Daisy II | Levi Ackerman

Chapter 52 - In This Life, and Beyond

860

[Naomi]

For Levi's birthday that year, I got him a wristwatch, as silver as his eye. He always complained about how, as he grew older, his grasp of time as if it was a natural part of his being was growing looser. So I gave him that, and he thanked me, with a groan saying, "So I'm really getting senile, huh?"

I told him he was being dramatic. Levi turned only forty-four that year and yet age wasn't at all a curse to him, in fact I would say that he grew only finer with his years. Sometimes, on my usual table by the window while I was dealing with papers, I would watch him work in the tea shop and observe- his careful movements, always seemingly mindful of space, his well-trimmed diction every time he spoke with that low, rather hoarse voice of his, and how he had gone on to take a visage that did not induce the intimidation we felt about him being a superior military officer as in the past; rather it fostered the respect you feel about him being a wise person who'd been through a lot. Guests would talk in awe at the rare times he would engage in conversation with them, of how he was the longest-running Captain of the Scout Regiment to date, even as he had retired.

And it wasn't just his demeanor that I noticed, of course. I have eyes. And fortunately, I don't have to hold these opinions back. I think he's gone even more handsome with age, with his jet black hair now thinly laced with gray threads as he tied it back, his muscles firm yet fading in tone, his stubble so easily visible on his pale cheeks. He wasn't as rough as when we had married, he'd gone more touchable now that time had worn him loose off the rigidness of his younger years.

Sometimes he would tell me that some customers would remark in good nature about how young his wife is, compared to him. And he would look at me and ask, 'How did I get to deserve you?', but in all honesty, it was I who wondered what did I do to deserve him.

Time with Levi passed smoothly and imperceptibly, the way you can't tell how many waves have crashed and retreated on the shore. Before we even knew it, our ninth anniversary was coming closer than ever.

On January of 860, Armin told me that he finally proposed to Annie. I could only imagine the scene the way Armin described it, wishing so bad that I was there when it happened. He didn't want to say where or how he did it, but he only related to me how happy Annie looked, how she had never smiled that way before, and how, without a tinge of doubt, she said yes. They plan to have the ceremony on the date of their reunion next year, a few months after Armin gets his degree.

Life felt very idyllic. There were of course conflicts and ordeals, but like I said before, they're not worth mentioning anymore after the absolute chaos that we had already been through. I had decided to just be grateful all the time.

One of those January sunsets, as winter was fading to welcome spring, I got out of the university campus at around five. The schoolyard was rather crowded with the adult students filing out from their classes to either homes or other getaways, and I was planning to stop by at the cafe before I went home.

Just as I had walked down the wide limestone staircase, I saw the three familiar faces of the three people who brought back all sorts of memories to me, from our rowdy teenage to the dreary young adulthood. And now we were making different ones as our own people with our own paths to take.

"There's our college girl!" Reiner called, as I approached them.

"You guys!" I greeted them, smiling wide. "What on earth are you doing in my school?"

"We wanted to take you out for the night." Jean answered. From a block away, I spotted younger girls looking at him admiringly, and though I knew he noticed them too, he still looked to me as if he saw nothing special. If he were younger, he would have gloated in this attention, but he wasn't that guy anymore and that made me smile. Ever since things had gotten serious years ago after Shiganshina, there was a kind of loyalty about Jean's demeanor- the maturity that came with knowing life was too short to dally in things you did not mean to commit to.