26
I N A Y A
˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧༚
THERE WAS uncertainty in her brown eyes. They studied him for a few moments, as if making a conclusion and unraveling everything about him just with her hesitant gaze. It wasn't until Irene scolded her younger sister for doing such that she stopped and averted her attention towards her.
Something Levi noticed almost immediately was how Inaya had a glint of sadness behind her eyes as soon as she looked at Irene. She still smiled, as if trying to mask it, but he caught it right on time, and it made him wonder what she was pondering about.
"Levi," Irene spoke up, his gaze immediately diverting to her, "this is Inaya, my younger sister. Inaya, this is Levi Ackerman."
He looked back at her sister and gave a small nod of his head as he held his hand out. "It's nice to meet you," he greeted politely, knowing if he made a bad impression on her sister, it could possibly influence Irene's view of him.
Inaya glanced at his hand before shaking it. She offered a hesitant smile, the glint of sadness never wavering. "Yeah, you too," she responded curtly, her eyes diverting over to her sister, "I've heard a few things about you from Irene."
His heart picked up its speed as he retracted his hand, his eyes traveling to Irene, who gave a kind smile. "Oh?"
Her sister laughed gently and hummed as Irene rolled her eyes. "I really appreciate you helping my sister out when she was upset," Inaya thanked polity, causing his attention to go back to her.
He felt somewhat disappointed, but gave a small nod. The memories of that night tided in, and he felt the dancing in his stomach once again, his skin growing warm. He wondered if Irene had told her about how he held her, how he carried her to her bed, how Irene gave curt information about their parents.
Levi brushed it aside, not wanting to ponder on it for longer than he needed to. He didn't want to, especially since he knew it wasn't right for him to have feelings and thoughts such as those.
He wasn't too sure what to respond with. He didn't want to mention he did it because he was friends with her, especially due to the fact he didn't even see her as just that anymore. "I'm glad she's doing better now," he spoke honestly, allowing his stoic persona to falter to reveal his true feelings.
Even if he couldn't completely get his feelings across, he genuinely meant his words and was okay with that. It satisfied Inaya because she nodded her head, her light-brown curls bouncing slightly. As for Irene, she didn't give much of a reaction, simply flashing a gentle smile, hazel eyes twinkling.
"We should get something to eat," Inaya spoke up, flashing a more cheeky smile as she looked at the two.
Irene nodded her head in agreement, her eyes averting towards Levi, who remained silent, unsure of what to say. "Have you eaten, Levi?" she asked, her tone of voice almost making it seem like she would scold him if he replied with the wrong answer.
He nodded. "Yeah, my roommate got something around three," he responded, noticing how Irene immediately frowned.
"You need to eat, it's seven!"
Without hesitation, she grabbed his hand—along with Inaya's—and eagerly dragged them through the crowds of people to where the stands of food were.
A dry laugh slipped past Inaya's lips, gaining Levi's attention. "She's always like this," she grumbled as she threw her head back. "It's only been, like, three hours, Irene!" the younger complained, "we haven't eaten since twelve!"
"And you're practically nagging at me for not eating," Levi added with a scoff.
Irene stopped and sent the two a look before rolling her eyes. Despite her eye roll, a smile still graced her features, making Levi fall back into silence and for a tranquil expression to place itself on his face.
Her lips parted to speak before she closed her mouth and gave a quiet laugh. "Doesn't matter, what do you guys want?"
"I can pay," Levi offered without hesitation, feeling as if he should for tagging along for something that appeared to have just been for the two of them.
A childlike smile flashed Inaya's face as she folded her arms. "That's fine with me," she shrugged carelessly, only to get slapped on the arm by her sister, who scolded her.
Seeing that side of Irene, playing the role of an older sister, made a minuscule of a smile tug Levi's lips. To him, it amused him to see the calm woman who had a deep love for photography with a childlike side act as an older sister. It was something that surprised him as well.
