Between The Lines | eren x levi (editing)

✿Chapter 31✿

Eren had a mental breakdown almost everyday.

He couldn't sleep and night and he couldn't even do simple everyday tasks like eating or doing the laundry without thinking of Levi which made everything painful for him to do. He couldn't even drink water without bursting into tears. It seemed cowardly and weak, but he couldn't help it. Anyone would cry if their most loved one was suddenly taken away from them without a trace or reason.

Hanji called him that afternoon while Eren was sleeping for almost three days straight and usually at a time like this, he wouldn't bother to answer his phone but it was Hanji. She always had something important to say.

"Eren," she said frantically with heavy breathing. "Eren, Levi is still missing, right?"

"Maybe he got tired of me and decided to run off," Eren muttered with a sniff as he held the phone close to his ear under the blankets and quilts of his bed.

"Eren, I called the police," she said in a serious tone of voice. "He wouldn't get tired of you, he loves you too much and..." she trailed off suddenly as she made a choking sound through the phone, "Erwin isn't here and I'm freaking the fuck out."

"He hasn't returned after going to the liquor store?" Eren demanded.

"Yeah," Hanji told him. "Maybe he was with Levi at the time when they disappeared and Erwin doesn't even like drinking."

"Why would they even disappear so suddenly? Do you think they got kidnapped or something?"

"Most likely. Erwin always returns before midnight and he would always let me know when he was going to arrive late so I guess kidnapping is the culprit," Hanji whispered sadly.

"Did the police say anything yet?"

"They told me that the last time they were seen was a few days ago at a park. There were witnesses but no one was there when they were taken away but they didn't find a lot of traces to where they were going."

The last remaining hope of ever finding Levi again slowly poured out of Eren like a bleeding wound. He wanted to desperately find him but how could he if there was no evidence to where he was taken? The police, of course, are skilled but the thought of Levi being abducted was very foreign to Eren.

The kidnapper was probably very intelligent and sneaky.

--

"Make the money yourself, lazy ass," Levi coughed out as a boot slammed into his face.

"I would but if you can't tell, I'm a criminal," Grisha said with a cold and cruel laugh that pierced Levi's ears. "I can't just walk into some hardware store and ask for a job."

"Then why couldn't you just make your own money before? Before the fact that you were a wanted criminal."

"Listen here, shorty," the doctor murmured as he brought the candle closer to his face so that he could see it in the dim room. "Ever since my lovely wife disappeared, I was left struggling in debt and it would take me years to pay it all off."

"So what's the point of your sob story?"

"Eren held a bounty over his head," he continued. "When she was announced to be dead, she left a will for our dear son. She left him over five hundred thousand dollars."

"That's actually kind of sad," Levi spoke up. "Giving all that cash to the kid but not to you. I wonder why."

"He never used the money though," Grisha hissed. "He thought he was cheating life so he wanted to be a good boy and make money himself but of course he couldn't get any real job since he didn't enter college yet."