But then everything changed.
It happened so fast.
As the days went by, I noticed my mother becoming more distant. She would leave me with the neighbors next door and she wouldn't come home until late at night, blushing furiously, fumbling over her words, and hurriedly whispering her thanks to the neighbors as they handed me back to her. Suddenly, she was singing all the time; as she washed the clothes, heated up the rice, and as she cleaned the home. She never sang before! She was too distracted, and was unable to make up epic stories as she was able to do before. I didn't understand it. Why was Momma changing? It sent a shiver up my spine and made me sad to think about. Because life just wasn't the same anymore.
The oddities continued for the entirety of my sixth year.
It was on my seventh birthday that I found out what exactly was going on.
One day, she brought home a strange man. There was nothing much impressive about his looks. In fact, one might say he was rather ugly. He had broad shoulders, milky white skin, green eyes that looked like they stretched to the surface of his temples, and a goatee with a pointed tip on the chin. Spectacles adorned his rather bizarre eyes, while a fedora hid his short low ponytail. I did not like him at all, but I listened as Momma excitedly told me their story.
The ugly man's name was Seiji. He was a widowed earthbender, with an inchoate political career which he hoped to maximize. He had stumbled into Momma's shop to ask for directions, apparently, while I was taking a nap, as he had never been to that area of town before and was lost. She politely told him how to get home. In return, Seiji took Momma out to dinner on a date later that week. They had a great time together, laughing, eating, and chatting. They really hit it off, and they began going on multiple dates, hence the reason why I had been left at the neighbor's house countless times. And soon, they found themselves falling for each other. After a year of courting, he finally proposed to her in Republic City Park by the fountains.
Momma was blushing throughout the entirety of her storytelling. I must say, my mother was an excellent raconteur.
Throughout the entire story, Seiji just sat solemnly, twiddling his thumbs. I saw him look at me from the corner of his eye, and give an awkward, half-smile. But other than that, he there were no interactions between him and I. There was nothing warm about him whatsoever. He was definitely not the type of man I imagined my mother would fall for.
l didn't feel quite right about him. There was something in his eyes, as if, if you stared into them long enough, you could've found a whole different person.
Seiji and Momma married on the Saturday after Seiji and I met. It wasn't a particularly big wedding. Only me, Momma, Seiji, his sister, who had five bubbling kids and from the looks of it, another one on the way, and his elderly father attended. Most of the guests were nice, except for his father. His father, or rather, my step-grandfather, was not a nice man. He had refused to come to the occasion, originally, because he felt my mother was not of enough status to marry his son. It was understandable, perhaps, although I still resented him for it. He barely interacted with me. The only acknowledgement I received from him was a curt nod. I never saw him again. After the short ceremony and the short goodbyes that were shared between the children and I, Seiji helped us move our possessions from our little shack in Dragon Flats to his apartment downtown. The building he lived in was small, and the area surrounding it was busy. It was funny. I expected him to be some rich philanthropist, but from the looks of it, he didn't have that much money; he definitely had much more than my mother and I, though. The aromas of cuisines from all of the nations infiltrated my nostrils, and soon, I was drowning in an agonizing yearning to slurp some Water Tribe noodles and dig into the Earth Kingdom's renowned roast duck. It seemed as though Momma had sensed what I was feeling, because immediately, she pulled on Seiji's sleeve and got him to give her a few yuans. Smiling, Momma handed the yuans to a vendor, who gave me a sizzling hot meat kebob.
Seiji gave me a curt nod, as if to say "you're welcome." I looked away and scowled. Momma had bought me that kebob, not him.
There was definitely something odd about the man. He seemed so cold, so hard-hearted.
I didn't think I'd ever see him as my father, who I still considered to be Sho, despite my lack of knowledge of him. But then, a shady smirk on his face, Seiji walked towards my mother and planted a firm kiss onto her lips.
And seeing her wide eyes and her blush as she leaned into Seiji made me push my uneasiness into the deep recesses of my mind.
If my mother was happy, so was I.
I had to be.
Maybe things wouldn't be different.
At least, I hoped.