Q3: Hello World! Did you miss me? …No? Not even a little? …*sigh* okay. Maybe I was gone for a while. Hmmm… how can I apologize for three months of hiatus? …Say that I was busy? Yeah, that's sounds like generic excuse. Let's go with that. *Ahem* I'm sorry for not uploading new chapters due to living a busy life that was filled with boring yet important assignments from my teachers. I hope you can accept my sincere apology and not go full Rambo on me with words. …How's that?

Oh and, Zuko lovers rejoice! For in this chapter we're introducing him. Yay!

Here it is. The longest chapter so far.

Words count: 5581 (without the authors note)

Chapter 11: Trust Issues

This was embarrassing.

Of all the days in the year, his laptop had to break down today, when he was vacationing in a fancy resort, away from the town and technical experts who can actually help him on this. If the problems were software related or some bugs disrupting the usual workflow, he would've fixed it himself. But when it was about hardware malfunctioning even a tech nerd like him needed special helps. Which was, quite unfortunately, not available in this pressing moment. He was supposed to send an important mail today. But with a broken laptop he might have to ask others to help him out instead. Which means Toph and Katara; because they were the only people he knew form this area. What fun!

Now he had to approach one of them with the intension of asking for her personal computer to help him send an email, when apparently none of them had many reasons to like him that much at the moment. It's like borrowing some sugar from your neighbor when you dog had been peeing on his lawn periodically, or borrowing money from your ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend's step dad.

Feels like shit, right?

He found the girls by the pool. They were sitting in a table, eating soft drinks and quite surprisingly wasn't hostile to each other. He approached them slowly, feeling uneasy to interrupt their break time. "Hello ladies. Nice day today, isn't it?"

Katara noticed him first. "Hey Aang," she nodded.

Toph waved her hand in greetings, "Day? It's almost evening."

He shrugged, smiling. "Mind if I join you?"

"Sure. We don't mind," Katara answered.

"So, how's today?" He sat on an unoccupied chair, trying to start a conversation.

"Nothing out of ordinary. Work is a bit slow today, so we're just chilling out until the shift is over."

"Nice place you chose for that. Not many people are around at this hour and the still blue water gives you a sense of calmness. Also, you can always take a swim if you want."

"I don't know," Katara shrugged. "Laying in a hot tub after a particular hard day always worked for me."

Aang nodded vigorously, agreeing with her. "You're totally right. That's another great suggestion to relive one's daily stress."

Seconds passed in mutual awkwardness. Katara didn't know what to say in return and Toph was trying to ignore both of her companions. But Aang was itching for more verbal exchanges as he tried again. "I mean, it's a really cool place. Not just the pool, I'm talking about the entire resort. It's so peaceful and regal here. You guys probably feel pretty lucky to be able to work in the heart of it. I know I would."

Unfortunately, Toph wasn't buying any of his nonsenses. She rotated her head towards him as she cast a deadpan look, "While it is true that I don't particularly hate it here, but I hardly felt lucky since I took this job. You see, getting lectured by a middle aged bureaucrat over customer services and warmer pool waters who constantly threatens to sue us if anything bad happens to him, does not fall under my definition of feeling lucky. You don't have to ask Katara to know about her take on this matter as it is same as mine. The job description that you gave are reserved for higher officials. A position, as you can see, is yet to be obtained by us. And you're thinking about feeling lucky here? Huh. I would recommend you not to speak such language where you pretend to know everything about other people's feelings." Her look hardened with the last sentence, "When it is abundantly clear that you don't.

Such crafted words! Aang wondered if it was Toph who spewed of all that. Her deadpan tone reminded him of a middle aged IRS official. Uniquely boring, but terrifyingly accurate.

He cleared his throat, buying more time to speak. "Ah… I see. I totally understand your logic here. But all I was trying to say…"

"Stop bullshitting me Aang." He was cut down by the same monotone voice, this time a bit exasperated. "I don't know why you're here or what do you want, but if you're wasting our leisure time with lousy small talks because you don't have anything else better to do, I swear I'll kick your ass so hard that your ancestors are gonna feel it in their bones."

