𝑅𝐸𝐴𝐿𝐼𝑇𝑌 | 𝐽𝐸𝐴𝐺𝐸𝑅 𝐸.

༺ 14 ༻

He's wearing an oversized, casually-styled, silk, black, button-down shirt with the cuffs rolled three-quarters of the way up. I notice his shirt has three buttons undone at the top, causing my eyes to wander to his visible chest which is embellished with tattoos and his usual silver key that adorns his neck. His loose, straight-legged jeans are matching in color, with the only pop of color coming from the shiny, metallic buckle on his, also, black belt.

As usual, his large hands are decorated in silver jewelry and for the first time, I catch sight of an intricately tattooed dragon that makes its way from the lower half of his forearm to the tip of the tail which stops right before his nail bed on his middle finger.

How come I've never seen that before? Have I failed to fully take notice of him until now?

"You look absolutely beautiful," Eren coos, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Thank you," I genuinely smile. "You look rather nice tonight."

"So are you saying I don't look good on other nights?" he asks, slightly chuckling as he laces his fingers with mine.

"Enough lovebirds," Connie smirks, nudging a smiling Sasha. "Begone!"

"Alright," Eren laughs, raising his free hand in defense. "We're going now."

And with that, everyone sees the two of us out of the villa. It's the first time in a little over a week that I'm finally stepping foot out of there, and it's absolutely surreal.

"Feels good to finally be out of there, huh?" he asks, as we follow behind the production team to the designated date site.

"It does," I nod. "The villa seems so cramped now that I'm finally outside of it."

After a few more minutes of walking, we arrive at a grandiose, well-lit red and pink, floral garden with a monumental, marble fountain. In the midst of the beauty are two foldable black, metal chairs with a wooden table between them. On top of the table is a fruit and cheese platter, along with an ice bucket holding a bottle of champagne.

I'm the first to finally break the silence. "This is so pretty." With our hands still entwined, I gently pull Eren along so that we may finally sit at the table.

He continues to gaze in astonishment at the surroundings and exclaims, "It's absolutely breathtaking. I'm at a loss for words."

"I can tell," I chuckle, popping open the champagne.

"Here, let me," he offers, taking the bottle out of my grasp and pouring the champagne into both of our glasses.

"So..." Eren utters, picking up his silver glass and swirling the contents around.

"Uhh..." I murmur, mimicking his actions, suddenly feeling nervous. "How was your day?"

"Fine," he shrugs. I watch as he picks out a bushel of grapes from the large fruit platter, all of a sudden seemingly uninterested in engaging in conversation. "I see you're taking a liking to the new boys." We briefly lock eyes as he glances up, and for the first time tonight, I notice the dejected expression in his shiny, viridescent eyes.

Is he...upset?

"They're nice," I admit. "I'm getting to know them, as any decent person would. I'm not going to be rude to them."