I get another call from Kuvira, but I decline it. I don't have time right now. I know she wants to check on me, but my main focus is getting to Jinora.
I park across the street and the sounds coming from the address Jinora sent me, are outrageous. I can't believe no one called the police yet!
As I walk toward the lawn, I hear a familiar voice that stops me in my tracks.
"Asami, is that you?" My boss asks.
Why is he here? Shouldn't he be with Korra?
I turn around to address the man.
"Yes. I don't have time to talk. I have to get Jinora." I reply.
He locks his car and approaches me.
"Me too! Someone was blowing up Korra's phone and I finally answered, and it was Jinora begging for someone to pick her up. So Instead of waking Korra, I decided to come instead."
Well…that was kind of him. Maybe having two of us here will make things a lot easier.
Mako and I both walk up to the house and ring the doorbell. My boss seemed to have changed from his original apparel to something more comforting. He's now wearing basketball shorts and a grey t shirt, which tells me he most likely was heading to bed. Because the night is way too cold for anyone to be wearing such attire.
The door swing opens and two kids who clearly look stoned, stare us down.
"Who are you?" The teen boy in a skull beanie, asks.
"We are here to pick up someone." I reply.
"You do know this is a house party and not some daycare. We don't have a pick up lists!" The teenage girl accompanying the boy, inputs.
"You're right, please forgive me. If you all would be kind and let us in, we can find the person we're looking for. "
As I try to step inside, the two teens barricade the door blocking me from the entrance.
"Who do you think you're?" The boy states.
"Who am I? I'm someone who's trying everything in her power not to physically harm you. But if you don't move pass I might ac…"
Before I could finish my threat, Mako interlocks are arms.
"Excuse me, for her behavior. She takes her skits seriously. I'm Tony and we're the 'The Parent'." He states calmly.
The two teens look at each other confused.
"The what?" The girl asks.
Mako rolls his eyes.
"We're the suppliers for the party. 'The Parents'. Wow you kids really are young. We can't just walk up to a party like 'Hello, we're drug dealers' " Mako replies.
The teens look at one another, deciding what to do next, as Mako and I wait impatiently.
"I don't have all day! I'm wearing shorts in the middle of the winter." My boss shouts.
"You don't look like you're packing." The girl finally states.
"That's because it's in my purse!" I explain.
"Let me see."
The boy tries to grab my purse, but I shove him back.
"Hasn't anyone one told you before not to touch a woman's purse! Now this is the reason why my partner and I don't like working with teens. Tell Kai the deal is off. Let's go!" I reply.
Mako and I pretend to walk off, hoping for the teens to stop us.
"Wait!" The girl calls out.
Wow that was easier than I thought.
"You're here for Kai? That's all you had to say. Come on in."
Mako and I walk inside and I start coughing and waving my hands around, to avoid the smoke. With the music blasting and beer pong being played. I would think I was at a frat party.
"Let me take you to Kai." The boy tells us.
"I'll go look for Jinora, stall." I whisper to Mako as we follow the boy.
"Okay."
When we get to the corner and I take my chance and escape into the crowd. I need to find the bathroom.
"Hey Ma, looking sexy today." A boy with his shirt off calls out to me.
Great, I thought I couldn't have any more problems.
"Babe? Didn't you hear me?"
The drunk and blonde haired teen talks to me again, causing me to finally address him.
"Aww you're cute too. I can see the little chin hair finally coming in. Congratulations, you're officially a twelve year old man." I reply, making his friends laugh as I continue my hunt.
I try to give Jinora a call but she's not picking up. She did tell me earlier that her phone had a low battery percentage.
I see two girls standing against the wall, talking to each other and I think they look friendly/sober enough to know where the bathroom is.
"Excuse me, do you know where the restroom may be?" I ask.
The girl with the teal highlights and dark eyeliner points up the stairs.
"Third door on the right."
"Thank you."
"Hey? You look familiar. Did we get to Middle school together?" I stare at the teal highlight girl in disbelief.
This girl looks like she was born in the early 2000s!
