asshole
The bite to Noa’s words was quickly chipping away at his calm demeanour about this unexpected meeting. He mentally told himself to inhale through his nose and exhale through his mouth, an exercise that multiple anger management classes had drilled into his head. He said it like a mantra internally, trying his best to focus on those lame, stereotypical images of serene beaches to quell the fight in him. It didn’t relax his tensed jaw even in the slightest, instead only furthering to lock it in place. He released a shaky breath, turning his head to break the look of utter disbelief he was aiming at her. “No,” he said simply, with a hardened edge to it. After everything she accused him of, and how easily she had walked away from both of them with no explanation, she shouldn’t be doing this to Jasmin. He wouldn’t be able to deal with the 21 Questions when he brought her home.
“I live here,” he mirrored her tone, slightly mocking her voice as he glared at her. It brought a bad taste to his mouth and his lips when he moistened them with his tongue. He’d never spoken to Noa in that manner before, and it felt wrong to do that to her, but he was willing to say anything in the heat of the situation to either drive her away or rile her up to gain a reaction. It was his form of a defence mechanism, built up the barriers and push them away - that was his way, but never with Noa - she always had a way of tearing down his defences.
But she also knew how to press his buttons. The most fake smile was placed on his face as Noa fussed over his little sister, and she loved every moment of it. Innocent dark eyes shone with excitement at the mention of ice cream. “Can we go, can we?” she asked her older brother, who was gritting his teeth. “No, Jasmin,” he barked at her, unintentionally. Releasing his hold on her, “Just–go over and play on the swings or something.” The smile had fallen right off her face, but Jasmin didn’t question the tone he had used with her. One of her friends from school was there with his dad, so the little girl went back over. Tearing his eyes off his ex-girlfriend, he gave a nod to the dad who shot him one back, signalling he was watching the two kids play.
Turning back to the brunette, he exhaled sharply. “Don’t drag her into whatever the hell you’re trying to pull here, Noa,” he warned her, his voice dangerously low. “You can hate my guts all you want, I don’t care,” he added, his voice convincing enough. It was a lie he had trained himself to almost believe, but he had the delivery down to a T. “But don’t do that shit to her when you’re just gonna disappear like you did before.” It came out harsher than he intended, but he had lost his filter thanks to the rage bubbling in him.
She starred blankly at him. ‘I live here’ weren’t the words she expected to listen to him. Three words and nine letters that crushed her soul. She didn’t want him there. There was just so much else ─ much else for him somewhere else. Noa just wanted him gone. She breathed deeply as she tried to maintain her calmness. The mockery was testing her. She had passed all the tests ─ denial, angry, bargain, and even acceptance, although it was up to discussion. She felt just like that she was backt at the two stages and Kash was proud to take her there. ‘You don’t,” she said categorically. She had been living in Luciole for two years. Akash wasn’t part of it.
The excitement of the young girl was contagious. She wanted to please her little sister. Now that they were together, she wanted to make sure that the girl didn’t feel left behind. She could have not been perfect, but Noa tried. As Akash told her to go to the swings,reluctantly, Jasmin followed the orders, which got an eye roll from Noa. The girl, however, followed her big brother and Noa respected that. She would follow her big brothers if she had the chance. She watched Jasmin go play on the swings, before her eyes drift back to Akash.
Her blood quickly started to boil as he passed his severe judgement over her ─ as if he was the innocent soul and she was guilty, as if he wasn’t the person who drove her away. “I just disappeared?” She asked sarcastically before she burst into laughter. “I was set to go to Yale, but I guess you know what happened, don’t you?” She hissed angrily, under her breathing as she didn’t want to cause a commotion (not for his benefit, but for herself). “If you have to pin your guilty on me to make yourself feel better, fine, because I know that you are probably a hypocrite that is judging me, but didn’t tell your sister that it was your own damn fault. However, if you are planning to stay here── I will get close to Jasmin. I love her. And you are just an annoying obstacle.” She finished with disdain. She wasn’t the best role model for anyone, but surely she could change it.
