THE OTHER SIDE. aa

ein­und­dreißig.

     PANIC WAS PROMINENT in her e/c hues by the time she got to the beach. after learning a valuable information earlier, she left her car far away from reiner's apartment and opted to sneakily walk by the streets to avoid reiner seeing her and her secret meetings. it would be tiring and something she'd be too lazy to do everyday, but she couldn't exactly risk exposing herself if reiner decided to peak out of his window or visit the beach without any warning.

     only now did y/n realize just how stressful and exhausting it would be to avoid reiner's suspicions, as it started from her growing 'obsession' with mermaids. if she was careful from day one, maybe she wouldn't be panicking over something she could've avoided. though zeke was also probably involved, it was quite obvious that he doesn't suspect her like reiner does. he has no idea about it, too, and she chose not yo bother herself with him. even if he knows or have a slight idea, it just proves that reiner told him and that would mean that they work together.

     her sneakers-clad feet crunched the fallen dried leaves on the sand, often turning back to check if reiner was somewhat peeking on his window. his lights were off, but there was nothing wrong with being careful. she shudder as the sea exhaled its icy air, her skin was already riddled with goosebumps from both cold and fear. her eyes landed on armin's sitting figure, completely unaware of the predicament y/n was in.

     biting her lip, she called out to the blond.

     "armin, do you trust me?"

     the said male snapped up from his gaze on the ocean and looked behind him, seeing y/n with a frown as she stopped just a few inches away from him. he rose a questioning brow but nodded nonetheless, "yeah... why?"

     taking a deep breath, she pointed to the far left side of the beach, "let's start meeting up over there from now on." she suggested, feeling a bit good about the place as they'd be hanging out in a blind spot from reiner's apartment.

     he tilted his head, "o...kay? why?"

     sighing, she bit her lip. "come on, let's go there and i'll explain."

     her gloomy mood was noticeable to armin, making the aforementioned blond frown and look at her with concern swimming in his eyes. despite the questions he wanted to ask and words to say to comfort her, he did as he was told and went to the waters to make it easier for him to travel. 

     y/n clenched her fist as she watched him swim before slowly walking towards the destined spot. she held her bag tight, looking downcast as her mind started to fill up with thoughts, guesses and more paranoia. the h/c-haired didn't know if she should tell armin the truth. the truth that two of her friends were probably working with or part of the group that killed his parents and his kind from a hundred years ago. she also wasn't sure if he'd believe her words, but there's a huge chance that he would as he trusts her more than anything. y/n, despite wanting to tell the truth, also wanted to keep it a secret as to not make the blond scared or panic.

     and yet, one day, she knew he'd find out about it soon enough and she'd rather be not the cause of him losing trust to humans just because she didn't tell the truth.

     armin was already waiting for her by the time he got to their new spot. eyes still looking down on the sand with a hard stare, the blond held her hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze once she took a seat beside him. she looked up, e/c irises darkened and wide as she stared at the boy she loves. seeing the glow of his face almost made her back out of her plan, there was no way y/n could take it away.

     the blond only flashed a smile once he caught her eyes, the emotions in his eyes showing how concerned he was over her well-being. she didn't mean to worry him, her mind was still preoccupied with the things she just learned hours ago and she couldn't wrap herself around it.