Please, Forgive Me || ADRIENETTE

17. I would do anything.

Although Marinette could barely remember how she woke up in bed, the few memories haunting her brain were the fact that Chloe had told her something that threw the bluenette off her loop. Adrien Agreste has a fiancé. Adrien Agreste, in a few years, maybe even months, would be married. To a girl, she's never even heard of.

Sure, it wasn't any of her business, and of course, Marinette had no right to feel... uncomfortable about the whole thing. But she couldn't help it. It echoed through her head at the fact that Adrien himself confirmed it with his mouth.

But what Marinette also remembers about last night was the fact that he also said he didn't want to be married to this Kagami. It brought a strange sense of relief to the girl. Why? She doesn't know why either.

But then again, Adrien was--no. IS in love with someone else. Who? She could never guess.

Back in China, she swore herself off social media. She basically threw away her smartphone, cutting all ties with the world, apart from contacting her parents once a day. She never had the chance to Google search about the mysterious blonde. Well, at the time, she didn't want to either.

She had so much regret and anger in her heart that she didn't wanna hear anything about his success, nor his failures.

Of course, had she done a few quick searches of the blonde, maybe she would have learned that he took over his father's company and deleted all of the emails that Adrien anonymously sent. If she had, she would be in China right now supporting her small clothing line.

"Marinette?" a voice brought her back to reality, a chance to escape her deafening thoughts. She turned her head to her boss, meeting his forest green eyes, which gave her heart a little stab as she was beginning to lose herself in his orbs. "You okay?"

Adrien had a look of concern on his face. They had parked in the company garage five minutes ago, and instead of the two getting out, they sat there in silence while Marinette was staring ahead absentmindedly.

Marinette pursed her lips which almost resembled a frown and nodded hesitantly. "S-sorry, just dozing off." She faked a yawn and rubbed her eyelids as if she had just awoken from a nap. "Still a little tired I guess."

Adrien knew full well that Marinette was lying. He'd experienced her tired before; Marinette was a grump. But never had she been the type to look... sad. Something was on her mind, but he didn't feel right about pushing the topic any further. He promised himself he wouldn't do that anymore. "Shall we go?"

She nodded and opened her car door to step outside. Adrien doing the same, waiting for Marinette to join his side to walk to the elevator. He peeked at the bluenette as her shoulders were slumped and she dragged her feet towards him. Something was definitely on her mind.

"What's wrong?"

She heard the blonde ask, but she just shrugged her shoulders without even glancing at him. There were so many things bothering her right now, but she couldn't admit the real reason she was overthinking. She knows that the relationship between them was employer/employee, but something inside her was tingling a sense of heartbreak.

Which was crazy, seeing how they are the farthest thing from a couple.

Right now, the air between them was different. Not the same feeling of awkwardness as usual. Marinette could feel it and she knew that Adrien could as well. The tension between them resembled something like a sad girlfriend and a concerned boyfriend.

As much as Adrien wanted to comfort her, he didn't know where to start. Or whether he even had the right to. He was all kinds of confused because a few minutes ago, the pair was joking about last night until Marinette went all quiet.

Adrien wasn't a very patient person, and all of this anticipation was making him nervous. So instead of beating around the bush, he took a large step in front of her and clutched onto her shoulders to shake her mind to the present.

"Marinette..." he furrowed his brows to stare at the timid girl beneath her and frowned. "What's going on? Talk to me."

Her chin lowered yet her gaze followed him, she raised her brows as her lips quivered once she made eye contact. And from Adrien's point of view, the sight of Marinette took his breath away. He knew for sure now that Marinette was sad. She had this defeated look on her face that resembled a crying puppy, big blue eyes staring at him with tears threatening to spill, and pink-plumped lips frowning as they trembled. Adrien felt a huge stab in every part of his body, as it screamed at him to just wrap his arms around her shoulders and place her face against his chest.

He wanted nothing more than to embrace her tightly.

'talk to me.'

It echoed Marinette's head as she could hear the slight desperation in Adrien's voice. She wanted to talk to him, she wanted to explain all the horrible shit clouding her mind.

But what could she even say?

I don't want you to get married.

Who is the girl you're in love with?

Why do you make me feel this way?

So many questions, yet those were crossing the imaginary line she had drawn between the two. And as much as she was willing to risk walking over that border, she shut her eyes tightly and took a step towards him. Tears were now dangerously prickling her eyes as she held her breath as much as possible so they wouldn't spill.

She wasn't sure what she was doing at this point, yet her head tilted to the side, placed her cheek against his shoulder, and brought her hands around her waist, squeezing it as if she didn't wanna let go.

Despite all the horrible things Adrien did to her, she always felt a level of safety whenever she was around him. And right now, it felt like there was no one in this world except the two of them.

"M-Marinette?" Adrien stuttered, completely shocked by the embrace she initiated first, unable to even move.

She shook her head from beneath him and tightened her arms around him. "I'm sorry." she sniffled. "But just... hold me.. please."

The please was overkill. She didn't need to say please, she didn't need to beg. The moment he heard Marinette say that, as if it was permission, his arms shot up around her neck, closing in the small amount of space between the two as he laid his chin on top of her head.

Marinette smiled bittersweetly, feeling Adrien's body wrapped around her. She felt warm and relaxed, almost felt relieved as if she was deprived of this hug and needed this one thing to breathe.

"What's wrong?" Adrien questioned again, gritting his teeth and restraining every muscle in his body that was capable of taking her lips onto his.

She shook her head again before lifting it slightly to stare at his face. "I... think it's just my anxiety acting up again."

While this wasn't entirely the truth, it wasn't a lie either.

Whenever Marinette would dangerously overthink like this, she would freeze up and curl into a ball, and start sobbing. It was a feeling of being overwhelmed and her body would tremble. Usually, she would deal with her anxiety alone and let the moment pass, but Adrien was right next to her, and everything in her was screaming to wrap her arms around him.

And when she did... it felt right.

Adrien didn't know she had anxiety, he had no idea how to handle this kind of situation. So he kept his mouth shut and patted her head in hopes of comforting her as much as he could. And as he felt Marinette's tense shoulders begin to slowly drop, he's guessing it did.

"Thank you." she smiled. "This means a lot to me."

He tilted his head downwards so that his lips were slightly pressed against the top of her hair. "For you Marinette..." Adrien took a pause, leaving the girl beneath him waiting for him to finish his sentence. "I would do anything."

Her eyes widened, as she heard him whisper the last part. And what's more, there was a small, tiny feeling of his lips that were placed on her head, giving Marinette a quick kiss.

Did he just... kiss me?