History Main / WhyCantIHateYou

* ''Webcomic/CursedPrincessClub'': [[spoiler:Princess Aurelia]] tries to get [[FaceOfAThug Gwendolyn]] kicked out of the Cursed Princess Club in a way that nearly gets the latter killed, insisting to everyone else that Gwen doesn't belong because "She's not [[{{Curse}} cursed]]. She's just ugly!!!!" (knowing full well that Gwen is already suffering AppearanceAngst due to her own fiancé calling her ugly). As a result of this near-killing and her general misunderstanding of what the club is for, [[spoiler:Aurelia]] is the one who gets kicked out. But Gwen feels that [[spoiler:Aurelia]] actually [[JerkassHasAPoint has a bit of a point]] and decides to make her own lack of resentment over what happened apparent by repairing and returning a favorite pearl necklace belonging to the other girl that got [[RippingOffTheStringOfPearls ripped]] in the confrontation. [[spoiler:Aurelia]] doesn't ''quite'' apologize in response, but she does begrudgingly admit Gwen is hard to hate.
-->'''[[spoiler: Aurelia]]:''' ...You know, Gwen... I feel sorry for that fiancé of yours. Because you make it really difficult for people once they realize they were wrong about you.

* ''Webcomic/CursedPrincessClub'': [[spoiler:Princess Aurelia]] tries to get [[FaceOfAThug Gwendolyn]] kicked out of the Cursed Princess Club in a way that nearly gets the latter killed, insisting to everyone else that Gwen doesn't belong because "She's not [[{{Curse}} cursed]]. She's just ugly!!!!" (knowing full well that Gwen is already suffering AppearanceAngst due to her own fiancé calling her ugly). As a result of this near-killing and her general misunderstanding of what the club is for, [[spoiler:Aurelia]] is the one who gets kicked out. But Gwen feels that [[spoiler:Aurelia]] actually [[JerkassHasAPoint has a bit of a point]] and decides to make her own lack of resentment over what happened apparent by repairing and returning a favorite pearl necklace belonging to the other girl that got [[RippingOffTheStringOfPearls ripped]] in the confrontation. [[spoiler:Aurelia]] doesn't ''quite'' apologize in response, but she does begrudgingly admit Gwen is hard to hate.
-->'''Aurelia:''' ...You know, Gwen... I feel sorry for that fiancé of yours. Because you make it really difficult for people once they realize they were wrong about you.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire,'' there's a low-key version between [[TheHero Harry]] and [[LovableJock Cedric]], who's not only in competition with Harry in the Triwizard Tournament but winds up dating the girl whom Harry has a crush on. The thing is, Cedric is so legitimately nice that Harry can't think of much but "that dumb pretty boy could have given me a ''better'' hint on how to win the next part of the game."

* ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]]'': In one episode, Riley returns to Sunnydale after his breakup with Buffy and reveals that he's now married. Willow decides that since it would be petty for Buffy to hate his wife, she'll do it for her. In the end, neither girl can hate her, because she's so cool and they're so perfect together.

* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'': Maki is very upset that her friend, Kashiwagi, got together with the boy she was interested in first. [[spoiler:However, she points out that Kashiwagi is the one person she just can't hate, [[BrosBeforeHoes because Kashiwagi views Maki as the person she loves the most]].]]

* Obligatory ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]]'' example. In one episode, Riley returns to Sunnydale after his breakup with Buffy and reveals that he's married. Willow decides that since it would be petty for Buffy to hate his wife, she'll do it for her. In the end, neither girl can hate her, because she's so cool and they're so perfect together.

-->'''Kirito:''' Ya know something? I really. Hate. People. They're selfish, ignorant, loud, obnoxious pricks with basically no redeeming qualities whatsoever! I mean really, look at all they've achieved - genocide, global warming, reality TV, and just a never-ending parade of failures and fuck-ups! They are, without question, a complete write-off of a species, and HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME CARE ABOUT THEM!!

