Marinette furrowed her brow, a small groan emanating from her throat as she could feel the warmth of the sun permeating from the curtains of their bedroom.

She could still smell the aroma of rain from the open window and she was glad that the storm was over. She didn't know how to convince Adrien to go to bed, but she heard him mumbling throughout the night.

He tossed and turned.

He whined and whined until he eventually fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, Marinette would wrap her arms around him and draw him close.

She didn't know what time he'd consider talking to Kagami, but she knew that part of his insomnia wouldn't stop until he had fully confronted Kagami and heard her side of the story and finally get some closure.

Marinette had stayed up most of the night with him, refusing to sleep until Adrien was calm enough to sleep. She had felt incredibly guilty, worried that he wouldn't get enough sleep for his early morning modeling gig.

The young woman made sure to take a mental note to talk about taking some time off. They both certainly needed it.

Marinette slipped her hands more so underneath the bedsheets, her heart sinking as they came up empty. She didn't want to sleep through him waking up for work, but Adrien was too mindful. He made sure to prepare himself for work without making any noise so she wouldn't wake up.

She sighed, lifting her head up and glancing at the disheveled bedding with a grimace.

"Adrien..." she whimpered, rolling on her back and glancing up at the ceiling.

She mindlessly reached for her phone at the bedside table, her fingers curling around the mobile device as she used one of her digits to swipe through the screen.

A warm smile spread across her lips as she opened Adrien's contact with a small blush.

"I see you've managed to sneak away from me again. I hope you won't avoid me tonight. I've been looking forward to seeing you~"

Marinette felt her heart squeeze in her chest as she reread her message over and over again before she eventually sent it.

She tossed her phone onto the side of the bed, her eyes fixated onto the ceiling as she tried to ponder what she wanted to do on her day off without Adrien.

The entire house was hers, aside from Tikki and she was well aware that Alya was pregnant and struggled to get sleep most nights. She wouldn't want to bother Alya for a cup of coffee.

She could visit her parents to see what they were up to, but it was a weekday morning, she could only assume that they were incredibly busy working the bakery.

She loved her parents, but Marinette wasn't awake enough to help them with the morning rush.

Marinette turned to her side, the breeze flowing through the open window behind her. A small frown made it's way on to her face as she recalled the look on Luka's face the night before.

She groaned, her heart immediately sinking once more the more she thought about it. It wasn't just Luka that had some explaining to do.

Marinette had some explaining to do as well.

She knew she couldn't put it off, and she wasn't sure when she'd have time to herself to explain everything to him as well as get what had happened between him and Kagami.

Marinette immediately grabbed her phone, not wasting another minute as she pulled up Luka's contact. She bit her lip, her fingers slamming into the keyboard as she hoped to the heavens that Luka was somehow awake.

It was times like this, that Marinette was thankful that she had a lovely garden out back.


Marinette blushed against the sun, she could faintly hear the birds chirping above them, and even though it was still early it had grown quite warm.

She stuck with something light to wear, one of her favorite sun dresses she had sewn for a project in school.

Her blue eyes settled on Luka who sat by the garden. He looked incredibly drained, like he had suffered another sleepless night. Marinette couldn't help but to feel for him.

She had texted him on a whim, and she was grateful that he had the time to stop by so that they could properly explain what they needed to get out there.

Marinette blushed, sitting beside him as she placed the two glasses of lemonade on the cement beside them.

Luka glanced down at the drink, the lines under his eyes deepening before he peered back at Marinette who kept her glass in her hands to take small sips.

"Your home looks amazing." Luka complimented, grabbing the second glass of lemonade off the cement. "The garden looks amazing."

Marinette smiled timidly, her fingers clenching on to her glass as she felt the air grow tense around them.

"Thanks, I think it's a bit too big, but it was a gift." She replied, sighing as she glanced back at him.

Luka hummed, his brow furrowing awkwardly as he attempted to offer her a warm smile. The male squinted in the rays of the sun, and he briefly brought the glass to his lips to take a quick sip.

"A wedding gift, I assume?" He mused, keeping his eyes away from her.

Marinette exhaled, feeling incredibly small where she sat. It did look bad, there was no doubt about it, but he didnt seem to know the half of it.

