Were you not so respectful of my boundaries, I can assure you that we would not be spending any significant amount of time together.

[Alhaitham does not claim anyone as a friend but he is far more likely to be willing to spend time with people who do not try to push him into being something that they want him to be, rather than simply what he is. Xie Lian has been accepting of his nature, his boundaries, and his blunt vocabulary. It's all positive points.]

I have limited reserves for social interaction.

[And so he is very picky about who he chooses to spend time with at all.]