The Bridegroom [Iroh II]

☼Two☼

It had been days since Sarrin had seen her ex-boyfriend. She hadn't found a place to stay because she didn't have a job. She couldn't afford anything, so she had been sleeping in the park. A strange man also stayed in the park with her, but she didn't speak to him. He tried to approach her on the first day she was there, but she pretended to be asleep. He stayed away from her after that.

Her stomach growled. She hadn't eaten anything in at least a day. She felt bad about stealing food from people. That wasn't the type of person she was. She would rather go hungry than steal from people, especially if the people didn't have much, to begin with. Sarrin had been raised to respect others and stealing from them wasn't respecting them. 

However, she was so hungry. The pain that her ex-boyfriend caused her had become a dull ache compared to the pain in her stomach. She had always had something to eat, even when her parents worked night and day. They always provided food for her and only her. They had to miss meals to provide for her, but her mother always told her that they had to take care of their baby first. 

A sudden longing entered Sarrin's heart at the thought of her parents. She missed them so much. It had been some ten years since she last saw them. It was right before she met Jizak. She had been waiting in their tiny apartment for them to come home from work, but they never did. The next day, she went to where they worked and found out that one of the local gangs came to collect them. She hadn't seen them since, and Sarrin had long lost her hope of them being alive. In her mind, they were dead and gone, a ghost of the past.

It had been years since she cried over them. Sarrin told herself that she needed to be strong for them, even if there was a chance that they were dead. She shouldn't cry over them, she shouldn't feel sorry for them because they were gone. Even when she thought about them often, no tears came to her eyes. Maybe one day she would cry for them again, but not right now. Sarrin didn't know if she would ever cry over them again.

~~~

Sarrin stood near the edge of the pond, looking down at her reflection. Her simple face rippled in the blue water. Dark hair framed her face, dropping to her shoulders. It was unkempt and ratty. Dirt smudged her cheeks because of her makeshift bed. She had fallen off her bench more than once throughout the night. Her clothes were soiled and dirty. 

Maybe that was why her ex-boyfriend didn't want her anymore. She wasn't pretty. She was simple-looking. She was too sweet and nice and naive to ever notice how he would come home smelling like another woman. Sarrin would brush it off every single time because she didn't want to be alone. She had never been alone in her life. She didn't know how to live alone with herself. 

She didn't want to be alone with herself.

Sarrin pulled herself up to stand and whirled around. Her heart clenched, but she ignored it. She hadn't let herself grieve the termination of her relationship. She barely let herself grieve her parents' death. Yes, she cried over them when she knew she wouldn't see them again. But her tears had dried up after that. She was suddenly incapable of crying or grieving. 

The strange man called out to her from across the park, pulling her out of her thoughts. He waved enthusiastically to her. His crazy white hair stuck up in tufts. "Hiya!" he said, his voice echoing across the green.

She sighed and waved back to him. However, she didn't take a step toward him. Instead, she patted her hair down and started walking toward the city. It was a sunny day, and many people were out and about, taking in the shops and booths. Sarrin suddenly remembered that Republic City was going to host a small festival. It was more of a food festival where many of the restaurants and shops allowed people to have free samples while. That gave many of the restaurants more business because people found more hole-in-the-walls.