so done before. I guess he got rejected often.

“Liam Stone,” he introduced. Wurin smiled.

“Wurin Song,” he said.

Na-bi took my hand. “Let’s go, we gotta get you settled in!” she said excitedly. I allowed myself to be led away. I smiled, and waved as I was dragged to the elevator.

Na-bi clicked the button for the 15th floor, and the elevator sped upwards. I felt that familliar drop in my stomach, and the elevator doors opened with a ping. We stepped out into a cavernous room. There was a fireplace at the front, and a circle of plush sofas around a big coffee table.

There was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and lamps around the room, making the room feel cozy. There was a big bin of blankets in the corner, and a bookshelf full of textbooks on the backwall. Next to the bookshelf was a fridge. On the right and left walls, there were embellished doors.

Na-bi motioned around the room with her hand. “This is the common room. We often study here, or play card games, and just hang out with floormates. The elevator dinged, and Wurin and Liam stood there, bubble tea in their hands. Wurin stepped towards me, and handed me a drink.

“Boba, Yuna?” he said. I smiled, and took it from his hand. I looked at the sticker on the side. He’d bought me milk tea at 75% sugar with pearls and no ice. A safe order. I took a sip. It was good.

Liam stepped out, and smiled. “We bought boba for you guys, too. Here’s yours, Na-bi,” he said, handing a drink to her.

“Thanks,” she said. Liam reached into his pocket and pulled out some cards.

“All students get these. This is your temporary student I.D. card, and it’ll work until the end of the day, so get your actual one soon. This is your meal card. It works on all the restaurants on campus, and will be your ticket into the dining hall, too. And this one is your transit card. It means that when you go places on campus, you can take the bus, since the juniors get use of some of the farther places. The cards also work on the mainland pretty much globally. The money on them is covered by your scholarship.”

I nodded, taking the cards from him. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a small chip and pin. He handed them to me.

“This is your island SIM card. It also works globally for when you’re off-campus.” he said. “Get Na-bi to help you out with putting it in if you need to.”

“Thanks,” I said, pulling out my phone. I’d only recently gotten a new one, from Wanda. I’d given her the money to buy the exact one I wanted. I’d been saving up for a while for a Samsung Flip. It fit so nice and snug in my pocket, and I was happy with it.

Na-bi took my hand. “Enough of this. This girl’s gotta see her room,” she said, pulling me toward the door on the left wall. Wurin and Liam laughed.

She pulled the door open, revealig a long hallway with doors on either side. She walked to a door on the far end labeled 302. She took out her own student I.D. card and tapped on the lock, which beeped and the door opened.

We took our shoes off at the door, and stepped inside.

She led me into a nice livng room, with a couch in front of a TV. My luggage was behind the couch. It had lots of windows, and the room was filled with sunlight. There was a neat kitchenette on the end, and doors along one wall.

“This is our room. We each get a bedroom and a bathroom.” She pointed to the door closest to the end. “That’s your room. I’ll help you get settled in.”

“She grabbed my luggage and wheeled my suitcase to the door and opened it. I followed her, and saw the room. It had lots of windows, and one of them doubled as a seat. The bed was big, and there were two doors along the wall. It had an empty desk on the opposite wall.

It was beautiful. I smiled. Na-bi grinned.

“I hope you like windows. I chose the one without windows because I actually value my sleep,” she joked. She wheeled my suitcase into the room, and lifted it onto the bed on its side.

She opened it, and I walked inside. She pulled out my neatly packed clothes and walked to one door and opened it. It was a walk-in closet. It had so much storage, my entire lifetime’s clothes wouldn’t fit in it.

She started hanging stuff up, and I moved to help her. I started pulling clothes out of my suitcase and hanging them up.

About halfway through, Na-bi had gone to her room and come back with a speaker. She played music, my kind of music, while I unpacked. We laughed, and danced during the parts we knew. It seemed she was a fellow K-Pop fan.

