“Fine! It’s because you’re dumb. I told you to move backward! Look! This is back!” I shouted. We’d been bickering for more than an hour, but Kinn wasn’t giving up easily. He kept going back to exchange more money for more coins. And neither of us managed to win even one stuffed animal!
I pulled at my hair. “Argh! I can’t take it anymore!” Fuck, I couldn’t even get one stupid prize!
“If you’re so bad at it, just buy one!” Kinn shouted at me.
“Someone like you has always had it easy, huh?” I shouted back. “You don’t know what trying is!”
“If you add up all the coins we put in, you could buy a hundred of these things!”
“And if you buy them, then there’s nothing to be proud of! You can drown in your defeat and keep throwing money at it—I’m not playing anymore! I’m going home!” I marched out, angrier than I’d ever been. Nothing had gone to plan today, so of course I was frustrated—plus, I had a loudmouth like Kinn ordering me around. It drove me batshit watching him try to prove that he was good at everything when he obviously wasn’t! Argh!
If anyone knew I was getting so worked up over a claw machine, they’d probably pity me… Why did I get so frustrated over something so dumb? Kill me!
I walked ahead of Kinn all the way to the car. As soon as he unlocked my door, I slumped into the seat. It was over, it was all over!
Not only did I have no idea what I was doing, I didn’t know how I wanted Kinn to feel around me. Excited, challenged, eager to discover the depths of my personality…? Right now, all I wanted was for him to be happy.
When Kinn got in, he was silent for a moment before he said, “I’m sorry.”
I tried to calm down, not saying anything.
“Sorry,” Kinn sighed, pulling my head toward him. “I’ll do better on our next date.”
My head snapped up to look at him. “What date?!”
“I knew you were trying to take me out on a date… I screwed up. I took it too seriously. The machine was rigged, I couldn’t grab anything, and I got angry.” Kinn stroked my cheek gently.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t—”
Kinn pressed his lips to mine before I could finish my sentence.
“Next time, I’ll take you somewhere nicer. And more fun,” Kinn promised. Both of his hands stroked my cheeks as he continued to press gentle kisses to my lips.
“But I don’t want claw machines or ice cream again… No movies, either,” I said, frowning. Kinn laughed and pulled me in for a hug.
I didn’t know why I’d done any of this today or why I listened to Madam Yok’s advice in the first place, but I liked myself when I was with Kinn. I didn’t have to hold back my emotions, and even if Kinn yelled back at me, he always made up for it in the end.
And I liked it when Kinn had to lower his voice with me, like he knew that he lost and I won. I felt kinda vindicated, heh.