Chapter 17
On the upcoming Friday, it was the parents' evening at the school for the parents to attend the evening to see how everything was going for the class. Mrs. Donner opened the door of the class to watch at the corridor a few parents come along to visit her classroom.
"Good evening, ladies and gentleman. Get in and seek yourself a chair," Offered the woman holding out her hand to greet the incoming parents. "I'm really happy to see you could make it here," Welcomed the teacher, then entered into the classroom to show to direct the parents at the chairs, that belonged to the students. "If possible sit in front of the paper with your son or daughter's name on it," Commented the woman, then returned to the exit to see on the corridor Nathaniel Kurtzberg come along with Rose Lavillant approaching Mrs. Donner.
"There are two more familiar faces," Commented Mrs. Donner greeting the blonde first.
"Hello Mrs. Donner. I know you wanted me to mention you by your first name, but I have forgotten it," Mentioned Rose a little embarrassed making the woman chuckle.
"It's Evangeline. Don't worry," Responded Mrs. Donner, then Rose looked up at Nathaniel.
"I did her nails a few weeks ago," Confessed Rose making Nathaniel smile, then he gave the teacher his hand as well.
"And Mr. Kurtzberg is here as well. Step in, I'll be waiting for the rest of the parents," Warned the woman, then Nathaniel entered along with Rose into the classroom and walked at the back to sit on their children's place.
"Funny how we just sat in the back as we used to do in the past," Commented Rose making Nathaniel shrug his shoulders.
"I felt like everyone's doing that. At least that one woman on the front. I know she's the mother of twins," Stated the redhead making Rose nod, then watched Myléne enter the classroom followed by Jin and a taller raven-haired man.
"Wasn't that guy present during the charity program, where we painted houses?" Questioned Rose making Nathaniel nod.
"That's the Langerak's husband," Mentioned the redhead. "Lila and Mylene know him,"
"Oh that man," Replied Rose watching the trio take place and Myléne sat vice versa to Rose, then glimpsed at the duo with a smile.
"Great to see you two again. How are you two doing?" Questioned Myléne earning a thumb up from Rose, then looked at Nathaniel.
"Lila's slowly recuperating. She hasn't remembered many people yet and her coming here would be a little pointless. She's not aware of me being her husband or Nathalie being our girl,"
"Séraphin told me about it. Is there something more we could do?" Questioned the woman with the dreadlocks, making Nathaniel shrug his shoulders.
"It's difficult, to be honest. But if you two got time, we'd be happy to see you. With luck, you could trigger her memory a little. It didn't happen to many of us thought,"
"I'll see when I and Ivan can pass by," Answered Myléne. The adults looked at the entrance to see Adrien enter along with his wife, followed by Debby's father and a blonde policewoman, which wielded her uniform and sat along with the blonde man in the front, while Adrien headed towards Jin to embrace him, afterward Kagami greeted the Chinese man with a bow.
"Good evening," Greeted Rose watching Adrien pass by to stand behind Myléne to wave at the short-haired woman awaiting his wife and Kagami gave Rose a small hug making the woman smile.
"Hey Rose," Greeted Kagami, then looked at Kagami, which waved at the blue-haired woman. "Hey Nate, how are things doing in your household?"
"Good," Responded Nathaniel. "Besides you know, her amnesia. Until now she has only remembered Adrien and Alya so far,"
"Hmm…..do you think she would be interested in going out with us all on a walk? Throught places we all used to be together? That could sure do something to her head" Suggested the Japanese woman. "Like I don't know, the Trocadero, the school, that brunch store we used to go to when we were teens?"
"The pancake paradise?" Questioned Nathaniel curious making Rose wide her eyes.
"That would be great! We haven't been there in ages!" Complained Rose. "We could take our kids there and eat with them too,"
"The idea actually is brilliant," Commented Nathaniel making Kagami smile.
