It was almost Valentine's Day in February. Most students were out shopping for holiday presents and coming up with exciting schemes for their crushes and family members. Everyone was busy doing what they could in their free time. Paris's heroes were no exceptions.
In the Dupain-Cheng bakery, Marinette was in her room sewing up her latest design. Her best friend Alya was on her computer updating the Ladyblog. Meanwhile, the famous teen model, Adrien Agreste, was in his room sulking.
His mind was occupied with the thought of his mother. She loved Valentine's Day, and it was always fun doing family activities before she disappeared about a year ago. His father disappeared a year ago as well. Well… not physically disappear, but most days he'd shut his son out and busied himself with work.
He sighed. No one was there for him anymore except for Plagg and his lady. His Lady… he thought to himself.
He would often wonder about the mysterious Ladybug and what she did when she wasn't a superhero.
Probably not stressing over their mom who vanished out of the blue, he thought to himself.
Adrien walked to his computer and opened a link.
Unlike most times he wasn't on the Ladyblog, even if there was an update available. No, it was an article from the previous year. The article was about his mom.
It was a day after her disappearance when Gabriel reported her missing. Since he was the famous fashion designer, the reporters were all over the Agreste family within a couple of hours.
"Did you or your son do anything that may be responsible for her vanishing?" questioned Nadja Chamack.
Mr. Agreste shook his head. "Nadja, please. My son and I care too much about my wife for us to drive her away. I just want to let the people know that if they have any information about the whereabouts of Mrs. Agreste, they should contact the police immediately."
But she was never found. At first, Adrien, Mr. Agreste, and the rest of the staff (including Nathalie and the Gorilla) were hopeful that she would turn up.
That was until a week went by and she still hasn't shown up. This led to Gabriel being more uptight and distant to the world. He ended up letting go most of the staff, except for two.
Desperate, Gabriel ever offered a grand cash award to the person who found her.
The number of fake emails and phone calls was ridiculous. Nathalie would often pick up the phone, receive the good news, and arrange a meeting for the Agrestes to meet their savior and be united again with Mrs. Agreste.
It was always a fake.
Most people hired actors to play the part. Heck, even some guys dressed up as her to try to convince them they were the real one and live the glamorous life of the old part-owner and business manager of Agreste. Some of them were pretty convincing, but they all failed in the end.
During the next few weeks, most phone calls were ignored until a certain number caught Nathalie's eye.
She immediately picked up the phone. "Hello Sabine, is there anything I could do for you-oh! Is it a new deal on your latest pastries? They are certainly delicious!" Realizing her tone, Nathalie went back to her professional-monotone one.
The Dupain-Cheng bakery was the best in Paris. Although she won't admit it, Nathalie went as often as she could.
Sabine giggled. "No, actually. I have some news about Mrs. Agreste for you if you're interested".
Nathalie frowned. Sabine and Tom were lovely people, but she didn't think they'd snoop that low to try to get the cash prize. But she did recall catching Mrs. Agreste sneaking out on breaks. She would often head to the bakery to receive a box of macarons or a croissant.
But Nathalie did guess it was a good thing she caught her. Mrs. Agreste was the only reason that she discovered the bakery in the first place.
"Mrs. Cheng, please realize that Adrien and Mr. Agreste are already overwhelmed with phone calls from fans and whatnot. They certainly don't need you as well as your husband trying to scam them as well, no matter how good your pastries are," she said.
She removed the phone from her ear and was about to hand up when she heard the petite woman shout "Wait!" on the other end of the line.
She picked the phone up again. "I am serious, Nathalie. And I'm sorry if I am one of those scam artists," she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "but please at least consider this next offer. You don't have to listen to me rant but please come over and have a cup of tea. I'll throw in a week of free pastries if you ever come and listen. All I'm trying to do is help you".
Before Nathalie could reply, Sabine hung up the phone, probably having to attend to some customers.
She's just a scam artist, she's just a scam artist, Nathalie repeated over and over again in her head. But something in the Chinese lady's tone told her that she wasn't joking.
After a few more minutes of debating, she decided that she would go. But this time, Mr. Agreste and Adrien wouldn't be included.
They already have so much on their plate, no need to get their hopes up, she thought as she got into her car and headed towards the bakery.
When Nathalie got there, the mid-noon rush was slower than normal. She opened the door and saw Sabine turn around and greeted her with a smile.
Tom poked his head out of the kitchen, and a Cheshire grin made its way into his large features.
"Nathalie, it's so good to see you. Have yourself a seat at one of the tables, tea is on the house today," the large man smiled as he took a new batch of cookies out of the oven.
The décor of the bakery was nice and heart-warming. The fresh aroma of bread drifted into the room, making anyone feel hungry.
Nathalie remembered the first time she'd been there.
Her only job that day was to find where Mrs. Agreste kept sneaking off too, which were strict orders from Gabriel. She failed, but she had a nice time at the bakery. She wasn't expecting friendly business owners.
The look on Mrs. Agreste's face was priceless when she discovered that she was caught.
Tom and Sabine just laughed it off, and they all sat down at one of the tables while Sabine and Tom took turns telling embarrassing stories of Mrs. Agreste while she was at the bakery.
