Chapter 6
Korra ran. She ran without knowing where to. She ran through the rain, soaking her clothes. She didn't care. She just ran. The world around her seemed so dull, the only thing she could sense were cold raindrops pouring down on her skin, she could feel the ground underneath her bare feet and her thumping heart, beating rapidly in her chest.
She felt sick, like she was about to throw up. All she wanted to do was to curl up into a ball in a dark corner and just lie there, forgetting about what had just happened, forgetting about everything.
We broke up. He cheated on me. We broke up. He cheated on me. We broke up. He cheated on me.
The words were repeated over and over in her head along with flashing pictures of pregnant Ama and her slapping Mako. She felt like her head was about to explode, at the same time she never felt so calm in a situation like this, though she must have looked like a complete mess running around in the middle of the night through the rain in just her sweatpants and a light t-shirt.
There was a crossroad, she turned left. Another, she turned right. Aimlessly she wandered through the streets, desperately trying to focus, to stop and think about her next steps, to concentrate on what was going on right now. But she couldn't. It was like an invisible force tugged her forward, keeping her running through the city, blurring her mind.
Korra continued running, her lungs began to burn and the urge to stop and pause to catch her breath grew bigger with every step she made. But she didn't allow herself to take a break, not until she finally reached her goal, her goal she didn't even know herself what or where it was. She didn't stop running until she came to a halt in front of a tall gate, a curved S inwrought in it. She rang the bell without paying attention to the name tag attached above it.
She didn't need to look at the name tag to actually know who was living here. Everyone would recognize this giant mansion at the very top of the city's highest hill. Besides, the girl who lived here had been friends with Korra for years.
“Hello?” Seconds later a voice droned out of the little speaker, a familiar voice.
Korra closed her eyes and exhaled heavily. She hadn't realized that she'd been holding in her breath since she rang the bell.
Oh thank god, she's home.
“It's Korra. Can I come in?” She was surprised by how casual her words were despite of what she just went through.
“Korra? What are you-- No, wait, come in first.”
Moments later a buzzing sound could be heard and the big gate opened up, allowing Korra to make her way to the mansion itself. As she jogged over to the entrance she could see the lights inside from the open door and a dark figure standing in the doorway. As she got closer, the figure became clearer, revealing a familiar face. Bright green eyes looked at her in worry as Korra approached her.
“Korra, what happened? What are you doing at this time out here? Where's you coat?” She reached out to Korra and touched her right arm gently, noticing the stiffness in her body.
“Korra, you're ice cold! Come on in, I'll give you something dry to wear.” She started to head inside, expecting Korra to follow suit after, but stopped in her tracks when she looked back and saw the shorter girl still standing in the hallway.
Her clothes were soaking wet and dripping, leaving small puddles on the floor underneath her. She stared at the ground, her eyes empty and lifeless.
“Korra, are you al-”
“Asami, I broke up with Mako.” Korra said in a monotone voice.
The words hung in the air, silence followed with neither of them knowing what to say. Eventually, Asami leaped forward and pulled Korra into a hug, carefully wrapping her arms around the younger girl's shoulders. Korra looked so fragile, so vulnerable at this moment, Asami had never seen her like this before.
As soon as Korra felt the girl pulling her closer and sensed the warmth of the other person spreading through her body, she wrapped her arms around the taller girl and buried her face in the crook of her neck. It was not until now that she realized that she had started crying.
“What did I do wrong?” Korra's voice was barely over a whisper.
“You did nothing wrong, Korra. Absolutely nothing.” Asami said calmly while stroking her hair.
The sound of her voice alone soothed Korra's mind and she couldn't help but to pull her closer and hold her tighter in her arms, fearing that if she let go even just for a little bit, Asami as well would be taken away from her.
In response Asami nuzzled her face into Korra's still wet hair, whispering it's okay over and over into her ear while stroking Korra's back. Those simple affectionate actions were enough to break the walls she had been building up around her, let her tears flow freely and release her pain and sorrow she had been holding in. Saying out loud the words that were stuck in her head for the last couple hours had pulled the trigger. It was hard yet easy for those words to come over her lips, but she was more than relieved to have said them, to be with someone she could entrust all her feelings.
The next 20 minutes they spent their time in each others arms standing in complete silence except for Korra's quiet sobs and Asami's comforting whispers.