Threats form Toph! Aang almost forgot how it felt like to be in the receiving end of it. Although the speech should be terrifying, he was pleasantly surprised instead. It definitely brought back some old but somewhat fond memories. Katara regarded her two companions with relative silence. If a fight was to break out she should be ready for the right moment to step in.

Meanwhile, Aang began his explanation. "Okay, so this morning had started well. Bright sunlight, hot coffee and shitty pop songs on local radio station. Everything was perfect. Then I dialed the intercom and… BOOM! It wasn't working! But that was just a start. Soon, my soap fell into the tub, the basin clogged because of some misplaced towel, my reading glasses were found broken and when I went to check on my emails, guess what? Another BOOM! My laptop broke!"

It was the presence of Katara and the prospect of being in a public place that were barely restraining Toph from jumping on Aang and pushing him into the pool. "The hell with your booms! Do you really want me to materialize my threat? Then by all means, turn around."

Katara gently restrained her short friend, afraid of witnessing some horrific scene. "What she meant by that Aang; just get to the point. Why are you acting so strange all of a sudden?"

'Gee I don't know; why don't you ask yourselves? Couple of days ago you two were playing 'tug of war' with me, being all possessive and resentful at the same time. Now I'm stuck in the middle of a who-knows-what triangle!' Aang hid his thoughts and proceed to describe his situation once again, "I have to send an important mail to my friend. And since my computer is dead I thought maybe you guys could help me on this. It's just a five minutes' job. Please! If I don't do it today, I might not ever!"

"And you couldn't have said that earlier?" Toph grunted, plopping back on the chair. "Such a time waste."

Katara gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Aang. It's been a while since my laptop crashed. I've been meaning to get a new one, but couldn't fully wrap my thoughts around it."

Aang wasn't the one to be turned down so easly. He fixed his hopeful gaze towards Toph, praying for a good news. The girl snorted and gulped down the rest of her drink, delaying her answer as she enjoyed his tense posture. "I have both good news and bad news for you. The good news is that I have a PC which is, unlike yours, working. You can use it if you want. But the problem is, I can't connect it to the internet. And I don't know where's the problem or how to fix it. Now," she smirked. "What is your next plan of action?"

"No internet connection? Then how do you play games?"

"Console dude, Console. The most awesome creation of twenty first century."

Aang nodded in acknowledgement, "I'll give it a try. It's not like I have better options, right?"

"Unless you find a cyber café, you don't."

"Thought so."

"Here it is." Toph pointed at a black computer monitor, placed neatly on a wooden table opposite of her bed. "What now genius?"

The trio were now inside of Toph's apartment. Katara had followed Aang inside for… no reason. She just wanted to know how important his mail was. That's it.

"Turn it on," Aang said as he was advancing towards the table. "Where is your router?"

After locating the things he might need and gathering them on the table, he started his magic. While he was tinkering with the computer, the girls were making narrowed eyes to each other. The apartment was untidy. Various materials of clothing and papers were scattered throughout the floor and, as always, the closet was half open. The room was giving Katara anxieties. It's been a couple of days when she last entered this room, and it seemed Toph hadn't put much efforts to tidy it up since then. The reason behind this mess could be her laziness, but for some unknown reason Katara didn't believe it. Maybe she was busy with other stuffs. Maybe something was troubling her mind.

"Shall I clean it up?" Katara asked.

Toph answered nonchalantly, "You don't have to."

Katara frowned but didn't say anything in return. Aang looked up from his work and acknowledged the surroundings. He whistled after observing the room, "Hoooo, Toph. I see you haven't changed much. It looks like a tornado went crazy here. Ha ha."

Toph wasn't liking his teasing. "Are you done?" she responded briskly.

"Almost. I need another ten minutes or so."

