Riverbank {LeviHan} [Manga Spoilers!]

Chapter 15: My Love is Never Enough

Hanji's POV

I constantly rubbed my stomach multiple times, thinking of different ways of how the baby would be. Whenever I closed my eyes, all I could think was that bundle of joy. And with every second, Levi made sure my well-being was... safe? I saw his search history- and it was composed of things a pregnant woman should avoid. And from that, he wanted to make sure that everything was safe. But tonight was different.

Levi has been making my favorite apple pie- and there was nothing he could do to hide it. The smell of it was overwhelming and flowing throughout the apartment. I even tried to sneak a bite of the pie, but he gently whacked my hand and grinned a bit.

"Come on... just one bite..." I complained, staring longingly at the warm apple pie behind him. "Please? I'm craving for some..."

"Don't try to get me on that, Hanji." He smirks and kissed me. "Again, it's for tonight. What do you want to eat for dinner tonight?"

"Pie...?"

If he was always that stern man because of his cold facial expressions, he would never had laughed at my attempt for his pies. But this man... he was chuckling softly at my bad humor. I just wanted pie, and he understood that. He just played along with me. "Pie is not a dinner- it's a dessert. But I have made a smaller one for now- only if you give me what you want for dinner."

I sighed, giving into his demands if it meant I get pie right now. "Fine... I want some... chicken."

"Chicken?"

"Chicken." I smiled brightly and eyed the pies again. "Now... since I gave you what I wanted for dinner... can I have the small pie now?"

Levi gave into his deal. He turned around on the airing rack, and carefully handled the small pie. With the cutting knife, he carefully cut the pies into fourths. From the freezer, he grabbed the vanilla ice cream and left it to defrost a bit. In the meantime, he grabbed a bowl and moved a slice of pie in the bowl. With an ice cream-scooper, he scooped one scoop of ice cream and it started to melt on the warm piece of pie. From one of the bottom drawers, he grabbed a spoon and gave it to me. 

"Here's your pie, Hanji."

I smiled and quickly took a bite. At first, the warm apple pie was hot in my mouth, but immediately cooled down with the sweet taste of ice cream. The sweetness just combined together perfectly. The crunchiness of the crust was perfect- not too crumbly and not too hard. The apples were also perfect- with enough spice in it to make it right. I let out a small groan of satisfaction and continued to eat it.

"Happy now?"

"Definitely... you should give me cooking lessons like these, Levi. That way I can stop bothering you for some pie like this." I say, eating more of the pie and ice cream.

Instead of agreeing with me, he shook his head. "No. You would just burn down the apartment. Or worse."

"What can be worse than burning the apartment down?"

Levi stayed silent for a bit, perhaps thinking of ways it could be worse. "If the place smelled like smoke, triggered the fire alarms, had the sprinklers go off, and fined for all the trouble. It's too much work, in other words. Now, I'm gonna start making dinner- and I want you to take a nap."

"A nap?!"

That's when his emotionless face of "I don't care" appeared on his face. "Yes, a nap. Don't you dare give me attitude about it. You're pregnant, and you need rest. So really, rest. And besides, we're going out later tonight."

"Tonight? I thought we were having chicken...?" It seemed too suspicious, but if was meant to be a surprise... I had to keep my curiosity under wraps. The downside of having a high IQ- you always ruin a surprise. 

"Yeah... but after dinner here, we should go and look at the stars tonight while eating the pie I made." That's when he had me. He was getting intelligent. He had a smile on his face- growing wildly. "Unless... you don't want to do that..."

"No no no!" My heart pounded for more of his absolutely amazing pie. How it echoed in my head- asking for the pie. Like whispers- it had to be a craving from the baby. "I want to do that."

"Good. Now, rest."

Grumbling with resistance, I went over to our bed and practically collapse- properly. I curled up on the bed, and soon enough, Levi came in to check on me. He removed my glasses and tucked me with. Warmth overcame me quickly from the blanket, and Levi kissed me goodnight on my forehead. How his slender fingers caressed my cheek, smiling softly. It was a sight to see- knowing no one else would ever see him like this. One quick breath, and I was in a deep slumber.

*   *   *

"Do we have anymore pie...?" I groaned softly as we looked up into the night sky. The stars were twinkling high above the ground, and the full moon was glistening next to them. There was a slight breeze- blowing every few seconds or so. Rain was scented everywhere, warning us about a shower coming in a few hours. Without a doubt, night was my favorite time with Levi. "Levi?"

"No. You ate the rest of it."

"I-I did?" Quickly, I searched my memory for that- and indeed I did. "Sorry... it was too good. I think the baby would love your apple pie when they're born. Maybe you can teach them how to make it."

"And what happens if this child tries to burn the house down? Maybe the baby would be just like you. No talent in cooking."

"Hey..." I chuckled softly, kissing his cheek. "I'm not that bad, am I?"

He scoffs softly, wrapping his ever-firm arms around me. Levi was so strong that he moved me with enough force that I would be leaning on him- but not to close to hurt the little one. "You kinda are, Hanji. No offense, but I ought to be cooking in the house from now on."

"Okay..."

Embraced with so much love from him, we ended up kissing for the longest time. His firm hand was on my stomach, almost like he was expecting a response from our creation inside of me. Too bad we were still in the early stages... there was no baby bump yet- and the baby wasn't developed enough to be kicking me.

"Hanji... you know I love you, right?"

"Yes... yes I do..."

"Then... you know that there's nothing else to bring us more together than how close we are currently?"

I nodded my head, continuing to kiss him. "Yes... I know that. What's with this talk? It's not like you. I know you too well to know you're not the kind of person to give a speech. You're more like the kind of guy that is... um, straightforward. What's going on?"

He sighed heavily, shuffling a bit. "I guess it's kinda ruining the surprise, huh?"

Of course... that's what he's doing. There was nothing else that he could be acting differently than this. The one thing that left us incomplete. "In a way... let's just get it over with, Levi. Just give it to me straightforward."

His smile was warming my heart as he popped open the box. I didn't expect anything less from Levi, but it was still a surprise to see it. How well it sparkled in the moonlight. "Will you marry me, Hanji?"

In that moment, there was nothing else than my love for him. Time seemed to be frozen- awaiting for my answer. My love for Levi was never enough... because there were so many aspects of him that I loved. Would I be insane if I reject him? How heartbroken would he be? Never mind that. There was only one answer that I had to give him.

"Yes... yes I will marry you."