Chapter Text
“Hey hey! What are you doing?”
A voice called out as Levi’s hand was swatted away; the apple in his hand was now out of reach.
“Trying to eat breakfast? Hey give it back Farlan!” He answered annoyingly when standing on his tiptoes trying to reach the apple in the taller man’s hand. His effort was to no avail as said man was nearly thirty centimeters taller than him. Farlan appeared to be very amused with his hand all the way above his head and a smirk on his face, watching Levi struggle. Fucking tall bastard. Levi mumbled under his breath. He wouldn’t have to play jump and catch like this if this apple wasn’t the only edible thing in the apartment. Well, not really the only but everything else had to be cooked, so they’re out of the question.
“This is hardly a decent meal, Levi.”
Farlan said in that motherly tone. Levi huffed and mentally added fruits to his shopping list.
“Just sit down. I’ll make you something.”
“But I don’t have time!”
Really, Levi didn’t hate cooking at all. In fact he was quite good at it. He was the one in charge of their lunches and dinners and suppers when the kids – Farlan and Isabel – were too busy with their homework. And that’s literally everyday. Not that Levi really minded though. But cooking when pressed for time is really a pain in the ass.
“Yes you do! It’s like what? 7 o’clock? You have like an hour to eat your breakfast!” Farlan replied while putting on an apron and turning on the stove. Levi, deciding that he couldn’t argue anymore, turned around to go through his briefcase instead. He had checked it four or five times yesterday, to make sure everything he needed was in there. Better safe than sorry. He checked it twice, turned on his phone to double-check the time before a plate was placed in front of him.
Needless to say, it was huge. There was some bacon and an egg, some slices of sausage, some salad and pancakes with honey on top. Levi wondered how Farlan could manage all of this in five minutes. It was a little bit much. Well, it’s too much for me. But a big breakfast once in a while wouldn’t cause any harm, right?
“It’s big.” That was all Levi could manage at the time.
“It’s not that much. But I figure you’ll need the energy for today.” Farlan laughed as Levi poked at his food and started to devour it.
“Yeah, today is really important right?” A female voice boomed next to him. Isabel, still in her pink pajamas, propped her chin in her palm as she yawned and rubbed at her eyes sleepily.
“Why don’t you sleep more?” Levi asked why chewing the salad. The girl had stayed up late last night, and although he always found that sleepy manner endearing, he wanted his baby sister to have her beauty sleep.
“Want to kiss you goodbye, heh!” Isabel waved her hand as Levi rolled his eyes.
“It’s not like I’m going abroad or anything. It’s just a normal interview.” He tried to be calm and moved on to the pancakes. This was his favorite breakfast, but he really didn’t found it appetizing today.
“Don’t worry. You’ll do just fine!” Farlan sit down across the table, arms folded neatly in front of him, and looked at Levi.
“Shut up! I’m not worried!” He deadpanned.
“Uh huh.” Farlan raised an eyebrow while both of them stared at him with the who-do-you-think-you-are-lying-to look. “I’m not lying.” Levi mumbled, too quietly for them to hear. But really, he felt like his stomach was full of butterflies, felt his veins beating in his throat and wondered how long since the last time he felt this nervous. Probably quite a few years…
He didn’t realize he had tuned out Farlan and Isabel’s voices until a hand came in contact with his back.
“Big bro, you’re lucky Farlan got up early today, or else you would have come to that interview on an empty stomach! Breakfast is really important, especially on a day like this!”
“Yeah. Thanks Mommy Daddy.” He rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless as he stood up and walked over to the sink to wash the dish.
“Just put it there. I’ll wash it later.” Farlan called behind him. I wouldn’t want any stain on my shirt anyway. “Thanks” He gave the man a pat on the back before walking over to the front door to put on his shoes
Isabel handed him his black blazer and his briefcase as he finished tying his grey tie. He quickly put it on and smoothed the invisible crease on his suit, as if the action could calm his nerves. Isabel gave him peck on the cheek. “Break a leg, big bro!” Farlan just leaned on the wall with his arms crossed and smiled at him. “We’ll wait for you at home.”
