Adrien woke up pleased with himself, as he turned to his side only to find the bed empty immediately taking the smile off his face. He sighed as he got up and looked at his ring, one was his miraculous and the other was his engagement ring. He made his way to the kitchen to find his fiancée running back and forth from the living room to the kitchen. He stood at the door and simply admired her from afar.

It's been two years since they moved into his mansion, and four months since they were engaged. As Chat, he still couldn't believe that he was actually close to marrying his lady. A strong, stubborn, confident leader who cares about everyone and is just to her enemies. As Adrien, he couldn't help but smile at the thought of marrying his best friend. The thoughtful, clumsy, talented young lady, who goes out of her way to help her friends and family.

However, despite this all he could feel was the twist of regret in his gut. He loves her too much to not let anything hurt her. He knew what he had to do.

He was isolated as a child and only had two relationships in his life. He never dated anyone else after the reveal, thinking that she was the one who would complete him. He had zero experience in relationships, both romantic and familial. He fears that he could go wrong any moment. But now that he thinks of it, he knows that he already did.

"Morning sweetie," Marinette greeted when she noticed him standing there. "How long have you been there? You should have breakfast already," she told him. Adrien smiled and approached her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I know, but I rarely see you in the morning. You're always leaving when I see you," he pouted. Marinette smiled as she lovingly caressed his cheek as he kissed her hand.

"I know, I want us to have breakfast together too, but I have to go or else I'll be late for my interview," Marinette explained. Adrien sighed as he held onto her hand, not wanting to let her go. "Can't you just work for me?" he pleaded.

Marinette looked him in the eye, dead serious. "I already interned at your father's company, and you told me that I can hold my own, and I want to do that myself. I don't want to work under another person's name. You believe in me, right?" she said. Adrien nodded in response, still wanting her to be with him. "Hey, if it fails, I'll be working in your father's business. But if it succeeds we can still be partners and competitors, it'll be a win-win situation for us both," she added, trying to console him.

Adrien nodded as he lets her go to her interviews. "Good luck, my lady," he said to her as she left. "Thanks, see you at lunch later, baby," she replied as she walked out of the front door.

Adrien looked at her leave from the window, sighing as he watched her go. He turned to find an awfully angry Plagg, who continued to greedily eat his cheese. "You can't hide forever kid, you know that," Plagg said to him. Adrien walked pass him and began eating breakfast. "I'm not a kid anymore. I can handle my own problems," he told the tiny god. Plagg gave a dissatisfied hum and turned to the window looking at the closed gate of the mansion.

...

"We like your designs Ms. Dupain-Cheng, and you're clearly a talented young lady," the man gave a generic response. Marinette smiled and nodded while saying, "Thank you, sir." The man looked at her with an uninterested look as he flipped through her portfolio and back to her résumé.

"You have a good résumé and it seems like you have a good amount of experience even at a young age. However, I'm not going to support a kid just to give the Agreste another business to their name," the man said. Marinette scrunched her eyebrows together as she said, offended by the notion, "Excuse me?"

"You're already engaged to the Gabriel heir, why not work for them?" the man stated. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm here because I want my work to be shared with, not to have my talent work for another person," she explained. This made the man laugh at her as he said,

"Listen here kid, let's be realistic. You're how old? Never mind, but do you know how many businesses in fashion there is? Influencers get to have their own product lines, children are even making millions for just making stupid bows. With this much competition, who do you think you are? You may have been commissioned by Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale and other celebrities, but let's face facts. You're just offering the same thing as those in the industry. What makes you special?" he asked her with a condescending tone.

"Now, if you look at the time I've already stretched it for a minute and I'm going to be late to my meeting with the board. You may leave, thank you for your time," he told her with not much care.

Feeling insulted, Marinette took her things and left. That was the 13th time and all they say is the same.

You're already with the Agrestes.

You can't compete with the market.

You're too young for this.

You're not special and different from the others.

No one's going to invest in you, you have nothing to offer.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette calmed herself down as she took her leave and left that godforsaken building of entitled businessmen. She entered the elevator and tried to think of the wedding. She looked back at her ring and smiled at the thought of getting married in a few months.

"Do you think I should put my logo on my wedding dress?" Marinette asked Tikki from her coat. "If you think it works for it, then why not," Tikki replied. "I like the flowers in your logo, they can go in any weather," she added. Marinette smiled at this as she kept her mind on her dress and how she could make it more elegant. Tikki, on the other hand, uncomfortably shifted her eyes from the ring, to the girl and to the phone.

"Um, Mari-," Tikki some, only to go back into hiding when the elevator doors opened. Marinette moved to the side as three people entered. When the elevator door closed, the trio began to whisper and laugh with each other. For some reason, she couldn't help but feel like they were laughing at her, given their constant glances and whispers.

