𝑅𝑒𝒷𝑜𝓇𝓃 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝑅𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃𝑔𝑒

19 - Nineteen

"Marinette, will you come with me and Lile to go shopping?" Chloe had quickly caught up with Marinette before she left the school. "We're going shopping to find great outfits to wear to the Fun Fair. Of course you would say yes, right?"

Before, Marinette had said yes. Big mistake. And she would have said yes now, so she could have a chance to embarrass Chloe and Lila, but now she had something important to do.

"No, sorry Chloe," She shrugged. "I really wish I could come, but I've got something very important to do. Like, I must do it right now before it's too late!"

"Oh," Chloe was looking curious about what it was that was so important for Marinette to do, but she didn't ask. "Your loss," Instead she said that, and started walking away. Marinette rolled her eyes and continued her way outside of the school.

Marinette ran out of the school before anyone else caught up with her, especially Adrien. She knew if she bumped into Adrien, he would ask if she wanted a ride, and everyone knew she couldn't say no to Adrien. She didn't want a ride. She wanted to get to her destination first.

Once she got there and was ringing the doorbell to the mansion, Marinette could see Adrien's limo at a distance. The door opened with a grumpy looking Gabriel inside.

"Hello?" Gabriel rubbed his eyes. "Marinette, it's you. You're the one that won the competition. Come on in." Marinette smiled and came inside. She was glad Adrien wasn't home yet. "So, what is it that you want?"

"See... There's this Fun Fair that's happening..."

"Ah, yes," Gabriel interrupted. "Adrien told me all about it. I decided to let him go, but he can only stay there for two hours before coming home, plus Nathalie and Gorilla will be with him. Any problem?"

"Yes," Marinette nodded. "See, Adrien is really excited for this, and I want him to be able to have fun. I came here to try and convince you to let Adrien stay for much longer than 2 hours."

"Marinette, I know you care for him, but I'm only doing what's best for my son," Gabriel spoke boldly. He didn't like people telling him what to do, so in other words, he loved being the boss in everything.

"But you should also consider your son's feelings," Marinette blurted. Right then, she didn't care if Gabriel told her that she couldn't design anymore, she only cared if Adrien got what he wanted.

"Marinette... If I let Adrien go for much longer than 2 hours, if I let him go without Nathalie and Gorilla, then he'll probably do something he's not supposed to do," Gabriel pointed out.

Marinette sighed. "I can see that you care about your son very much. You don't want him getting hurt, or sick, and doing something that might damage his body, but if you do all this without letting your son have so much fun, then to him, there's no point in life," Marinette said. "You have to let your son take risks too, you know. Nathalie and Gorilla shouldn't always be there to protect him, he's grown up into a teenager. Have you ever thought and wondered to yourself...if Adrien loved what he was doing for you? Have you ever wondered if he loved his job, going to all these photoshoot, designing for you...?"

Gabriel took time to process what Marinette had just said. Finally he spoke, turning his back to her. "Listen, I understand what you mean, but I don't blame myself for acting this way. I just lost my wife. I don't want to lose my son either!"

Marinette lowered her head. "I understand." Then the front door opened, and Nathalie walked inside first, along with Adrien and Gorilla.

"Marinette?!" Adrien looked surprised to see her. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I... I was just leaving," Marinette quickly rushed to the door. She had actually expected to finish her talk with Gabriel before Adrien returned. She was kind of embarrassed that Adrien had caught her here.

She started running, heading back to her bakery. She hadn't really expected Gabriel to give Adrien some freedom, but she had at least expected that he would give his son some more time at the Fun Fair. Although, she did understand where Gabriel was coming from.

She opened the door to her bakery, and she froze once she saw the two girls that were there.

"Marinette, you're finally back," Sabine walked over to her daughter. "Your best friends, Lila and Chloe, dropped by and said they would wait for you to go hang out."

"Oh," Marinette muttered. She was still getting glares from Lila about what had happened with Adrien, and Marinette was seriously getting tired of it. Why won't Lila just accept that Adrien didn't like her and just let it go? Chloe, on the other hand, was also on Lila's side, so Marinette guessed that she was also mad.

"Yeah, we've been waiting, but we knew you'd come back soon," Chloe walked over to her with Lila. "So, let's go, then?"

Marinette hadn't expect this to happen, but she nodded anyway. She waved to her mother, before walking out the door with her best friends.

"I decided we should take a walk," Chloe said. "What do you two think?"

"Sounds good," Of course Lila agreed with her. This had been their plan all day. "Marinette, what about you?"

"A walk? Great," Marinette exclaimed, but in her head, rolling her eyes at the girls' stupidity.

"Anyway," Lila spoke as they continued to walk away from the bakery, "I wanted to ask... Marinette, how was your date with Adrien?"

Even though it hadn't happened in her real life, Marinette just knew that Lila was going to mention Adrien. She gave the two girls a wide smile. "It went actually better than I expected. Adrien is just so awesome and sweet." She hoped she was getting at Lila, and when she looked down at Lila's clenched fists, she knew she was.

"That's amazing," Chloe turned to Lila, and gave her a look that said 'pretend you're happy for her so she'll believe you!' She then turned to Marinette. "So, getting your own boyfriend now?" She laughed. Lila laughed. And Marinette laughed along.

"I haven't really thought about that stage yet," Marinette spoke.

"You shouldn't cause it's never going to happen!" Lila blurted out. It was as if she was letting all her anger out now. Chloe nudged her shoulder, giving her the same look as before. Lila calmed down. "Sorry."

"Ah, no worries," Marinette chuckled. "I get it. You just can't help your jealousy!" Lila gave her another glare. "Lila, may I just give you an advice?"

She could tell Lila wanted to say no, she could tell that Lila wanted to blurt out a bunch of insults, but instead she forced out one word. "Sure."

"Stop focusing on a boy that doesn't even like you that way," Marinette sighed and turned back to the front. "You should move on, it's what's best for you in this situation. Sure, you can become Adrien's friend, but I don't think you're becoming any more than that!"

Lila looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she held it in and nodded.

"So, are we okay now?" Marinette asked. "Can you stop glaring at me and always looking over at Adrien and I to see what we're doing next?" She held out her hand.

Lila looked at her. Marinette could see hatred in her eyes. She could tell that Lila was trying her hardest not to explode and get angry mad. Honestly, Marinette enjoyed this feeling...this feeling of being able to control anything that happened, to tell what would happen next and change it. She enjoyed making Lila and Chloe shut up. Lila shook her hand, nodding her head, before she finally looked away.

~~~

Word Count: 1327
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