Chapter 1

His Heart

I like you, Annie.

"Second, again?" cold cerulean eyes glared down at her. "Annie, what are you expecting with just being second best? Do you think people would ask who the second best is? Do you think you'll be acknowledged? 'Oh, are you the top two medical student of Shiganshina University? That Annie Leonhardt?' You think people will wonder who the SECOND BEST is?" He threw her exam papers at her and it flew everywhere. One swayed down near her face and made a sleek diagonal cut across her cheek. Erwin glared once more at his daughter, his thick brown brows almost meeting. He then walked past her, went to his study room, and slammed its door quite violently.

Annie still had her poker face, the expression not leaving her face since her father's mad speech commenced. She kneeled on the floor to collect the pieces of paper. With her head bent down, she hugged all the papers on her bosom and lifted herself up to go back to her own room. As she was completely engulfed by the solitude of her room, a sound escaped her lips. She fisted her right hand and bit down on it trying to muffle the sounds. Her father hates crying. Furthermore, he hates seeing a fully grown woman, such as herself, showing this most humane sign of surrender.

"Whoa, Annie! Chill, man! You are going to put me down in seconds if you keep going at it."

"Piss off, Reiner. Just let me do my thing." Annie went back to her fighting stance and lunged once again at the humongous guy in front of her.

"Annie, what's gotten into you?" remembering the last time she went this hard in their training, he added, "Dad problems again?"

Reiner writhed in pain when he was thrown out of his defensive stance by a kick wedged straight on his stomach. Groaning, he tried to stand up but was unable to do so because of the lingering pain. A hand reached out to him and pulled him up with great force.

"Geez Annie, you shouldn't have gone so hard on Reiner."

"He's got a body protector and additional pads to protect himself, Berthold. Plus, he's so buff. I'm sure he could handle a weak girl like me beating him up a little." Annie waved off whilst her back was already turned from them.

"Bitch. You could have at least warned me." Reiner gritted his teeth and wondered why he was friends with her in the first place.

Annie ignored the blonde man and proceeded to walk towards the shower room. She was in no mood to explain herself to them because childhood friends or not, her dad was still a sore topic for her.

Armin Arlert tailed his friend while he was rounding the university like a first year. Eren was on the search for another club yet again as if the other 4 sports club he went in his first year as a law student weren't good enough.

Being a second year med student sure had a lighter load of work especially since you no longer need to worry about adjusting to the new environment, but Armin sure envied Eren for being a carefree lawyer-in-the-making. He might be a tad bit smarter than Eren, but the guy is so good with memorization that even Armin almost lost to him in a contest in their high school once.

Armin followed his friend as he entered a room devoid of labels on the door. Eren approached two guys and talked to them to inquire about the club, which up until now Armin had no clue of which of the university-wide clubs was it. Curious, Armin searched for the name of the club inside the room. He searched the room with his eyes, but what made him pause was not any form of text he was expecting.

Annie had already finished her shower and have donned on a tank top and a pair of shorts. The weather was hot and only Bert and Reiner was in the club room so she figured it was safe to wear something girly if they were the only ones to see her.

Annie was a cautious woman. If she was not wearing her standard white uniform of the medical department, she only wore her standard hoodie (or plain shirt when it's too hot) and pants when casual attires were needed. It was not a weird habit that she developed. It was a precaution she learned from high school. There is a reason as to why she was never close to girls since starting her undergraduate degree, why up until now the only 'friends' that remains with her are Bert and Reiner. She was bullied back then. Her so-called high school friends started hating on her each time their pathetic love interests shows some kind of hints of pursuing her. It was annoying, really. And when she finally got tired of their obsessive love addiction, she stopped making friends with those stupid girls. She didn't need people like them. She only need to reach the top of her goals. The goals her father had forcefully laid out for her. Dwelling on matters as petty as love, which makes relationships amongst teenagers like her at that time a massive haywire of emotions, was not something she had any interest to be distracted with.

Getting out of the shower room with a towel still on her head, Annie sat on the nearest bench where her bag was on. She grabbed her Microbiology book and started perusing it nonchalantly. Drying her head with the towel as she read through different microorganisms.

Little did Annie know, two boys have invaded her second home and one of them had already seen her in her most unguarded form.

Armin Arlert's cheeks grew hot when his eyes settled on the girl sitting on the corner of the room. She's still so beautiful. It was the first time Armin saw the Annie Leonhardt so relaxed. His eyes trailed down from her endearing face to the outlines of her body. Armin turned a redder shade when he saw that the usual white uniform was replaced with a revealing green tank top and a pair of cream chino shorts.

The boy almost turned his face away due to embarrassment, but remembered how long he had waited for another chance to see her. It was funny how they were both top students in med school but he never got a class the same as hers when they were in first year. It was a gift to see her now, and Armin Arlert was determined not to lose this chance.

