Warped Reality

Chapter Seventeen

Adrien

He clenched his jaw, watching her cozy up to his cousin. What was her goal here? To make him jealous? To get the ring? How did she expect to get it?

"Adrien, honey you need to pay attention when you're cutting food. All it takes is a slip of the knife."

Startled by his mother's words, he yanked his hands away from the cutting board. She sighed, shaking her head as he went back to cutting up carrots.

"They would make a cute couple, don't you think?"

He glanced back through the window, trying to hide his obvious disgust at her suggestion.

"No."

He glared back down at the carrots, his chest burning. Was he really willing to risk losing her like this? Forcing her to stay in a place that made her miserable? She already told him she couldn't love the other Adrien. Did that mean she would move on? That he would have to watch her move on with someone else?

"Have you told her yet?"

He sighed, dumping the sliced carrots into the pot on the stove.

"Told her what?"

"That you love her."

She nudged him with her elbow, moving around him to get back to the stove.

"Yes."

"And?"

"And she loves me too. But... at the rate things are going I don't think it's going to work out."

His mother was quiet for a moment, and he followed her gaze out the window to Marinette, who was smiling faintly.

"If you love her, fight for her."

"At what cost? Where am I supposed to draw the lines? What about self preservation? I'm just supposed to give up my happiness for hers? How is that fair? How is any of this fair?" He blurted, leaving his mother wide eyed and confused.

She reached forward, placing a comforting hand on his arm.

"What's going on between you two?"

Nothing he could explain. Nothing she would understand.

"It doesn't matter."

He pulled away from her, moving on to the rest of the vegetables.

"Honey, it does matter. If you feel the way about her that I feel about your father... that's not something you just throw away Adrien. It's important."

"Can I ask you something off topic?"

She nodded, stirring the stew cooking.

"Hypothetically... if I died-"

"What?"

He smiled softly, giving her a reassuring glance.

"Not on purpose mom. If I got into a car accident or something, and I died. Say you had the option to go to another world. Or reality, whatever. And in that world, there's another Adrien. That looks exactly like me. Maybe he doesn't act like me completely, maybe he has different mannerisms, or allergies. But in a way, it's your son. Would you stay there? Even if that world was awful for my father?"

She looked down at his chest, and he glanced back out at Marinette, who seemed to be standing closer to Felix than she had been before.

"No."

He blinked, turning to look at her.

"No?"

She shook her head, a soft smile playing on her lips. What did she mean no? Didn't she care? He swallowed his pain, trying his best not to show how much that had hurt.