Levi couldn’t help smiling. It was exactly the same feeling on the day he took his university entrance exam, those same smiles, same playful eyes, only they had grown taller and bigger. Time sure flies huh. “Thanks guys. I’m leaving now.” Levi turned the knob and stepped outside, taking one last glance at the duo inside before smiling a bit and closed the door. He could faintly hear Isabel’s voice coming from the other side “Go go big bro! Woohoo!” and smirked as he shook his head and walked towards the elevator. Still a kid.
The bus stop was right in front of the apartment block, which was one of the reasons he had chosen this place to live. He definitely wouldn’t want to be soaked running under the rain from the bus stop to home and then leaving traces of water and mud all over his apartment. Levi cringed at the image and glanced at his watch. 7:20. What if the bus didn’t come on time today? What if it broke down in the middle of the road? I would have to call a cab, and that would be a fucking waste of money. He sighed. God I really need this job.
Thankfully, the bus arrived five minutes later. Levi stepped on the bus and had to stop himself from sighing in relief. Usually it was crowded with high schoolers but today there were only a few people on the bus. Levi didn’t do really well with people, actually he sucked at communicating. He hated crowds and the only reason he had gone to parties and proms in high school was because Hanji had always dragged him along as her date. It really surprising how he’d got a group of friends and had kept in touch with them since leaving high school. He didn’t talk much with them anymore, well except for Hanji, but they were always there when he needed.
His phone buzzed: a message from Hanji. Speak of the devil. He swiped across the screen. [Good luck babe ;) Kick their asses n show ‘em how sexy u r ;))))]. He smirked and pocketed his phone. He didn’t text back, looking outside the window instead. He’d got to the city center.
Familiar skyscrapers filled his view, and from here he could make out the outline of Sina building – the place he had worked his ass off to get into. Sina Corporation – one of the biggest, wealthiest companies in the country – had started as a transport company at first but now had expanded its business into many other fields, which include literally everything you could think of. And it had developed even more since last year with the new chairman – who was also the former chairman’s son. Anyway, Sina Corps is every student’s dream: stable income even when on work trial (and even higher when you officially got hired) and an elite work environment. Of course, along with its reputation is the hard-as-fuck recruitment. It was said that only five percent of the applicants got to set the foot in the company and even then they had to maintain their good performances to keep the positions. Therefore, when Levi had got an email – the email - saying that he was qualified for the interview he’d had to stop himself from jumping around the apartment in joy. Sure, it was only the first step but he did have more chances to be hired. And today is the judgement day. He sighed as he stepped out of the bus. Levi had prepared really carefully for today and so nothing, absolutely nothing, could go wrong.
Or so he hoped.
The bus stopped right in front of the Garrison Cafe – a place he had grown too familiar with. He had worked here during his university years. The salary was not exceptionally high, but it had helped him cover his rent and bills, not to mention its owner – old man Pixis – was quite easy to get along with, so he guessed it had been more than enough. He looked at his watch, 7:40. It was only a five-minute walk from here to the building so he had some time to get a cup of tea. He pushed the glass door open and stepped inside the rather modest but warm and well-decorated coffee shop. The place was filled with soft instrumental music; the faint smell of baked goods and coffee lingered in the air. There were a few people in the corner enjoying their breakfast and chatting quietly in the process. Thankfully the line wasn’t long; there were only three customers in front of him: a man and two girls. The man took his precious time looking at the menu and asking about the cup sizes. Levi, having got used to dealing with customers, didn’t really get impatient with this. He paid him no mind until he heard the girls start to whisper in a barely audible voice. Levi didn’t mean to eavesdrop on their conversation, but he couldn’t really blame himself for having such good ears, right?
“Wow he looks like an actor, even his back is so handsome!”
“Yeah, he’s really tall and built too. Bet it’s all muscles under those layers!”
“Ooh! Hey-….”
