“Yoo Youngjae,” I muttered as I shot him a cold look.

“Son Haemin,” he narrowed his eyes at me and walked towards the elevator. He was carrying his backpack along with him so I knew he was on his way to campus.

Both of us stared at each other silently, waiting for the elevator to arrive. As soon as we heard the ding of the elevator, both of us rushed into the elevator at the same time. Since the entrance was small, we ended up squeezing our way into it. I tried shoving him with my elbow but he used his shoulder as his shield and to crush me. Not giving up, I used my shoulder too to push him back. We were like American footballers, using our bodies to tackle each other violently.

“Yaa, you should stick to the phrase ‘Ladies first’! Don’t you ever learn that in kindergarten?” I shouted in his right ear.

He winced at my loud voice and yelled back at me, “Yaa, don’t you know that a lady should talk with a soft voice? Only guys can have loud voice!”

“Who told you that, your mom? I think even she talks to you with a loud voice!”

“Get out of my way, you hot-tempered freak!”

“Get lost, clean freak!”

Before we could scream at each other’s faces again, a giggling sound made us stop. Both of us turned around slowly to find two kids—maybe 5 or 6 years old—staring at us with their faces full of pleasure. Standing between them was their mother, both of her hands holding her children’s. She was looking at us  with a terrified—no, more to a shocked face. Or maybe confused. I’m not that good at reading facial expressions. When Youngjae and I realized that we were still pushing each other, we immediately stepped aside and hid our faces—embarrassed that people were watching us. The mother blinked twice, as if she had just woken up after being hypnotized and decided to lead her children towards the emergency staircase. When they were gone, both of us heaved a loud sigh and finally stepped into the elevator peacefully.

Wonder why we hated each other? Well, it started with the day he moved into his new apartment—that was next to mine. I was a little excited when I found out that he was gonna be my new neighbor because we went to the same campus. We even attended the same class. Anyway, we didn’t know each other that well so I had decided to welcome him warmly by throwing confetti and giving him a homemade cake when he arrived. Unfortunately, my welcoming spirit wasn’t well-appreciated. He started sighing out of frustration and dusting off his shirt. Then he stared at the floor that was covered with confetti and shot me a cold look. I remembered him scolding me about my wasting money on confetti and dirtying his doormat with ‘childish bits of color papers’—the way he called it. I didn’t know what to say or how to react to his sudden temper so I just stood there like an idiot with the homemade cake in my hands. After he’d done scolding me, he unlocked the door to his apartment and slammed it shut in front of my face. I didn’t even have the chance to give him his cake and introduce myself. I also couldn’t believe that in one minute, I could hate someone I had just met. And I had thought that he was good-looking. The thought shattered in an instant though—the moment he started opening that stupid mouth of his.

“There’re crinkles on my shirt,” Youngjae groaned as the elevator made its way down to the lobby. “It’s all your fault, you little devil.”

“Yaa, you think your clothes won’t get wrinkles when you move around? Think before you speak, Mr.Perfect! I’m not interested in messing around with you. I’d rather talk to a wall than talking to you!”

“Well, I’d rather talk to a pole than talking to you!”

“Yaa, I was the first one who said about talking to objects! Don’t you copy me!”

“I don’t care!”

“You know what? I’d rather do my assignment with a monkey if I were to be partnered up with you!”

“So do I! Who wants to be your partner anyway?! You’re just a crazy, hot-blooded freak!”

“You’re a psychotic clean freak!”

“GET LOST!” both of us screamed.

I guess we spoke up too soon. Our teacher teamed us up for an assignment when we got to our class. How nice of her.

*

I stared into the plastic bags that Youngjae was carrying in his hands. The trashes were neatly organized according to their won categories. The plastic bag in his right hand was for papers and in his left was for bottles. I looked at the black plastic bag that belonged to me and scowled. Everything was stuffed in one plastic bag. I didn’t even think of recycling them.

