Cat-nipped Goals

Forgotten Memories

Mari chewed her food slowly, trying to think of a way to make her story more convincing.

Knitting. I was knitting. I knit a lot, late at night, because I'm just like that. Yeah. I'm weird. Got a problem?

She  sighed, stabbing her pork cutlets in frustration.

Mr. Agreste would disown me.

She glanced at the model across the table from her. His mind seemed to be in just as much of a tizzy as her own, as he nearly missed his mouth attempting to eat a spoonful of rice. Nathalie watched the pair  with an exasperated expression from the dining room doorway.

"If you are just going to play with the food, then I say we go ahead and get this extremely unnerving situation up and over with," she chided, her hands gripping her clipboard tightly as her brow furrowed. Marinette had come to realize she did that when she was annoyed. She was annoyed a lot.

Adrien was reluctant to leave the safety of the dining room, but stalling more would've only increased Nathalie's  ever-growing suspicion.

"Yeah, let's get this over with," he agreed, trying to sound indifferent. After Mari stood up, Nathalie turned towards the stairs and began the ascent. Adrien walked forward quickly as Mari took the first step up the stairs. Roughly, he grabbed her arm and leaned into her ear.

"Please, whatever excuse I may come up with, just be my alias if I need it. Please," he begged her in a whisper. After a pause, Marinette nodded tensely without looking back. Adrien let go and the trio continued the rest of the way up in silence.
They walked down a long, somewhat narrow, hallway, passing many empty rooms used for storage or guests, should they ever have any. At the end of the hallway was Gabriel Agreste'a office, the biggest room on the floor. Nathalie came to a halt in front of a grand pair of mahogany doors.

She knocked.

"Come in," a man's voice commanded from inside. Nathalie pushed the door open and motioned for the two teens to enter to enter. Adrien gulped and Mari clutched her hands together tightly. 'I'm nervous' might as well have been plastered on both their foreheads. Gabriel looked up as they walked in.

"Have a seat," he ordered, motioning to two cushioned seats in front of his desk. The pair sat obediently, hands on their laps and eyes slightly adverted. Mr. Agreste eyes them warily and sighed.

"If it will alleviate the despairing looks on both your faces, I will let you know that you are not in trouble," the man assured them, standing up to stretch his legs as he talked. Adrien sighed a slight breath of relief and Mari relaxed in her chair.

"However, I do have some news for you," he continued as he paced the room slowly. He stopped walking and turned toward them.

"I will be departing for Hawaii this coming Tuesday. I'm having trouble with my fashion line there. I need to go make some changes, to both staff and product. And, you will both be coming with me."

Adrien nearly choked on his own spit.

"What?" he asked in disbelief. His father almost never opted to take him on business trips, not ever since his mother had died anyways.

"Adrien, this trip is further than most trips I do, and I do not wish to leave you and Ms. Marinette alone in the house for so long," he stated bluntly, glaring at the boy intensely, clearly scolding his rude tone and apparent lack of thought.

Adrien boldly glared back.

"Oh my, alone. How new. It would be a crime to be alone in this house with Marinette, especially since we're so usually not alone. The rest of the residents here are just so great. They talk and check up on us all the time. We are always under constant supervision. Whatever would we do with a little alone time?!" he stormed sarcastically, standing up out of anger. His father just continued to glare back at him calmly.