Dark Hidden Secrets - Erwin Smith x Reader

Chapter 10

After quickly getting away from Hanji, I managed to make it back to Erwin's quarters. I checked the time and saw that I had about 2 hours left before midnight. So without any more distractions, I unlocked the door to his quarters and entered. 

I saw that the paperwork on his desk had gotten bigger and I just dropped my head in defeat.

You- "This man will be the death of me...if not him...then these papers will."

I closed the door behind me and made my way over to my little desk and started separating them. This job get more and more tiring each day, these papers just keep coming no matter how quickly I got through them. But after some time doing this,  I realized that the one being punished is Erwin. Its like no wonder he told me to help him, after seeing so much paper I think he'd lose his mind.

But nonetheless, lets try and get most of it done before midnight strikes.

_________________

Its already 12 and I got a good chunk of the paperwork already out of the way. I was never able to finish this much before so why today? Was Erwin distracting me? or could it be because his presence slowed me down? No, that can't be it.

But I'll be honest, these papers get easier and easier to separate each time I come back. Before I would constantly ask Erwin how to separate them because it was hard to tell them all apart since not every report was the same. It was tough but I managed to handle the job without any more questions or complaints. 

But what I've noticed is that Erwin told me this was my punishment for reading classified information, but how long will I have to keep doing this? Or does he even have any intentions on releasing me from this job? I mean he does look like he's been getting more rest, well compared to how he normally looked that is.

 I got up to stretch and I accidentally knocked over the papers meant for Erwin.

You- "Darn it.."

I got down on my knees to pick them all up but I suddenly looked up at under Erwin's desk and noticed something.

You- "Why does Erwin have a book hidden under his desk?"

My mind was telling me to just leave it alone, but another part of me was telling me to take it and open it. 

I wanted to open it but what if Erwin comes back while I'm reading it, I mean he already caught me with Ilse's journal, so imagine how mad he would be if I read HIS. 

Oh screw it.

I carefully took the book out from under the desk and slowly opened it. 

It was written in cursive, but what really caught my attention were the pages. The pages of the book looked like they are about to rip off from the spine at any moment, so I tried to handle it carefully. But remembering that its already midnight, I could only read a small part of it before Erwin comes back.

I opened the book carefully and saw the little square on the inside of the cover like a journal would.

This Book Belongs To:

Erwin Smith 

I smiled at Erwin's slightly messy handwriting, it must've been from when he was little. But even at a young age he always had nice handwriting. If he had held onto the journal for this long then he must've written something important in it. I know I should do the right thing and respect his privacy but....I just can't!! 

I carefully turned the pages and started skimming  through it. 

Its just mostly things that he's done as a child, and I would know because I was there most of the time. But suddenly the writing just stopped, almost like he had stopped writing for a while. And it caught my attention because the last entry was dated the day before his father passed. Then when I turned to the next page, it was dated 1 year prior. 

Its been a year since my father has passed, and I still believed he had not died in an accident. I knew it was something they wanted me to believe. But I knew cold heartedly that they were the ones that took  my father's life. I feel as if I am responsible for his death, if only I had been more careful at that time. But my mind had not thought about the consequences, I was very intrigued by my father's theory on what goes on outside these walls that I just had to tell others. But it was a decision that has left me alone, if I had known that something like this would've happened then I wouldn't have let my curiosity got the better of me. 

It had been a long year without him, but I have finally come to a decision. Once I am old enough I shall do whatever it takes to prove my father right. And I will do whatever it takes, even if it meant joining the military, I will not give up. My father died because he was close to the truth, but in truth, they didn't want everyone to know that-

"Oi."

I nearly ripped the journal in half when I suddenly heard someone come in, luckily I was still kneeled under the desk so I had the chance to slip the journal back where I had found it before I peeked over to see who it was.

Luckily it was just Levi.

Levi- "It's already past midnight and you're still here..."

You- "Um, yeah...I was just about to leave but I had accidentally knocked over these papers."

Levi- "Well hurry it up, I don't want to stay here and babysit you all night.."

You- "Right..sorry."

I quickly picked up the papers I had knocked over a while ago and stacked them on Erwin's desk. Once finished I took out the key that Hanji had given me earlier and placed it on the desk before I started making my way out.

Levi- "Your stacking is atrocious.."

You- "Huh?"

Levi- "Go back and restack them..."

You- "Um....but..."

I heard Levi let out an annoyed sigh.

Levi- "..Were you raise by wolves? Go back and make sure those papers are stacked properly..."

Levi looked extremely bothered so I walked back and straightened up the papers before I ended up regretting it. It probably took about a minute or so but now Levi won't complain about the papers anymore.

Or so I thought.

Levi- "You could've done that earlier and saved us both the extra minute..."

You- "...I suppose."

I quickly left the room and headed back to mine before he says anything else. 

At this point I don't know who's more frightening, Levi or Hanji.

But my mind still lingered on Erwin's journal, if I could read more of it then that would be great. But when will I get another opportunity like that? Guess I'll just have to wait and see.