"We believe your cultural perspective and academic achievements will enrich our university community."
"Oh, I just remembered," she called out to the still-seated Li Wei, "Student Li Wei, you and him" — she pointed to Jidenna — "the both of you have been assigned to the same dorm room. Li Wei, you can lead him to your rooms." She pushed.
Suddenly, finding the polite and humble Jidenna more pleasing to the eye, Li Wei was taken aback by the receptionist's words.
Her words were not part of his plan. He had originally planned to wear down Jidenna's mind and strength.
Walking around the campus with a map, all alone like a headless fly, especially under the sun, he could siphon as much as he wanted.
But in front of the expectant eyes of the beautiful staff, he couldn't say no. 'Forget it,' he gave up. 'If I refuse now, all the good impressions I've built will be flushed down the drain.'
Turning to his seatmates, he chuckled and said, "I'll have to follow the instructions of our beautiful big sister. I'll see you later."
Annoyed, the shy seatmate threw a glare Jidenna's way, and the receptionist had a slight blush on her face.
Even with his plan disrupted, he did not forget to harvest a wave, pouring the negative energy onto Jidenna and the good onto himself.
Bidding his seatmates goodbye amidst their words of reluctance, he walked forward, turned to Jidenna, and said, "I'll show you our room," then signaled to Jidenna with his fingers to keep up.
Without saying another word, Jidenna walked away from the admissions office behind Li Wei.
Immediately after stepping out of the admissions office, Jidenna noticed that the weird feeling he had before entering was gone.
Earlier, Jidenna had felt like someone was staring at him, but no one was around.
Throwing that thought to the back of his mind, he followed after Li Wei.
Their journey to the dorm room was filled with silence. Neither he nor Li Wei brought up any conversation.
Soon enough, they reached a building after many turns.
As they trekked towards it, Jidenna counted the floors in his mind: '1, 2…5 — a 5-story building.'
The building was painted a chocolate brown. From where Jidenna stood, he could see the black shingles.
Li Wei took him up a flight of stairs and stopped at a door on the second floor. Pushing it open, he led Jidenna inside, turned with a grin, and said, "Welcome, my new roommate, to our dormitory."
Li Wei pointed to some doors. "That is the kitchen," he said, speaking of the door on the left. "It's a shared kitchen, by the way."
"And that is your room," he pointed to the second door on the right, then started explaining, "Each dorm only hosts two students, and it has a living room — as you can see," showing Jidenna.
"A bathroom with a toilet, kitchen with two rooms, and a veranda —"
"That is if you're lucky," he added with a slight grin, "which we are," pointing to the veranda.
"So make yourself at home, settle in, while I, on the other hand, have some things to catch up on." With that, Li Wei gave him a pat on his biceps because his hand couldn't reach his shoulders.
He spun on his heels, moved towards the door, opened it, and slammed it behind him.
Feeling bewildered, Jidenna shook his head in disbelief and dragged his luggage towards his room.
His roommate felt weird to him. There was something about him that made Jidenna frown.
His vigorous actions and words did not fit with the feeling he got from him. Even with his actions — his smiles, his guidance, his pats — for some strange reason, Jidenna could not find any feeling of warmth in those gestures.
Inside the room, the walls were painted the same warm brown, with a white bed propped up by the wall in the corner. At the other end of the room, there was a polished block of wood coming out of the wall with a chair.
'Is that the reading table?' he wondered.
Jidenna sniffed; the air smelled like the fresh fragrance of flowers.
Jidenna blinked drowsily, feeling sleepy all of a sudden.
'Maybe they sprayed air freshener in the room,' he concluded.
With the bed already dressed without any noticeable creases, he lay down. His eyes fought against sleep, and realizing he could not win, Jidenna gave in. 'Just for 30 minutes…' he convinced himself, drifting off to sleep.
Unknown to Jidenna, immediately after he slept, his door creaked open.
Because of how sleepy Jidenna was, he did not shut his door.
The thudding of footsteps came closer, and a tall, slender figure stood in front of Jidenna's bed, blocking out the light from the bulb overhead, casting a shadow over Jidenna's serene expression.
In the silence, a voice, like nails screeching on tiles, spoke, "Finally, a person of luck appears. It will be a delicious feast."
But another voice cut in, "He — he won't be harmed, right?"
The first voice replied, "Just a little bit. He won't even feel a thing. Remember, it's luck that has gotten you this far… Do you remember how you were when I first met you? Forgotten. Abandoned. Bullied by your own."
The other person gritted his teeth but couldn't find any words to refute because what it said was true. So he conceded, thinking to himself, 'It's nothing personal, so don't blame me. Instead, blame your bad luck for running into me.'
Then he agreed, "Do it."
With an eerie chuckle, the shadow twitched and morphed into something monstrous.
Tentacles sprouted and stretched out towards the still-sleeping figure of Jidenna.