After more than 10 minutes stealing glances at each other, the two have finally calmed down and are able to talk face to face again without acting like a fool in love.
Levi makes himself comfortable by sitting on one of the library chairs, tapping his slender fingers on the reading table boredly.
In (Y/n)'s case, she strolls around, looking around to find some books.
"Oh !"
A smile appeared on her face as the secretary spotted something among the bookshelves, "It's my favorite book !" she beams, before walking over to her boss and taking a seat beside him. Placing the book on the table.
[Every Moment Was You]
"Romance.. huh ?" Levi peers over.
"Mhm ! This book has all the romance I've dreamed of !" (Y/n) reasoned with a smile still present on her beaming face.
She then starts to open the said book and flip over the pages, looking for her favorite part of the book. (Y/n)'s hands fumble as she tries to flip the pages and hold up her phone flashlight at the same time.
Until a hand snatches away her phone.
And hold it up above the book.
"Oh.. You don't have to do that. But thank you, sir." The woman then begins to take her sweet time reading the book with a pleasant look on her face.
Unknown to her, the man who's currently holding up her phone is taking shy glances at her. Admiring her side profile as she reads the book.
From time to time, Levi notices how her smile gets bigger as she reads certain paragraphs.
"Look," (Y/n) points her finger on a certain line, "this is my favorite part."
"'This is the romance I want. A romance where, even if he won't make your heart skip a beat every second, just one embrace from him will wash all the exhaustion from that day'"
She turns to her boss, grinning, "isn't that nice ?"
"Tch.. You call that nice ? How childish. I didn't expect you to have such low standards, Ms. (L/n)."
Her smile breaks into a tiny pout.
"To wash away all the exhaustion from the day, all you need is cleaning and a perfectly brewed black tea." Levi retorted.
(Y/n) sulks like a kid, "It's not that 'washing away' this book is talking about. You may think this is childish.." a gentle smile appears on her face again, "but this is my definition of love."
Tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ears, (Y/n) then proceeds to read her favorite book.
Meanwhile, Levi's glare on her grow more intense by each second. His steel grey eyes admiring the details of her face in the dark with only a tiny source of light.
"Ms. (L/n), have I ever told you that you're actually quite pretty ?"
He blurted out all of the sudden.
"Pardon ?" The woman averts her attention from the book, facing her boss with a confused look, "well, the answer to your question is no, sir."
"Of course not, b-because I never thought so. Y-you look like shit anyway." Levi denied. Trying to cover up his embarrassment for thinking out loud.
His heart aches when he sees (Y/n) return her attention to the book, looking a bit down.
'Shit, did I make her sad ?'
Levi clears his throat, "anyways, looks like it'll be some time before they get the electricity running again."
"Let me call them real quick-" (Y/n) stretches her arm over to grab her phone from her boss' grasp.
But he moved it away from her reach.
"No need. Let's just go. I'll lead the way, you provide the light."
"Yes sir."
---Later---
"Uh.. Mr. Ackerman ? The exit's actually this way-"
His loyal secretary politely told him the right direction, however, Levi seems not to buy it, "Ms. (L/n)."
"Yes sir ?"
"You don't know how buildings work, do you ? The exit is this way." Levi jerks his head to the opposite direction (Y/n) just told him.
"O-ok..fine."
Thus the two walk into the direction that Levi believes is the right exit.
--
A damn wall.
A dead end, right before their eyes.
"Ahem, Mr. Ackerman ?" Veins start to protrude from (Y/n)'s neck, "instead of relying on your logic on buildings, why not just trust the words of someone who's been here several times ?"
Note the sarcasm.
"The exit is, as I said, that way !"
With a dramatic pose, she points to the other direction where they just came from, and starts to head first with a phone flashlight in her hand.
Once again, Levi's secretary leads the way.
On their way back, the man couldn't help but notice a fragrant aroma from his secretary.
"Ms. (L/n), are you wearing perfume ?"
"No, I don't wear perfume, sir."
He raises an eyebrow, "but I smell a citrus fragrance on you."
"Oh, if you're talking about citrus, then it's probably my shampoo. The supermarket always has a Buy 1 Get 1 Free event. So this is the only shampoo I use." With a confident smile, (Y/n) flips her hair to the back.
Her smooth hair ends up slapping Levi's face, who just happens to be walking close behind her, since (Y/n) is leading the way.
As his secretary proceeds to walk forward, Levi slows down for a while, smiling to himself, "Buy 1 Get 1 huh..?"
'I can imagine myself pulling her hair on the bed as I ram into her-'
Levi shook his head, trying to get rid of his wild and excited imagination before catching up to (Y/n), who's already quite far away.
"Ms. (L/n), did you always walk this fast ?" Out of curiosity, he asked.
"It has become a habit after years of trying to keep up with you, sir."
The vice president set his gaze on their feet, "my stride is twice the distance of yours. You must've had a hard time catching up."
"No sir. I've become fully accustomed to it."
"But why the fuck did I never notice how fast you walk, hm ?"
"People say darkness heightens your senses," (Y/n) interprets, "and makes you notice things you weren't able to see before."
A sudden realization hits Levi, whatever it is, it takes over his mind. He slows down, and eventually stops walking.
(Y/n) notices his absence, "Come on, just keep up a bit more, you can't walk on your own without a light. You don't want to trip over, do you ?"
Then..
She takes a hold of his hand.
Again.
(Y/n) begins to walk but... Levi doesn't budge. His raven bangs framed his forehead as he looked down with a gloomy look. Those cold eyes never leave the floor.
"...Sir ?"
"You were right.. about darkness heightening your senses.." He mutters.