Anyway, after eyeing my neighbor’s plastic bags, I found myself staring at him, from head to toe. He looked…neat. His hair was perfectly combed to the front, giving him thick fringe. He was wearing a white polo shirt without tucking it in his jeans—thank god. Usually people looked sloppy when they didn’t tuck in their clothes but he was different. He looked just fine. When I looked at his sneakers, the shoelaces were tied perfectly. The ribbons were the same size and the aglets at the same length. His sneakers were as white as snow. No stain. I stared down at my sneakers. They were a little bit dirty. I didn’t have the time to wash them.

When the door of the elevator opened, both of us glared at each other. I tried taking one step ahead and he did the same. Then we stepped back simultaneously.

“I’m not in the mood to play push game with you right now,” I said.

“Same here,” he nodded arrogantly. It made me feel like punching his face. “Then I’m going in first.”

“Yaa, why would you go first? I think it should be me, I came here before you!” I blocked him with my arm spread in front of him.

“Well I pushed the button!” he pushed my hand away with the plastic bag in his hand.

“I was going to push it!”

“Too bad, I pushed it first!

“Stop it!” a scary voice made us freeze instantly.

When we turned around, we saw the mother with two children whom we met yesterday. We thought she was shouting at her children but when she crossed her arms and gave us a livid look, we knew she was referring to us. Youngjae and I bowed immediately and stood still.

“Young lady, you shouldn’t shout at your boyfriend like that. It’s not lady-like.”

“Wha-but”

“And you, young man, you shouldn’t treat your girlfriend harshly. You should be more like a gentleman.”

“Look, we’re not dating!” both of us explained.

“I knew you two would deny your relationship but it’s okay to be embarrassed. As long as you two listen to each other, I’m sure you can be happy.”

Both of us were speechless. When the mother and her children had walked away, we stepped into the elevator without pushing each other.

“Look, I don’t wanna fight with you,” I spoke up.

“Well, so do I,” he sighed.

“Then we should apologize to each other and forget everything,” I suggested, looking at him expectantly.

“Sure,” he shrugged.

“You should apologize first,” both of us said at the same time.

“Let’s just forget about it.” He waved a hand dismissively. “I’m not gonna talk to you anyway.”

“We have an assignment to complete remember?” I raised my eyebrows at him. He stared at me silently and nodded slowly. “So when can we do it?”

“I’m too busy today.”

“Then tomorrow at the library?”

“I don’t really like the library.” He scowled.

“Why? Is it because the library’s not clean?”

“Yes.”

“So it’s true,” I sighed. Both of us got out of the elevator and went to the dumpster to throw away the plastic bags. After he’d thrown away his, he took out a hand sanitizer and sprayed it on his palms before rubbing them together. “I was just making an assumption. So…you wanna do it at my apartment?”

“Did you clean your apartment?”

“Yaa, it’s not that messy. I clean it once a week.”

“Once a week?” his eyes widened. He looked really surprised, like he’d just seen a ghost.

“How many times do you clean your apartment?”

“Three times a week,” he answered like it was a normal thing.

“Gosh, you are a clean freak.” I shook my head in disbelief.

“I’m not a clean freak, I’m just someone who likes cleanliness.” He stated, crossing his arms as he stood proudly. “We’ll just do it at my apartment. Be sure to come at 5 p.m.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” I rolled my eyes.

*

    I rang the doorbell of Youngjae’s apartment. Seconds later, he opened the door and stood in the doorway silently, staring at me. I raised my eyebrows confusedly and then looked at myself. There was nothing wrong with me. My outfit was clean and I was wearing my brand new sneakers which I’d bought yesterday after I’d finished my classes. Before I could speak up, he walked away and came back with a bottle of hand sanitizer in his hand. The bottle was as big as a large-sized cola.

“Hands,” he said, eyeing my hands. I reached out my palms to him. Then he applied the sanitizer on them.

