Flowers... but what kind to get? They all mean so many different things, and Chloé honestly didn't know how to get her point across.
Chloé was currently alone, away from Sabrina, and wearing casual clothes for the first time in a very long time. Chloé had decided to take a deep breath, and change herself, so she let her feet take her to... a flower shop.
The smell of the sweet flowers filled Chloé's nose, and she would have relaxed, if it weren't for the situation causing her to be here. The small shop, had a nice variety of fresh flowers, but Chloé didn't know what kind to get for Marinette. She hated to admit it, but she had been standing in the small shop for at least thirty minutes, and still has no clue what meaning she wanted to portray.
Flowers had meanings, meanings in which Chloé knew all too well. She had studied the language of flowers, and knew what almost every flower meant, but here she was unsure.
A sigh escaped her lips for what seemed like the hundredth time, and it may have actually been that number. She honestly didn't think Marinette knew what flowers meant, but she didn't care. Chloé wanted to get her a gift that meant something.
Red and pink flowers suited Marinette, but the meanings were way off, because Chloé did not feel romantically attracted to Marinette, so she steered clear from those.
There was one flower that Chloé was considering, but she was worried about the message. It was an innocent message, sure, but she didn't know how Marinette would take it.
A clearing of a throat behind her made her jump and spin around to face the source, which was a happy looking brunette adult, whom she assumed was the owner of the shop.
"Would you like any help miss? You've been in my shop quite a while, and I'm not complaining, but you look like you could use a bit of help."
Chloé relaxed as the woman spoke, the tone was so soothing, she didn't even notice her reaction to the woman's voice.
"Well... I'm looking for flowers. Well obviously, I'm in a flowers shop, I probably didn't have to tell you that... Heh heh... But um, I'm trying to find the right flowers to tell someone how I feel."
The woman tilted her head to the side slightly, her smile still in place, and Chloé was glad that the woman didn't ask about why she sounded so nervous. Chloé was normally quite fine with speaking, but for some reason, she felt so out of her zone. A voice cut her out of those thoughts and Chloé immediately focused her attention on the woman again.
"Well, I'm assuming that you know the language of the flowers then, which is nice. Not many kids your age do these days. Well, since you know what they mean, and as do I, I can assume your feelings aren't romantic or remorseful in nature correct?"
At the slight nod Chloé gave her, the woman continued,
"That's what I thought. You've been avoiding all the red, pink, and black flowers. Maybe you're looking for friendship? Yellow roses would be perfect for friendship, and I've noticed that you've been looking at them subconsciously, so I think that is what you're looking for. Would you like some?"
Chloé once again gave the woman a nod with a small smile accompanying it this time. She followed the woman to the counter and preceded to buy five yellow roses in a small vase, and a stuffed animal of a ladybug she saw at the counter.
Chloé left the shop with the small smile remaining on her face, and was glad that the nice woman had helped her. How all Chloé had to do was deliver these to Marinette. This wasn't going to be easy.
With one more sigh, Chloé walked towards the direction of the hospital.
...MLB...
Chloé looked up at the building it had taken a thirty minute walk to arrive to, and gulped. She hesitated on the steps of the hospital, wondering if she could really do this. With a deep breath, Chloé walked through the automatic doors, and located the front desk.
"Hello sweetie, how may I help you?"
"Hi, I'm here to see... a friend of mine. Her name is Marinette Dupain- Cheng?"
The man behind the counter typed the name on the computer, told her the room number, and sent her off with a smile.
Chloé then explored the third floor of the hospital with a mantra of "room 352. 352."
After a few wrong turns, Chloé found her way to the room, and stood outside. She had come this far, and was not about to back down. She gripped the animal tightly, and pushed open the door.
The sight she saw tugged at her heart, and made her feel a hundred times worse than she originally had. Her eyes were taking in the sight of the boring white room, with Marinette on a plain bed with white sheets, and she seemed to be swimming in tubes and wires, and to the right of Marinette, there was a mop of blond hair.
