The elevator door opens, with only Rohan standing on the pad, having climbed back up the dorm building he was so close to leaving. He lets out a defeated sigh, and steps out, finding himself in an area similar to the one on the floor just above, however with slightly different formatting, as the lounge in front of him had more plant life to give a more natural aura.
Rohan lifts his hand up, which projects a hologram to his hand, showing a map of the floor and a path leading to the room he was given the ID of. He turns to his left, and begins walking, seeing that it wasn't too far from the elevator he had taken.
As Rohan walks down the floor down the wide hall, he sees two other girls walk from the other side, talking to one another, as they seem to be ready to head out.
However, as Rohan gets closer to them, the girls notice him there, and they give odd and confused looks to him, as if he was misplaced, and wasn't supposed to be where he was.
Rohan notices the tension, and he turns away from them, keeping his attention on the map. He knew that the floors were separated by gender, and so for a male to be in an oddly numbered floor was probably at the least a bit awkward, but he knew that this was strictly work related.
Rohan passes the two girls, and as he does, he makes a turn into the corridor said to house Erica's dorm room. As Rohan walks down the hallway, he wonders how the others would be, experiencing the fast food for the first time. Even though Rohan knew he'd most likely be able to go with them again, there was no doubt that they'd be familiar with the place by the time he went with them, and he'd miss their first times.
It was a rather insignificant event, or it should be, entering a food court for the first time with friends, but part of him still felt a pain from knowing his first experience would be after theirs.
At least he could perhaps accelerate himself to an understanding on par with them for the first time, and try to be on their level as quickly as possible.
Maybe he could even go on his own time for research purposes to try to get to know everything he missed before going with the group for the first time.
Although, it sounded weird to go to a food court alone simply to analyze the building for the sole purpose of knowing its layout before going with friends, and it might just be better to go in with them while their experience levels are different.
The more he contemplates this, the more he wonders why he's contemplating it so hard, as it was something so pointless that he had no reason to waste such time thinking on it, when instead he should be gearing himself to help teach what Erica didn't get.
He is forced to stop himself though when he stops at the room said to be his destination, and he turns to face the door, reading the printed ID to be 'A49F12.'
He then closes his Connect, and takes a deep breath, clearing his mind so he could be in a good state to aid. He made the sacrifice to help Erica, and now he had to make sure he could follow through and deliver genuine help from a professional mindset.
Rohan approaches the door, and he knocks on it two times with his right hand, not too light in order to make it heard, but nowhere too loud as to not scare his acquaintance.
He then steps back and waits patiently, his hands by his side, hoping that he was given the right ID or that he wasn't being trolled pointlessly, however he was sure the latter wasn't the case, but couldn't be as sure as the former.
His anxieties are cleared up within moments, as the door he stands in front of is dematerialized open, revealing Erica standing on the other side, her hands closed together as she seems excited to see Rohan's appearance.
However, rather than wearing her blazer and more presentable attire, she dawns a basic white top and green shorts, something that could be used to sleep in, which seemed to be the case as the lights of the room weren't even on, and it was clear she may have been ready to fall asleep at any given moment.
Erica smiles innocently with her eyes closed, and she greets Rohan with a lively energetic yet soft voice, "Hey, I was worried you weren't going to come since you didn't reply, so thanks for coming! I hope I'm not being a bother!"
Rohan smiles back, somewhat taken aback by the immense energy that strikes him, and he scratches the back of his head as he tries to figure how to respond to her.
In all seriousness, she was being a bother in the way that he wasn't able to go out with his friends, however if he responded that way, there was no doubt in his mind that he'd strike her down.
He hoped that over the course of his time helping her, his mood would lighten, which he had little doubts over by simply seeing the energy exhibited just from the greeting alone, and so he wanted to start the evening off right.
Rohan shakes his head, and he responds, "No no, don't worry, I wasn't doing anything anyways. So I guess this is a nice way to spend my time, I hope I can help."
Erica nods her head, delighted by the response, and she happily says "Thank god, I felt like you were the type to always be busy with work and stuff, so I was scared asking someone like you to spend time helping me would be dumb. Well okay, I'll let you stop standing outside the doorway, come in!"
