Arrogant Man VS Unyielding Woman

Zed hurriedly rushed out after Jean had ran off, and before long, he saw her figure running outside of the house.

With anxiety building inside of him, he quickened his pace with all his might, trying to catch up after her and explain to her what really happened.

"Jean!" He shouted as he kept running after her. He was already losing his breath, but the adrenaline rush kept him going. When he noticed that Jean was about to cross the road, his eyes widened at the thought that anytime then a car might pass by and place her in danger. "Jean, stop! Please, listen to me! I beg you! It's not what you think it was! Please, let me explain. Jean!"

However, Jean didn't seem to hear him and continued to madly run away from him without even looking back.

Realizing that his desperate screams might irritate Jean more, Zed decided to shut his mouth and placed all his energy towards accelerating, hoping to catch up with her in the shortest distance.

'Ten meters...' he estimated, motivating himself to run faster. 'Eight meters... Six meters...'

He was now getting closer and closer behind Jean that he could now hear her heavy footsteps on the concrete. Hearing Zed's footsteps drawing closer to her, Jean felt flustered. Her legs were already going to give up, and she knew that even though she kept running, Zed would finally catch up with her, so she stopped. She turned around and saw him running towards her. With a furious look, she shouted enough for him to hear,"Don't you come near me!"

Zed felt a pang of ache in his heart after he saw the look on Jean's face. She was looking at him with disappointment, anger, and sadness all visible in her eyes. Afraid that she might do something irrational, he obeyed and stopped just a few more steps in front of her. Panting, he cried out to her. "Okay, I'm stopping, but please, let me explain, Jean. I, too, was really surprised about what Jesse did. I didn't know ..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Jean interrupted him with conviction. "Stop explaining, Zed! It's no use. We have nothing to talk about." Tears started to fill her eyes as she was now facing him. She felt so heartbroken, and in a desperate voice, she cried, "I trusted you a lot of times, but what happened? You took advantage of the chances I have given you, and used them to let me down again and again. I decided not to trust in you anymore, and I even regretted forgiving you the first time after seeing you sleep together."

Jean felt really downhearted. She couldn't believe that he could still do this to her after all that had happened between them. She truly thought that he loved her to the point that she was the only one he was going to treat intimately.

"Am I so treacherous in your heart, Jean?" Zed scowled at her for mentioning what had happened deep in the past. He felt so helpless at that moment that he didn't know what to do to make her listen. Shaking his head, he continued to say, "You don't want to listen to my explanation, so what should I do to make you believe in me again?"

Jean shook her head, as she felt her tears flow endlessly down her cheeks. "Your efforts would be futile now. Regardless of whatever you do or say, nothing would bring back my trust for you anymore." Closing her eyes, she kept shaking her head as she said those words, hoping that she could erase the awful scene that she had just witnessed a few minutes ago. However, her efforts could not prevail for it kept popping in her mind, making her feel worse than she already was. Since she realized that she would never forget it, she concluded that she would never believe in Zed anymore.

Jean's expression and resolute tone made Zed so apprehensive that he couldn't wait to walk towards her and wipe her tears away. Wondering why he didn't respond, Jean opened her eyes to see him about to walk towards her so she raised a hand against him, gesturing for him to stop. In a firm voice, she threatened him. "Don't you ever come over, or I will bang my head against that wall!"

Zed turned to the wall that Jean was referring to. They were surrounded by extravagant villas and each were enclosed by high walls made of different types of premium materials.

Jean was pointing to a wall made of marble, making Zed turn to look at her as if she was insane.

Feeling a sharp pain in his heart once more, Zed closed his eyes, sighing, and in a distressed tone, he asked,"Jean, why are you doing this? Does it make you feel better torturing me with your threat?"

Jean glared at him, piercing his sorry eyes, and sneered. "Feel better?" She pointed an index finger towards him. "You are the one who messed this all up! Honestly, I don't even know why I bother to waste time talking to you. Just let me go, and go back to your childhood sweetheart, so both of you can continue whatever you two have already started!"

After saying that with furious hand gestures, Jean turned around and continued to run away from him without hesitation.

Zed felt like he got stabbed straight into the heart by a dull knife with each word that Jean had said. Coming back to his senses after seeing her figure running away from him, he shook all his pain away and replaced it with determination. A voice inside of him reminded him to not give up, and that whatever it took, he must not let her go. Not now, not ever. Or else, the misunderstanding between them would grow worse and more serious like a wound left untreated. He couldn't let this reach the point where the damage would go beyond repair. With these thoughts in mind fueling him to run quicker, Zed continued to follow her track, thinking about ways on how to stop her and prayed that she would have an open mind, so that the misunderstanding between them would be cleared.

Meanwhile, Jean could feel Zed catching up behind her, so she panicked and quickened her pace, running with all the energy she had within her.

