MARINETTE

Of course I have my reasons.

I know that Tommy is in good hands with his father. But who will take care of our daughter?

"Hi..." I whisper once I reach the headstone shaped like a cross. "I got you flowers..." I continue and I sit in front of the cross.

"Emma...my girl..." I hug the headstone, "My only girl..."

I start to tremble and my tears are flowing freely from my eyes.

"Y-you want me to bring him here...d-don't you?" I whisper shakily and I wipe my eyes with the sleeves of my sweater. "I-I..." I start, "I don't have the heart to do so..."

I look at the headstone and I wait for a reply. Any reply. I wanted to hear her voice. I wanted to hear her cry. I wanted to hear her laugh.

But I heard nothing. She's gone.

"You're gone...you're gone and I didn't do anything to save you..." I bring my knees to my chest and I start to cry, burying my head in between them.

"I knew that something wrong was going to happen that day. I wish I found the time to tell him...but I couldn't..."

I couldn't tell him.

Why?

"Because we were falling apart...our family was falling apart. And he never came home anymore! He would always think about his school and when he is home, he would rarely speak to me. Everyday he cared for his school, but he never..." I start to bawl out crying. I cry out loud thinking of the things I did that made me deserve all the pain I am feeling.

"He never cared for me anymore! I couldn't tell him that I was pregnant through the phone, I had to tell him in person! This-this kind of news had to be talked about and I wanted to see his face when I tell him...I wanted him to hold me like as if it would be the last time we would see each other. I wanted to see his smile, that handsome smile of his. I wanted him to kiss me passionately and..." I stop to look at the headstone.

"I wanted him to say that he loves me." I whisper, "I wanted him to say that he loves the both of us, Emma. I wanted him to say that we can start again. That we can have a new beginning...but everything was just an illusion."

I wrap my arms around myself and I look at the falling leaves around me.

"I fell too hard for him..." I scoff and I shake my head, trying to get some sense back, "And now I'm the one facing the consequences...but there is one thing that I am certain of: I don't love him anymore...I don't-"

I feel my phone vibrating in my bag and I immediately unzip my bag and get it. I wipe my eyes and compose myself before looking at the caller I.D. and I see that Karla's calling me. I quickly tap 'answer' and I bring the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"MARINETTE! Where are you?? Did you forget??" Karla frantically asks and I feel so confused right now, not knowing the situation at the moment.

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"GIRL, WE HAVE A MEETING RIGHT NOW! All staff members have to attend this meeting right now! Don't tell me that you forgot!"

Oh, now I remember. But I can't leave Emma now. I have to stay with her.

"I'm sorry, Karla." I say on the phone, "I can't attend the meeting...I have to run some errands this morning."

I hear Karla sigh and after some time, she continues to talk, "Okay, okay. But the boss wouldn't like it...anyway, you might be very busy right now. I'll see you tonight, Mari."

"Bye-" I get cut off when she ends the call.

The 'boss' wouldn't like it? Like as if he cares for me...

I feel my phone vibrate again and I see that Karla's calling me again. I heave a sigh and I press 'answer'.

"Karla, I told you that I'm busy! I have some errands that I need to finish this mor-"

"Wow. And good morning to you too, Marinette."

The voice interrupts me and I notice that it does not belong to Karla. It's a voice of a man, and I know all too well who is speaking right now.

"Ad- I mean, Sir!" I stutter like a fool and slowly I am giving myself a slap on the face. Gosh Mari! Why do you have to be so stupid?!

"Yes, I used Karla's phone to call you. I'm here to ask why you couldn't attend this morning's meeting...I'm sure that it's not because of some errands, isn't it?"

"Well, why do you care?" I retort, I don't want him meddling with my business. "How important is that meeting anyway? Why are you all concerned about it?"

I hear him sigh and I know that he is rubbing his temples now. Well, I would know because we were together before.