** To put this in perspective: Roddick reached 5 Grand slam finals, won 1, and lost the other 4 to Federer. Roddick was world no 1 until Federer came along.

* WesternAnimation/AdventureTime's episode "I Remember You". When the Ice King shows up at Marceline's apartment, she seems frustrated and annoyed. Over the course of the episode it becomes clear that, despite herself, she actually cares for him. [[spoiler: It's because [[ParentalSubstitute he used to care for her when she was a little girl]], before the crown took away his memory and sanity.]] It's the realization that [[spoiler:he used the crown despite fully knowing its effects in order to protect her from danger]] that allows her to accept him back into her life.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Drakigo}}'' Kimberly realises that she can't bring herself to hate Shego [[spoiler:even with the knowledge that Shego is the vampire that killed Monique]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{ResurrectedMemories}}'': [[spoiler: Part of the reason Sam is so stressed over her jealousy of Danny and "Amberline's" relationship, aside from some residual feelings for Danny, is because Sam had come to genuinely like Amberline as her friend and feels a combination of betrayal and guilt over her feelings because of it. However, she does find a genuine reason when she learns that Amberline is actually none other than Ember.]]

[[folder: Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/AMomentOfPeace'', Ito feels this way toward Crux on first meeting. Crux is [[AllLoveIsUnrequited the unrequited crush of his unrequited crush.]]
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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

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-->'''Nate''': I like Artur okay. But it's sort of annoying how nothing ever goes wrong for him.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4267279/1/Hero-High-Sphinx-Academy Hero High: Sphinx Academy]]'', the biggest problem Gwen Tennyson has throughout the story is she can't bring herself to hate the BigBad who was her boyfriend in the previous story [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3875254/1/Hero-High-Earth-style Hero High: Earth Style]]. She knows he plans horrible things for humanity, even though [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans it is to ultimately save humanity in the long run]], and that they are currently fighting against him to stop it, but due to how he was genuinely nice to her, cared about her, and was pretty much the only person outside of her family that appreciated her for her intelligence instead of shunned her for it, she just can't bring herself to truly hate him. [[spoiler:This even causes her to go to his side for a short time and in the DistantFinale accept his marriage proposal]].

[[folder: Film]]
* Ben Stiller's character feels this way about Owen Wilson's character, his fiance's ex-boyfriend, in ''Film/MeetTheParents''.

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[[folder: Video Games]]
* While there is no love triangle involved, in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', when it comes to light that [[spoiler: you're Revan]], a talk with Carth reveals that he "tried to hate you, but couldn't." It's especially good to hear if you're a female PC seeking a romance sub-plot with him.
** He gives this exact same speech to a [[HoYay male]] Revan.

[[folder: Web Comics]]

--->'''Justin:''' (''thinking as Sarah helps with Justin's now-long hair'') How dare you be someone I can't dislike...

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action Television]]

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[[folder: Web Comics]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

-->'''Critic''': You won't get away with this, Mocker!
-->'''Schumacher''': I know you don't like it, but [[ExecutiveMeddling I was just doing what the studio demanded]].
-->'''Critic''': Yeah, but–
-->'''Schumacher''': I apologize. I was just trying to do something more colorful for the kids.
-->'''Critic''': Oh, you don't need to apologize.
-->'''Schumacher''': I understand you're frustrated, but why don't we sit down and talk about it over some herbal tea?
-->'''Critic''': Okay, that does sound really ni– ''(gasps)'' NO!! I won't let the fact that you're a decent human being get in front of the fact that you make horrible crap!
* In ''WebOriginal/YouCouldMakeALife'', David Chapman really, ''really'' wants to hate his hockey rival Jake Lourdes who's more successful, popular, and sociable than him but an inconvenient thing called "attraction to a guy who's honestly super nice and friendly to me" keeps getting in the way of his efforts to hate him.

