Trois

It took a long time for it occur to the heiress's mind that Korra was competition. It had taken her boyfriend going batshit when he found out that the Avatar was missing, Bolin revealing that his brother had kissed Korra, seeing the tender moments when Mako coddled the dark-skinned teen, their heated argument in Pema's kitchen and several other tactless actions on Mako's account before Asami registered that Korra meant to sink her claws into their favorite firebender. And by then, it had been too late; Mako was apologizing, they (vaguely) broke up and she went off with Bolin and Iroh to take down her father.

Next thing she knew, Mako and Korra were acting sickeningly couple-like and almost every opportunity found Asami walking in on the two of them trying to suck each other's face off.

It bought a revolting pang to Asami's stomach. She constantly felt as if everyone was shoving the new couple into her face, even though the better part of her knew better. Korra was her friend and she knew that Mako was really a good guy, albeit confused. But her feelings were not controlled by a switch; they couldn't be shut down just because Mako wasn't her boyfriend anymore. She meant what she had said—she cared about Mako. She always had, always will.

(She was willing to leave everything for him. He had been willing to burn off a man's face for Korra. Asami knew she had to let him go; it wasn't healthy to keep torturing herself with the ache that came with pining for him, the boy who put wild snakes in her stomach rather than the standard fluttery, girly butterflies.)

If it hadn't been for Bolin making the conscious effort to stick by her side throughout the whole time they were in the South Pole, Asami was sure she wouldn't have fared well during the transition from being in a relationship to single. She had never felt so alone than her time in the South Pole. Mako had been her support system when she had lost her home, her father and all the comfort of her riches. Approaching him with her troubles wasn't an option. When Korra wasn't wrapped around him, he was surrounded by admirers (read: groupies). And besides, she felt too ill at ease around him now. No matter his assurances that she was still very dear to him and that she could talk to him about anything, she still wanted more time to lick her wounds. Bolin, no matter how sweet, was still so naive and would not understand.