"Tell Me You Hate Me"

Part One

In- "Gross. Look, it's Hyunjin."

Hyunjin- "Ew, Yn. And there I was, having a good day."

Hi, I'm Yn. I'm a freshman in college and I have an enemy. We haven’t gotten along since we met at the beginning of highschool.

It's been four years and we're always bickering, but we enjoy it.

He handed me an apple. Hyunjin- "Here, eat this."

Yn- "What makes you think I want any food from you?" I crossed my arms in defiance.

Hyunjin- "What makes you think I'm giving it to you with good intentions? It probably fell on the floor."

Yn- "You don't know?" Hyunjin- "I got it from the cafeteria and you never can trust those lunch ladies."

Yn- "Oh yeah, Heaven forbid they disregard their food handling permits and put their jobs on the line just to harm a couple of students."

I rolled my eyes. He sneered at me. Hyunjin- "You never know, you know?"

Then he walked away. Yn- "Bye, Stupid." Hyunjin- "See you, Ugly!"

My best friend chimed in as soon as he was out of earshot. She was never very helpful when it came to fighting my battles with him.

Suzie- "Did you feel that?" Yn- "What? The utter disgust and hatred? Yeah, I felt that."

Suzie- "The tension." Yn- "Ew! What tension?" I recoiled at her comment.

Suzie- "What do you mean 'what tension?' I could have cut that with a knife!"

Yn- "If by 'tension' you mean 'utter disgust and hatred,' then yes, I felt it." I restated

Suzie- "Whatever, you guys are cute." Yn- "Bleck! Here, eat this."

I handed her the apple. Suzie- "Yeah, right."

After sitting down at my desk, the instructor made an announcement.

Instructor- "Okay guys, today we’re going to switch up the seating arrangement."

By fate’s inconvenience, Hyunjin and I ended up paired together in the back corner. I was not going to get much out of this class anymore.

Hyunjin- "Hey Stupid. Lucky you, you get to sit next to me." He dropped his bag on the floor and plopped in the chair next to mine.

Yn- "Unlucky that you no longer get to copy off your neighbor." Hyunjin- "I'm very smart, I'll have you know."

Yn- "Oh yeah? Then prove it." I cocked my head in a challenging manner.

He leaned toward me a bit and pointed a finger at me in acceptance of the challenge.

Hyunjin- "You're hungry." My stomach immediately growled. Yn- "What makes you say that?"

I asked, as though my stomach hadn't just confirmed his accusation. Surely he couldn’t have predicted it; beside he needed to prove himself.

Hyunjin- "You tuck your lips inward when you’re hungry." He said simply. Then he sat back in his seat and payed attention to the lecture.

I didn't know I did that. Do I really tuck my lips in when I’m hungry? How is it he would notice that when I didn’t even notice it myself?

I kept thinking about that comment and thinking about my hunger and trying to remember specific times when I might have done that lip thing.

Halfway through class, Hyunjin pulled out a small stack of crackers from his bag and placed them on my desk without saying anything.

My lunch break was still two hours away so I ate them.

I made sure to stand right in front of him in the line at the dining hall so I could pay for his lunch as a return favor for the crackers.

I don't want him holding that over my head. I obviously didn't tell him this was my plan though.

While I was getting ready to pay and telling the lady behind the counter to calculate Hyunjin’s plate as well, one of my professors passed.

He stopped and caught my attention. Professor- "Oh! Yn. I'll be able to go over your project with you today at 4:30."

Yn- "Okay, perfect! Thank you Professor. I’ll see you then."

He walked off and as I turned back, Hyunjin was holding his own plate and handing mine to me. He brushed past me as he moved to our table.

The lunch lady was already ringing up the next person so I followed. Yn- "Hey you idiot!" I said once I reached him.

Yn- "What did you just do?" Hyunjin- "I just bought lunch."

Yn- "But I was going to do that! I was going to pay for your lunch to keep you from having the upper hand." He shrugged.

Hyunjin- "Too bad." Yn- "Why did you pay for me? How could you do that?"

Hyunjin- "Because I knew it would irritate you." It was deliberate!

We arrived at our table so I sneered in his direction. Yn- "I hate you."

I said, and sat down on the opposite corner from him, glaring while our other friends showed up and filled in.