✰ 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫: 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐬 𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧 ✰

𝟏𝟔

Your POV

"A thing? What do you mean a thing?" You quickly stood up and walked back to get a clear view of Eren's face.

"I'm in love...with him. I have been for a while. I'm sorry..." His tone was curt and his apology seemed sarcastic, but his face...

His face showed that he was as angry and hateful towards himself than you've ever seen him. You realized that he was truly sincere.

"Eren...why didn't you tell me?" You wanted to hug him, but you didn't. Though a part of you felt sorry, you also felt betrayed. Why did he set you guys up, only to start a new problem?

You looked at him, tears falling down his face as he told you exactly how he felt.

"I was so upset. You guys look so in love. He's so happy with you. You brought him feelings that I'll never be able to give him. Why should I be the one to take that away from you both... As much as I love him, I couldn't bring myself to tell him before. I knew that he loved you. You're both my best friends...I just wanted to do what was best for you guys. And I feel so angry at myself because of that. I hate that I don't feel happy for my friends. It's so selfish of me to bring this up and start this new problem. Instead of being happy, I get jealous of you, and I find my blood boiling when I look at you. You're with him and I'm not. I never had the chance to be. It was never an option for me. He's only ever seen me as a friend, and that's all he'll ever see me as. That fact has made me so hateful... Hateful of myself. Hateful of everything and everybody around me. It's all my fault. I'm sorry..." His voice was cracking and his face was wet the entire time he was speaking.

You held back tears. It was so painful to see your best friend hurt like this. You had known him since you were little, just like Armin did. And at the same time...

You wanted to hit him. You wanted to tell him off for keeping this to himself. There was such a strong urge to get angry at him and tell him never to come near you or your boyfriend again.

This mixture of emotions left you speechless. You had no idea what to say. There were so many things you wanted to say, but you couldn't tell what would be the right one. A single tear fell down your eye, and you didn't know if it was because you were angry at him or if you felt sorry for him.

"I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry..." He was wiping the never ending steam of tears falling down his face, barely being able to talk normally.

Still trying to figure out what to do, you decided to simply sit there next to him. You refrained from patting him on the back, or releasing all of your anger. Instead, you gave him your hand.

"Come on. Get up. Stop crying." You pulled him up off of the ground, and he looked directly at your face. You couldn't look him in the eye.

"I can't forgive you." The tension between the two of you only grew stronger.

"...I know." He looked down.

You put a hand on his shoulder, and repeated yourself.

"I can't forgive you... But for some reason I can't neglect you. I'm furious that you didn't tell me sooner, and now I don't know if I'll ever look at you the same. You hate me. But you also hate yourself. And as your friend I feel like I have to help you. But as Armin's girlfriend, I want to pretend like I never knew you. I don't know what to do. I can't decide. I want to pretend like this never happened...and yet I also want to care for you like how things used to be. I don't think...that things will ever go back now. The best option now is to move on. Armin is my boyfriend, and I will fight to keep him, but you are my friend. You must get over him, or else you'll risk losing me and him. Do you understand? Our friendship is on thin ice at the moment. I don't care how you get over him, but do it. I'm not losing more people in my life...including you, but if you ever try to go after him...then it would be best to lose you. Do you understand?"

He looked back up, his face showing clear shock. He looked confused, like he was also having mixed emotions. There was silence for a while, until he finally spoke up.

"I...understand." He had never seen you be so harsh, and although he wanted to say no and forget all about you, he didn't want to lose Armin. He understood what you meant, and decided that it was best to make up for his mistakes.

"...Okay."