Cold Days, Warm Hearts

Chapter 6 - Snowman

After lunch at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, Adrien, Alya, Nino and Marinette went for a walk in the park. There were lots of kids running around in the fresh snowfall throwing snowballs and making snow angels. Marinette was feeling warm from head to toe when Adrien held her hand again as they walked behind Nino who had an arm around Alya's shoulders.

Strolling along the Seine, they came across some of their classmates enjoying the wintery weather. Juleka and Rose were listening to music on a picnic bench, Nathaniel had an easel set up painting the snow covered scenery while Ivan and Mylène were working on a snowman.

"Hey everyone." Alya called out. The others all waved and wished them a Merry Christmas. Alya went and sat next to Rose on the bench while Marinette went over to Nathalniel. Adrien stayed with Nino near the girls, but he was already missing the warmth of Marinette's hand.

Ivan and Mylène were setting the finishing touches to their snowman with an old scarf and a carrot for a nose.

"In the meadow, we can build a snowman." Mylène started singing.

"And pretend that he is Parson Brown." Ivan continued.

"He'll say are you married?"

"We'll say no man."

"But you can do the job when you're in town." They finished together, holding hands and rubbing their noses before sharing a small kiss.

"Awww." Rose exclaimed, clasping her hands by her head. "They are just so cute together." Juleka mumbled her agreement and smiled behind her fringe.

"Yeah, they are." Adrien echoed. Nino saw his best friend look over to where Marinette was talking with Nathaniel with a longing look in his eyes.

"It's finished." Nathaniel declared, wiping his paintbrush on a cloth.

"It's beautiful." Marinette said, admiring the landscape piece. "Is it going to be a gift for someone?"

"Yeah, for my mum." The artist replied proudly. "I wanted to surprise her for the last night of Hanukkah. Do you think she'll like it?"

"Absolutely." Marinette said. "You've always been so talented. How's Marc going?"

"Good. His writer's retreat finished today so he's going to be spending some of the holidays with us. Fingers crossed we might even get a publisher for our new Manga before the end of the year."

"Hey guys." A voice called out from across the park. Turning towards the sound, they saw Zoé waving with a pile of envelopes in her hand. "I'm so glad I found some of you together. I just came from the Liberty and Anarka said I'd find Juleka and Rose here."

"I thought you were going to New York for Christmas?" Alya asked, puzzled. "Didn't your mum and Chloé leave yesterday?"

Zoé's smile dropped and her eyes looked down. "My sister convinced our mother that I didn't need to go with them since my father wasn't going to be in New York for the holidays anyway. So they left me behind."

"Zoé, I'm so sorry." Marinette said, walking over and giving the blond girl a hug. "If you need anything just let me know okay."

"Actually, there is something you can do." Zoé said, cheering up and handing Marinette one of the envelopes. "My step-father said that since I was left behind I can have one of the suite rooms for a Christmas Eve party tomorrow night and invite my friends."

Zoé passed around the invitations to everyone who all readily accepted. "Now it's nothing too fancy, so don't worry about dressing up too much, but if you have something Christmassy like hats or ugly sweaters, then go for it. I've got to run, I've got a few more people to find. I hope to see you all tomorrow night."