Chapter Text
August
The music had been blasting through the house since early afternoon, loud enough that thinking about anything other than that night’s party felt almost impossible. And as always, it wouldn’t just be any party. At our university, every gathering somehow ended in memorable disaster… especially when we were involved.
Yelena had been ready for a while already. She stood leaning against the frame of my bedroom door, arms crossed over her chest with that superior expression she always wore whenever something wasn’t going exactly the way she wanted. Or whenever I was running late.
Her outfit was flawless. Her hair perfectly styled.
Meanwhile, I had half my closet thrown across the bed.
“You’re going to get left behind” she said with a crooked smile. “Like always.”
“Sure, because you were obviously born ready,” I muttered, desperately digging through piles of clothes trying to find something good enough for tonight.
“I wasn’t born ready,” she replied calmly, which only irritated me more. “I just learned not to waste time.”
In the living room, Mikasa was sprawled across the couch, staring at her phone as if the noise around her didn’t exist. Next to her, Sasha was practically inside a bag of chips, crumbs everywhere without the slightest intention of cleaning up.
“Hey!” I shouted from my room, avoiding the murderous look Yelena was giving me. “Save some for the party. I’m talking specifically to you, Sasha.”
“No promises.”
She didn’t even bother looking up.
Yelena let out a quiet laugh under her breath before casually walking to my closet, grabbing an outfit I hadn’t even considered, and tossing it onto my bed.
“By the way,” she said suddenly, like she was talking about the weather, “I’d like you to meet a friend of mine tonight. It’s probably not the best setting, but I think it’d be good for you to know her.”
I stopped mid-motion, my shirt halfway on.
“A friend?”
That alone was weird.
We had lived together for years and, even then, Yelena had never really mentioned anyone outside her close circle. Honestly, with her shitty personality, I doubted she even had that many friends.
“An old friend,” she clarified. “You’ll probably meet her tonight.”
That caught my attention immediately.
I slowly turned to look at her.
“Since when do you have friends I don’t know about?”
“Since always.” Yelena arched an eyebrow, amused. “She just never had a reason to come here before.”
Something in her tone made me pause.
It wasn’t sarcasm. Not exactly.
It was something else.
Something dangerously close to anticipation.
“What’s she like?” I asked, staring at myself in the mirror for what felt like the third time. Trying to look as good as possible, because Reiner would be there tonight too.
And maybe that was the worst part.
Constantly searching myself for flaws, trying to become someone worth looking at.
Yelena stepped out of the room before answering. “She’s… different.”
“Wow. What a specific description. I love that about you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t interrupt me. She’s intense. Honestly, too intense for my taste. But she’s brilliant. Smarter than anyone I’ve ever met. She always wants to know everything. Absolutely everything.”
And there it was. I hated people like that. People who were too smart always found ways to make you feel small without even trying.
Mikasa finally looked up from her phone, probably texting Eren. “For some reason, that sounds problematic.”
“It is,” Yelena admitted with a smile. “Very.”
That was enough to make Sasha interested. “So where’d you meet her?”
“Years ago. During a study trip in France, back when we still lived in Russia.”
“Sometimes I forget you two are Slavic,” Sasha muttered while brushing crumbs off herself.
I kept watching Yelena.
There was something different in her expression while talking about this girl. Something unfamiliar. Though, honestly, it wasn’t like Yelena was particularly expressive to begin with.
Still, I kept trying to figure it out.
“So why is she coming here?” I asked while opening a beer.
“Exchange program,” Yelena replied immediately. “She’ll be at our university this semester. I helped her with the recommendation.”
“And where’s she staying?”
“I helped her rent an apartment nearby.” Then she looked at me with that expression I hated so much. The one that always made it seem like she knew more than everyone else in the room. “Although she’ll probably spend more time at the university than in her own apartment.”
A brief silence followed.
“Nobody willingly spends extra time at university,” Sasha said while I absentmindedly played with my beer can. “That’s weird.”