"Cool, we talk about that later then," Said Kagami, then made her way back to Adrien, which had taken Elliot's seat and offered her to sit down on his lap instead making Kagami playfully shake her head at her husband's idea, then got down on his knee instead to watch at the front the last people enter. Luka and Marinette were the ones to be walking in last, followed by a faux-redhead that went to take a seat next to Ruby's father, while the Couffaine's got beside Jin.
"How are you doing, Nathaniel? Anything more since your last message?" Questioned Luka making the German shake his head.
"Nope," Responded Nathaniel making Luka nod, then he offered Marinette to take the last chair and Luka stood behind Marinette to look at the front of the class as the teacher grabbed two chairs and walked along the room.
"Here I've got two reserves," Mentioned Evangeline watching Johnny's father help the woman by taking the chair to hand it out to Kagami, afterward the woman came across Luka, which moved his finger to assure the woman he didn't want one. "Come on, Mr. Couffaine. It's fine," Commented the brunette putting the chair down making Luka smile, which pulled it beside his wife to sit down and observe the woman head to the entrance of the classroom to close the door, then shrieked as an athletic man glimpsed into the classroom and waved at the avaiable parents only receiving a reply from Rose Lavillant and Adrien Agreste.
"You're whose father?" Questioned Mrs. Donner looking at the tall man get beside the door arc.
"I'm the father of Yasmine Bourgeois…..and it seems like this isn't the correct classroom," Commented Kim, making a few of his old classmates chuckle.
"The other first class is on the other side of the school. I think my part is complete," Stated Evangeline making the Vietnamese man nod and disappear, afterward the woman closed the door to get back to the front of the class. "Good afternoon class….I mean ladies and gentlemen," Corrected the teacher making a few parents chuckle. "Welcome to the first annual meeting. For those who haven't gotten to meet me yet, my name is Evangeline Donner. I'm the main teacher of your students and as in all the other classes I have to reunite at least one parent per student to attend this evening. As you have seen on the outside, parents of the first and sixth grades are present as well. The rest will take place the next week," Said Mrs. Donner watching all the parents pay attention to her. "Before moving on, I'm not sure if everyone knows the rules of our school. They were renewed by end of the summer vacation and the most important one the principal told us to lighten up more to everyone was the one about the absences when one of the students would get sick. If one of your children gets sick, you're responsible to make a call to the teacher's office or to the principal's office. Messages or Facestargram messages are no longer allowed due to misuse of it by certain kids," Explained the teacher, then the blonde woman at the front raised her hand up with a bewildered facial expression.
"Has this happened with first graders as well?" Questioned the woman curious making the teacher shake her head.
"No. So far many cases came from the 6th graders mostly and several 5th graders. I know most of the other classes are innocent or are considered innocent. But the secretary wanted to make the rules like this. Nowadays most of the parents aren't as much at home as the previous generation used to be or their jobs don't allow them to be attentive to their children's behavior," Explained Mrs. Donner. "But if there's a reason, you're unable to call the school in any way you can send a message, but you'll have to take a look at your emails. We will mail you about the missing of your children and expect a response. With this, we managed to catch a few students skipping school and one of these cases had led our partner school to the court,"
At the back, Marinette whispered to Luka, which had been listening to the teacher.
"I heard about that case. Chloé's got a Luxenbourger cousin, whose son got abused during a day he had skipped school, and school assumed he was really sick, then somehow got in trouble. Or better, her family being wealthy enough to waste money in good advocats to lead them out of the situation,"
"Woah. What happened then? Did the son get better?" Questioned Luka making Marinette shrug her shoulders.
"I don't know. Alya and River have both tried to convince this woman to come to an interview, but she's not very convinceful,"
"At the moment I'm aware all of the students here are well-educated and I'm sure this won't be a problem for all of us when it comes to the absences. Well, if no one has any questions about this topic, I'm going to change to the next topic. It's related to the lessons we all have. At the moment your students won't be graded until the start of the second grade. After the third or fourth month, when the students have got the hand of the school days, I will begin to start to give to certain essays points and by the end of the first semester, we can make a grade of it. French, Math, and Art is at the moment the only subject we will grade in the first grade. Before I keep talking, are your students getting help from you? Is the homework for them harder than it seems or are they doing okay on their own?"
