(Timeline: Week 3 Thursday)
Hanson was driving to the bar. Kexing was seated on the passenger side. Unknown to himself, Kexing was breathing rather loudly. Hanson tried to ignore it, but after about 10 minutes, he stopped the car.
"Get out." Hanson said flatly.
"What?" Kexing asked, surprised.
"You obviously feel very uncomfortable going. So get out of the car. I'm going on my own."
"I'm not ... uncomfortable... Why would you say that?"
"YOU HAVE BEEN HYPERVENTILATING FOR TEN FUCKING MINUTES!!!" Hanson shouted, angry again. Some people just have a talent provoking him.
"I have?"
"I don't want you to have a heart attack and die in my car! GET OUT NOW!" Hanson screamed at Kexing.
"I... I..."
"NOWWW!!!" Hanson repeated and smashed his fist at the steering wheel. He was ready to punch Kexing at any moment.
"I am not getting out!" Kexing yelled back at Hanson.
This was the first time Kexing raised his voice at Hanson. No matter how many times Hanson kicked Kexing's butt at work, Kexing never fought back, but this time, he did. He was determined. Hanson never saw that side of Kexing. He always thought that Kexing was too mellow, letting people step all over him, unable to stand up for himself.
They stared at each other angrily for almost a full minute.
Kexing was so determined he didn't blink at all during that minute. Finally, Hanson had to blink so he turned to look out the driver's window.
It was Hanson who broke the silence first. Although he used a calm voice, his rage behind the voice was apparent.
"I work 3 jobs. I don't get many days off. Or nights off. You're ruining my night off. I was supposed to go to the bar and then go home. You're making things unnecessarily complicated. Do you know that?"
"... I ... I don't ... want you to go..."
"Why? I go there all the time! What's the big deal!? Tons of people go there!"
"I don't want you to go there!"
"I have the right to go anywhere I want. Do anything I want. Who are you to decide what I can and what I cannot do?"
"I just don't want you to go there, ok!?"
"Then I'll go somewhere else, there are many bars like that. It doesn't have to be the Hawaii bar."
"That's not what I mean!!" Kexing raised his voice again.
"THEN WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" Hanson yelled, infuriated.
"I... I don't ... want you to ... to ... to... "
"TO WHAT?" Hanson screamed. He gripped his steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. He was no longer able to contain his anger.
"FINE!" Kexing shouted back.
"FINE WHAT !!??" Hanson shouted louder.
"YOU GO THERE FOR SEX, RIGHT???"
"YES!!!"
"THEN I'LL HAVE SEX WITH YOU!!!"
Hanson's jaw dropped. He was speechless. He thought he misheard Kexing.
"Say again...?" Hanson lowered his voice.
"THAT'S RIGHT! YOU WANT SEX, I'LL GIVE YOU SEX! AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO PAY!" Kexing continued to scream.
"... you... you've gone mad..."
"Well, isn't that what you want? I'm offering you what you want, for free!"
"... no.."
"No what? That's not what you want? Or am I not good enough? You'll have sex with a stranger that you have to pay, but you won't have sex with me for free? Am I that bad?"
"That's not what I mean"
"So what do you mean then?"
"... It's... different"
"What's different?"
"You're not them... you're ... you're you."
"Didn't somebody say earlier, that sex is sex? That it doesn't matter who you do it with? Didn't you say that you would have sex with anybody? That there's nothing special about it? So what's different between me and them?"
"They do it for a living. You don't. That's the difference."
"You're kidding yourself. That's a difference from THEIR point of view. But from YOUR point of view, sex is sex. There's no difference."
Hanson doesn't understand why every time he argues with Kexing, he loses.
He couldn't find anything else to say, so he stayed quiet.
"So... are we... having sex ... or not?" Kexing pushed.
Hanson took in a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh.
"Answer me!!!" Kexing pressed.
"I'm not in the mood anymore!!! I'm going home!! Get out of my car!!"
"What about tomorrow night??!"
Hanson took in another deep breath. He hated that he had to change his routine tonight because of this fool. He was not going to change his routine tomorrow, for any reason, for any body.
"I'm having sex tomorrow night, and you can't stop me." Hanson said with certainty in his tone.
"So... my place then? 9 pm tomorrow?" Kexing asked innocently.
Hanson gave Kexing a menacing look, and pointed a finger at him. "You're playing with fire." He warned.
"You're the one that said it doesn't matter who you have sex with."
Hanson stared at Kexing dead in the eyes "9 pm. Your place. Tomorrow. No roommate. No roommate's boyfriend. No foreplay. No kissing. No payment. And. NO. BACKING. OUT."
~ ~
(Timeline: Week 3 Friday)
Friday morning, they saw each other at work. Neither spoke about last night's incident. Or tonight's appointment.
Kexing ended up driving to work because the train station needed more time for cleanup and disinfection.
There was a lot of new materials that they received at work, and each of the material needed to be tested for composition, using the Optical Emission Spectrometer. Hanson showed Kexing how to start the machine, cut a sample, burn the sample using the Spectrometer flame, how to read the results, print the report, and determine if the sample meets passing criteria or not. As always, Kexing struggled to learn, and Hanson shouted at him a few times. While Kexing went to lunch, Hanson made a set of picture instructions for Kexing, so he could follow the steps, since Kexing could not take notes because he could not read or write too well. The picture instructions helped Kexing to do the correct sequence for testing materials, but Kexing still made mistakes here and there. Hanson would have to retrain him again next week. He was not surprised though, he had gotten used to having to re-train Kexing nonstop, for the simplest machine. The Spectrometer was not a simple machine at all, so it will definitely take a lot more time and patience.
Before they left work, Hanson trained Kexing on the Rockwell Hardness tester, to check hardness of metals. The machine was simpler than the spectrometer, so Kexing was able to check the hardness of several materials before 6 pm. Then they left work separately.
Neither spoke of tonight's rendez-vous.
Perhaps Hanson forgot about it, Kexing thought to himself. He was relieved. When he got to his car, there was a note on his windshield wiper, it read "No backing out".
God help me. Please help me. Kexing knew he screwed up real bad this time.
(Timeline: Week 3 Friday)
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A smile in purgatory 火海一笑 (BxB)
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