Why am I even crying about this? I don't love him anymore. It shouldn't bother me that much… right?
But it did. She had put so much effort into their relationship. She had trusted him, he was her boyfriend after all. She had loved him and he had loved her, at least that's what she thought. If he would truly love her, trust her, then why did he hide this from her? The fact that he cheated on her had been a shock to Korra. Maybe she would've forgiven him if he had told her the truth, but if it wasn't for Ama she would've never known of is little secret, he would've kept it from her, never letting it surface ever again. He thought that his tactic would work, that he could get through with lying straight to her face. But even without the pregnant girl showing up on her doorstep, she would've continued searching for answers herself. Some day she would've found out anyway.
Even though I don't like him in that way anymore I still care. I cannot forget this like it has never happened.
Her train of thoughts was interrupted when she felt Asami shivering slightly and pressing her body even closer to Korra's.
Oh, shit. Asami must be cold as hell. Does she even want me here? It's like 12am or something…
“Hey.” Korra moved her head and looked up at Asami. “You're cold, aren't you?”
“It's not a problem. But I wouldn't say no if you asked me to sit in my room instead of standing in the hallway. Asami grinned and took Korra by the hand, when the shorter girl simply nodded, and dragged her up the stairs into her room.
“You want some dry clothes? Or a towel? You can also take a shower if you want.” The girl offered and gestured her friend to sit down on the king size bed.
“A shower sounds good. Can I borrow some clothes from you?” Korra asked, her voice slightly throaty due to the crying she did earlier.
“Yeah, no problem. You wanna wear a t-shirt and some sweatpants?” Asami pulled the clothes out of her wardrobe and held them up for Korra to see.
“Perfect.” Korra managed to flash a tired smile at her friend before both shirt and pants were thrown into her face.
“Then go shower. It's already like half past midnight and I want to go to sleep." She returned Korra's smile with a playful one.
“Yes, ma'am.” Was all Korra said adding an exhausted salute before disappearing in Asami's bathroom.
Korra had taken a lot more time showering than usual. Most of the time she was just leaning her head against the tiles, enjoying the cold sensation that cooled down her head. She felt like it was about to burst from all the things that had just happened, so she did her best to calm herself down and collect her thoughts.
When she got out of the bathroom it was already 1.38am. To her surprise Asami was still up, scrolling on her phone and barely noticing her enter the room.
“Hey, you were taking your time in there. You feel better now?” She smiled warmly and patted the free space on the bed next to her, gesturing Korra to sit down.
Korra gratefully took Asami's offer and flopped onto the bed, letting herself fall backwards. For a moment she just stared at the ceiling, trapped in her own world. Asami seemed to understand that Korra needed some space because she as well was silent and looked not at the ceiling but at the girl lying next to her.
“I'm sorry I came here this late.” The sudden apology caught Asami off guard and she didn't answer immediately, making Korra feel sorry even more. “Asami?”
“I- Korra no, you don't need to apologize. You can come by whenever you want, for whatever reason there is. You're my best friend, you could come here at 4am and ask me if I could make you some scarmbled eggs and I wouldn't care. Actually, I would, but you get the point.”
Korra chuckled lightly. “Yeah, I get it.” She said, a wide grin still on her face. “Why are you still up though? You could've just gone to bed, you had a rough day.”
“Well, I can't leave my best friend alone when she's sad.” She simply answered and hesitated before asking with a quiet voice: “You wanna talk about it?”
Korra didn't reply for a while. Alarmed that maybe she has gone a step too far, Asami quickly added: “You don't have to talk about it. I just- I'm really worried about you.”
Korra let out the breath she'd been holding in and raised one hand above her head, examining it like it's the most interesting thing in the world.
“I do, I want to tell you. It's just not that easy, you know? It doesn't even feel real for me.”
“I understand. You know you can talk to me about everything, anytime. Just don't pressure yourself with it. Seeing you suffer hurts me, too.” Asami reached out and took a hold of Korra's other hand that was not raised above her head.
“I know. I can trust you Asami.” Korra got up from her lying position and seated herself in front of the other girl, looking into her emerald eyes. “I'll tell you.”
And she did. She told her about her original plans to talk with Mako about his secret. She told her about the girl named Ama and how her appearance had startled and worried her. She told her about why Ama was looking for Mako, about how he reacted when she said that she was pregnant and about how Korra broke up with him. The entire time Asami sat there and listened to Korra's words intently, occasionally brushing her thumb over the back of her hand and gripping it even tighter when Korra came to the part with Ama.
