Air Touched - A Dragon Tribe Origin

Chapter Twenty-Four - Jae

Tea wasn't a drink he normally enjoyed. Tolerated for the sake of formalities, and the health perks were certainly wonderful. If given the choice, he preferred coffee or soda. Having an elaborate tea party in the Great Gardens in uptown Aero City was definitely the last thing on his list of things to do again in his life. For Ijn, he had been willing to suffer through the ordeal. Ijn was supposed to make it fun and interesting. Instead, he found himself suffering through just spending time with her.

"Thank you for the flower," she whispered—again. If she ran out of things to say, which she did often, she brought the conversation back to the silk rose he'd brought as her gift.

Jae took a long sip of his tea, doing everything he could to hold himself back so he didn't lose his temper. Not an easy task. "Like I said, you're welcome. I think I've said that a few times. Are you looking for a new response?"

"What? N-no!"

Oops. Shouldn't have even tried to be funny today. She's petrified of me. The scent of sour grapes penetrated his nostrils to the point where even the tea wasn't able to mask it. One advantage to being a dragon allowed him to smell strong emotions from anyone. Most of the time, he ignored how people felt. Being able to use it on his date with Ijn was supposed to give him a leg up on their date since he couldn't figure out what he'd done wrong. Nothing about her smell explained that, either.

He set the cup down and gazed off to the side. "Just curious since you keep asking me. Wasn't sure if you were expecting me to say something else, so we go in circles until the right answer comes."

"No, I..." She lowered her gaze. "You just don't look happy to be here."

"I'm not," he said honestly.

Her lower lip trembled and the soft aroma of plumb wafted toward him now. Sadness. "Oh. I thought, you know, since you're...well...you, that perhaps the gardens might be your style. They're so beautiful. I could paint here all day. So many colors."

"I just see a lot of green," he mumbled.

"Yes, but there are so many different kinds of green!"

Jae sat up straighter then, eager to hear more about all of the shades of green he was missing out on.

Rather than go on, Ijn bit her lip and took a sip of tea. "I'll have to come back on my own. After we're married, I mean. I couldn't afford to make the trip now."

Sighing, he stirred some more milk into his cup. Only because he needed something to do so he didn't stare at her completely dumbfounded. "So you picked the Great Gardens because you thought I'd like them more since they're fancy and sophisticated?"

"I thought you might be more comfortable here than at a coffee shop," she mumbled. "My father thought so too, and he said your father approved of it more than—"

Jae rolled his eyes. "And you let them boss you around?"

"I don't want to displease you."

"The point of this date was to do something you wanted to do," he reminded her.

She nodded. "And I've always wanted to see the Great Gardens, so it still works for that as well. I didn't realize you would be so miserable, though."

"It'd be less miserable if we actually had something to talk about," he snapped. Instantly, he regretted it. Tears were welling in her eyes, and any second they were going to spill. If there was one way to make him feel guilty, causing someone to cry was it.

He'd been hoping she'd respond, get mad, and give him a reaction, a way for him to connect with her. All she did was hiccup and sniffle, her eyes wide as if she couldn't believe he'd ever feel angry. The wounded puppy gaze made it that much worse.

"I mean, I don't understand," he said, searching for a way to express what he was feeling in a less aggressive way. "The other night, we just...flowed. You know? Today, it's like I'm pulling your hair to get you to say anything to me. I mean, anything worthwhile. We were sort of getting there. Don't stop."

"If I'd known you hated it here so much..."

"You said you wanted to come here for you, right?"

She nodded again, so slow, so timid. "A girl like me only ever dreams of being able to come here. Such an activity isn't exactly in our price range. There are other things to spend the money on like my sister's schooling, bills, and things to keep the home up to social standards. Stuff you probably don't care about and think is silly. However, if we didn't then I wouldn't be here with you today."

Jae wasn't sure how to respond. She was right, he knew that much. He didn't understand much of her perspective because he'd never been in her position before. All of the things he wanted he got with the snap of his fingers. The fights he had with his father were never about being unable to afford Jae's activities, or even about the greater consequences that would fall upon the family if he disobeyed. The social repercussions only added intrigue and mystery to Jae's public persona—attracted unwanted attention. There was probably other negative fallout that he didn't notice, or rather, refused to see. What struck him the most about what Ijn said was how his life was her dream come true.

"Is that how you see me?" he finally asked after a long moment of quiet.

"What do you mean?" She frowned.

"A fantasy, a dream, not a real person," he said, his voice shaking. With anger or sadness, he couldn't quite tell. Whatever he was feeling, it was a lot stronger than he could control.

Ijn's frown deepened. "Of course you're a real person, Jae. You've shown me plenty of times today how flawed you are. It is, however, unrealistic of you to expect me to not be amazed at all the glamour of your life. If you think I'm using you in order to have a piece of it, then you're greatly mistaken. I happen to like that you're so messed up!" She glared at him for a few seconds, and he felt his heart beat faster, enjoying the heat of her inner emotions. Those were real, potent, and beautiful. He waited, wanting more of her tirade. Then, as if she realized what she'd just done, she slapped her hands over her mouth and shook her head. "I-I'm s-sorry."

"Yes, having independent thought is such a horrible thing," he seethed. "Do you think I care that you disagree with me? Because I don't. Now I see why my dad likes you so much. All you care about is what other people think of you. Being with me is just another shiny trophy to display to prove to your low self-esteem that you're a person of value." He felt nauseous just thinking about it. "I have to go."

She stood slowly. "T-that's...I-I...N-no...Y-you see..."

"A-are y-you g-gonna s-spit it out?" he sneered. Not his finest moment, but self-control was now completely out the window.

More tears fell down her cheeks. "Y-you're horrible!" She threw the flower at him before fleeing.

The right thing for him to do would have been to run after her, apologize, and find a way to make it better. All he could feel was numb and sick, and the combination of the two kept him frozen in his chair gazing at the gap in the trimmed hedges that she'd left through. Half of him aching for her to come back, and the other half of him breaking at the thought that she might not love him but rather, the idea of him. I can't believe I was stupid enough to believe Dad would pick someone based on my interests rather than his agenda. In the end, Ijn cared more about being acceptable than being honest—just like Hyun.

That was the part that hurt the most. Unfortunately, Ijn was the one who was going to be punished the most for the deception his father committed.