"I don't think so. Be safe." I reply.
As I make my way up the stairs, I can't find Mako anywhere to let him know where I'm going. The higher I get up the stairs, the higher I think I'm going to be. Times like these make me regret my college days. How much pot, do people need? It's like I'm inside a fog machine.
Once I get up the stairs, I open the first door and a group of teens groan.
"Yo! We're hot boxing! You're letting the smoke out, shut the door." One of them yells.
Oh the girl said the third door on the right.
I quickly shut the door and continue my search. As soon as I find Jinora, I'm kicking Kai's ass. Who takes an underage girl to a party like this?
Jinora's not out of hot water just quite yet. She's smarter than this. Than again I'm glad she called me. So her lecture will be short.
I get to the third door and push it open, just to find a girl's head buried inside toilet.
"Oh sorry…are you okay?" I ask.
The girl lifts her head and holds up a thumbs up, before she continues throwing up. I slowly shut the door and start to get even more worried. If she's not up here, where could she be?
"LET MY GIRL GO!" I hear someone yell down the stairs.
"Kai, stop."
Just hearing Jinora's voice, makes me rush back down the stairs. As I push pass the partiers, I see an even bigger crowd formed in the living room.
"I'm taking her!" Mako calls out, as he grips Jinora's hand.
I finally can see Kai sitting on the couch, glaring up at my boss.
"You aren't taking her! She's mine!"
Mako rolls his eyes.
"You're drunk man, calm it down. I know you have a crappy job, but drinking isn't going to fix anything. Especially when, your skill set is only high enough to be a bust boy at a pizza joint."
Mako's response, gets a collection of oooohh and laughs from Kai's peers. Which clearly embarrasses the drunk teen.
Kai quickly gets up, causing him to hold onto his friend, to steady himself.
"Say sorry."
My boss gives Kai the same smug look, I hate.
"Not until your Mother does, for raising such a poor of excuse of a man."
"Say sorry!" Kai yells, again.
"I told you. Call your Mother if you need an apology!"
Kai isn't my biggest fan right now. But Mako isn't helping the situation, he's provoking it!
"Yo? You gonna let that fool talk made smack about you?" One of Kai's friends hypes up.
"Of course he is. He's too of a punk not to. Let's go Jinora."
Before Mako and Jinora could turn around, the upset boy pulls out a M1911 Pistol, causing Mako to quickly push Jinora behind him
"You're quiet now, huh? Who's the man now?" Kai yells.
"You're." Mako says lowly.
"WHAT?"
"YOU'RE THE MAN!" Mako replies.
The people near me are still dancing and having a good time, as if no one's life is at risk.
"Kai, please don't do this." Jinora pleads, with tears in her eyes.
"Yes, listen to your girl." Mako adds.
"The same girl, you're trying to take away from me?"
"The same girl, you're trying to shoot." Mako defends
Kai laughs.
"I don't want to shoot her, I want to shoot you, Bastard."
"I'm no Bastard! You're the one too of a coward to use fists."
"Why would I use hands, when I have this?"
Mako pushes Jinora away from him and starts walking toward Kai.
"You're the man! Shoot me."
As Jinora tries to go back to Mako, I grab her which startles her.
"Head to the car." I tell her.
"No, we can't leave without Mako." She says, hysterical.
"I'm going to get him. Head to the car and call the police. We both will be out soon, I promise."
I give her my phone and keys and she pulls me into a hug.
"Please be careful."
"I will."
She pulls apart and runs out the door.
I bring my attention back on the situation and from Kai's blood shoot eyes, you can tell he's unaware of his actions. He still has the safety on. Which explains why, Mako is being so bold.
"Shoot Bro." Kai friend hypes up.
"I will."
"Listen to your friend? You're the man, right? Men listen to other men." Mako tease.
Why is Mako provoking him? Does he not understand the situation he's in? Kai, could be aware of the safety and quickly switch it off.
Mako finally get close enough to the boy, so he's starring right down the barrel.
"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER." Kai yells, as his hand trembles.
"No."
