Red And Black [AU] - ON HIATUS

Memories

"Oh my god..."

Adrien felt his heart pounding against the narrow space of his ribcage, the air suddenly being temporarily unavailable. His chest rose and fell spontaneously, in an improper order that showcased and proved the fact that his breathing had transfixed into a heavy burden; weighing him down and guiding him to rock bottom.

"I knew this would happen..." The voice was feminine, seemingly fragile and broken at the same time when it softly spoke with hidden sobs that lined her tone.

"Sweetie, are you alright?" His breath got caught in his throat altogether at the unexpected question; why did she care? For all she knew, he could've just been the one who destroyed someone else's property. The guilt he felt added to the invisible weight that etched itself onto his shoulders, inevitably causing himself to lose bits of his sanity every passing second due to the anxiety that came with the journey to his despair.

"Could you please turn around?"

He merely hung his head in shame and sighed, trying to take in as much air as he could before slowly turning on his heel. He stopped midway, only letting her see half of him as the guilt poisoned his thoughts; making him loose his balance, his hope in this world once more. Though he never looked up, he could easily distinguish the dark black-blue hair and grey eyes that belonged to the person who had caught him red handed in a crime he didn't commit from his peripheral vision.

He heard an audible but soft gasp leave her lips before she could stop it "Adrien?"

He would never be able to mistaken that voice for any others' "Ms. Cheng, I'm so, so sorry," he uttered quietly, his eyes shifting back and forth from his own shuffling feet to the broken bits of glass scattered all over the floor.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" He finally looked up and met her worried glance, one that wasn't projected at the shattered mess on the floor - as he'd expected - but instead, at his sorrowful expression.

"M-Ms. Cheng, the photo I-"

"No need to explain, Adrien," She cut in, a soft and comforting aura radiating around her small figure as she made her way to the shattered remains of glass and paper "I know you didn't have anything to do with it,"

She bent down and picked up a shred of paper, then another, and another. Guided by both guilt and his nature of always wanting to do the right thing, Adrien found himself crouching by her side; collecting the pieces of broken memories with her, both of them working in utter silence.

"So...what brings you here, Adrien?" Ms. Cheng asked, breaking the unwanted silence.

At the question, his memory rebooted itself and he suddenly remembered why he was there - in the bakery - in the first place. A wave of realization washed over him, like being drenched by a pale of ice water in the middle of winter. Not wanting to alarm her, he muttered humbly "Oh, um.. just craving for some croissants,"

Her smile bore through him, giving him the most warmth that he'd felt in a while. Even the heat of the bakery - washing away the frostbite of the cold winter breeze - didn't measure up to this, that warmth heated up his skin; this calmed down his racing heart. A motherly smile, something he hasn't experienced in a long, long time. Looking away with a small smile, he added "Oh and...did you by any chance have happened to see a cat in here?"

She gave off a slight chuckle as she raised her eyebrow in curiosity "A cat? No, why?"

That's odd...

He thought silently. He guessed that she would've at least had a slight suspicion after catching the sight of a simple blur of black fur from the corner of her eye; after all, the cat had ran off into her direction, as if it was pursuing her. Luring her towards him and causing the second edition to his chain of chance meetings arranged by fate to be executed. The mischievous feline should've caused at least a rumble - if not, a stir - of disturbance in the cluster of customers enjoying themselves at the earnest little shop. It was like the little midnight furred cat never even showed up in the first place; like it just vanished into thin air, it's existence hanging by unseen threads that faded off into the nothingness after it's purpose had been completed.