A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

The Lady in the Bar

: Year 833 :

"What do you mean Dok has a crush on a bar waitress?"

"Exactly as it means," Adrian confirmed to Adalaide with a teasing grin as he lightly shook the mug of water in his hands, the crystal liquid sloshing against the glass. They were currently in the mess hall early in the morning. "He met her in this bar he and Erwin often go to - and the bastard is utterly, helplessly, smitten."

"Shut up, Adrian," Nile grumbled, but everybody didn't miss the tint of pink shade on his cheeks.

Isanna huffed, bemusement dancing in her eyes as she stared at the dark-haired man. She always teased the guy and kept on calling him a 'jealous boy' because every girl in their batch either liked Erwin, Adrian or Mike but not him. Adrian was a natural ladies' man, and while Mike didn't talk much, he had some girls simping over him as well. Erwin was, well, Erwin was Erwin (need I say more), and then there was Nile. He was always the odd one out, which made him the ideal punching bag for their teasing. She had been telling him his singleness had something to do with his constantly sour-looking face which made him look like a sleep-deprived killer and scared all the girls away, to which Nile would always snap in response.

"Hoh~? Dok actually likes someone?" Isanna cooed in a mocking tone. "Look at you, all grown-up."

"Piss off, Herrmann."

"I love you too, Dok," Isanna smoothly replied with a sarcastic smile along with her middle finger. However, Erwin's disapproving frown prompted Isanna to zip her mouth and lowered her hand quickly.

"What's her name?" Chiara asked, catching everyone's attention since all of them were interested about this woman who had managed to steal the heart of one of their friends.

Adrian grinned widely, showing his perfectly-aligned teeth. "Her name's - "

"Marie," Nile finished before he sipped on his mug as an effort to hide his blush.

"Oh~," Chiara hummed. "That's a pretty name. Oi, you better introduce her to us after graduation!"

Nile sputtered and almost choked on his drink. "W-what? Are you fucking kidding me? We haven't even talked that much yet!"

As they went off to continue their conversation, Isanna's mind wandered away towards the thought of their incoming graduation, which was now only 3 months away.

A year had already passed since she had realized the slight change of feelings she had towards Erwin, and Isanna had done a good job hiding it from everyone. Luckily, she managed to contain her emotions in a mental jar and had pushed it at the back of her mind, willing herself to focus on training to avoid unnecessary distractions for both her and Erwin's sakes. But while a whole year had passed, she still wasn't exactly a hundred percent sure if she really did like Erwin, or if all of it was just a phase. She really wished it was the latter - because harboring such feelings would only be detrimental for herself, especially since she was going to join the Survey Corps in 3 months time.

Isanna couldn't afford those feelings to ruin her rational judgement.

But, she paused, I haven't really felt anything strong towards him these past months..

That was a good sign, right? Maybe it really had been just a phase, that chummy feeling bubbling in her stomach about a year ago. Besides, they had been stuck together inside a closet for only a few minutes at most at the time, so maybe it was simply because she had been just so caught up in the situation.

"What's Marie like?"

Isanna was brought back into reality when Adalaide inquired about Nile's crush.