The Two Worlds of Marinette

Chapter 4

Marinette donned once again the cream and lace dress. She really needed to finish some of those other vintage style dresses she had been working on so she wasn't always in the same dress, but she didn't have anything else on hand they wouldn't look conspicuous. Heading down into the tall trees before opening the pocket watch, Marinette thought it better not to suddenly appear in the house. It was just as well that she had because in the garden she saw a young man with long red hair tied back sitting in front of an easel. He was focusing on the beautiful rose bed that was in full bloom and judging by the amount of work on the canvas, had been there for some time. Sitting at a nearby table and chairs was Nino and Alya with a few drinks.

Stopping to stretch his arm, the artist caught in the corner of his eye the beautiful dark haired woman walking up the pathway. "Hello." He called out, wiping down his hands on a cloth. "I would offer my hand to shake, but I would hate to get paint on your dress."

"It's alright." Marinette smiled, waving to Alya and Nino as well who greeted her in return. She stopped by the easel to admire the artwork. "It's beautiful."

"So are you, if you don't mind me saying." He replied a little shyly. Marinette was sure she was blushing from her ears to her toes. "Don't worry, I don't mean it as a pick up line." He chuckled. "I usually paint portraits so I know a beautiful face when I see one, but I haven't done a gardenscape for a while so I'm a little rusty. I'm Nathaniel by the way. If you don't already know I'm the hermit that lives in Adrien's attic." Nathaniel then regarded her for a moment ignoring Alya and Nino making jokes about his living quarters. "I don't mean to be presumptuous, but would you permit me to sketch you?"

Marinette nodded and he reached down into a suitcase beside him and took out a large sketch book and a pencil. Marinette felt a little self conscious as the artist studied her features and began to move his hand across the page.

Alya stood up and came over beside Marinette as Nathaniel continued with his sketch. "So Marinette, Adrien says you recently moved into the area?"

Marinette was caught a little off guard by the question. "Oh, um... yes." She replied, but Alya was undeterred by Marinette's apparent nervousness.

"It must not be far. I mean at least within walking distance I didn't see you bring a horse or buggy."

"N... no, it's not far." Marinette stuttered. "Just around the lake." She started to become worried where this was going when mercifully Nino stepped in.

"Honey, Marinette isn't your latest news story. You'll have to forgive her, sometimes she forgets to turn reporter mode off."

Alya rolled her eyes at her husband before turning back to Marinette. "Don't mind me. I can't help but be inquisitive. This brain works overtime."

"You know." Nino said standing up, "Alya here was the first female reporter in town." It was clear as he put an arm around his wife how proud of her he was.

"Yep." Alya nodded proudly. "But I don't intend to be stuck as just the housewives handy help column. Nope, I'm determined to make the newsstands in Paris. One day women will be on the front page with real hard hitting news stories, you mark my word!"
Alya held her finger up with a confident nod of the head.

"I'm sure they will." Marinette smiled. If only Alya knew what the future held.

"Hold that there." Nathaniel called out. "Smile just like that." Excitedly, he continued to sketch and Nino and Alya poured some more drinks.

A little while later, a voice came from the porch. "I think you're missing something."

Marinette looked up to see Adrien standing there holding the wide brimmed hat that she had lost that day he saw her at the lake. That now familiar flutter began in her chest again. Whatever Adrien had been doing must have been hard work, but despite his disheveled appearance, he was still as dashing as ever. Marinette hadn't realised before that his hair was longer than she originally thought, but it was more evident now that it was falling out of the ribbon meant to hold it back.