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

* Both Physis and Jomy have this reaction to Keith Anyan in the last two episodes of ''Manga/TowardTheTerra'', each separately commenting that even though Keith has been doing everything he can to exterminate their race, they can't bring themselves to hate him. In both cases, the most probable answer to WhyCantIHateYou seems to be "Because he already hates himself enough for both."

* In ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'', quite a few people including Kenichi feel this way about Isshinsai Ogata, one of the members of YAMI. Even though he believes that martial arts should be used to kill like the other members of YAMI, Kenichi and others recognize that Ogata's pure love of martial arts makes him NotSoDifferent from them.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' has Justin feeling like this toward Sarah.

* In ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'', we have [[TheLancer Geiz]], coming from a dark future to kill [[FutureMeScaresMe Sougo]], who, in 2068, is an EvilOverlord. Despite Geiz seeing several of his friends die, he just can't bring himself to really hate [[AllLovingHero a guy like Sougo]].

* In ''Manga/SgtFrog'', Tamama sees Angol Mois as a rival for Keroro's love and attention, but is frequently overwhelmed by her niceness.
--> '''Tamama:''' Stop making it so hard for me to hate you!
** Mois also once turned Kululu into a shambling wreck by simply staring at him for an extended period. "I can't be mean to those eyes!"
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', during the Arrancar arc, Orihime Inoue realized she was in love with Ichigo Kurosaki and felt this way toward her friend Rukia Kuchiki, who was also close to Ichigo.
* This happens on anime-version of ''Manga/{{Karin}}''. Winner is in love with Karin, who dislikes him because he's a vampire slayer (though it helps that he's utterly incompetent). Meanwhile, Karin's best friend, Maki, has a crush on Winner. Maki even says once, through thinly-veiled hypotheticals, that she wishes she could hate Karin for attracting Winner's attention, but Karin's too good a friend for that.
* Casca from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' has had conflicting feelings toward Princess Charlotte ever since it became apparent to her that Griffith would have to court and perhaps marry Charlotte in order to get closer to the throne of Midland. Even after she [[spoiler: revealed that she was in love with Guts and consummated her feelings for him]], Casca still felt jealousy toward Charlotte and even went so far as to admit that to herself when she found out [[spoiler: that Griffith had slept with her and got landed in prison for the act]]... but then Casca also admitted that she felt very bad because Charlotte is one of the sweetest people that she's ever met and treated her with kindness despite being a woman of lower social standing.
* In the Alma Torran arc of ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'', Sheba falls in love with Solomon who is way closer to her sister figure and his longtime friend Arba which greatly upsets Sheba. Once Arba encourages Sheba to marry him, Sheba apologizes for having been jealous of her and treating her in such a harsh way.
* In ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', San has these mixed feelings about Ashitaka because she usually hates all humans. "I hate him! I hate all humans!" But she also starts to harbor feelings for him after receiving Ashitaka's necklace, "From Ashitaka? For me?... [[DistractedByTheShiny Pretty...]]". They still don't end up together because San couldn't bear living amongst humans.

* This is pretty much how [[TheWoobie Subaru]] feels about [[TheSociopath Seishirou]] in ''Manga/{{X1999}}'' after the events of ''Manga/TokyoBabylon''.
* From ''Manga/SpiritCircle'', this is how Kouko feels towards Fuuta. In their past lives, Fuuta's preincarnation Fortuna single-handedly caused a great disaster for his own purposes. Kouko, who remembered that past life, vowed to destroy Fortuna's soul so that [[DeaderThanDead he would never even reincarnate again]]. However, present-day Fuuta is such a NiceGuy that she feels conflicted about it.
* ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'': Nagisa and Youko suffer no small amount of angst because of this. Both of them have feelings for the same boy, and both of them have a ''lot'' of trouble viewing each other as romantic rivals because their friendship is so strong, meaning that neither one of them will pursue a relationship for fear of hurting the other girl. [[spoiler: They eventually get over it, with Youko being the "winner".]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* In the ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'' fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4267279/1/Hero-High-Sphinx-Academy Hero High: Sphinx Academy]], the biggest problem Gwen Tennyson has throughout the story is she can't bring herself to hate the BigBad who was her boyfriend in the previous story [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3875254/1/Hero-High-Earth-style Hero High: Earth Style]]. She knows he plans horrible things for humanity, even though [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans it is to ultimately save humanity in the long run]], and that they are currently fighting against him to stop it, but due to how he was genuinely nice to her, cared about her, and was pretty much the only person outside of her family that appreciated her for her intelligence instead of shunned her for it, she just can't bring herself to truly hate him. [[spoiler: This even causes her to go to his side for a short time and in the DistantFinale accept his marriage proposal]].

