บท 4: Anurak's Room.
When Anurak entered the office, he found a slim woman with a round face that looked like a crossbreed between Korean and Chinese. She was seated behind a huge, brown, shiny office desk. On one side of the desk were three sets of a tall pile of the blue files he had been seeing other students leave with. Beside one of the piles of files was another pile of what looked like ATM cards. They were also blue.
On the other side of the desk was a white desk phone, a pen holder with several holes, and other office accessories. The wall of the office was like a notice board. All sorts of calendars and flyers were either glued or pinned to it. Some were old and some were new.
There was a second desk to the right but the occupant was absent. The desk was by the only window in the office and it wasn't as big or busy as the first one.
After taking the whole office in with a glance, Anurak's eyes landed on the staff behind the big desk. It was just some minutes past 11 am or so and she was all sweaty and tired. He wasn't sure she could last long on her feet.
"Sawasdee Krab Khun." Anurak put his hands together and gave a decent bow.
"Sawasdee. Have your seat." The woman answered in a perfunctory tone.
"Your full name?"
"Anurak Manoban"
"Age?"
"Will be 18 in August."
If Eshin was here and heard what Anurak just said, he would probably cuss out loud. Didn't Anurak argue with him this morning, saying he was already 18 since January?
"Where are you from?"
"Surin"
The woman glanced at Anurak's face and then went back to her computer. She did this up to three times. It was obvious she was comparing her data with his response and face.
Once she was done, she picked a blue file and handed it to him. She then brought out a bulky brochure from somewhere behind her desk and stamped it with three different stamps before handing it over to him. She entered something into her computer and Anurak started hearing the whining sound of a photocopier coming from behind her desk.
She gave him the just printed form and pointed to a blank space.
"Read it and sign if it's correct."
He did as she instructed and returned the form to her. After this, she handed him one of the blue cards. It turned out to be a keycard.
"That's for your room. Make sure to keep it well. If it gets spoiled, you will have to pay for a new one." She explained.
"Krab."
"Have a nice day." She said with a dismissive smile.
"*Kop Khun Krab."
Anurak stood up and bowed his head then exited the office with his blue file and brochure after pocketing the keycard. He met his seniors by the escalator, talking. It seemed as if they couldn't wait to leave.
"You are here, good. Come!" Eshin waved him over.
Without waiting for a response, Eshin grabbed Anurak's hand and dragged him to the next corridor which was the bursar's office. The queue there was longer and static.
"Take." He handed Anurak a piece of paper with a number written on it. "This is your number. You are number 80." He pointed to a large framed guy in blue jeans and a sweat top. "You are behind him. He is number 79. As you can see, the line is long. So I think we should visit your hostel first. Collect that guy's number and call him later to ask about how things are going here. What do you think?"
"Krab." Anurak nodded.
Seeing that Eshin was in a hurry, Anurak decided to follow his advice. He walked over to the guy Eshin pointed out.
"Hello." Anurak greeted with a little smile.
"Hello." The guy replied amicably, instantly making Anurak relax a little.
"My brother helped me to get this number. I am number 80 and behind you. Please can I get your line? I just want to use it to contact you later so I can check on things."
"Sure. I may also leave for a while but it's good if we can help each other like that. Give me your phone."
Anurak immediately opened his line and handed his phone to the guy.
"I am Anurak. What is your name?" He asked.
"New. My name is New."
New soon finished scanning Anurak's phone. He returned the phone to Anurak just as he gave his name.
"I am in Mechanical. What about you?" Anurak asked.
"I am in Mechanical too!" New exclaimed excitedly. "That means we will be in the same class and hostel. What is your room number?" He continued.
Anurak quickly checked his keycard. "106."
"I am a few floors above your room. I am in room 85."
"That's good. I have to go now. I will call you later to find out how things are going here. Okay?"
"Sure," New responded with a bubbling head. He watched as Anurak and his seniors walked away.
The cute boy seemed interesting. He is a biker too. Maybe, just maybe things will turn interesting soon…
"Anurak, what did you say your room number is?" Sud asked as they descended the third escalator.
"Room 106. Hia."
"We are in the same hostel but not on the same block." Sud started to say. "I will not be able to follow you back to the hostel. I have a meeting with my course advisor for 12."
"You have a carryover?" Eshin asked with a frown.
"No. I'm having issues with an elective course. He wants to help me sort it out."
"What's an elective course?" Anurak asked with a lost look.
"Oh, that reminds me. Anurak, be careful when picking an elective course. They are courses that are not compulsory but will help you make up your GP if the credit points on your major courses are not enough. These courses can't make you repeat classes but they can ruin your GP. So they are as important as your major courses." Eshin explained. He then turned to Sud. "Sud, what course is giving you issues?"
"That further math elective. It's clashing with two of my majors."
"Wow. That's a big one. What will you do now?"
"I don't know. The course advisor should be able to come up with something. It's her job after all." He rolled his eyes.
"Like it was her fault that you picked a problematic course." Eshin hissed jokingly.
They got off the escalator and Sud turned to Anurak. "My advisor is on this floor so I have to go. Anurak, make sure to call me if you have any problems. Okay."
"Krab, P'Sud. I will call you."
"Good."
He shook hands with Eshin and then watched them get on the next escalator. Sud waited till they got to the next floor before giving them a final wave. He then walked away.
Thanks to the contents of the brochure given to Anurak, they were able to locate his hostel building and his room. The hostel area was a couple of miles away from the lecture area.
The hostel was a fenced cluster of rectangular building blocks with several floors and rooms. Each block had a small post stating its room numbers. I:e Block 5, room 100- 250.
Each block also had flower beds at the front and there was an underground car park by the side, and an automatic, sliding glass door at the entrance.
Anurak quickly located his block and went in with Eshin. Just behind the door was a desk and behind the desk was a young-looking receptionist. Behind her was the concierge's office and a security man in uniform was seated on a plastic chair by the entrance of the office.
Anurak found out that to go up, he could either use the stairs or wait for an elevator. The building had three in total. He decided to use the elevator. Before getting to his room, Anurak had his keycard activated at the concierge desk and was handed a form to fill out.
For a boy from a middle-class family in a small town in Thailand, Anurak's hostel room was the biggest space he had ever owned. It was a self-contained room and parlor, designed for just one person. It had everything a decent house needed; A 45-inches TV with cable decoder. A three-seater large sofa with lots of throw pillows in different sizes, colors, and shapes. A single seater cuddler sofa and a centerpiece carpet that was so lush, his toes sank into it.
The wall of the bedroom was left bare and the wall overlooking the balcony was made of see-through, thick glass. There was an AC in both the sitting room and bedroom plus a ceiling fan hanging over his bed.
His balcony had two small pots of flowers. Luckily for Anurak, the previous occupant left his clothesline intact so he didn't have to worry about that too.
Satisfied so far, Anurak went into the bedroom. It had a 4 by 5 ft bed and a work/sturdy table with a post-it board stuck to the wall. There was a double doors wardrobe, a shoe rack which he planned to move to the balcony, and an extra single-seater chair by his bedside.
Anurak pressed down on the mattress and it was good foam. He was satisfied. He then moved to the bathroom. It was a bathroom and toilet combined. There was a demarcated space for bathing and a toilet bowl. The demarcation was made with see-through, hard plastics.
The wall above the wash-hand basin was covered with a large mirror and next to it was a wooden cabinet with see-through, sliding glass doors.
Looking around, Anurak noted that It had everything needed except for a jacuzzi. Anurak was disappointed. Even his bathroom back at home had a tub where he could soak and be naughty with Sophea…
Not even the smallest one? He complained inwardly.
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