Hear me out.
You're Nozomi, and you're childhood friends with Ryo. Suddenly, his father dies, not only that, he's murdered. You try to comfort him but the more you try, the more you're pushed away. You try to understand him but he's obsessed on exacting a lone revenge mission, you notice this guy start making more dangerous and careless decisions as the days go by, dragging himself down into a world of trouble. You tell him that soon you'll be leaving for another country, in the extraordinary small chance you can get through to him and have your feelings requited but again, he has his own agenda, he doesn't have time for an old friend who's in love with him for the most part... and then one day you're fucking kidnapped. Because of his dumb careless actions.... but that's not all.
Ryo goes to Hong Kong and immediately upon arriving there he meets some biker who is all over him, making all kinds of innuendo and sexual invitations. Ryo doesn't recuperate these invitations, sure but he does stay in the ComeOver Guest House on her suggestion.
Not long after, he meets his teacher, and sleeps in her apartment.... in the very same room no less! He then enables some kids crush on him by trying to make her happy and debatably even flirting with her, that's insane. why is he even putting thoughts into this poor girls head?
And after that? At in the end of Shenmue 2, he's met some mysterious girl and begins to tell her about his whole life, family, friends, even Nozomi. Opening up and pour his heart out to at total stranger, and then she's making him dinner and imo cooking is a very intimate thing to do so, if you're Nozomi you see this as being very affectionate and you're wondering just why the fuck this guy wouldn't open up to you when he was in Japan, and pissed because in Shenmue 3 he's presumably even living with this girl.
I mean, when Ryo calls Nozomi and tells her what he's been doing in China I think she has a right to be upset. Ryo is kind of an asshole.