The Cat, The Girl, The Curse [Adrienette]

07

Busted, Adrien thought. He couldn't wake Marinette right now, nor he can just cut off—

"Girl? What are you doing so late at night? Again with the orders? Just you wai—"

"Alya, calm down! It's me, Adrien. Hold up," He whispered, putting the phone on hold and carrying Marinette to her bed. He tucked her, wished her good night, came down the ladder, settled on her chair and picked up the phone again. 

"What the hell is going on?! Adrien, is she alright?" Alya asked, panicked. 

"Yeah, she's better than before." She sighed in relief, and suddenly her tone changed again. 

"What are you doing in my girl's room that late at night? Do you have a secret affair I should be aware of—"

"NONONO— I was here to give her something but, we were so engrossed in conversation that we didn't realise the time. She only slept ten minutes ago."

"That's good. After whatever is going on, she needs rest. But if mister, I come to know any secret affair without letting me know, I'm going to break your head—"

"Understood Alya. Good night!" Flustered, he switched off Marinette's phone and exited the bakery. 

The next day, miss I-am-not-a-liar was sprouting lies as usual, but this time the target was different. 

"After the birthday party, I might have said that I forgot his birthday, but I cancelled all my charity plans and spent the whole night with him! He's so sweet, so perfect.." And she went on. 

"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Where did you spend the night you say?" Chloe enquired, raising an eyebrow at Lila. 

"Oh you know, his room where else?" Everyone gasped, as Lila blinked innocently. Chloe just had a bored expression with her phone out. 

With one click, she dialled Adrien, who was on his way to school on foot. 

"Hey, Adrikins! Is it true you spent the whole night yesterday with a girl?" There was a shuffling and giggling sound from the background. 

"Yes Chlo, why?" Chloe had a horrified expression. Lila's face looked like she won the lottery. 

"Ridiculous, we need to talk Adrikins, come ASAP!" Chloe screeched on her phone. Adrien's laughter was heard when he slowly entered the class, followed by Alya and Nino.

"Why hello Chloe, and.." Adrien raised an eyebrow, "Why are you all smirking?" 

"Well, considering you and Lila spend one whole night—"

"Hold on Kim, who said that she," He eyed her with disgust, "Was with me?" 

"AHA Lie-la, exposed!" Chloe grinned slyly. Lila eyed everyone and then Adrien, and said in a crying voice, "B—but you just said you spent a whole night with a girl!" 

Alya and Nino facepalmed. 

Adrien sighed and smiled, "Yes, I did, Marinette was sick once at the cafeteria, wasn't she? I just took care of her." He smiled sincerely. 

Chloe had a smug expression when Lila started coughing violently and rushed out of the room.

"Besides, trash cans are too smelly to be in a room at night." Chloe cackled at her joke. 

***

That day, the school was having an exchange program. The school was exchanging candidates with another Elite school, where selected candidates were allowed to spend a day with specific classes. 

Turns out, it was the same school Luka, Wayhem, Socqeline and Kagami attended. 

Marinette was late as usual, but Miss Bustier hurriedly ushered her inside, as she saw many students like Ivan, Mylene, Rose, Juleka, Nathaniel, Max and Kim missing. The only ones left were Sabrina, Chloe, Alix, Adrien, Nino, Alya and Marinette. Lila had left for unknown reasons.

So when Marinette saw her classroom had a flip, she was shocked. 

Alya was sitting with Nino, Kagami with Adrien, Luka with Chloe, Sabrina with Socqueline and Alix was alone. Marinette waved to Alix and happily sat beside her. 

Soon, they were deep into topicless conversations. 

"My old man has got tons of artefacts to be on display, one of them happens to be from some Chinese collection!" Alix added, showing her the picture of Yin-Yang and some objects related to it on her phone.

"What's this supposed to mean?" Marinette enquired. 

Alix looked around quizzically and leaned down to whisper, "It's the only proof to show that soulmate curses do exist. Some elite families are known to have hidden curses now too," She then showed her a manuscript. 

"This is from an Egyptian elite family, where the supposed heir turns into a goldfish, and my brother found some proof. He believed it was past, but I investigated, and there was a known family who publicly declared to have such fate!"

Marinette was now getting a hang of the curses, and for a fact, she knew it was real anywa—

Suddenly, she was hit with a dizzy spell. 

"Then again, who wo— Marinette?!" Alix whispered, putting both her hands on her shoulders and steadying her.

 One moment she was good, and now she was dizzy?

Alix had read about such symptoms, and now she was confirmed, she was one of those soulmates. 

"I'm so sorry Alix, I don't feel.. so.. good—" Her last words slurred, as her head fell on the table with a bang, alerting everyone. 

"Dupain Cheng?!" Chloe turned back, immediately taking her water bottle to sprinkle her water. 

Alya had collapsed on her seat. This can't be happening, it was the 7th time in 3 days she collapsed with her dizzy spells!

Nino was comforting Alya, as she had started crying. Marinette was looking pale again. It was like whenever she was unconscious, she gets cut off from their world,  and her body goes autopilot, all pale and deathly. 

Adrien had rushed from his seat and started warming Marinette's cold hands, sitting beside her. He was getting flashbacks of how his mother used to collapse like that. 

This was the first time he had seen Marinette collapse in front of his eyes.

And today the problem was, even after sprinkling water, she wasn't waking up! 

"Nothing will happen to Dupain Cheng, stop panicking Adrikins— daddy!" 

"She's weak. Why did she come to school knowing she was weak." Kagami dryly added, crossing her arms. 

"And who are you?" Chloe said after finishing her phone call. 

Kagami raised an eyebrow, "None of your business."

Chloe smirked, "Well then, I will answer your question. Dupain Cheng never dwells on her weakness, she's extremely optimistic, and for one, she even likes to make me my bee-themed dresses, miss none of your business." Chloe smiled slyly.

"Exactly," Sabrina added, much to Kagami's jealousy.

On the other hand, Adrien was only wishing Marinette to wake up. He held the lucky charm she gave him on her birthday and wished.

Even if I was born with a stroke of bad luck, please save this girl with enough luck. I would sacrifice to be a cat forever if she's granted a good life, she doesn't deserve any of this. 

When he was sure she was suffering the same symptoms his mother had and his father never had an idea of, he knew it was something to do with his curse. 

But still, he couldn't put how the dizzy spells took place.

He needed to act now before it's too late.