The Bridegroom [Iroh II]

☼Fourteen☼

Sarrin wouldn't even speak to Iroh when she woke up the next morning. He kept trying to make small talk with her, but she was having none of it. He understood after a few minutes of angry silence and left her alone.

She still couldn't believe that Iroh would ask Reng to give her a job. Did he think that she needed his help? She had been alone - sometimes not physically, but mentally - for ten years. She didn't need help doing anything at all. 

After gathering all her money together, Sarrin decided that she had enough money to get an apartment by herself. She didn't want to stay with Iroh right now because she was so mad at him. He stepped over the line now.

Sarrin didn't want to go to work today, but she had to. She didn't want to face Reng at all. She didn't want to do anything except get as far away from them as possible. She wanted to travel the world like her parents did when they were young, but she didn't even know where to start. And she doubted that she had enough money to even get on a boat or something like that.

She entered Reng's restaurant and sped off to the kitchen. She didn't want to talk to him or even look at him right now. She didn't understand why he would have kept it a secret so long; well, maybe she did understand by the way she was acting right now. For some reason, this hurt so much more than when she found out that Jizak had cheated on her. Somehow she always knew that he wasn't right for her, but the smallest part of her thought Iroh was. He was perfect on paper, but in real life, not so much.

"Sarrin, can I talk to you?" Reng asked, sticking his head into the kitchen.

Sarrin sighed and looked at him. His brow was wrinkled deeply into his receding hairline. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Yes?"

"Even if Iroh did ask me to give you this job, I still would have given it to you," he said quickly. "You have been the best thing to happen to this restaurant. I was about to close when I hired you. I was running out of money fast, but you have helped me gain that money back."

Sarrin didn't budge. The anger still flowed through her veins like a blazing demon. "It doesn't matter now," she said, her voice hard. "I'm still going to keep the job. I just have to prove myself to you that I can do it without a man's assistance."

Reng nodded enthusiastically. The wrinkles in his forehead lessened, and a smile appeared on his face. "That's good. I was hoping you would stay."

"I don't quit things," she said with a shrug. "Not even if it wasn't mine, to begin with."

Sarrin began to prepare the food for today, but Reng was still staring at her. She didn't want to say anything, though, so she started cutting up the meat. Her cut finger was still a burden to her, especially because Iroh had wrapped the bandage too tight around it. 

"Don't be mad at Iroh," Reng suddenly said. "He did it because he wanted you to be happy."

"He was the one who didn't even want me to get a job in the first place!" Sarrin snapped. "That day that I was searching for jobs, he wasn't happy that I was trying to get one. He was trying to get me to understand that I didn't need a job. I don't need one, but I wanted one! I wanted to get a job myself because I don't need help. Isn't that part of my happiness?"

Reng sighed. "Sarrin, you can't live life without accepting a little help from some people."

"I'm already indebted to him," she said. She stopped slicing the meat because she was afraid that she was going to cut herself again. "He took me in when I had nothing. Now it's my turn to repay that. I just didn't need his help getting a job because I know I can cook well. I didn't need his help."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Reng said, chuckling softly. "For some reason, he thinks he has to take care of you. I've told him that you can take care of yourself but he doesn't listen to a silly old man like me."