Xian appeared in the middle of the large, ornate door of the men's dormitories after getting a notice that some "hot chick that looks like him" was looking for him. He saw her and twirled around to show off the little change training did to his body.
"What do you think, sis? Heh?" Xian asked when he reached her. She gave him a tight hug and both sibling exchanged cheek kisses.
"Looking good, soldier," Kim joked. She took in her brother's visage and squinted at the bruises she spotted. She frowned and shook her head; Xian must have gone through a hard time fitting in the academy. "You have bruises all over your arms. Are you okay?"
Xian smiled trying to comfort his little sister and led her to the dining hall across the dorm. Kim could see the exhaustion and stress in the bags under his eyes and couldn't help but feel a little worry. "I'm fine," Xian assured. "You're arrival clearly makes my day."
Kim smiled. When they reached the hall, Xian led her to the table farthest from the door where two chubby-looking teens waited. "Why are we here?" she asked. "I prefer to sit next to that table nearest to the counter."
"Oh," the chubby teen nearest to Xian exclaimed. "You can't. Ming and his group sit there."
"And you are?" Kim asked and took a seat across Xian.
"Jung," he answered. "And this is my cousin, Fong."
Kim smiled and turned to Xian, "These are your new found friends I presume?"
Xian nodded, "Yah!" Xian turned to the cousins and introduced Kim to them earning her little sister a little "wow, you're really pretty" from Fong and a shy grin from Jung. "Did you bring something for me?" Xian asked when he spotted the ignored bag that Kim was carrying.
Kim set it on the table and before she could open it, a group of four burly teens pushed the cafeteria door wide open. She felt their proud aura and overconfidence that made her shake her head and turn to her bag. "I brought you-
"Stop talking and look away from Ming and his friends," Xian whispered. Kim ignored this and stared. "Stop staring!"
Kim raised her eyebrows as if to challenge the assumed leader when he meets her gaze. He spotted them and smirked. "Hey, Beifong!" he yelled. "Why don't you introduce me to that little bitch sitting with you?!"
"Oh he did not!" Kim snapped and clenched her fist. "Is this the guy that did those to you?" she asked him about his bruises.
"Kim, take it cool, snap! He's coming this way!"
Ming and his gang strode over to their table and stood feeling proud as ever. "Beifong, I said, introduce me to this bitch!"
Kim pursed her lips and scowled at Ming then at her brother for not speaking up. The whole cafeteria was silent, waiting for what will happen. Kim stared at Ming's cold eyes and then to his friends who clearly looked like the stupidest bunch she has ever seen. If there's one thing Xian was most thankful for about her sister, it would be her courage to stand up to bullies. "Let it go," he hissed at her, knowing fully well what will happen.
Kim studied the bully's face. She'd seen them all through her younger years. Cowards who only push people around if they're with their friends. He's got dull eyes, malicious smirk and the annoying pout in his lips. "Walk away," she whispered to them.
"You don't give orders around here," he said back. "This is Ming's territory and you ain't welcome here."
His friends snickered and howled but Kim merely looked at him and said, "Why don't you go over to the counter, stuff your face with free food like a freeloading pig and leave my brother and his friends alone; or I will bend your face like a cheap piece of metal and let Chief Lin Beifong know what kind of a bully you are? How's that sound?"
Jung and Fong snickered behind Kim and the cafeteria was filled with "oooh's" and "damn!'s" which caused Ming and his friends to take a step back. "This isn't over rich boy," he threatened.
When the bullies were seated at their table, Kim scowled at Xian. "What?" he demanded.
"You're being bullied and you never told mom about it?"
"I didn't want to cause trouble," he reasoned. "You know she'll let me stop and…please not a word on this to any of them."
Kim huffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh right, yes. You are the earthbender with an airbender's heart!" she taunted in pure sarcasm. "How's that doing for you?"
"Look, I can handle it and if it gets too much, I'll tell mom," he tried to assure. "I promise. Okay?"
Kim looked at him in disbelief and returned to her bag, "Fine. Here, I brought you some seal jerky and steamed shrimp dumplings."
Lin lingered in her study, waiting for Kim to be back from the academy. It was half past eleven and no sign of her daughter nor a phone call from Tenzin arrived. A little pang of worry rose in her chest and she took a deep breath to ebb it away. She rose from her seat and decided to give her messy study a little makeover.
She started with the old boxes containing paperwork that held no more importance and only took an amount of space. Next were a few boxes containing her children's old notebooks filled with doodles and letters for her and Tenzin which brought a smile to her lips. She treasured these little things and scanned the notebooks one by one. After them was a metals box that contained important documents. She opened it gingerly and found spare copies of the sibling's birth certificates, some honor cards and ribbons. But at the bottom of it was a folder that seemed to be forgotten from her memory. She didn't remember putting it in that metal box and so she opened it, revealing an original copy of Tenzin's and her silly little contract. She gasped and muttered, "Oh no…"
She hastily got up and dialled Tenzin's number and waited.
"Hello, Councilman Tenzi-
"Tenzin, it's Lin," she interrupted his little telephone greeting.
"Lin? Is something wrong?" he asked, sounding worried.
She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Tenzin, the contract we had years ago wasn't…isn't," she corrected. "Valid."