“FYI, I washed my hands before I came here.” I shot him a cold look as I rubbed my hands together until the sanitizer was dry.

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned away and walked towards the living room. I rolled my eyes and took off my sneakers before I slipped my feet into a pair of slippers which he’d placed at the step in front of me. Then I walked into the living room and looked around. I gawped at the sight of his clean apartment. The wooden floor was smooth and the atmosphere was calming. His apartment seemed like it came out from a home magazine. I quickly shook off my amused expression and sat on a couch near the window.

“We should start planning our assignment.” He sat on a couch across from me and folded his arms.

I took out the plan for our assignment—it took me all night to plan it—from my backpack and gave it to him. He studied it without a word and then looked at me.

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“No,” he shook his head and leaned back. “We should divide our part for the assignment equally. Did you find any difficulty in this assignment?”

“Yeah, it’s this part.” I pointed out for him, holding the plan closer to his face.

“I’ll do this part.” He fished out a book from the bookshelf beside the couch where I was sitting and started reading it.

“Yaa, Yoo Youngjae, don’t you think we should discuss it together?”

“If we discuss it together, we won’t be able to finish the assignment today.”

“But we have two weeks to complete it.”

“Isn’t it better to complete it earlier? Or…” he narrowed his eyes at me and leaned towards me, “are you trying to spend more time with me?”

That left me speechless.

“Y-yaa! I never said that!” I retorted. “Wow, I’d never imagined that someone like you can come up with such ridiculous thing.”

“It’s just an assumption, Son Haemin.” He chuckled.

I swear that if I let myself loose that time, I would’ve jumped on him and throw punches at his annoying face. Scowling, I took out a bag of potato chips from my backpack and tore it open.

“Want some potato chips, clean freak?” I offered him my snack. He looked at me for a moment and shook his head. I guess he wasn’t in the mood to eat or talk. I leaned back and started eating the potato chips by myself.

“Stop!” Youngjae suddenly shouted. I froze immediately, staring at him with wide eyes. “Stop eating your snack or else you’ll get crumbs on my couch.”

“I’m not that sloppy you know.” I was about to stuff another piece of potato chip in my mouth when he got up from the couch and grabbed my wrist.

“Yaa, Son Haemin, stop eating!”

“But I’m hungry! I can’t think if I’m starving!” I tried to yank my hand away from his grip but he was too strong. “Yaa, let go of my hand!”

“I’ll only let go if you stop eating!”

“You’re hurting my wrist!” I succeeded in pulling my hand away but unfortunately, the bag of potato chips fell down on the couch. Youngjae stepped back and stared at the scattered potato chips with horror.

“Son Haemin…” he clenched his fists and gave me the deadliest look I’d ever seen from him. “Get out of my apartment now!”

*

 “You’re early,” I said with my arms folded across my chest.

“Of course, I’m not like you.” Youngjae sighed, his hands in the pockets of his black jeans.

We’d finally agreed to continue the assignment after three days of ignoring each other. What surprised me was he was the one who decided to come by at my apartment and told me about discussing the assignment together at a café. It was weird for him to suddenly give in just like that. It didn’t matter though because all I wanted to do was to complete the assignment as soon as possible.

Both of us entered the café and ordered coffee. Then we started discussing the assignment. Honestly, Youngjae wasn’t that bad to talk with. When we weren’t fighting, he would use a nicer voice. It was like a total different person—just polite, and not harsh or annoying. My hatred for him seemed to lessen the more I talked to him. Sometimes, I found myself unable to look at him in the eyes. Weird.

“Haemin, were you listening?” Youngjae tapped the table, sweeping me away from my thoughts.

“What? Oh, yeah…” I nodded and blinked. Why was I staring at him so many times today?

“You weren’t listening.” He sighed. “If you’re too distracted right now then we should discuss this some other time.”

