“This is your fault, you know?” Jihyo snarled, trying to appear as hostile as she could even with her teeth chattering because of the bitter cold.

Jongkook shut the cabin door as quickly as he could and looked at her in disbelief. “My fault? Tell me, whose idea was it to steal the polar bear study that was rightfully assigned to me?”

Ah, yes. The dreadful polar bear study, the reason why they were both in the ing North Pole in the first place. Being an environmental scientist meant that she had opportunities to do a whole lot of field work for the purpose of gathering samples to analyze back at SBS Laboratories.

Not to toot her own horn, but she was brilliant; graduated top of her class and all that. She honestly could have worked for some money-hungry corporation and earned six-digits a month, she could have had some high-rise penthouse for a home, but none of that thrilled her. She had her sights set on changing the world someday and that is not something capitalist corporations were interested in.

So, here she was, inside some cabin in the middle of Santa Claus continent with the bane of her existence: Kim Jongkook.

The man grated on her nerves because he is exactly the type of scientist she despised. They couldn’t be more different if they tried.

While Jihyo refused to get in by greedy businesses, Jongkook started out like that. Working for corporations that milked the planet dry, damn the repercussions. Of course, he did quit his previous job (he was, after all, working for SBS now), but Jihyo could never overlook his background.

SBS scientists pride themselves in having goddamn principles. Most of them worked there from the get-go. Normally, no one got in if SBS was not their first job choice, but, of course, Kim Jongkook was the exception. Jaesuk just hired him even if most of them initially protested.

What pissed her off even more was that everyone warmed up to him in a couple of weeks’ time as if they had not been initially insisting on his removal.

He’s actually a good guy, Jihyo.

He works hard. Brilliant guy and one hell of a researcher.

Jihyo snorted.

Top of his class like you were.

You’re more similar than you think.

As if she could not snort any harder, she did. 

What can I say, he’s easy on the eyes.

She spat her drink out.

Well, it’s not as if she didn’t try to get along with him because she did, but they just don’t click. He's water, she's oil. He's ice, she's fire.

Plus, he’s always questioning her ideas and whenever she argues back, he smirks, looking thoroughly amused at getting a rise out of her. Really, not a single brainstorming session occurs at SBS without the two of them going at each other's throats.

Admittedly, she liked the challenge. He keeps her on her toes because, no matter how irritating she finds him, he actually is smart. However, that does not mean that she has to like him, the unbelievably smug bastard.

“That angle was mine and you know it.” She snapped, glaring at him. “I have been researching this for years. You knew I was only waiting for Jaesuk to release the grant-”

“Right and when he did release the grant, he assigned the field work to me. I don’t know what part of that you were unable to understand-”

“Oh off! Research moral code… no, actually, common decency dictates that you don’t take my research from me, but noooo.” She laughed outrageously. “Kim Jongkook just has to take everything, doesn’t he?”

“That is not what happened and if you quit being so antagonistic towards me for a second, you’d probably realize that.” Jongkook sneered. “And you’d also realize how idiotic it was to follow me here, thinking you were being subtle.”

“I didn’t know the blizzard would be this severe-”

“Well, I guess the world is coming to a ing end because, apparently, the infallible Song Jihyo does not know everything!”

“Oh, you’re so witty, aren’t you?”

“We could have died.”

“Don’t be dramatic, it was just a snowball.”

“Yeah, the size of a goddamn elephant.”

Her chest was heaving from the screaming match they were having and she realized that her heartbeat was still thumping out of her chest which was probably the effect of the near-death experience they just had.

Jongkook released a shaky breath and made his way towards the window of the cabin. The blizzard was worse than ever, the wind was howling angrily, and it was cold as hell. “. We’re stuck here.”

“No , Sherlock.”

Rolling his eyes, he scoffed as he took his thick jacket off. “Let’s just try and get along, yeah? I’m exhausted and, frankly, I’m freezing.” He took the second layer off. Then the third.

Raising her eyebrows, dropped in offense. “What the hell are you doing?”

“My clothes are drenched, there’s actual snow in my underwear thanks to the stunt you pulled.” He pulled his shirt off, revealing just how fit he was. It was common knowledge that he worked out, she wasn’t blind, but that does not mean that seeing his bare torso didn’t come as a surprise. She blushed in embarrassment, but she looked away. There was no way she would give him the satisfaction of seeing it.

“I’m cold as well, but you don’t see me taking my clothes off.”

“Believe me, you’re more than welcome to do so.” He smirked in that smug and irritating way he always did, but this time, there was a hint of playfulness to it. When she blushed at the obvious implication, she could not look away in time for him to not see it.

“Pig.”

“At least I’m warm.” He shrugged, lighting the fireplace. When he was sa