Erica vanishes into her room, giving Rohan the space to enter. He does so, walking into the room, which he notices to be quite a bit larger than his own dorm room.
The room also seemed to be more sectioned off for each roommate, as Rohan's room simply had a projectable screen that acted as the only divider for an otherwise completely open room, and even though it was still luxurious in space and the fact that they had their own personal bathroom, Erica's room was more akin to an apartment, as it seemed they had multiple individual rooms.
Rohan first finds himself in a rather large living room space of sorts, with a few sofas in front of a television, and even a mini kitchen. It was beautiful, as it was something Rohan expected as a place he'd go to for his final year, but it seemed even freshmen were getting them.
As Rohan's eyes roam around the room, Erica hops off into a hallway, and Rohan follows while his attention jumps constantly.
Erica walks down the hallway, which only has two doors on each side, and then one door at the end. The two doors on the side were open, and Erica walks to the one on the right, as it seems as though she is about to enter it.
Rohan looks at the room on the left to see that it was a rather luxurious bathroom, far larger than Rohan's, which was already large, as it had a dedicated shower and bath, along with other cleaning machines. The walls were a beautiful pattern of gold and white, and the room had a sparkle to it. His eyes sparkle as well, completely in awe to see just how far the bounds could be pushed with the luxury of the dorms.
He then turns to Erica, and sees that she already went inside the room, further proving it was her own. He follows in as well, and finds himself in a beautiful bedroom that could be found in a mansion, with a king sized bed on one side and a large work desk on the other, and a large window on the far side.
Rohan looks around the room, taking in the large closet space and nice mirrors on top of modern dressers. His eyes then went to Erica, who was by the bed.
Rohan approaches Erica, waiting for her to show him the work she needed, and so he asks, "So uh, what do you need help with again?"
Erica's eyes widen, and she begins working harder, as Rohan finds that Erica was trying to tidy the bed, as there were piles of clothing left on the bed. She works to pick up the piles of clothing in order to move them while hastily responding "Sorry sorry, I just need to fix this bed, you can wait for me in my room!"
Rohan tilts his head in confusion, as he thought he was in her room, and he asks, "Wait, then what's this?"
Erica answers while trying to move all the clothing to the closet in the room where it more properly belonged, "This is my roommate's bedroom, she's kind of messy sometimes but she uh was busy today so I don't blame her, I'm sorry. Here wait, give me a second, I'll be ready. Just wait outside the room, sorry!"
Rohan nods his head, and he turns around and walks out of the bedroom, softly sighing to himself, as he could tell just how much Erica burdened herself to help her roommate.
She was late on the first day from trying to help navigate her roommate to her room, and now she was taking care of her like a mother, which was both endearing and depressing.
Rohan waits outside of the bedroom, and he puts his hands by his side awkwardly, wondering what to do. He sways from side to side, and looks back at the bathroom, wondering if there was something he was supposed to fill out to get this type of room, or if it was random. Either way, he was glad Erica still could benefit off it, since it seemed she worked so hard.
Erica bursts out of the bedroom a few moments later, seeming to have done whatever she felt she needed to do, and she adopts a lively expression again, smiling and saying "Sorry for keeping you waiting, let's go now!"
Rohan nods his head, a bit concerned for her, but letting her do what she needed to do.
Erica walks down the hallway to the door at the end, and Rohan follows, guessing that now they are going to her room. He takes one more glance at the bathroom and bedroom, still entranced by them, but he then turns his attention to Erica, and follows her to the end of the hall.
Erica stops in front of the door, and the door vanishes open to reveal her own room, which she steps into, letting Rohan enter next.
Rohan approaches the open door, and takes a deep breath, ready to begin helping Erica with her work. He then steps inside her room, wondering how much hers would be after seeing the sizes of the other rooms.
However, what he finds is something far from expectation, as his eyes widen in immense shock, and he stops only a step into the room.
In front of him was a room about the size of a closet room, but even at that it was smaller than many walk-in closets he had seen. The room had no windows, and didn't have any lights except for a small lamp sitting on a flat board that sat on a few boxes. There was another stack of boxes on the other side of the room, and next to it was a mattress that seemed to be used as a bed.
