...
An uncomfortable air of tension was clearly present at the dinner table;

Nathalie and Gabriel were sharing a stern look with one another while Adrien had no idea what was going on.

The kid only heard his 'parents' shout a couple of times through the telephone, but after that they came back into the kitchen acting completely normal.

Though it was obvious that something was not right.

"F-father?" The boy stuttered awkwardly.

"Yes Adrien?"

"Is everything okay?"

Before responding the designer's eyes shifted back onto his fiancée who took a deep breath in and closed her eyes.

"It complicated." Said Nathalie as she re-opened her eyes which were teary by now.
"Very complicated."

"Well," the boy tried to ease the situation. "I'm almost an adult so I guess I could understand. Right? I'm turning 18 very soon and you both know that!"

"Yes Adrien, but-" his dad sighed.

Gabriel felt as if a weight would've been pressing down on his shoulders, making it hard to both breathe and speak.

The man's movements slowed down, his forehead became furrowed and his eyes dart around, searching for a way out of the situation.

He didn't want to tell his son.

The designer knew his fiancée wouldn't have wanted for Adrien to hear the tragic news either, so, this was a moment of pure overwhelm for Gabriel.

"B-but I can't-"

"Father!" Adrien exclaimed, offended. "Don't treat me like a kid!"

"I'm not!" The grey haired man tried to defend himself, but his child's voice was way more powerful.

Overshadowing him in an instant the boy shouted:
"You are!"

"I-"

"You've always treated me like a stupid little baby!"

"I-I just want to-"

"Protect me?!" The teenager scoffed. "Don't! Tell me the truth instead!"

"Fine." He spat, this arrogant, forceful behavior from his son caused Gabriel to get frustrated too.

It also made the designer completely go against the promise he made with his assistant;

'To not tell Adrien anything', that's what they agreed on, but clearly the man seemed to have forgotten.

It was predictable though, the dark haired woman also knew that it would only take a few second of annoying her boss for the secrets to not be secrets anymore.

"I'll tell you!" Gabriel yelled, his eyes narrowed at the boy while struggling to contain the intensity of his rage.

Even Nathalie, who just acted as an observer of the two men's argument, could feel the heat of their anger radiating off of themselves.

Almost as if she would've been standing too close to a bonfire, and unfortunately this only got worse;

"Go on!" Adrien wasn't holding back regardless of knowing how much trouble he would get into for talking back to his dad.

Tension between everyone rose higher immediately.

Like a bolt of lightning, their furious shouts struck quickly.

In fact, the designer didn't even notice when he smacked his fists on the table and was about to say "If you really want to know-"

"Gabriel don't!" The woman cut him off.

Her face destroyed at this point, her eyes overflowing with tears which ran down her cheeks in a matter of seconds, and her voice trembling with unease.

All of this yelling and drama was too much for Nathalie, the assistant had gotten overwhelmed to say the least.

She was gripping onto the sides of her seat with such utter frustration that her nails almost dug into the wood, but taking a slow breath in and trying to repeat 'it's fine it's fine' in her mind, the woman managed to stabilize herself.

"Mom please-"

"ADRIEN!" The dark haired woman couldn't control her tone, again.

She was all over the place.

Her mind spinning uncontrollably, and it didn't get better, especially not as the two men argued on;

"Nathalie, he wants to know!"

"Gabriel!" Her voice begged. "Please don't."

The woman's eyes pierced her fiancé.

She looked at him so hurt, so desperately, as if he would've been her very last hope.

Because of this, the designer couldn't betray his soon to be wife, he wouldn't dare to.

As much as it pained him to continue being yelled at by his son's infuriating voice, the man would bare it.

At least like this he wouldn't disappoint his fiancée, because Gabriel was aware of how many times he had let her down previously.

Therefore, now he had to make up for those.

What didn't help the situation though was Adrien, since the teenager didn't care what emotional rollercoaster his 'parents' just experienced, he continued on with his fuss:

"Mom!" The boy's voice echoed over the dinner table. "Don't make me feel so immature!"

"You are immature!" She yelled "Look at how you're acting now! Plus, you shouldn't know such horrid things! Y-you d-don't need to-" but before she could've finished her sentence, Nathalie completely crumbled down onto the floor.

All of her strength had been drained from her through stress, so she would've probably fainted if her fiancé wouldn't have rushed to the woman without any hesitation;

"Alright, alright, calm down." Gabriel kneeled down beside his assistant "It's alright my love."

The designer's arms wrapped around the woman in a tight embrace, pulling each other close.

With this gentle and tender hug they sunk into the comfort of each other, and soon enough Nathalie's heartbeat slowed down to a steady, normal speed.

"I-I-..."

"Shhh, don't speak" he comforted her "that'll only make it worse, simply relax, my love."

The woman nodded in agreement while she desperately grabbed onto his shoulder and pulled herself even closer to her fiancé.

This made Nathalie feel a little bit safer; his arms surrounding her as much as possible while his hands too were tightly secured around hers.

It felt like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold day, Gabriel's hold acting as a shield against the world, in a good way.

