MARINETTE

I am back at the park again. Same spot under the same tree and with the same ice cream flavor like last time. It was sad that I had to throw the other away even if it was not half-finished.

But this time, I'm alone. I've been bothering Alya for too much and now I told her to spend time with her husband. They have the started talking about wanting children and I know that I should not interfere.

"I'm sure that Alya will get pregnant...and I'll be an aunt?" I stop licking my ice cream as I dwell on the thought. "She'll have a child to take care of..." My chest feels heavy and I stop eating my ice cream. "Well, they both deserve to have a child. They carry the potential of being parents."

Suddenly losing my appetite, I sulk and decide to throw my ice cream cone in the trash can. "And look at Adrien and I, two messed-up people who are terribly in love with each other. Not a good pair to raise a kid." Without any care, I let the tears slowly fall on my cheeks. It hurts to realize that I was never meant to become a mother.

"Miss M-Marinette?" I look at the direction from where the voice came from and I am confronted face-to-face with a girl with jet black hair displaying a bashful and nervous smile. Beside her is a boy with dark brown hair looking at the both of us skeptically. I immediately wipe away my tears.

"Lea? Are you sure this is she?" He asks 'Lea'.

"Wait." I whisper in realization. "If you're Lea," I say to the girl in front of me, then I turn to the boy beside her. "then that means you're David."

"H-How come you know our names?" 'David' questions in disbelief. "Darn it. Sir Agreste is really talkative even to his girlfriend!"

"I'm...I'm not his girlfriend!" I immediately clarify, feeling flustered. "Or like I-I used to be, I think."

"David!" Lea scolds whilst softly slapping the back of his head. David does not even seem fazed or in pain with the sudden action from her. "Let me do the talking here! We wouldn't want to hurt Miss Marinette."

"Oh, i-it's fine...really-"

"Miss, we are here not to hurt you." Lea says slowly and surely making me feel conscious of their presence. Did Adrien send them to me?

"You're not here because of Adrien...right?" I ask nervously.

"Actually," David starts, "if Sir Agreste knows about this he will totally kill the both of us." He finishes, wrapping an arm around Lea's shoulders.

"And we also did not follow you here!" Lea immediately adds. "The both of us were just walking around until we saw you by yourself. And we thought that we should go...to you." Lea gives David a look and pushes his arm off her. "Not here." She sneers at him but with a faint blush creeping up her cheeks. David pretends that he feels hurt with what she said, but decides to rest a hand on her back instead.

I raise an eyebrow at them, "I think you guys should go back to your date-"

"No!" The both of them exclaim, leaving me surprised with the sudden outburst.

"I-I mean-" Lea starts off, flustered.

"We are here to talk to you!" David continues.

"We have questions for you!" Lea says, picking up with what David was implying.

"And we are not dating." David adds leaving Lea and I confused. "I-I mean, we are!"

"We actually aren't, right David?" Lea utters sternly.

"Yes...I mean, no. Uh, we mean," he wraps an arm around Lea's shoulders again, "we are not dating." The two finish off with fake smiles plastered on their faces leaving me amused.

"Hiding your relationship." I utter with a smile, "Adrien and I used to do that. You have nothing to hide from me, I can be an expert in that field." I move over to the side of the bench and pat the space beside me, "Would you guys like to sit down beside me?"

"Thank you, Miss Marinette." Lea says before holding David's hand and bringing him to sit beside her.

"We're sorry for intruding your personal time, Miss." David apologizes.

"You don't have to be sorry over anything." I gently say. "I actually like the company...but I'm sure that you're here for something else."

"Miss-" David starts off but I interrupt him.

"And please don't call me 'miss'. Marinette is just fine."

"It would be weird to say your name without saying 'miss'. Sir Agreste told us that you deserve to be called 'miss'." David informs me and I raise an eyebrow of question at him.

"And why would he instruct you to say my name with such a formal term?"

"Because you deserve all the respect in the world." Lea answers. "That's what he told the two of us."

I try to hide the smile on my face by coughing into my hand. "H-He really said that?" I ask bashfully.

Lea nods excitedly, "Would you like to know more about what he said about you?"

"I-I don't think that's necessary-"

"But you would love to hear them, right?" David cuts me off and points at my cheeks, "Your face says otherwise."

I'm sure that my whole face is as red as a tomato (A.N: TRIGGERED) right now. I have to fan my face in order to cool down. "Seriously, I think it's best if you don't say anything about what he has said about me..."

"Well, so much for our questions that we want to ask." Lea mumbles then completely changes her demeanor. "Then how about you ask the questions?" She suggests.

"W-What?" I say incredulously.

"Yeah!" David chimes in. "We've been his students for three years already. Would you want to know him as our teacher?"

