She purses her lips, contemplating whether to do this or not. It kinda feels wrong to do it, but for the sake of her past that leaves her hanging in curiosity.. (Y/n) finally makes her decision. She tilts her body so that she's facing his sleeping form instead of facing forward. After mustering up her courage, she then called out to him,

"Mr. Blanket ?"

The man stirs in his sleep, mumbling incoherent words under his soft breathing.

.

.

.

"....yes ?"

Her breath got caught in her throat.

Still in shock, (Y/n) stares at her boss who just answered in his sleep. And to her dismay, not too long after that, Levi's eyes flutter open, meeting her (e/c) ones.

"I.. I clearly said Mr. Blanket, so why did you answer to that name ?"

The man only averts his lifeless gaze to the steering wheel, not even bothering to face her again.

"Mr. Ackerman, did you.. come from the Underground ?"

Unknown to (Y/n), his breath hitched.

"Did someone give you the nickname 'Mr. Blanket' in the past ?" (Y/n) keeps pushing him further to seek the truth.

Levi inhales sharply, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Her heart shattered. Now almost everything about her (Y/n)'s is bringing her to confusion instead of solution. The secretary may not know a lot about Levi's private life, especially his past, but the way he responds to her while sleeping really opened up something that is probably hidden.

---------------------- The Next Day ----------------------

"What brings you here so early in the morning, Ms. (L/n) ? Seems like something's up, for you to come here at this time. I'm afraid you'll be late for work."

"There's something I want to ask."

(Y/n) had decided to pay Dina Jaeger a visit before heading off to work, ever since what happened last night, her curiosity has been increasing. The blonde woman smiles warmly at the secretary, "ask away, dear."

"So, uh.." (Y/n) plays with her fingers on her lap, "did Zeke have.. any nicknames when he was little ?"

"Sorry ??"

The young secretary flails her hands nervously, "I was just wondering if he had any nicknames when he was a child. This is something related to my past, and I just find the need to.. know more about him."

"Well, to begin with, he doesn't have many nicknames from the start. Grisha used to call him 'My Little War Chief' when he was around eight or nine years old." Dina explained.

"Did he have some kind of fondness over a blanket, or something related to fabric ?"

"Of course not," a puzzled look takes over Dina's face, "why would you think about stuff like that ?"

(Y/n) releases a light sigh, "Mrs. Jaeger, I know this is a difficult favor, but if there's something I still don't know, could you please tell me ?" The way she pleads for the truth somehow pulls Dina's heartstrings. The elderly woman herself can't even tell what's actually going on. But one thing she's sure about, is... Dina isn't sure about Zeke's presence in (Y/n)'s past.

"I- Oh my god, I gotta go. Thank you for your time, Mrs. Jaeger, I hope we can have a conversation again soon."

She hurriedly rushes to the living room after giving the woman one last bow. But on her way to the front door, Zeke just happened to be there. He gives her a small wave, "what brings you here so early in the morning ?"

"I was just here to see your mother."

"Well, great timing. I was just about to call you." He grins broadly.

"For what ?"

Zeke shoves his hands in his pockets, "I need to return something to you. Your diary. Surely you'll be worried if your precious item is kept away from you for a long time, yeah ? Wait right here, I'll fetch it real quick-"

"Wait," (Y/n) calls out just in time before Zeke struts away, "did my diary trigger anything ?"

"I'm sorry." He gives her an apologetic smile.

"The details of that place we were in, our promise, the gangster.. You don't even remember those ?"

(Y/n) throws him questions, getting more desperate. However he only shrugs, "I don't remember anything. Why do you ask, out of the blue ?"

"I feel like my diary hasn't done any good. Because it hasn't helped you at all."

"Maybe it's not that I don't remember," Zeke exhales, "but maybe I'm trying not to. Like an unconscious self-defense mechanism, maybe ? Because it probably was that traumatizing. Anyways, enough with this memories thing, it's still early in the morning so you gotta cheer up ! Wait here, I'll bring your diary."

While the blonde man takes his sweet time to fetch (Y/n)'s diary, the woman pondered, 'why does it feel like all of Zeke's memories were told to him by a third person..? It sounds like he's telling a story instead of telling something he experienced..'

Feeling bored, her eyes wander around the neat living room. Many trophies and photos are displayed inside a hugs cupboard. Grisha is a professional certified doctor for a long time, maybe that can explain the trophies. Then, she looks down, only to find a small drawer with two different framed photos.

A photo of a blonde boy, and the other one is brunette.

(Y/n) immediately recognizes the brunette one, she chuckles, 'aww who knew this cute little German boy would grow up into a man with anger issues huh ? Bless Mikasa for being patient with that man.'

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Zeke's words snapped (Y/n) out of her thoughts as she averts her attention to the man who just came back after retrieving her diary, "thanks," the secretary takes the diary from his hands before jerking her head towards the two photos on top of the drawer, "sooo.. which one is you ?"

"Hmm ? Ah, this one is me," he pointed to the photo of a blonde boy, "don't you remember ?"

Her eyes widened. (Y/n) carefully eyed Zeke's photo when he was little.

"(Y/n), I thought hard about this, and the reason I like you isn't simply because we shared that experience in the past. I'm not asking for an answer right away but I just.. Want you to know how I feel about you."

Despite Zeke's attempts to convey his feelings, his words only go in one ear and out the other for (Y/n). For she's too busy observing Zeke's photo. He looks so... healthy and chubby as a toddler in that portrait. His blonde hair is combed to the back and he wasn't wearing glasses that time. (Y/n) frowns. She was one hundred percent sure that the boy she met that night was.. skinny. It was quite dark so she couldn't identify his hair color.

That boy from her past was boney and seemed to be starving for a long time. She even remembered how he dug a trash can to find any leftover food. The boy even hugged her close to him, making her feel bones protruding from his small, fragile body.

'As I thought, Mr. Ackerman was the boy I was looking for. But why does Zeke keep claiming himself to be the one..?'

a/n :

Ayyyy I'm back !! I'm actually still busy and too caught up with my scheduled exams and assignments' deadline, but hey ! At least I'm able to give you a new chapter hahahaha. Anyways, I'm afraid I won't be able to update as often as I used to do, BUT I SWEAR I WON'T GO ON A HIATUS BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE TO KEEP MY LOVELY READERS WAITING FOR TOO LONG-

I'll still update new chapters every time I have a chance, so don't worry !

THANK YOU FOR WAITING !! YOU GUYS ARE PRECIOUS !