Eleonore and Adrien arrived at the safe spot Mia was talking about. It was a small little house, just on the outskirts of town, far enough so they wouldn't get checked on. It looked old enough to be uninteresting and not suspicious.
They walked in house in dead silence. There was tension between them and for the first time in his life, Adrien felt scared. Scared to speak up and unsure what to tell her. He waited for her to talk, he just didn't want to screw this up. It was so close to being over, he couldn't mess up now.
Adrien looked for the hidden door on the note. He looked at the bookshelf that was over flooded with uninteresting books about childcare. How unoriginal. He pulled out one book, making the bookshelf move to the side. Inside there was a staircase leading down. He scoffed at how cliche this was, he could almost call this like an evil hideout. Yet, for some reason, he always wanted an evil hideout. Nothing like moving away from everyone that kept bothering him, not to mention how fitting he found it for his personality.
Adrien took Eleonore's hand, to which she gladly squeezed back. He knew there was nothing to fear down the stairs, he just figured it would be a romantic gesture. He also knew that she wasn't scared at all, but that she was still enjoying the attention she got to the fullest. The only reason why she squeezed his hand, he knew, was because of her emotional state currently.
The two of them went forward, not slightly scared. The only problem was the darkness, which was easily solved by the light of his phone. The staircase wasn't long and soon it lead them to an underground hideout. He raised his eyebrows at it.
Broken beer bottles around the floor, broken everything on the floor actually. Broken chairs, glass, pictures. The room also smelled horribly, there was food rotting on the table, all junk food. On the floor there was drawing utensils and crumbled up papers of unfinished drawings. The floors and walls were drawn and painted on, the bright red spray paint being most noticeable. As Adrien looked at the wall, he couldn't decipher what were song lyrics and what were Mia's thoughts.
'And everybody's doing just what they're told to'
'kill me sorry kill me kill me kill me sorry'
'There's nothing in my dreams just some ugly memories'
It was scribbled with markers, some with markers and some with chalk. Some of it was neat and clean, while others looked like they were barely written, letters shaky and unreadable. It was quite the morbid site to see. Adrien felt unease, especially since he remembered he lashed out at her once. She had more issues than he imagined.
"Well, this place will need some cleaning up..." Was the only thing he could say, not knowing how to react to this catastrophic site.
"Maybe we should've stopped her..." Eleonore spoke up, her voice cracking, obviously disturbed by the site as well.
"It's too late for those thoughts, dear." He told her seriously as he started looking for cleaning supplies, wanting to get this place clean as soon as possible.
He found a broom and he threw it to her. She caught it barely, looking at him with a confused face.
"Are you asking me to be your housewife?" She joked a bit, confused if she should speak up what was bother her or not.
"No, I was always the one who cleaned." He took the broom from her with a small smile, getting to work by himself.
"But as your wife, I'll help you." Eleonore told him happily as she went to the closet where he found the cleaning supplies.
She started cleaning the dusty surfaces, still dwelling if she should ask about who the guy in the house was and why he seemed so familiar. Everything around her was very unconnected but connected at the same time. It all seemed that Adrien didn't want her to know the truth, so even if she did ask, she had a feeling like he wouldn't tell her. She felt tears well up in her eyes, she didn't even know why. She stopped mopping the floor, looking up at Adrien who was cleaning the empty bookshelves.
She felt like her brain was reacting for her. She didn't understand why she felt sadness, but her eyes let out silent tears. She stood up and hurled herself at Adrien, hugging him tightly from behind. He tensed up, obviously surprised by the unexpected gesture.
"Elle? What's wrong?" He questioned, trying to turn around, but she held him so tightly that he felt like she didn't want him to turn around.
"What's going on, Adrien?" Eleonore sobbed onto his back, not wanting him to see her, she didn't understand herself now, he probably couldn't either.
He kept quiet, not knowing how to react to this situation. He knew this would come sooner or later, but he wanted to avoid it as much as possible. He knew it wouldn't work, Elle wasn't a passive type.
"If you knew, you'd leave me." It took all the courage to answer like this, he choked on his own words as he trembled at the sheer thought.
Her grip softened, signalizing him that he was allowed to turn around. He wish he didn't. Seeing her sobbing and crying, looking at him with those sad puppy dog eyes always made him break down inside. It pained to watch, but he couldn't look away. He hugged her tightly, letting her cry the way she should be. He really didn't want to lose her, now that he finally accepted his past, he just couldn't.
"I'd never leave you, Adrien. I... I love you." Eleonore said in a meek voice, but her hug was tight as ever.
He almost cried at that sentence, but he couldn't. Not in front of her. He couldn't be weak when she needed him. He knew this wasn't the truth.
"You already did once. I can't let it happen again. Please just let this pass, then you can know the truth." He cursed himself mentally, he should've told her that he loves her too.
"I... I can't believe that. I couldn't do that. I'm not like that. I'd never leave." She said stubbornly, almost like a little child.
"Shall we test that out?" A soft voice was heard from the stairs.
Adrien's blood went cold as he heard soft childlike footsteps going down the stairs slowly. They were barely heard, but now, suddenly, they sounded so loud and they pounded in his head. This would end badly.
She stood on the door frame, leaning on it, smiling with her small little calming smile, twirling one of the keys of the house in her small hands.
"Hi, Elle." The child smiled a toothy smile, her pink eyes showing amusement.
Eleonore kept quiet, unsure what to do. Adrien hoped she wouldn't remember. She was still quiet, there was hope...
But...
"Hi... Lovisa."
She remembered.
