For days she awaited Chris' text to her about meeting whoever it was she had to meet. It was undeniable that the excitement and curiosity occupied her mind for a while- ticking Levi off in the process for giving him half-witted answers.
Tomorrow was supposed to be the day that they were going to go to the expedition, but they haven't been forcefully brought back yet, which seemed to be good news for all of them.
"What do you want for lunch?" Levi asked, walking out of the bathroom.
"Sure," she answered, distracted, staring out the window from her couch.
He glared as he walked up to her, grasping her chin.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked her with slight urgency in his voice, curious about whatever occupied her mind.
"I'm thinking about the why Chris wants me to meet this guy. Why me specifically?" she swatted her hand.
"Because he wants you to tell him that you're unavailable and you have a boyfriend." he gave her a small kiss and walked off into the kitchen.
She followed behind and wrapped her arms around him. "Levi, I'm not going to date other people, how many times to I have to tell you?" she pinched him. "I think there's a different reason. Chris would never just try to get me to date people."
"Don't let it distract you. There are far too many things to worry about." she pulled away from him. "I can go with you to meet him if you want."
She frowned at him.
"Or I can just stay home." he gave up for the sake of avoiding an argument.
"Thank you, Levi." her frown turned into a smile. "Don't worry though, he hasn't even texted me yet. He probably forgot or it's actually not as important as Rachel made it out to be." she pursed her lips.
"(y/n)! (y/n)!" Hange ran out of her room, shaking the phone in her hand. "Your device is doing that thing again!"
She took the phone from Hange and thanked her, the ringtone repeating again and again.
"Linda," she exhaled as she answered the phone, hoping that it was Chris that called.
"(y/n)! I really don't want to do this, but do you mind taking over my shift today? My kid's sick and I have to take him home from school." Linda explained through the phone, her panicked voice being blatantly audible.
"Sure thing, Linds. I'll be there in half an hour." she responded.
"Thank you so much! I'm so sorry to bother you. I had no one else to ask, everyone was busy!" Linda stated.
"It's fine, just make sure your son is alright. I'll see you soon!" she answered and finished the call as she walked straight into her bedroom to change.
"What happened?" Levi asked, opening the door to her room.
She squealed and covered herself, "Levi, get out please, I have to get changed!" Her face turned red, and her ears were fuming.
Levi walked out without hesitation, closing the door behind him.
"Lock your doors next time." he talked through the door. "Hange's going to make fun of me for getting flustered." he said in a quieter tone.
She rubbed her warm red cheeks and quickly changed. It was such an unexpected shift, but she couldn't refuse it.
"I gotta go to work, I'll see you guys later!" she called out to Hange and Levi who were bickering once again.
"Bye!" Hange replied, waving at her.
"I'll see you later." Levi followed behind, pulling her closer, and giving her a long, passionate kiss. He pulled away, realizing that she had to leave.
"Save some for me for later. You be careful." he grazed her cheek with his thumb.
"Mhm. I love you." he stiffened, making her chuckle. It was the first time she's ever said that to him without hesitation.
"I love you too." he quietly responded and gave her a final kiss on the forehead.
She smiled as she walked off to her bus stop, her heart still pounding at great speeds from him saying "I love you" to her. He had kissed her and shown more affection to her this week than he has throughout their relationship. Her smile widened.
---
"I'm so sorry to put you here this sudden (y/n)." Linda apologized as she hurried to get to the door.
"It's fine, Linds, just get home safe!" she waved her goodbye.
"Thank you! I owe you!" Linda called out as she ran to her car.
The day was slow, considering the fact that it was midday on a work day. She had nothing to do but read a book from the shelf.
"The Reappearance." she murmured to herself as she read the title.
She read for a few hours while managing the cash register and helping people from time to time.
For half an hour, there were no customers and she read a few chapters of the story without interruption.
I sat in the diner for hours, waiting on the person I had to meet. The waitresses took notice of the absence of my supposed companion, leaving me to dine alone and expect their presence for hours. She thought I was waiting for my significant other, but I was waiting for someone I had to do business with.
"Ma'am, do you want another coffee?" the waitress who had been loyally serving me this whole time asked for the 5th time. "It's on the house." she offered as if to console me. Did I give off the look that I was upset?
"Yes please," I took another look at the ringing door, looking for the person I was to meet.
The waitress saw my eyes light up as he came into the diner- not out of excitement but out of impatience. I tried to hold a smile as he approached me, his familiar face returning the same expression.
"Hi,"
"Hi," she snapped her head from the book, forgetting that she had a job to do.
She looked up at the person before her. She felt like she knew him, but she doesn't recall where or when she'd met him.
"H-how can I help you?" she examined him- tall, dark hair, brown eyes, and... Freckles.
Freckles, she thought. That possibility crossed her mind, but she knew that was stupid. Only Hange and Levi knew how to get there, Hange was the one who devised the key. Plus, she thought, Marco's dead.
"I was just wondering if you guys were hiring," he asked with an air of politeness to his voice.
"Yeah, we are. Do you have a resume?" she asked. It was perfect. If she could get his resume, she would be able to see his name unless he used a fake name or it was not him.
"Yes I do," he took out a folder and handed her his resume.
Her heart pounded as she looked at the name on the top of the page. There was no way this was him, he was deceased after all.
"Nice to meet you... M..arco... I'm (y/n)." She held out a hand to shake him. "on what days of the week are you available?" she took out a pen and started writing on top of his resume.
