"We need to talk," Adrien stated, staring straight into her eyes. Marinette gulped, turned around, and walked further away to put some distance between them. She was not ready to talk. In fact, she was far from ready. His sexy voice made her melt, and his gorgeous green eyes made her want to give up and run to his arms. See, what most people didn't know, was that Marinette was still completely, and utterly in love with Adrien. Just like Adrien, she had trouble sleeping and constantly cried herself to sleep as his rejection played over and over again in her head.

"A-Adrien, please let me go. Chloe is waiting for me," She responded nervously. Adrien began to get upset. Here they were finally alone, and all she wanted to do, was run away. AGAIN. "No! not until we talk. You forgave Chloe, who, by the way, was your lifetime bully, and yet you can't even give me a chance to explain. I have called you, texted you, wrote you, and constantly tried to look for ways to talk to you, but you have avoided me. Tell me, do you hate me that much that you have to forget I exist? Can't you see how much this is hurting me? Tell me, what can I do for you to at least listen to me!?" Adrien raised his voice in anger and tugged on his blonde locks, frustrated.

"That's just it, Adrien! I have asked you for space, but you aren't giving it to me. I want space! I want to think and to move on from these damn feelings that you will never reciprocate. I need time to learn to be able to be your friend without hurting. I want to forget this damn crush I have!" Marinette yelled back as a tear fell from her eye. Adrien wanted to hug her, kiss her, and ask her not to forget him, but he stood frozen and confused. *What did she mean never reciprocate? Has she not read my texts, my letters, does she not understand I love her?*

"That's the thing, Marinette. I can't lose you! I am going crazy without you. That day, you misunderstood what I was trying to say. I never wanted to hurt you. There was more that I wanted to say! More than you needed to know. But you ran, you never gave me a chance to explain, and now you are telling me you want space, that you want to forget your crush, to forget me? No! I don't want that to happen. That's not what I want! I want a-" he was interrupted by an angry Marinette.

"You want what? My friendship? Do you want the girl who was there for you through the hard times? Let me guess? You want your cheer-up buddy? The one who stands up for you and listens? You want your tissue, only so that you can use it to wipe the tears but then throw it away when Kagami comes around? You want me there to be your last choice, your fallback plan when no one else wants you? You want me to stand there and watch you be happy with another girl while I am breaking inside while still loving you in silence? But, hey, it wouldn't matter because I am still your friend and that's all you care for, right? Well, guess what? I won't be that anymore. I refuse to be that even for the great Adrien Agreste!" With that, Marinette pushed him out of the way and walked ran out of the school.

The second Marinette was gone, Adrien fell on the ground to sob. How could she think that was all she was to him? How could Marinette not see that he was completely and utterly in love with her? Adrien no longer doubted it. He was now sure Marinette hated him. And at that second, once again, all Adrien wanted was to die. What else could he do to prove to her how much he cared? "Listen, kid. I know what you are thinking, and no, she doesn't hate you. She just wants space to get her head together. Maybe give her a few days of peace, and then she'll come back to you. Be positive she still loves you. You heard that, right?" Plagg stated, trying to calm Adrien down.

Adrien knew he was right. Marinette wanted space. Now all he could do is pray that she would come back to him if he gave her just that. Adrien just wanted her back. His life made no sense without her.

________________________________________________________________________

A few days passed, and then the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months. Everything seemed to get worse by the minute. Slowly Marinette went removing herself from everything involving Adrien. She had even managed to switch classes and only have one with him. She started having lunch again in the school but spent all of it with Chloe and Sabrina, and now she didn't even go to their after-school hangouts. When they tricked her and lied about Adrien being there. As soon as she saw Adrien there, she would simply turn around and walk away.

Of course, this did not change the relationship she held with Alya and Nino. In fact, they would often hang out on the weekends and have sleepovers. Adrien even saw them walking by during photoshoots many times before and often wonder why his friends wouldn't tell him the truth about it. He already knew it was Marinette who didn't want to see him, so why lie?

After giving her space for the few days after the argument, Adrien couldn't handle it and tried his best to get her attention, but nothing seemed to work. He was sure she hadn't read his letter since Chloe admitted to him seeing everything still in her locker untouched. Adrien started losing it slowly, becoming more desperate. It also didn't help that Marinette began to hang out with Luka.

