The rain which usually pitter-pattered when she was inside sounded so much louder now that she was walking through it. The sky was tar-black as she heard some cars passing by quickly, some even honking in the distance, nothing too new or spectacular on the streets of Paris.

The language of water. You didn't need to learn to understand what it meant, you just did. But this time, the rain pouring outside hid the fact that she was crying, and it just wouldn't stop. The rain was louder than her tears. She was soaking wet and the only thing someone could wonder when seeing her was why a girl like her was walking around in the cold without any umbrella or coat on.

But she felt completely numb to it. Nothing was worse than the feeling she felt inside. Broken. Disappointed. Hurt. Angry. Ashamed. Confused. All of it at the same time. How could Adrien fall for that? After all they've been through, how could he? How dare he?!

She regretted him. Completely. From the day she received his message. All of it, she regretted it from the bottom of her heart.

This would've never happened if she'd stuck to her 7 rules.

She was angry by the fact that she simply could not resist a guy.

Marinette.

She was disappointed in herself.

Marinette.

How weak of her to get into a state like this.

"Marinette?"

She was quickly pulled out of her train of thoughts when she was greeted by a male voice. That voice...

She looked up only to see none other than Luka. He was looking at her while holding an umbrella. He gave her a look that appeared to be something in between worry and pity. But she wasn't really in the mood to even talk. She simply averted her gaze, kind of wishing that he would walk away and leave her be.

But knowing Luka, he would never do that. She noticed something dark hovering above her which was Luka's umbrella he held right above her and took off his coat as well, hanging it over her shoulders like a blanket. He wasn't much of a talker anyway, but he was known to be a good empath. All he did was wrap an arm around her and take her back to her apartment. She complied with him, too tired to think at all.

It didn't take too long for them to reach her apartment since Alya saw them through the window and she immediately ran out of the door to wrap her arms around her best friend as tightly as possible.

"I was worried about you"

Was the first thing she said to her. Marinette barely responded and only leaned into her shoulder, and not moving anything anymore. It was quiet for a moment. Marinette didn't answer her as Alya pulled away slowly, trying to understand her which was very difficult when she wasn't responding at all. Marinette's eyes were bloodshot. Alya looked up at Luka for a moment who had the same worried look and didn't question why the ex-boyfriend of her best friend was with her suddenly and suggested for both of them to get inside.

The first thing her motherly natured friend did was push her into the bathroom to take a shower and get changed immediately while Luka made it into the kitchen and was invited by Alya to eat dinner now that it was clear that one person wasn't showing up anymore.

It didn't take too long for Marinette to be done either and Alya helped her dry her hair, making sure she wouldn't look like a dumpster bag at their dinner table before the two of them entered the kitchen with Marinette walking in with braided hair, a cozy sweater and some leggings along with woolly socks.

But heading into their dinner, Marinette wasn't really eating that well. She received some looks from everyone which she ignored as she looked down at her lap.

"Marinette..? I know things are pretty bad as they are.. but you can't punish yourself with not eating" Alya muttered after putting her fork down, also kind of feeling demotivated to eat when watching her friend in that state.

And that's when Marinette spoke for the first time "I..never felt this betrayed by someone before.. I just need time to process it and.. I just want to be left alone"

The room became quiet as Luka and Alya exchanged some looks.

"You need to eat too, you know..?" Luka answered as he eyed her plate with food when Marinette put her cutlery down and got up.

"I'll be fine.. I'm not hungry anyway" she answered back, and walked out of the kitchen, heading towards her bedroom, closing the door and decided to lay down on her bed, hugging her pillows against herself.

She felt like shit and all she wanted was to crawl under her blanket and forget all of this. She had nothing left of her career. She probably wasn't welcome anymore to work at Gabriel's and all of her effort wasn't worth it anymore. She lost her face and probably even a chance to have a career in the fashion industry as well.

Could things get any worse than this?

She suddenly heard some knocking on her door which she didn't really respond to until her door opened suddenly, and guessing by the silence it was probably Luka.

How she easily guessed her ex-boyfriend's presence.

He sat down on the edge of her bed after closing the door and remained silent after a deep sigh, looking at nothing in particular.

"So… This was what you didn't want to tell me that one day.. huh?" He started of, not really expecting a reaction from her, but he continued anyway. "Marinette.. I'm concerned about you, why did you make a choice like that? I mean... sugar dating?" He asked again, this time really expecting an answer as he turned his head to look her way.

Marinette slowly sat up, while still hugging her pillow "I didn't think it would turn out this bad.. I just didn't want to bother anyone" she muttered.

"I would've never left you that day if I'd knew you'd take this path, this world doesn't deserve you" Luka replied immediately, leaning a bit towards her, but Marinette barely responded as she averted her gaze.

"Why are you here, Luka?" Marinette murmured as she nuzzled into her pillow while looking down at her feet. She couldn't see Luka's reaction, but if he was taking this opportunity to try something funny, she would not have any of it. Not right now. No way. But then again, she knew Luka and he was always respectful of her boundaries.

"You know I still love you and you may not feel the same about me, but I still care and seeing you like this hurts me too" he answered swiftly.

And silence.

"But you still love him, don't you?"

And that finally pulled a reaction out of her, tears rolling down her cheeks as she gritted her teeth. Angry tears it was. She was boiling.

