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↬ "IS DAD NOT COMING HOME?" you questioned your mother, wiping the tears stained in her eyes away from her beautiful face. she didn't look at you but nodded her head as an answer while silently whimpering to herself. your heart broke seeing your mother like this, the same thing happened when it was your parents 21st anniversary of being married to each other. "is it work again?" you raised an eyebrow and she once again just nodded her head.
work, work, work. was that all your father cared about? you always wondered. it pissed you off every single time and you wished your father would ditch just one single day to spend it with his wife and daughter.
"your father left not too long ago actually," your mother finally spoke, earning a confused look from you. she continued, "i told him to come home because it was urgent, i wanted to surprise him but instead he got upset and yelled at me saying that i wasted his time and he went back to work."
"mom—" you started, sighing and a frown forming on your lips.
"it's alright dear, i'll just refrigerate all of the food. if you're hungry, just take whatever you want and enjoy it," your mother spoke weakly, giving you a soft grin before standing up from the chair she sat in. all of the hard work she put into was now in a complete waste and wasn't even appreciated by your father.
"no mom, eat with me," you said, grabbing her arm and keeping her there so that she wouldn't go anywhere. "i don't want you to keep sulking like this for the rest of the day," you continued, gently pushing her back down onto the chair she just sat in and seated yourself in the one beside of her.
your mother watched as you placed the cold yet edible food onto the empty plate in front of her. to be honest, you were still quite full from earlier's meal but decided to pretend that you were still hungry. besides, the food she cooked looked absolutely delicious and you missed your mother's cooking.
"thank you, (y/n)," your mother said still in a weak voice, she kept her small smile as she watched you. "you're a wonderful girl, i'm really sorry."
"what for mom?" you raised an eyebrow, glancing at her as she said that and began to eat the desired dishes you had on your plate. "there's nothing you need to apologize for."
your mother fiddled her fingers that were resting on her lap, her head was now looking down and you kept your gaze on her, still quite confused on why she was apologizing to you. she sighed, finally looking back up at you.
"i was also in an arranged marriage," your mother admitted, almost making you choke on the food you were currently chewing on. you stared at her, quite dumbfounded and your mouth was now agape from the news. your parents never told you that they had also been arranged to get married, all your life you thought they were actually a couple who planned to get married to each other without force or any arrangements.
"i was 17 when my father arranged me to marry your father," your mother proceeded to explain in a heartbreaking toned voice. "and i didn't want to marry him, i was already in love with somebody else i thought i could be with. and because of that i hated your grandfather and i also hated your father. everyday i tried to act terrible towards him but no matter what, we still married. i tried to love him and i did, but now.. i'm starting to regret everything once again."
"mom.." you only muttered out when processing everything she confessed.
"i.. i couldn't be with the person i wanted to be with," your mother spoke, tears yet again forming in her eyes. "so when your father announced your arranged marriage with the son of the braun family, i freaked out and told him not to because i didn't want you to be with someone who you didn't love. i didn't want my daughter to go through the same thing i went through!"
you didn't know why your mother was suddenly spilling all of this out to you, it was all a complete shock and you didn't know how to react at all. it pained you to listen and you felt like crying just as your mother began to weep, but you held everything back.
"i'm sorry, maybe i shouldn't have said anything. it all just came out because of how emotional i became because of your father," your mother said, chuckling lightly and wiped away the tears that were forming and streaming down her face. "i'm sorry that you have to see me like this."
"no mom.. it's okay," you said with a frown. you had never seen your mother cry this much, she always had a big warm smile on your face and she never seemed to be the type to cry though she was a gentle and laidback person.
"(y/n) i want to ask you something," your mother said after she finished calming herself down. you sat up a bit from her words, wondering what she wanted to ask. "do you love reiner?"
the question made you silent for that moment but you answered, "no."
𖤐
eren didn't end up calling nor messaging anything that whole day, which left you feeling in complete emptiness. every time your phone lit up and buzzed, you immediately reached for it and checked if it was eren. but no matter how many times you looked, he didn't send anything. you were considering sending him the first message or call, but hesitated. you frowned when checking how late it already was.
you wanted to know if eren was alright, if his mother was alright. it was 12:34 in the morning and you were about to give up and just fall asleep when your phone lit up. the screen revealing that eren was calling, something in you felt relieved and you quickly answered the call.
"eren!" you happily said after picking up.
"hey.. i apologize, did i disturb your sleep?" the male questioned, he sounded absolutely exhausted and as if he had spent hours sobbing. you frowned, but answered no to his question. "that's good, but why are you still up?"
"i.. couldn't sleep," you said, not really knowing what to say to his added question. "and why did you call me?"
"i just wanted to hear your voice," eren answered, in which made you blush and a smile returned to your lips.
"is everything okay though? with your mother and all?" you brought up the question when it became silent again.