There were no chairs in the room at all, and there was only enough space for the boxes, table, board, and bed.
The room was far smaller than Rohan's, and one he didn't expect to even be in the same dorm building as a bedroom.
Erica walks towards the board, where she then seats herself, and turns on her Connect. As she does, she says with cheery energy, "Sit down wherever you like, sorry if it's a bit cramped."
Rohan stares with wide eyes around the room, wondering just how someone could even live in such a space, as he felt it should be forbidden if anything. He looks down at Erica, who seems to be sitting near the board as if it was a table, and is opening her SAT app to find the work she had to do.
He then scratches the back of his head, and asks, "Uh...is this...your room…?," hoping to be given a denial.
Instead, Erica replies, "Yeah! It may be a bit small but uh, it works!"
Rohan blinks twice, and he then remembers the main room of her dorm, which would've worked better as a bedroom than the one she had. He also remembers the bedroom of Erica's roommate, which was beautiful and spacious, far superior to her's.
Rohan asks, "Why...don't you just use the living room, there were sofas, they seem bigger than this mattress. Or why don't you share the room with your roommate? Her one room is larger than the shared room I was with mine. This just seems...painful."
Erica turns to Rohan, seemingly confused by his concern, and instead she gives a light hearted smile and reassures, "Don't worry about it, but thanks! I mean if you like, we can work in the other room if it's too much of a bother."
Rohan keeps his blank wide stare, and he slowly nods his head, as he didn't even see any space for him to sit in a position to allow him to properly see Erica's screen, and so he says, "Yeah, we should use the main room probably, I don't know if we could work here efficiently."
Erica nods her head, and she closes her Connect screens before standing up. She then turns to Rohan and sighs softly before apologizing, "Sorry if my room is that bad...I try to clean it."
Rohan shakes his head, as he realizes Erica has taken the blame on herself, which wasn't his intention at all. He refutes, "No no, don't be sorry, it's fine. It's clean, just a bit...added space may help for collaborative work."
Erica nods in agreement, and she then says with a cheery attitude, "Well okay, lead the way. Because I can't really leave the room until you do-...."
Rohan blinks, realizing she was right, and he backtracks out of the small room that Erica dubbed her bedroom, and turns around to face the other side of the hallway. He then walks down it, and Erica follows behind, leaving the dark room.
The two walk into the main living room, where the black sofas sit by the television, and the mini kitchen stands by. As Rohan walks towards the closest sofa, Erica instead deviates towards the kitchen, and she asks, "Do you want anything to eat by the way? I don't know if you were busy earlier or something, but I have something."
Rohan sits on the sofa, and he turns to Erica, who was already standing by the island of the kitchen. He shrugs his shoulders, and says, "I guess if you have royx that could help. I should probably do more work later so I'll need the energy."
Erica nods her head, and she vanishes to search for the inventories, warning "Well okay, but don't drink too much of that stuff, it might make it harder for you to sleep. I try to restrict myself to one cup a day if it's necessary, did you drink any earlier?"
Rohan turns on his Connect, and two holographic screens project out of his earbud. He then opens up the SAT app on one screen and the program used for the assignment on the other, and answers "I only drank one cup in the morning, there's no need to worry. But thanks, I should be fine."
Rohan then turns his attention back to his Connect screens, as he pulls up the exact assignment page on the class page, and the exact file on his program.
Erica walks into the room, bringing a cup with her. She sits next to Rohan and holds the cup out to him, saying "You can place it on the floor by the way."
She then projects two holographic screens from her Connect, which shows the assignment page and her program, clearly ready to begin working.
She then looks at Rohan's screens, noticing that he had the assignment page up as well, and she says, "You don't need your second screen up since I have that on mine anyways. But if you want it then you can go ahead."
Rohan, who had been downing the royx ever since he was handed it, finishes the cup and looks at Erica. He then nods his head, and he disables the second screen, leaving only the one with his program as reference. He then takes a quick look at his program, and decides that if he only needed his Connect to check back on work, he didn't need it constantly running.
