At the Grand stairway of the Titanic Adrien waited patiently in his finest tuxedo his father, fiancé, cousin, and hopefully Marinette to arrive. He didn't know why he wanted her to come so badly, after all they had only met a couple of times and yet he felt the desire to see her grow the longer they were apart.
"Adrien?" He heard a familiar gentle voice say. He recognized it as Marinette's voice, he was relieved that she was here.
He turned to greet her with a polite "Good evening" only to become completely speechless at the sight of her. There she stood at the top of the stairway, bathed in the light of the chandelier, looking like a beautiful angel about to descend from heaven. With the most elegant of grace she walked down the stairway to him. He gently took her gloved hand into his and brought it to his lips where he placed a soft kiss on the back of it.
"How do I look?" She asked.
"Beautiful." He said without thinking. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
Marinette blushed and began to shy away. It was then Adrien realized what he said and he too began to blush madly.
Chloe was the next one down the stairway wearing a dress that consisted of a black bodice, blue short frilly sleeves, and a blue skirt.
"Well it was hard but I manage to turn this sow's ear into a silk purse." Chloe said.
Gabriel and Lila were the last down. Gabriel also wore a tuxedo while Lila wore a green dress with feathers and black gloves. The two were quite impressed by how Marinette looked.
"Well dare I say you look just like a lady." Gabriel said. "Now shall we?"
Adrien hooked his left arm with Lila's and his right arm with Marinette's. He then escorted the two young ladies to the dinning hall with Gabriel escorting Chloe behind them. The dinning hall looked like a palace to Marinette, it was a glowing and glittering display bathed in elegance and refinery. She could never have imagined a room so magnificent.
Upon entering all heads turned. The other first class guests had never seen Marinette before but juding by her beauty and elegant attire they were convinced that she was the heiress of a wealthy family, but they wondered of what family she came from.
The five of them were seated at a dining table set with the finest sliver, china, and glasses. The guests joining them were some of the wealthiest and most famous people ever known. Max Keante an extremely wealthy and intelligent man who was the professor of at least five univesrsites, the regal and refined Prince Ali and his sweet and pretty fiance Rose Lavillant, and of course the very founder of the ship himself Thomas Andrews Jr.
As they dined on exquisite meals they listened to Mr. Andrews tell of how the Titanic was built and of it's durability. Adrien and Marinette were fascinated by his story, Gabriel not so much.
"So Marinette is it?" Gabriel asked.
"Yes."
"Where are you from?"
"France same as you."
"What part?"
"Paris."
"I realize you don't have a husband. How do you expect to survive in life?"
"Father." Adrien warned.
"It's alright Adrien. Actually I plan to become a designer, I'm very good at sewing and I have been told that I have a gift for designing. Dress designer is what my goal in life is." She said.
"So you plan to never marry?" Chloe asked.
"No I do dream of love and marriage. It's something I've wanted for a long time but I'm not sure if I'm destined for it."
"Probably not. After all what do you have to offer a man?" Lila said. "The closest you'd get to winning a man's favor was to become a prostitute."
"Lila!" Adrien scolded.
But she, Gabriel, and Chloe just laughed as did some other first class guests but others including Mr. Andrews and Adrien just kept silent and gave them looks of disapproval. Marinette took Adrien's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze to let him know that she was alright and that he shouldn't be angry.
"Oh I forgot my purse." Lila realized.
"I shall have Nathalie fetch it for you." Gabriel said.
"No that's okay I'll get my bodyguard to do it. Mr. Barbot!"
At Lila's call a man came to the table. A man who made Marinette hold her breath and turn white as a ghost when she saw him. It was him! Theo Barbot! The man who bought her back in Paris. Why was he here? She couldn't let him see her. If she did heaven knows what he would do to her.
"Your purse ma'am." He said handing a small purse to Lila.
"Thank you Mr. Barbot. Everyone this is Theo Barbot my bodyguard and butler. I hired him just a few weeks ago."
"Excuse me but I need to leave." Marinette said trying to hide her face. "Thank you all for the wonderful evening, I wish you a good night."
"Marinette wait." Adrien said but she was already gone. Concerned he decided to go after her.
"What do you think you're doing?" His father stopped him.
"Marinette looked like something was wrong with her. I'm just going to see if she's okay."
"That woman should not be your concern."
"But Father-"
"Sit down Adrien."
Adrien sighed but reluctantly did as his father ordered.
"Well now that we have that drama settled." Chloe said. "Lila did you know that my father once dined with the king of England?"
"Really was that before or after he gambled away his wealth?"
A silence fell over the table and Chloe looked mortified, speechless, which was a first for her.
"Wha...What are you talking?" She said when she could finally bring herself to speak.
"You act like your father is this great, rich, hard worker but is it not true that the only reason he was rich in the first place was because he married Audrey Dae younger sister to heiress Emilie Dae? So in actuality all he had to do to get rich was get married."
"Well he-"
"And I heard your mother abandoned him and ran off with another man and that your father was depressed that he gambled away all his money, then died leaving your family in debt and you as collateral damage. Guess he wasn't so great after all."
"Shut up!" She snapped gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "Just shut up! You don't what you're talking about! My father was a good man!"
She then got up and ran out of the room in tears. Adrien quickly got up and went after her. He found her by the stairs crying. It had been years since he had seen her cry like that before. Last time he saw her cry like that it was at his uncle's funeral.
"Chloe are you okay?" He asked her.
"I'm fine!" She snapped. "Just go away! And leave me alone!"
She then darted toward her bedroom upstairs without another word.
"Is she alright?" He heard a voice ask. It was Marinette. "I had dropped a shoe and went to get it when I saw...Is everything okay?"
"I don't know." Adrien sighed. "I really don't know."
Marinette brought her gloved hand toward his shoulder to comfort him but hesitated. She was about to pull back when his joined with hers.
"Hey listen." He said trying to smile. "Why don't we ditch this place and go to a real party?"
"Where?" She asked.
"You'll see."
"Wait are you sure you want to?"
"Believe me I want to."