"yeah," eren responded and it became silent again. you didn't know what to say, you would ask what happened but you felt like eren didn't want to answer that question. you were about to say something when eren beat you to it, saying, "let's just stay on the phone like this, we don't have to talk. just knowing you're there on the other side of the phone makes me feel better."
you smiled, "okay eren. but what if i fall asleep or you fall asleep?"
the male chuckled on the other line before answering, "i won't be sleeping anytime soon. and if you fall asleep, i'll.. stay on the call until my phone dies or something."
"you sure?"
"positive, if my phone really does die i'll just borrow mikasa's," eren said, "wait nevermind, i forgot she doesn't have a cell phone."
you laughed lightly, you didn't expect eren to forget something so simple like that since he's been knowing the fact that mikasa didn't have her own cell for the longest. you assumed he was just exhausted from today and that was why he simply forgot. you and eren both continued to stay on the phone, though most of it was in complete silence and you could even hear faint voices of others on the other line.
it was nearly almost 1:30 in the morning and you were beginning to fall asleep, you tried to keep yourself awake but you ended up just closing your eyes for a few seconds and then suddenly dozed off. eren realized you had fallen asleep, since he heard your soft breathing on the other side and he called out your name a few times just to make sure you were actually sleeping.
still knowing that you were on the other side of the phone call, eren felt at ease. the rest of his day ended up becoming terrible and he had become exhausted from all of the hectic issues he and his family had to deal with.
while eren was pondering to himself, mikasa approached him. the female gently tapped eren on his shoulder, gaining his attention. but before mikasa could speak, eren placed an index finger on his lips indicating her to not talk loudly. she was confused but decided to just whisper instead.
"mom's out," mikasa whispered.
𖤐
you didn't see eren for the next five days. your messages were barely answered and his calls became much shorter. you felt yourself becoming lonely without his presence, though you had went through a whole week without seeing eren but he still communicated with you during that span of not being able to see each other face to face. and now the only time you were able to hear from eren was late into the night, most of the time it was when you were already fast asleep.
it was a saturday and you were laying down on your bed staring at the black screen of your phone. it was like you were expecting a call or message even though you knew you weren't going to receive one. you sighed, placing your phone face down onto the bed mattress and faced the other way.
you shut your eyes and relaxed yourself, but it was suddenly disturbed when a knock was heard on your door. you thought it was your mother so you allowed the person who knocked inside and you heard the door slowly creak open.
when you turned back around, you found yourself meeting the eyes of reiner braun.
"r—reiner? what are you doing here?" you stuttered and lifted your body up from the bed as you watched reiner enter the room and shut your door behind him. he first examined your entire room before his eyes landed back onto you.
"i came to see you," reiner answered and you raised an eyebrow. "we have more wedding plans tomorrow."
"but we just.. had one yesterday.. and today," you said with a sigh before allowing your body to fall back down on the bed.
"tomorrow is supposed to be your final decision for a wedding dress. the wedding is getting closer and closer and soon you'll be walking down the aisle," reiner spoke, he sounded exhausted himself from all of the wedding preparations that happened this week.
"i know," you only said, turning your back on him.
it became silent in your room, there was nothing else to talk about. so reiner turned around, opened the door to your room and left. and that was the last time you spoke to him that day before falling into another slumber which lasted a few hours.
you were awoken to a soft knock on your window, your eyes slowly fluttered open and your eyes shifted to the clock resting on the bedside table. 11:35pm. you reached for your phone, unlocking it and checking up on any recent messages. the soft knocking against your window continued, making you startled for a swift second and your eyes turned towards the direction of the noise.
there you saw a figure standing on the balcony where your room led out to. your heart skipped beats and thought it was someone stalking or trying to barge in, but you soon realized who it was.
the light from the moon made you able to see the tall figure, their teal green eyes being visible in the dim light. you immediately got out of your bed and approached the door that led out to the balcony, unlocking it and opening it.
before you could say anything, you felt two arms wrap around you, pulling you into a long sweet embrace. it felt like a hug that was yearned for a long time, and you soon wrapped your arms around the other while feeling them burying their head in the crook of your neck.
"eren—"
"i'm sorry if i disturbed your sleep again," eren muffled, a frown appearing on his lips as he slowly pulled away from the embrace. there was a small gap in between you both and he looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep for the past days.
"it's okay, you didn't," you reassured him and watched as the male just nodded his head, you reached for his hand and led him towards your bed so that he could sit down. "what are you doing here though?" you questioned, walking over to a cart where glass cups and a glass water pitcher stood. you raised the pitcher, pouring the remaining clear liquid into the cup and went back to eren, giving him the cup. eren grabbed the glass cup you handed to him and before he answered, you sat down beside of him.
"i wanted to see you," eren admitted, giving you a small smile.
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I SAW YALL SAYING THE DAD AND ERENS MOM WERE CHEATING WITH EACH OTHER AND I WAS LIKE NOODJDK I COULD NEVER DO THAT TO GRISHA PLSSSS
and i think y'all are gonna love the next chapter and hopefully you do AJSNFKDJ
ALSO GUYS WE HIT 10K IM SO HAPPY OMGOMG THANK YOU LITERALLY PLSSS ): <33 ILL DOUBLE UPDATE