Everyone was silent as only the sound of Aang's typing could be heard. Toph laid down on the bed and picked up her ipod, scrolling through the music list lazily. Katara sat on the nearby chair, putting one feet over another as she tried to enjoy the scenery of Aang's intense attention towards other things. Quickly, she got bored (and a bit of jealous maybe). So the decision to break the silence came forward.

"So, who are you mailing to?" she asked.

"To my friend, Zuko." He answered without looking back. "He lives in California."

Although Katara had little interest in small talks regarding persons she barely knew, she didn't want him to stop talking. "Oh. And… where do you live?"

Aang answered with a smile, "I live there too. In fact, Zuko is my roommate." He examined the screen in front of him, adjusting something with a couple of mouse clicks and then getting back to relentlessly typing again. "I don't know why he is staying with me though."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because he doesn't need to," he shrugged. "He got a dad who is a successful businessman and a two-time state governor. Not to mention a mother in the form of a respectable social worker. They got their own mansion, personal jet, yacht, luxury car and so on and so forth. The last time I heard they were in the process of buying a private golf course." He swiveled his chair around to look at them. "To sum it up, they are rich, insanely rich. So much so that Zuko can buy his own villa and yet he's rooming up with me. Isn't that crazy?"

Katara was going to agree that it definitely was but Aang's sudden laugh cut her off. "Fun fact. Do you know that Zuko is bearing all the expenses of my vacation?"

Toph inserted herself at the right moment. "Now I understand where you got all the money," she snorted. "And here I thought you hit the jackpot in Vegas."

"I thought you knew that I don't gamble," he argued. "Zuko lost a bet to his uncle. I don't know why the prize was to put me on a vacation, but I do know that I'm definitely loving it here."

'Even after meeting us here?'

"So, Zuko," Toph pondered. "A rich kid with more money than he would ever need is paying for your vacations and staying with you even though he doesn't have to. Quite a friend you got there Aang. At first I thought he would be a rich egotistical asshole."

"He kind of is," Aang laughed. "But in a good way. He's a metal loving, mustang driving play boy who would love to flirt and/or seduce if you are beautiful and available. From what I have heard he can charm his way into any girl's pants if he wants. But hey, who can blame him for that? He looks good, have hot cars and the money. So of course, most of the girls would find him way hotter than me. Ha ha."

She couldn't have agreed more. "You're just proving my point."

"No. Don't think he's a total sleazeball. He has a big heart and we get along really well. There's a reason why he's my best friend. We do almost everything together."

Toph held up her hand in surrender. "Okay okay. I get it. Your best friend is definitely not an asshole," she snickered, waggling her eyebrows in amusement. "You said, he's hot. On a scale of 1 to 10, how hot is he?"

"You mean how hot I find him?" Aang quirked an eyebrow. "That's a pretty awkward question to ask, considering I've never seen him that way. Ask one of his girls if you want the right picture. Which might be a bit harder because I've never kept tab on all the girls he had been with."

"And who says money can't buy anything?"

"I'm sure not all of the girls persuaded him just for his money. There were rich kids too, you know. Like that weird emo chick Mai Suzume. He dated her for the longest time before they 'took a break', if you know what I mean."

Toph sat on the bed, amused by Aang's defense. "You don't have to defend your friend when he's not present here."

"Who says I'm defending him?" The boy argued. "It's all true. And don't worry about his presence, because he should be arriving here sometimes in next week."

This sparked up some attention to his listeners. "He's coming here? Okay then. Let's hope he can live up to your high praise."

"Oh, he will."

Minutes passed in relative silence after that. Katara was getting bored again. Despite having curiosity about Aang's roommate cum best friend Zuko, she hadn't join the conversation, as most of her questions were already answered. She studied the digital alarm clock on the bed side table. "It's almost dinner time. We should eat something before we leave." She rose to her feet with a purpose, finally happy to have something to do. "I'll make a meal then."

"Oh that's a good idea," Aang almost leapt out of his chair in eagerness. "If my memories aren't betraying me, Katara's cooking is really great!"

