You hated him. You hated his snarky remarks. You hated how he always tried to one up you. You hated being around him.
And, with just your luck, you ended up being his partner for a math project.
You both were currently at his house, arguing about the answer.
"It's obviously not 17!" He says, looking at you with an angry expression.
You look at him, "You can't divide 137 by 8 and get 18!" You tell him.
"You're supposed to round!" He exclaims.
You huff, "17.125 doesn't round up to 18! Dear god, you're so stupid!"
He chuckles, "I'm stupid? Really? It can't be 17 if it's more than 17!" He says, holding his arms out.
You lean back in the chair, "Jesus fucking Christ. Why did I have to get paired with you?" You ask, trying not to go insane.
You hear him sit down, feeling his stare burn into you.
You look at him, "What?" You ask him, your voice full of annoyance.
He rolls his eyes, "Nothing."
You finish working out the problem then whip out the calculator.
"Look," You tell him, your voice slightly calmer, "If you plug 17 in, the equation works. If you plug in 18, the equation is .79 off."
He swallows, "Oh..."
You place the calculator down, continuing to write.
It had been like this since fifth grade. You don't even know why it started, but once it did, there was no going back. You were both rivals, academically and in any other form.
You swore you hated him, but a small part of you was intruiged by him. He seemed so different from afar. He wasn't as cold. Yes, he was very smart, but he was also an ass.
"Are you gonna do something or just stare at the paper?" Kyungsoo says, causing you to look up.
"Yeah, sorry."
You write, but stop when you see Kyungsoo staring at you with his jaw dropped.
"What?" You ask him.
"You aplogized," He tells you, clearly shocked.
You try to play it off with a shrug, but mentally curse at yourself.
You hear a knock on the door, seeing Kyungsoo's mom peeking through the door.
"Hey Kyu- oh hi Y/n! I haven't seen you in forever!" She says, walking in and giving you a hug.
"Hi Mrs. Do."
She smiles, "I'm sorry about your parents Y/n, I know it's hard to go through a divorce."
You shrug, "It's fine."
She smiles warmly at you, "I'll be downstairs if you need me. Oh, Kyungsoo, before I forget, you left these," She says, handing Kyungsoo a pair of glasses.
"Thanks," He mumbles, looking distracted.
Mrs. Do walks out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"When did your parents get divorced?" Kyungsoo asks suddenly, taking you aback.
You look down, "Why so you care?"
He sighs, "You can stop with the cold act just for this one time."
You look at him, frowning.
"Three weeks ago," You tell him.
He nods, looking at you with concern.
"Do-do you wanna talk about it?" He asks, seeming abnormally kind.
"I don't know. It's just the same sob story as everyone else's."
He shakes his head, "No, it's not. If it hurts you or saddens you it's not okay."
You look at him, puzzled.
"Look, I'm not trying to be rude in any way, but why do you care? You hate me, remember?"
He frowns, "I don't hate you... well, not most of the time," He says, causing you to smile.
"But, if I'm being honest, I'm concerned. You're really good at hiding your emotions and it's not good to let them fester," He says, looking at you sympathetically.
"You're right," You admit, feeling less tense about the subject.
"So, how have you been feeling?" He asks.
You bit your lip, "Not well. I miss my (mom/dad). There's been a lot of change and I feel alone if I'm being honest. My (mom/dad) has been working a lot to help support us, and so have I. I'm really tired and stressed," You tell him, feeling the weight slowly lift off.
"I can't say I understand exactly how you feel, but I know how it feels to be alone. But, you aren't alone. You can always talk to me," He tells you.
"You won't be an ass anymore?" You ask him, smiling softly.
He laughs, "I won't be much of an ass, but I can't make any promises."
You smile, "Alright."
He nods, "You have my number, right?"
You nod, "Your mom gave it to me."
"Then be sure to text me later on. I want to make sure you're doing okay."
You chuckle, "Like that's the only reason you want me to text you," You joke.
"Oh hush!" He says, rolling his eyes.
And with that, you both continued on the project with a new friendship.
