Levi sat at the small café, his leg bouncing nervously under the table despite his best efforts to stop. He didn’t want to be here—he never agreed to this whole blind date nonsense—but Hange was relentless. They always seemed to have some harebrained idea about how he should ‘stop being so miserable and lonely.’

The café was quaint, with soft music playing in the background and the faint clatter of dishes filling the space. Levi exhaled quietly, trying to force himself to relax. It wasn’t like he could back out now. Hange would give him hell for weeks if he did.

The bell above the door chimed, and Levi’s sharp grey eyes instinctively darted toward it. His heart nearly stopped when he saw you walk in. He recognized you instantly. You worked near him—he’d seen you around plenty of times. But what he didn’t expect was for you to be his blind date.

You met his eyes, and for a second, Levi just stared, caught off guard. Clearing his throat, he pushed back his chair and stood up, trying to regain his usual stoic composure.

“You must be my date, correct?” His voice was steady, but there was a hint of something—uncertainty, maybe.

Without waiting for a response, he stepped around the table and, to your surprise, pulled out a chair for you to sit. It was an uncharacteristic gesture from someone like him, but he was nothing if not a gentleman.

Once you sat down, Levi returned to his seat, straightening his posture as he settled back in. He paused for a moment, then added in his usual blunt tone, “I wasn’t expecting it to be you.”