"I can't believe that I'm going to finally cook something for you after such a long time!" Katara gushed, glowing from the happiness that Aang remembered!

Their third companion were not as equally excited as them. 'Look at those sappy love birds.' Toph scowled. She didn't like their exchanges, not one bit. She tried to remind herself that her anger for Aang was still there. That she didn't care for him, and she got no interest in knowing whether or not he was flirting with some other girls. But when Katara tried to win back his affections, her stomach churned. It was still unclear to her what she specifically wanted here, but that didn't mean she would let Katara weave into his life with just sweet talks and good cooking. That was unacceptable.

So the green eyed girl stood up from the bed, effectively stopping the other girl in her track. "I'll cook," she firmly stated.

Aang whipped his head around in reaction. "Hey… reconsider that idea," he pleaded.

"I said, I'll cook," her tone didn't change. "Just sit comfortably on your chair, Katara."

"But…" the said girl protested, only to have Toph cut her off.

"I'll be making the meal then." And with that she swiftly marched towards the kitchen.

She returned to the bedroom after ten minutes or so, giving them the wonderful news that the food was, in fact, ready for devouring. Then she asked Aang about his progress.

"I'm done," he answered. "I've updated some of your local driver software and did some basic tweaking which should make your PC run faster and smother then before."

"Thanks," Toph smiled. "I'm just about done here too."

"Okay then," he exclaimed, jumping out of his chair as he bolted to the door. "I should be off to my room then. Come on Katara, let's go."

"What?" Toph was confused. "Go? I just made you a meal, you know?"

With Katara grasped in hand Aang was almost at the doorway, but turned around to face the cook. "Let me ask this first," he started slowly. "The food you made… is it 'Instant'?"

"No, it's 'Homemade'."

And he ran like the wind.

Unfortunately, Toph was faster than him. She shut the door with a bang before he could even reach it. "You aren't going anywhere," she glowered, shielding the doorway from him.

Katara approached them slowly as she tentatively asked, "What's wrong?"

"Toph… Toph's cooking… you see…"

"I-It doesn't taste good?"

Aang exploded, "It's so bad you'd think it wasn't from this world!"

"How rude of you Aang," the cook huffed in impatience. "Just eat it."

And they did, despite the stark warning. Turned out the food wasn't finger licking worthy, but it wasn't as bad as Aang was making it either. It was… somehow edible.

Like every other Wednesday, Toph was making tea.

A pot was already on the stove, boiling green tea leaves when she placed milk and suger containers on the balcony table. Turning back, she went to check on the pot. The gentle aroma of ginger and tea was filling the air as she entered the kitchen. Maybe a minutes or half more.

She returned to the balcony with a tea pot in one hand and two mugs on the other. Then it hit her. Why two mugs? It was highly unlikely to have Katara follow their habitual routine and come over here like other Wednesday afternoons. Things between them weren't on good terms as they were before. Their bond was straining. Lies, cover-ups and unknown feelings were pushing them apart. Toph knew Katara didn't trust her, and she wouldn't until Toph come clean and answer every single question her heart had desired. Even though the answer might bring her more pain in the process.

So yeah, Katara most probably wouldn't come today.

But as she started pouring tea for herself, a light chuckle floated in the air. "You never poured tea in my absence." Another chuckle. "Are you planning to enjoy the sunset by yourself or is the pot too cold already?"

Toph gently put down the pot and glanced up. The usual but unexpected guest was here. "I thought you wouldn't come today."

Katara sighed, "I should be confused with your response and make weird faces while inquiring, 'oh, why on earth would you say that'. But sadly, I understand where you're coming from." She shook her head as if trying to shake down her thoughts, putting on a cheerful smile. "In all seriousness though are you really planning to drink that much tea alone?"

