Chapter 169 - Annoying

Harry glanced at Jade who was looking out of the window as he drove the car. It seemed like she was upset with him, as she was yet to say a word to him since he asked her to zip up her shorts. What did he do wrong? He had only pointed out that she had failed to zip up. 

"How are you?" Harry asked after a long while when he could no longer stand the silent treatment.

Pretending not to have heard him, Jade searched through her handbag for her earpod and blocked both ears with them before returning her attention to the window once again. 

Okay! She was making it clear without using words that she was pissed at him. He must have really provoked her, Harry thought with a sigh. It looked like the only thing he seemed to be good at around women was annoying them. Maybe it was best if he just shut up and not speak unless it was absolutely necessary.

Once he returned his attention to the road, Jade sat up on her seat and turned to look at him, "Do you perhaps suffer from DID?"

"DID?" Harry asked in confusion, turning to spare her a glance as he wondered why she suddenly decided to talk to him. 

"Yes. Dissociative identity disorder. I've been trying to figure out how you could sound so pleasant like a normal person over the phone just hours ago, yet have been acting like an A-list jerk since you walked through my door," Jade said, looking at him with undisguised confusion. 

Okay, maybe he deserved that, Harry thought with a sigh. "I'm sorry," He murmured.

Jade looked at him, slightly taken aback by the apology which surprisingly sounded sincere, "I don't care much for your apology, I just want to know if something happened between the time we spoke on the phone and the time it took you to get here," Jade said flatly. 

Harry paused to think about the best way to answer her question, and then he sighed, "Nothing happened. I was just very surprised to see you in that state. I wasn't happy about it. And maybe I was cursed with the misfortune of being blunt, seeing as it is a hassle not to say things exactly the way I see them, no matter how unpleasant," Harry explained, and Jade nodded, as though she was getting what he was saying.

"So it's not like you are angry with me for making you come down here? You just have a problem with sugar-coating your words as most men do," she said thoughtfully, and Harry turned to look at her once again. 

This was one thing he admired about her the first time they talked back then. She was very practical and always leaned more towards logic than her emotions, "Something like that. Besides, this whole thing is awkward so I don't really know how to act around you," Harry confessed, making Jade raise a brow. 

Although she was tempted to ask him to act like the big brother he had claimed he was, but that wasn't the most important argument at the moment, "By this whole thing, I assume you mean living with me?"

Without looking at her he gave her a nod, "Yeah."

"I don't remember asking you to come here. You came here of your own volition, and you can decide to leave now that you have seen that I'm okay," Jade pointed out, sounding harsher than she had intended to. 

"Well, you may not have asked me to, but your brother did," Harry confessed once again, making Jade narrow her eyes at him this time.

"Don't tell me you told him," Jade said, and then her hazel eyes flared angrily when Harry didn't deny it, "Didn't I specifically ask you not to tell him about it?" She hissed at him in annoyance.

Here we go again, Harry thought to himself. For a moment he had thought the conversation was going really well and they were going to start getting along, he should have known that like most women, Jade was bent on fighting with him. 

"Listen, you may have asked me not to tell him, but I never agreed to do that. I'm not going to lie to you or apologize for going against your wish just to make you happy. I hate lies and I don't want to get caught up in them. I'm not going to lie to your elder brother who happens to be my best friend about your wellbeing simply because you asked me not to. I was on the phone with you, and something happened. Your brother deserved to know! I'm not going to apologize for it, so it's best you suck it up," Harry said as he turned to look at her briefly.

"Yeah, right. You should probably be awarded the best friend of the year award! So what are you here as? My babysitter? My bodyguard?" Jade asked in a mocking tone.

"Isn't it obvious, considering how you're acting like a child right now?" Harry fired back, and Jade curled her slender fingers into a fist. 

"You are very annoying, do you know that?" Jade asked, and Harry snorted. 

"In case you haven't gotten the memo yet, I'm not here to please you or make you happy. Keeping you safe and making sure your case goes smoothly is my priority, not your happiness. So I'll suggest you get over your hormones and get your head straight," Harry said in a stiff voice. 

"I never asked for your damn help you jerk, so get lost!" Jade yelled at him angrily. 

"Well, your elder brother did, Princess," Harry informed her calmly, sounding completely unaffected by her outburst. 

Jade huffed angrily on seeing how unaffected he was, and how he had a ready response for everything she said. Choosing not to bother with him anymore, she rested her head on the headrest and shut her eyes, not wanting to talk to him anymore. 

Harry on the other hand shook his head as he kept driving with his eyes on the road.. What did he say this time? He had not even called her ugly or said anything terrible about her appearance, so why was she mad? Was it a crime to be honest? He had only been trying to straighten out things with her, yet she had managed to make it seem like he was a jerk. Women!