3 Years

Chapter 2-Small Village To Big City

“Mai!” Auntie Mura called up to her in a singing tone. “Time to get up!”

“Ugh.” Mai said, groaning. 

‘There was something I was supposed to do today. What was it?’

“The signing!” She screamed quietly to herself. She jumped out of bed and put her clothes on. Then she went over to the mirror to do her hair and makeup. Then she ran downstairs.

“Good morning, Mai.” Her mother said to her as she neared the bottom few steps, as she always did every morning. Mai never really acknowledged it before today.

“Morning.” She replied in the casual pessimistic tone she usually speaks in.

“Someone’s in a good mood.” Auntie Mura commented with a slight giggle in her voice.

“Ha, ha.” 

Auntie Mura then gasped. “You have to go to the signing today! You know what that means, Michi.”

“Ah yes, you’re seeing Zuko today, be sure to tell him I say hello. How long has it been since you’ve seen each other?”

“About a year.”

“Well…?” Auntie Mura added.

“Well what?”

“Do you still like him!” Michi interrupted knowing everyone in the room was thinking it, even little Tom-Tom.

“I don’t see how this is any of your concern.”

“Come one, Mai, you've dated this boy for what, 3, 4 years? I’m your mother, I have the right to know whether or not you’ll be on again soon!”

“First off, I’m already going to be late as it is and I don’t have time for this. Second, I don’t wanna talk about this!”

She then ran out the door without thinking of breakfast, purely to escape the conversation.

“Mai wait!” Auntie Mura called. “Tea and rice for your trip.”

“Thanks.”

She then ran right back out to catch the boat to the capital city.

She inhaled the cool air of the small town, thinking back to when she first started living with her aunt, in hopes of moving back to the capital city soon. She’d never admit it, but she wanted to be back with Zuko. Mai was much more reserved than Zuko. She almost never shared her thoughts, so she had a ton of them.

She pondered her life if things had ended up differently for them. 

‘What if we hadn’t broken up, what if I was never with Kei Lo, what if Zuko and I were still together. Would we be getting married? We are around the correct age. But things hadn’t unravelled differently, they were the way they were, and I hate it, just like everything else. But it’s an unusual kind of hate. Not like the kind I have for nearly everything, but it’s more like I don’t want to be where I am, I want to be somewhere else, I want to be with Zuko.’

Asking herself ‘what if’ questions wouldn’t be getting her anywhere, so she ended it right where she was and kept making her way to the docks.

Her walk to the docks was over, as was her pondering, and thinking about how things could be different. She sat down in the nice area, since it’s what her mother paid for, and began to eat her rice. She got a later start than she would’ve liked to, so she was going to be immensely late. It wasn’t too far of a boat ride from her town, but she woke up late and took a bit to get ready, and that conversation with her aunt and mother didn’t help.