* In ''Manga/SgtFrog'', Tamama sees Angol Mois as a rival for Keroro's love and attention but is frequently overwhelmed by her niceness. At one point in the dub, he thinks to himself regarding Mois "Stop making it so hard for me to hate you!"

This can also apply to situations where someone simply has a non-romantic reason for hating someone, but said someone is too nice/charming to dislike. Can result in a GoKartingWithBowser-like scenario if the participants in the LoveTriangle end up hanging out a lot.

* In ''Manga/SgtFrog'', Tamama sees Angol Mois as a rival for Keroro's love and attention, but is frequently overwhelmed by her niceness. At one point in the dub, he thinks to himself regarding Mois "Stop making it so hard for me to hate you!"

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', during the Arrancar arc Orihime Inoue realized she was in love with Ichigo Kurosaki and felt this way toward her friend Rukia Kuchiki, who was also close to Ichigo.

* Casca from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' has had conflicting feelings toward Princess Charlotte ever since it became apparent to her that Griffith would have to court and perhaps marry Charlotte in order to get closer to the throne of Midland. Even after she [[spoiler: revealed that she was in love with Guts and consummated her feelings for him]], Casca still felt jealousy toward Charlotte and even went so far as to admitting that to herself when she found out [[spoiler: that Griffith had slept with her and got landed in prison for the act]]... but then Casca also admitted that she felt very bad because Charlotte is one of the sweetest people that she's ever met and treated her with kindness despite being a woman of lower social standing.

* In ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', San has these mixed feelings about Ashitaka because she usually hates all humans. "I hate him! I hate all humans!" But she also starts to habor feelings for him after receiving Ashitaka's necklace, "From Ashitaka? For me?... [[DistractedByTheShiny Pretty...]]". They still don't end up together because San couldn't bear living amongst humans.

* From ''Manga/SpiritCircle'', this is how Kouko feels towards Fuuta. In their past lives, Fuuta's preincarnation Fortuna single-handedly caused a great disaster for his own purposes. Kouko, who remembered that past life, vowed to destroy Fortuna's soul so that [[DeaderThanDead he would never even reincarnate again]]. However, present day Fuuta is such a NiceGuy that she feels conflicted about it.

[[folder: Comics]]
* The titular character of ''ComicStrip/BigNate'' has both a romantic and nonromantic version of this with the Belarusian exchange student Artur. Nate's disdain for Artur comes from three main sources: Artur is dating Jenny (whom Nate has crushed on for years, though recently has moved on), [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Artur is a better chessplayer than Nate]] (beforehand, Nate was pretty much the best in his school, even beating his more intelligent friend Francis) and [[BornLucky Artur's good luck]] compared to [[ButtMonkey Nate's]] [[CosmicPlaything bad luck.]] Despite all of this, Artur is just so sweet and nice, that Nate can't find it in himself to hate Artur. In fact, Artur has a high opinion of Nate and values his judgment a great deal which makes Nate even more unable to hate Artur. Ultimately, Nate has Artur's back and considers him his friend.
--> '''Nate''': I like Artur okay. But it's sort of annoying how nothing ever goes wrong for him.

