Chapter Text
Armed in her bright red pantsuit and her perfectly straight jet-black hair, Asami Sato leveled the overly-confident and, frankly, incompetent HR manager with a searing look.
“Are you telling me how to do my job, Mr. Raiko?”
He floundered, as expected, shuffling around the useless sheets of paper in his hands.
“No—no, of course not, Miss Sato. I, just—uh, the reports for this year—uh, indicate—”
Asami stood up rapidly, pressing both of her hands firmly onto the crystal clear glass conference table. She spoke evenly and calmly, despite the irritating sexism in Raiko’s statements. She could rise above it.
“I don’t have time for this mediocrity. Get me the newest numbers as soon as possible. I believe it’s a little difficult to make executive decisions such as a massive layoff before the holidays without the most accurate statistics.”
Mr. Raiko nodded vigorously and murmured a small, “Yes, Miss Sato,” along with the rest of the conference room.
“Good.”
Asami kept in her massive sigh of exhaustion and frustration until she reached her office, insulated from the prying eyes of her subordinates at Future Industries. She sank into her desk chair and spun around aimlessly for a few moments, taking in the skyline view she had of Republic City in all its bustling glory.
She squinted at the red and yellow lights coming from the main square a few blocks away from the Future Industries building. At its center, stood a massive Christmas tree that Asami could generally make out even from her sixtieth-floor office. She shook her head and returned to her work, ignoring the way the sun was already setting on the horizon, painting her office in a gorgeous gold-hour light that meant it was time to go home soon.
But work was a distraction. Work was good.
Only once her office was almost entirely dark, save for the lamplight of her desk and the blue-light glow of her monitor screen, did Asami look up from her work, a knock on her door startling her.
“Miss Sato?”
“Come in, Opal!”
Her secretary opened the door and stepped inside, the yellow hallway light streaming into Asami’s dark office and causing her to blink a few times to adjust to it.
“It’s 8 PM,” Opal said simply.
Asami sighed deeply again and looked off at the window. “You know that doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“Well, it means something to me,” Opal said teasingly with a small laugh. She crossed the room and shook Asami by the shoulders. “C’mon, go home already. Or I can’t and I’m tired.”
When Asami just huffed, Opal leaned in.
“Don’t you have a dinner date with Mako tonight?”
Asami jumped up to her feet and slammed her laptop shut. “Oh, fuck fuck fuck—That was at 8:30—Opal, what time is it again?”
“Eight,” Opal reminded her as Asami stuffed her purse and swung it over her shoulder.
“Right, and do you remember the place?”
“That Fire Nation place on fifth.”
Asami was already rushing out the door. “Thanks, Opal, you’re the best!”
She heard Opal laugh before calling out, “Oh, and don’t forget to call your dad back!”
Asami groaned internally as she ran into the elevator. She wished she could forget that, but whatever. Right now, she had to make sure she was on time for her dinner with Mako.
Which, to Asami, always meant being at least ten minutes early. Despite being a little bit rushed, she managed to make it into the quaint, hole-in-the-wall Fire Nation restaurant that she loved at exactly 8:20, snagging a table for two by the window.
She waited patiently for Mako and ordered them both wine. It was that kind of night, she reasoned, especially after her stressful day at work. She waited longer, scrolled through useless Twitter drama, told the waitress to wait a few more minutes, and looked at her watch.
8:51 PM.
He’d been showing up later and later for their dates and, while Asami generally thought of herself as an easygoing person (unless it came to incompetent and sexist HR staffers), it was starting to bother her. If she made the effort to show up early, why couldn’t her boyfriend at least be on time?
Just when she was about to send him a frustrated text and leave, said boyfriend slid his arm around her neck and kissed her on the cheek.
“Hey, babe.”
“Don’t hey me,” Asami said, the frustration from earlier combined with his tardiness bubbling up inside her. “I was just about to leave.”
Mako frowned and took the seat across from her. The waitress noticed that he’d arrived and came over, and Asami felt herself fuming even more when Mako ordered for them both, not even asking her what she wanted. He had gotten it right, sure, but what if she wanted the cold noodles instead of the spicy chicken? Everything he did was annoying her tonight.
“So, how was your day?” Mako handed the waitress his unused menu and smiled handsomely at Asami who felt some of her anger melt away.
But it was only some of it. “You were late,” she stated plainly.
“Baby, I’m sorry. Bolin needed me to drop him off somewhere and the traffic got crazy. You know how it is.”
Asami fiddled with her utensils. “You could’ve at least let me know.”
“Sorry.”
