After glancing back and forth at his uncle and cousin momentarily, Bumi got up and left after saying "sure."
Once both father and son were alone, the awkward silence was so tense that it could be felt. Sokka wondered what to say, but couldn't say anything. Lei stood in front of his father while Sokka remained seated.
Finally, much to his luck, his son spoke.
"I'm sorry, dad."
Feeling content, yet surprised, Sokka looked up to his son who looked so much like him, "You're sorry?"
"Yeah. I'll admit, I was kind of a douche."
If things weren't so serious right now, Sokka would have giggled. Only Lei will be able to apologize while maintaining a cool demeanor.
"It's okay Lei," Sokka tried to assure him, "You don't need to apologize. I'm the one who should say sorry becau-"
"No dad," Lei halted him, "You already said your apology. Now, I have to say mine."
Though he didn't show a smile, Sokka felt a comfortable feeling within him. It is primarily due to how mature his son is acting. That, and it felt great to be called "dad" again.
"Lei, before you say what you want to say, I should say something myself first."
Intrigued, Lei let his father speak first.
"I know I apologized already, but I'll start with that again. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I hurt Bumi. That's one of the worst things I did, and because of that, I hurt the people I love. I was weak, and I regret how weak I was. I'm pretty sure that's something I'm never going to be able to let down, because I'll remember what I did every single day of my life."
Lei could see the change of expression on his father's face, and the tone in his words showed how serious he was. The almighty Sokka has never looked so fragile.
"I wish I wasn't so weak. I gave into temptation, and because of that, I hurt the people around me. I hurt my family and friends as well, and I know I'm never going to be able to let that down. I completely ruined my image."
Before, Lei was disappointed at his father's weakness when he first proclaimed it. Now, he can't help but sympathize for him. His words were truly sincere.
"I wished I went back to your mother after I left her. I didn't want to go back because I wanted to move on, but you want to know the truth? Not only did I want to move on, but I felt like going back to her would only hurt her more. If things ended badly, how will I know if things will get better or worse if I went back to Kyoshi Island? I thought I was doing both of us a favor when I left, but clearly that wasn't the best idea. I kept thinking…. I was just…"
"You pushed her away because you don't want to be hurt anymore, and you don't want to hurt her anymore as well," Lei continued for his father.
Slowly looking up to his son, Sokka replied, "Yeah…. That's right."
Lei finally took a seat next to his father, "That's what I learned about myself recently. I push people away too. Anyone, especially those who care about me. Whenever things get rough, I push people away because I wanted to avoid problems. That way, I won't get hurt and neither would anyone else. Now I realize that fixing my problems is much better than avoiding them, and there's no problem with letting people who care help me. As a matter of fact, pushing people away will not decrease their chances of getting hurt. It only hurts them more. So I'm sorry dad. I'm sorry to you and mom. We all make mistakes, even me."
Lei looked at his father, who smiled back at him.
Sokka was proud. He didn't spend the last seventeen years raising this child, but he turned out to be one incredible young man.
"I guess I'm just like you dad. We push people away thinking it's the best solution, but we actually hurt them even more. I guess that's one reason why I can't hold a grudge against you, cause you remind me of myself. I really am your son."
Tears would have definitely fallen from Sokka's eyes if he didn't tried to hold them back, but it was impossible to hide how wet his eyes were. He placed a hand on his son's shoulder and told him, "I'm proud of you son."
The words hit him, very slowly. Something about those words felt very comfortable to Lei. Those are the types of words any man would want to hear from his father, and Lei just heard it.
"Proud? For what?"
Sokka smiled back, "You're wise. You're intelligent. You're handsome, which you can thank me for by the way," he told his son, allowing him to giggle, "But it makes me so proud to see how you know the right things to say. You don't know how happy I am to have you here telling me this."
Lei smiled back. He's glad to make his father feel this way. "You know dad, my whole life, I never cared about having a father. I honestly thought it was your fault for never coming back to my mom, but then I learned it was mom's fault for never telling you about me either. And of course, it was my fault for never even wanting to know about you in the first place. We're all at fault. But now..."
Sokka looked at his son, curious to what he has to say next.
"I have an amazing father, and I wouldn't trade him for the world."
This time, Sokka let the tears fall as he embraced his son.
"And I have the best son in the world."
Lei felt the emotion between them as well as he hugged back. A father and son bond never felt so great.
On another part of the island, Bumi strolled around minding his own business. He wondered what his uncle and cousin were talking about. For some reason, he felt sure that things will turn out okay. If he and his uncle can resolve their problems, Lei can do that with his uncle as well.
It was just then when Mariko came, having had to track Bumi for quite a few minutes.
"Bumi, you have a guest waiting for you by the courtyard."
With an eyebrow up, Bumi asked, "Who?"
"Ronin Zhang," she replied calmly as she walked back.
Bumi was alarmed. Why would he be back? He was hoping for another chance at friendship, but in the back of his mind, he was afraid of another fight. Nonetheless, he headed for the courtyard.
Once he made it there, he could see Zhang waiting, looking right at him as he approached. Bumi prepared for whatever conversation there would be between him and his best friend, or ex-best friend.
"Hey Bumi," Zhang spoke softly.
"Hey. What's up?" He replied in the same volume.
"I just came here to apologize about what I said last time," Zhang told him, "I'm sorry if I hurt you."
Bumi felt relieved. Even when it seemed like it, he did not lose faith that he would lose his best friend.
"Thanks Zhang, and I'm sorry for what you're dealing with. I had a hard time dealing with it myself when I found out, but I really don't want this to harm are friendship."
"Me neither bro."