“So, that's it. That's why I broke up with him.” She breathed out heavily and raised her head again, meeting the familiar pair of eyes across from her. Korra had stared at their interlaced fingers most of the time, glancing up at Asami now and then.
“I- I'm so sorry, Korra. I didn't know of any of this. I didn't even know that Mako was that type of guy. He doesn't deserve you. I swear I'm going to have a talk with this asshole the next time I see him.” She frowned and pulled Korra into a tight hug. “Are you alright?” She whispered into the brunette's ear, causing her to shiver lightly as her warm breath hovered over her ear.
“I am now.” She said while pulling Asami closer and nuzzling her face into her raven hair.
“You cheeky little charmer.” The older girl chuckled and gave her friend a light kiss on the head. She could feel Korra smile against her collarbone and she couldn't stop the grin spreading on her face as well.
“Asami, I love you, never leave. Promise me.” Korra muttered quietly.
“I love you, too. And I won't leave, ever. You promise that you won't leave me as well?”
“I promise.”
A few minutes passed with Asami and Korra holding each other as the door to Asami's room opened and a man around the age of Korra's parents stuck his head in.
“Asami? Are you still awake? You should-” He stopped talking as he saw the two of them wrapped in each others arms.
“Dad?” Asami pulled away to look at her father. “Yeah, I'm still awake. Do you need something?”
“I see, you have a visitor.” His warm and loving voice seconds before turned cold as he was aware of Korra's presence.
“Um, hi, Mr Sato.” Korra looked around Asami and waved her hand at the man, a somewhat forced smile on her face.
He simply nodded at her and turned his attention back to his daughter, his voice warm again if not all that loving like it had been moments ago. “Asami, sweetie you have to go to sleep. Lack of sleep is not good for you. It's already 3am. And please let me know when somebody's visiting next time, alright?”
“Dad, Korra can come over whenever she wants. We've been friends since forever.” She rolled her eyes and gave him a look, clearly annoyed by his last words.
“Yes, but I still don't like unexpected visitors. Especially not at 3am.” His gaze shifted from Asami to Korra who shrank every passing second under his frosty look.
She started to apologize for coming by that late, but was cut off sharply by a now angry Asami.
“Dad, I don't want to discuss anything with you right now. Please just get your water or for whatever reason you're up this late and go back to sleep. Korra's staying.”
He huffed in response and mumbled a quick “Good night”, then closed the door and left the two of them alone.
“Sorry, my dad is really stressed at the moment so unexpected guests are kind of an annoyance for him.” She let out a sigh and ran her fingers through her hair.
“It's okay, I understand. I'm kinda stressed myself.” She managed an ironic smile before looking down at her hands.
I know it's not because he's stressed. He simply doesn't like me. At all.
“But he's right about the lack of sleep. We should go to bed soon.” Korra faked a yawn to induce Asami to go to sleep, having the prevention of an awkward talk about Hiroshi Sato in mind.
“Yeah, you're right. Let's do that. I'm so tired!” Asami stretched her arms and yawned as well, then got up to switch off the lights, only leaving the little lamp on her nightstand burning.
Korra had already climbed under the covers and Asami followed suit. The king size bed had enough room for both of them so they didn't end up being pressed against each other in uncomfortable positions. Despite the massive amount of free space, the only place where Korra wanted to be right now was by Asami's side. As soon as the taller girl climbed into bed and faced away from Korra to turn off the lamp on the nightstand, the stronger girl wrapped her arms around Asami's middle, pulling her against her body and holding her as close as she possibly could.
Asami made a quiet screech noise in surprise and tensed up a little bit, but relaxed quickly into her friends arms. “Why so pushy today, my knight?”
Korra just hummed her response, not wanting to talk anymore. Her eyes still felt puffy from the crying and she started to feel the soreness in her muscles from all the running she did before she came to Asami's place. She was extremely exhausted and all she wanted to do right now was to cuddle with her princess until she fell asleep.
“Nighty...” Was all she was able to murmur out of exhaustion.
“Good night, Korra.” Came Asami's reply and Korra tightened her grip around the girl's waist, sniffing in her shampoo one last time before she lost consciousness and was dragged into the world of dreams.