When Asami said nothing, Mako reached over and held her hand in both of his, looking at her intently.
“Really, I’m sorry. I didn’t ask you out to your favorite place so you could be upset.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Asami agreed, her mood rapidly improving when she saw the waitress come over with the bread appetizers. Maybe she was just hungry.
“How was your day?” Mako asked.
Asami tore off a piece of bread and dipped it into her olive oil. “Fine, stressful. Raiko is on my case again about layoffs, but I really don’t think the company needs that right now, especially with the holidays coming up.”
“Yeah, no, I agree.”
Asami raised a single brow but continued. “Not to mention that my father’s on my case about going south for Christmas.”
She chewed over her bread and waited for Mako’s usual response. Babe, this Christmas will be different and you’ll change your mind, you’ll see. He was so optimistic about changing her mind, and it never worked, but she appreciated his efforts nonetheless. It showed he cared.
But that response never came. Instead, she watched as Mako checked his phone and swiped through a few more notifications, nodding distractedly and murmuring a small, “Uh-huh.”
“Mako.”
“Yeah?”
He stuffed his phone into his pocket and smiled at her sheepishly. Maybe on any other day, his boyish charm would’ve worked its magic on her, but not today. Not when she was already so done.
“You aren’t even paying attention to me. Why’d you want to have dinner?”
Mako sighed and reached for a piece of bread. “We haven’t spent time together in so long. You’re always so busy—”
“So are you.”
“It’s mostly you.”
Asami felt herself start to get angry again. “I’m a CEO, Mako.”
“I know that, okay? It’s just—” He huffed and fiddled with the napkin. “I want us to move in together.”
Asami blinked. She wasn’t expecting that.
“Really? Don’t you think it’s too soon?”
“Asami,” Mako sighed again. It seemed like that was all they could make each other do at this point. “We’ve been together for almost two years. I think this is a natural next step.”
She hesitated, not sure what the least-damaging answer would be.
She answered with a question. “Where would we move in?”
Mako stared at her as if the answer was obvious. “Your place, of course.”
“Oh.”
Of course.
She didn’t want to think that Mako was just doing this for her money and the comfort she lived in. But she couldn’t ignore the nagging voice that had learned from past relationships that maybe, just maybe, Mako was just like every other partner.
Just using her.
Something about this relationship didn’t feel right to her anymore. It felt more draining that energizing, transactional than romantic. It was just…lukewarm. But she didn’t want to break up either.
So she gave a lukewarm answer.
“Can I think about it?”
Mako’s gaze dropped to the table and his shoulders slumped. “Sure.”
///
Asami’s usual coffee place was blasting Christmas music at full volume the next morning and she was suddenly considering making it not her usual coffee place. Christmas followed her everywhere, with the smell of pine needles wafting over to her when she entered her building’s lobby and even the elevator playing Christmas music on her journey up to the sixtieth floor.
By the time she reached Opal’s desk in front of her office, she couldn’t hide her grouchiness.
“Can we change the music in the elevator to something less, I don’t know—annoying?”
“Good morning to you too, Mr. Grinch,” Opal chuckled back.
Asami rolled her eyes and gave her the finger as she passed through to her office, but she heard Opal shuffling behind her anyway.
“It’s two weeks till Christmas! Of course, we need Christmas music. What’s up with you?”
“Christmas just annoys me.”
Opal just hummed in acknowledgment but thankfully didn’t press the issue further. “By the way, your dad called again.”
Asami threw herself into her desk chair with a groan. “Again? Seriously?”
“He’s insistent on needing your help.”
“He can work on his superficial philanthropy on his own. How often do I need to tell him I’m not going to Lakeshore?”
Opal shifted on her feet uncomfortably and rushed to look at her notepad, hiding her face with it. “Uh, well, in other news, Raiko and his team will have the new numbers for you by next week.”
“Great.”
“And Wu responded to your request for a conference. He said the sooner the better, but he understands if it has to wait till next year because of the holidays—”
Asami sat up straighter in her seat. “The conference would be in Ba Sing Se, right?”
Opal glanced up at her quizzically. “Yes.”
“And take a month?”
“As planned, yes.”
Asami tapped her pen against the desk in finality. “Schedule it immediately.”
“What?”
Asami spared Opal a quick glance. “Get me the quickest flight out of here, immediately.”
“But your dad—”
“I’m sure he’ll understand. I’ll tell him soon, don’t worry.” She waved her hand dismissively and smiled to herself at her genius plan to escape the city, Mako, her father, and Christmas. “Work comes first, right?”