Years of habit had left Wu sharp in his perceptions, though perhaps not as much in his deductions. What that meant was that he caught the covert glances Carmel was taking, but misunderstood the motivation entirely. She was repulsed, and that thought alone carried a crushing sense of disappointment for Wu. He'd liked her well enough, had forgotten what it felt like to just engage with another human being over something as simple as cooking a meal.
"Then I will stay," Wu said eventually, making no move to cover up as he settled at the weight bench. If she wouldn't chase him off, he wouldn't try to hide himself. Not until it got to her. Settling at the edge of the bench, Wu closed his hand on a dumbbell, raising it in a slow, vertical lift up towards his armpit and holding it in there until he felt the muscles twitch, finally releasing. He couldn't help the smallest chuckle as Carmel's hair fell over her eyes, looking away quickly as he chided himself for the slip in composure and turned to keep his eyes off of her.
It felt wrong, though, sitting and shunning her after what Carmel and the others had at least offered on the journals, and after a moment of dwelling on that? Wu's respect for both her and her gender overall won out, drawing him back to looking Carmel's way. "Do you favor a particular routine?" he asked, feeling foolish with the words, but Wu didn't do smalltalk generally. Now? He had no idea what to say.