Chloé was surprised to see someone there, let alone Adrien. How did he know what happened? Was he the one that found her? Where were Marinette's parents?
Chloé just stood where she was for at least a solid minute, hardly breathing, unsure of what to do. Chloé then decided to warn Adrien of her presence, because the boy was so busy in holding Marinette's hand like he was the one that needed a life line, and he was just staring at the ground below him.
"Adrien?"
A pair of intense green eyes staring in to hers was her only response for Chloé to thirty seconds. After that, it seemed to click in Adrien's tired mind, and he spoke to her.
"Chloé? What are you doing here?"
Chloé shuffled her feet awkwardly, and gripped the vase of flowers tightly. Chloé cleared her throat and tried to think of something to say. All that came out was her feeble voice telling Adrien,
"I um... I brought Marinette flowers and a ladybug... you know.. a um, get well present?"
Adrien's eyes narrowed at her, and Chloé flinched back at his stare.
"How did you know she was hurt? There hasn't been any announcement. She hasn't missed a day of school, because it's been the same day, so you wouldn't know. Even if she was missing, how did you know she would be here. So let me repeat my question. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"
Chloé wasn't surprised at his anger, he brought up completely valid points, and she had to answer honestly, but she was scared that he would get even angrier at her.
"I um... I knew about her getting hurt because..." Chloé's voice started fading, "I'm the one who hurt her..."
If it hadn't been for Adrien's cat like hearing, her wouldn't have heard her fading words, and Adrien really wished he hadn't been able to. Rage bubbled up inside him and showed up on his face. How dare someone hurt Marinette, the girl who was always kind, brave... pretty... no. Not going there.
Adrien tried to force back his anger with deep breaths, and clutched Marinette's hand slightly tighter, but was sure not to hurt her.
All that he could say was, "Why?", in a sad, broken voice. He was tired, drained, worried, and here Chloé comes, after hurting one of his few friends.
He glanced at the items in Chloé's hands, and took in her appearance. Chloé was wearing a tee-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, which looked like they had never been worn, which was probably true. He glanced back up to see Chloé trying to force words out of her mouth, but they didn't come.
A cold "So?", pushed her to answer.
"I feel bad, and I'm trying to change. I've always been jealous of her because everyone likes her and hates me, so I took it out on her ever since I knew her. My anger got away from me today, and I feel so bad, and I know I can never be forgiven, but I wanted to give her something."
All the words Chloé spoke were rushed, so Adrien took a second to process what she had told him. He didn't understand. She was jealous of Marinette, so she let her jealously take over? After he thought about it, it did sound like Chloé.
Adrien warily looked at her, and motioned for her to put the flowers and the ladybug on the nightstand to Marinette's left side. Adrien also saw Chloé put a letter next to the vase, and backed away from the table and Marinette.
"I um... I'm going to let you be. I... I'll come visit after she wakes. I... I'll see you later Adrien."
And with those words, Chloé head towards the door, and rest her hand on the knob. As she turned the knob and started to push it open, she stopped, and turned to Adrien.
"Adrien... Why aren't her parents here...?"
Adrien didn't bother to look at her, but answered her despite who she was.
"They are at a baking convention in London. They've been gone for a week, and they can't come back until another two. Happy?"
Chloé flinched at his voice, which had come completely devoid of emotion, gave a small nod and goodbye, and left the room.
After a few minutes, Adrien looked up from Marinette's hand, and looked to her left. What he saw made him scoff slightly. Yellow roses. Do you think you can really achieve friendship after what you've done Chloé? Good luck with that.
Adrien rested his head on Marinette's temporary bed, and drifted off to sleep.
The last thought drifting through his mind was, 'Yellow roses? Good luck Chloé.'
...MLB...
AN: hey guys! I hope you like the latest chapter! Tell me how you feel in the comments, flame, critic, anything! Well... Except that guest who put "more mas more mas" about a million times in just one comment... Thanks... But no thanks. See you with the next chapter!