[[folder: Fanfiction]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{ResurrectedMemories}}'': [[spoiler: Part of the reason Sam is so stressed over her jealousy of Danny and "Amberline's" relationship, aside from some residual feelings for Danny, is because Sam had come to genuinely like Amberline as her friend and feels a combination of betrayal and guilt over her feelings because of it. However she does find a genuine reason when she learns that Amberline is actually none other then Ember.]]

* In ''Film/LegallyBlonde'', protagonist Elle Woods' ex-boyfriend Warner quickly became engaged to someone else. The fiancée, Vivian, feels that she ought to hate cute and bubbly Elle, and acts the part at first, until Elle impresses her, and they bond. Meanwhile, Warner's disrespect for Elle ends up disgusting Vivian, and by the end of the film, they've broken up and Vivian and Elle are stated to be best friends.

* In ''Literature/GunsOfTheDawn'', Mr Northway is (by his own admission) corrupt and self-interested, and his rivalry with the Marshwic family led to its current impoverished status and the suicide of Emily's father. Emily starts out hating him, and makes this clear to him. However, this openness of disregard actually enables them to converse more freely and honestly than if they were pretending to be polite friends, and Emily finds that she's glad to have someone to correspond with who treats her as an equal adversary, doesn't assume he can trick or patronise her, and isn't put off by her barbs and criticisms. They eventually end up together.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire,'' there's a low-key version between [[TheHero Harry]] and [[LovableJock Cedric]], who's not only in competition with Harry in the Triwizard Tournament, but winds up dating the girl whom Harry has a crush on. The thing is, Cedric is so legitimately nice that Harry can't think of much but "that dumb pretty boy could have given me a ''better'' hint on how to win the next part of the game."

* In series 2 of ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' [[AscendedExtra Jackie]] turns up at CID claiming to be [[TheBabyTrap pregnant with Gene's baby]] and Alex can only [[GreenEyedMonster look on in horror as he proposes to Jackie.]] However Alex and Jackie bond over the episode and besides, why on earth would Alex affected by it? I mean [[GreenEyedEpiphany it's not like she's got any feelings whatsoever]] [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial for this glorified imaginary construct.]] [[spoiler: It all gets better when Jackie reveals [[ManipulativeBastard she lied to get Gene to help her]] and was [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim insulted he believed she would sleep with him.]]]]

** Given their amicable relationship, despite Mako being a romantic contention, perhaps it's no surprise Korra and Asami ultimately [[spoiler:end up together]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', Heloise begins dating Peep to [[OperationJealousy make Jimmy jealous]]. It works, but to her surprise Jimmy and Peep hit it off quite well on non-Heloise topics.

* Both Physis and Jomy have this reaction to Keith Anyan in the last two episodes of ''Manga/TowardTheTerra'', each separately commenting that even though Keith has been doing everything he can to exterminate their race, they can't bring themselves to hate him. In both cases the most probable answer to WhyCantIHateYou seems to be "Because he already hates himself enough for both."

* Played with in interesting (and non-romantic) ways in ''Literature/TheThingsTheyCarried''. Tim, a soldier in the Vietnam War, is best friends with The Medic, Rat. Rat gets shot, and transferred out of TheSquad. Soon after, Tim himself is shot, and nearly loses his leg because Rat's replacement forgot to treat him for shock. Tim is rather bitter about this. Tim learns that the new medic is actually a nice guy who was simply inexperienced and cracked under the pressure of combat. Tim comments that if he could only bring himself to hate the new medic, he could also forgive him.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter,'' Harry seems determined to hate Professor Grubbly-Plank, a substitute teach who is, annoyingly, more competent and beloved than his [[IntergenerationalFriendship close friend]] [[FluffyTamer Hagrid]].

