<div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="https://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/characters/9/271707.jpg">[ img ]</a></div><br/><br/>Melda was definitely more annoyed when Jin had reversed the money exchange once again and in a very Rika fashion. "No one is like Rika, she's one of a kind...accept it," he stated, stuffing the money down her shirt. Melda stood sputtering in surprise at Jin's sudden move, completely taken off guard. "Now let's get going to your house, unless you plan on staying at mine?" Melda wasn't sure if Jin was offering, and so she offered no response.<br/><br/>"I don't have an extra bed and Rika wouldn't let you sleep on the floor or the couch, so we would have to share," Jin finished, seeming as if the concept was completely boring and innocent. Melda turned away from Jin to pull the money out of her shirt in order to compose herself and to get a grip on the situation. Jin was the most abnormal male human she had ever met--or was it that all the students at the school were absolutely insane? She could believe that, but she wasn't sure if it was the truth.<br/><br/>When she finally composed herself and fixed her shirt, she turned back to Jin. "I'd prefer being at home. My parents will send out every resource available and have me labelled as a hate crime before they even know I'm just staying at a friend's..." she replied in a ramble, then pausing as she realized the word vomit that was escaping her. "What I mean to say is, it would be very unusual for me not to come home and my parents would worry," Melda clarified.<br/><br/>They began to walk, the street lights occasionally flickering every few yards, the wind howling between trees and buildings. Melda was absolutely terrified of the dark for a variety of reasons, but she tried not to let her nervousness show. After all, she was with Jin, so it was unlikely anything would happen. Still, the fear of the last time she had been out this seeped into her might. Her heart was pounding and she tried to discretely survey their surroundings every once and a while as they walked.<br/><br/>"Um...so, I just...Oh, nevermind," Melda started and stopped suddenly with her speech. She took a breath, continuing to walk in a worried silence. She then tried again, "I just...I wanted to say thank you about Payton. I mean, I'm sure you had other reasons to kick him out, but I just...I don't know, I guess I thought he would just be allowed to get away with it like he always is." And with that, Melda seemed to feel a little bit better. The outside was still terrifying, but at least she had managed to share her thoughts with Jin. She felt weird for not sharing her thoughts about his actions with him, and so she decided to simply let it out. Jin seemed like the type to understand where she was coming from, especially since he witnessed much of what Melda went through every day.<br/><br/>"It's just nice to know there are humans in the world who still have compassion," she admitted. She crossed her arms some to help block the cool wind that passed through, and she gave a small shudder in her jacket. It wasn't extremely cold, but it was enough to bother Melda. "This weather bites..." she grumbled as she looked from the sky to Jin, giving him a grumpy look. "I thought seasons would be fun when my parents said we would move here. I didn't realize seasons meant freezing or melting your ass off at any given time of the year. I thought it mean like, you know, spring, summer, fall..." Melda trailed off.<br/><br/>It was starting to become obvious that Jin's slow responses or silence left Melda to fill the air with nonsense. She was nervous around Jin, in a weird way. It wasn't like she was afraid of him, but rather what he thought of her. She had long forgotten her fear of the night as the two of them walked, and now she could only focus on her own psychological torture as she came up with reasons as to why Jin should hate her and what he could possibly gain from being nice to her.