Something in (Y/n) tells her that she should just let go of his hand. Maybe he's just reminded of his past or a certain unhappy memory.
And she does.
But as soon as Levi notices her warmth leaving his hand. He frowns. This time, he won't just stay silent about it. So instead, he takes matters into his hands.
Levi reaches forward in the dark, and finds (Y/n)'s hand again. He intertwines their fingers together, making sure she won't let go of him again.
On the other hand, the secretary looks baffled by his actions.
No words could escape her mouth, not even her thoughts. Upon realizing her questioning look, Levi peers over, his grey eyes meeting her, "you said you don't want me to trip.. then.. don't walk behind me, don't walk ahead of me.."
"Sir ??"
"Walk by my side, always.."
(Y/n)'s mouth gaped open a bit, but she managed to nod. Complying To his request.
Thus, Levi walks through the dark Art Center halls, holding up the flashlight, hand in hand with (Y/n).
To (Y/n)'s relief, they finally get out of the building.
And guess what ?
As soon as they stepped out of the place, the lights turned on. Just...wow. What a shitty timing.
"I-I'll get your car ready, Mr. Ackerman." With that, she untangled their intertwined hands and walked off.
A few workers approach Levi, who's standing alone near the exit door, "Sir, we apologize for causing such inconvenience. I-"
"Shut it." Levi cuts them off, "no inconvenience at all. In fact..."
"I had a good time there.."
--------Later After Work----
"Here, 'aaaah'"
Porco holds up a piece of meat with his chopsticks in front of (Y/n)'s mouth to feed her, and she quietly takes a bite.
Despite the pouring rain at night, the two best friends decided to eat out after work since they're too lazy to cook.
"Why so dull huh ? What's on your mind, (Y/n) ?"
She sighs, rolling up the sleeves of her office clothes, "I need some ideas for Mr. Ackerman's library opening event."
"That's a secretary's job, too ?"
(Y/n) nods weakly.
"Why are you in a faithful mode when you're quitting soon ? Jeez you're such a workaholic.."
"I'm not !" She sulks, "I'm just doing my best until the very end."
Porco plays with his food on the bowl, once in a few minutes he would drag his piece of grilled meat around with the chopsticks, "See ? You're so devoted to your work, your short vice president is desperate not to let you go. I think it's about time you taste your own medicine, (Y/n)."
"..Hey pock.. Maybe it's not because he's possessive that he's trying to hold on onto me. Maybe he really needs me."
"What the.."
"Think about it, how would he be, without me there by his side ? I keep thinking about that nowadays." She sighs.
The man leans forward, gripping to the restaurant's table they're dining on tonight, "Woman, don't tell me.. you fall for that shorty ?"
"HA !"
(Y/n) then lowers her head, feeling embarrassed for shouting out loud in the restaurant, she murmurs a tiny apology. Porco could only watch her with a smirk. She quickly clears her throat, "What on earth are you talking about ? There's no way I would fall for my boss, you've taken this too far !" The woman fans herself with her hand for she's a bit flustered.
"Your gestures said otherwise, idiot." Her friend across from her has a shit-eating-grin plastered on his face, "but still, listen to me."
The solemn look on his face came back, "if you do claim yourself not falling for him, then just cut ties when your mind's on it. Otherwise you'll just let him control you for life. It's for your own good, (Y/n)."
"Hmm..." Her mind drifted off.
"You know what ?" (Y/n) pushes her servings of meat towards him, "you can eat them. All these things about vice president Ackerman makes me lose my appetite. I'm not in the mood to eat right now."
"Bitch don't you dare, you need to eat more."
"But whyyyy I'm not in the mood, Pockkk. Just for this time, pleasee ?" The secretary whined.
Porco shook his head as he held up a piece of meat with his chopsticks to her mouth, "Oh hell no, don't think I never noticed your decreasing food intake. You've been eating less these days since you're under a lot of pressure. Now open your mouth, 'aaaah'"
Just as (Y/n) was about to protest more, a thunder strikes and its loud sound echoed in the sky, causing a few surprised looks to other people.
But not with (Y/n).
The next thing she knew, tears were brimming at the corner of her eyes. Her body had fallen off from the seat, and Porco's arms were securely holding her close to him.
"...(Y/n) !"
"(Y/n) !!"
The woman finally snapped out of it. She frantically grasps Porco's jacket as her breath ragged.
"I need you to breathe first okay ? Then you can go back- What ? Yes sir, she's fine, just a small shock." Porco manages to usher off some people in the restaurant that approached them out of curiosity since (Y/n)'s quite causing a scene in the public.
She takes a deep breath before nodding at her friend. Porco then carefully guides (Y/n) to her seat, "How do you feel ? Can you hear me clearly ?" He snaps his fingers in front of her, fully concerned.
"Y-yes I can hear you. I'm.. I'm fine I guess."
"We really need to find out about your fear of thunder and lightning, they've been bothering you for years, (Y/n). After what happened, I don't think you should just ignore this matter. Even kids don't get scared like that. I think it's something related to your past."
(Y/n) wipes her cold sweat with shaky hands, "This kind of fear.. could be overcome.. right ?"
"I don't know.. But let's just hope so. Now come on, let's get you home."
---------------- At Levi's house ------------------
~
In a complicated world of chaos while unravelling your own issues and tasks, if you find yourself asking, 'I wonder what she's up to ?' Putting someone else before me like that,
That alone, can be love.
~
He closes the book.
[Every Moment Was You]
Levi somehow had got himself a copy of (Y/n)'s favorite book and actually studied its book contents. But understanding the concept of romance might not come as handy as he thought it would be.
"Love, huh...?"
He sets aside the book on his nightstand.
"I wonder what (L/n)'s up to.."