That Other Side Of Him {Under Editing}

{chapter 5}E.D.I.T.E.D

Step 1: always greet Gabriel good morning. Don't ask about anything else. Just say good morning, and start leaving.

When he asks you questions though, answer them, but don't use your answers in a long sentence. Gabriel will be bored out...

Marinette walked to the kitchen, drinking cold water she got from the fridge. She saw Gabriel coming downstairs.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Marinette. At first he glared at her, then he let out a chuckle.

"Thirsty early in the morning?" He asked.

Marinette just nodded putting the cup away. She made a move to leave the room but Gabriel stopped her by grabbing her arm, preventing her from leaving.

"Don't touch me!" She snapped her arm away from Gabriel, who looked surprised at what she had said. She too was surprised. What she said wasn't supposed to be let out.

"I mean, good morning," she quickly corrected herself.

"Oh Marinette, you are one of a kind," Gabriel chuckled again. "Why can't Adrien be more like you?"

Marinette let out a fake laugh, before running back upstairs to her room.

Step 2: don't talk back to Gabriel.

Hadn't she already broken that one? She sighed and placed the book on her bed. The rules Adrien gave to her were so... weird?

She didn't understand why the rules were needed, after all, she's been here for two days and Gabriel hadn't done anything to her.

But she still followed it. There was a part of her that somehow wanted to follow Adrien's rules, just in case it actually came in handy.

Walking downstairs after taking more sleeps, she caught Gabriel and Lina on the couch. She tried not to gag, but she couldn't hold it in.

Lina turned to her with a glare. "Why are you here?!" She hated Marinette so much, which surprised Marinette, because what did she do to her?

"I'm here because I live here," she retorted back to her. "Any problems?"

"Yes! You're getting on my nerves!" Lina stood up and walked over to her. "You better know your place, Marinette!" She spat out her name.

"And you better know that you're the other woman," Marinette said, before walking away.

She could feel Lina's glares behind her back. Lina turned back to Gabriel, yelling for him to chase her out of the mansion.

Gabriel only chuckled. Such an interesting girl she is...

Marinette groaned. The rules that Adrien gave to her, she always broke them. There was no way she was going to make it if the rules were really needed and there were consequences of breaking them.

She didn't want be here. She felt so insecure. She wanted her Maman and Papa's hugs, their voices. She wanted them to be here with her.

Even better, she wanted to go back to her bakery. Obviously she wasn't having much of a good time here and she hated it.

Marinette flopped herself on her bed. Again. It seemed like the only thing she had been doing ever since she came here. She was bored, had nothing to do.

Now she wished it was a school day, but too bad it had to be Sunday. She actually missed school, and would rather be there than here.

Having nothing else to do, she knocked on Adrien's door. He opened it, surprised it was her. Of course, it was either her or his mom. Gabriel never knocked that soft.

"Hi?" He frowned. Didn't she hate him? Maybe she just wanted something.

"Hi." Marinette tried to look past him and see what he was up to. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Is it always like this?" Marinette frowned this time. "So big but yet still empty?"

"Most of the time," he shrugged as if it was nothing. It wasn't nothing. He felt hurt. His life was a big puddle of nothing!

"Do you have anything to do? Can we hang out? I feel bored with nothing to do," she groaned.

"Uh..." He stepped out of the way, having his door opened wide for her to come in.

"Thanks," she muttered as she stepped inside. "Anyway, I meant to ask." She turned to him as he closed the door. "What are those rules for?"

"Uh, well... Just how we do things around here," Adrien shrugged again. "Gabriel sets the rules and doesn't like it when we break them." He felt more comfortable calling him Gabriel than Father. After all what kind of a father would treat his son and wife this way?

"Well then I might be in trouble," Marinette sighed as she flopped herself on Adrien's bed. "I broke two rules. Well, sort of. I told Gabriel not to touch me in such a bold way, then I talked back to Lina, and I'm sure she hates me, but that doesn't matter because I hate her!"

"Don't worry. I hate her too. Mom does too, but she pretends not to so that we can..." He stopped. He couldn't tell her how Gabriel had been treating them.

Marinette seemed interested though. "So you guys could what?"

"Nothing."

"Anyway, why does Gabriel have another woman when he's already got Emilie?"

"Marinette, stop asking questions!"

Marinette froze, same as Adrien. He hadn't expected to say that, and in such a harsh way too.

"Fine," Marinette stood up and walked up to the door. "Sorry I disturbed you."

And she left...