ADRIEN

"Okay, do you still have the energy to answer my questions? Mister Agreste?" Alya hands me a cup of water and I take it from her. I sip from the cup and place it on my desk.

"Shoot." I say, acknowledging her question.

"Okay, here's the question," Alya clears her throat and looks at her notebook before speaking, "You have been painting and making sculptures for years. But you only decided to hold an art exhibit now. Why now? You could have shown your paintings when they were still newly made. But why didn't you decide not to?"

I chuckle and sit up straight before answering. "Honestly, I don't know..." I answer 'truthfully'.

Alya leans closer with that determined look of hers. "Can you expound more please?"

I inhale sharply and rub my hands together. I feel uncomfortable with this question...

"The truth?" I whisper, "Is that what you want?"

"That's what everyone wants...they want to know the truth."

I look around and mess up my hair. "Then I pass. I won't answer your question." I utter, stubbornly.

"What?" she says in disbelief. "Hey, no one has turned down a question that I have asked!" she turns off the camera and takes off her glasses. "Is this what you want?!"

"Why do you keep on insisting that I should answer your question? I know your true intentions. You're going to post it on your blog."

"What's wrong with the question? Since you seem so disturbed by it...why not lie?" she leans on my desk and folds her arms in front of her chest.

"Lie?" I say incredulously. I can't believe her!

"Yeah. Lie. No one will even know, including me."

"Alya, this isn't like you. You are okay with putting false information on your blog?" I ask and she faces the other direction, ashamed.

"You know that it's not anymore 'my' blog...All because of the sponsors, I have to write things that they want to read." she looks down at her shoes and touches its laces. "Honestly, I don't like writing lies..."

"And I don't like telling lies. Because the last time I told a lie, I lost the woman I love..."

She looks at me with a teasing smirk, "Love?" she mocks, "Without the letter 'd'?"

I laugh a little and sigh. "Nino must have told you alot about my feelings for Mari..."

She scoffs, "Oh, he has told me plenty!"

"I hope that they are not embarrassing!"

"For your information, everything that he shared about you is embarrassing!"

We start a fit of laughter and it cools down after a while. I start to blush just thinking about what Nino shared to Alya.

"Actually," Alya starts, "I purposely did not give an invitation to Marinette."

"What? Why? She's your best friend but she doesn't have an invita-"

"Nino and I have been thinking of marriage for a long time." she interrupts, "We were even planning to get married after your marriage. But, the divorce happened...we couldn't get married. It just didn't feel right for us."

"Wait." I raise a finger and analyze what she just uttered. "It's Marinette and I's fault that you had to postpone your wedding?"

"But, it doesn't matter anymore!" she says trying to cheer me up. I don't feel like smiling anymore. All because of Marinette and I, Nino and Alya had to wait for years just to get married.

"It matters a lot to me..." I mumble. "Alya, I should have known-"

"You were facing a lot of problems that time. Earlier, when I told Marinette, she didn't look happy." She said sadly.

"Adrien," she continues, "she looked scared. She was scared that what happened to her marriage might happen to mine..."

I scoff and look away. "Why would she be scared?" I mumble, "In the first place, she was the one who wanted the divorce!" I continue, raising my voice.

"Adrien, I know that. Of course I know that she wanted the divorce."

"Then why would she look scared? Why would she be scared? She just-" I throw my hands up, "She confuses me!"

"Do you even know the reason why she wanted that divorce?" Alya says in a hushed tone.

"Her reason?" I whisper and force myself to look away from her, "She never told me her reason..."

"Because she was also scared, Adrien..." Alya buts in, "She was scared that you would hate her."

"I would never hate her! Alya, believe me when I say this- all those words I've uttered to her during our fight were all lies! I said those to make myself believe that she was the bad guy!"

"Then that made you the bad guy, didn't it?!" Alya shouts. I flinch as she raises her voice. She looks so mad right now. Her hair is messed up and she is breathing heavily with her lips pursed together. "If you truly loved her, then you wouldn't have even said those words!"

"Alya-"

"She was scared that you would hate her- like truly hate her..." She wiped the tears from her eyes, "because even if you truly love her, if you knew the reason you would hate her."

"Alya, what is the reason? Please, tell me."

She sniffs, "I can't and I won't. The only way you would know about it is if Marinette would tell you..." she fixes her bag and grabs the rest of her stuff. She put on her eyeglasses then walks to the door.

"You're leaving?"

"I can't stay here any longer. You don't know how tempting it is to tell you the truth. You don't know how much I want the two of you to be back together. But the person who is ruining that chance is you." She says pointing at me.

What? Me?

Alya opens the door and just as she was about to close it, I run to it and stop her.

"Wait!" I utter, grabbing her arm. She glares at me and yanks her arm back from my hold.

"I purposely did not give an invitation to Marinette because I have always thought that during my wedding, she would meet someone new. Maybe she could be your plus one. Good-bye and thank you, Mister Agreste." and with that, she walks down the hallway not even bothering to look back.

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

A reason that would make me hate her- that would make me hurt her?

