Another Story: After Autumn (Attack on Titan AU)

Ugliness

Isanna adjusted the white coat and smiled at her reflection in the mirror.

"Doctor, our supplier just arrived with a new stock of penicilin," a voice informed from outside the room, catching Isanna's attention as she briefly glanced towards the door. After telling them to come in, the door creaked open and a girl wearing an assistant's uniform popped her head in, flashing a smile.

"I already signed it. Should I send it to the back room?"

Nodding, Isanna thanked her assistant and was once again left alone in the room after the door was shut.

It's been a few weeks since she's started working as the new head of Dr. Carla Yeager's veterinary clinic, but that rush of elation that overcame her each time she saw herself wearing this coat never failed to make her giddy. She can definitely confirm those arduous six years she'd spent in college were worth it, now that she could finally witness her efforts bearing fruit through every patient and pet that walks out of the front entrance of her clinic, satisfied at their services.

After sending one last look at her reflection, she was about to head out when something in the pocket of her coat vibrated. She took out her smartphone, glanced at the screen and realized it was her fiancé.

"Zeke, what's up?" she greeted, absentmindedly making circles on the floor with her sandal as she waited.

[ "How's my girl doing?" ] She could imagine that trademark grin of his through the line and didn't realize a smile of her own was slowly starting to form.

"You always talk as if we haven't seen each other for ten years," she sighed with a shake of her head. "I'm at work. What do you want?"

[ "That's not an answer." ] A picture of him pouting made her stifle a chuckle. [ "But anyway, you're free this weekend, aren't you?" ]

Isanna made a mental skim of her agenda the coming weekend. "Yeah. Why?"

[ "There's this amusement park that just opened. Wanna go?" ]

Amusement park. Isanna didn't have many memories about going to one, if you didn't include the little rides that were set-up at some festivals near her hometown, although it was hard to compare those small-scale rides to rides in an actual amusement park. Zeke sometimes took her to one back when they were in high school. The long drive from the countryside to the city proper was exhausting but worth it, especially since she got to witness Zeke turning blue every time they went on the Drop Tower. She'd always tease him for it, saying that he didn't need to ride it with her but he wanted to impress her. Men.

"I like the sound of that," Isanna grinned, picturing her grown-ass fiancé screaming his head off as the Drop Tower descends with them at lightning-speed. Maybe she could take a picture, frame it and hang it in their apartment for commemoration. She could even get one of those frames with a custom labeled print, 'The time my fiancé lost his dignity and wet his pants at the amusement park'.

[ ".. You're thinking of something devious, aren't you?" ]

"What? Me?" Isanna placed a hand on her chest even though she knew he couldn't see her and faked a tone of obliviousness, although the smile was still there. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She heard a sigh from the other end and chuckled. That was when she heard a distant chime of the school bell from Zeke's end.

[ "Aaand that's my cue. Gotta go, babe. Love you!" ]

Isanna couldn't even insert a reply when she heard the beeping tone, signaling the end of their call. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she stared at her home screen—a photo of Zeke and a monkey when they were at the zoo (he always had a weird fascination towards monkeys for as long as she knew)—before she pocketed her smartphone. She finally stepped out of the room and headed for her private office, passing by some of the staff who promptly greeted her.