"Everyday of the week from 8 in the morning, but 10 on Sundays." he smiled. "It's nice to meet you too."
She let out a long sigh.
"Uh, sorry if this is weird, but, do you... by any chance... know anyone by the name of Jean Kirschtein?" she asked, hoping not to get a strange look from him. She contemplated on whether it was too sudden to ask him, but there was no other perfect time.
She could hear him stop breathing for a second and resumed again, "... Uhm, how do you know that name?"
She looked at him and saw the worry in his eyes.
"I... I kinda met him not too long ago." she started tapping the table with her pen.
His eyes widened in shock, not being able to believe what she was saying. She could see his hand tremble as he held his folder.
"How?" he asked after a long pause. "I keep hearing that name in my dream. I don't know what it means. I assumed it was someone I knew before I forgot everything."
"Well, I know that it's hard to comprehend, but two soldiers who are part of the Scouting are technically staying at my home at the moment. And they were able to come here with a key that they created. And that world is the world 'Jean' lives in. He seems to know you." she paused to help him understand the situation. "I just came back from there not too long ago."
He furrowed his eyebrows and started to rub his forehead. "I... I don't know what to say... Do you think I can go with you? To meet him. I just want to understand. I have so many questions to ask. I don't know what you mean by this 'world.'"
"Yeah, but I have to ask first. You can come over to my house after I finish my shift, it ends at 8. And I'll explain when we get there." she suggested, seeing his eyes light up.
"Thank you so much," he smiled at her. "It means a lot."
"You're welcome," she smiled back and waved him goodbye.
---
She saw Marco waiting outside of the store as she locked it up, pulling on he door a few times to make sure she'd locked it correctly.
"Sorry to make you wait," she said, running up to him.
"I wasn't waiting for long," he smiled, when in fact he had been waiting for 20 minutes.
"So, how long have you been residing here?" she asked.
He scratched his head, "I think just under a year."
She looked at him.
"I remember waking up at the hospital and having a bandage over this eye," he pointed to his right eye. "They said that they found me in my car, telling me that a lot of my bones had been crushed during the accident. I was confined to the hospital and got out a few months ago. But I don't remember anything, I don't even remember if I could drive a car. All I can really do at this point is to regain my life back." he looked down.
She felt bad for him. He was unaware of how he got there and what happened before he passed. He didn't even know that he was supposedly dead. He didn't deserve what happened to him. But what she didn't understand was what he was doing in her setting.
She patted his back, "Hey, it's okay. Maybe when you get there you'll remember some things."
"Yeah," he smiled; despite his sadness, he was able to pull a genuine smile.
"Anyway, I'll have Hange explain to you about the whole world thing."
"Who's that?" he asked.
"One of the soldiers living in my house right now." she replied, sighing.
"Oh, I see. Well I'm excited to meet them."
She gave him a reassuring smile, one that made him feel that it was okay to trust her.
"By the way," he added, "I have this key that was on my bedside table when I woke up- they told me that it was mine, but it doesn't seem to work anywhere in my apartment." he took out his keys from his pockets and showed her the key that he talked of.
"Hmm," took the key and examined it. "We'll try it in my house when we get there."
"Well, how am I associated to this 'world'? And how am I able to hear this 'Jean' guy's voice?" he scratched his head.
"What... what kind of things do you hear in your dreams?" she asked him.
"I hear things, sometimes of someone crying, and sometimes they tell me to 'come back'... I'm not sure what it means. But I feel like they're mourning for me as if I had died." his voice trailed off as he continued to think.
She wanted to tell him now, but at this point she fet as though he had to bear too much stress.
---
"We're home!" she called out. The noise coming from her TV was the only thing that filled her house. "Hange! Levi! I have a visitor." she called out once again.
She walked into the living room and saw the lack of presence from the two.
"Oh no," she whispered to herself, nearly panicking and taking her keys. It happened. What Hange was trying to examine had actually occurred.
"What's wrong?" Marco asked, watching her become frazzled as she looked through the rooms of her apartment.
"Uh, we have to go. Right now." she grabbed everything and used the key on her door. This meant that they were on their way to the expedition. She had to hurry and bid Levi goodbye before he left.
She unhitched the door and a blast of bright light came through her door. The room to her closet appeared- the wooden floors, bed, and empty room in its entirety.
"Are you ready?" she held onto his arm.
He nodded with a small hint of apprehension, "Yeah."
"Okay," she walked ahead of him and went through the door, feeling herself refuse to go any further into the room.
"Huh?" she looked back, Marco was still on the other side of the door.
"I can't... I can't pass through, (y/n)." he looked at her with worry.
She wanted to take him, but she couldn't take her time to figure it out, Levi and Hange were about to leave for the expedition.
"Marco, I'll be back in a few hours, when I come back, we can talk about this." she told him, "take a rest for now, you can eat anything from my refrigerator, I promise I will be back."
He nodded with reluctance and tried to smile, "Don't take too long."
She nodded back and let go of his arm. "I won't."
Marco stepped back into her room and closed the door.
She took her keys and ran off to say goodbye to Levi and Hange.
(A/N) Hi friend!!!
hey how are you doing I am so sorry for not sticking to my schedule but I updated this on a sunday so that I can go back to it.
Also, MARCO!! He's so cool.
uh okay so I said 5 chapters ago that there might be 5-7 chapters left, but I might be surpassing that quite a bit.
And sorry for my poop writing I suck :c
Thank you for reading and voting and commenting, it means so much to me! I hope you have a great day.
See you next week!