"I gave up everything I build up, just for him, he wanted this relationship, it was his idea, HE WANTED THIS and he embarrassed ME on TV. He wanted all of it, promised me to stay with me, told me so many times that he loved me, he called me his princess, his lady, he told me I was perfect the way I am that I'm EVERYTHING he wanted, he told me all of that and he LEFT ME after seeing that lie on the media"

She squeezed into her pillow, her nails digging into it and it wouldn't surprise her anymore that if she'd put any more pressure into that pillow she would rip it open.

"I believed in everything he said… Every word" her heart was aching with every word she said, the lump in her throat making it more difficult to talk as she was turning from angry to sad.

"I.. I thought he was funny sometimes with the things he said.. but he made me truly happy… I'm so sorry, but.. I never thought I would've love someone like I loved him and.."

Her jaw was shaking a little, her vision clouding with tears again when she looked down and slowly let go of her pillow.

"He just threw me away.. just like that.. no explanation.. no last words.. nothing...it was all a lie.."

She hiccuped a little, covering her mouth with her hand, trying to calm her breathing which was to no avail. But Luka had other plans.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closely against his chest in warm and loving hug.

"Why are you torturing yourself with me.." she cried out, but Luka only held her tighter in response.

"A little bit of self love can bring you a long way" was the only response he gave her. She cried her heart out that evening, up until the point she fell asleep in his arms.

A tear rolled down his cheeks as he held her in his arms, now finally letting go of his facade, and facing the fact that she will never love him the way she loves Adrien, and she never will.

—

Waves of heat coursed through her blood, a cold sweat glistened in her gaunt features. Everything ached and she couldn't stop shivering. She woke up in the night to the worst fever.

She was also very thirsty, but she had no motivation whatsoever to get up and fetch herself a glass of water from the kitchen.

Wait…

Where was Luka? Did he leave and tuck her in?

She looked around just to be sure, but surely he left her. She sighed a little, feeling another shiver go down her spine. No water then. She was in no mood to grab herself water, it was way too cold.

But she also needed to pee…

Great. Just great.

She groaned just slightly as she had to get up and slowly made her way towards her doorway, feeling unusually cold because of the fever. It took her a lot of effort to finally stand and slowly, step by step, made her way towards her door. Once she opened it, she heard some voices coming from the living room. There were still people awake at this time? Were Nino and Alya still up with their typical shenanigans? She looked down at the hallway where they kept their shoes and noticed Luka's were still there, but Nino's shoes weren't.

Was she dreaming? This fever was really giving her visions. She shook her head as she headed into the bathroom to quickly do her business. It only took a few more minutes because of the aching all over her body. The toilet seat was painfully cold which bothered her a lot. There was just so much going on in her head that she was happy she was quickly done with her business and made sure to wash her hands with warm water right after flushing. It was pretty difficult to keep her balance, but she wanted to quickly drink some water before going back to bed and decided to lean all of her weight against the sink and leaned down to get some water from the tab.

Once she got enough, she stopped the water and wiped her mouth, soon walking out of the bathroom and turning off the light. She looked at the living room again and still heard the voices.

She wasn't dreaming?

She slowly stepped towards the door which was closed, but she could easily overhear the conversation if she listened well.

"It's all over the news now, what can we possibly do to ease the situation for her? Adrien owes her an explanation, I'm really pissed off at that stunt he pulled, really pissed off"

Hearing the name Adrien immediately made her remember again. The ache in her heart burning in her chest. Alya's voice echoed through the room, and she was definitely angry as well.

"I have never seen her that upset before, but being publicly humiliated and dumped like that in the same time? She fell asleep crying earlier, I don't know what to do for her, you know? She knows how I feel about her and she made clear to me that she doesn't love me like that anymore, not the way I want her to anyway.."

Luka answered, sounding more upset than ever, making her bite into her lower lip nervously. Also starting to feel guilty, now especially after everything she said to him before falling asleep. She was an emotional train-wreck.. and she definitely had to make sure to apologize to him.

"I'm already surprised you're still willing to take care of her like this after all of that, Luka, I'm sure she appreciates what you're doing for her, and so do I"

Alya sounded much calmer, but determined.

"And you know? Doesn't it seem awfully convenient that Chloe and Adrien are back that quickly? I just.. know there's something fishy going on, and I'm definitely willing to get to the bottom of this. As a journalist, I will not let go of this so easily" She added and Marinette remained quiet, looking down at her feet with a distraught look on her face.

"I wouldn't be surprised, honestly. Rich people like them can easily avoid to create any damage with their money" he answered back, hearing him sigh and move around made her heart skip a beat and hesitantly stepped back from the door, hoping she wouldn't get busted by them. But then again, what if she would get busted? Did it even matter? Everything was going to shit anyway.

She took a deep breath and quietly stepped forward again, trying to continue to listen.

"I'm going to get an explanation out of him, one way or the other" Alya decided, making Marinette wonder how in the world she would even get to someone like him?

"Why try?" Luka interrupted Alya "Is it even love when easily said goodbye like that? Is it love when you've given up before even trying? He doesn't even deserve her" and the bitterness of Luka's voice easily made Marinette flinch.

He wasn't exactly wrong..

Maybe she jumped into this too quick?

She felt another shiver going down her spine and her head started to spin. The cold in the hallway now really taking over her curiosity of listening in on what Luka and Alya were talking about. The fleeting shivers only got worse and worse, making her wrap her arms around herself, leaning against the wall as she carefully tried to step back to her room. And it was only getting more and more difficult, even trying to take break a from the stepping. She deeply breathed in and out in a slow manner. Almost there... Almost in her warm bed. Almost. She felt the dizziness only growing stronger with each step, and it was only getting harder to breathe. Her head started to feel lighter up until the point she saw black.