Jia Li didn’t notice the flicker of change in his facial expression when she mentioned his grandfather. It didn’t register in her mind because her thoughts were too clouded with fury for her to pay attention to little things around her. She did notice the way he looked at her as if she were nothing more than an obnoxious fly that he’d like to swat, and it only made her angrier.
“Oh, I’m sorry! I’m sure you would have loved to have your nose broken, but sticking to my convictions isn’t pathetic even if you really would deserve it!” Her nails continued to bite painfully into her palms, but the pain was meaningless to her. If anything, it only gave her a focus for her anger, a way to make sure she was making some semblance of sense while she raged at him.
She wanted so badly to slap that damnable smile from his face. Even though it was meant to tell her “You’re wrong. I’m not a fag, and women do want me.”, she wasn’t buying it. Maybe he wasn’t gay, and she really didn’t want to think that a guy would use her as his cover. It was sort of degrading, especially when she had felt something both times he’d kissed her. It would just go to show that she wasn’t a good judge of anyone, more incentive to avoid making connections with others. However, she really couldn’t see any woman really wanting to be with a man who would treat her the way he had just treated Jia Li.
Then she asked why he couldn’t just be nice, and the dark look that passed over his features worried her. She was afraid he could snap and actually try to hurt her, but she was fast, and there was a tree pretty close to her she thought she could reach before he caught up to her. However, he didn’t move. He didn’t even try to come toward her, and she felt relieved, even when he just continued to mock her.
In a sense, Jack was right. She didn’t quite know what a real man would be like because she hadn’t dated enough to really get a feel for it, and she didn’t have many guy friends to serve as a standard, either. In her eyes, her father was a real man, and that was pretty much all by which she had to go, but she thought that would be good enough. Not that she wanted someone like her father. That could just be weird, right?
“I don’t want someone who’s going to worship me, but I don’t want you, either. I want someone who’s nice but confident. That’s not too much to ask!” Actually, in this day and age, it may have been too much for which to ask, but she wouldn’t know that.
“There’s a difference between being prude and wanting to be treated with some respect. You shouldn’t just go around touching women like that! It’s degrading!”
Jia Li was quiet as he told her ‘why’ he was such a prick. Her anger still burned within her, but it wasn’t the raging cyclone it had been. She was actually listening to him, absorbing his words. There was something off about what he was saying, like there was something underlying his words, something she couldn’t explain or fully understand. Then he flinched when he said she had a choice, and she knew she was onto something. The dryad just couldn’t fit the puzzle pieces together, and there were also some part that were missing.
She had a hard time believing that something like the government bombing the school wouldn’t affect him at all. She couldn’t imagine not feeling terrible about something that intense. When he said he didn’t care about anyone, not even her, she felt a small pang of… something… Regret? Sadness? Why? She didn’t even like him!
“When it deals with outside forces, we don’t always have a choice, but there’s always a choice about how to react to things that happen to us.” Her voice was softer, almost sad, but when he stalked away from her, she didn’t go after him. She was still pissed off at him, but something nagged at her, and she needed time to think, or she at least needed to try to forget altogether. If she was lucky, she wouldn’t have to see him again.