A few floors later, Marinette left the building and headed to her Citroën C4 that was parked in the South of the building. It was only 10 o'clock in the morning and she couldn't help but feel like there are some people who kept on looking at her direction and began to whisper to their friends.

Brushing the thought to the side, she focused on getting to her mother's favourite tea shop for some lunch. She quickly parked her car on the side and entered the establishment feeling like everyone was talking about her again. All I need now is the media on my tail, she thought to herself as she made her way to the bathroom to gather herself. Her makeup must look bad after all those terrible interviews.

As she was applying lipstick a group of girls entered and gawked at her. She smiled awkwardly as the girls giggled as their eyes landed on her ring. The five girls began laughing harder as they looked at each other. "Should I ask her?" one girl asked as the other shot her a look, while the other two were nodding and the others continued laughing.

Choosing to ignore their odd behavior, Marinette was about to leave until one of the girls blurted, "Are you going to dump him?"

Confused, she looked at the girls and asked, "Who?" This caused them to laugh harder as the first girl who spoke and boldly, "You know who, Adrien Agreste." This puzzled her more as to why they were expecting her to dump her fiancé. She calmly thought that they were just some fangirls waiting for him to become a bachelor, again.

"You don't know, do you?" the third girl asked as she took out her phone and scrolled through it. A bit confused, but she did as well, realising she hadn't touched it since she woke up so she wasn't updated on the news.

She froze when she read the headline from the top stories.

Adrien Agreste caught Making out with Model & Actress Lila Rossi

Muse and Former Muse of the Gabriel Reunited

Old Flame Ignited

Wedding on a Possible Hold

Unfaithful Fiancé: The End for Team Adrinette

Another Scandal to the Agreste Name

No Comment from Marinette Dupain-Cheng: Silent Protest?

Felix Graham de Vanilly: Stolen Girlfriend & Thieving Cousin

She felt like her whole world came crashing down onto her without a pause. Noticing her discomfort, one of them, who shot a look at one of her friends, apologized and forced all them out of the restroom.

Taking a deep breath she got out and went to the their usual table. From afar she could already see the slight discomfort that Adrien was feeling. He was obviously guilty at the sin he had committed. She approached him and sat opposite of him. Adrien gave a weak smile as he was about to inquire on what she wanted, but Marinette held out her finger to silence him.

"Please, just say it to my face if you still want to continue the wedding," Marinette said trying to keep her voice steady. Adrien flinched and looked down to his side. "I'm sorry Marinette," he said in a weak voice. This crushed Marinette's heart as she tried to speak. "Just tell me why and don't give me a half arsed reason," she required. He sunk deeper into his seat as he took a deep breath. He looked her in the eye and spoke, "It's just that you're too embarrassing." Marinette was taken aback by his words as she parroted, "Embarrassing? Excuse me!"

"It's just that, until now you still haven't grown out of your awkward teenage shy and clumsy nature. I find it cute, but I can't have you keep on embarrassing us. I have a reputation to uphold as well. I know I'm sounding like an asshole right now, but it's not your fault. It's just that, I hoped that you could've channeled your Ladybug confidence whenever it happens. Not to mention how stubborn you are. I'm offering you a job in my father's company, instead you're going around trying to find an investor to support your idea of your own fashion line. You're rarely home because of that, and I can't have my wife being a competitor in my business.You are absolutely, undeniably, brilliantly, talented that you can be the head designer in my company and to lose you is already a loss to my company. It just, I'm just, that is, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Marinette," he added.

"Are you saying my only worth to you is if I work for you?" she asked in disbelief. Taking a deep breath, she looked him in the eye and said, "Here, you're going to explain to our friends why the wedding is off." She stood up from her chair and threw the ring back at him. He fumbled to catch it not knowing what she had planned for him. Catching the ring with his left hand he felt a hot sensation that was poured on his pants. He flinched and realized that Marinette poured cold water on him.

"If you thought breaking up with me in public would suppress my outbursts, you thought wrong. And next time you cheat make sure that the girl is worth cheating on," Marinette glared at him as she gave the pitcher back to the waiter. She paid him for his troubles and took her leave.

"What if I told you I finally realized how disgusted I am by you for stalking me back then?" he uttered loud enough for her to hear, but the on lookers didn't. She froze in her place, then turned her head to face him. She thought she'd see a remorseful or even embarrassed look. But her heart sank when his face only showed disgust, scorn, and hate. She had left that shameful phase behind, she always thought it was excusable since she was young. She even joked about it to him, he laughed. He said he didn't mind anymore.

Perhaps she miscalculated, those past actions will never leave her. She could feel her resolve falter by his repulsed gaze. She couldn't say anything in return, except shut her eyes tight heaving a despaired sigh, before she walked away.

That one statement seemed far more reasonable than the first few he has given, for this excuse was by far the most knife twisting reality of hers.