Before Kai could reply, Mako kicks Kai in the knee, causing him to drop onto the floor, and my boss uses such action to snatch the gun out of his hand, pointing it downward at the teen.
"Please don't shoot?" the boy pleads, as he's curls up into a ball.
I sign in relief, we can leave now. As I move closer to Mako, he turns the safety off.
What is he doing?
"WHO'S THE MAN NOW?" Mako yells down at the terrified boy.
" You're,I'm sorry." Kai whines.
"What's wrong, afraid to be hit with you own gun?"
Seeing how angry my boss looks, I quickly get to his side.
"Mako."
I place my hand on his shoulder, which startles him, causing him to turn around and point the gun on me.
"Don't scare me like that!" He yells, with rage in his eyes me.
Okay? Can he put the gun down? I know, I may have frightened him, but he looks like he wants to kill me.
"Please give me the gun." I say lowly.
He finally hands it to me and storms out the door.
I quickly unload the weapon, as everyone looks at me waiting for my next move.
"Stay away from her!" I tell the runny nosed boy on the floor, before exiting.
Once we get outside, Jinora opens my car door and rushes into Mako's arm.
"You're okay!"
"Duh, I'm made of steel. Are you okay?" he asks.
"I just want to go home."
"I think that's a good idea."
I make my way over to the embracers and Jinora rushes over to me.
"Thank you, for keeping your promise."
I hold her tighter.
"Thank you for calling."
Mako walks over to me with his hands in his pocket.
"Do you think, you could take Jinora home?" he asks, avoiding eye contact with me.
"Sure, you should get back to Korra."
He nods.
"Yes, that would be best."
" I'm so stupid." Jinora says, in the passenger seat.
"It's alright." I reply.
"No, it's not. My parents are going to kill me."
It's too late. I don't think anyone has the energy to kill anyone.
"Your parents will be happy that you're safe and not hurt, trust me."
The preteen wipes her eyes.
"How do you know?"
"Because I done some not so smart things, when I was your ages, as well. Shit! I still do that! Sorry for my language." I reply.
The girl sitting near me giggles.
"Its fine, I don't mind it. It's just rare that I hear 'The real word' and not the alternative 'Shift'." She replies.
We get to a stop light.
"I just thought I could fix Kai. He had such a rough childhood! I promise you, he's not really like that. It's just when he get around his friends, he acts so…..different."
Kai needs to grow up and hopefully what happened today was the wake up call he needed. After I drop Jinora off and talk with her parents. I have to go to the police station to hand over the gun.
"Do you think he loves you? " I ask, making a right at the intersection.
"Yes! He tells me all the time."
I frown.
"He does!" She defends.
"I don't know, Jinora."
"You don't understand, no one does and I don't care. The only person that knows our love is Kai and I. Young people can be in love."
"I never said it wasn't possible."
"But you're implying that. Kai and I will work through this!"
I notice we're almost near her house and I can't have her thinking, Kai is right for her. I pull into a Taco Bell parking lot and take my keys out of the ignition.
"How did you feel when you called me?" I ask.
Jinora shrugs.
"You sounded scarred."
"I was just anxious." she replies.
" Did Kai know you wanted to leave?" I ask.
"Yes."
Just hearing her own response makes her go into defense mode.
"It's not like that. I was just being a kid and he knew I would be fine. That's why he didn't want to take me home. Actually now thinking about it, I could have stayed longer."
Is she in denial? Kai had a gun and from the look on Jinora's face, she was unaware of it. He was so under the influence, who's to say that he might have pulled the weapon on her?
"Jinora, you're a smart girl and I know you see the good in people, but Kai isn't good for you. How did you two even meet, with the age gap and all?"
The girl starts to blush.
"Well, I was in the library and I noticed he was having a hard time with an algebra equation. I took algebra in Third grade."
Damn, I took it in 4th
"So I offered to show him how to solve it and we just clicked. You should have seen his face when he solved a problem correctly. That's the Kai, I fell in love with. Not the under the influence Kai! You probably think I'm some love struck teen girl."
