Chapter Text
When Jinyoung introduced me to Jaebeom three hours ago, I found him terribly boring. We definitely didn’t click, and even though we did our best to maintain a good-neighbor policy, we simply had nothing in common. The guy was a drag. Annoying. Annoying as hell. The kind of annoying person who only talked about music school and the trips he had taken.
Annoying.
BamBam says I’m too picky when it comes to friendship, that I’m too selective, complain too much, and that nothing pleases me, but I disagree. Jaebeom was clearly fake, and blaming it on my supposedly difficult personality was just plain unfair.
“Let's play beer pong!” a girl from the Literature department shouted, and everyone got excited to join in.
Except me, obviously, because that's something annoying people do, and I am not annoying.
“Hey, I think I’m heading home,” I murmur to Jackson, who’s munching on snacks beside me.
“Mark being Mark. It’s not even 1 a.m. yet. How about staying a little longer?” he suggests.
“To watch this bunch of lunatics getting wasted and climbing the walls? Nah,” I reply, placing my soda cup on the counter in front of me and getting up from the bench I was sitting on.
“Let the others know I left.”
“Okay, buzzkill,” the Chinese man teases. “Leaving this early? No shame?”
“Actually, I’m leaving too. I’ve had enough of this place.” Jaebeom appears beside us, giving Jackson a pat on the back.
“See? I’m not the only one bored out of my mind,” I say smugly, throwing Jackson’s words back at him.
“Okay, so now there are two buzzkills. You even match. Anyway, bye to both of you. I need to find Yugyeom—he ran off with my phone.” Wang waves us off, hugging both me and Jaebeom before disappearing into the crowd.
An awkward silence settles between the Korean and me. I know I should just say goodbye and go on with my life, but I don’t want to—out of pure stubbornness.
But of course, Jaebeom is the cool one here, not me. Just a reminder.
“So… are you driving, or…?” Jaebeom attempts small talk, and I feel obligated to answer.
“Bus. I’m heading to the stop on the next street.”
“Hm, me too. Mind if we go together?” he asks.
I think, Yes, I do mind, because you’re an annoying rich boy, but obviously, I don’t say that. Instead, I just nod.
We leave the party, walking in silence for most of the way.
“I get the feeling you don’t like me,” he says calmly, kicking pebbles on the sidewalk.
The street is empty due to the late hour, so our footsteps are among the few sounds around us.
“Well, that’s not just a feeling,” I say quietly, and he laughs, even though it wasn’t a joke.
“Straight to the point,” Jaebeom replies. “I was kind of prepared for this, if I’m being honest. Jinyoung warned me about your long friendship test. I thought I was doing okay, but after an entire night trying, I guess I should just give up.”
Okay, now I feel guilty. If I really try to think of a valid reason not to like Jaebeom, I probably wouldn’t even be able to put a single sentence together.
“I’m just hard to please. Don’t take it personally,” I say, sighing. “I don’t like meeting new people.”
“Oh, that’s fine, man. I don’t like it either—I was just trying to humor Park.” Jaebeom smiles, and I smile involuntarily. “To be honest, I thought you were a stuck-up asshole.”
“Oh, really? I appreciate the compliment, since I thought you were a pretentious jerk,” I shoot back, and he places a hand on his chest, feigning offense.
“So, we’re even in mutual dislike,” he says, winking as we stop at a crosswalk.
“Yeah, for now,” I reply, standing beside him and lightly pushing his shoulder.
In that moment, for just a few minutes, I start thinking that maybe Jaebeom isn’t that annoying after all.