Toph smirked, "Well now that I have a guest I can't, can I? Treating guests with utmost respect and hospitality is what we learn at Bei Fong's Academy of Mannerism for Delicate Children. It would be profoundly rude if I shut the door over your pretty face without offering you anything." She rose from her sit and walked around the small table, pulling the other chair out for the guest. "Would you care for a sit, ma'am? I would be delighted to offer you the best ginger tea of our garden. It will erase all of your daily stress while replenishing you with amicable energy."

Katara laughed heartily at her colleague's poor attempt at performing the role of a supposedly British host, prompting a smile from the girl as well. She approached the small table, easing herself on the offered chair comfortably. Then Toph took her own sit as she started pouring down tea for two. Each of them picked their respective mugs and sipped in, eliciting a pleasant moan from Katara.

"Mmmm, wow!" she closed her eyes in pure bliss. "This is really good! Even better than the ginger tea we usually drink in other afternoons. What's the secret ingredient?"

Toph shrugged as she blew a raspberry, "Nothing really. I just kept the pot on stove for a few extra minutes, before sweetening it with honey."

"I don't know what you did here, but this tastes amazing!" Katara shook her head in denial and then gazed at the settling sun. The sunset filled the entire sky with the deep color of rubies, setting the small pieces of clouds ablaze. The waves of untamed sea crashed and danced along the shore, moving up and down in a graceful and gentle rhythm like they were dancing. The viewers found themselves at a loss of breath. Awed by the beauty of mother nature. "And the sunset is extra gorgeous today too. Any idea why?"

"I don't know. What's your theory?"

Another sip. "Maybe someone up there likes us. Maybe he wants us to enjoy a quiet, relaxing Wednesday afternoon after enduring such a long, crazy week. Maybe we deserved it. Maybe we needed a calm and refreshing hour to think things through. To give us perspective of things that are usually taken for granted. To appreciate other persons in our life."

"Or maybe it is because the season is changing." Toph's answer didn't have any optimism laced onto it as she flatly offered, "The weather is clearer than the past couple of weeks. As a result, the sun is bound to look bright and fantastic when there's so little cloud hovering in the sky. And maybe the tea is testing good because I didn't add extra sugar like other days. Instead it was just honey and a bit of salt." She placed her mug on the table, giving a half smile, "Much better theory than yours, don't you think?"

Katara didn't mind her friend's dispiriting response. Talking mushy stuffs with Toph was, like most of the times, a lost cause. Although having her unabashedly swatting off the encouraging words was kind of refreshing. This was a glimpse of the old Toph. It was what they had before Aang had showed up.

"I've missed all of these," Katara mused, almost to herself.

"All of what?" Toph asked, genuinely confused.

"The tea, the sun, the sea, the mug; everything. Feels like it's been ages since we sat down and talked like regular people. But mainly, I've missed this." She gestured the space in between them.

The action was met with a raised eyebrow, "You missed the table? Really?"

"No silly. Us. I missed us. And our talks."

Toph nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Past couple of weeks weren't, what I would call, socially interactive between us. We didn't have many exchanges after Sunday's launch."

'And why would that happen I wonder?' Katara snorted in response, "Well I tried. But it would appear a certain someone has been avoiding me since."

"If you weren't so pushy and maddeningly annoying, maybe that someone wouldn't have to flee every time you enter a room. Did this thought ever cross your mind?"

The bronze skinned girl knitted her eyebrow in frustration. She drank more of her tea, trying to calm down her irritated mind. But the peaceful sensation of ginger tea was fading as she sighted her college's frowning face. "You annoyed? Why? Because I keep asking the same question over and over again? You want to know why I do that? Because every time you give me the shortest possible answer. You are always like, 'we met in a bar, that's it.' Well I don't think that's it!" She gritted her teeth as she almost snapped, "By the look of everything, it's far from it!"

Even though the ginger tea was losing its power, Toph still held her cool. "And how would you know that there's more of it?"

"Because… because you always get defensive while talking about it." Not the best reasoning there but yeah… okay.