The young woman glanced down, a solemn expression on her face as she rolled the glass between her palms thoughtfully.

"Do you remember when we met up at your apartment for our first date? I said there was something I needed to tell you, but I couldn't tell you at the time." Marinette elucidated, her blue eyes remaining fixated on her drink.

Luka pressed his lips together, subtly nodding as his eyes glanced down at the memory of what they almost did that night.

"Were you meaning to tell me that you were married?"

Marinette reached up to run a hand through her hair nervously.

"It's not what you think. I've wanted to tell you for awhile, but the more I thought about it, the more it just sounded completely insane. I wasn't sure if you'd believe me or even want to stick with me through this mess..." her voice trailed off as she closed her eyes.

"The marriage between me and my husband isn't real. We didn't marry for love. My great grandfather contracted my hand in marriage to the Agreste family so that they can receive jewels that's been in my family for ages. Apparently these jewels were some sort of relics. Adrien's father really wants those jewels, so if I didn't follow through with the marriage, he'd be able to sue my parents. I didn't want my parents to lose everything they had."

Luka furrowed his brow, his eyes moving over towards Marinette who fumbled with her glass of lemonade nervously.

Marinette felt her heart squeeze in her chest and her mouth felt dry. She took a stiff gulp of her drink with wide eyes. Even hearing it come out of her mouth, it sounded completely insane. Even she wouldn't believe something like that.

"So...you were forced to marry someone you didn't know so some random guy could get jewels for a seriously old contract?" Luka reiterated, his eyes blinking as he tried to take in what she had told him.

"Arranged marriages are still a thing?"

Marinette blushed deeply, her heart racing as she nodded.

"Y-Yeah. It's still a thing in some places and yes; I had to marry Adrien Agreste via contract so that his father could get the jewels. We never treated it as a real relationship because he had a girlfriend for four years. He was already in a serious relationship, and he was loyal." Marinette explained, her heart aching in her chest as she recalled the memories of Adrien and Kagami. "When I met you, Adrien and I had plans to divorce so he and Kagami could continue their relationship and I would be free to start my own. I really wanted to tell you, but I thought that by the time you and I started something official, Adrien and I would have fulfilled our contract and be done."

Marinette bit her lip, her heart sinking as Luka's expression only grew more and more downcast.

"She was dating him for four years?" Luka asked, his voice quivering as it dawned on him how serious their relationship was.

Marinette frowned, subtly nodding as she reached over and placed a gentle hand on his back.

"Didn't she tell you about that?" She asked, her voice lowering to a comforting whisper.

"She didn't tell me anything, Marinette." Luka sighed, his voice cracking at the mention of her. "She literally told me nothing. I met her at one of my concerts..." his voice trailed off as he glanced down.

"I wanted something serious with her. She told me she wasn't looking for something like that at the time. We met up for small dates, and though I didn't expect the relationship to turn physical, that's just what it turned into. She seemed okay with it, and I guess I was okay for awhile." Luka paused, his eyes closing as he swallowed hard, struggling to keep himself composed.

"This went on for years. I had no idea..." Luka glanced up at Marinette his heart sinking at her horrified expression.

"I got bored with the relationship. I didn't want a relationship solely for sex. I wanted something serious, I wanted something that would grow. We were at a completely standstill." Luka glanced down quickly, his hands trembling as he held the glass tightly. "And then I saw you..."

Marinette pressed her lips together, her mind struggling to wrap around the fact that Luka had been seeing Kagami for years. She couldn't help but to wonder if she ever took her relationship with Adrien serious.

It genuinely made her sick to her stomach.

"I saw you and I knew what I wanted. My actions and feeling for you were genuine. I took a shot in the dark and I asked you out. I didn't expect you to be so receptive, but the moment you agreed to go on our first date, I immediately cut it off with her. I told her that we could be normal friends, because if anything serious happened between us both, then I wanted to do it right. I wanted to be solely loyal to you."

Marinette frowned, the wheels in her head turning. It all started to make sense.

Now that she thought about it, she did notice how hostile Kagami had gotten around the time she accepted Luka's proposal. She had recalled how Kagami claimed she took everything from her.

All Kagami did was accuse her of trying to take Adrien, when those weren't her intentions at all.