She really had a reason as to why she wanted the divorce-

"Ah!" My head gets hit by a ball making me fall to the ground.

I was just peacefully walking around the camp area and suddenly a ball just wanted to ruin the moment. This was supposed to be a peaceful company outing but now, they decided to include sports.

I stay on the ground rubbing my head then suddenly I hear voices coming from women. I look up to see women towering over me.

"Oh my God, sir! We are so sorry!" I turn my head to see Ramona apologizing to me.

"Um, excuse me! 'We'? You were the one who threw the ball for volleyball!" Beezus utters sassily.

"Do you mean a volleyball ball?" Ramona bites back.

"Oh my God! You can't repeat the word! It's grammatically wrong!" Beezus places her hands on her hips and looks at her sister from head to toe.

"What do you know about grammar, sister??" Ramona asks Beezus in an angry tone.

"Ladies, please!" I say, stopping them from their argument, "You don't need to say sorry and you don't need to argue about each other's grammar! Even I don't know the correct term for that ball."

"Let me help you up, sir." Just now I notice Marinette standing beside me and offering her hand for me to take. I hold her hand and she helps me get up.

"You ladies can go play again." I happily say to Ramona and Beezus. The both of them go back to the court and Marinette faces me once they disappear.

"It was actually me who was supposed to catch the ball..." She whispers, "I was never good at sports..." she continues, her head hung low.

"But you were always good at motivating." I encourage her and she looks at me. "I remember you cheering for me so loudly during my fencing matches."

"That was like 10 years ago...when we were still together." Her cheeks started to turn red and she looked down once again. I nervously look the other way and try to find the right words to say in this awkward situation.

"Hey, it's been a long time since I've seen you wear beach shorts..." I say teasingly and Marinette consciously looks at her shorts.

"Oh these?" She shows them off, "These are new! I bought them with my own savings!" She happily boasted.

At least she moved on from the awkward situation a moment ago...

"Mister Agreste! Marinette!"

Marinette and I see Karla, in the distance, waving her hand trying to get our attention.

"The basketball game is starting! And the ladies are the first ones to play!" she continues then ushers us to follow her.

"Oh Mari! We have to go!" I say excitedly as I start to run to the court.

"What's with the ladies' basketball?" she asks while running beside me.

"Every time it's ladies' basketball, they get so competitive! It's like the word, 'femininity' is not part of their vocabulary anymore!"

"And you find that amusing?" she asks and I nod.

"In fact, everyone finds it amusing! They also take turns in tossing the ball into the hoop."

"Wow...so it's really different from men's basketball."

"It is..." I say and thankfully, we arrive in the court just in time. I look around for a seat and in the top bleachers, I see two empty seats.

"Come with me, Marinette!" I grab her hand and take her to the bleachers. Thankfully, there were not a lot of people watching so we got to go to our seats without disturbing anyone. Once we were seated, I started to cheer at the top of my lungs.

"Woo! Go ladies!!"

Marinette looks at me then laughs. "I never knew that you were this enthusiastic when it comes to sports!" She shouts amongst the cheers from the crowd.

"We have to set the good vibe!" I reply and Marinette cheers with me.

"Hey Mister Agreste!" One of the players shouts from down below. "If my team wins, will you take us out to dinner?"

"Dinner?" Marinette whispers beside me.

"Of course!" I shout back at them, "It will be a date!!"

"Deal accepted!!" the player shout back and she runs to the other players to tell them about the deal.

"A dinner date?" Marinette asks beside me.

"I might just take them to a pizza place or maybe to a cafe around the corner-"

"But are you really going to take them out?" She asks and peers into my face.

"Of course! Why? What's wrong with taking them out?"

"What's wrong with taking them out?" Marinette repeats my question, "The thing that is wrong is....is! Argh!" she stands up and stomps her way out of the court.

"Marinette!" I call out to her but she doesn't turn and just continues to walk away from the court.

Why is she acting that way? Maybe she woke up on the wrong side of the bed today...

I decide to continue cheering for the players until someone sits beside me.

"Ah, you're back Mari- Karla?" I say surprisingly. Karla was sweating, like as if she was running around the whole camp looking for something.

"I've been looking for you when I just remembered that you were here the whole time."

"Well, what seems to be the problem? You seem perplexed..."

"Sir," Karla starts, "a client wants one of your paintings. He is willing to pay 500,000 euros just for that single painting."

500,000 euros?! That amount can make me keep my school...

"500,000? Which painting does he want?"

"That's the problem..." Karla sighs, "He wants the painting that you are giving to Marinette. I asked him if he wanted another painting but he insisted on that painting..."

I clasp my hands together and lean on my knees. Honestly, I need the money. It can pay my debt- the debt that my school owes.

But...

I can't sell it. In the first place, the painting isn't even mine. It's Marinette's.

"Tell him that I won't accept his offer." I utter and Karla inhales sharply.

"Excuse me?" she asks for clarification.

"I'm not selling it to him." I say bluntly. "The painting is not even mine in the first place."

"But the amount of money can help-"

"I know that it can help me." I cut her off, "But I can't give her up again just because of a painting. Tell him that I'm sorry..."

