[ Hei resists the urge to rub his temples. There it is again, that defensiveness, that emotionalism, so unconcealed, and it makes him exhausted and apprehensive and frustrated all at once. He cuts his eyes to the side, watching the pindots of stars on the rippling water, not checking Korra for reactions. ]

I'm not 'dumping' you. [ Such a highschoolish word. Dumping. But it's an effort to remember that she's only eighteen. ] But I do wonder if that's such a bad thing. Not dumping you but agreeing to end ... this. [ A vague gesture, to encompass what this signifies -- ambiguity, futility, limbo. ] After what's happened tonight, can you honestly say being around me is good for you? For your friends? Or that you find me even remotely likeable? [ His face is so flat now, his eyes so dull, that his stare has something horribly empty about it. ] There might be moments where you think you like me. But it's no better than Stockholm Syndrome. You're stuck with someone awful, so you try to focus on positive things about them. But it doesn't take away from the truth of what they are.