If there was any grace to iKON’s intensified schedule it was that Summer barely saw them, which meant she didn’t have to worry about encounters with Junhoe.  It was a strange feeling really, and while most nights went without her seeing more than a glance of the group, it actually felt a little empty without them.  But as yet another week drew to a close and she found herself stuck right in the middle of her work placement she began to wish the tour would start already so she could have a lessened load.  At that stage she thought she deserved to graduate with honours just for making it through the placement.

Standing in the boy’s practice room she scowled as she rubbed the cloth in vigorous circular motions, trying to ignore the way her brows were knitted in the mirror.  Throughout the course of the day things had gone from bad to worse; first she had been made to fix the company’s mistakes, then she returned to her dorm to discover she had left her window open and snow had settled on her desk, and now at work she had - true to form - managed to knock a stack of boxes over with the waxing machine.   Heejin had chewed her out over it, suggesting that she stick to cleaning mirrors for the rest of the night.

She didn’t bother to halt as the door to the room opened, knowing that if it was her boss as expected she would only tell her to keep going.  It was only when she heard the sound of a throat being cleared that she looked up at the mirror, realising it was Junhoe instead and the boy was simply standing there several feet behind her.  With a roll of her eyes she turned around to face him, her hands on her hips.  “To what do I owe this honour?”

Instead of speaking like it seemed he was about to the boy merely let out a grunt, turning on his heel and instead walking over to where a small pile of stuff still resided, Summer not having even begun to clean the rest of the room yet.  She watched with narrowed eyes as he began to rummage through things messily and she marched over pulling up behind him, waiting for him to realise.  It wasn’t until a shoe hit her square on the forehead that he noticed, turning to find her rubbing the spot and glaring at him.

“That hurt.”

“You’re in a charming mood,” he commented, straightening finally to face her front on.  With his words Summer narrowed her eyes further, amazed she could still see through them.

“What do you expect?  I can’t count the number of things that have gone wrong today and now I come in here to find someone’s been making out with the mirror.  Was that you?  Cos if so you really need to sort out your narcissism.”

“You know, those words could probably get you fired yelling them at an idol,” he pointed out, scowling back at her now and flinging his arms up in frustration.  “I can’t believe I actually came here to apologise to you.”

“Go on then rep- wait, you what?” Summer had been about to continue her rant when his words actually formed meaning and she stared at him dumbfounded, the bottle of cleaning liquid falling from her grasp.

“I thought given the way you helped Donghyuk out last week when you didn’t have to that I should at least say I’m sorry for accusing you of being a ssaesang.  I didn’t really believe it, after all YG would never hired anyone without a CIA level of background checks,” he started, growing more and more uncomfortable as the words came out, until he was practically rocking on the spot and his face contorted as if he had a knife stuck in him.  “I just went with it because, well, I can’t help it.  You’re fun to argue with.”

The admission was said in a way that was reminiscent of commenting on the weather, Junhoe even tilting his head to gaze off across the room.  Summer’s brows rose so high with the statement and apology that she almost lost them in her hairline.  It took long enough to pull herself together that the boy had turned back to her and was rolling his eyes.

“Now that’s a backhanded compliment,” she said, busying herself by bending down to pick up the spray bottle she had dropped in shock.  When she straightened however, her expression was far more genuine.  “But thank you for the apology.  And I’m sorry for manhandling your hat.”

It wasn’t strictly true, unless brushing it down and placing it on top of a clothing pile classed as manhandling.  But Summer sensed that despite his words being specific, the boy’s apology was meant to be more general.  His way of saying sorry he had been such an to her constantly.  And she supposed he could have one back, even if most of her disdain had come as a defensive reaction.  It felt alien in that moment as she realised that for the first time without a crisis situation they were actually being civil, and genuine about it to boot.  From the growing silence and awkward atmosphere she guessed that she wasn’t the only one thinking this.  Once again it was left to her to break the mold.

“Oh, and I swear to god if you don’t clean up that mess you made in the next thirty seconds I will set it on fire with you in the middle,” she threatened and Junhoe looked down at it, before opening his mouth.  This time the blonde was too quick for him though and she cut across before he could speak.  “If you’re going to say you’ll report me, you can’t, you’ll be a smouldering lump.”

“This is a terrible way to treat someone who just apologised to you.  I don’t just apologise willy nilly,” he replied, but nevertheless slowly began to reassemble the pile and Summer threw a look of mock disbelief at him as she moved to continue her work.

“You sing an entire song about it.”  She received nothing but a grumble back this time, until he plucked up the shoe that had collided with her earlier, his eyes skittering over to her.

“Uh, how’s your head?” he asked, and Summer lifted her hand to touch her forehead gingerly, finding a tender patch of skin as she did so.  Admittedly she had forgotten all about it between her anger and surprise, idly wondering if it would make itself known more later on.

“I’ll send you the plastic surgery bill.”  The girl got another grunt in reply and she wasn’t sure how to take the fact that he was obviously relieved his out of the blue apology hadn’t caused her to suddenly start acting different around him.  Moving to grab the broom she started sweeping the floor a little more vigorously than usual as she tried to stop her thoughts running away with her.  Would it be different from now on?  Was she supposed to be nicer to him?  Show her thanks?  Would he stop baiting her?  But no, he had said arguing with her was fun.  Surely the only thing that had changed was him revealing that he didn’t actually hate her as she had come to presume.

Maybe she should just ask him?  Working up her resolve Summer raised her head to do just that, only to find the room empty.  At some point in her deep deliberation he had obviously walked out and she let out a sigh.  It was then that she realised she had been grabbing the broom so tightly that her knuckles had turned white and achy.  Forcing herself to relax her grip she scowled at the spot Junhoe had previously been standing.  Yep, he was still just as rude.