Bound To You - A Miraculous Story

Chapter Three

Word Count: 4662

Adrien's PoV:

While I was accompanying Marinette home, I was quick to realise that we actually had more in common than I thought. 

For instance, our shared opinion on all that marriage stuff. Maybe it wasn't one hundred per cent the same, but still in some ways. Never mind, it was not the same at all.

She didn't want to get married because she didn't want to be a wife, and Marinette had to be one to her husband. I didn't want to get married because, well, I feared just being loved because I was famous. 

It definitely wasn't the same. But it all came down to that one tiny detail: neither of us wanted to get married. 

I lied when I said I wouldn't ever want to get married. I did want to, but it was impossible for me to get there, which led to me not wanting to get married. I know, complicated.

I really wished I could fulfil my Maman's wish and eventually find someone I'd be comfortable enough with to take as my wife, but I just couldn't. 

I still had a lot of time left to live my life, or so I hoped, and maybe a miracle were to happen, but I truly doubted it. 

Yet, looking at Marinette's sad face when she said goodbye to me by the door of her house, I felt my heart ache. I've never felt something like that before. 

I couldn't even believe myself when I asked, "Do you want to do something completely crazy?" 

Her attention was immediately back on me. I could sense the confusion in her. And I was just as confused. 

Never in my life had I expected to say what I was about to say. 

"Let's get married. You and me." 

She raised her eyebrows in not even a second, her mouth standing slightly opened. She blinked a couple of times, probably to figure out if I was joking or not, maybe even trying to see if all this was real. 

I wasn't joking. Not a single bit. 

"If we get married, you don't have to marry this other guy. You don't have to pretend to be all in love with him, and be a wife to him. But instead, you could be with me. You would still have your own life as I wouldn't expect you to be anything to me. It would just be two friends that were bound together because their parents wanted it. No married-life," I explained. 

She had no reaction whatsoever. 

But I meant it. Every word. I would marry her for the sake of her getting out of married life. And for the sake of my mother being happy that I found someone. Someone I didn't love and only married because it was beneficial for the both of us, but she didn't have to know that. 

Then suddenly a smile crept on her face as she held out her hand for me to take. 

I thought she was going to say yes, but instead, she asked way more questions. I didn't think it would be that difficult to convince her.

"What about school? They will all know," she said. 

"How would they know?" 

"Well, my Maman wouldn't let me keep my last name, Adrien." She looked down at our intertwined hands. 

"Oh," I let out a sigh. I did not think about that. "Well, so let them know. They would have known of your marriage with that other guy as well." 

"Yeah, but you're not Luka. They'll all ask how we met, and how all that happened. Probably assume I forced you into this." 

"It's only a couple months left. Care to play pretend?" She shook her head no.