Julie stood still, her eyes shimmering with something soft and distant, a fragile hope warring with years of quiet disappointment.
"I'll accept your offer…" she said slowly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her voice barely a whisper. "If you pair me with Eren for the festival."
My brows arched. "That's all you want?"
She nodded, a fierce, desperate conviction in her gaze. "I just want to stand beside him. Whether it's in the kitchen or during a food brawl… I want to be next to him. That's it."
I studied her for a second, really looked at her. Julie wasn't the loudest girl, nor the flashiest. She didn't demand the world, or seek revenge for being ignored. She just… wanted to be someone's world.
In that moment, I thought back to the words I'd once spoken to a broken, weeping Eren in the Warzone Arena. "One day, you'll find your soulmate."
And here she was.
Julie's eyes might have been focused on the present, but her heart already resided beside Eren's shadow.
