Entanglement

Chapter 9

Annie woke up to the smell of pancakes that floated through the house. She stretched out with a yawn and sat up, she saw Petra walk into the room carrying a large plate of fruit, honey and pancakes, she smiled in thanks as she took the tray, she'd been waking up like this for the past week, it made her feel oddly nostalgic being back in her old childhood bedroom waking up the same way she did everyday when she was a child. Tiredly she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and slowly started cutting into the food as Petra sat on the end of her bed.

'Why are you looking at me like that?' Annie frowned as she observed the lecturing look that Petra was giving her

'Annie, you've been staying here for a week now, does that not seem weird to you?' Petra asked as Annie continued to swallow down her food

'I don't get what you mean'

'I can't keep lying to your dad and saying you're staying here because you're getting your penthouse renovated and Mikasa is on holiday because he's going to catch on eventually'

'Well then make up some new lie'

'What I'm also trying to say is that you can't keep staying here, its kind of sad'

'Thats rude'

'I know it might be out of place to say that as your staff but you won't even tell me why you're staying here, is something wrong with Mikasa? Are you two in an argument? If you are then you know avoiding it isn't the right way to solve it'

'I didn't ask for your advice or you assumptions, I just want to eat my breakfast' Annie scowled trying to ignore Petra, her and Mikasa weren't in an argument but for some reason Annie couldn't bring herself to face her. After that night at Hitch's engagement party Annie has been feeling terrible, she had felt like her insides had been ripped out of her body ever since she rejected Mikasa and Hitch wanted a break so she thought staying away would be the best idea, Mikasa probably needed some space and Annie sleeping next to her every night wouldn't help with the problems that they both were dealing with. Since that night she hadn't heard a word from Mikasa, no phone calls, no text messages- nothing, it depressed Annie even more. Even though Mikasa said that she was going to move on she actually wasn't moving on, right? Because if she was she doesn't know how she would cope, she lived for Mikasa's attention.

'Well I want you out of here in a week' Petra firmly stated 'staying here isn't doing you any good'

'I don't see the problem'

'The problem is that you're an adult with a job and a wife, you cant just crawl back every time you have a problem, if you don't sort yourself out then I'm going to have to stop lying to your dad and he's too ill to be worrying about you right now'

'Fine.'

Annie knew her dad was getting sicker, he'd been taking more days off work and eating less, the nurse had to come to the house more often. While Petra's threats usually didn't bother her and this attempt to push her back out was low, Annie knew that she couldn't give her dad anymore stress, he'd worried about her her entire life, in his last months he needed relief even if that mean Annie needed to face Mikasa. She quietly laughed to herself- this whole thing was stupid and avoiding Mikasa was immature, Petra was right, she was acting like a child again, there was no reason to be avoiding Mikasa like this but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to stay here for a few more days, she still needed to rewire her feelings in preparation.

'Do you want me to call the car to take you to work?'

'Im going to work from home today' Annie said pushing her plates aside and climbing out of bed with a large stretch 'I like the office here'