"I can't tell you over the phone...when you come later, be sure to ask any of the staff members for instructions. Don't forget to do that, Mari...The both of us know all too well how forgetful you are..." And he ends the call without a 'good-bye'.

"Well then," I put my phone back inside my bag, "what a way to start the day...pretend that you didn't hear any of that, Emma." I lie down beside the headstone and I close my eyes, thinking of a blonde teenage boy that stole my heart years ago.

---------------------------------------------

Shit.

That word has been running through my mind for the past 30 minutes.

I overslept and just when I was about to take a cab, I saw that the traffic was terrible. I am currently running to the art exhibit and I'm going to burn my high heels once I'm finished with work tonight.

Once I arrive at the exhibit, I notice that there are a lot of people tonight. Then I remember that an auction will be held. Was the meeting about the auction?

I see Karla heading toward my way and just when I was about to greet her, she grabs my arm and drags me to the changing room. She opens the door and pushes me in.

"No talking! Hurry!!"

"Woah Karla! What did you guys talk about during the meeting-" She slams the door at my face and I hiss in pain. "Ouch...my nose.."

She looked like she was fazed by something. Does this have anything to do with the meeting?

After changing, I exit the room and I head straight to the main hall. All the staff members are gathered in one corner and Karla is handing out our assignments for tonight. Once I received my assignment, I grab a tray with glasses of champagne on it and I head to the farthest area in the exhibit.

Looking around, I see that I am the only one assigned to this area, and I think that I am the only one who is in the area. I decide to look and admire the paintings around me until I heard voices nearby. I hide directly behind a wall and I peek to see who are talking.

I see two men standing in front of a painting and they were in a deep conversation.

"They wouldn't know right?" One of them asks.

"Mark, if you know how to hack the code to the lock then nobody wouldn't even notice that it's missing." The other one replies. Now I know one of their names.

'Mark' goes to the security lock and types a code on it. After typing, the lock opens and now the painting is vulnerable.

Mark was reaching for the painting until the other guy took out a gun and pointed it to Mark's head. What? He's a police officer?

"Mark Spencer," He says while bringing the gun closer, "You are under arrest-"

"Now you decided to cut the crap." Mark, the thief, interrupts him. "I knew that you were not interested in the painting...you were interested in capturing me..." He turns his head to look at the officer and he chuckles darkly. "I guess it's my turn to surprise you..." and in an instant he grabs his own gun from his coat and shoots the police officer in the chest before he could even react.

I gasp and let go of the tray that I was holding. Mark turns his head to my direction once he hears the sound of shattering glass. Once our eyes meet, he scowls and points at me.

"You bitch!" he seethes and I start running back to the main hall, not looking back. I just saw a man getting killed right before my very own eyes. I wipe my tears with my hands as I run.

Once I reach the main hall, the first person I see is Adrien and I run to him.

"Adrien!" I exclaim once I stand before him. "We need to save everyone right now!"

"Woah, Marinette!" He holds my arms, "What happened to you? Did you do a marathon just now?"

"Stop joking a-and be serious for once!" I stutter, "We have to-" and I stop. How many exits are here again? "Adrien, how many exits do we have here in this building?"

"We have 3 right now and all of them are equipped with security cameras...well, the whole place is equipped with security cameras except for the gallery you were assigned to..." He trails off then he looks like as if he realized something.

"Marinette, what did you see?" He asks frantically and he holds my arms firmly.

"I have to go!" I shout as I run onstage where the auctioneer is standing. I don't care if a lot of people are giving me judging stares. I have to find the thief. He knows that the other 2 exits are secured. Then he should hiding in this crowd, he will be exiting through the main door. I look around until I see him, trying to move past the crowd.

I go near the auctioneer and grab the microphone from his hand. I look at Mark again and he is grabbing something from his coat.

What is that? Oh no...

"Everyone get down on the floor now!!" I shout as Mark shoots up into the air. People start to scream as they go on the floor. Mark shoots again and now there are police officers aiming their guns at him. The staff members each had a gun with them and they pointed it at him.