So instead, Rohan closes the last screen, places the cup down, and turns to Erica, saying "I should be fine without those then, let's start. So what part are you confused about?"
Erica stares blankly at the speed Rohan was able to finish the drink, and then blinks twice, snapping back to reality. She then scrolls down her program, as it was clear she had already started, which was relieving for Rohan as it meant he didn't need to worry about helping her write the whole program from scratch.
From there, the two spent several hours next to each other, scrolling through code as Erica hunts down different areas that she had trouble with, and Rohan would guide her through the necessary mechanisms she needed, while intentionally leaving out some details for her to figure on her own.
The first hour was composed of Rohan teaching Erica what she either missed or didn't understand, as he would point to different lines of code while speaking, thus needing to move slightly closer to the screen to do so. Erica's eyes would jump between her screens and Rohan, listening to his words while trying to figure what she was supposed to type.
When speaking wasn't enough, he would then motion his hands as he tries to describe the process in a more fundamental language, describing the process of reaching databases as a person needing to go to a store to acquire a certain tool and then return home with said tool in order to carry out a possible renovation task.
These more basic examples were more effective for Erica, as she would nod her head as Rohan spoke, and then reply with her own questions, trying to understand certain properties such as knowing how to use said tool for said task, which could then be applied to understand how to emulate it in code.
Eventually, the two were able to get to the final section of code Erica was unable to write through, which was replacing the previously known and outdated information with the new one acquired, and once more Rohan steps through the process of understanding the concept to help Erica translate the process into code.
Erica smiles excitedly as she writes the final lines of code for the assignment, feeling the satisfaction of completion.
She writes the last line before taking a deep sigh of relief, and she lays back on the sofa after having sat up straight for an hour, exhausted but happy. She stares up at the blank television screen, saying "Thanks, I'm sorry that took so long. At least we were able to get through it quickly though, at least for my standards."
Rohan blinks twice, and he asks with concern, "Wait, have you actually tested the program first before announcing that we're done?"
Erica turns to Rohan, and she shakes her head, sitting up straight and pressing the run button on her program. As she does, she assures, "Well I guess we should get the cherry on top too, thanks for reminding me."
However, Erica's smile quickly turns to a frown, and her eyes dull. She stares at the output window of the screen, which was filled with seemingly more errors than lines she wrote.
Rohan sighs, as he anticipated the errors, but could tell Erica was so exhausted that she just wanted to believe she was nearly done. He tries to give an optimistic smile, and turns to Erica, saying "Here, let's go through it, I'm sure we can resolve them quickly. Don't give up hope now, this is part of the process."
Erica's eyes stay on the screen, the bubbly life she once had completely void, as she had thought she was finally done with the work.
But instead, the two worked for another hour, going through every individual error while trying to map out what exactly they did wrong, and then trying to figure out a solution for it.
It was less about teaching the concepts, and more about trying to understand where they went wrong, which wasn't as exciting, but it had to be done.
Still, while the first five minutes were dreary, Rohan eventually managed to lighten Erica's mood again, as the two were able to get through the errors rather quickly, all things considered. Embarrassedly, almost all of the errors were from the work Erica had done before getting Rohan's help, and so in a sense, and certain errors meant an entire scrapping to whole functions, meaning that in a sense Rohan had to help Erica from the ground up.
Part of him was surprised that she had been able to hold out for so long while being clearly confused about the topic, but the best he could do was try to teach her what she didn't understand, and let her write the revisions so she could understand how to fix the mistakes.
Outside the window of the roommate's bedroom, the supersun sets below the horizon, and the dark blue sky becomes black, as the night takes over. White stars begin to appear around the moon, as the beautiful void consumes the campus.
Erica finishes typing a line, and once she does, she runs the program again, running the sample commands through to make sure it worked. At last, there were no errors, and instead she was receiving the same outputs that the assignment page required to show that the program worked.
Her eyes light up in joy, and she turns to Rohan, exclaiming "I think it's done! This looks right, right? Did I miss something?"
Rohan, who was still beside her, leans forward to get a closer look at her screen, and more importantly the outputs. He then looks at the other screen, where the example answers were, and he nods his head. He turns back to Erica, and smiles, answering "It's all good, you can submit it now."