It was a pleasant afternoon, even if she was scolded later from Gabriel telling her that she failed the assignment that she was given.
Luckily, she was excused (thanks to Mrs. Agreste ). Covering her from there on out was a bit trickier than normal, but Nathalie managed.
Back to the present, Nathalie sat down as Sabine approached her. Before she could say anything, Nathalie said, "I only came for the free pastries, thank you very much."
Sabine nodded politely and went to the display case to grab Nathalie's usual.
She waited patiently as her tea and muffin arrived. After a while, she sipped quietly into her cup, closed her eyes, and relaxed for the first time in weeks. Well, she did relax until she heard a noise across the table.
Nathalie's eyes fluttered back open and saw Sabine occupying the seat across from her.
"What do you want?" Nathalie said a bit rudely.
The Asian woman smiled. "Nothing dear, just thought it would be nice having a friendly conversation with you".
But Nathalie knew it wasn't 'nothing'.
So she waited patiently to test the woman's patience to see how long she could put up with the fake charade.
Turns out, Sabine had a ton more patience than Nathalie credited her for.
They talked about everything and nothing. From the weather to how their jobs were. They even spoke about how beautiful cats and ladybugs were for a full half-hour!
Nathalie was the first one to lose the game.
"I give up! What do you want already? The cash prize? Taking back the offer of free pastries for a week? I don't care, just please stop torturing me!"
Sabine smiled (although Nathalie swore it was a smirk). "I told you dear, I just wanted to help you".
Tom overheard Nathalie shout from the kitchen and poked his head back into the main area before commenting, "She played the patience game with you too, huh? Don't worry, been there done that a couple thousand times. You get used to losing eventually", he grinned before going back to do his job.
Nathalie screamed internally. This woman was going to be the death of her.
"Fine, I'll listen to what you have to say", the assistant finally grumbled.
Sabine shook her head. "It's not just listening. You have to see for yourself as well".
She led Nathalie to the back where the kitchen was. They walked through it briefly (although Nathalie did love all the work she saw and pastries being made) to an area where a bunch of security monitors was. Sabine used a mouse and clicked around on the screen until she finally saw the file she had been looking for.
She opened the tab and fast-forwards it until it was 2 pm in the afternoon. To Nathalie, nothing looked unusual until she saw a woman with sunglasses, a silk scarf around her head and a backpack with luggage enters.
The woman tried going through the door but one of the wheels of her luggage got caught in the door frame. She tugged for a second until it came loose. Then, she went to the counter and spoke with Sabine.
"She had golden-yellow hair you know," Sabine stated. Her sudden outburst threw Nathalie off and she jumped in surprise before calming down again.
She continued, "I didn't know it at the time, but I think it was…" she trailed off before resuming. "She spoke of how she loved my husband, my daughter, and I. She also spoke of how she wished her son met our little Marinette."
Nathalie heard about this Marinette before, but she never met her yet. She certainly didn't know Mrs. Agreste wished for Adrien to meet her. Judging from what she heard, they were probably in the same age group. I'll have to introduce them to each other later, Nathalie thought.
"She said our pastries were delicious and she would miss us incredibly, but she was moving on for the better. She mentioned something about you as well," she paused to look at Nathalie.
"It was only after that I realized it was Mrs. Agreste," Sabine took a deep breath.
Nathalie realized Sabine was trying to hold off tears, and that she might have missed Mrs. Agreste too, even though she wasn't as close to her as the Agreste family and staff.
No, she realized, it was a different type of love and connection, one where she was able to be herself and be with amazing, friendly people.
She looked back to the baker woman before feeling an emotion of anger and regret.
"Why didn't you call us sooner!" she yelled.
Sabine finally shed a few tears before saying, "I have, but it was so hard to get to your phone line. I had to stay on hold on multiple occasions before getting to the main line. But you guys ignored my calls anyways". She stopped to wipe her eyes, "It was only by luck that you actually took my last call."
Nathalie finally had enough time to process everything that she had to say.
"Sabine," she said in a soft voice, "this was a few weeks ago. Even the police gave up on her case". Even though Nathalie didn't want to say it she had to, it was the truth, "what makes you think anything you show us now would make a difference?"
Nathalie finally realized that she, herself was crying as well, which was a rarity, because she hardly ever cried anymore.
Sabine pointed back to the video clip where Mrs. Agreste's luggage was stuck in the doorframe.
She gave Nathalie a small pamphlet.
"I think she must have dropped this when she tried to pull her luggage free. Even though I can't guarantee that she'll be found, it's better than nothing," Sabine said.
She also gave Nathalie a CD disk with the footage of Mrs. Agreste before Tom came in saying they had more customers.
Nathalie quickly thanked her and left the bakery.
Little did she know she would never visit the bakery again. That is until the following year when Adrien goes to public school with Marinette.
But, Nathalie didn't know that.
All she was focused on, was showing Mr. Agreste the CD footage and pamphlet.
Because the pamphlet may be the key to finding Mrs. Agreste.
The pamphlet was actually a brochure about the beautiful wonders of Tibet.