5.1 Confrontation

There was a stunned silence at the small bar table. Nils didn't dare to look Jin in the eye and had his gaze nervously fixed on his fingers closed on his glass which he was holding in both hands. Yomo, on the other hand, was keeping an eye on the two friends, who looked ready to fight if they opened their mouths. He had managed to convince Nils to tell Jin about last night's events and Jin had been listening without saying anything since they arrived. But the swollen veins on the backs of his hands clutching his glass indicated the state of fury he was in.

"Jin... Nils reacted quickly yesterday, he called me right away," Yomo tried to lighten the mood. "I understand that you're upset with him, I am too, to tell you the truth...but he didn't hide the situation from us like last time. And he came to talk to you about it the very next day..."

Jin sighed loudly. His face relaxed a little and his eyes softened.

"Mmh," he mumbled.

Yomo smiled. They had avoided the worst. Nils seemed to be breathing on his side too. He glanced gratefully at his friend, who reassured him in the same way. Their relaxation was interrupted, however, by Jin's voice, who had regained his composure.

"But there's no way we're letting her get away with this! You must contact the police as soon as possible and tell them everything that happened yesterday."

Nils wanted to protest when Yomo cut him off.

"I agree with Jin," he said. "Nils, it's too risky! We have to get the cops involved. There's no way you're going to put yourself in unnecessary danger with a crazy woman like that hanging around you!

"But Morilles... "

"Consider your cat dead, Nils," Jin snarled, struggling to contain his anger.

He saw his friend's eyes glow with the pain that caused him to say those words and bit his lips in remorse. He had spoken too quickly, again.

"Okay, fine! Do what you want, contact the police, tell them what happened, I don't care! After all, you know better than me what to do! I'm just an incompetent who got himself into this situation and can't even get out of it by himself! Do as you please!"

Nils left, leaving the change on the table. Jin sighed and ran his hand through his hair, looking visibly upset. There was nothing to be done. Whenever it came to Nils, Jin quickly lost it. His friend, so calm and placid in any situation, became a mystery to Yomo every time Nils found himself in one situation or another.

He put his hand on his friend's shoulder to calm him down, but it was relatively futile.

"If I could, I'd arrest her myself and put her in jail for the rest of her life, that crazy bitch," he swore between his angry lips."

"Jin... you know there's no point in getting mad at Nils for what that woman did," Yomo tried to talk some sense into him.

"I know, and I'm not mad at him! I just don't know what to do about him and his extreme sensitivity to others' feelings... If only he could control his feelings and stop feeling sorry for her! All this could be avoided if he wasn't so easily manipulated because of his sensitivity!"

"And Nils knows it and he blames himself! He is the first victim in this situation, I remind you! So there's no need to make him feel bad when he's with us. We're here to support him, not to make him feel worse, don't you think?"

Jin looked away. Yomo didn't insist. He knew he wasn't doing it willingly and that something inside him made him lose control when it came to Nils. He talked about controlling his feelings when he himself had a big problem controlling his in this situation... The idea made Yomo smile. Everyone had their lot after all! Being a human being with feelings and emotions to deal with on a daily basis was by far one of the most challenging tasks in life...

"I'll talk to him, don't worry. You know he's not really mad at you. Just keep in mind that Nils is the one in need of our help and that it won't do good if you behave like this each time something related to Inja happens. He'll just grow wary of you."

Jin nodded. His friend was right, he had to learn how to control himself at all costs. For the sake of his friendship with Nils, he needed to do it.

Yomo stood up and put a comforting hand on his shoulder to give him courage. He knew well what his friend was going through as he had issues dealing with his emotions when he was a teen. But Jin was a grown-up already, he trusted him. His friend smiled at him thankfully.

"Let's go to the library, we need to work on those assignments due for next week."

Jin sighed and followed him. Assignments don't care about your moods. They had to be done, no matter what. It was the cruel reality of student life no one could avoid.