Caught In A Storm

Chapter II

Adrien and Nino followed the young woman through the storm. They had to stay close, it was difficult to see through the thick white snow, which didn't want to stop falling from the dark sky. Their eyes and skin prickled from the cold and the wind. The icy wind making them their skeletons shudder. The ground was already covered in many thick layers of white fluffy snow, it already reached the woman's top of her calf, but she was rather small, so it didn't shock Adrien much. The moment Adrien noticed his nose was beginning to freeze, the woman halted and put her keys into the lock of the massive front door. Her hands had gotten so cold that she dropped the keys multiple in the snow. 

After a few minutes, she finally managed to open the door and stormed in with Prince Adrien and Nino high on her heels. Warmth surrounded them completely, as she rapidly closed the door behind them and locked it – she didn't want more strangers in her house than necessary-.

"You can t-take off your coats. It's pretty warm here, with all t-thhe ovens." She explained.

Adrien was confused, why was she talking about ovens? He looked around him and discovered he was standing in the middle of a small bakery. He saw multitudes of loafs and pastries. His mouth watered as he smelled the delicious scent and he suddenly shivered. There were puddles of melted snow everywhere around them. Their clothes and hair were soaked in with cold water and dripped on the hard-wood floor.

"You can t-take a chair and go sit next to the o-ovens, they're st-still w-warm." She left shortly after. 

Adrien sent Nino a questioning look, to which his valet simply shrugged. They followed the stream of warmth back to the bakery's kitchen. They took off their coats and sat down, clearly enjoying the feeling of their numb limps slowly awakening from the cold.

After a while, the young woman came back, she changed into clean and dry clothes. She wore a simple dress, with details reminding him of the current fashion at the Court. Every woman wore small accents of pink and green at the moment even if it was winter. She entered the kitchen, took an apron from the back of one door and out it on. It was a red apron covered in black dots, the flour and stains of dough on it showed she worked here. She started to pull out a cutting board and starting chop different types of vegetables. 

Adrien looked over at Nino, who had fallen asleep. He stood up, curiosity flowing through him. He went up to her and leaned against the counter, with a respectful distance between her and him. He was the first heir to the throne of Miraculous. He spent years learning to have the right manners and respectful ways to communicate with different persons. The girl being a rather young lady, he stood a good meter away from her. She didn't even register his presence, still chopping her vegetables and adding them into a pot full of water. He cleared his throat a little. Startled, she nearly chopped off the tip of her finger as she jumped in surprise and flinched further away from him.

"I am deeply sorry, Madame. I didn't mean to startle you."

"O-oh no, don't worry about it! Do y-you need so-something?" She asked stuttering.

"Oh? Me? Nonono, I umm... I wanted to thank you for your hospitality." She blushed at his compliment and looked away embarassed.

Adrien didn't do well with other kids, so he didn't know how to start a conversation. He had only Marquise Chloé of House Bourgeois as female friend. She never let him speak to other girls of their age during the various balls and gathering of the whole Court, so he had no experience. Well he had to admit to himself that he didn't talk much to Chloé... she pretty did all of the talking. HIs thiughts were about to drift to unpleasant ones, but he quickly put an end to them, focussing on the present and not the future.

His days consisted of being with either Chloé or with his advisors, he didn't know which company was the worst. Plus he practically never saw his father, ruling the kingdom was a full time job, family time was cut to the extreme minimum. Adrien stood straight in the kitchen with his hands fidgeting behind his back. He knew from his lessons that he had to help out women, or at least ask if they needed any help... not that he knew something about chopping vegetables...

"Do you need some help?", he offered.

"Oh?! Nono it's alright, y-you don't n-need to h-help me. You're a gu-guest.", she answered still blushing.

"If you're sure..."

She was definitely wasn't making it easy to have a small-talk. Adrien knew she wouldn't talk about the same things Chloé did. Adrien wasn't dumb... at least he liked to think that way. Worlds separated their everyday-life and surroundings. Adrien observed her, she looked up at him for a second, and he saw fear in her eyes and her eye nervously twitched. What was she worried about? He thought of every single step he took in her house, what did he do wrong? They scared her and explained to her their situation, she invited them over and they had been enjoying the warmth ever since... it sure was unusual to invite strangers over, even Adrien knew strangers weren't welcomed into their castle... 

Maybe she was scared because he was the Prince? Everybody knew the King wasn't a friendly man, he ruled with an iron fist, maybe she thought his son was no better?