Kagami raised her hand up in the air, then was given a hand sign by the same-aged woman.
"Is it bad, if I check my son's homework first before he takes it back?" Questioned the Japanese woman making the teacher shake her head.
"You don't have to, if you want. The only important thing, is that your son is doing his homework by himself. Help is allowed as long as he can figure the homework on his own," Answered Evangeline making Kagami nod, then the teacher moved on with her speech while the parents listened to her.
Afterward, all parents of the four present classes were brought by the teachers out of the classrooms and led into the gym, where three caterers stood in front of a long apéro table with snacks for all the available guests. The Parents were in smaller groups getting to know each other with the exception of Nathaniel, who was standing by the table eating a canapé covered with tuna and Rose was currently on the phone talking with her wife.
Nathaniel looked across the table Adrien laughing as he stood together with Kim, Luka, Marinette, and Kagami wrapped up in a conversation. The redhead glimpsed at Rose, which was still using her smartphone, then Nathaniel moved along the table to look for something else he could eat. Nathaniel picked up a wine glass filled with vanilla frappé and took a sip from it, then observed Adrien approach the table to look at the number of snacks, then grabbed two different flavored frappé and glimpsed at the redhead.
"Hey Nathaniel, why are you so alone?" Questioned the blonde making Nathaniel shrug his shoulders.
"You know I'm not that type of person to be all alone in the middle of a crowd," Stated Nathaniel.
"But you didn't mind being around a few other parties in the past or did I miss something?" Questioned Adrien.
"You know when Lila or Luka are around I felt safer. Not that I fear large crowds with people. I just don't feel very comfortable between the number of people,"
"Okay, I get you," Spoke Adrien, then Rose had finished her call and approached the duo.
"Hey where are the others?" Asked Rose looking at the blonde man, which rolled his eyes at the side to see the rest of her friends. "Ah!"
"Anything new?" Questioned Adrien making Rose shake her head.
"Nope, Juleka is at home of her mother with Eireen for dinner and had asked about how the evening was," Explained Rose making Adrien nod.
"Eireen is fitting in well in her new life, isn't she?" Asked the Frenchman making Rose nod.
"So far she's doing well, yeah," Answered the shorter woman, then took from the table a small macaroon for herself. "By the end of this month we'll receive a visit from the social worker, which will want to see how our apartment is like for Eireen to be around, if it's good or not. As well they will ask how everything is going and all,"
"Okay, I hope it's good," Commented Adrien making Rose smile. Nathaniel pondered about the conversation he had with his daughter and looked at Adrien a little hesitant to pick up a conversation.
"What is it Nath?" Asked Rose, taking Nathaniel out of the focus, which looked at the blonde woman.
"What do you mean?" Questioned the German.
"The look you made. That's what you do, when you're planning to talk to somebody, but you are hesitating as well," Rose commented watching him raise his left eyebrow surprised at Rose still knowing him very well.
"I wasn't sure, if I should talk about it or not," Spoke Nathaniel watching Adrien turn around to the redhead.
"Do you need help or anything?" Questioned Adrien making his friend shake his head.
"No, but I heard something about you and I wasn't sure if I should question you about it or no,"
"Did you hear it from third parties?" Questioned the former model making Nathaniel shrug his shoulders, then nodded. "Is it something bad?"
"I don't know, perhaps it's just nessecary to speak about it," Responded Nathaniel seeing Adrien take a step forward.
"Then go on,"
"A few nights ago Nathalie was by my side and asked me if Lila and I loved her and I, of course, told her, that we did. She came afterward with the statement, that Elliot had heard you say, that you thought your studying would have been easier to handle if he wasn't around," Mentioned Nathaniel making Adrien wide his eyes in shock.