The moment of utter chaos transformed into a moment of pure comfort, at least for the assistant did.

Everything else faded away around her.

She could only feel her fiancé's love and care which got her lost in thoughts that made her believe no matter how hard things got, she would have someone, that someone being Gabriel, who would forever be there to hold her and protect her.

"Thank you." Nathalie weakly whispered. "For everything."

"You're more than welcome my love." The man's voice softly spoke back.

It was so soothing, like a lullaby that made the tension from her body melt away.

Meanwhile this, Adrien was more confused than ever.

The woman in front of him seemed to be having a nervous breakdown just a moment ago, Nathalie still had tears in her eyes, however, with every minute they seemed to have dried up faster and faster.

His father definitely was easing the assistant's anxiety very effectively.

However, focusing onto himself; the blond boy was the only one who remained sitting at the table, looking a bit clueless.

Adrien began feeling quite guilty for making his 'mom' cry such bitter tears, after all, that was never his intention.

He didn't even mean to argue with his father.

It was simply...an accident.

So, Adrien slowly got up from his seat and made his way carefully over to his parents, before sitting down beside the grey haired man.

The boy now tried to catch his mother's glance and lock in eye contact with her, but she didn't cooperate

"Dad?" His quiet voice whispered. "Is it very bad?" Adrien looked at Nathalie with his eyes, indicating that he was asking about the certain news which she didn't want him to know.

"It isn't great." The man replied.

"How bad is it exactly on a scale of 1 to 10? Ten being very-"

"ADRIEN STOP IT!" The assistant's voice interrupted, sounding hurt and frustrated.

Her state seemed to have once again worsened as the blond boy brought up the topic he wasn't meant to know.

"Y-you shouldn't know!" She cried "Stop asking!" The woman was unable to form a proper sentence of her own.

This made the teenager let out a slight sigh, but not because he was annoyed at Nathalie, he simply felt bad for seeing her in this state.

The dark haired woman didn't usually let herself be seen by others when she was at a low point, occasionally she would allow her boss to stay by her side and say a few sweet things, but other than him, the assistant mostly isolated herself.

Because of this, when Adrien saw the unstoppable stream of tears flow all the way down his mother's face and he knew it was because of his stupidness, the kid couldn't help but also feel the same way;

The blond boy's vision unexpectedly became blurry too, he didn't want to believe it, or let it happen, but he was beginning to cry.

Gabriel seemed to be the only one who managed to keep his eyes dry.

At least that's how it looked on the surface.

Despite that unbothered expression of his, the grey haired man actually would've wanted to shed some tears too, he would've liked to express his built up frustration and anger, but he wouldn't.

The designer knew he couldn't completely crumble while the rest of his family did so, he had to be the one who kept spirits high.

So with a strong sniff Gabriel said: "Everything will be fine."

He tried to keep his tone convincing, but it was almost impossible.

"Everything will be fine?" His son asked with a broken voice, instantly worsening the situation. "I don't even know what is wrong!"

"Oh Adrien" the assistant mumbled "I'm so sorry my dear boy." she threw her arms around the teenager to pull him close into a tight, comforting hug.
"I promise you these tears of mine won't last long."

"Nathalie it's alright, I don't want you to put on a happy face to cover up what's hurting you. You're allowed to let your emotions show." Said Adrien as he placed the palms of his hands softly on either side of the woman's face and made her look in his direction.
"You know I'm here for you, Nath. Whatever it may be, like a stupid little issue that is terribly insignificant, or the most heartbreaking problem ever. I'll help you alongside my father. You know we both are here for you, Nath."

"That's right." Gabriel added "Adrien said everything and more of what I wanted to."
The grey haired man sweetly placed a small kiss on the side of his fiancée's cheek, making her blush a little.

Nathalie even smiled while the designer pulled back to admire her with a loving stare.

"Awh you."

In the meantime; while the Agreste family was having a heartfelt moment on the floor of their kitchen, the other part of the family was having less of a great time.

Tears were involved here too, hugs as well, sometimes.

What wasn't involved though, was the happiness.

Throughout the whole day Alice had been furious to put it lightly.

In fact, Martin was shocked too since he hasn't ever seen her in such a fierce state, yet he was the one who's seen the blonde woman in almost every state possible.

Except now, even he feared that if he'd do something wrong like touch her accidentally or say something stupid, the woman would snap and instantly kill him.

Despite that, Martin still tried his best to remain calm as well as attempt to calm down his wife.

"Ali-" the man's voice whispered sweetly and innocently, however, the reaction of the blonde
woman was the exact opposite;

"IM GOING TO KILL HIM!" She screamed "YOU UNDERSTAND?!" The little woman grabbed her husband by the collar of his shirt "KILL!" Alice almost strangled Martin with her moves.

He could barely breathe while he was trying to ease his wife's grip around him.

"M-maybe w-we s-should j-just call the p-police." The brown haired man tried to suggest as a distraction, but it seemed to have only made it worse.

"NO! I CANT!" Alice's voice echoed everywhere.
"It's not that simple."

To be continued-