“Wait,” I grabbed his arm before he could leave. “I’ll listen this time; just give me…uh…”

 Without warning, I sneezed. It wasn’t that bad but I just sneezed on his hand—the clean freak’s hand. When I looked up at him, I saw horror written all over his face. His hand started shaking. I fetched some tissues and started cleaning his hand.

“Son Haemin…”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

“That’s it!” he pulled his hand away and stared at it with disgust. “I’m done with you. I’m not gonna discuss the assignment with you anymore!”

“Yaa, I said I was sorry.” I got up from my seat and faced him crossly. “Why do you have to be so sensitive?”

“Then why do you have to be so disgusting?” he shouted back.

“Dis-disgusting?” I gasped, cupping my mouth with both of my hands. People around us had stopped doing their thing and were staring at us. I could hear them whispering to each other and laughing at the jokes they made.

With my face flushing with anger, I grabbed a pepper from our table and sprinkled it all over him. Then I kicked his leg as hard as I could until he dropped down on his knees. I could hear people around us gasping with surprise. I covered my face with my backpack and quickly ran out of the café.

When I was outside, I slowed down. Then I slung my backpack over my shoulders and walked aimlessly down the street. I felt a little guilty for humiliating Youngjae back at the café but it was clearly his fault, right? He didn’t have to insult me like that. I thought we could be friends. I was going to tell him about us being friends but everything came down crashing when I sneezed. Why did I have to sneeze?

“Son Haemin!”

I craned my neck to look back and saw Youngjae running towards me. I could tell that he was angry so I started running away. I ran past several street vendors and cafes until I found an alley to hide. I turned towards the alley and bent down to catch my breath. When I got up to walk away, I accidentally bumped into a big guy who was carrying a porcelain vase in his hands. He lost his grip on the vase and dropped it to the ground. I gasped and backed away.

“Yaa, look what you did to my precious vase!” the guy roared. “Do you know how expensive the vase was? You little brat, you should pay for what you did!”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to break it.” I apologized several times but then he grabbed my arm and started leading me further into the narrow alley.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked with a trembling voice. Scared, I started screaming for Youngjae. “Youngjae, help me!”

Just like in a movie, Youngjae came out of nowhere and shoved the big guy away. Both of them stumbled to the ground and landed on a pile of mud. Then Youngjae elbowed the guy in his stomach and grabbed my hand before I could even react. The next thing I knew, we were running down the street, not bothering to turn around. Youngjae was covered with mud while I was covered with dirt. Everyone around us stared at us curiously as we ran past them. I didn’t feel embarrassed though because I was still in a state of shock.

Without realizing it, we had finally stopped near a park. Youngjae sat down on a stone bench and gasped for air. I was out of breath and tired but I didn’t feel like sitting down at all. I was afraid that if I did it, I would die on the spot.

“You’re such a troublemaker, you know that?” he stated after he’d regained his breath.

“I know!” I snapped as I squatted on the ground and started crying. “I thought I was gonna die!”

“Yaa, are you crying?” I hear him asking. I looked up at him and wiped my tears away.

“Of course I’m crying!” I shouted in frustration. Then I stared at his muddy clothes and bit my lip. “I’m sorry you got mud all over you clothes.”

“What? Since when-” he looked down at his clothes and sighed loudly, slapping his forehead.

“I’ll wash your clothes for you. It’s my fault anyway.”

“Forget it.” He looked up at the sky and scowled.

He started walking away and I followed him from behind. We were silent on our way back but I decided to speak up to get rid of the awkwardness.

“Thanks for saving my life.”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“I’m sorry for sneezing on your hand; I didn’t do it on purpose.”

 “Yeah.”

“So can we stop fighting and be friends from now on?”

He stopped in his track and turned around to face me, his expression unreadable. Then he made his way towards me slowly, his eyes fixed on me. I stared back at him without a word. He came closer to me and held out a hand. He was going to take my hand and…

He flicked my forehead. The pain I suffered from was indescribable.

“That’s for sprinkling pepper on my head.”