Bolin was walking back to his room on Air Temple Island when he saw a sobbing Asami running back to the girl's side of the island. His eyebrows narrowed and he frowned, knowing exactly what had happened. He felt horrible for telling Asami about the kiss and wished she had never brought it up; that was the kind of thing that Mako should have told her about, not him. He was actually a bit surprised when Asami questioned Mako's feelings for Korra, he thought Mako told Asami about the incident a long time ago. But apparently, he thought wrong.
He continued to walk to his room, but before he got there he passed Mako's room and stopped. He stood there and thought for a while; unsure if he should talk to him about it or not. Mako's behavior as of late was just unacceptable to Bolin, and he sincerely wanted to know why Mako was acting this way. He completely understood why Mako was being a little over protective of Korra when she was missing since that's how he had always been while raising him.
What Bolin didn't understand, however, was why Mako hadn't told Asami about the kiss, and why he felt the need to mess with Asami's feelings if he still had an interest in Korra. Bolin took a step to be on his way, but stopped again, turned his head to look Mako's door, and walked in. Mako looked very somber, possibly for whatever left Asami in that sad state.
"Oh. Hey, Bolin." Mako said softly. "You could have knocked."
"I need to talk to you." Bolin said firmly. Mako looked hesitant at first, as if he knew exactly what Bolin was going to say. But he eventually nodded. "Mako, I saw Asami crying when I was walking back to my room." Mako looked away from Bolin's gaze. "I know what happened. She confronted you about the kiss, didn't she?" Mako remained silent and slightly nodded. "Why didn't you tell her about that? I thought you had done it already. Why did Asami have to find out from me?"
"I…" Mako started, "I don't know. I was…afraid."
"Afraid of what? That she'd leave you? That she'd cut off her sponsorship for the tournament? What?"
"I don't know, Bolin. I wanted to tell her so many times, but I just…I just couldn't hurt her like that."
"And you think her finding out about it later from her boyfriend's brother wouldn't hurt her? Didn't you ever think that'd she find out about it eventually? Not telling her was probably the worst thing you could have done."
"Then why'd you tell her, huh?!" Mako snapped.
"It's not like I wanted to, Mako. She asked me about your feelings for Korra. I lied, of course, because I'm your brother and I wouldn't do that to you. I was still quite shocked Asami was even asking me in the first place since I thought you already told her about it. She could tell I was lying, so I didn't know what else to do but tell her the truth."
Mako narrowed his eyes and looked away from Bolin again. "Asami was crying because she ended our relationship." Mako said.
"Well, I don't blame her." Bolin said coldly. Mako quickly looked back up at Bolin as though he couldn't believe what had just been said. "You lead her on, Mako. The least you could have done was talk to her about it so you could figure out your confusion about which girl you wanted to be with. That way she could have had a better time dealing with her heart being broken."
"Bolin, how could you say-"
"It's true! You were being completely selfish and had no regards for Asami's feelings because you were, what did you say, afraid? Not to mention you've been messing with Korra's feelings too. I'm completely sure that she at least felt a little sad every time she saw you with Asami. Her knowing that you returned her feelings but you couldn't really be together."
"You don't understand, Bolin. You've never been in a relationship, you have no idea how complicated they can be!"
"Oh, I don't understand? I understand that Asami is a really great person! That she never cared about you being a Firebender even though one killed her mother. That she basically turned against her father because she knew that not all Firebenders were killers because of you. You were the last person she had to trust, Mako. And you tore that away from her because you were still confused about your feelings. I just…I don't understand how you could let her slip away like that. You had a really amazing girl, one of the sweetest I have ever met, and you crushed her. You had something I can never even hope to have with the girl that I like because she likes you.
"I never gave up on Korra, and honestly, you being with Asami actually gave me a smidge of hope that maybe one day she would move on and see me there on the sidelines. Even though it was a far-fetched dream that I doubted would ever happen, I still held on to it because I really cared for Korra. Seeing you be with Asami, and yet giving Korra a few hints that you still had feelings for her makes me feel very disappointed in you. Asami and Korra are my friends, and I hate that you messed with their hearts like you did. And I hope you're happy. Now that one girl is gone, you can go ahead and date the other one, I'm sure Korra would be pleased to hear it." Bolin turned to leave. "Oh, and by the way. I hope you and Korra have a happy life together." Bolin walked out the door and had not another word.
Mako was speechless; Bolin had never confronted him like this before, Bolin had actually never confronted him ever. There were so many things that he had to process, Bolin had been disappointed with him? That's never happened before. Did he really think those things about him? Had he really been a jerk like Bolin said he was? He never realized how much hurt he had caused them, if it was true. He had no idea what he was going to do; all he knew was that he felt guilty.