Why do they have guns with them?

Did they know that this was going to happen?

"What the-"

"Marinette, get down!" I feel someone bringing me down to the floor as Mark decided to shoot at my direction. I hide my head with my hands as I hear gunshots being fired.

"Marinette, are you okay?" I turn my head to see the person beside me.

"Adrien..." I sigh, "You saved me.."

"Are you okay?" He asks, "you didn't get hurt right? You made me so worried!"

"Adrien, I'm fine. You don't need to worry- Ow!" He flicks my forehead and I immediately rub it, trying to ease the pain.

"How can I not worry?!" He scolds, "You try to take on an armed thief! And you're not even armed! The chief is not going to like this..."

"The chief?"

"The head of the police set this art exhibit as a trap for that thief. But now, all of his plans are crumbling to pieces."

"This was all planned?!" I exclaim and Adrien clamps his hand on my mouth.

"Quiet!"

I messed up. So much for trying to be the hero.

--------------------------------------------

"This is outrageous!!" He slams his hands on the table. "Everything was going as planned until this fool decided to ruin the whole show!!" He points his index finger at me and I flinch.

"Sir," Adrien tries to explain, "she didn't know about your plans-"

"What the hell?!" The police chief shouts, "she works here and you're telling me that she doesn't know about the plans?! Bullshit!"

Adrien looked like he wanted kill the man already. He was breathing heavily and his hands were brought to fists.

"How would you have even known that your plans would work?" He asks, "Can you read the mind of the thief? Yes, you can lure him and yes, you captured him. But could you even predict what was going to happen? He could have killed people when he was in the main hall! If it wasn't for this person here, then people would have died!"

"If it wasn't for that person, then people wouldn't have even known that there was a thief, a killer amongst them!" The chief retorts. "None of your guests were supposed to know about this! Now, all because of this woman, everyone in Paris would know about this! Your reputation would be ruined!"

"I don't care if it's ruined." Adrien hisses, "As long as Paris knows that she saved a lot of people!"

I'm just sitting on a chair watching the two of them bicker and I really want to just shrink to the size of an atom. And I feel like crying because Adrien is defending me. Even though it is clearly my fault for making a lot of people worry, he is still defending me.

"This bitch should know where she belongs!" The chief shouts out loud. I feel my heart getting heavy and the tears in my eyes are ready to fall.

"Marinette," Adrien calls, "step out of the room, please." He says in an oddly calm tone.

I get up from the chair and I exit the room. I leave the door ajar, hoping to hear and see what they are going to do to each other. I hope none of them gets hurt.

I see Adrien grab the the neckline of the chief's shirt and he brings him closer.

"Listen here you piece of shit!" He seethes, "You can speak shit about me but don't you dare badmouth my staff, especially her! I gave you the chance to use my art exhibit as a trap for that thief. Now imagine if I never helped, you wouldn't have captured him! And he would still be going around stealing paintings and killing people! That would just bring shame to all police offi-"

The chief punches Adrien's cheek and Adrien falls to the floor. I gasp and my eyes start to water. The chief spits at Adrien who is holding his cheek and hissing in pain.

"You son of a bitch..." The chief whispers, "Stop wasting my time."

I move out of the way when the chief exits the room and once he is out of sight, I run to Adrien who was still on the floor.

"Adrien!" I cry as I kneel beside him.

"Don't look at me, please..." He whispers and I shake my head, carefully turning his head to face me. I gasp once I see his wound, and there are tears running down from his eyes.

I start to cry once I see his eyes full of sadness and I immediately hug him.

"I'm sorry!" I cry and I feel him trembling as he also cries, "I am so sorry, Adrien..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heyyo!! I decided to end there :) It's exam week for me already so I would be very busy :( Please pray that I would do well in my exams! Thank you!

P.S. Do you like the chapter? :)

Vote?
Comment?
Thank you :*