"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

Yeonjun applied the brakes, the car screeching to rest. "Stop distracting me if you want to make it to the camp alive!" He snarled, throwing a death glare at me.

I glared back with equal intensity, retorting, "I am just reading a book, asshole." 

Yeonjun slammed his hands on the steering wheel. "Then fucking hide your face, Kang!"

I eyed him with utter disbelief. "What is wrong with you, bro?"

"What is wrong with YOU, Kang Taehyun?! We are fucking lost and all you care about is a fucking book?!"

"It's an important historical novel, alright?!" I shot back.

Yeonjun chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, right. But we are still lost and you should be trying to connect to the GPS instead of reading that shit. Or I will personally throw it out of the window." He paused, "And stop distracting me."

"Not my fault that you have a raging crush on me, Mr Distracted ass," I replied dryly. For a good five minutes, there was complete silence with the rustling of leaves from the wind and the occasional barks of the wild dogs. Then Yeonjun finally turned to look at me. 

"At this point, having a crush on Stacy Parkinson would've been more understandable."

I opened the book again and turned to the dog-eared page, ignoring any and all eye contact for personal reasons. "Then why are you drooling over me?"

The other looked like he wanted to strangle me so badly; he was literally fidgeting in his seat. "Oh my god, Tae baby! You know about it?" He mocked but soon his expressions faded away, all the sarcasm dropping as he deadpanned, "I want to choke you so bad."

I darted him a challenging glare. "Choke me, daddy!" He was livid. I knew he was. Because the next thing he did was to do exactly that, but it was more of 'literal choking to death'. And then he left altogether, going back to the glaring contest he was having with my book. I could only laugh. I had won the round.

I would definitely blame Stacy and Wooyoung for me ending up here, in the middle of nowhere with person I find the most annoying. I never even opted to go to the absurd summer camp before graduation thing. I would've loved to stay back in Daejeon, probably watching Netflix in the comfort of my dorm while I scrolled through the camp picture dumps on Instagram.

But, nooo. The universe has it out to fuck me because that's when my unbelievably obnoxious 'friends' came into the scene with the leaflet designed by the camp committee. "Hey Tae, guess what?!" Stacy asked, almost unstable on her high heels as she tried so hard not to jump with eagerness.

I lazily looked up at her. "What?"

"We are going to camp baby!" She squealed, shoving the leaflet to my face.

Then it was Wooyoung who suggested for us to rent cars so we can avoid the crowded buses and actually enjoy a long trip to the mountains. For a moment, I had forgotten that Wooyoung was also best chums with Choi fucking Yeonjun, the popular hotshot who had girls and boys swooning around him. It got on my nerves.

So, needless to say, my first reaction was 'fuck no'. But of course, Stacy and Wooyoung were one such duo that would never give up on anything, not even their exes. That was it. They started blackmailing me and spamming me with thousands of messages and even emails until I was at my limits.

"Fine! But I won't be sharing a car with that arrogant dickhead." I had made it very clear and the first point in my list of terms and conditions. And apparently, they both took it as a challenge.

 Now I questioned why I ever accepted them as friends. They were literally snakes in disguise.

"Oh c'mon babe, how bad can he really be?" Stacy asked, batting her eyelashes obnoxiously. "You know how many girls have fangirled over him at school? You have to admit he is hot. So why not take advantage of that?"

"Because he is a jackass, Stacy. A douchebag!"

"He isn't that bad, you'll see!"

I threw her a glare. "If he is so goddamn good-looking, why are you not dating him?"

She grinned evilly. "Because he's gay, asshole."

Stacy rolled her eyes as I crossed my arms defiantly. The way she smirked told me that she knew something I didn't. One thing led to another and in the end, Stacy decided to share a car with Wooyoung as I was forced beside Yeonjun who, at first, gave me a flirty smile.

A flirty smile.

I wasn't sure which was more terrifying. I hated everything about him. The way he talked, the way he walked, the way he acted. I loathed every single thing that made him who he was. Even his stupidly handsome face. I would always cringe whenever he flashed a smirk. When he stood close to someone or hugged someone he didn't particularly like, or when he laughed too loudly. All I wanted to do was shove him off the damn road. I mean, that's how much I hated him, how much I loathed him.

It's not like we actually knew each other or anything. He didn't even know my name. I liked it that way. Nice, easy, distant hatred. But now he was literally sitting right next to me while shamelessly flashing his sweaty biceps. Just ew. 

 "Like what you see?" He had commented when he caught me zoning out while eyeing those well-built biceps that I was mentally trying to burn. He laughed like a douchebag. "Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up." I mumbled, turning to ignore him. Soon it became quite obvious to him that I hated his guts. Just three hours more and then it was freedom from that narcissistic bitch. But guess what? God hated me and my existence. "I have never seen you around. Are you a transferee?" He asked after a long silence. I didn't even look at him.

"I don't know. I transferred here three years ago." I answered with sarcasm dripping from every word. He got the hint and shut his mouth for the time being. Or it was just the start.

"Are you always this annoyed?" That was a question that surprised me but wasn't this expected?

I raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that I'm annoyed?" I bit my tongue to avoid cursing out loud.

"Your frowny face and constant staring at your phone tells me everything." He chuckled. "And your little sighs show your annoyance too." Another laugh.

"Wow, you noticed? How considerate." I retorted sarcastically. And he just laughed. Mother fucker.

After a few minutes of peaceful and quiet driving, he decided to break the silence. Again. "Do you want to eat anything? I think I have some snacks in the trunk."

"I am quite full with the morning brunch, thank you so much."

He continued, "Are you sure? I have some really good ones. Ordered them last night. They aren't from the school cafeteria if that's what you are worried about."

I scoffed, ignoring his question altogether. "Why are you even choosing to go to this shitty camp, bro? You could've gone to the freaking mountains with your girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever. Why do you need this nonsense?"

"So you know I am not straight?"

That hadn't even been my point. "I am sure half of the school does."

There was silence. Utter and uncomfortable silence. I took the initiative and looked up at the other male. His face was awfully devoid of expressions, terrifyingly so. There was nothing on his face, nothing at all, not even the tiniest glimmer of anger, or the usual amusement. Just complete blankness. Had I said something wrong? Fuck. I couldn't tell. "...quite observant. Is this...true?"

"What is?" I asked gently, not really sure what he was talking about.

He clutched the steering tighter. "That half the school knows about...well, is it?" He trailed off unsurely, clearly having a hard time enunciating it out loud. I didn't know much about it.

"I actually don't know. I don't think so, seeing girls swooning around you like bees near a flower."

And then Yeonjun sighed out loud and, suddenly, there it was-- that stupid smile on his stupid face. "Alright then."

I swear to heavens, I could never understand this man.