The atmosphere in the living room was tense. Junhyung and I stood gaping at each other in astonishment, while Dongwoon gave us pleading looks and gnawed on his fingernails. Only Doojoon seemed unaware of any awkwardness.

“Yoseob’s only been here for about a month,” Doojoon explained to Junhyung. “What do you think of it so far, Yoseob?”

 “I like the most of it just fine” I said, glowering at Junhyung.

 “Just be careful when you drive around, Yoseob.” Junhyung remarked. “You wouldn’t believe some of the nuts I’ve seen on the road recently.”

 “Let’s go to the movies!” Dongwoon said brightly, grabbing Doojoon by arm and dragging him out of the door.

 “Just what I always wanted,” Junhyung muttered. “A date with Demolition Yoseob! No wonder your name sounds familiar. I’ve heard Doojoon mentioned you.”

 “Believe me, there are plenty of things I’d rather be doing, too,” I retorted. “Like catching the Asian flu or having major surgery.”

 “That’s a good idea. You could have your driver’s license amputated.”

 Junhyung sounded more amused than angry. I glanced up at him and realized that I had never seen him smile before. He had a very nice smile, I noticed resentfully. It was slightly crooked, but somehow that seemed to add to its appeal. I thought it was disgusting that one little smile could make me want to forget about what had happened and smile back at him. It was disgusting and entirely typical of him!

 “Who’s driving?” I asked as we followed Doojoon and Dongwoon out of the house.

 “Doojoon is.”

 “Whew! What a relief,” I couldn’t help marking sarcastically.

 “I couldn’t drive,” Junhyung said pointedly. “My car is in the shop.”

 “I have news for you,” I said. “You couldn’t drive even before your car was in the shop.”

 I flounced ahead of him and caught up with Doojoon and Woonie, but I had a sneaking suspicion that Junhyung was laughing at me. I got into the backseat and Junhyung climbed in beside me while Doojoon and Woonie sat in the front. Doojoon put the car in reverse and backed out the driveway.

 “Hey, Doojoon,” Junhyung called, “remember to look for oncoming traffic before you pull out into the street, will you? You’d be surprised at the number of people who don’t do that.”

 “Will you stop it?” I hissed. “I promised Woonie I’d try to be nice to you. Can’t you at least act civilized?”

 “Sorry. I don’t know how to act civilized. I’m a Neanderthal, remember?”

 When we arrived at the theatre, Dongwoon and I found our seats while Doojoon and the Neanderthal bought popcorn and sodas.

 “I’ll get for you this, Woonie,” I said, muttering threats all the way down the aisle. “Just you wait. I’ll get you for this if it’s the last thing I ever do!”

 Dongwoon groaned. “I’m sorry, Hyung. How was I supposed to know that you ran into Junhyung’s car?”

 “What?!” I sputtered. “I didn’t run into his car! He ran into mine!”

 “We’ll talk about it later. Here they come.”

 I discovered that if you had to go on a blind date, the movie theatre was the best place in the world to go. In fact, it was the only place I knew where you didn’t have to talk or even look at your date. Best of all, if you got stuck with a creep as I obviously had, the darkened theatre protected your privacy so no one else could see the depths to which you had sunk.

 Consoling myself with these gloomy thoughts, I tried to forget about the creep beside me and concentrate on the movie. I sipped my soft drink and watched the big screen, where a sleek, white sports car plunged over the cliff and rolled down an embankment, belching fire and smoke.

Junhyung leaned over to whisper to me. “You wouldn’t happen to be a stunt driver by any chance, would you?”

I chocked my drink. To my annoyance, it wasn’t a choke of anger, but barely suppressed giggle. All right, I thought, so he’s got a sense of humor. That still doesn’t mean I like this guy.