"So what if I do? It is in my rights to decide whether or not I'm gonna discuss my private life with someone else. That right is called Privacy. Ever heard of that?"

Yeah she did. Respecting each other's privacy is an unwritten core rule that all friends had to abide by if they wanted to keep their friendships alive. No matter how much Katara hated it, she had to admit that her friend was, in fact, right. She reserved every rights not to disclose her personal matter to anyone else. Not even to the government as it was protected by the constitution itself. Unless she was convicted for a crime that is.

But that's not the point. "I understand your reasoning here. You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to. But please, do try to see it from my point of view." Katara pleaded, gripping the mug tighter. "It's not just about you when it's effecting me as well."

Toph sighed, watching her tea getting colder on the table. The extra yummy ginger root tea had already lost its appeal to her. She glanced up to an emotionally distressed girl with a sad inquiry dwelling in her gaze. Although Toph didn't understand why it was such an important issue to her friend, she could certainly feel how Katara was losing her patience over time. No amount of ginger tea and small talks would be able to calm her down other than a clean cut answer from Toph. And there lied the real problem.

She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest as she gave the other girl a pointed look, "I don't see how it has anything to do with you. It's between me and Aang. This is our past. You weren't even there when it happened."

Katara disagreed with her, "I don't know how or why, but it feels like I was a part of that past."

"Aren't you flattering yourself a bit much?" Toph snorted at her claim.

"Don't try to change the topic," Katara warned. "I thought we were friends Toph. Friends are supposed to share stuffs with each other. I shared my secret, so why can't you?"

"You said it yourself. Friends are 'supposed to' do that, not 'obliged to'. It's a matter of individual choice."

Each of Toph's deflecting answer was digging through Katara's skull painfully. Her tea was cold in her hand when she put it down not-so-gently on the table top. Toph was noticing her friend's ever increasing aggravation. Soon it would go out of control and a shouting match would be held in this room. But despite wanting so much she was unable to ease up Katara's mind.

Contrary to popular believe, Toph liked Katara very much. Her down to earth attitude mixed with sweet, sugary character attracted the shorter girl. Through her eyes Toph saw a different world, different person. She liked their bickering, their differences. She adored when Katara blushed after losing in bowling ball and how she would yell after catching a cheating Toph. Life with Katara was never dull. No matter what Katara might think, Toph valued their friendship very much. Which is exactly why she couldn't respond to her requests. For sometimes, ignorance was a real bliss.

Her reverie broke when Katara suddenly demanded, resting her hands on the table, "Do you care for our friendship? Are you feeling any remorse for hurting me like this?"

So now their friendship was on the line. Toph groaned inwardly, feeling annoyed with Katara's stubbornness. "Of course, I care. We were friends even before knowing that the only common person in our life was Aang. Why would I throw all of that away?"

"Then why are you doing this?" Katara asked, almost fed up with all the frustrations. "Is it because of something that would hurt me?"

Bingo!

Toph remained silent, never changing her posture as she intently watched a bomb that was about to explode.

"Don't you dare give me the silent treatment!" Katara's voice was rising, alongside with Toph's irritation. "Did you and Aang had an affair? Did you guys loved each other? It's fine if you do, because I'm a big girl and I won't get upset. Handling this kind of stuff is what big girls are supposed to be good at." A bittersweet chuckle escaped from her mouth as she ranted on, "After all, what rights do I have to feel sad? Like you said, I wasn't there when it'd happened. And… and Aang wasn't committed to me either. Because I let him walk out of my life. Yes, me. As a result of my pathetic fear, he was free to choose whoever he desired. So I should only feel sorry for myself and nothing else." Her breath quickened as she leaned in, urging anxiously, "I won't freak out Toph, promise. Tell me. How did you meet? Did you date him? Have you guys kissed?"

Now Toph had a clear view of how deep all of this were effecting her troubled friend. Sadly, right now compassionate and caring thoughts were far from her mind, as Toph wasn't universally famous for her amazing power of tolerance. And Katara's last question had struck on the last fragile thread that was restraining her from grabbing the taller girl and pushing her out of the apartment, literally. The memories that Katara was resurfacing were getting a little too intense to ignore.

