"Hey, you, just how long do you plan on doing this?"

It was the third time she'd asked him such a question in the past hour. It wasn't so much that he planned on doing this, of course, it was just his nature. By "this", she meant acting like he was ignoring her. The only reason she wasn't angry with him was because she knew he was angry with her.

In fact, he was quite literally fuming on the inside. He just didn't handle his anger by lashing out at others. True, he'd once slapped her hand when he was at wit's end and felt like he was drowning in a sea of despair. But when he was angry at the person and not the situation, it was a completely different matter.

"Hmph. Very well then."

Lawrence would never have heard the term "passive-aggressive," but he was intimately familiar with the concept. When someone truly angered him, he would withdraw that anger into a place where it could do no immediate harm. Later on, when he was all alone, he could vent that anger appropriately.

This was just how merchants dealt with their anger. It was common to be upset during a bargain, or to find oneself on the losing side of a challenge, or even feel as though they'd been betrayed by a comrade-in-arms. But simply getting angry would weaken their position, and could cause irreparable damage to one's business relations.

And so, here he was now, driving his cart, focused entirely on the pock-marked road ahead of them, keeping his horse from straying while ignoring Holo entirely. He was in his mid-twenties, and knew full-well how this must look to her. He was also keenly aware that he wasn't going to get a chance to just vent this off on his own. Holo wouldn't permit that.

He wanted to sigh, but didn't want to make matters worse. She might get truly angry again. Right now, at least, there was a bit of a chance to let matters settle down before he did something he'd regret. This wasn't entirely her fault, after all, so it would be wrong of him to draw out a nasty verbal spat over nothing.

Essentially, he himself had started this. She had been drinking alone in the wagon bed, taking pot-shots at him as usual, when he plucked up the courage to take a shot back at her. He wasn't sure why he said it, actually. After all, he had purchased more wine than usual, so her drinking wasn't an issue, and he'd prefer her to have a slightly fuller figure anyhow.

And yet, deep down, he knew she was sensitive about this issue. She'd punched him the first time he casually joked about his preference, and so he should have known better. Perhaps it had been the wine talking. And so not a split-second after his stupid joke, he'd spun around and apologized quite sincerely.

But that hadn't been enough. He knew he was in trouble when he saw that bristled tail and those gnashed teeth. Her face was even a bit red.. she was truly angry. He felt his heart sink, knowing she'd unleash a flurry of insults and vitriol his way. But among the various barbs was one that actually hit him. And hit him over and over again until he couldn't tell if she really meant it.

It was so terrible he was now trying to simply ignore it, but in order to do so he had to ignore her as well. He really didn't want to think that she meant something so obviously wrong, but his heart just wasn't made to be pierced that way. That's why he never let his guard down, and why it hurt all the more when she exploited his dropped defenses.

"No more," he thought, and just focused on the road in front of him. Stewing in his anger wouldn't help, and he had to believe that it was just Holo trying to get him angry and not realizing just how badly she'd misspoken. After all the time they'd been together, it was unconscionable.

*Flop*

His bones nearly jumped out of his body. She had suddenly leaned up against his back, her robes rustling as her arms coiled around under his. For a few seconds he was frozen stiff, but then he quickly steered his horse to avoid a small pit in the road. Having snapped out of it, he remembered he was ignoring her and focused on the task at hand.

He had made up his mind: he would only listen to her if she apologized. He knew she was incapable of that, so it gave him the perfect excuse to keep on ignoring her. She could say or do whatever she wanted.. he wouldn't care. And if she actually did apologize, he would know that she didn't really mean all those things she said.

At least, that was his plan.

- Read the rest at AdultFanfiction, story #600055880 -