My eyebrows furrowed. "What're you saying? I told you I have nothing to say to you!"
"I can't let you walk around the street in these clothes. You have to come with me."
I looked at him as if he had gone insane. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"
"I'm not asking for your permission." He said, as he grabbed my arms and started to drag me with him, towards his car.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! I can take care of myself! You don't fucking need to look out-" I kicked on his knees. He staggered a bit and his grip on me loosened. I took it as a chance to run but he took hold of me from behind, lifting me up and wrapping his arms around me tightly.
"Don't touch me! Leave me alone! I don't want to stay one more minute with you!" I kicked him from behind, missing it altogether but when I kicked him again, I heard him wince in pain.
"What's fucking wrong with you?! Just stay still for-" I heard him say before he hissed in pain as I kicked him once again. "Keep these fucking legs to yourself, Scarlett, I swear I'm gonna-" I succeeded in freeing myself of his grip but when I attempted to run, my ankle twisted. I fell on the ground, like a peacock, as the furs of my dress got soaked in mud.
Now it was my turn to hiss in pain as my kneecaps got scratched deep and the blood started to flow from the fresh wound. I lifted my palm to see the trail of blood lining the white peeled skin and my fingers were shaking with the cold and injury.
"I told you to stay still! See what you got yourself into-" He came forward to help me out but I retracted myself away from him. "You're wounded-" He touched my knee, running his fingertips over the cut.
"Don't touch me! It's all because of you!" I said, tears welling up in my eyes, seeing the state I ended up into, in just a few hours.
"I just wanted to help you-"
"I don't need your help! Everything had been going wrong in my life since the day I met you! Now I know why I hate you! It's because you make people around you suffer like hell-" I attempted to get up, placing my wounded palms on the ground but winced as soon as I put my weight over them. "And you never help them when they need your help!"
"But you don't let me help you-"
"Shut up! I don't need your help!" I yelled, getting up. But when I took one step, I stumbled back due to the sprain in my ankle.
I felt Heath come towards me to help me but I glared at him, making him stop in his tracks. When I took another step, my left ankle twisted painfully and I shrieked as I lost my balance. I closed my eyes, flailing my arms like dolphin to cover my fall.
My jaw collided with something bony and muscular, and I could taste salty blood in my tongue. I opened my eyes to see Heath supporting my weight, his arms around my waist. He pulled me upright, making me wrap my arms around his neck.
"You hate me because you never learn." He said, holding my back protectively.
Great. Just great. The worst level of humiliation I'm facing today!
"I hate you for the reasons I don't know." I whispered, staring into his eyes as he took out the wet handkerchief from his pocket and started to wipe the dirt from my cheek.
He stopped in the middle to stare at my lips, hesitating at first, before putting the cloth over them, rubbing the side of my mouth gently with it.
I moaned low in my throat as the wet cloth made contact with the cut at the corner of my neck. He stiffened at the sound and immediately retracted his hand from my throat.
I could see the faint blush lining his cheek, his ears were red and he scratched his head in nervousness. Embarrased, I removed my hands from around his neck only to wrap them around him again when I attempted to walk again.
"I think you can't walk." He said, his arms around my back.
"I think you think wrong. I can manage on my own." I unwrapped my arms around him but he didn't let go of my back.
"You're being stubborn again. You need my help."
"If it was anyone else, I'd have said yes. But not you. Now leave my back."
"Why do you keep on lowering me?!"
"Because I...Because I...I don't know."
"And now you're even crying? Do you hate me that much, Hazel?!" He said, looking the tears in my eyes and I wondered how he could distinguish my tears from among the drops of the rain.
"Please don't take my name! I don't like it-"
"Hazel. Hazel. Hazel. Hazel. I'd take your name anytime anywhere I want! I'd make it my alarm tune and would wake up to it everyday-"
"It's not funny!"
"I'm not kidding!"
"I'm not talking to you. Now let me go!"
"You're not going out alone in the middle of the night."
"Stop pretending to care! I'm hurt enough already!"
"It's really dangerous out there, Scarlett. Why don't you understand?We can just go to my apartment where you can change your clothes and you'll be good to go."
"I'd hurl a taxi-"
"Fuck the taxi! Hell why don't you ever follow anything I say! I'm saying it for your sake-"
"I don't need your care!"
"Like I said, I'm not asking your permission."
"You can't force me into doing anything-" I yelled as he lifted me off the ground, making me yelp in surprise and I kicked him again, yelling at him to put me down.
"You never learn!" Angry, he pulled me around the corner, and backed me up against the wall harshly.
Again. It did hurt how he had been handling me this whole night. As if I wasn't any woman to begin all this.
As if I were just some thing. And It pained me to see how he handled other women with delicacy and care while he always treated me differently, always lowered me and ordered me around like a maid.
I knew this was my job but I needed to be respected as well. I couldn't keep on doing something which insulted me and my capabilities to live as a normal person in this mocking society where middle class persons would always be treated with contempt and disdain.
"I don't want to-" I said, pushing him away by chest, preventing him from getting closer to my body.
"I told you to shut up already!" He yelled at me with the intensity of his voice I never heard him utter before.
Before I knew, tears were starting to well up again in my eyes, producing stinging tension in my nose.
"I just don't want to be with you." I whispered, making him look at me.
"Why're you behaving like this-" His eyes softened at my words, and he put his left hand on my cheeks, stroking it lightly with his thumbpads.
"Because you've changed. A lot. I just don't like you anymore!"