"No, I don't. I understand completely."
"You do?"
"Yes. You want the best for him and you don't understand why he puts himself in toxic situations. But when you two are together, you know that's when he's at his healthiest or even his best. "
Jinora's face lights up.
"Exactly! He has potential to do better, I just need to keep showing him."
"But you can't."
Her face drops.
"Why not? That's what people are supposed to do, right? Be there for others when they need them. Kai needs me!"
This whole discussion is exactly what I needed and as hurtful as it's about to sound, it needs to be said.
"You can't control others' lives! You may know the best options for them, but it's up to Kai or anyone in general to see it. Even I have to remind myself that."
"But what if they can't see they're hurting themselves?"
I sigh.
"Then maybe you not being there, might be the final wake up call they need."
Just saying that really hits home. It's as if my conscious is speaking out loud. Even though, I feel Mako isn't the right guy for her, It's still not my place to decide. I'm Jinora in my personal situation and sadly, Korra is Kai.
Jinora's intentions are well, but she might get herself into a more dangerous situation if she continues seeing him. Just like I got myself in a dangerous one, by kissing Korra.
"You want me to just forget about Kai?" she asks, hurt.
"What are you going to do, visit him in jail? Because that's most likely where he's going to go. He had an unregistered weapon."
"What? You're turning him in?" she asks in disbelief.
What am I supposed to do? She called the police? I have a gun in my car! She had to know this was the outcome. Then it finally hits me, I didn't hear any sirens or see any police cars leaving the scene.
"You didn't call the police did you?" I ask.
Jinora shameful shakes her head no.
"I couldn't, he would get arrested!"
I lay my head on my steering wheel.
Great, now what am I supposed to do?
"You can toss the gun in a lake." She suggests, making me laugh.
"Remind me not to commit a crime with you." I tease.
"I don't think I will have the energy for anything, now that I lost my true love." she replies.
"Hey? I'm not saying you can't still care about him. I just think it's best if you both take time to think about your actions. He has a lot of growing up to do and so do you! You should be worried about going to high school soon and not some boy. You're going to be a great artist and I need a partner one day. Let that be your main focus."
Her smile reappears.
"You would hire me?" she asks.
Well I would have to make a company first, but sure.
"Of course, you have wicked skills."
"Thank you!"
I put my keys back into the ignition.
"We should Van Go home." I tease.
"Ugh, art puns!" she groans.
Tenzin and Pema were quite grateful. But I told them the true hero was Mako. Sure, I got Jinora out of the environment, but Mako got the thing that could have hurt someone.
I was just doing what I had to do. Today has been a very long day and I just want to go home. The moment I step out of the front door of Jinora's home. I see Mako sitting on the hood of my car.
"How did it go?" he asks.
I take the hair tie from around my wrist and put my hair up into a bun, to stop it from blowing, due to the night's breeze.
"It went well. Tenzin wasn't mad, he was relived. He would love to personally thank you. They're still in the living room, If you want to talk with them."
"It's fine. I'm no hero, you're. You're also a great actor." He replies.
"Me? You were the one with the great cover story. The drug dealers scenario was really good."
He cover his face.
"Stopppp, you're making me blush. But seriously, you're the one who needs an Oscar. With your 'I'm in love with my boss's girlfriend act."
Okay, we're doing this right now.
"When did you find out?" I ask.
"Right after I got Jinora's call for someone to pick her up."
Then it comes to me. If he knew all along, that must mean...
"You wanted to shoot me." I blurt out.
"I never said that."
He didn't have too! It was all in his body language and eye.
"I just knew something was up between you two. Turns out my suspensions were true all along. You had plenty of opportunities to tell me what you had done! But you were too of a coward to do so."
"You're right, I was a coward."
"That's right and that's not the only thing you're. I don't know where to start!"
I nod in agreement.
"Please do! But before you continue your list about my character . I should at least tell you some of my cowardly deeds. I think I owe you that."
He crosses his arm clearly impressed and I'm glad. Because that's what I always wanted, which is to see my boss impressed with me.
"Go on!"
