Am I that Unlovable? by Summer Cheng

Chapter 63

  Marinette's POV:

  It is the dreaded day at last. The day Marinette has to appear in court to keep her daughter. How could her ex expect her to allow her to hand over her baby? It was not like he cared about her. She had a feeling he was doing this to punish her. To make her feel bad. Why should he? After all, he was the one who ditched her when she was pregnant with their child.

     Marinette is getting ready for her court trial. She is grateful that her friends Alya and Nino have offered to take care of her daughter, Alyno, while she's busy. Despite her lawyer-boyfriend's assurances that he will try his best to help her keep custody of Alyno, she still feels nervous.

      She drives to the court and arrives with thirty minutes to spare. She finds a parking space. She enters the courthouse and goes through the security checkpoint. She enters the courtroom and takes a seat.

       Adrien arrives shortly after her and sits in the lawyer's seat. He smiles at the judge and squeezes Marinette's hand reassuringly. 

    The plaintiff, Luka Cuffaine sits in a chair across from Marinette and Adrien. His lawyer is seated beside him.

    

      The judge stands. He looks over the room and shakes his head. He hates these sorts of cases where there is strife between two people in the custody of a child regardless of the child's age. He is not sure what the outcome of today's proceedings but he wishes there was some way the two could have settled this issue out of court.

       "Mrs. Marinette Cuffaine?" The judge asks.

        Marinette stands. "Your honor, I have changed my name prior to the notice about the dealings for today's trial, and I must say it was for the best."

       Adrien hands the judge some papers. The judge looks over them with a frown. One of the papers shows the name change Marinette had months ago. Another one shows the document that states that Luka Cuffaine signed to give up his paternal rights.  The last document is a copy of the defendant's divorce papers signed by both her and the plaintiff. 

        "I see, you may be seated then, Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng," He says.

       Marinette sits. Adrien waits to see what the judge has to say next.

 As the trial proceeds, Luka's lawyer argues about the stress his client has been under lately. He adds that he sees no reason Luka should not be allowed to be granted, full custody of his child since he has a stable job, and is perfectly capable of balancing the duties of fatherhood, and work.  He has a maid and a cook. He could easily hire a nanny to help when he is working and take over when he returns and on his days off.

      Adrien questions, Luka. He wants to know his intentions in all this. "Is it true that you want custody of your daughter because you feel guilty that you were not there for her sooner? Or do intend to take her away from the stable home environment she is in with the mother who has cared for her, loved her, named her, and met her every need for the last year  to make the child's mother suffer?"

       Luka blinks his eyes twice. He clears his throat. "It is not out of guilt your honor, nor to punish her mother. If anything I am doing this because I feel that my place is a better environment for my daughter than at her mother's.  Her mother did not tell me she was pregnant before I left her."

     Adrien smirks. "You admit you abandoned your ex after five years while she was pregnant with your child?" "Yes, but..." Luka says. "Why did you feel a need to abandon either of them, let both of them when you were in  a relationship with her off and on for years before the marriage?  Then, you married Marinette Dupain-Cheng and stayed with her for five years. One day you decided to throw it all away and for what?" 

        Luka glares at him. He refuses to answer the questions. "You don't know. Well, I say you did all this because you are a heartless person who does not care how your actions impact those around you. You don't care about all the sleepless nights she had crying over you, or that she had to give birth without you by her side because you were long by then. You don't care that she is an excellent mother, who happens to provide for her child the best she can, or that she felt she could no longer stay in the house because it made her depressed due to all the fond memories she had there. You don't care about her or her daughter." Adrien tells him.

         

      The judge taps the gravel on his desk. "Enough, I have heard enough. Please be seated Mr. Agreste and Mr. Cuffiane now."  He scratches his head while thinking about the best action to take.

     "In light of the evidence presented by the attorney on behalf of Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and considering how long ago it was that Luka Cuffaine left without remorse on his part and that the moment he found out from a family friend he was a father, he signed away his rights to his child, and begged for a divorce even before he knew all this; I say that the court finds the plaintiff, Luka Cuffaine to be an unfit father. Thereby, his rights will remain revoked and the defendant, Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng shall be granted full custody of the child, Alyno Marie Dupain-Cheng."

     The judge waved at the lady who was now crying tears of joy. She could not believe it. She won!

   "Court dismissed," The judge said, and smacked his gravel one last time. He left the courtroom, and so did everyone else.

        Marinette hugs Adrien and he hugs her. The two leave to go pick up Alyno Marie Dupain-Cheng and take her home.

          The story continues in Chapter 64

         until then,

bye-bye,

little owlets!

Summer out!