The thing is, Jake knows he's self-centered at heart.
It never used to bother him, or at least, he told himself it didn't. And that didn't take much effort, either, because why should he give a shit about other people in a world where no-one left gave a shit about him? As far as he was concerned, people couldn't be trusted. Things like kindness and selflessness - they were just masks that hid the faces of traitors, people who refused to be honest; be it with him or with themselves.
In contrast, a nice, transactional relationship was something far more reliable. And yeah, maybe a few nice people might end up getting hurt by him because of that - but if it hadn't been him, it just would've been someone else, right? The people who paid him weren't people who'd stop just because he told them no.
In hindsight, it's starkly obvious just how much those cheap lines were nothing more than excuses. Probably, he'd known that all along, but it was only when Sherry came along that he'd been forced to confront the person he'd become, and how that man was someone he didn't like. But... even now, has he really changed all that much? Jake has his doubts. If all he wants is to be able to look at himself in the mirror, and for Sherry to see him with something other than disgust, then it's still ultimately selfishness driving him, isn't it?
Maybe that's fine. Maybe not. It's easy to shove it to the side when he isn't hanging around in a place like this, but here... here, everyone's got a look in their eye when they see him - like he's something dirty - that makes it obvious that the man they're really seeing isn't him at all.
"I've heard about you. You're that Jill that Redfield mentioned, aren't you?" Jake speaks first, not bothering to wait and see if she's the same as the rest of them. "I'd say sorry to show up uninvited like this, but... I bet you knew I was coming anyway."
@forgotten-retrouvaille ( starter! )










