“You won’t believe what happened to me as I was leaving your house yesterday,” I told Dongwoon on Friday night. He was at my house and we were both getting dressed for the date he forced on me.

    “Don’t wear that shirt, Hyung.” He said. “Wear something green.”

    “Why green?”

    “Green matches your eyes.”

    “All right, smarty. I’ll wear green, although why I should want to look my best for a person I’ve never even laid eyes on before me. Now, do you want to hear what happened or not?”

    “Okay, tell me.”

    “I got into an accident.”

    “Hyung!”

    “Oh, it wasn’t serious. But this guy-“ I assured him.

    “What guy?”

    “The guy I ran into or who ran into me. Anyway-“

    “How old was he?”

    “I don’t know maybe seventeen or eighteen. What does that have to do with anything?” I shrugged.

    “Was he good looking?”

    “I guess so.” I said without enthusiasm.

    “Did you give him your number? Maybe he’ll call you.”

    “I doubt it. He only dates cute blond dancer named Taemin.”

    “How could you possibly know that?”

    I made a face. “I know the type, believe me.”

    “Jinwoon?” Dongwoon asked sympathetically.

    “Exactly.”

    “The same Jinwoon who dropped you from a-“

    “A cute blond dancer named Taemin. Anyway, this guy yelled at me like it was all my fault. I got so mad. I call him a loud mouthed Neanderthal.”

    “What’s a Neanderthal?”

    “A caveman, barbarian. A guy who is rude, crude and socially unacceptable.”

    “I’ve met a few boys like that.” Dongwoon observed. “What’s his name? Maybe it’s somebody I know.”

    “Look in my bag. There’s a piece of paper somewhere in there with his name on it. I never looked at it. I don’t care who he is!”

    I headed for the bathroom, leaving Dongwoon to rummage through my bag. A few minutes later, he joined me in the bathroom, looking pale.

    “Are you okay,Woonie?” I asked. “You look sort of sick.”

    Dongwoon didn’t look at me. “I feel sort of sick. Hyung, maybe you’re right. Maybe this blind date thing wasn’t such a good idea after all. Why don’t I just phone Doojoon and we’ll call the whole thing off?”

    I stared at him. “Are you crazy? After the way you railroaded me into this?”

    Dongwoon nervously cleared his throat. “Well, Hyung, just in case you don’t like Junhyung, keep in mind that he’s Doojoon’s best friend and Doojoon means an awful a lot to me and I’d hate to see him hurt and-“

    “Is that what’s bothering you? Don’t worry, Woonie. If he’s a friend of Doojoon’s, I’m sure he can’t be all that bad.”

    “Exactly,” Dongwoon agreed, a note of desperation in his voice. “So if you’ll just give Junhyung a chance and not judge him too quickly-“

    “Woonie, I would never be rude to one of your friends. You know me better than that.”

     We soon entered the living room just as the doorbell rang.

     “Oh my gosh!” Dongwoon cried. “They’re here! Hyung, I swear to you, I had no idea-“

     “Woonie, get a grip of yourself. I’m the one who should be nervous, not you.”

     “No, Hyung. You may be a lot of things tonight, but I’m pretty sure nervous won’t be one of them.”

     “Don’t you think we should let them in?” I suggested.

     “I guess so.” Dongwoon sighed. “We might as well get it over with.”

    He crossed the living room as if he were approaching the electric chair then threw open the front door.

     “Doojoon! Junhyung!” he exclaimed with slightly hysterical cheerfulness. “Come on in! I want you to meet my cousin, Yang Yoseob. Yoseob, you’ve met Doojoon and this-“ Dongwoon paused and took a deep breath. “This is Yong Junhyung.”

     My date stepped forward as Dongwoon introduced him and suddenly I knew why Dongwoon had been acting so strangely.

     I was face-to-face with the loud mouthed Neanderthal.