"I hate him."

"I hate her."

Needless to say, they hated each other. They took the hatred and rivalry thing to a whole new level. His fans and her fans were always at war. As immature as they can be, they even encouraged those things. Their companies would always pit their comebacks and it was a mess when it came to the music show awards and the chart rankings.

            To be honest, none of them knew exactly why they had such ill feelings towards one another. It’s like one of those stupid occasions wherein you look at a person and decide you don’t like him/her despite zero interaction. Maybe it also didn’t help that they came from rival companies, him from Sports Seoul Entertainment, and her from Dispatch Entertainment.

            Whenever they’d meet along the hallways of broadcast stations or anywhere else, they’d exchange the customary greetings (coupled with an annoyed facial expression) and then leave.

            They also didn’t miss an opportunity to jab at each other during their variety show appearances. A favorite is the never ending question about ideal types. Yunho would usually be asked first and his common response would be,

“A girl who is pretty, has long black hair, and one who doesn’t ignore or glare at me like I did something wrong. If she’s a good singer and dancer, then I think I might fall deeper for her. But, I would really prefer it if I’m the recipient of her attention than the other way around.”

            When Boa would be asked the same question on a different show, she’d counter his statement by usually saying,

            “I like a guy who knows how to treat girls with respect, and one who has his feet planted on the ground. I hate it when guys act all cocky and arrogant and demand that I give him all of my attention. It should be the other way around. If he can perform live, that’s a great bonus. However, if he has no ambition or relies too much on his looks than his talent, I don’t think I’d ever give him a second glance.”

            The year-end award shows were the worse. It was a bloodbath between two fandoms. Both TVXQ and Boa have the public recognition and large fan base to secure a Daesang. Every year since their debut, they have always been the final contenders for the highest award. It was during this time of the year that the fanboys and fangirls and everyone else who thought it was fun to join in the fight, would rumble and raid music stores, start that ridiculous campaign of theirs and everything. Remember that scene in that drama Reply 1997 when the H.O.T. and Sech Kies fan girls would always be at war? Add in the general public + fan girls/boys + growing technology + spread of Hallyu wave, and you get the intensity of that battle magnified twice. This went on for the next 5 years of their idol lives.

            The chance to have a real conversation happened during the annual Idol Star Athletics Championship. Being the Kings and Queen of the current Hallyu wave, their presence was highly demanded. To be honest, they didn’t need the exposure because of their established status but their agencies thought that this was a great opportunity to “show off” their artists. So amidst the protests, the two didn’t have a choice.

            The theme for the show that year was something like a scavenger hunt. They have to undergo several sports competition to gain clues and everything else. The competition was heating up and some groups decided to play dirty by mixing up the pathway signs. Yunho and Boa were the ones who had fallen victim to such plots.

            They spent the next 4 hours getting lost in the woods. Of course, they had to argue and blame each other for something that neither of them is at fault for in the first place. They decided (or rather yelled at each other) to part ways when the unexpected thunderstorm made its grand entrance.

            “WAIT!!! Are you leaving me alone? Seriously?! What kind of a man are you to leave a girl to fend for her self in the woods? Right, I forgot, you’re not a man, but a boy!”

            “You’re an impossible woman!! I don’t even know if you want me to help you or not!”

            “Fine! Then pleasedontleavemealoneouthereimscaredofthestorm.”

            “WHAT?”

            “I said…uh…please..don’t leave me alone out here..i’m afraid of thunderstorms.”

            He never saw her look so vulnerable and scared. He didn’t say a word as he took her hand and looked for shelter. They found a small cave and decided to wait until the storm passes before finding their way back.

            They sat across each other, with a bonfire in their middle. It was quiet for a couple of minutes before one of them spoke.

            “Thank you, Yunho-ssi, for not leaving me alone. I don’t know what could’ve happen to me if you did. Also, I’m sorry for the way I treated you, not just today, but for the past 5 years since we met.”

            “I’m sorry too for everything. And for the record, I never meant to leave you alone out there. I just intended to scare you.”

            For the first time since they met, they shared a genuine laugh.

            “How come we never talked before? I mean, like this?”

            “I don’t know. Because we were always at “war” with each other? If you don’t mind, I want to know…why do you hate me so much?”

            “I never hated you. I think it’s just because I was raised by my mentors to treat everyone from your company as my rivals. It didn’t help that we debuted on the same day, on the same music show too. I thought you were pretty but then you glared at me and since I’m so used to girls begging for my attention, my stupid teenage ego was hurt. What about you? Why do you hate me?”
 

            “Same story. I was trained with the mindset that I should beat everyone from your agency. I also thought you were cool but you had this arrogant smirk plastered on your face and it turned me off. I never meant to glare at you but my manager was making these weird X hand signals and I didn’t want to be scolded, so there.”

            “Wow. We could’ve been friends if not for our bickering agencies. I swear, I still think our Sajangnim is secretly in love with your CEO.”

            “Ditto. Yoon Eunhye sajangnim can deny all she wants but I know she still has feelings for your company president, Mr. Kim Jongkook-sshi. She still keeps their wedding photo in her wallet!”

            “Really?! Jongkook sajangnim too!! Aigoo. Those two. They started this whole agency war when they split up. I don’t know why we got in the middle but I do hope they get back together. This ‘rivalry’ can be tiring too.”

            “Our sajangnim would slip sometimes and she said something about them being in an arranged marriage, and all. Their parents force them to get married when they were 18 to strengthen the business ties and as teenagers, they had their share of misunderstandings which eventually led to the divorce. I still do hope they’d get back together one day.”

            “Yeah. Me too. So, friends?”

            “Friends!”

            Yunho smiled as he stood up and sat down beside her. He extended his hand as he said,

            “Hi. I’m Jung Yunho.”

            She smiled as she shook his hand in response while saying,

            “Hi. My name’s Kwon Boa.”

            From that day forward, their friendship grew. They kept this a secret until