7.3 Friendship

"Because you always think something behind your actions, contrary to what you say! It didn't take me long to figure you out, I know girls like you well. You'll do anything to get what you want regardless of other people's feelings."

"You're hard to treat me like that, I didn't do anything wrong to you! Why do you always make me out to be the bad girl? Don't you think you're being unfair to me?" she protested with an excessively vexed pout.

Unable to take it anymore, the third year slowly placed both hands on either side of the table and leaned in so that he was only a few inches from her face.

"You keep circling me like a bee circling a pollen-filled flower!" he whispered, his breath caressing her face as he stood so close to her, looking menacing. "I think I've made myself clear, haven't I? I like men, I'm gay, I'm not bi, I'm not interested in women in any way, and I'm sick of being annoyed all day long by pests like you who can't understand that sexual orientation is something you don't choose or impose on someone. I'm sick of women who take all their desires for realities because they have all the straight men at their feet. So get it through your head: if you have a vagina I'm not interested in you! Have I made myself clear?"

A tense silence settled over the room. Unable to utter a word, the young woman could not take her eyes off Yomo. Completely captivated by his intense green eyes burning with unfeigned anger, she felt the intimidation sweeping over her reach a peak, preventing her from reacting. Faced with such a direct reaction, she could no longer hide behind her mask of hypocrisy. Behind her denial. She found herself facing the limit of her caprice: reality was catching up with her and she found herself helpless. Her objective of the moment might well be unattainable, and she was just realizing it... The latter finally got up, letting her breathe again, and headed towards the exit with a determined step.

"Wait! Yomo! If you don't do this session with me I'll tell Neti who you left without keeping your promise!" she said quickly, standing up before he walked out the door for good and she had no chance to get her hands on him.

She had given everything to have this opportunity, between getting close to Neti whom she found deeply annoying, and tracking the third year's schedule to find out exactly where she could run into him, she was willing to do anything to get what represented the ultimate conquest: the most popular man in the faculty. And her deeply egocentric temperament did not give her the chance to fail. She had to go out with Yomo, no matter what. And she would put everything she had into it. The wall that separated her desires from fiction had shaken with the third year's outburst, but her obsession had kept it in place in the end.

Yomo stopped, his hand on the door handle. He swore inwardly. This kind of woman was definitely what he hated most. The kind who was incapable of letting go. But he was stuck. He was angry at Neti for setting him up like this, but he didn't want to break his word either after the talk they'd just had. Sighing heavily, he retraced his steps and threw his bag on the table beside the student.

"I'm doing this tutoring session for you, and after that, I never want to hear from you again, is that clear?

With a triumphant look on her face, she nodded vigorously and assured him that she would never bother him again.

"Of course! As if a manipulator like you would ever let it go!" thought Yomo quietly. He knew that it was completely useless to fight against that kind of person. He might as well make her think she was winning, so she would leave him alone. And that was all he wanted.

---

Neti stood in front of Nils' flat door, a box of fried chicken wings in one bag, beer in another. She knocked on the door and waited. When no one came, she knocked again and finally heard footsteps approaching. A few seconds passed before she heard the lock open and Jin's head appeared in the doorway.

"I brought some fried chicken and beer..."

She moved to enter the flat saying this when she realized that Jin wasn't stepping aside to let her in. She suddenly stopped and took a few steps back, looking at her friend with incomprehension.

"Nils is sleeping, I don't want to wake him up. You can come back tomorrow if you want.

His cold answer made the young woman lose her smile.

"Jin? But... Yomo may not have told you, but we talked and he told me everything about your involvement with the Gyriad.... "

"And?"

Neti stumbled. She didn't understand the boy's behavior at all. If Yomo agreed to involve her, didn't that mean that the others would accept her too? She was confused.

"Well, I'm here to talk about this with you and make sure Nils is okay..."

Jin looked at her for a moment, seeming to think of the best way to approach the problem.

"Look Neti, just because Yomo feels terrible about leaving you out and is okay with including you in this whole thing doesn't mean I'm okay with it. I don't regret our decision to leave you out at all and I don't see why we should change that now that you've found out what's been going on."

"But, I..."

"I think you're mistaken about something, Net. The friendship between Yomo, Nils, and I has nothing to do with the friendship between you and the three of us. I don't see any problem with putting you aside, because for me that is the value of our friendship. You are not part of what we share, so stay out of it."

With that, Jin closed the door, leaving behind a stunned Neti. So shocked by what she had just heard, she had been unable to get out a word before the door closed on her. Distraught, she made her way to the lift with uncertain steps, still trying to realise what had just happened. She had just been rejected by Jin in a very straightforward way. And if Jin rejected her like that, it would be impossible for her to reach Nils, since Jin was the bulwark that protected Nils. What she wanted was to see Nils. She went to her flat with a discouraged look on her face.