Ladybug's fake identity

Chapter 14: Call

Adrien didn't understand. He couldn't understand. Was Marinette really behind this article? Why would she do that? Didn't she like Lyssa? Visibly not. For a moment, he felt stupid to have believed that. Still, even if they didn't get along, Marinette wasn't the kind of person to do that. He doubted that she even had enough connections to do it. But she hadn't denied it. In fact, she hadn't said anything. Her reaction had been so silent that he had doubted his eyes.

She had cried. But, unlike Lyssa, she had stayed quiet. It hadn't been devastated, guilty cries. At that moment, Marinette had seemed empty. Emotionless. Maybe a little sad. But that had been all. And she had ran away. She had simply fled.

The class had been shaken by what had happened in such a short amount of time to try to run after her. Lila had accused Marinette, too, saying that she wouldn't have escaped if she was innocent. For once, her classmates didn't believe her blindly. They knew Marinette, they had had a hard time believing that she would do such a thing. Alya had immediately taken her best friend's side and Nino too. After all, they were the ones who knew the designer the best. It had turned into an oral fight between Lila and Alya, both having the support of respectively Lyssa and Nino.

Both parties had asked Adrien what he thought. He had been too confused to answer. He had just stayed here and had tried to calm his friends down. The rest of the day had flown by quickly, maybe even too quickly. Soon, he was outside of school, asking his bodyguard to give him the time to walk Lyssa to her house. Maybe his company would help her feel better about herself. And it wasn't far away, it should be fine.

Surprisingly, the bodyguard accepted with a grumble. And so Adrien walked the streets of Paris with Lyssa, her hand in his. On their way, he noticed some passer-bys staring at them, whispering something. Was it because of the article? Or was it simply because he was a famous model? He hoped that it was the latter, not the first option. But he knew that people didn't usually whisper like that when they saw him. Their attention was directed towards Lyssa, not him.

When they arrived in front of her door, he was almost relieved. Sure, he liked being with his Lady, but since the pigeon incident, he was uncomfortable around her. He didn't know when exactly it had started, but he had slowly started to notice that something was off. It made him doubt her, about his decision, and he hated it. That was why he had turned a blind eye to it and refused to listen to that little voice that told him to look more closely. But the more time passed, the more he had the feeling that he had been wrong all that time.

"I'm sorry about today. I'll try to find a way out. And..." Lyssa hesitated a little, perched on the first step leading to her house. "Thank you."

He nodded, forcing a smile to appear on his lips. But instead of heading into the building, she bent closer to him, approaching her face dangerously close to his. His eyes widened.

A kiss from his Lady. 

Adrien had always dreamt of it. He knew that she had already kissed him once, when Kim had been akumatized into Dark Cupid, but he didn't remember it. He had regretted it bitterly. Ladybug, his oh so beloved Lady, had kissed him, and he couldn't remember it? Just thinking of it had driven him mad. 

He wanted to have her close to him again, to feel the taste of her lips. It was a way to heaven, he was sure of it. So it would only be natural for him to close the distance between them and finally capture these sweet lips he had dreamt about for so long, with his.

But he didn't.

He leaned back and called her name. "Lyssa."

She opened her eyes with the expression of a child being caught eating cookies without permission. "Adrien?"