"Inaya can pay for her own food," Irene said, her gaze meeting Levi's. "I can pay for yours as well, Levi. I did give you the invitation to come as well, it's only proper," she added softly, eyes tender as well as her small, polite smile.
It didn't matter if that was the case with Levi. He didn't want her spending anymore money on him, nor did he want her sister to have to do so as well. "Proper or not, I'll still pay," he responded gravely. "You've been paying the last few times, I don't mind. If it makes you feel better, I'll let you pay the next time."
Irene paused, hesitating to accept his offer. Before she could utter a word, her sister spoke for her, nudging her side. "That's fine by me," Inaya interjected, her eyes meeting Levi's.
He was quick to catch the wary gaze she held, as if she were waiting for him to slip up. He wasn't sure how much she knew of him, what Irene—or even Hanji told her. From that, he was also to be on guard, preventing from slipping up.
While Levi waited on the food after getting their orders, Inaya dragged Irene away, bringing her to where the lanterns and fireworks were being sold.
When he got the food, he watched Irene silently. The entire time she was with her sister, she held a bright and merry smile, her hazel eyes twinkling with delight. He was in awe at how content she was with her sister. How happy she looked made him satisfied, especially due to her peculiar behavior she portrayed for the past few days.
What threw him off was Inaya. How she held a small, sad smile. The way the light in her brown eyes would waver whenever Irene looked away, how her smile would falter. To him, she appeared as if she were trying to be happy, but was on the verge of giving up. It proved that the way she smiled when he first saw her wasn't just his imagination.
Levi approached them, her behavior still lingering in the back of his mind. "Here," he offered, holding out the food that Irene quickly grabbed, spotting how he was holding three at the same time.
"Next time, call us over so we can help you out," Irene laughed softly, her eyes meeting his.
He gave a shake of his head. "It's fine. Don't worry too much about it, I—Ms. Cider."
Inaya frowned and a quiet laugh slipped her lips. "You refer her by our last name?" she inquired, arching a brow teasingly. "That's kinda sad since I would have expected the two of you to be close friends by now, especially since you helped her out."
As much as he wanted to reject the idea, he couldn't because he knew it was true. The only reason he'd been calling her that was due to him not being entirely sure if she would be comfortable with it. If she still wanted whatever was left of their business relationship.
A pint tint dusted over Irene's cheeks as she released a small laugh. His eyes softened when her gaze fell to the ground. "You could just call me Irene, Levi. It makes me feel old if you refer to me as some teacher," she assured gently, giving him one of her gentle smiles that always brought him solace.
"You are old," Inaya's remarked nonchalantly, making Irene shoot a glare and scoff.
Before they could argue, Levi spoke up, his heart hammering against his chest, honored and relieved how he could finally refer to her by her first name. "All right," he agreed, suppressing a smile. "What time do the fireworks start?"
Irene's gaze averted back to him. "It starts at late seven," she answered with a smile, her sister pulling out her phone to check the time.
"About twenty minutes, we can just find a spot and relax until then," Inaya added, slipping her phone back into her bag with a smaller smile.
Levi nodded in agreement, his gaze diverting to the fireworks on display. "Do you want to buy anything?" he asked, recalling how they eyed the items.
Before Irene had a chance to deny—Levi certain she would—Inaya grabbed the ones she'd been eyeing and placed them on the counter.
Her brown eyes darted towards Levi, as if she was testing him. "Yup! I'll split the payment with you," she spoke with a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Irene can go look for a spot, can't you, big sister," Inaya teased, a mocking smile flashing her face as she looked at her.
Irene remained silent as her smile morphed into a frown. She eyed her sister skeptically, looking over at Levi.
He knew Inaya wanted to speak to him privately. In order to create a decent impression, he needed to agree, even if he didn't like the idea of it all. "We can handle it, go ahead and eat," Levi said assuringly.
Irene slowly nodded and gave a weak smile. She turned and waved before walking off, placing her hand on her chest.
As soon as she was gone, Inaya paid her half and nudged him to do the same. Levi mentally cursed himself, knowing he was watching her leave and she caught it. The last thing he needed was her sister to tell her. He paid for his half and took the bag, Inaya taking the other.