"Just thinking about it, you do have a point. I don't know Adrien during his work hours."

"Ah!" David hisses and dramatically covers his ears. "It's weird to hear Sir Agreste's first name!" I chuckle with his weird antics whilst Lea elbows him and laughingly tells him to behave. I know that he did that to lighten the mood.

"Sir treats us like family." Lea utters softly, a gentle smile gracing her features. "He treats us differently compared to our other professors."

"It's like he sees us as people who deserve importance." David continues for Lea. "He calls us by our names and gives attention to all of us. We exist in his class, unlike in other classes wherein we have to do anything just to let the professor even notice us."

"There are really some teachers who are hot-headed...but I'm not surprised with Adrien. He's...he's one of the nicest people I know." I look down at my hands in shame. And here I am, countlessly breaking his heart all over and over again.

"But it's just his defense mechanism to cope with his loneliness." David quietly says and it garners my attention.

"What...what do you mean?" I whisper in confusion. Suddenly Lea kneels in front of me and rests her palms on my knees. Her face is distorted with worry.

"Miss Marinette, we are graduating in a few months. We'll be going in separate paths and Sir Agreste will lose the school at the same time..." She pauses before looking at me in the eyes. "What else is left for him after that?"

"Lea-" David starts but he gets interrupted by Lea.

"He said it himself. Gradually, he's getting lonelier and it's hurting Sir Agreste." She continues and now I'm on the brink of crying. My heart feels heavy with the words she is uttering at the moment.

"Lea," David starts off again, "he told us not to mention those things to her."

"But how would she know that he needs her?" Lea retorts, facing David. "We should not allow Sir Agreste to continue his life in pain and especially, loneliness."

David kneels beside her and grabs her hand from my lap and presses a kiss on it. "Okay...I-I understand."

Lea turns back to me, "Please understand Sir Agreste. He needs you as much as he loves you."

At this point I can't stop myself from shedding a tear or two. I take a deep breath and look away from her gaze to wipe away the tears on my face. "Y-You're right..." I whisper in acknowledgement. I grab her other hand and hold it tightly with both of mine. "Thank you. I really needed to hear this today."

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

"To be honest, Emma, there are times wherein I wish that I wasn't pregnant again after Tommy..." I trace the letters on her headstone and clutch my chest in pain. "Sometimes I wish that I lost the ability to get pregnant again after Tommy's passing..."

I lean my forehead on the headstone and start to sob loudly, pouring out all of the hurt I've been keeping for the past years. "H-How stupid of me to think that I could take care of another child after what happened to your brother."

"Out of all mothers...why did I conceive you? I...I don't have the capability to do anything for you." I cry and softly beat my chest, hoping that it could be a way to stop the pain I feel. But such pain is brought by guilt and shame. "Sometimes I didn't want your presence inside me...I did not want another piece of life growing inside me again."

"You can blame me all you want for being too weak and hurt to take care of you. Don't blame your father...I have also hurt him too." I sob into my hand while the other wipes away the never-ending tears dripping from my eyes.

Adrien...if you could hear me.

It's not your fault. I'm sorry...

"Adrien, I'm so, so sorry." I sob in front of the headstone of our daughter. I continue to cry, trying to also cry out the arrows that keep on piercing my heart for countless times.

"Most of the time I wish that I could go back and change things...a lot of things need to be changed." I whisper with a hoarse yet broken voice. "I wouldn't be this miserable person I am now...and I wouldn't also make the people around me miserable as well."

"But one thing I'm proud of myself nowadays is that I suddenly have the ability to love more..." And this time, I smile at the headstone amidst my tears. "I created a bigger space in my heart to love two more people- you and Tommy. And I started to love your father unconditionally again. And I'm keeping such love as something constant forever. You're my first witness to hear these words..." I bite my bottom lip and my shoulders start to shake again as the tears build up once again.

My phone rings with an incoming call in my pocket and I take it out to answer the call.

"Hello?" I greet on the phone with a shaky voice.

"M-Marinette..." I hear mom gasp on the phone.

"Mom? W-What's wrong?" I utter frantically, gathering my things on the ground.

"He's...he's having a hard time breathing already." She cries into the phone. "I think it's his time already, Mari..."

"N-No..."

"Please come to the hospital right now, Mari...we need you here." She cries before ending the call and I look at the headstone of my daughter for one last time.

With tears, I utter, "E-Emma...I think you're going to meet your grandfather today."

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

She Used To Be Mine from the musical, "Waitress". Such a beautiful song. You should listen to it :)

Happy 2nd Anniversary, ICF! This book is almost ending and I don't think I'm ready to say good-bye to this story :(

How was the chapter? Mixed feelings, if you ask me.

Vote?
Comment?
Thank you! ❤️