"Enough!" She didn't yell, but the deep serious tone was speaking volumes for her. "You're talking delusional Katara. I think you should go. We'll talk later."

"That's what you always say!" Katara forced on. "I'm not going anywhere today. If it's nothing, then what's wrong talking about it? Why you always get so defensive when I ask? What are you so afraid of?"

And the last thread of patience broke.

"Because I don't want to remember!" Toph was bellowing now. "Why can't you quit Katara? Why do you have to be so goddamn stubborn!? Each time you inquire, something deep inside of me breaks. The thing that I want very much to forget keeps coming back and hunts me because of you!" She forcibly stood up, knocking her chair backwards with a screeching noise. Her nostrils were flaring as she hollered, "You complain that I don't answer. But did it ever cross your mind that it might be because I don't want to reminisce my past? We all have secrets that we don't want to tell and/or recall. For so long I was lost, hurt. The pieces of my life were scattered everywhere. And when I thought I had finally gained control of it, Aang had to show up! Not to mention your relentless interrogation which only served as a painful reminder of that dreadful day!" She slammed a fist on the table, clenching her jaw. "Why can't you two let me be myself!?"

Toph was angry now. And it showed. Her entire face was burning with fury as she fixed her heated gaze on Katara. Time passed idly like a snail walking on a slippery tree branch. Nobody uttered a single sound, not knowing where to go from here. Toph desperately wished that Katara would leave the room. Otherwise she feared of voicing something that couldn't be taken back.

Luckily Katara was struck by a new realization regarding her furious colleague. As it turned out, when she was lamenting about how she was getting ignored all the time, it was Toph who were hurting more by her advances.

Katara loosened her rigid posture, wrapping her arms around herself as she hung her head in shame. "Something terrible happened three years ago, didn't it?"

Toph didn't answer, but shifted her gaze towards the settling sun. The sinking sun made mellow gold of all the air, creating a scene of pure serenity.

"Was I the cause of it?" Katara tried again.

Still no answer.

"Toph please. I have to know."

"Trust me. You don't," The green eyed girl responded coldly without turning her head. "Ignorance is bliss, Katara. That phrase was never more accurate than now."

"I don't want that bliss if it erects walls between us," Katara argued, clearly exasperated. "You're not happy. And I want to know why."

It felt like everything was weighting down on her. All the lies, the cover-ups, the prevarication were tedious and fruitless. It wasn't helping anyone other than just delaying the pain. A sigh of resignation escaped from Toph as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. There was a lump in her throat that was begging for its release. But she couldn't cry in front of Katara! She had to make her leave first before she drowned herself in her pitiful sadness.

"Go to Aang," she whispered. "Ask him how you asked me. If he doesn't answer you even then, come to me. I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"Toph…"

"Go Katara," the shorter girl stopped her. "I think I deserve some alone time after the outburst."

Katara rose to her feet and left the apartment without any sound. Her jaw was clenched as she scolded herself for being so immature and naïve. She promised herself that the last thing she would ever do was coming back here with the same purpose. Toph was hurt, and it was Aang who was going to tell her why.

Head lifted, chest out and firm steps. Katara was determined to get to the bottom of this.

In the meantime, her pray was down at the bar, gulping mountain dew and lightly flirting with pretty waitresses. All the while totally oblivious of an approaching tsunami.

Trust Issues

End Note: That was a lot to type! Be honest, is it too long? Did I stretch the chapter too much? Give me reviews and/or criticism regarding that, okay? The next chapter is definitely about 'The Final Flashback'. It's a two-part thing so I hope I can post them with little to zero gap in between. God help me!

Chapter 12: Unrequited Feelings I: Madam PunchALot

Replaying half-life 2 trilogy again. Where the hell is fourth instalment Valve!?