On the inside, Bumi smiled at that. Bro…
"I'm not sure I can look at my mom the same anymore," Zhang continued, "But my parents are doing whatever they can to work on their relationship. I may not exactly like your uncle that much anymore either, but I don't want that to affect us as friends."
"Of course it won't buddy. We're bros and we always will be."
Zhang smiled, and they both gave each other a firm handshake and a pat on the back.
"If it makes you feel better, I'm not sure I can look at my uncle the same way either, but he claimed that he is going to make a change. Chances are, your mother will do the same. I know it. We just have to put faith in the people we love, you know? It sucks, the mistakes people can make, but we have to get through it."
"I agree," Zhang replied, "I just wish some adults can just watch their actions before they perform them. Whatever they do can badly affect their families."
"I know Zhang, trust me," Bumi told him, "All we can do is forgive and forget, or try to forget. No matter what though, we'll get through this. I'm just glad to have you as my best friend."
Though Zhang wasn't in the best mood because of current events, he still smiled for Bumi. "I feel the same way."
Suki gazed out the large window from Sokka's apartment. Republic City looks so amazing at night. So energetic, so bright, and so full of life. Aang and Zuko did a great job starting this city from scratch.
She wondered how Sokka's doing now. Hopefully by now, Bumi was able to forgive him. She knew Sokka had to do this alone, but she has faith that Sokka will make things right. After all, Sokka had a talent for allowing people to forgive him. She's known Sokka for over twenty years of her life, and if it's something that always made her fall for him, it was that irresistible Sokka charm.
As she looked out the window, she wishes he was here. Arms in arms. It felt so comfortable to be around him, and she wishes he was here sitting with her looking at this wonderful view from his apartment.
Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. Thinking it was him, Suki rushed to the door, excited to see her beloved boyfriend back home.
Once she opened the door, she was surprise to find not her boyfriend, but her son. Nonetheless, she was still excited.
Another boy I love dearly.
"Lei," she spoke happily, "You're back!"
"I had to make things right," her son replied back, "Can we sit and talk?"
"Oh...sure," Suki answered as she and her son went into the living room. She was surprised by the sudden serious tone in his voice. Whatever he had to say, she was all ears.
"Dad and I are cool now. You don't have to worry."
Suki felt a sigh of relief within her. Finally, her two boys were able to resolve each other's conflicts. It's what a father and son should do. That's what makes everyone family.
"I'm glad you two settled things."
"You can thank Koji for that."
Surprised, Suki asked curiously, "What do you mean?"
"I talked with him back at Kyoshi Island. We had a good conversation."
Suki was baffled that her son just admitted that he had a nice talk with her ex-boyfriend. For the past years, Lei had been shoving him aside. Now, they managed to talk?
"What did you guys talk about?" She asked curiously.
"He made me realize things about me," he admitted to his mother, "That I push people who I love away whenever I have problems, but the main thing he made me realize was that I wanted to avoid these problems so that no one gets hurt, especially the people I love. I don't want myself to get hurt, nor do I want you, dad, Koji, or Jia getting hurt."
"But Lei," Suki added in, "Avoiding us will only hurt us more, especially when we want to help you or be around you Lei. We love you so much."
"And that's another thing I realized," Lei replied, "I hurt you guys more. I'm sorry mom. You know, I can be such a prick sometimes. I can't handle my emotions sometimes, and you never know when I could just snap. I just don't want you guys to see that. I hate myself for that more than you guys do."
Quickly, Suki brought her son into a warm embrace, "Lei, I love you so much. You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me, and I'll always tell you that. I can never hate you."
"Thanks mom," he told her, hugging her back.
Once they pulled apart, Suki added, "Things have been rocky lately, but I'm just so happy everyone is getting along again."
"Yeah, I guess we were all at fault with this mess right? You never told dad about your pregnancy, dad never came back to you, and of course, I was the one who told you that I never wanted a dad all those years ago."
"We're all at fault Lei," Suki spoke solemnly, "I've had this talk with your father many times before. I wish I could have done things differently, and so did he, but it's too late. All we can do is look forward, instead of dwelling on the wasted years."
After a short silence, Lei spoke, "But hey, how much fun have we had these past few months?"
Suki smiled, "Some of the best months ever. You know how happy I was to see you and your father get along so well?"
"It truly felt like family, the three of us," Lei commented, thinking back to the past few months.
"Of course," Suki replied, also reminiscing, "I enjoyed it so much."
"You know what mom? Things may have been so hard lately, with our lives and relationships, but we did a heck of a good job at rebuilding, didn't we?"
"Yes Lei," she smiled brightly at her son, "We did."
Lei responded by giving his mother another hug.
"Well, I gotta go downstairs to get my stuff. Dad is waiting downstairs."
"Your stuff?" Suki asked intriguingly.
"Yep! The guest bedroom will be my bedroom now."
"Really! That's fantastic!" Suki exclaimed happily. Finally, now they can feel like a true family with a home.
"Glad to see you're so thrilled," Lei giggled, "Dad was just as thrilled too."
"I'll go get your room ready. You go downstairs and help your father!"
"No problem." But before they parted tasks, Lei had one more thing to ask, "Oh by the way..."
"Yes?" His mother looked at him curiously.
"How easy was it for you guys to notice I was in love with Jia?"
Suki was surprised by the sudden question, but she nonetheless smiled at her son, "Very easy. As for me, I noticed since you were a kid. I always saw it, and it wasn't so hard for your father to notice just by looking at your face when you talk about her."
"Wow, I'm bad at keeping secrets even when my mouth was closed," he commented as he left the apartment for the moment.
Suki just stood there and laughed to herself.