I've always been quiet growing up. I've never really had much to say. I didn't know what to do when I opened my acceptance letter to Seoul Academy. They gave me a scholarship and said I was wanted as a psychology major. I decided to go––where else would I be? My mother didn't work, and I didn't want her to start because of me.

I lived in my grandparents' house; it was rather big. It had five floors and a bunch of rooms––too many for me to count. There were maids and servants. I guess this all came from my father's will...everything he owned would've gone to my grandparents. After living there for a year or two, I decided to go to university. I couldn't get used to the way my grandparents treated me. The maids picked my outfit for every meal, and they had different outfits every single day. I didn't walk to school during high school like I did back in Vermont––I had a driver. It was hard for me to get used to, and I still haven't. 

My mother cried when I was sent off. It was the first time she expressed some kind of emotion in a while. After my father's death, she seemed to walk around like a living, depressed corpse.

Hoping university would change things back to normal, things got even weirder. 

The dorm rooms there were beautiful; it was like living at my grandparents' mansion without the maids and servants. The person you shared a dorm with was chosen randomly. On the first day, you'd get a packet that someone else also got. That someone else would go to the dorm room and see you there. 

My dorm mate...

Sehun. His name was Sehun.

He held up his packet when I got there. "A319?" he asked. I stared down at my packet and nodded. "A319," I whispered. Sehun was just like me; he was quiet and didn't talk much. The first few weeks were a bit awkward. It took us a while for us to communicate with each other but when we finally did, it all went well. 

"Um so...I'm Sehun. Yoon Sehun," he said. We had finished unpacking and somehow, we came out of our rooms at the same time. We ended up staring at each other for a bit before he broke the silence.

"Dakota," I said. And that was it, our first conversation.

There was something odd about him. At first, I couldn't put my finger on it. We began school in November and it was cold out. He always wore a scarf. I wondered what his bar code number was until the springtime came. When it had gotten warmer, the scarves came off. I noticed one spring morning; we were in the living room on our laptops with a cup of coffee.

"O-Oh...Sehun, your scarf," I pointed to his bare neck. He looked down then back up at me. "Ah...Yeah. I took it off. It's starting to get warm," he said. 

I had nodded as he went back to his laptop. I eyed his neck. There was nothing there. I told myself it was probably on the other side––the tattoo, the mark, the expiration date, whatever you wanted to call it. 

During class, he sat next to me. I couldn't concentrate. There was nothing on his neck. I thought I was going insane. I've been seeing them on everyone all my life, so what happened to Sehun's? 

It freaked me out more than anything. After class, we walked back to the dorm to get started on some papers. He had slipped his glasses on and brushed his brown locks away from his face. 

Without knowing, I reached over and brushed my fingers over his neck. Maybe he knew about it, maybe he covered it up, maybe he knew about my ability. 

"Minhee?" He called me by my Korean name. Normally, I wasn't used to it. My parents spoke all English back in Vermont and they called me Dakota all my life. For some reason, when 'Minhee' slipped past Sehun's lips, it sounded nice. 

I stared at my fingers. There was nothing there...just skin. I grabbed my textbooks and my laptop. "I...I want to be alone," I told him. I needed time to think. Was I losing it? Was I finally going crazy? Did bar codes never exist? Have I been seeing things the whole time? 

I sat in my room for a while before there was a knock at my door. "Minhee...I'm going out." There was a pause when I didn't answer. "Dakota?" I heard a sigh.

I pushed my laptop off my lap and ran for the door. Sehun was already halfway out the door. "Sehun!" 

He paused and turned back. "Y-Yes?"

"Can you stay?"