Roseanne's Summer Vacation- Chapter 10
The hostel was clean, and that’s the only good thing you could have said about it. The rooms with magnetic locks were tiny and filled with bunk beds. In addition, the windows didn’t open, as it was evidently an office space transformed into a sleeping area. Artificial walls separated people as if they were animals in cages. The mutually shared bathroom at the end of the hall had two shower units and multiple toilet cabins with some information written only in Cyrillic for unknown reasons. A big sign with an arrow pointed to the kitchen downstairs.
Mr Orville opened three rooms with codes from the aforementioned text message and divided the students accordingly. Roseanne and Natasha occupied a room for two. Milena, Thally, and Nika got a room for three. Mr Orville had a single room adjacent to them. Single, that is, it had four bunk beds, but Mr Orville was the only guest. The teacher told the group to unpack and be ready to go out for lunch in about a quarter of an hour.
***
“Shotgun top bunk!” Thally screamed as soon as she saw their room.
In a flash, the girl climbed up the steel ladder and jumped onto the mattress. Unfortunately, the slats were of poor quality. They didn’t withstand her impact. Thally flew through on her mattress and landed on the bottom bunk with a loud thud.
“I’m definitely not gonna lie under you,” said Milena, brushing the dust off her shoulders.
“Me neither,” Nika added.
“Ugh…” Thally grunted. “I think a spring pierced through my back. Somebody help me!”
Milena sat on the neighbouring bed that wasn’t destroyed by Thally and grabbed a pack of Cheetos. She wanted to pull it open, but the thin layer of aluminium held tightly. The girl pulled and pulled, employing all of her muscle force until it burst open. All the crisps fell on the floor, creating an orange mirage in the style of Jackson Pollock.
“Didn’t you hear that we’re having lunch in fifteen minutes?” Thally asked, trying to get back up.
“I did, but I am hungry already.”
“First world problems,” Nika said while putting on a duvet not one, not two, but three cartons of cigarettes—ten packs each. “Is there a shuffle around here or something to clean up the mess?”
“I’ll go get Mr Orville.”
***
The rooms didn’t have any cupboards, so unpacking basically meant placing your stuff next to the edge of a bed. Roseanne and Natalia did exactly that. At least, there was a storage unit for bags where the students could place their empty luggage.
“Why don’t the windows open?” Roseanne asked, looking at the glass wall. It was covered in see-through graphics. Suddenly, the sun rays blasted through them. “Oh my god! There aren’t any curtains!”
Roseanne searched through her hiking backpack and took out a military uniform, which she tied and spread across the bunk beds to limit the blinding light.
“You’ve got your uniform with you?” Natasha asked.
“I already prepared it for the military camp, but I was absent-minded. It got bundled with other stuff.”
Natasha touched her chin for a moment, trying to figure out how distracted Roseanne was while packing. Sometimes, Natasha herself would forget something or pack the wrong thing. The girl shook her head and grabbed her pistol. Her lips kissed the shiny barrel. She placed the gun under a pillow.
“You’d better make sure the safety’s on or you’ll blow your head off at night,” Roseanne remarked.
“I’ll be fine, Miss Hazard Control. Thank you very much.” She sat at the edge of the bed and attempted to open an energy drink, but the fluid jettisoned through the pull tab like a fountain. “Oh shit!” the girl screamed as a puddle formed on the floor.
“Look what you’ve done,” Roseanne said. “We need some towels.”
Roseanne left the room and went to Mr Orville, but although his room was open, the teacher was busy. He was counting money from the envelope in the presence of a stranger, presumably a hostel worker. The student didn’t want to interrupt, so she followed the sign down to the kitchen, hoping to find something to wipe the floor.
The basement level was pitch-black. There wasn’t any light switch. Roseanne was confused by the darkness. It seemed as if she were in a tiled corridor, which was surrounded by scrappy, warehouse-like doors. Close to her left-hand side, she heard a repetitive, automatic noise going “Wrum, wrum, bum. Wrum, wrum, bum”.
