Alya's shriek shattered my eardrum. "No way! You're marrying Adrien Agreste?! The Adrien Agreste?! The famous supermodel?!" "You don't have to scream." "Yes, I do! You're about to become the most talked-about girl in Paris! Besides Ladybug, that is." "Nugh, no one told me he was famous," I groaned pacing back and forth in front of my balcony. One of the glass doors was opened for a little fresh air. It was dark outside by now- time for bed soon. Time to go to sleep and escape this horrible nightmare for a few hours.
But Alya, on the other hand….. "So?! Is he as hot in real life as he is in all the posters and magazines?!" "I don't know. I've never seen anything with his face on it before." "What is up with you, girl?! You just won the marriage lottery! They write movies with romance plots on stuff like this!" Yeah, except the protagonists in "those" types of movies actually want to be with the rich, hot man they're being forced to marry. If my life was really a movie or a tv show, I'd wind up with Cat Noir. And right now it's feeling more like a tragedy. "You are so lucky, Marinette! I don't think you realize how insanely fortunate you are. Most girls have to find a great catch like Adrien, and he just landed in your lap!" "He's not a fish, Ayla. Look, I know how… "unique" my situation is, but I don't feel particularly lucky…" "You should! You're going to be super rich with a super dreamy husband by your side. What more you could ask for?!" "Oh, I don't know? Marrying for love?" My eyes rolled up toward the ceiling. I could practically feel her hand brush me off on the other side. "Pfffffft! You're just frazzled from the move. You'll grow to love Adrien in no time! He's not a jerk, right?" "No, he's been nothing but kind to me. But….." "But nothing! You need to give this guy a chance, girl! Think about it: you could have wealth, power, status, hots, AND love! It's the total package! Now you just need to work on that last one." "Hey! There's no guarantee that Adrien will love me back. And I doubt I could ever fall in love with….." For what felt like the millionth time that day, all words turned to chalk in my mouth. Alya was right about one thing; I was frazzled from the moving chaos. Gotta go to bed, though I'll doubt I'll be able to get to sleep in my new bed anytime soon. My hand rose up to my pounding head.
She made that "pffffft" noise again. "Stop being so pessimistic. You're usually so optimistic! Course Adrien's gonna fall in love with you. He'll be crazy about you, once he gets to know you." "But what if I don't…. want him to be?" I hesitated. There was a brief silence. "You don't want your fiancé to…. love you?" "Yes! No….? I don't know. This all just feels so weird. I don't want Adrien to love me just cause we're engaged. I want real love…." Like the type I already have with you-know-who. Another pause ensued. "How do you know you won't have that with Adrien?" "Because….! Because we're such different people with different families and….." But she cut me off here. "Marinette, stop. You're overthinking this. Turn that PhD side of your brain off. You're getting married; it's not the end of the world. If anything, it's the start of your world." "I sure hope you're right…"Though I had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't.
Alya chuckled on her end of the line. "You just need to get some sleep. Everything will look different in the morning. Just think! You'll be having breakfast with Adrien tomorrow! Eeeeeeeek!" "You mean Adrien, my parents, Mr. Agreste, his assistant….." "Well, no situation's perfect. But you and Adrien will get to have lots of "alone time" in the future, if you catch my drift," you could feel her sly grin emanating from the speaker. "Ugh, Alya!" I stuck out my tongue. Ew, gross! I barely know Adrien! I'm not gonna start fantasizing about him now. If you haven't picked up on it already, I'm a rather shy girl. It took me and Cat Noir over a year just to start holding hands regularly once we started dating, and that was nine years ago. Of course Ayla had no way of knowing about that. As far as she was concerned, I was still a sweet, innocent, virginal creature who's never had an impure thought in her life. Well, I mean she's not totally wrong….
Hard to get down to business when your boyfriend's always wearing his cat suit.