Levi tuned the girls out as he took a look at the man. Yup, definitely tall, but all he could see was the navy blue suit that screamed money. Its cost must be enough to feed him, Isabel and Farlan for a whole month. The man finished ordering, a large matcha latte or something like that, and stepped out of the line waiting for his beverage. He flashed those girls a smiled and their face got redder and redder. When his eyes met Levi’s expressionless one, that smile turned into… a smirk? It made him a little bit self-conscious; because, fuck, no one smirked at people for no reason. He could understand the bastard’s flirtatious smile, but not that annoying smirk. But now that I talk about it, doesn’t he look somewhat familiar? Brown hair slicked back, big turquoise eyes, slightly tanned skin… Levi narrowed his eyes, not even making an effort to hide his stare at the man while trying to jog his memory. One of the customers? Some random guy at the university? Oh shit! Is he in those porn videos? When he decided he couldn’t remember (and when that smirk didn’t flatter), Levi just rolled his eyes and looked straight forward. He faintly heard the sound of phone ringing and noticed the man walk out from the corner of his eye. Before he could think more, the petite blond girl behind the counter – Krista – chirped:
“Good morning Levi! So what’s for today?” Her smile was so bright that Levi wondered if her jaw would hurt at the end of the day. He himself couldn’t even smile longer than one minute.
“Medium black tea with non-fat milk, please.”
“Okay, that’s-”
Having remembered all the prices long before, Levi handed her the money even before she finished working out the total in the cash register. The blonde’s smile grew bigger as she took the cash and eyed him up and down mischievously.
“A date?”
“Job interview.” He rolled his eyes. Really… Why everyone kept asking that, he didn’t know. He was living pretty well without a date or a lover or something like that. Thank you.
“Oh good luck anyway!” She didn’t seem disappointed a bit, still smiling fondly at him.
He nodded and mumbled a “thank you”, before walking to the pick-up counter. The man in the expensive suit had come back to pick up his drink and for some reasons was now standing right in front of the counter, one hand holding the cup while the other typing furiously on his phone (an also-very-expensive-smartphone, may I add). Levi didn’t pay much attention, eyeing everything around him absentmindedly and as a result, not noticing the man had turned around with his eyes still glued on his phone.
It all happened too fast that Levi couldn’t react. One second the man was still two meters away from him, and the other he felt like he was hitting a brick wall and then suddenly all the liquid in the man’s cup was on Levi’s shirt.
Fuck.
“Oh shit! I’m really sorry!”
Fuck. Fuck.
“I’ll get some tissue.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
The man was dabbing at his shirt with a tissue when he snatched it out and started rubbing furiously. Shit. Oh God no.
“Hey, sorry, I didn’t see you! I can-”
Am I invisible? You bastard. “Shut the fuck up! Will you buy another shirt for me?” He headed towards the restroom door, hand still continuing its previous task.
“Ye-“
“Of course you won’t! So just fucking stay.away.from.me!” He gritted through his teeth before slamming the door shut in that bastard’s face.
Fuck no. Not today.
After a lot of water (and a lot of cursing), the green stain refused to go away. It had got lighter, but still visible. He looked at his watch. 7:50. He couldn’t afford to go back home and change into another shirt now. He would definitely be late. But he couldn’t go to the interview with a dirty shirt either. Why is this happening to me? Thankfully Levi hadn’t lost his mind, yet. He grabbed his briefcase, swung the door open and headed straight for the glass door.
“Hey, your tea!”
“Shove it up your fucking ass!” Levi shouted without looking back as he stomped out of the shop.
The nearest laundromat is only two blocks away. Hopefully he could get his shirt cleaned on time.
“Can’t you do it faster please? I really don’t have thirty minutes.”
“Sorry sir, it’s our fastest service.” The girl said apologetically. He thanked her anyway and stepped out of the laundromat. He sighed, frustrated. I’m screwed. No shop opened at this hour. So he did what he could: buttoned up his blazer and hoped it could cover most of the stain. A small part of it was still visible, near the collar, but only if you squinted hard enough. He prayed, that no one would notice it. God, please be gentle.