CHAPTER 1: Bad Day, Meeting Again?
// "I keep getting this feeling that you're so familiar. I just want to ask; have I seen you somewhere before?" //
~*~
Could the day be getting any worse…? It was already as crappy as it is. Apparently, after some twist of events the previous night, Levi had gone home feeling much more light-headed and calm than he expected. It’d been such a long time since he’s slept that well- a little too well unfortunately; he got up late for the first time in his career life. And to make it much worse, his suit got soiled on his way out thanks to a clumsy accident by his neighbor. It was definitely one of the worst days that he would appear in the office in such a sloppy manner; he couldn’t stand the feeling of being dirty itself, so he had to go back in to change, delaying him further!
…And it was still getting worse.
Levi cursed a whole directory of foul words when he saw the long traffic. He even had to wait now, and he would be forced to check in to work late. Of course, he was one of the managers in the company, so it wouldn’t really be a big problem for him to be late, but he didn’t want to go through the annoying yet pointless questioning from Hanji. Not to mention having to answer to the CEO, Erwin, about his tardiness.
He almost literally strangled steering wheel when he remembered that Erwin was going to hand him a big load of work today. He wouldn’t get to finish it if he got to work late! He could feel the common throb in his head- not only at the thought of the extra work, but also at the constant honking of the other vehicles. He sighed; this was going to be a very long wait.
~*~
The moment he had parked his car and stepped out, he couldn’t even take a few steps forward when—
CRASH!
Loud crashing noises startled him and stopped him in his tracks. His steely eyes hardened, what could possibly be the problem now? He was already to the point of wanting to murder the next human being he set eyes on.
“Let go of me!”
He turned; that voice sounded familiar somehow…
“You’d better pay up, boy, or you and your little sister won’t be able to see light of day again…!”
Levi’s eyes caught sight of a group of gruff-looking men crowding around what appeared to be a teen boy in a nearby alleyway on the road toward the tall company building. He ground his teeth in irritancy, considering the fact that he really didn’t have any time for this, and that he had nothing to do with it. But, he hated to see pointless fights like that, even less fights that were loitering around the company building.
“I told you to give me time! And besides, it was because of you that my parents died! Why should I pay up anyway?!” the teen yelled angrily.
“Why you—!” one of the men, presumably the leader, lunged forward with his fist ready to strike a punch.
“Fuck off.”
The man yelped in surprise when Levi suddenly grabbed his hand in a crushing vice grip.
Levi gave one good kick to his shin and left him backing away from the pain.
“What the hell do ya want?! Are ya the boy’s guardian or somethin?!” another one of the men piped up.
“Tch,” Levi scoffed, “I have no connection whatsoever with him. But on a personal level, I hate to see shits like you fight for pointless reasons. Moreover, you’re right in front of my company. You’re going to soil the reputation of the company this way. I don’t want a dirty reputation, so all of you better scram.”
Somehow, despite the steadiness in his voice, Levi’s cold demeanor and dangerous frown made the sentence sound much, much deadlier. The group of slobs backed away slightly, until their presumed leader got up and scowled.
“Yer managed to escape for today, brat! But don’t forget that ya can’t always have a busybody bodyguard like him to protect ya!” he shouted with an accusing finger pointed at the teen on the ground.
“Let’s go!” they scurried off.
“Hmph… Such wimps.” Levi swiveled around to take a look at the teen he had indirectly helped.
“Hey, brat,” he called. “You’re having debts at such an age? I wonder what sort of trouble you’ll get yourself in in the future—“
He paused when his coal-colored orbs met the familiar pair of olive.
“… It’s you.”
“… Thank you, sir.”
A soft gush of wind passed the two as Eren slowly got back on his feet without another word. He looked to be in a mix of thoughts and emotions.
Levi scoffed again. He turned and started rushing to the company once more. Internally, he felt another wave of weirdly familiar yet foreign feelings wash over him. Coincidences, he reminded himself, that was all it was. Probably.