"What? He heard that?" Questioned Adrien. "I mean, I….I was just talking to Kagami about how I felt. I didn't mean to hurt him nor that he would have listened to that. I….He had actually stepped into our room, when we were talking, but he had commented to have arrived shortly,"
"Oh…...I think you will have to explain you, what happened or why you said that. I'm sure he will forgive you,"
"I will for sure. You're okay, if I talk to Kagami about it? She's got nothing to be blamed for, but in case something goes wrong she can assist me,"
"I'm sure he will forgive you. Or if you spend more time with him to strengthen your bond it will make his sensation of feeling unwanted disappear,"
"I'm gonna talk with him today or tomorrow. I'm not sure, if he will be asleep on the time we arrive. We allow him on Friday and Saturday to stay up late,"
"So do I" Commented Nathaniel. "Sometimes even in the middle of the week, which actually I planned to avoid but…...yeah,"
"Welp, that's something different," Mentioned Adrien, then looked above the table to see Luka glimpse towards their direction and wave at them. "Come Nathaniel. Be with us. I'm sure you're feeling more comfortable around us," Offered Adrien watching Nathaniel ponder about it shortly, then he nodded and followed the blonde to the other side of the hall.
At the Kurtzberg household Nathaniel had returned and made his way into the living room to encounter his wife watching TV, while on the couch Nathalie had fallen asleep making Nathaniel smile at seeing the tired girl, then leaned his hand on her face to caress her perking her up slightly.
"I'm sorry," Apologized Nathaniel watching his daughter yawn and close her eyes again, making her father shake his head playfully and gently lift her up from the couch to pick her up. Nathaniel held her up in his arms, earning the attention of the Italian that looked up at her husband.
"She had fallen asleep about ten minutes into the start of the series of mine," Stated Lila making Nathaniel nod and look at the digital clock hanging beside the exit of the living room, which showed that it was 22:33.
"The episodes usually air for about 45 minutes. She usually manages to see almost the entire thing at the weekends. During the week, she only watches at least 15-20 minutes depending on how she spend the time after dinner. If she had brushed her teeth before and anything," Explained Nathaniel. "I'm going to take her up to sleep,"
"Well, I'll be going as well," Commented Lila looking back at the TV screen to see her character talking to a mysterious character making her curious. "This looks interesting thought,"
"You know you can stay up as late as you want. I usually fall asleep quick, when I'm watching TV at night," Commented Nathaniel.
"I don't want to be a burden to you, Nathaniel," Stated Lila making Nathaniel shake his head.
"Don't worry, you won't," Commented the redhead making his way out of the living room to carry his daughter out of the living room leaving the brunette back, which sat down to see the rest of the episode.
A while later after Nathaniel had returned Lila had finished watching TV and got up to turn the TV off. She looked at Nathaniel, which lied on the couch with his eyes closed, then she looked around to look for something to cover him and only found one of his jackets hanging above a hook on the outside at the corridor and Lila took it, so she could put it over Nathaniel's arms to cover him. Lila left the living room to head upstairs, then passed by the bedroom of her daughter and glimpsed into it to see Nathalie roll on her bed and drop her plush accidentally on the ground making Lila grin amused. She got into the room to pick it up, then took a closer look at it to see it was a fox plush and she analyzed it with a curious face.
„Looks like the one nana gave to me once," Lila said, then looked at the girl beginning to move her hand to seek for her plushy and moved her head up to spot her mother on her knees in front of the bed, afterward she turned the night light on to see her hold her plush. „I didn't mean to wake you up. I had seen your plush here on the ground and picked it up,"
„It's okay," Commented Nathalie sitting up, then Lila got to sit beside the daughter to show her the plush.
