Miraculous Ladybug One-Shot Drops

Now I See

Hey Miraculers ☺️As requested by @tsuerr, this was supposed to be a Zoé×Reader, but the story I ended up with looked funny on the page, so I changed the viewpoint. It still has Zoé in it, though! I think it's safe to say that I'm happy with it, at least. And, along with a new unnamed character's POV, there's a message within it. So, happy reading😘

"That'll be €5, please," the driver said.

    I slipped the note out of my wallet and handed it to him.

    "Thanks," he said. I nodded and got out of the cab, wedging my wallet back in my coat.

    As he drive away, I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

    Ever since I'd flown into Paris, two months ago, cabbing around had become frequent and, with the Parisian summer sun burning through each car's scented oil freshener, I constantly felt carsick.

    But I had no choice. My hotel was a bit far out and getting to Françoise Dupont High School was quite the distance. It wasn't like back in Sicily, where I'd just use my bike to go around from point A to B.

    Then, again, I was in a new grade and a new school. My mother decided to send me to France for a wider education. To study law in another country. And to get in touch with her roots, I suppose.

    I shut my eyes and took a deep breath in and let it out, in and out, in and out to calm my churning stomach.

    "What do I do?" I heard a woman wail. I opened my eyes.

    There was a woman sitting on the steps of the building before me, a box of things beside her, a tall plant sticking out of it. She was crying and honestly looked broken.

    "What do I do?" she whispered, holding her head, her hands scrunching up her dark brown hair a few times, desperately.

    What should I do? I thought. Should I go talk to her?

    But as I took a step forward, I stopped myself. It wasn't my problem to deal with. I should probably stay out of it.

    Plus, with the way my stomach felt, I might empty the contents out on the sidewalk at this rate.

    Suddenly, the door to the building pushed open and a girl my age stepped out, a sheet of blonde hair spilling over her shoulders, a streak of hot pink going through it.

    She had a short stack of papers in her hand as she made her way down the stairs, deep in thought. Then she came to pause in front of the sobbing woman, her eyes widening.

    "Julie?" she said in surprise. The woman looked up through teary eyes. "What happened?"

    "Oh.. Miss Lee.. it's nothing," said the woman quickly wiping her tears away. She gave a watery smile. "It's nothing, really."

    "What happened?" said the girl again, more firmly. I raised my eyebrows, watching her.

    The woman's shoulders dropped. She looked down.

    "Mr. Roth fired me," she said in a tired voice.

    " What? Why?" the girl asked, shocked.

    The woman looked away." I haven't been feeling well lately so I asked for a day off. When he found out about what it was, he fired me because he said he couldn't deal with lazy people."

    The girl sat down beside her." That does sound like him, sadly... " She paused." What's going on? What do you have? "

    The woman took a deep breath. "Depression. "