“I told you to call me Levi, right?” he called over his shoulder shortly before disappearing from Eren’s sight as he entered the sleek glass-covered building.
~*~
Levi sighed for what probably must have been the 100th time that day when he dropped himself onto his comfortable chair in his office. It took him a lot of effort to actually get pass Erwin and Hanji- especially Hanji, to isolate himself in his own calm office. Honestly, he wasn’t anti-social, he actually had quite a number of “acquaintances”. Apart from the “shitty four-eyes”, a personal nickname for Hanji, who enjoyed irritating him, the others were quite nice to be around- when they weren’t giving him a headache.
There was a soft knock on the door, making him glance up and give a small sound of beckoning. Petra entered the office holding a big stack of papers.
“Boss, here’s the paperwork Boss Erwin left for you. He informed that he needed them finished by the end of the day.” Petra said with slight pity for Levi in her voice.
“Hmm.” Levi hummed dryly with a distasteful frown. He was already too much in a bad mood to even care anymore. “Just put it here and you can leave, Petra. Thank you.” He sat back with his arms crossed as the girl obeyed his orders dutifully.
She shut the door behind her as she exited, leaving Levi to loathe at the paperwork alone in his office. She would have wanted to help him, but sadly, she was already needed elsewhere. To top it off, he remembered that one of his assistants got into an accident and wouldn’t be able to work for a few months.
Levi clicked his tongue; this day just kept getting “better” and “better”. And for some reason, he would find his mind wandering to the bright olive eyes he kept seeing recently.
~*~
By the time Levi finished his paperwork and knocked off from work, it had gotten very late and the snow was getting thicker again. It was because of the late hour that he was somewhat surprised to see Eren walking in the streets alone.
His original plan was to just ignore him and continue driving home since he had nothing to do with the boy. But for some reason, he just felt drawn to helping that brat.
Eren was a little preoccupied with a slip of paper in his hand, but when Levi pulled up beside him, he still managed to turn in surprise at the realization.
“Levi!” he called, going over to the vehicle.
“What are you doing out here all alone at a time like this, brat? Do you want to freeze to death?” he said, a little harsher than he had intended.
He watched Eren’s eyes burn with slight annoyance, but the boy just gave a sheepish grin.
“Well… Actually I got a new apartment that’s far away from my previous home but much nearer to my school. I…don’t exactly have transport so I just walk. And besides, the coat and scarf is keeping me warm enough.”
“You rented an apartment?” Levi’s face was void of emotion but his voice mirrored his surprise. “And where are the other two? Your step-sister?”
“I didn’t really rent it. My parents used to have a best friend called Hannes. He bought a new house somewhere nearby so he decided to give me the apartment.” True, it was unusual for the two to converse so openly when they had just met twice, but they didn’t feel uncomfortable with it. Each wondered about it in their own thoughts.
“And Mikasa—“ he started, but got cut off by Levi saying “Get in.”
“Huh?” he blinked. He thought he must have heard wrongly.
“Tch just get in, idiot. You really will freeze to death if you stand there like that. I’ll give you a lift over.” Levi turned his head back to the road.
Eren was watching for a moment in a daze. Nonetheless, he quickly got in; since he had a feeling he’d be murdered if he delayed too long.
“Thank you again… Levi. You keep helping me today.” He said slowly.
Levi only responded with a hum.
“Give me the address.” He said shortly.
Eren did as ordered and handed the slip of paper he was holding to Levi. Levi took about 1 second to look at the address, and paused with his eyes narrowed again.
“You’re sure it’s here…?” Levi asked again.
The boy nodded with slight confusion.
Again, Levi sighed. “That ‘Hannes’ you mentioned must be doing pretty well economically. That apartment block…” Levi trailed off.
“Is pretty expensive, I know.” Eren sighed, looking down. “But he was kind to not charge me anything. My dad saved him once so I guess that’s why he’s kind to me—“
“No, it isn’t just that.”
Eren looked up at Levi again, clearly confused.
…
“I live in that apartment block too.”
The day just gets better.
TO BE CONTINUED...