"My first cowardly deed was not speaking up, when you were wrong."
His smug look, suddenly drops.
"Excuse me?"
"You made countless of unethical decisions and I allowed it. I thought since no one was speaking up, maybe I shouldn't as well.
But that's not how you prevent errors, someone has to make the first step in making a change. I always been a natural leader but in this case I didn't step up.
My second cowardly act was, putting so much effort into fixing your mistakes. If only you knew how much shit I went through to make 'Your Company' looks great. I would tell you the details but you don't care and I don't want any praise from you. Especially when you're the one who made situations that required corrections.
Third; I was too of a coward to speak up about your terrible treatment towards me and my coworkers. The only thing you care about is money and not the great people that work for you. The same people you're putting at risk with your scam of a site. That's right, I know about what you did with the comment section. And once again, I was too of a coward to confront you about that, up until now.
Fourth, I was too of a coward to quit your company. Wait, nevermind….I quit right now. So let's not count that one."
The look on his face is priceless, but I'm not done. I have one more mistake to tell him.
"Finally, I was too damn of a coward to say, I see how you treat Korra and I'm glad she has someone like you. I'm glad she has someone who will fight for her. Someone, who will do heroic deeds such as saving Jinora, when she's at her lowest and couldn't.
And out of all things that I despise about you, your love for her is the best side I ever seen from you.
Maybe If I didn't use my history with you to judge whether or not you were good for her, maybe just maybe we could had formed a relationship, where I might have the courage to tell you as a friend, that your company could be great if you made some changes.
I could have used the opportunity to get to know you better and maybe understand why you decided to make such terrible decisions.
But I was too selfish and blind.
So if anything that's what I want to apologize for. If you want me to apology for the kiss, that's not what I'm going to do. That's a discussion for Korra and I. But I'm truly sorry for missing my chance of seeing things in your perceptive."
Just by that one conversation with Jinora, I was finally able to understand my actions. I no longer feel hate for my boss, but sympathy.
I don't know if it's the street lights or the breeze, but it looks like he's crying.
"This pollen, is really messing with my eyes." He says.
It's Winter?
He finally collects himself and begins to speak.
"I appreciate what you said. But it takes two to form a friendship and I clearly wasn't making an effort. Honestly, I admired your ideas, but sometimes you come off a bit headstrong and I never really liked people like that.
That was until I started seeing who you really were as a person, once you met Korra. Every time she came home she would be so excited. Telling me about her workouts, day, and even you. It brought joy to me seeing her so happy.
It's been a while since I seen her that way. With the fight and all, Your…'friendship' seemed to take a lot of stress off her.
Korra and I, had our ups and downs, but we were finally getting through it. Then you just had to...!"
Mako hits the hood of my car with his fist, but his force is not enough to cause any damages.
"You just had to ruin everything! I started to grow suspicious, when I saw how you looked at her. You look at her the same way I do. At first I didn't blame you, she's an amazing girl. But you used to get so angry when I was with her. I saw it, the jealousy. Korra may have been obvious to it, but I wasn't. You wanted to break us up.
When did I ever say I wanted to break Mako and her up?
"You're too wild for her, she needs stability. Especially with her background and all. I can give her that, you can't! I thought inviting her parents to your home would bust your bubble, but I guess it didn't work. You continued your secretive and manipulative ways."
Now, I start to get upset! I just admitted how wrong I was about him and now he's telling me I'm not right for her! I never said I was, but he knows nothing about me.
"That's not true! My intentions were never to get her to choose me! I didn't plan for all of this to happen. If anything, you were the one pushing us to hang out all the time! I tried to stay away, but you didn't help. How can you tell me whether or not I'm right for her or not."
"YOU'RE BREAKING HER HEART! You most likely contributed to her breakdown today. She won't even talk to me! Put yourself in her shoes. She thinks you and Suki are a thing."
"No, she doesn't." I defend.
"Yes, she does!"
"She thinks that because you keep trying to force us together. You are the one who invited Suki to your events. You were the one telling us how cute we're together."
