The Bridegroom [Iroh II]

☼Four☼

Life with Iroh was quiet and simple. During the days, she spent her time looking for jobs. During the nights, she mainly stayed in her room. She usually cooked dinner for the two of them, but Iroh rarely came home long enough to eat. He generally stayed on the ship. They barely spoke any words to each other, just saying hello and goodbye. 

The job hunt had provided her nothing but darkness. Everyone she went to told her no, that they weren't hiring. They regarded her with looks of disgust when they saw her outfit. It was the same that she had been wearing ever since her boyfriend cheated on her. She hadn't gone shopping for clothes yet because she didn't have any money. Iroh offered her some money, but she couldn't take it. She wanted to get a job and make her own money to buy things for herself, not rely on other people. However, she did that with her ex-boyfriend. Maybe that was her mistake. Maybe that was why he got tired of her.

She gave him everything of her. She gave him her heart, her life, her body. Sarrin had met Jizak when she was sixteen. Now she was twenty-six. She wasted ten years of her life with that man, and how did he repay her? He cheated on her countless times. She didn't know how many times, but it would've been a deal breaker if it had been once. With the countless women he'd been with, she knew she was done. She deserved so much better than him. 

Sarrin lay in her bed, facing the wall. Her door was cracked, and sunlight streamed through the small opening. It was quiet in the apartment. That gave her time to think back to her other life, the one with her ex. She had been generally happy with him. She worked for half of their time together and saved up a lot of money. They had planned on getting a better apartment, but he would always have excuses as to why they couldn't get another apartment. She had left all her money in their old apartment because she left as an emotional mess. She wasn't thinking when she ran. 

She had always been an emotional person. She reacted to everything - all the major times in her life - with her heart and let her heart make all the decisions. When her parents disappeared, her initial reaction was to cry and scream and sob. And she did just that for a few days. After letting everything out, she had grown numb from that pain, and it slowly subsided to an ache that only flared up if she thought of them as the years went on. So she decided not to think of them. She didn't want to let it loose again, so she let the water in her veins harden on that part of her life. 

When she found out that Jizak had cheated on her, she ran from their apartment without a second thought. Her emotions pushed her toward the dark streets until she couldn't run anymore. Her legs had buckled because of the pain he caused her. She had collapsed against a light pole and let it all out right then and there. If anyone saw, she didn't know. She couldn't have seen through the tears that spilled out of her eyes. She couldn't have seen anything.

Sarrin buried her head into the duvet and took a deep breath. Her chest ached with the pain of having someone betray her trust. He betrayed her. They should've had trust. They should've had love. Yet he broke that trust. He broke the love in her heart. She didn't ever want to fall in love again. She didn't want to put herself out there like that, to let someone see the innermost part of her mind. She didn't want a guy to hurt her like that again. 

The door to the apartment slammed shut, and the walls in her room shook with force. A face peered through the crack in her door with worried eyes. 

"Sarrin?" Iroh asked gently. "I thought you were out."

"No," she replied, her throat tight. "I couldn't today."

"If I may ask, why?"

"Things."

"I understand."

She stared into his eyes. It seemed like he had never dated a woman before, so how could he understand the pain she was feeling? "Do you?" He pressed his lips in a thin line and shook his head. "That's what I thought."