She tried to ignore the fact that her stamina was slowly failing her, but she wasn't going to give up just yet. 'But then again, how could a weak woman like me outrun a strong man like Zed?'

she thought. Moreover, Zed was determined to catch up after her, and he certainly had placed all his energy and strength in his pursuit of Jean.

As expected, Jean felt a hand grabbed her arm from behind.

Without hesitation, Zed immediately wrapped his arms tightly around Jean, not willing to let her go no matter how much she struggled to get rid of him. He had her in his arms now, and there was no way he was going to make her run away from him again. Annoyed, Jean thrashed around Zed's grasp. She shouted at him in frustration, "Let go of me!"

"I won't!" With a resolute expression, Zed replied at her back.

Catching her breath still, Jean was exasperated. She felt her face flush in anger. "You're really not going to let me go, are you?"

"Yes," he replied stubbornly and wrapped his arms around her more tightly but not to the point that his grasp would hurt her.

As she lost every ounce of energy in her, Jean closed her eyes and stopped making efforts to struggle in Zed's tight grasp. She took this time to breathe and make up her mind. Zed thought that Jean's action meant that she was finally willing to listen to him, but he thought wrong when he felt pain surging through him from the back of his hand. "Ouch! What the "The sting on his hand made Zed gasp silently and he turned pale.

Jean had bitten the little flesh on the back of Zed's hand, softly with reluctance at first, but she now bit with all her strength, since Zed still wrapped her firmly. Pain kept coursing throughout Zed's body as Jean didn't stop just yet.

Tasting something metallic, Jean stopped and saw the blood oozing out at the back of his hand.

Although she was still annoyed at him, she couldn't bear to bite him any longer.

Finally, she gave up and unclenched her teeth, shocked that she had wounded Zed up to that point. Feeling drained and helpless, she felt completely distressed and collapsed.

Fortunately, Zed was still holding her in his arms. Otherwise, she might have fallen to the hard ground. He knelt to the ground slowly and laid her on his legs, her head resting on his arm.

"Oh, Jean..." Wiping her tears, Zed cried. A spurge of grief rushed through him after he felt the fragility of his wife.

Jean responded with inconsolable sobs, making Zed more heart broken than he already was moments ago. Silence enveloped them except Jean's silent cries.

"I - I'm sorry, Jean," he said a moment later, not knowing what else to say but apologize. "I am sincerely sorry. If you are still upset and want to release your anger, you can continue biting me or hurt me anyway you want." Zed hastily reached the throbbing back of his hand in front of Jean.

Jean opened her eyes still full of tears. After seeing Zed's bloody hand, she couldn't help but cry louder.

Zed's eyes widened, not expecting that his efforts to comfort her made her feel worse. Flustered, he begged in a trembling voice, "Oh, Jean, please, don't cry! I'm sorry. It's all my fault! I promised that I would keep my distance from Jesse, and believe me, I really kept my promise.

But I didn't expect that Jesse would be so miserable, after she told me that she would be leaving in two days and didn't know when we will meet again. She also told me that she was aware that it was her fault why we were always at stake, and for that she apologized before bidding me farewell," he paused, looking down at Jean who was listening at him.

"To make up for all the troubles that she had caused us, she said that instead of leaving in two days, she would leave immediately. I saw in her eyes how tormented and wretched she felt that when she reached out her arms to hug me as goodbye I didn't think much about it and hugged her back. However, I really didn't expect that she... that she..."

Zed stopped, unable to finish his trail of words. Helplessly, he heaved a deep sigh and felt the awkward predicament he placed himself in. Seeing that Jean was still weeping, he continued to explain and left his previous sentence for her to finish. "Jean, I know you don't want to believe in what I am saying right now, but you know that Jesse is outgoing and sociable, and since we grew up together to the point that we treated each other as siblings, perhaps, her action just meant that she was going to miss a brother in the form of myself. So, probably..."

Lifting her eyes to face Zed, Jean couldn't believe what he was telling her now. She scoffed, interrupting him, her eyebrows furrowing into a frown. She stared at him in great disbelief and asked, "Probably what?"

Zed took a moment to breathe before speaking whatever thoughts lingered in his mind at that very moment. "Jesse probably didn't mean it that way. She treats me differently than you do."

"Zed, can you hear yourself? Who are you trying to convince here, me or you?" Disappointment flashed on Jean's face as she kept her stare at his helpless eyes that had brimmed with tears a moment ago, but not enough to escape. With a now desperate look on her face, she sobbed, "I don't know why after all this time, you chose to close your eyes, heart and mind. Do I really have to tell it straight to your face that Jesse loves you romantically, and doesn't see you as her brother? Between the two of you, you are the only one who see her as a sister. Are you that na?ve? Can't you feel the way her heart raced when she kissed you in front of me?"