Karla nods in understanding and watches the game in front of her. She immediately points to the court and she looked surprised.

"Is that Marinette?!"

I turn my attention back to the court and I see Marinette at the court dribbling the ball.

"Oh ny God." I whisper, "It is Marinette."

"Does she know how to play?" Karla asks.

"She doesn't know how to play but I'm loving this!" I stand up on my seat and cheer out loud, "Go Marinette!!"

"Why is she there?" I ask myself and Karla scoffs.

"She's jealous." she simply says.

"Marinette? Why?"

"She doesn't want you to take out other women. Believe me when I say this because I have been through that stage when my husband and I were not yet married."

"She's jealous..." I say and I smile timidly. "She's jealous!" I say happily and I continue to cheer for her.

It is almost the end of the 2nd quarter and Marinette has the ball. Just as she was about to pass it, one of the players accidentally pushes her just as she was running and Marinette fell on the ground. The crowd reacts to her fall and cheers for her to stand up.

"Go Marinette! Don't give up!" I cheer, but I see Marinette struggling to get up. "She's injured..." I get up from my seat and run to the court. I see Marinette's teammates helping her to stand but one of them accidentally touches her right arm and Marinette screams in pain. She immediately holds her right elbow.

I run to them and they move away once they see me with them.

"Marinette..." I whisper once I reach her. She painfully looks at me and forces a small smile.

"Adrien.." she whispers and faints. Luckily I catch her before she fall to the ground. "Ladies," I say, referring to her team mates, "let's take her to the infirmary."

The basketball game still continued while I was just in the infirmary the whole time. The nurse comes out from the room where they placed Marinette in and I immediately stand to recieve the news.

"Thankfully, she doesn't need to go to the hospital." she announces and I sigh in relief. "But," she continues, "we would have to put a cast on her. Lucky for her, I brought the exact materials just for that. I will ask you to leave first, sir. You're a busy man and I'm sure that people are looking for you. And she's sleeping, it might take hours before she wakes up. I'll keep you updated."

I shake the nurse's hand and exit the infirmary.

Oh, the things Marinette does all because of jealousy.

That just makes her more worth fighting for...

-------------------------------------
I'm sitting on the soft sand just enjoying the view of the sea in front of me. The sun is setting in the horizon and I sigh in content.

"Mind if I sit beside you?"

I turn to see Marinette towering over me, her right arm in a cast and her left hand supporting it.

"Marinette..." I gasp and help her sit down beside me. "You were allowed to go out?"

"I escaped...shh, don't tell anyone please." she says in a cute manner and I can't help to smile at her.

"You're too cute..." I mumble.

"What did you say?"

"I-I mean, of course! I won't tell anyone!" I say clearly, trying to stress out my point.

"Thank you..." she says.

"You're welco-"

"For calling me cute." she interrupts as she smiles at me.

"O-oh..." I start to blush, "you heard that..."

The both of us don't talk for a while. We just sit beside each other, enjoying the view in front of us.

"Your team won." I announce. "You would be going on a date with me. Isn't that why you decided to join the game?"

"W-what?" that question took her off-guard and her cheeks started to become red.

"Marinette," I lovingly say, "I would love to take you out to dinner everyday. Not only dinner, but also breakfast or even lunch! I would go out on a date with you everyday...you don't need to feel sad or even jealous because you are my top priority. Remember that..." I lean closer to her and close my eyes.

I'm going to do it.

"Marinette..." I coo, "please let me do this."

I'm going to kiss her.

She must have understood what I meant because she closes her eyes. I lean closer and plant my lips on her forehead.

I won't kiss her on the lips...yet.

"You don't have to be jealous again..." I say against her forehead. She pulls back and gives me a surprised look.

"H-how did y-you-"

"I have my ways..." I wink at her and she covers her face with her hands.

"Don't look at me! I'm so ashamed of myself!"

I laugh and bring her closer to me. "I was really worried when you were playing," I confess while playing with the sand. "but you were good. I was cheering for you..."

She places her hand on my cheek and forces me to look at her.

"Thank you..." she whispers and I bring her hand to my lips and kiss it.

"You are always welcome."

She sighs against me and again, closes her eyes. Her right arm is resting on her knee and her left hand is holding mine.

Maybe she can be your plus one...

I clear my throat, "Marinette..."

"Yes?"

I play with her fingers before speaking, "I am invited to Alya and Nino's wedding..." Marinette sits up, letting go of my hold. She straightens her back and would occasionally glance at me.

"And," I continue, "I was wondering if you would like to be my plus one..."

Her eyes widen from surprise and she started to act nervously.

"Adrien," she starts, "I would love to-"

"That's great! You don't know how happy I am right no-"

"But I can't..."

I immediately stop what I was doing upon hearing those words.

She...can't?

"W-why can't you be my plus one?" I ask in disbelief. My heart feels so heavy right now. I'm being rejected.

She takes a deep breath before speaking and she fiddles with her shirt.

"Because I'm Nathanael's plus one..."

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

Hi :)
The song on top is the perfect song for Adrien right now.

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