"That's because I wanted you to leave my girlfriend alone."
"No! You wanted to hurt Korra."
He looks at me even more upset.
"What? No! why would I do that? You're the one hurting her. She's at home crying because of you!"
I shake my head in disagreement.
"You know how upset Korra gets when she sees Suki and I together."
My ex boss glares at me.
"Don't you go there."
"Yes, I am going there. If I could see it, you could too! At my Father's dinner, I watched how you talked about Suki and I also watched how uncomfortable your girlfriend got. But you continued talking about her! You wanted Korra to feel the same hurt and jealousy you were felt, seeing us together. The difference between you and I is, I never wanted to hurt her being with Suki. But you intentionally did it."
"SHE'S NOT GAY!"
"Then why are you so worried about losing her then? She clearly hates me! Isn't that what you wanted?"
"I never wanted her to be so broken. When Jinora ended the call, I saw a very long and heartfelt message on her phone, that she was in the process of sending to you. When I read the message, I was furious, still am by the way. But I'm tired of fighting.
I wasn't just mad at you, but at her as well. The fact I had to find out about the kiss from a text message really hurts. We tell each other everything and it just shows she's afraid of doing the same."
We both just stare at each other, hurt and tired.
"I'm sure she would have told you. Don't be upset with her. She didn't do anything wrong. The kiss was all on me, she didn't even return it."
He gives me a small smile.
"She didn't have to. By her not telling me, means the same as if she did kiss you back.
I don't forgive you Asami. I may respect you a bit more, but I don't forgive you. You just happened to prove what I thought of you all along. You want everything and if you don't have it, you take it.
You wanted her and you just kissed her, like morals weren't there. You tell me I'm a fraud and selfish. But didn't you do the same thing as me?
Tricking others by using your good intentions to justify your actions. Forming a bond just to find others strength and weaknesses, then screw them over in the end. Trying to satisfy your craving and doing everything possible to do so. That's what my company is all about! Are you sure you want to quit? You're the PERFECT EMPLOYEE!"
He finally moves away from my car and heads to his.
"We're the same Ms. Sato. Maybe you're still a bit blind, if you don't see it."
"We aren't the same. You still have your company! What do I have? I call out to him.
"Your freedom." He replies back.
The moment I enter my apartment, I storm into my room and start stuffing all my clothes into my suitcase, I need to get away.
This city is not helping right now. I need to stay with my Father for a while and clear my head.
Mako had every right to say what he did, but I'm not all to blame in this situation.
I quickly turn off all the lights in my bedroom and shut the door behind me. I can hardly think straight, I'm trying so hard not to break down into tears.
I go through the kitchen drawers to find a pen to write a note for Kuvira, so she knows where I'm heading. I still haven't called her back yet. And at this point, I want to turn my phone off.
Just as I'm about to set the finished note down on the table, I see another note already there. I quickly pick it up and begin to read.
You were being such a dumbass, by not picking up your phone. If you aren't smart enough to answers calls, I hope you're smart enough to read this note.
You may notice that you have company.
I look around my apartment frantic and see a body lying on my couch.
I wanted to stay until you got back, but I had to get to the radio station. Please don't kick her out, just talk to her. If things get physical and not the good kind ;)
There are knifes in the cabinet, since fists can't bring that girl down. I think I'll spend the night at Opal's, you two have a lot to discuss. Love you and no matter what happens. You still have me.
-Kuvira
I walk over to the living room and see Korra fast asleep on my couch, I grab a blanket and place it on top of her. Then sit in the chair adjacent from her.
Even though she looks peaceful, you can still see the bruises on her face. I wonder how she got here. Is this what Kuvira was calling me about? If so, who knows how long Korra been here waiting.
I let out a yawn and curl up into my chair. Maybe I can rest my eyes for a while until she wakes up.
Author's Note
Hope everyone had a great holiday! Sorry for the long wait and appreciate everyone's patience.
There are only two more chapters left in the story. Next chapter is what we all been waiting for! We heard everyone side except the one person that matters.
Thoughts are appreciated!