He studied her as she focused on her thick textbook. She was thinner than the last time he saw her. They were still undergraduate students back then, but Armin remembered that her face was much fuller. Her nose still has that delicate curve. The blues of her orbs are darker, maybe it's because of the room's light? She is paler. I wonder if she still eats right.

Armin was caught off guard when Eren pulled him out of his trance. "Hey, man. Let's go. I thought you had a meeting with the med student council?"

"Yes. Sorry, I thought you were still talking with them." He glanced back at the two men sitting on the bench across them, they were talking with each other comically now. Eren took the lead in exiting the room and he tailed him again. Before Armin could fully lose the view of the two though, he saw the tall brown-haired guy's facial muscles scrunch up to squint.

Armin couldn't believe his luck. He looked down the window at the view of the vast school garden of Stohess University. It had only been a month after the last time he saw her, and now they were in a trip together!

The moment his professor asked him if he could go on a trip to the well-renowned University in the outskirts of town to assist in a conference meeting about viral infections, Armin hesitated greatly because of the impending bulk of papers that needed attention in the student council. But all hesitations flew out the window when the professor told him that his all-time crush had already confirmed her participation in the conference.

If Armin had not practice the art of self- control for the past years of his life, he'd say that he could have almost jumped out of joy and squeaked a giddy consent to his prof then and there. Tact was the only thing that kept him from doing so. Instead, he informed Dr. Moblit a day after of his desire to participate.

So here he was, on a dorm room in the male quarters of the University of Stohess, grinning back at his reflection on the window before him. Armin let his thoughts wander for a moment.

The conference had ended swiftly. Armin was satisfied with the time he sat across Annie, but the experience was fleeting. She was too preoccupied with the discussions made by the different professionals on stage. It was a relief for Armin that he didn't have to worry being caught watching. Though, he really wished he could try and talk to her more.

The only interactions they had, it seemed, were for the completion of school projects and when pairing up for a contest was needed to represent their university.

He wants to know more about Annie. He wants to know more about the person he'd always liked since their undergraduate years.

Annie sat on a bench under a plum blossom tree. The conference dragged on like it lasted for years. She sighed. The topics they all discussed had no new information in it. They were blabbing old facts and it wore her out. It was a good thing she prevented herself from dozing off.

The other kids in the unfamiliar campus passed her with murmurs of amazement. Annie ignored them as she leafed through the pages of the book in her hand. She thought it was her uniform that made them do so when in fact it was her beguiling beauty.

Armin continued to wander about the Stohess campus. He stopped in his tracks when he saw his only companion from his university reading calmly about under the blossoms-filled tree.

"Leondhardt-san, do you mind if I sit here?" Lifting her gaze from her book, Annie saw the sole reason for her father's unreasonable anger the last time they had talked.

'Armin Arlert the top of our batch' she thought bitterly.

"Uhn." She nodded and went back to her book.

Armin sat next to her, a little too close for her comfort.

"That's a good collection of journals, you know." Armin started awkwardly, not knowing how to start off a casual conversation with her. Minutes ticked by without a reaction from her, and he tensed with each second. He fiddled on his collar and tried to focus his eyes on the lay-out of the garden. The tensed silence was broken when a thunder rumbled at a far-off distance and dark clouds crept in.

"Ah, I think it's going to rain soon."

"I'm going back to my room." Annie stood up and left Armin dumbfounded.

Armin ran to her and grabbed her arm in impulse. When he saw Annie's confused look, just then did he realize that he had already grabbed her.

Blushing at his sudden brazenness, Armin thought of letting her go but his mind pushed him to take the opportunity in front of him.

"Annie, I-I."

The rain started falling but Armin took no notice of it.

Annie flinched, she never let someone, let alone a man, touch her and she would've thrown him off with her martial arts but his stutter fought off her instincts and let her listen to what the boy would have say.

"I-I just. Can I ask you out?" Armin looked down as he continued his unnerving talk. "I mean—what I mean is… I like you, Annie."

He said it in a soft voice and the rain almost drowned out his words. But Annie was able to read his lips enough to make out the words that slid out of his slender lips.

Annie almost laughed out as she heard his confession. The boy who was destroying her, the boy who kept toppling her off the top liked her.

Armin would have fainted, if he had not wanted to hear her answer. Waiting patiently, he looked up and finally noticed that the rain was slipping on the smooth tendrils of her hair.

He moved into action by covering her head with his hands and shielding her from what he can by enveloping her in a half-embrace. He dragged her with him to the nearest roofed structure, and sighed when they finally arrived at the side of an abandoned science lab. He slipped his hand beneath a tuft of dripping hair and pushed it away from her face.

Blushing with what he just did, Armin retracted his hands and muttered a small apology.

"Sorry." Armin heard the feminine voice over the pounding of rain.

"I'm not interested with dating anyone, right now. Sorry." Armin suddenly felt a cold breeze seep through his clothing. Am I hearing things?

When he looked at his side the woman he was with was already gone. He looked at the distance and saw her slender figure walking away from him.