Chapter 335 - I hate you (1/2)

”Who told you I'm not jealous?”

Upon those words leaving Zaki's mouth, Hinari was dumbstruck. She blinked more than three times before she could utter a word.

”H-huh? W-what did you say?” Hinari stammered. She was trying to confirm that what she just heard wasn't in her imagination. She stared at him with wide eyes and Zaki's gaze was still deep and unfathomable. However, this time, the way he looked at her was much more intense than ever. His eyes were like a clear blue lake, enchantingly calm and clear yet bottomless. She just couldn't see what exactly those eyes were telling her.

Looking at him, Hinari's heart began to race when the man didn't reply. She could swear she heard those words but somehow, she just found it quite unbelievable.

What is this guy up to? Is he serious? Is he just testing me?

Unable to figure out what was going on, Hinari decided not to expect anything in the end. Well, she had always been a pessimist in the first place. Hinari was the type of person who always chose to expect nothing from someone else. This way, she wouldn't be disappointed.

Since she was a little girl, her life had been filled with one betrayal after another. Even her very own flesh and blood had abandoned her, causing her to lose her trust in almost everyone. She learned that in order for someone like her to avoid getting hurt again, she would have to expect the worst from everyone, or expect nothing at all. Truth be told, when Hinari met her best friend, Davi, in high school, she already expected her to be just like everyone else. She expected her to pretend to be a friend at the beginning and then gradually become a backstabber or a stranger when she didn't need Hinari anymore. She prepared herself, expecting the worse, so that when that worst case scenario happened, she wouldn't be caught off guard and it would be easy to just say the words 'as expected, I was right all along'. However, when Hinari's negative expectations didn't happen, she was so happy like she had flown to the moon and back and was surprised to the core.

Hinari truly believed that too much optimism would only give nothing but heartache. She believed that too much expectation would only give you pain. She already learned her lesson so she wouldn't purposely push herself to fall down the same pit again.

”Are you perhaps trying to test me, huh, Mr. Chen? Are you saying these words to provoke me or something since I'm not allowed to flirt as of now?” Hinari spoke again. Her voice was somehow, calm and void with anything mischievous.

However, the words she said caused Zaki to slightly crease his brows.

”You think I'm kidding?” He finally replied and Hinari immediately answered.

”Well, I just don't want to get my hopes up.”

”Because you're afraid your expectation will be wrong?”

”Hmm… That's correct so there's no point denying it. I'd rather be a pessimist and expect a storm so I can prepare myself for it than being an optimist, expecting sunshine just to end up being caught off guard by the storm. Of course, the good thing is that if you expected a storm but the day is actually filled with sunshine instead, won't you be surprised and overjoyed?”

Hinari's words were somewhat heavy. Zaki could clearly notice the change in her tone. Hearing her, he finally began to understand why this girl is acting the way she is all this time.