Chapter 13

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The two weeks off ended and they all resumed working.
First day at the office was normal. Erwin and (y/n) said nothing to each other, other than greetings.
At the end of the day he asked her if Zeke tried to contact her and she said he didn't.
Erwin wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not, but he decided not to push her, because it's not his business anyways.

But the disaster happened on the second day. Marley company released the same application that the survey corps was working on before Christmas! The same idea with the same features and everything.
All the staff of the survey corps were now gathered to discuss how this happened.
"They must've stolen our work." Sasha said, angerly.
"That's not possible." Conny replied.
"Eren, did you know anything about that?" Mikasa asked Eren.
"No, I haven't seen Zeke since the Halloween party. We don't talk much anyways."
Erwin was quiet, he just listened and didn't comment.
"We can release our application and try to add more features than them" Mike suggested.
"We're not ready." Hange told him.
"Hey, Erwin. Say something." Nanaba said.
Erwin cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Sasha is right"
"Oh really. See, conny?" Sasha replied proudly.
"But how did he do it?" Hange asked.
"(Y/n)" Erwin said and looked at her. She was looking at the ground and didn't move since the start of the meeting.
"WHAT?" Nanaba and Moblit said in surprise.
"She was used, she didn't do it on purpose."
(Y/n) raised her head to find them all looking at her.

Eren stood up and went to her. "What the fuck were you thinking (y/n)???" He said to her, very angry.
"Hey, sit down." Erwin said.
They were all frustrated and now they have a person to direct their anger at. They can't be blamed.
"Two days before Christmas, Zeke was here in the office. He used (y/n)'s ID, the one she thought she lost in the accident she went through. The cameras at that time were damaged. It's my responsibility that I didn't fix them, and I didn't deactivate her lost ID. The blame is on me."
"So you're saying he somehow stole the files when he was here?" Hange asked.
"Yes."
"And we can't prove it?" Hange asked again.
"Yes."
They were all silent and shocked. That was a lot of work that would be useless.
"But that doesn't mean that our effort is gone with the wind."
"How?" Eren asked in a sarcastic tone.
"We delayed our release because we knew that we needed more testing. Zeke got only 2 weeks to understand and finish the project. I'm sure that his application is full of defects and bugs. We'll do as Mike said. In one week, seven days from now, we'll release our version from the application. The plan was to release our features on two stages. Now the plan will be releasing all the ideas we got in one shot. I know it's a bit risky, but it's all what we got. And for that, we'll be working with our hands and teeth so we can finish in time." He paused a little and then continued: "Nanaba and Mike, take your teams now and arrange the tasks. I want the work to be as efficient as possible. Hange and Moblit stay with me here to plan the advertisement and what risks we are facing" he paused again and looked at them. "Any questions?"
"No, we're good." Mike said after a second.
"Good. Start now. We got this."

They all stood up and went to their desks. (Y/n) wanted to vanish. She wished she never worked here. She wished she could resign but she can't because it will seem that she's escaping. She has to do anything to help repair what she has done.

***

Couple of days went by. They were practically working 16 hours a day, sometimes sleeping in the office. They only went to their homes to shower and change clothes and come back. Tons of coffee were drunk. Thank god they were coming from a vacation.
(Y/n) was tired, not just because of the amount of work, but also because of her college's attitude towards her. They didn't tell her anything. But they were all giving her those looks. They would be all laughing and when she appears they stop. They only interacted with her when needed. When someone says that his tired/hungry/sad/didn't get enough sleep, they would look at her for a moment, directling their accusations to her. It was suffocating her.
She decided that she'll resign, for real this time. Once they pass this hard time, She would leave all of Trost for good.