There was a tense silence between the two, Levi not knowing what to say and Inaya eyeing him skeptically. After a few moments of walking to where Irene went, she heaved a sigh. "I don't really like how you tagged along," Inaya muttered, causing his gaze to avert towards her.
Levi frowned, but nodded in understanding. He couldn't blame her. "I can understand—"
"No, you don't," she interrupted with a bitter scoff as she sent him a look. Her gaze fell to the ground, and a frown made itself on her face. "This was...this night..." Her voice trailed off, as if contemplating which words she should use. "It was supposed to be our night."
Inaya stopped walking and looked over at him, sadness and resentment lingering in her light-brown eyes. "Every year we come to this festival, taking a break from our hectic schedules. Just the two of us. It's our night, but she just had to invite you...some low life."
Despite her words, he didn't feel angered by them. In fact, he understood her and why she would be upset with him. Irene had brought him along, and he was sure it was on short notice as well.
Rather than giving his remarks, he nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry," he apologized gravely, his frown still lingering. "I didn't know it was that important for you. If I had known, I wouldn't have agreed to come."
The younger sister fluttered her eyes shut and exhaled, a soft laugh escaping as she nodded and began to walk again once opening her eyes. "I'm not too angry honestly," she admitted, her gaze averting to him, "I kinda just wanted to see how you would respond—your apology seemed really genuine, so thank you."
He wasn't too surprised, every bit of him was telling him it was a test. He never had much experience with such things, but he did know whether or not someone was upset, and Inaya still was, just not as much as he expected.
"You must mean something to her if she brought you here," Inaya added, sending him a small smirk, "especially this year."
Tides of relief flooded him, content with how Irene wouldn't bring just anyone here. "She mentioned she came here with her family," Levi recalled, glancing at the direction where the buffet was, "but what's so special about this year?"
Her smirk faltered and she hesitated to nod, her gaze diverting to the front of them. "I mean...yeah," she muttered, pondering of her words. "It's not really my place to say much, but the two of us don't really like this place, but we do at the same time since we're creating new memories with it. It's a love-hate relationship...This year is just a bigger show than usual, nothing much."
Levi didn't press any further and simply nodded. After the brief information he'd gotten from Irene about her parents, he understood completely why she would feel that way.
The two spotted Irene on her camera, muttering to herself, as if not content with her work. Inaya called her name and she perked her head up, a smile flourishing her face. She placed the camera away and helped by taking their bags, setting it on the picnic blanket she had set up.
Inaya sat down, beginning to eat her food as she watched the lake in contentment. Irene gently took Levi's hand, bringing him to the side when she did. "She didn't bother you with anything, right?" Irene asked, preparing to scold her sister.
Levi looked at Inaya for a few moments before he shook his head, subconsciously brushing his thumb against her hand. "No," he answered, diverting his gaze back to her, "she just mentioned that you guys come here every year."
Irene smiled, her eyes softening as her gentle grip on his hand tightened ever so slightly. "Yeah, it's really nice to have you here this time, Levi," she muttered, the pink dust coloring her cheeks once again.
His words got caught in his throat and he froze. He couldn't move and all he could do was just stare. It frustrated him that he never had such a serious emotion before and how he didn't know how to act on it. If it was lust, he would have known, but it was something greater and foreign.
Irene pulled her hand away and looked back at Inaya. "We should set the things up," she directed before she met his gaze again, "but eat first."
Her voice snapped him out of his daze and he nodded, scratching his cheek as his heart slammed against his ribcage like a locked prisoner.
"Yeah...let's do that..."
˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧༚
A/N
I deeply apologize for the very overdue update. As I stated back in February in Perfectly Wrong, writing it a hobby and isn't always my first priority. Not to mention how I haven't had much motivation lately.
At the moment, I'm still struggling a bit to find the motivation, but I'm getting there. I didn't mean to leave you guys when we're in the climax of the story.