Fire Ferrets [3] Bolin

Chapter 14

It doesn't take long before we make it back to Republic City and I slide off Juicy. Lin quickly jumps out of the saddle and joins my side. I give her a thankful look and she begins to guide me towards the city. As we walk, I remove the bandana from around my neck and I lower my hood, thinking that keeping these on will just make me seem more suspicious and make it obvious that I had been doing something I wasn't supposed to.

"Can you help me to the hotel? My friend Bamir is staying there at the moment." I ask her. Lin nods and walks me away from everyone.

"Ulazu, wait a minute." I hear behind me. I don't stop and I give Lin a look to tell her to keep going, but Bolin's hand clamps down on my arm to stop me. He moves in front of me and his eyes bore into mine with a pleading look. "Can we-" he starts, but he stops and looks to Lin, "can we have a minute?"

"No, I don't want to talk to you at the moment." I say as I look away, not wanting to cave in because I know when I look at him I will.

"Ulazu, no, you two need to talk." Lin says sternly. I lock eyes with her and I purse my lips as she lets go of me and walks away to give us some privacy. I take a breath and look at the floor, making sure to keep my weight on my good foot so I don't have to hold onto him to remain standing.

"Ula, what's happening? Are you okay?" He asks. I bite the inside of my cheek and let out my breath as I look up, still not at him, but no longer at the floor.

"No, Bolin, I'm not okay." I mutter. Bolin frowns and goes to reach my hand, but I move it out of the way before finally meeting his gaze. I can see the sadness in his eyes which makes me want to cave in so he no longer feels upset, but I clench my jaw so that I remain strong.

"Can you explain what's happened? I'm sorry if I've upset you, I really didn't mean to." He says gently.

"I can't help but feel that you're running away from me. We spent seven months together two years ago and it's like ever since then you've been doing everything you can to get away from me." I say honestly. Bolin's face drops as he takes in what I said and I look away from his eyes again unable to take his expression anymore.

"I'm not running away from you." Bolin starts, but I scoff and shake my head.

"But that's what it feels like!" I exclaim. "I get that you wanted to go and help fix the Earth Kingdom, and I supported that. But then you came back and told me you would stay, but you left. And today you ran from me again. I begged you not to, but you ran and you didn't look back." I say, my voice wavers as tears begin to fall from my eyes.

"I had to get Zhu Li out of there. She would have died, you have to understand that!" Bolin says, his voice growing louder which makes me meet his eyes.

"I fucking know that, but don't you think we could have done that together? It's like you just think about you, not us. Is there even an 'us' in your future?" I ask.

"How could you even ask that? Of course there is." Bolin gasps, his eyebrows scrunched together in anger at my accusation. Bolin rarely gets angry, but when he does he can blow up. Though he has never blown up to me.

"Every single time I have tried to talk about our future you have changed the subject, or said how you didn't know when you would be back." I pause as a sob bubbles up my throat, forcing me to take a second to calm myself before carrying on. "I keep making plans in my head, but I don't even know whether there's any point because you don't stop running." I cry. I hate that I'm crying, but I can't help it. When my emotions get too much for me, I cry. It's a natural reflex that I hate.

"Ulazu, I asked you if you wanted me to stay. You've always been the one to tell me to go." Bolin says calmly.

"Because we both know you wanted to and you made me make the decision for you!" I snap. My tears stream down my face uncontrollably and I can feel every emotion starting to pile up inside me. Bolin looks at me, and I can see that the anger he once had has long gone.