Roommate Update

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[~Posted 8/18/21]

Kai got back to her dorm room and shut the door. Only now did she realize how hard her heart was pounding.

Breathe.

She'd just run up those three flights of stairs to their room. For no reason. Maybe, to deal with some of the strange energy possessing her whole body. Like electricity reaching all the way to her fingertips.

Their dorm room was cozy and quiet. Same as always. In the darkness, the pendant lamp cast a small glow throughout the room. Their mini-fridge hummed.

Did I imagine this whole day? she suddenly wondered.

She pushed their bedroom door ajar. Lilly was on the upper bunk with her eyes half closed, listening to music. Opening her eyes, Lilly's expression changed. She must have noticed the wild look on Kai's face, because she climbed down the bunk bed and ran up to Kai.

"Are you OK?" she asked, sounding eager and alarmed. "Did you meet the person this morning? I mean the person who took care of your plants?"

"Yes—" said Kai, hesitating.

"I was waiting all day for you to text me an update!" Lilly had been hunkered down at the library all day, studying for a econ midterm. "Wait..." she checked her phone. "Did I accidentally leave it on silent mode? No—"

Then she gazed back at Kai, who really was looking strangely giddy. Like a wide-eyed martian with a weird smile.

"Sorry I didn't text, I needed to tell you about it in person," said Kai.

Lilly added, "I was starting to worry—if this mystery person maybe .... murdered you?"

"No," Kai laughed. "Well—in a way."

"Uh oh," said Lilly, darkly.

"My expectations got murdered. Like, totally butchered. It was a bloodbath" Kai shook her head, in pretend grief.

They sat down together on Kai's lower bunk, side by side.

"So," Kai mused. "I'm still sorta confused—"

Lilly got to the point. "Who was it?"

Kai paused.

The silence grew. Kai almost didn't know how to cross the bridge. How to say the one word she needed to say.

Then she swallowed, and forced his name out of her mouth.

"Lukas."

It sounded so absurd.

Lilly's face was blank for a moment. Then she came to life. "Lukas? The famous Lukas Yukhei Shao?"

Kai nodded. Lilly looked completely stunned. She glanced up at Kai's Huw Richard's poster. The past few days, when Kai was trading sticky yellow-notes with this anonymous plant guardian, Kai jokingly told Lilly about her absurd thought. Her crazy idea that Huw Richards was a secret superhero, flying across the Atlantic Ocean to keep her plants alive.

It wasn't Huw, it wasn't Huw, Lilly's mind kept thinking.

Of course it wasn't.

Breaking the silence of their dorm, Kai's phone buzzed. She looked down and saw a message from Lukas.

 She looked down and saw a message from Lukas

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