„This toy here resembles the one my grandma gave me in the past, when I was a child," Explained Lila. „I feel like it is mine by its looks," Mentioned Lila moving it around to find at its butt the wash label with her first name on it, making Lila tilt her head. „It is mine,"
„Do you remember, when you gave it to me?" Questioned Nathalie watching Lila look at her daughter unsure about, what she should say, then looked up at the billboard with images of the young Kurtzberg generation and spotted one picture, where Nathalie was younger. She sat on a bench next to her father, which had been holding his smartphone to take the image and behind them Lila had her arms wrapped around the girl, while both held tight on a small, orange object. Lila stretched her arm to try to pick the image up, then Nathalie helped her by giving it down to her and observed Lila looking at the image.
„I know this place. It's in the near of the Milan basilica," Mentioned Lila making Nathalie shake her head listening to her mumbling, then shook her head not being sure about the actual place she mentioned.
Lila walked along the pedestrian path beside the basilica, heading towards a bench, where she encountered Nathalie Kurtzberg sitting beside a redhead, that held a smartphone o his hand to show the girl something.
„Mia cara," Called Lila getting close to the bench and sat down next to the girl, which welcomed her mother by giving her a hug. „Happy birthday," Wished the brunette, then pecked her daughter on the cheek.
„Thank you, mommy," Responded Nathalie, then Lila took from her purse out a object that was wrapped up in gift paper and showed it to the young girl.
„This is for you, sweetheart. I'm sure you're going to like it," Said Lila watching Nathalie pick it up to remove the paper and see it was Lila's old fox plush she used to haven, when she was younger.
„Wow a fox plush!" Commented Nathalie glad, then Lila placed her arm around her daughter's back.
„My nana gave it to me, when I was around your age. I haven't needed it for so long and decided to pass it down to you," Explained Lila making Nathalie smile and share a hug with the brunette woman.
Lila widened her eyes as she figured out her actual relationship between herself and the young girl, then rolled her eyes down at her daughter.
„I remember you!" Stated Lila making Nathalie furrow her left eyebrow, then Lila placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. „You're my daughter. My precious, little girl,"
Lila kissed her daughter on the forehead, making the girl smile and look up at the woman.
„You remembered that?" Asked Nathalie receiving another kiss upon her forehead.
„I figured out, that the fox plush of yours I had gifted to you on your fourth birthday. The one time you've spent your birthday with your grandaunts in Milan," The mother explained, then felt Nathalie lie her face on the chest sigh in relief.
„I missed the real you," Confessed Nathalie making Lila smile and caress her daughter's back.
„I'm here for you, sweetheart. Don't you worry," Promised Lila keeping the daughter in her arms to comfort the girl.
At the Agreste manor, Elliot sat in his bedroom together with Hope on the city-based children carpet playing with their car toys.
"I'm going to stop at the gas station and put gasoline," Hope said moving her white-colored beetle into the drawn gas station on the carpet and left the car there for a moment to watch Elliot enter into a park lot and park his car there, afterward he picked up two other cars to move over the roads.
While the kids continued to play, Emilie Agreste appeared by the door to glimpse into the bedroom and leaned her arm on the arc.
"Aren't you two tired yet?" Questioned the blonde woman looking at the kids, which looked at her. "Tomorrow is a new day and there's enough time for you to do anything you want" Explained the half-British woman making her daughter nod and look at the brother's son.
"I will go to bed," Spoke Hope making Elliot nod and begin to pick up the available cars to store them back. "Good night, Elliot,"
"I'll be right back, Elliot," Mentioned Emilie moving out of the room followed by Hope as Elliot stored all the cars inside his toybox.
As Elliot was almost done with filling his toybox, at the entrance appeared Adrien, that looked into the bedroom to see his son close the chest and make his way to the bed to open the cover.
"Hey champ," Greeted Adrien stepping into the boy's bedroom to catch him about to get up on the bed, but he looked back to see his father show up.
"Hello dad," Spoke Elliot and sat down on the mattress, followed by Adrien who took the seat beside the kid. "I'm going to bed,"
"You know tomorrow is Saturday. If you're not tired, you can still be awake for a little while," Commented Adrien making Elliot nod.
"I know," Commented Elliot making Adrien smile, then glimpsed down at the pocket of his jacket to see Plagg roll his eyes at Elliot making Adrien ponder about to speak to the boy.
