𝗹𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 // 𝘫𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯

『 𝐎𝐍𝐄 』

꒰  ➘_ 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 ; ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ᵒⁿᵉ  ꒱     ˏ𖥸ˎ

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━❀━━━━━━━

۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫

Making my way through town, I was currently studying the shops, searching for Marlo's Clothing shop in hopes of finding a bundle of white thread.

During these last couple of years, it had become a hobby of mine to sew, as it would help me ease my nerves. Sewing, painting, writing, anything that would help me distract myself and bring me to a different reality than my present one.

Although resources were limited and money was scarce, I would manage to work odd jobs around town, in hopes of maintaining myself healthy, both in dietary needs and mentally. I was very fortunate, as the men who ran small shops would offer me work, either cleaning or handling the customers. The small extra gains I made from these varying jobs allowed me to spend money on other things that aren't as critical.

Nearing the clothes shop near the inners of Wall Rose, I entered, immediately engulfed by the stench of dampened wood.

"Hello," I greeted the man running the small shop. "Do you sell thread by itself?"

The burly man gave me a once-over. "Not really, girl. No one has come in here asking for yarn."

I gave him a small nod as I made my way over to him. "I was told that Marla makes the clothes here, so I presumed that maybe we could form a deal on the selling of some of your materials."

"You know Marla?" the man asked, dubious.

"I had met her a couple of times when I went to the lake. She told me that she makes clothes in this shop."

The man gave me a curious glance, weighing whether to believe my words or not.

Not faltering, I continued with a laugh, "she complained that the citizens of Wall Sina have better linen and that we get stuck with crummy scraps."

The man scoffed.

'I got him,' I thought with a smirk.

"Yeah, that vixen is always yapping her mouth about Wall Sina," the man grumped with an irritated scowl on his face. Turning around to the back wall, he grabbed a small box. Facing me once again, he mumbled, "Marla never knows when to shut up."

The man opened the box he was holding and motioned me to come closer so I could get a look. Scanning the contents of the box, I couldn't help but frown. "Do you not have white?"

He gave me a stern look, seemingly annoyed that I was making him do extra work.

Forcing a gentle look on my face, I gave him one of the loveliest smiles I could muster.

The corner of his lips twitched slightly as he puffed a breath out through his nose. He proceeded to make his way into another room of the small shop to look for the materials.

As I watched him close the door, I dropped my smile the moment he was out of sight.

'At least the plan is working.'

The truth was that I never spoke to Marla. Hell, I actually have never even seen the woman. During one of my trips to the lake, I happened to overhear some banter a group of older ladies was having. To my luck, it was about a certain Marla, wife of the owner of the nearest clothes shop in my district.

Although thread was sold in a small number of shops closer to Wall Sina, it was more costly and harder to get. Had I opted for one of those shops instead, I would have wasted almost a whole day in the walk to and from there, something that I was not willing to do.

Hearing the door open, I quickly plastered a smile on my face once again. The man, or Marlo as the name of his shop suggested, came back with two small bundles of white thread. Telling me the price, I paid him and thanked him for the business.

"Come by again," Marlo spoke in a low tone, his eyes fixating on my body.

Not allowing myself to flinch from the sensation his wandering eyes gave me, I quickly nodded and darted out of the shop, closing the door with a louder bang than necessary.

I exhaled a shaky breath, somewhat shaken up from the buzz of lying and the anxiety such occurrences gave me.

'Calm down, y/n. Remember, this is for your friends.'

With a stronger exhale of a short puff of air, I commenced my walk home, excited to make the yarn bracelets for my friends.

Feeling a lightness in my steps as I thought about Mikasa, Eren, and Armin, I didn't notice when I brashly turned a corner of the vicinity and ran into two sturdy bodies.

"Ah," I yelped out from the sudden contact.

"What the fuck--" one of the lanky men yelled but stopped himself when he glanced down at me. "AH!"

The other, taller man saw my stunned face and quickly tapped the other's arm. "Yo, isn't this the famous lily?"

"We are so blessed to be in your presence, our dearest lily," the lanky one spoke dramatically as he brought his hands together as in prayer.

Knowing this meant trouble, I hurriedly attempted to dismiss them, cursing the damn nickname I was given.

"It's alright," I spoke.

I began advancing beside them, quickening my pace.

"There's no need to be in such a rush," one of them spoke. He proceeded to grab my hand but I was faster and avoided his touch as I continued walking down the street.

"Ayo, sweet lily don't ignore us~" he cooed behind me.

"Lemme see how sweet you truly are, lily."

"More like," one laughed, "let me get a taste."

The two of them high-fived each other and began laughing.

'Another couple more meters and I'll be at the heart of town,' I tried soothing my erratic heartbeat, assessing my courage.

"We have all day, babe." One of them taunted, his voice closer to me than what I had expected.

Before I had time to panic, I heard a loud voice come from in front of me.

"OH, YEAH?"

Quickly facing ahead at the sound, relief flooded my senses as my gaze landed on Eren.

"THEN COME AND JOIN US," Eren screamed at the two men as he came to my side.

"Pft, it's always the angry one," the tall man came close to Eren. "Everyone around here knows that you're all bark, boy."

He stared down at Eren in an attempt to push his buttons. Suddenly, the lanky man beside him began tugging on his sleeve and pointed behind Eren.

"Hey," he whispered to the other, "look who's with them."

As the two stared at the person behind Eren, my eyes couldn't help but do the same. As she neared forward, we saw Mikasa with Armin.

"Tch, let's get out of here," the tall man said. As he began to walk away, he gave me one last look. "This isn't the end, lily."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HER?" Eren yelled, capturing the attention of the people around us.

"Eren..." Armin soothed as he made his way to his side in an attempt to calm him.

Mikasa quickly approached me, paying no attention to the strangers. "Are you alright?"

Her gray eyes scanned my face, making sure that nothing bad happened. Comforted by her presence, I shyly nodded, feeling like a burden.

After the situation died down a little and the two men were long gone, Armin came back to my side with a still peeved Eren.

"C'mon, y/n," Armin looked at me while extending his left hand towards me. "Let's go home."

۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫۰ ۪۪۫۫

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━❀━━━━━━━