I rolled my eyes when she chuckled one last time. "Give it time, girl. You'll have your "spring awakening" soon enough." "You're talking about my fiancé." "So?! Aren't you supposed to be attracted to your future husband? It'd be a hell of a lot better if you were." "I just want to survive living under my father-in-law's roof….. Bonding can come later," though I doubt it will- for me anyway. Alya sighed. "You worry too much. Just take it easy and go to bed. Like I said, things will look better to you in the morning." "I sure hope you're right," cause from where I'm standing right now, things look pretty grim. "We'll talk about it more tomorrow at the workshop. You're still coming in, right?" "That's the plan. That is, unless my new father-in-law forbids me from leaving the house," I wouldn't put it past him. "No way. He's not gonna get in the way of your education. Wasn't that one of your conditions for entering your engagement? That you could finish your PhD?" "Well yes, but….." "But nothing! Stop thinking- go to bed. And take a picture of Adrien for me tomorrow!" "At least one of us is happy with all this. Good night, Alya; I'll see you tomorrow," I rolled my eyes. "Night, Marinette! Remember- smile." "I'll try. Night," click!
Sighing dryly once more, the hand holding my phone fell down from my ear. My gaze wandered back outside into the unlit garden down below. The white silk curtains lightly fluttered in the cool evening breeze from the open door. My face was solemn and sullen, showing no emotion whatsoever. I was already emotionally spent for the day. All the while Tikki had been quietly listening as she sat on the bed, observing me with palpable sadness.
"You ok, Marinette?" She eventually inquired. "No….." Tossing my phone onto a nearby chair my hand covered my face. Tikki flew over to where I was in the room. She had on that adorable, reassuring smile of hers. "Adrien seems nice." "He is; too nice…" Tikki perked up a bit. "Maybe you two can be friends! Even if you don't love him, you at least learn to like him." "That's not the problem, Tikki. You're not supposed to "like" your husband," my arms flung out in front of me. "But you didn't ask to be in this relationship either. You can't force yourself to love someone you don't." "But what about Adrien and… and you-know-who? It's not fair to either of them." "It's not fair to you either. Mr. Agreste didn't know that you had a boyfriend when he purposed the marriage. You've been very secretive about your relationship with Cat Noir." "I have to be! You know that no one can find out about us. It'd be too dangerous for both of us if our secret got out," bad for me but mostly bad for Cat Noir. Any villain would love to use me against him- me in civilian form, I mean- and the media would have a field day. And the reverse is also true. No, we've had to keep everything to ourselves because of that…. whether we like it or not.
Tikki flew closer to me. "So if your relationship is supposed to be secret, what were you going to say to Adrien earlier tonight then?" "I was going to tell him I'm in love with someone else; not WHO I'm in love with," I looked back at her. "Don't you think that's something he'd want to know?" "Yes, but what other choice do I have? I want to be honest with Adrien, but I have to keep Cat Noir safe too." Only then did Tikki's face lighten up; she giggled a bit, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh, Marinette. You're always trying to do the right thing. That's why you're the chosen one." "It's not easy….." "Being a good person is never easy all the time, but you're doing a pretty good job so far." "Thanks, Tikki. I needed to hear that," I gave her a smile. She flew over to cuddle up against my cheek, kissing it softly. "Don't worry, Marinette. It's like Cat Noir and Adrien both said: everything's going to fine. You'll see." "Everyone sounds so sure about that except for me. Why am I the only one who feels constantly at war with myself?" "Because you're in love, and love's never easy either." "It is…. with Cat Noir," my eyes lowered to the ground. Tikki lifted up my chin in an attempt to lift my spirits. "Please don't worry, Marinette. You're not alone with this; I'm here for you. And by the sounds of it, they're here for you too. I bet that Adrien wants you to be happy; he doesn't seem like the type of guy who'd ever want to see you suffer. And Cat Noir…. Well, you already know about him. You two were made for each other.
Your souls met long before your eyes did."