"Plagg, will you get Kagami for me? I'd love to have her around," Asked the Frenchman making Plagg nod and fly out of the room, leaving his holder back.
"Have you said goodnight to mommy or anyone else?" Questioned Adrien making Elliot shake his head.
"Just to Hope at the moment,"
"What about grandma or your mom?" Questioned Adrien making Elliot shrug his shoulders.
"Not yet," Responded Elliot neutral, then Adrien placed his arm around his son watching him turn his face aside. Adrien felt Elliot was trying to hide something from him, then he began to pat his son gently over the shoulder.
Kagami showed up, then got into the bedroom to see Adrien look up at her, while Elliot tilt his head to see her mother enter his room as well and stop by the two blondes.
"Can I sit here by you?" Asked the mother looking at her son, which watched his father move aside, afterward Elliot followed his father so Kagami could sit down on the bed, so their son would sit between the couple. "Is there something you need to talk with us about?" Questioned Kagami making Elliot tilt his head.
"What do you mean?" Questioned Elliot, then Kagami looked up at Adrien, which placed his hand behind his neck to think about how he should phrase his question.
"Did you spy on your mother and me, when we were talking about studying?" Questioned the blonde man looking at the brown-eyed boy. Elliot rolled his eyes away from his parents, which exchanged looks with each other and Adrien placed his arm around his son's back. "What exactly did you hear?"
"You said, that eventually you wouldn't have failed the test, if you could have only focused more on the learning and with me around, you have to give me attention," Elliot commented. "I was born at the wrong moment,"
"Yeah….I really shouldn't have spoken like that. I was bothered by my results of the exam…...I didn't meant to hurt you, Elliot. I just wanted to let out my frustration and I could have said it differently," Explained Adrien, then Kagami placed her hand on her son's shoulder.
"Daddy never wanted to hurt you. He loves you just as much as I do. You might have come in the wrong moment of our lives, but this doesn't mean we don't like you. You're the best thing, that has happened to us. Your presence made our boring every day life more entertaining. After these years, I can't imagine our lives without you in it," Spoke Kagami making Adrien nod.
"After you were here, I began to have more plans for my future. Before I wanted to marry your mother I had taken enough time to move on with life step by step. After you were here we've both have taken the chance to get to know each other's roots and be able to have the chance to have you come to both of our worlds out of this house,"
"Okay. I'm sorry I didn't speak to you first. I thought I had ruined your life," Commented Elliot a little relieved about the conversation, then Kagami lied her chin over his head to embrace the boy.
"You're not a burden, Elliot. You're the best thing, that has happened to us," Kagami stated making Adrien nod.
"You're the greatest joy in our life, L. We both are a great team, when we play together or join a game against others. We would be a great A-team, if I would have spent more time with you, rather than focusing on the medicine exams. Now after this I will be free for a long while and might give next year a try, depending on how things go," Stated Adrien making Elliot nod.
"And what will we do, when we will be a long time again with no time to be playing together or anything?" Questioned Elliot making Adrien shrug his shoulders and look at Kagami, which copied her husband.
"We will be waiting almost a entire year for that. Until then we will have a solution," Promised Kagami making Elliot nod.
"Yeah, otherwise I can skip for another year or, well…..technically I could even wait more years and come back later again, when you're older," Explained the father making Elliot shrug his shoulders. "On moments you're busy as well you know," Commented the man making the son nod, then Adrien held his hand out and Elliot placed his hand on the father's, then the Frenchman picked Elliot up to tickle him under his arms making him laugh, ordering his father to stop. Kagami chuckled at seeing the two laugh, then began to tickle her son as well, getting on top of her husband, which had lied Elliot next to him on the mattress. "Please, stop it!" Ordered Elliot while laughing, thereafter Adrien had stopped and continued cackling at his deed, then rolled his eyes at his wife, as she lied above him looking at their common son and both had eye contact, then exchanged a smile from having made their son feel better.