𝑅𝑒𝒷𝑜𝓇𝓃 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝑅𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃𝑔𝑒

39 - Thirty • Nine

"And... Done!"

Adrien heaved a huge sigh of relief, before he stood up. First he was told about how great the pictures had turned out, how great his focus was, before they told him about some things he could fix.

Finally when he was done with everything, he started heading back to his friends that had stayed. Lila waved at him but he ignored it. He noticed how Marinette was looking down, which obviously showed him that she was upset.

"Hey Marinette, you okay?" He asked. Nathalie walked up to him with a glare.

"What did I say about talking to Miss. Cheng?!" Nathalie exclaimed, a warning tone in her voice. Adrien quickly turned to his father, silently begging for mercy.

Gabriel sighed and put a hand on Nathalie's shoulder. "Nathalie, it's okay. We can go home now. Adrien, I'll give you two hours to reconnect with your friends. You're to give us a call once that two hours end, and we'll come to pick you up. Understand!"

Adrien quickly nodded. "Thank you."

"If you do not do as I just said, then you won't be allowed to see your friends again!" Gabriel huffed, his eyes full of warning. "Alright Nathalie, Gorilla, let's go."

"Wait!" Adrien stopped them. "Actually, can Gorilla stay with me?"

Gabriel thought about it, before he nodded. "I guess that would be a good thing. He can stay and watch over you so you won't get hurt of anything."

Adrien was silently celebrating in his head at the time his father had given him. He turned back to Marinette again, who was looking back at him.

"Glad your father still got some heart," She chuckled.

"Marinette!" Lila stood up. "Don't say that. Gabriel might not be the nicest man, but he is totally doing what's best for his son! He's not a cold hearted beast as you say. Adrien, don't listen to her..."

"No, it's okay. It's really okay," Adrien laughed. He walked over and took a seat next to Marinette on the bench. "Yeah, he's slowly changing, and you never know. It could have been about what you told him before."

Marinette smiled. "Well, I'm glad."

Alya must have seen an opportunity, because she quickly stood up, grabbing Nino by the arm. "Oh, look at the time," She looked and tapped on her wrist that had no watch on it. "We gotta go!" She gave Marinette a quick wink before she started dragging Nino away.

Marinette saw what she was trying to do, and she honestly hoped that Lila and the others would leave as well to give both her and Adrien some alone time to catch up. But seeing the look on Lila's face, she knew that girl wasn't leaving any soon.

Sabrina stood up. "Well, we gotta go as well, right Chloe? Lila?"

"No, no, stay!" Adrien quickly exclaimed, making Marinette frown. Lila gave Marinette a smirk in which Adrien pretended he didn't see.

"Alright, I guess I'm going," Marinette stood up. She was so done with the way Adrien was acting. Was he trying to tell her something?

"Wait!" Adrien stood up, taking her arm. "I have to talk to you first. Privately, so if you three can please leave for a moment, that would be great." He turned to the three girls, who were slowly standing up. Sabrina took both Lila's and Chloe's arms, dragging them away. Lila sent Marinette a glare.

"Alright, what did you want to talk about?!"

"Are you... Are you mad at me or something?" Adrien frowned at her. "Did I do something wrong?"

Marinette sighed heavily. "Adrien listen, when you invite not one, not two, but three girls to join you in your photoshoot, it kinda gives your own girlfriend some misunderstandings!" Marinette explained. "But maybe these aren't misunderstandings. Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Oh I... Yeah, I was trying to tell you something. I would have texted you, but Nathalie took my phone and hid it," Adrien shrugged. "So, just yesterday, after my photoshoot, my father got invited to go to the Bourgeois mansion, and he invited me to go with him. I really do think he's changing."

"Alright, I'm happy for you," Marinette sighed and looked the other way.

"Wait, that's not all. Don't worry, Chloe wasn't all over me. She's Lila's best friend after all, and she wouldn't hurt Lila by going after me," Adrien tried to assure her, but that sentence only made Marinette even more worried. "Um, when I went in her bedroom, I-"

"You went inside her room?!" Marinette groaned, glaring at him.

"Marinette, don't give me that look," Adrien chuckled. "I meant, I snuck in. I found something in her room. She had some kind of a book; a diary probably, I wasn't sure. Well, the book... The title of the book was your name, and I just found that weird, but I wasn't able to check it out, because Chloe was coming in and I had to make up an excuse and leave-"

"Wait!" Marinette clamped Adrien's mouth shut. "In case you didn't know, the girls have a spy that are following me, so if the spy is here now, then he's recording everything and is going to show it to Chloe." They both looked around in silence. Nothing was heard.

"Alright, so as I was saying," Adrien continued. "I invited the girls, yes, but it's all part of the plan. I wanted to hang out with them, so then you can have the chance to sneak in Chloe's mansion and check her room without any of them stopping you."

Marinette was thinking about it. She couldn't believe she was actually thinking about it. "Do you think you can handle it? I mean, I'm not worried about Chloe and Sabrina because they don't like you, but Lila... She's going to try her best to get to you. I... I'm worried."

"Don't worry," Adrien shrugged. "This is why I wanted Gorilla to stay with me. He's going to come along, and whenever Lila tries to get close to me, Gorilla is going to stop her."

"Sounds like a plan then." Marinette was about to walk off when Adrien grabbed her arm again.

"How are you planning on entering the mansion?" He laughed. "You're not going to break in, are you?"

"Huh, oh, I... I actually was. How stupid of me."

"Don't worry, I... I kinda stole my father's keys," Adrien whisperer so Gorilla wouldn't hear. He secretly handed Marinette the keys he had. "The golden one is the one that opens the mansion. Mr. Bourgeois won't be home, so I don't think anyone is going to open the door for you. Therefore, you must enter by yourself."

"Adrien... You know your father is going to be so mad at you once he finds out!" Marinette almost yelled.

"That's the thing," Adrien smirked. "He's not going to find out."

Marinette sighed. "Alright, I'll do this and I'll try my best not to get caught. I'll do this for you." Marinette smiled at him. "And thanks, for going through all this trouble for me."

Adrien nodded. He leaned in, giving Marinette a small kiss after such a long time. "That's for good luck," He whispered to her, making her melt on the inside.

Soon Marinette was running out of the park, heading for the Bourgeois mansion. She then stopped and looked back from where she came from. Lila was a scheming brat, and she feared that Gorilla wouldn't be able to handle her. Taking a deep breath, she took out her phone to send someone a quick text.

M - I need your help!

M - can you secretly look after Adrien and make sure Lila doesn't get close to him?!

~~~

Word Count: 1290 (excluding this)
-Edited-