* In ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'', Geiz Myoukouin comes from a BadFuture dominated by the worst EvilOverlord in human history, Ohma Zi-O, and has seen countless friends in LaResistance die by his hand. So when he goes back in time 50 years and meets Ohma Zi-O's younger self Sougo Tokiwa, Geiz treats him with open hostility, repeatedly states his intent to murder Sougo, and [[HeyYou only refers to him as "Zi-O"]]. However, at this point Sougo is just a quirky but kind-hearted OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who does his best to befriend Geiz, who plants his feet and refuses to let his defenses down. By Episode 15 he's hit this trope, privately admitting that he can't imagine someone as nice as Sougo ever becoming a mass-murdering villain, and has seemingly given up on just killing him as seen when he practically begs Sougo to just give up his [[TransformationTrinket Transformation Belt]] so they can change the future without needless bloodshed. [[spoiler:In Episode 16 Geiz seems to have slipped into DefrostingIceKing territory, showing real concern for Sougo (including calling him by name for the first time) and ''encouraging'' him to become Zi-O again with the promise to stop him if he starts going evil.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has Undyne, a high ranking member of the Royal Guard who is tasked to seek and kill any human she comes across to harvest their soul for the king. If you encounter her on the neutral or pacifist path, she has the intent to kill you, but she comes up with excuses that justifies her actions in the hopes that her (made up) views on humans are correct so that she won't feel guilty in killing you. Should you spare Undyne and take up Papyrus' offer in befriending Undyne, you find out that she thinks some humans are actually pretty cool according to her materials (anime) and that you remind her a lot of [[spoiler: Asgore, who she got the order from in regards to taking human souls]]. She eventually decides that hating you is no longer possible and you're actually pretty cool. Should you kill anyone after befriending her, Papyrus calls you to tell you that Undyne not only hates your guts, but she would destroy you if you ever showed up again. If you're on a no mercy run, the encounter with Undyne is more or less the same, but since she sees how much of a cold blooded murderer you are, she states that she used to think humans were cool until you came along and now she has a legitimate reason to hate and kill you.

** To put this in perspective. Roddick reached 5 Grand slam finals, won 1 and lost the other 4 to Federer. Roddick was world no 1, until Federer came along.

* In ''Film/ForgettingSarahMarshall'', Peter tells Aldous that while he has many reasons to hate him, the main one being that he's the guy Sarah dumped him to be with, he can't deny that Aldous is a cool guy too. But then it's subverted a minute later when Aldous lets slip that [[YourCheatingHeart he and Sarah had begun seeing each other a year before she and Peter actually broke up]], enraging Peter.

[[folder: Fan Fic]]

* When Sydney Bristow gets a unique opportunity to meet Milo Rambaldi in ''Fanfic/DoctorWhoAndTheRambaldiEnigma'', despite his inventions having defined and ruined her life for years in her present she finds that Rambaldi himself is actually a somewhat shy figure who appears legitimately ignorant of the potential damage his creations could do, although her perspective shifts when she learns about his alien nature.

* In ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', Vimes doesn't think he should ''hate'' Carrot, but he does think he should be annoyed that Carrot has been in the city ten minutes and is known and liked by everyone, whereas he's been a Morporkian all his life and in the Watch for most of it, and is just some miserable bugger in armour to most people. He's not, though, because Carrot's "krisma" works on him too.

* This happens in ''Film/MyBestFriendsWedding'', though it doesn't stop the main character from being a bitch about the situation.

** Alibaba feels this way towards Princess Kougyoku because he is being manipulated into marrying her by her family and it would be easier to reject them if she were a despicable person instead of the WideEyedIdealist SpoiledSweet person she is. It doesn't help that Kougyoku doesn't know of her family's plan and Alibaba is her first real friend.

Compare FriendlyEnemy.

* in ''Film/Scream3'', Sidney is unable to hate Roman despite all the shit he did to her [[spoiler: ,from killing her mother, who was also his own, to practically creating every major misfortune in her life by creating the other 6 ghostfaces]]. Her tears and grief, even after he tried to kill her again out of spite alone, say it all.