Erica rocks back and forth, joyful that the work was finally over, and she submits the program. Once she gets the message that the submission was received, she closes out of the program, and subsequently closes her screens. She then lays back against the sofa, finally able to relax, as she lets out a soft breath.
She says, "Thank you so much Rohan, I need to repay you somehow someday, I'll remember. I hope I didn't waste too much of your time-."
Rohan shakes his head, and he says kindly, "Don't worry, this was fine. So is that everything you need?"
Erica turns her head to Rohan, who is still sitting straight, and she asks curiously, "What are you going to do after this?"
Rohan contemplates for a few moments, and he shrugs his shoulders before responding, "I don't know, I finished all the work I have, I might continue working on my personal projects. My friends are probably asleep anyway so I probably can't do anything with them."
Erica hums to herself, hearing that after all the work he did, all he thought of doing was work. She asks, "Do you ever not work?"
Rohan blinks in confusion at first, and asks, "What do you mean?"
Erica reiterates, "I mean, do you ever just, you know, do anything besides work? You know, relax, like watching stuff or playing games or...something besides work?"
Rohan's eyes widen as he finally understands the question, and he answers, "Well, I try to use my time effectively, so if I can work then I try to. I don't want to waste the time I have."
Erica giggles to herself, and she then says, "You know, they call it free time for a reason. I guess you had to get your smarts somehow, but if you just live as a machine, you'll never get to reap the benefits of being human, you know?"
Rohan tilts his head, confused again, and he says, "Well, it's not like work that's due, it's just personal projects that I have to develop my skills. I don't feel toiled by my own projects, if that's what you're concerned about."
Erica shakes her head, and she says, "No no, I know, you don't feel toiled about anything. I'm just saying, if you work nonstop now, you'll be burnt out later. It's better to give yourself a break every once in a while. You deserve it."
Rohan turns to face the wall, contemplating what he was just told, as he ponders what Erica meant. He had never felt burnt out from work, even though he's been doing it for years. He never felt the need to waste time taking a break, as whenever he tried, he just felt anxious about not working.
However, before Rohan could think deeper, he feels an object brush against his shoulder, causing his eyes to shoot wide open, and for him to take a quick breath.
Erica leans onto Rohan's side, her head laying on her shoulder, gently and softly as though she was a feather.
Rohan stares widely at the television, completely frozen and locked, as he didn't know what was happening nor why, as he was thinking he had to go soon and was saying his goodbyes.
Erica smiles softly as she lays on Rohan's shoulder, and she says, "You feel like a robot too, all tense and rigid. You should tell me about some of your projects, you taught me that talking about work can make it easier to do it."
Rohan continues to stare in silence, as if he had shut down, and his body was now truly a robotic shell.
Erica sighs, and she slides closer towards Rohan before placing her hand on his chest, and slowly pushing him back, causing his body to be seated in more of a relaxed position on the couch rather than a sharp ninety degrees.
Rohan couldn't help but cooperate due to the softness of the hand that seemed to overwrite his body and let itself be guided. His eyes stay wide however, staring at the television.
Erica places her hand back on her side, and keeps her head on his shoulder, which was slightly more relaxed now that he was seated more casually.
She smiles, and says, "There there, doesn't that feel more comfortable? This is a sofa, not some wooden classroom chair. If you don't want to talk about your projects, then it's fine, sorry for barging in like that. Do you watch any series? Do you watch War of Eternity? They started airing a new series online, I haven't seen the first episode though. They're only like ten minutes long, do you want to see one before you have to go?"
Rohan slowly turns to Erica, as his body was finally seemingly able to move, and he was finally about to speak after having gone silent completely.
Erica tilts her head to look Rohan in the eyes as well, her eyes being calm yet big, as there was a warming feeling from just looking at them. A calming presence that beats Rohan's heart.
The two stare at once another in silence, with Rohan's heart beating faster with every second, as his mind had gone blank, as though he had spaced out. He had trained himself not to do anything that could be considered weird while helping her, such as maintaining a distance, speaking formally, and staying the minimum time needed. Yet he was in the same position.