"What?" Tenzin asked incredulously. "We both signed it."
"We did," she affirmed and glanced at the said document. "But, there was no lawyer present…nor was there a witnesses' signature."
"It can't be," he argued. "Bumi was supposed to be the witness…no!"
"What?" Lin asked. She knows bumi could be careless and reckless, but she didn't expect it to be at this degree where an important aspect in her life would be affected by his lack of responsibility.
"He might have been drunk when we asked him," he said. "Lin, I'm so sorry."
Lin closed her eyes and slammed the phone, it could be broken for all she cared. "Bumi, you jerkbender," she muttered. She knew Tenzin is more disappointed, but her confusion drove her a bit crazy. Now that the knowledge of the contract wasn't valid is already in her mind, she couldn't help but think if fate is trying to push her into Laio Yu's arms.
Kim tapped the payphone window gently and waited for Lin to pick up the phone on the other line. "Beifong," she heard her mother say.
"Mom, it's me," Kim muttered. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to call last night but I spent the night here at the academy."
"Where did you sleep?" Lin asked. "And please, next time, no matter how late it is, call me if you won't come home."
"Sorry," Kim returned. The idea to tell Lin about Xian's bullies popped in her mind but she stopped. "I slept in your quarters. I asked the matron to lend me the keys to your room."
"Good," Lin affirmed and sighed. "How's Xian?"
Kim hesitated and if Lin was near, she knew her mother would sense her slight hesitation and figure out what is wrong. "He's doing well."
"It's nice to hear that," Lin softly whispered. Kim felt her smile. "When will you be back?"
"Tonight," she answered. "I need to go. I need to watch Xian do some interrogation practice."
"Tell him I love you for me," Kim heard her mother request before gently returning the handset.
"Okay," the instructor addressed the students, including Kim, the basics for interrogations. "This whole notion of good cop or bad cop is common when interrogating suspects. But in the Metalbending Police, we do it a bit differently. We do it by pairs."
"For a demonstration," he pressed on and motioned for Xian and Ming to the stage. "Alright, Ming would be the suspect and we do good cop, bad cop."
Xian nodded and looked at Kim who gave him thumbs up.
"Let us assume, that Ming here is obstructing justice regarding uh…a murder case" the instructor continued. "I'll be the bad cop, and you'll be the good cop."
"Okay," a nervous Xian slightly agree after receiving a slight smirk from Ming.
The instructor grabbed Ming's collar and started yelling. "Hey you piece of shit, tell me the truth about you know! I'll slap the shit out of you! You hear me?!" The instructor glanced at Xian who was just looking in surprise. "Hey, kid, it's time you come in!" He turned to Ming again and yelled, "You piece of watery piece you-
The next thing was a blur since Kim covered her face in embarrassment and laughter. Xian yanked Ming's collar away from the instructor's grip and started yelling hysterically. "You want to talk to me?! You wanna talk to me?! I'll make you drink your piss! You hear me?!"
The instructor grabbed Xian but he pushed him, "Get away from me! Get away from me!"
"Calm down!"
Kim felt the earth rumble and the next thing she saw was Xian encased in a rock.
Tenzin waited with Kim outside the academy disciplinarian, anxious of what the outcome of his outburst will be. "They won't expel him, will they?"
Tenzin only shook his head in response and immediately rose from his seat when the door opened. "What happened? Kim told me to come at once."
"I'm okay, dad," the younger man attempted to assure his father. "Does mom know?"
"Nope," his sister answered. Both father and daughter felt him breathe in relief. "What happened, Xi?"
The 19-year old chuckled. "I, uh, heard the instructions wrong. I thought he said bad cop, bad cop so I went in aggressively."
Kim looked confused and Tenzin couldn't help but suppress a slight chuckle. "That's totally nonsense," she snapped. "Bad cop, bad cop? Who does that?"
"Your mother," Tenzin simply answered.
The flowers on her table were slowly wilting in the crisp afternoon air. Stacked papers populated her desk and the guilty feeling of procrastination overwhelmed her. Someone knocked on her door and came in without her approval and Liao stood in the middle of her office holding a neatly packaged container. "I brought you some food."
She smiled amidst the exhaustion and rose to meet him. A chaste kiss on her lips met her when she reached him and an arm snaked around her waist. "I hope you're not angry with me anymore."
Lin shook her head and motioned him to sit. "I was just feeling a bit…downside the other day. Sit."
She returned to her chair and rested her chin to her intertwined hands as her elbow plopped on her desk. "Thank you for the food, Liao."
"You don't need to thank me, Lin," the man said. "You know I care about you."
Lin leaned away and rested her back against the backrest, eyes searching the other person's across her. "Why?"
He shifted and hesitated before answering. "I may be slowly falling in love with you."
Her cheeks felt hot and she turned ten darker shades of crimson. She cleared her throat to hide the slight tingle in her chest and swallowed the big lump rising in her throat. She nodded then smiled; biting her lip she replied, "There's a chance the feelings are mutual."
A/N: Sorry for the late update, guys. Tennis practice and some sideline coaching drains my energy. Anyway, I'll try to update Uncharted tomorrow.
I hope you enjoyed my little update and cheer me up with reviews please?