Jia Li felt awful about having been too absorbed in herself to have been able to avoid bumping into another person. Sure, she had seen her, but in her mind, it was just a glimpse of attention and not something really solid and obvious. Thus, when she had attempted to go around the other, she ended up bumping into her instead. Not only that, but the dryad had also caused the blond to stumble a little as well. She hated being thrown off her own rhythm, so she imagined others disliked it, too.
“I’m glad you’re okay. I’m really, really sorry.” The broad smile the other woman displayed just made her feel guiltier. Was she faking it just to have the other reassured, or was it a genuine smile? Jia Li knew she wouldn’t really being smiling much at all if she’d been caused to stumble though she wouldn’t be rude or angry toward the cause if they were apologetic. It was only when people didn’t think they needed to apologize for doing something wrong that she felt angry about it… people like him…
Stop thinking about him, Jia Li… He’s just some prick who needs to get his head out of his ass… She reprimanded herself.
She was taken off guard a little when instead of just beginning her run anew, the perky blond offered her name and asked for the Dryad’s in return. “I’m… uh… Jia Li…” Ugh… What was with her and telling people both parts of her first name? No one ever cared about the “Li” part of it, so it was just dropped anyway. It was a waste of time to even say it. Maybe it was because she hadn’t really been in her usual state of mind. Regardless, it was there for the other woman, but the half-Asian figured the other would just call her “Jia” like everyone else. “It’s nice to meet you, Kaydence.”
Now it seemed kind of awkward, so Jia Li decided to fill the silence. “Do you… run often?” Wow… Real smooth. It was just going to be obvious that she was just some awkward student, feeling guilty about bumping into the other girl, so she was trying to save her own ass – at least in Jia Li’s mind. “I… uh… don’t run very often, but it’s nice to switch things up a bit, you know?”