He knew they would often go to the movies or for ice cream. Two of those times, he saw them in the park during his long photoshoots, but they never realized he was there. But one thing was certain, Adrien would watch them closely, and every laugh he gave, every smile or giggle, would break his heart even more.

As for Kagami, Well, she often called Adrien but constantly found herself in his voice mail. Sometimes it would be days before she would hear from him, and when she finally did, he always gave her an I'm busy, let's talk later, or I am sorry I haven't been feeling well can I call you when I feel better? The times she got to see him were during fencing practice, but Adrien would tell her he had to focus because he wanted to make his father proud. Kagami wasn't stupid. She knew Adrien didn't love her and would break up with her. It wasn't hard to figure out since he started acting weird the second he left for New york. Her question was, why not just get to it instead of avoiding her? Maybe she just had to do it for him.

Everything was going wrong, and that was bad as it was, but it wasn't until a week ago when things took a horrific turn. Luka started to show up at school during lunch. Luka would come and spend time outside with Marinette. Sometimes, even take her out to eat. Later he would come back and pick her up after school. The events filled Adrien with undeniable rage. He often wondered why Marinette out of all the girls in the world? Why did the musician have to lay his eyes on his princess? Although, Luka and Marinette were only close friends. To the blonde model, it looked like it was more than that. I mean, it wasn't a secret Luka was crazy about Marinette. He had made that clear since the beginning. At this moment in his life, Adrien despised Luka. Even the mention of his name put Adrien on edge, and it came as a shock to his friends. Considering he had never had a problem with Luka before until now, that is. "No one takes my princess," Adrien would mumble to himself every time Luka came close.

Last Friday was the day Adrien completely lost control. Adrien had a whole evening planned out for Marinette with the help of his father. First, he would intersect Marinette after school and tell her that his father wished to speak to her about fashion. Later, when they got to his house, his father would have to leave for an important meeting but offer her to stay for dinner. Lastly, a romantic diner would be waiting for the two, so they could talk and work things out. But all this went to hell the second Luka showed up to pick Marinette up from school.

Adrien watched as Marinette greeted guitar played with a huge hug, and then the two began to talk, laugh, and joke around. Adrien felt a wave of emotions; anger, resentment, inadequacy, helplessness, and disgust. Every feeling turned up all at once. His stomach turned, and his chest burned. Everything else faded into darkness. All he saw was him and her. His fist clenched tightly, making his knuckles turn white. Of course, his princess wouldn't forgive him. She had Luka now, and as long as he was around, Marinette wouldn't turn to look at Adrien. Adrien's body shook violently as his eyes never left the couple standing before him. Or should he say his princess and the sickening thief trying to steal her away from him?

Nino watched as his best friend stood frozen beside him, staring closely and Marinette and Luka. Suddenly Nino notices Adrien's reaction, how his body began to shake violently, and his knuckles turned white from how tightly he was clenching them. All Nino could think of is how this would not end well. He knew how much his friend loved Marinette, Nino tried many times to make her see that, but she would shut off at the mention of his name. Nino began to worry. Never in his life had he seen Adrien this mad. Never before had he seen this reaction coming from the model. His eyes had turned dark, the green almost looked brown, and to be honest, it was frightening.

"Adrien!" He called out, trying to get his attention, but Adrien couldn't hear him. "Adrien, dude, look at me," he called out again, but Adrien was not responding. His eyes never once leaving the place where Marinette and Luka stood. "Adrien!" he spoke louder while attempting to shake his shoulder, but it was as if Adrien was gone. Nino turned to look at Alya, who also held a worried expression on her face. Alya began to make her way towards Adrien to help Nino snap him out of his trance. But before they knew it, Adrien was no longer in his spot. It all happened so fast neither one could explain what had just happened. One second he was there, and the next, he was gone.

Adrien watched attentively as Luka and Marinette began to whisper in each other's ears, and that's when it happened. He watched as Luka place one of his slimy hands on Marinette's waist and the other on her neck and began to lean in. If anyone asked Luka, his plan was only to kiss Marinette on the cheek as he bid her goodbye like he had done many times before when saying goodbye this past few weeks, but to Adrien, it looked different. He was sure he was going to kiss her lips. Her lips were supposed to be his and only his.

No one exactly knew what happened, but one second, Luka was leaning in to kiss Marinette, and the next, he was faintly grunting in pain, his lanky body on the ground with a crazed Adrien on top of him.