“Trust me,” Yelena replied, “she does.”
Silence again.
Mikasa went back to her phone. Sasha kept eating like nothing mattered. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the way Yelena talked about that girl.
It didn’t sound normal. Not even when she talked about the idiot Zeke did she sound like that.
Everything about it felt strange. Like something bad was about to happen.
“When does she get here?” I finally asked, stealing chips from Sasha.
“Soon.”
“That answers absolutely nothing.”
“She’ll get here eventually,” Yelena said while grabbing a bread roll from the kitchen counter.
“Without warning?”
“That’s her style.”
I rolled my eyes, but something about it still unsettled me.
“Well, I hope she’s not completely insane. I don’t think I could handle seeing her every day.”
Yelena smiled faintly.
“Oh, (n). She is.”
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Jean’s house was already packed when we arrived. City lights glowed outside while the bass from the music literally made the floor vibrate beneath my feet. There were too many people, too much noise, too much alcohol even before we fully stepped inside.
Everything was perfectly set up for disaster.Tonight was definitely going to end terribly.
My outfit ended up being a denim skirt and a sleeveless black top. Cute enough to get attention. Simple enough to pretend I didn’t care about getting it.
Simple, but good enough. Yelena had annoyingly good taste.
The smell hit me the second we walked in.
Alcohol. Cheap perfume. Smoke. Drugs I probably wouldn’t even recognize if I tried.
“This is gonna get good,” Sasha said before immediately dragging Mikasa toward the drinks.
Yelena stayed calm beside me, quietly observing everything like always. Like nothing in the world could actually shake her.
Then I felt hands wrap around my waist.
Reiner.
When I turned around, he was already grinning like an idiot. Drunk, obviously.
I smiled back anyway and pressed a quick kiss against his lips.
God, I hated how much I loved him.
Especially because I already knew we’d probably end up fighting before the night was over. It was always the same with him. He drank too much, flirted with everyone, and later blamed the alcohol for every shitty act of cheating he committed.
And somehow, I still stayed. Maybe because letting people hurt me felt easier than admitting being alone terrified me even more.
“You look beautiful,” he murmured against my ear.
I ignored the uncomfortable warmth that spread through me and glanced toward Yelena, who was still watching the entrance.
“You’re looking for her?”
“Maybe.”
“You think she’ll actually come tonight?”
“I don’t know. I told her about the party,” she replied calmly. “But with her, you never really know.”
She took a sip of her drink before continuing.“But if she does show up… you’ll notice immediately.”
“Why?”
“Because every time she walks into a room… everything changes.”
And even as she said it, something uneasy settled deep inside my chest.
“God, you’re so dramatic.”
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Hours passed in alcohol, music that was way too loud, and half-finished conversations. At some point, I drifted away from Reiner to find my friends again, trying not to think about the fact that he was probably already flirting with someone else.
And then it happened.
I don’t really know how to explain it.
The music was still playing. Everyone else acted normal. Nobody seemed to notice anything.But for me, something shifted.
The atmosphere suddenly felt different. Heavier. Sharper. Electric.
A chill crawled down my spine.
And without fully understanding why, I turned toward the entrance.
There she was.
I didn’t know who she was.
I had never seen her before.
But there was something about her.
Maybe it was her eyes hidden behind those glasses. Maybe the way her hair moved as she walked. Or maybe it was the way she looked at everything around her, like every single person at that party was interesting enough to study.
She was smiling. But it wasn’t a normal smile.
It was curious. Dangerous.
And somehow, it made my heartbeat quicken.
“Yelena…” I murmured quietly beside her, unable to look away. “Is that…?”
My sister smiled in a way I had never seen before, then raised her hand to get the girl’s attention through the crowd.
“Told you you’d notice her.”
And in that moment, I understood.
The horrible feeling in my chest.
The chill running through me.
Something was about to change.
And maybe, for me, it was already too late to stop it.