Nostrils flared as Nalini chose her words and delivered them with her trained balance. It bothered him that she could use her training against him, no. It bothered him that she had to use her training to deal with him. Why could he be pleasing to others, but be such a brute to the woman that did nothing more than what her parents expected of her? She held her head high, remained calm, and kept her dignity in tact even when he knowingly tried to bait her. Even at her last words, asking for friendship, he felt enraged.
Why as she allowed to feel so balanced in the face of intimate anger? It was one thing to remain calm in the face of danger and even the threat of death, but to be so masked with those you should be free to be yourself with? It only made him want to distrust her. If only the Guardian spirit within him shared his unease with her abilities instead of wanting to aspire to own that same strength of spirit. "You didn't insult me. You simply ruined the silence," which wasn't true and he looked away as if he were already waiting for his face to whir in the direction he looked with a slap - his mother would have slapped him. His tone was that of a boy ready to strike for no other reason than it being the only thing he could do than look at himself as the problem.
"No," he offered after a few seconds, "I didn't mean that and I didn't mean to imply that you are or could be a disappointment." He still wasn't looking to her, but he inhaled deeply and squared his shoulders with the audible exhale. Obviously trying to collect himself. "I wouldn't choose someone else, Nalini," he offered before finally looking back towards her, "I wouldn't have chosen at all." And that was the problem. He wanted to be single to live his life how he saw fit. It was easy being happy with his cultural obligations when he was free to ignore them and do as he pleased. For some reason he'd thought that could be his life forever.
He finally moved from the door frame and truly entered her personal space, his hands moving out to hold them palm up towards her, "I am the third of my siblings and maybe being the youngest gave me a need for freedom of all this that is hard to understand, but it's not you that angers me. It's the reminder that I'm not free in America to do as I choose - now I'm even chained to this place and must smile and be grateful for it." He wanted her hands in his own and if she gave them he would hold them delicately, rub at the backs of her fingers with his thumbs as he stared into her face, "why are you so okay with submitting to all of this? To me? You obviously deserve a better man."