***

And they did it! They were capable of releasing their application within a week as planned.
They were all gathered again.
"Congratulations guys, we did it." Erwin said, happily and tiredly.
"We can take tomorrow off, we deserve it. I'm thankful for all of you. I have always believed in you and you are the best team I would work with"
They thanked him, but (y/n) remained silent, as the past 7 days.
They all left while she remained still.
"Do you want something, (y/n)?" Erwin asked her.
"Yes, I have a question."
"Go on"
"How will we know that we have beaten them?"
"We have to wait a couple of days to see the people's usage of our app and theirs."
"Mmmmmm."
"Did Zeke contact you recently?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"About 2 days ago, I found another paper at my door."
"What was written on it?"
"I told you, I always get what I want."
"That doesn't make sense." Erwin said, puzzled.
"It makes perfect sense. He didn't want me. He wanted you. He wanted our work. That's why he was so obsessed with me. He wanted to use me from the beginning."
"I see. And how do you feel about it?"
(Y/n) just looked at him and didn't reply. She sighed and stood up.
"It doesn't matter now" she said, finally.
"Listen Erwin, I know it's not the proper time, but I want to resign. Actually you should've fired me by now. But anyway, once this situation is settled, I want to leave. I haven't brought anything to you but troubles. It's for the best. And they hate me here."
Erwin looked at her without saying a word, and she left.

(Y/n) spent her day off in bed. She was so depressed. She loves Erwin so much, She loves this job so much, and she loves her friends so much. But she hated herself so so much.
She couldn't believe that because of her they were hurt like that. She wanted to do anything to compensate them for this trouble.

After 3 days, things started to get good. Their profit started to appear. Erwin was right, Zeke's application was failing and theirs was rising, it was more efficient and has more features.
Sasha was the first one to talk to (y/n) then. She came to (y/n)'s desk and said: "Hey"
"Oh, hi Sasha. How are you?"
"I'm fine, (y/n)"
And they were silent for a second.
"You know, the past few days were crazy" Sasha said, trying to break the ice with (y/n).
"Yes it was, I'm-ahhh-" (y/n) wanted to apologize, she really wanted to. She wanted to tell all of them how sorry she was.
"It's okay, (y/n)" Sasha said, seeing that (y/n) didn't know what to say.
"It's not, Sasha. But anyway, we made it, didn't we?"
"Yes. That's why I'm inviting you to join us today. We're going to celebrate. Niccolo is going to make us dinner."
"Oh Sasha, that's nice of you. But I'm sorry I won't be able to."
"Why?"
"It's for the best, Sasha. You go enjoy your time together. I have other plans. But thank you really."
"Can you at least try and come?"
"I can't promise anything."
Sasha sighed and left.
(Y/n) couldn't face them, she just couldn't. She was going to wait another 2 days and then talk to Erwin again about leaving. It killed her that he didn't say anything the first time, she wished he had said anything to negate her thoughts. But his silence only proved it more.

***

She went home, and as the past days. She just changed her clothes into something oversized and comfortable. Then eat cereal or chips or anything that doesn't need more than 5 minutes to prepare. Then she sleeps, whether she was sleepy or not. She just sleeps to stop thinking. But she couldn't, she kept tossing and turning. She wanted to leave and let everything go.

They were all gathered at the restaurant where Niccolo was working. Except for (y/n) of course. After they finished eating, Erwin said, catching their attention: "I want to talk to you about (y/n)"
"What about her?" Nanaba said.
"She wants to resign because she feels that we hate her and we don't want her to continue working with us, and that she's the reason for all what happened"
"We don't hate her." Sasha said and Marco nodded.
"We are just frustrated that all the work we did was about to be useless." Armin said.
"But I share the responsibility too, it's unfair to her. And as I have said before, she didn't mean it."
They all looked at each other and remained quiet.
"Is there anybody here who really wants (y/n) to resign?"
"No." That was Eren.
"She's a nice girl." Jean said.
"Great, then I want you all to start a new chapter with her. She deserves it. She is really killing herself about it."
They all nodded and agreed with him.
"I don't want to kill the buzz. Have fun, guys." He said and stood up to go home.
"Are you leaving already?" Hange asked.
"I'm not feeling well. Better go home and rest. Enjoy your weekend."

***

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