Before long, we had dwindled down to a few items. She pulled out a teal rainjacket with a soft hood. I’d worn it a lot, but it wasn’t in bad condition. She gasped.

“This is so pretty! Where’d you get it?” she said, looking at the label that I’d cut out because it itched.

“Um, I don’t remember,” I said, racking my memory to try and remember where I’d found it.

“Can we trade for something?” she asked, “I got lots of cute clothes that would look pretty on you!” she exclaimed. She ran to her room, and reappeared with a cropped black denim jacket. It looked to be close to my size.

“Try this,” she said, shoving the jacket into my arms. I saw the Versace logo on the inside and carefully put it on over my t-shirt and black denim shorts. I looked in the full-length mirror between the closet and bathroom. The jacket looked good with the outfit. Na-bi pulled out a pair of boots from my closet and motioned for me to put them on. She pulled a clear mat out from the closet.

“So you can try on shoes with an outfit,” she explained. “Without dirtying the floor, of course.” I nodded, and tried them on. My long hair fell over my shoulders and down my back when I pulled it out of the jacket. Na-bi laughed and clapped her hands.

“It looks awesome on you! Wear it today!” she said excitedly.

We finished setting up my room, which had an ensuite bathroom complete with a shower and bathtub, and the window seat had a space for blankets. There were shelves above my bed, perfect for figurines or pictures. I had one, of me and Wanda, that I put up. Na-bi insisted that I needed more decor.

My desk remained empty, apart from a landline-style phone. It rang once, and Na-bi picked it up for me. She just agreed with the person, and said she would stop by. I wondered who was on the other end of the phone, and she said it was the supply complex.

Once we were done, Na-bi insisted that we had some errands to run. She insisted I bring a purse, and I didn’t have one, so she gave me a matching purse and wallet set she said I could borrow until I found one I liked.

We walked to the elevator and went down to the first floor. She led me to the door, and we walked outside into the sunshine again. We walked to a mall by the dorms, full of designer stores.

We walked around, buying decor, clothes, bags, anything Na-bi felt deemed necessary. She said that since I was on scholarship, I didn’t have to pay for any of the stuff I was buying, and that all of my expenses, no matter high, were covered by my scholarship.

Our hands were full quickly. We walked back to the dorm, talking and laughing. We got into the elevator, and pressed the button for the 15th floor. The common room was still empty.

“People come by after they pack on the first day. The first day always goes this way,” she explained.

We head back to the room, and as soon as we finish putting my stuff away, she said we had something to go pick up.

We walked to the lobby, but she didn’t leave. She walked to the front desk.

“Pickup for Yuna Seo, please,” she said. The lady gave a curt nod and handed her a large white paper bag. She motioned for me to sit down on a stool next to the desk. I sat, and smiled for the camera. She took my picture, and I got up. She typed some things into her computer. She handed me a new card, and I took it.

“The I.D. card works as a credit card. Any money you spend here or on the mainland is covered by your scholarship. You take a new photo every year, and it also acts as your room key. If you ever lose it, come here, and we’ll get you a new one.” she explained. I nodded. She smiled.

“Have a nice day, girls,” she said. We both nodded thanks, and walked up to our room. Na-bi still had the bag in her hands. She put it on the bed, and pulled out a brand-new MacBook, still in the box. She pulled out an iPad, too, and a bunch of chargers.

She set them up for me at my desk. She reached into the bag, and pulled out cases for them, and put them in the organizer drawer in my desk along with all of the new stationary we’d bought today.

“Alright, your room is now complete! Happy?” she asked, smiling. I nodded.

“Very. Wanna chill In the lounge now?” I asked.

“Sure!” she said. “Let’s go!”

We sat down on the couches, and she leaned back into the couch and sighed contentedly. She looked at me.

“So, what’s the deal with you and Wurin? Are you two dating?” she asked. I nodded. I walked over to the bag of snacks we’d brought and put it on the coffee table. She picked out a bag of chips, and I fished out some gummies.

“Do you speak Korean?” I asked. She nodded, and I smiled. We would get along just fine.