The door of the dorm suddenly evaporates open, and a girl steps into the room, her shadow creeping up on the sofa nearly instantly.
Rohan's eyes shoot wide open, and he turns his head to the door. He sits up straight, nearly throwing Erica off, who sits up straight as well, not expecting a sudden intrusion.
From the door, the girl who Rohan remembered seeing on the first day with Erica, steps towards the living room, wearing a hoodie and a ponytail. Rohan realizes it was Erica's roommate, the one who had the large bedroom, who Erica always seems to run and pick up after.
The girl tilts her head in confusion to the scene, as both Erica and Rohan's eyes were wide, not at the least expecting her entrance. The roommate asks, "Eh? Erica? You have a boyfriend?"
Rohan immediately stands up, knowing how easy it would be to make the mistake, and he shakes his hand while holding his hands out. He refutes, "No no, I'm a fellow classmate of hers in Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, taught by Mrs. Frieda. I was helping her with an assignment due tonight, that was all. We actually just finished, actually, so I was just saying my goodbyes before departing. Sorry about the mixup, I can leave now."
Erica frowns, and she looks up at the roommate before saying, "Sorry about the confusion Maria, I just needed some help with class. Yeah, he's actually done and we were just saying goodbye to each other, that's all. Thanks Rohan for coming!"
The roommate, now revealed as Maria, responds, "Well good, because I think I installed a virus on my Connect, my friends were installing this app that's supposed to get you free credits for playing random games and now I can't open my Connect."
Erica's eyes widen, and she stands up, clearly concerned. She asks, "Oh no, here show me the problem, I'll see what I can do. You should make sure to be careful with things like that, those are usually scams."
Maria nods her head, and she then turns to Rohan again before asking with an exhausted and somewhat sharp tone, "Is there anything you need? You two better not have ruffled my bed, I don't want to have to clean the mattress."
Erica's eyes widen even more, and she immediately stands by Rohan and puts her hands on his shoulders before walking him towards the exit door and past Maria before he would be subject to more verbal artillery.
She scolds, "Maria, that's not a right thing to say out loud! We didn't do anything, your mind is the thing you need to clean."
Maria shrugs her shoulders, and she walks towards the living room, taking her hair tie out and letting her hair out. As she looks around the room, she remarks, "Okay okay I believe you, you're too much of an innocent angel anyways aren't you?"
Erica sighs, and she ignores her while walking Rohan to the door. She then lets go of Rohan's shoulders, and he walks out of the room, and turns back to face her.
Erica apologizes, "Sorry about my roommate, she's uh...a very honest person...which can be bad at times."
Rohan smiles awkwardly, and he scratches the back of his head, saying "No no it's fine, don't worry. I guess I overstayed my welcome anyways, sorry."
Erica shakes her head, and she argues "Don't say that, you were completely fine. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I'm guessing you wouldn't want to do this again."
Rohan stops scratching his head, and he puts his hand down before assuring "You didn't do anything of the sort, trust me. If you need help again you can ask me, and I'll try to see if I have time. You seem fine though, your work I mean, just a little light guiding was all you needed to get it complete and running."
Erica giggles, and she remarks, "'A little light guiding?' You either overcredit me or under credit yourself."
Before Rohan could respond, Maria yells from behind, "STOP FLIRTING WITH HIM AND HELP ME WITH THIS STUPID CONNECT! I NEED TO CHECK MY BITWEB BEFORE I SLEEP!"
Erica's eyes widen, and she says, "I should get going now, see you Rohan! Thank you for everything!"
Rohan smiles and opens his mouth to respond, but before he could, the door shuts on him, separating him from Erica.
Rohan stares at the door for a few moments, and lets out a soft sigh, knowing that any more time holding Erica outside would make her roommate crazier. He puts his hands in his pockets, and turns around before walking down the hallway, towards the elevator door.
There was nobody outside in the halls as it was so dark that most students were asleep, and so he walks alone down the silent corridor, his head straight as he processes everything that has happened.
He was unsure if it was the right call to split from the group, after having experienced everything, but at least he was satisfied knowing he was able to help a student in need.
That's all he should see it as.