Chapter 20: Flowing Time

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Hanji's POV

Within matters of seconds, time seemed to slip away, and when I managed to look around... Iris already aged up to 9 years old. Her eyes slowly changed from my caramel eyes to Levi's silver eyes. She was already acting like me, and Levi wasn't happy with that until we had a son: Zane. Now he had Levi's raven-black hair and stormy eyes. Now Levi basically trained Zane to be him- cooking and tending to us girls. Zane was 5 years old; Levi and I were having a bit of a discussion about if we should have another kid.

I watched Iris dance around like a flower in the wind near the slow-moving river. Just her dancing was a siren's song. Her swift movements were almost like a swan- and deep inside me, there was this familiar feeling of seeing those swift movements before.

Levi and I never worried about Iris, because she was always a talented swimmer. All we were afraid of was her being lost- but on Levi's mind, it was boys. He was afraid that like me, Iris would attract so many boys to her. Levi almost lost his mind when he saw how beautifully Iris was growing. He truly was the overprotective father in a good way. 

Seeing that boy walk up to Iris, I had to hold Levi back from scaring him away. I just wanted to see what would happen between our daughter and this boy.

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Iris' POV

"Y-You dance nice..." The boy with brown hair spoke to me. The one thing I noticed was that he had eyes like emeralds. 

"Mommy and Daddy told me to not talk to strangers." 

I was going to walk away, but the boy grabbed my hand. I wanted to run and scream for Mommy and Daddy, but he smiled gently to me. "I-I don't want to be a stranger. I wanna be a friend. I have a little, annoying sister... and I want to talk to someone else."

"Who are you then?"

"I'm Eren, Eren Jaeger. What's your name?"

I nearly shivered when he looked at me. "U-Um..." I wanted a friend too. All I had was Zane and he wasn't the best. He was always kinda mean to me, even if he was younger than me. "I-I'm Iris Ackerman..."

He smiled brightly and giggled. "That's a pretty name, Iris..."

Instantly, I saw Daddy walk over in a quick pace, and I smiled. "Hi Daddy!" He picked me up and looked down at Eren. "He's my new friend! He's Eren, Daddy!"

Daddy sighed heavily, looking over to Mommy and Zane. "H-He's not a friend."

"Why not, Daddy?"

"He's just not." He then looks down to Eren and growled like a mean kitty. "Go home."

"But-" 

Daddy cut Eren off, and he began to run back across the river. My hand instantly reached out to him as I saw him stand off to the side, smiling at me. He waves goodbye and continues to run. I grunted softly, seeing I won't see him too soon. 

*   *   *

Levi's POV

"Daddy..."

"Iris, not now." I growled softly, carrying Iris inside. Hanji was busy, giving me that look on her face. I shook my head and gently laid her down. "Go and play."

"But-". Iris attempted to plead with me, but I wasn't having it. I gave her that one look that scares everyone off, and Iris solemnly walked away with Zane behind her back.

Hanji walks over, kissing my cheek and held me tightly. "This is exactly why I told you no, Levi. She doesn't have much friends- only the ones from school. Let her be a child and talk with others. She doesn't have time to socialize with others out here. Besides, he looks like a good friend."

I scoffed and walked over to the kitchen to resume cooking dinner. "No, he doesn't. Looks like a little brat being lonely and-".

"So you deliberately separated them?"

"He's a boy."

"And so are you." She always found loopholes in my words- and sometimes I really hated it, like now. She was getting on my nerves about that brat near our daughter. "Listen... she's still really young and I'm sure she wouldn't think about dating. Come on, Levi..."

I looked away, scowling softly. "Fine... but that doesn't stop him from being a brat."

She smiles gently, kissing my cheek. "Okay then. Thank you..."

"No problem."

Thankfully I took Iris inside, because rain was already pouring down. As I was washing the dishes properly, I swore I saw 2 figures outside. They were outlines of 2 people: one tall and the other one shorter. Both had this uniform on, which was weird. I've never seen it before, but it felt like I have. 

In a hurry, I rushed outside with a flashlight to see who it was, but there was no one there. My heart nearly skipped a few beats after seeing those two figures. But it eventually calmed down and it felt like they were no threat. I don't know why... but that was my feeling. I've never got to see those two figures on the riverbank ever again. 

For some reason... there was something about this riverbank. From when we first met to now... we were drawn here. Always...

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