“Jason? He’s utterly irresponsible. All he thinks about is fighting and other forms of violence! How good can a guy like that be? Get Winson to stay away from him in the future. I don’t want him picking up any bad habits from Jason,” Helen remarked disapprovingly.
“I think Jason’s all right. He may have a few bad habits, but he’s good-hearted. He isn’t as foolish as you say he is. I heard Fabian say that he isn’t short on brains either. Whenever anyone tries to get the better of them, Jason’s always right up there with Fabian,” Hannah insisted, determined to clear Jason’s name.
“He told me that too. He came off as rather insufferably arrogant, though,” Helen retorted. Then she turned to Hannah, aghast. “Hannah! You’re not trying to matchmake us, are you? Neither of us will be able to get much peace if we’re together.”
Hannah had had that plan in mind but abruptly terminated it at Helen’s violent rejection. She smiled at Helen awkwardly, saying, “Uh… I wasn’t matchmaking, exactly. He just happened to come up, that’s all.”
“That had better be the case. I’d sooner marry a pig than that man,” Helen fumed. At the thought of Jason’s haughty face, Helen felt an irresistible urge to lash out at something, preferably him.
At that moment, the door swung open yet again, and Fabian entered alone.
“Where’s Jason?” Hannah asked in surprise.
Hmph! That fellow had better stay out of here. Let us have some peace here for once. Helen thought spitefully.
“Jason’s gone to deal with some matters of his own,” Fabian replied casually.
“Does he even have anything to do? I thought all he did was loiter around and run his mouth,” Helen remarked disdainfully.
Jason, who’d walked to the entrance of the hospital, sneezed unwittingly. He chuckled to himself, muttering, “Is someone bitching about me behind my back?”
Another woman, walking past him, glanced at him strangely.
Jason was used to adoring looks, unlike the condescending one he’d just received. Aggrieved, he addressed the woman, “What are you looking at? Haven’t you ever met someone as handsome as me?”
The woman snorted. “Hey there boy, you’re pretty full of yourself.”
Boy?
Jason’s faced turned several shades darker. Infuriated, he drew himself up and challenged, “Who are you calling a boy? Do you think you’re that much better than me?”
“You’ve got a pretty big temper for a small guy,” the woman observed mockingly.
It was an arrow straight through Jason’s heart. “What’s it to you?” he yelled.
“It’s none of my business, of course,” the woman said, shrugging. Kindly, she continued, “Let me give you a piece of advice. Don’t behave so recklessly. You’ll suffer for it.”
Another of those morality preachers! Jason thought in irritation.
Helen and her meddling personality sprang unbidden to Jason’s mind. He stuck out his tongue and said defiantly, “That’s the way I am. What are you going to do about it?”
“Boy, I’m not going to argue with you over something as petty as this. Just try your best to be polite, OK?” the woman said patronizingly with an exasperated look on her face.
“Who’s being impolite? Did your parents teach you to judge people like this?” Jason interrogated her. He absolutely could not endure being called rude by others. When Jason was younger, his father had beat him without hesitation whenever there were comments about Jason’s rudeness.
“Boy, watch how you speak to others. Didn’t your parents teach you any manners? Really, kids nowadays are all so wild! Look at how rudely they speak,” the woman answered curtly. She had evidently taken a dislike to Jason by now.
Jason was on the edge of his tether by then. If it had been a man speaking to him as such, Jason would have answered with his fists long ago. “Look at yourself! You may be older than I am, but you’re just as immature as me. So what if I’m arrogant? What are you going to do about it?”
Vexed, the woman took a deep breath and made as if to speak when her phone rang shrilly from within her handbag. Glaring at Jason, she answered the call, saying, “OK, I’m downstairs. Wait for me. I’ll be heading upstairs in a while.”
