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6.

Marinette checked that her wallet was in her bag before going out again. The grocery store wasn't too far, but she wanted to be sure she didn't embarrass herself at the cash register, if it turned out she had forgot to bring her money. Especially since she was going alone and there would be no one to help her out.

Armed with confidence and a shopping list typed in her phone during a free moment at work, she headed out, unaware that heavy rain was forecast half an hour from the moment she locked the door behind her. She enjoyed walking down the small, empty streets, taking the shortcut Google Maps recommended to her. The air was still warm, though it had begun to chill, as clouds swarmed the sky. They were too light for Marinette to associate them with rain.

The shop was half-empty and the woman smiled, thinking she'd get her things quickly, pay and get back to the apartment that was still hers for the next twelve and half hours. She had big plans: cook dinner, get started on her final work for her Chinese mythology course which consisted of creating and executing a design inspired by what they had covered in the theoretical classes, maybe read a book or watch TV.

In the shop, she grabbed a basket and made a straight line for the fruits and vegetables. Cherry tomatoes, basil and spinach were some of the first items on her list, followed by green onions, raspberries (a dent in her budget) and chocolate. Then came eggs and yoghurt, two types of cheese, ham. She stopped in front of the shelves of bread and other pastries, contemplating on whether to buy some sliced bread or not. In the end, she decided against it, but grabbed a large jar of Nutella from a nearby shelf, trying not to feel too bad about it. A giant box of dry yeast, a large bag of flour, type 55, since 45 was not available there, and a bag of granulated sugar made it into the basket before she remembered that she still needed to get butter. When she finally made it to the cashier, the basket was so heavy many other girls would have struggled carrying it.

She paid, packed the groceries and left, bags in both hands. The weather outside had changed tremendously. It was chillier and darker, thunder was rumbling in the distance. Though the route she had taken earlier was shorter, Marinette decided wisely against it, choosing the more illuminated road. It passed the Agreste House and if it started raining, she could duck in there and converse with the nightly security guard until the rain stopped or a taxi arrived, whichever option was more reasonable.

Soon enough, first droplets of late spring rain landed on her blazer. She cursed and sped up, bringing the lighter bag onto her shoulder to move easier. She was almost at the fashion house, too.

"You look like you need this more than me."

Marinette jumped and looked to her right where a black sedan had stopped. One of the car's back doors was open and a blonde man was holding out an umbrella for her. Her first thought was that he was so kind. Then, when her eyes met his, she realized he must have been one of the models, because he was so handsome it almost hurt to look at him.

"Th-thanks," she stammered, remembering she should say something. Marinette's hand reached out for her umbrella, her fingers brushed against his, sending a jolt through her skin as if she'd been just hit by lightning. "Mr…"

"Agreste. Adrien Agreste," he smiled at her. Marinette's eyes widened. Her mind had made the connection between the man and the fashion house immediately and she wanted to hit herself for not recognizing him sooner.

"Mr Agreste!" she squealed, cheeks turning pink. Determined, she spoke up again. "I'll bring it back to you! I'm Ma…" Marinette almost told him his real name, when she remembered the non disclosure agreement all interns had had to sign on their first day. It forbade them to tell their real names to anyone in the company until they had passed their first evaluation. "Ladybug. I'm Ladybug."

Adrien grinned. "One of the new interns, huh?" His driver coughed, signaling that they had to continue. Marinette nodded, unable to get a word out of her mouth. "It was nice to meet you, Ladybug. I hope I'll see you again."

He closed the door and the car drove away, Marinette staring after it with starry eyes before letting out a small squeak and running home, clutching onto the umbrella as if it was a precious keepsake.

As soon as she got home, she got out her phone.

"Alya, I need help!" Marinette moaned, dropping the bags on the floor. She shrugged off the mostly dry jacket.

"Girl! What's the matter? Who should I kill?" The journalist asked immediately. "Do you need me to come over? I know it's like nine already, but…"

"I think I'm in love." The woman leaned her back against a wall, out of breath and dazed from the encounter.

"Hold up, girl. Did you say you're in love?"

"Uhuh."

"When did that happen?" Alya squealed, excited. She had been nagging her friend about getting a boyfriend almost as much as her parents had. "No, scratch that. Who's the lucky guy?"

"Adrien," Marinette breathed.

Alya laughed. "Not the Agreste, right?"

Marinette didn't respond, lost in her dreamland in which she and Adrien got married, had three children and a hamster and lived happily ever after.

"Right?" Alya repeated, her voice betraying that she knew it was a lost fight. "Because like… half of Paris is in love with him. The most eligible bachelor and all that."

"I know," the woman groaned, snapping out of her reverie. "What do I do?"

Alya quickly considered her options. She could tell Marinette to give up – there were plenty of more fish in the sea. She could repeat the bluenette's own argument of not having enough time between studies and internship. She could tell her to go for it. Marinette probably had a lot more chances to interact with him than most women in France. In the end, Alya told her none of that.

"But why?" she asked instead. Marinette had not shown interest in Adrien Agreste before. His face was almost everywhere, but the young designer had never noticed it, though she could go on and on about the clothes he modeled on the posters.

Marinette told her what had happened, one hand holding the phone to her ear, the other putting away groceries. When she had found a place for everything, she sighed and sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen table.

"You've got it bad." Alya giggled. "You're lucky Nino's not here, 'cause he'd probably freak." Alya tried to imagine her fiancé's face when he heard about Marinette's infatuation with a supermodel. "He's very protective of you, you know. I didn't even have to convince him a lot to check out the dude who lives in your apartment."

"Technically, I live in his apartment," Marinette mused, taking the man's note and twirling it between her fingers. "He's got a nice handwriting. Very clean. But he can't draw to save a life."

"Do you know his name yet?" Alya wasn't sure if Marinette had told her before.

"Nope. But I'll ask him." Marinette could hear a door open and close on Alya's side. "Nino's back?"

"Yup." Alya smiled as the man kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey, Marinette!" he said.

"How'd you know I'm talking to Marinette?" Alya asked him.

Nino shrugged. "Who else? It's like ten p.m."

"Well, you heard the man, Marinette. Gotta go now, but trust me, we'll talk about this again."

"Bye, Alya!"

Once she was off the phone, Marinette found her thoughts drifting to Adrien and his vibrant green eyes again. Adrien and his kind smile. Adrien and the umbrella Marinette wanted to give back to him as soon as possible just so that she could see him again.

"I should give him macarons as a thank you gift!"

Once the idea was in her head, she could not stop it from consuming her thoughts. She got to work instantly, not caring that it was getting late and she still had a rough day ahead of her. These macarons would change her life! She was absolutely convinced of that.