She brushed her hair back away from her face, loose waves falling around her as if she'd just let it loose from a braid or a twisted or braided bun or something, and Nino had to catch his breath. There was something altogether different about seeing her dressed like this.
A light purple Chinese dress hugged her frame, not quite short, but not really long either with a small flower design on the side at about her mid thigh. Marinette looked stunning, and yet all Nino could wonder was why was she wearing something inspired off of her mom's side of the family when he'd never seen her in one before.
She looked gorgeous, and his mind still wasn't entirely sure when it would come back from vacation.
"Mom took us to see some family." Marinette explained, waving her arms around; it was so Marinette that he couldn't help but smile at her. "So I designed a dress for it." She smiled, "They liked it."
Nino could see why or at least guess why just looking at her, and it was easy to forget that they were still teenagers, because surely this woman, this nearly sixteen year old girl, easily looked like a woman. He wondered if he could really think much past his racing heartbeat that seemed so loud in his ears.
The flower on her dress was a pretty yellow with very light, pale green leaves that were barely noticeable unless you were really looking at the flower, and Nino wondered just how he was supposed to speak when stunned into silence.
"I don't look weird, do I?" Marinette sounded kind of worried, so Nino was quick to try to find his voice.
"You look really beautiful, Marinette." Came out of his mouth barely more than an audible squeak, but thankfully she'd been able to decipher it.
"Thank you." Her face slowly became a pretty pink color, and Nino decided that there was definitely something so beautiful about her blushing. Something that reminded him that they were still young and still figuring things out.
Really that light purple somehow brought out the dark blue in her hair and yet it also just pulled Nino's attention to her. Someone so beautiful, inside and out, that Nino was so blessed to have in his life at all.
One day, may be he'll be able to join her when she went to visit her family or attend a family event like that once, rings glittering on their fingers, and hands intertwined tightly around each other like a chain that could never be broken.
If so, he hoped that they liked him.