She turned in the direction of the noise and saw a timer in the darkness, counting down the minutes till the completion of a task. Is it a dishwasher? Roseanne asked herself. Is this a bathroom or what?
All of a sudden, the light came on. The girl’s eyes registered a washing machine, a kitchen sink, and a fridge, but before she could do anything, she heard behind her back:
“Annyeonghaseyo. Museowo-haji maseyo!”
“Uaaah!” Roseanne screamed in surprise. By miracle, she got hold of a ladle. “Stay away from me, or I’ll beat you to death with this.”
“Igeon yoli gyeong-yeon daehoega aniya. Jinjeonghae.”
In front of Roseanne stood a tall boy. About two years older than her. Obviously, he was Korean. The girl recognised the sound of the language, even though she didn’t understand it. The boy was sporting a T-shirt with the Stray Kids logo on it. His face was smooth, with brown eyes and a slightly upturned nose. He wore earrings and had blonde hair tied into a bun.
“Proszę… Please!” He tried to communicate using a mix of Po and English. “I’m… not going to hurt you…. Tae-jun! Tae-jun!”
“What? Tayden? Tayjon? What do you mean?”
“Tae-jun. My name is Tae-jun. I live here. You?” He pointed at Roseanne.
“Who? Me? I don’t… I mean, I do! I will live here for the next five days.”
The boy smiled and extended his hand to her. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said fluently in English. “I’m sorry. The corridor here is always dark, and the light in the kitchen is motion-sensitive.”
The girl lowered the ladle. “Uhm, okay. Thanks for the explanation.”
They shook hands. His grip was firm, but the skin felt soft and warm. He wasn’t a physical worker for sure.
“What’s your name?” he asked, the smile didn’t leave his face.
“Oh? You want my name? I’m Roseanne,” she said.
“Roh-ann,” he tried to repeat.
“Roseanne! R-o-s-e-a-n-n-e.” She spelt her name.
“Rox-ann.”
“Almost close enough, Tayden.”
“Tae-jun!”
The two laughed. Now that the adrenaline rush had passed, Roseanne observed the boy with greater focus, and he seemed quite cute, especially his hair and eyes. The jeans were baggy around his waist, and his belly was smooth. What’s more, the skin around his arms had a nice tan. She wished she could be as sun-kissed as he was.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked.
It took Roseanne a while to disconnect herself from his mesmerising features and get back on the ground. “Why did I come here? I can’t remember, to be honest.” She smiled. “What is that washing machine doing here?”
“It’s doing my washing.” Tea-jun came up to it and stopped the programme. The timer rang, signalling that the porthole door was unlocked.
“The owner placed the machine here, and I’m just using it. Be careful whenever you go to the kitchen, Roseanne,” he said, pointing at the large doors she had noticed before. “There are permanent residents, and they are crazy.”
“Okay, thanks for the warning.”
“Juzynski!” A scream came from upstairs.
“Somebody is looking for me. I must dash,” said Roseanne.
“See you soon!” Tae-jun observed the girl as she ran out of the kitchen.
***
Mr Orville gathered everybody around a lobby table. As he briefly summarised to students, the money for the accommodation has been paid. In addition, he requested that they remember to keep their rooms clean.
Roseanne turned to Natasha and said, “Damn, I forgot about the towels.”
“That’s okay. While you were gone, I covered the puddle with a newspaper,” Natasha declared proudly.
“You filthy pig! Do you do this at home too?”
“Well, it didn’t last long because Mr Orville came in and told me to mop the floor. Then he went into another room, screaming, and I saw him putting scattered Cheetos in a plastic bag. Where have you been anyway?”
“In the kitchen. And I met a handsome boy.” Roseanne sighed.
“Handsome? You mean he’s jacked?”
“No, he seems quite delicate, and he’s Korean.”
“Korean? So he’s like Hyun Bin?”
“Okay, we’re going for lunch,” Mr Orville announced to everyone and led them outside.
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