But when she started dating Luka, she had inadvertently taken Luka from her in that point in time. Marinette had no way of knowing that Luka and Kagami were a thing, as far as she was concerned, she was only dating Adrien at the time.

Marinette's chest tightened with anger. The more she pieced things together, the more she simply wanted to slam her fist into Kagami's face.

"Even after our date, I didn't hear from you. But I waited. I had every intention to wait. I called you and I called you, but there were no answers. I understand that it was an awkward encounter and I was willing to give you all the time you needed. I tried to tell myself that you were just busy." Luka continued, placing his drink to the side as he was beginning to feel sick.

"But Kagami was persistent. She'd call me constantly. I think she even showed up to my home to talk to me when I wouldn't answer. If you don't know, she's incredibly persistent. She told me that you didn't call because it was likely you found someone else. She claimed that I was being ghosted because I wasn't good enough or that I wasn't meant to be in serious relationships." Luka explained, his face going grave.

"She showed up to my home that night, and she talked about how much she missed me, about how much she was going to be here for me. She promised she wouldn't ghost me or hurt me or leave me behind. She told me she wanted me, and though I felt numb, we ended up having sex."

The male shut his eyes, reaching up to tug his hair with frustration.

"I had no idea I was ruining a four year relationship. I didn't mean for her boyfriend to hate me. I didn't mean to hurt you, I hate that I was lied to by Kagami, but I can't bring myself to hate her or anyone. I want to apologize to her ex boyfriend, but he looks at me with such a sour face. I genuinely feel like he'll kill me if I approach him."

Marinette sighed, her stomach turning. She clenched her fists, her cheeks growing red as she recalled how much Kagami pressured Adrien to have sex with her. It was pissing her off.

"I don't think Adrien hates you, but I don't think it's a good idea to approach him. He's still upset about the whole situation, and I don't think he's ready to hear the truth from you yet." Marinette murmured, running her hand up and down Luka's back with a weak smile.

"I understand that it isn't your fault. If it helps I don't hate you either, and I'm sorry I never called back..." she bit her lip, her heart squeezing in her chest as Luka glanced back towards her.

"You just made a bad judge of character, but I need you to know that you deserve better. Better than Kagami, and better than me..."


Adrien opened his eyes, the warm breeze blowing through his blonde hair.

The thin outer shirt he wore blew with the wind and Adrien tried to focus on the beautiful orange sky above him.

He wasn't sure if he was making the right choice, but he wanted to believe in what Marinette had said. There had to be some sort of closure, or he wouldn't be able to ever sleep again.

He slipped his hands into his pockets, his eyes lowering to the stones on the ground. He simply couldn't wait to go back home and starve himself for a couple of days.

He had been so anxious that whatever he ate, only came right back up. He couldn't even enjoy the tasty treats at his own wedding.

Adrien knew it only felt like the end of the world, but Marinette truly was his second chance. He wanted to get everything right this time around.

He was a little stunned to see her in the arms of Luka the other night, but he knew that there was a previous relationship between the two. He found it in himself to trust Marinette in her explanation.

Though Adrien wasn't sure if he was ready to see Luka or talk to him yet, but that opportunity surely was coming.

"Adrien."

Kagami's voice emanated from behind him.

Adrien froze, daggers shooting into his heart at the sound of her voice uttering his name.

It was like leaving home for a really long time. A home that was anything but welcoming, but this home was the only thing he ever knew.

He knew that she was no good, but because he was used to the routines with her, he was only tempted to go back.

But he was hurting and he was angry. He couldn't do that to himself.

Adrien refused to look at her, his eyes lifting up to the orange sky, relaxing into the warm breeze. He attempted to calm himself, as the sound of her voice immediately filled him with anger.

Kagami glanced at his shadow with a grimace. She was well aware that Adrien knew she was there, but refused to acknowledge her.

She did something horrible, and she only understood why he was so angry with her.

Kagami knew that if she hadn't been caught, she'd continue doing what she did, but she had a problem she couldn't control.

She only needed him to understand that.

"Adrien, I'm sorry." Kagami pleaded, her voice quivering as her face flushed. "Please, give me a second chance. I made a huge mistake and I regret everything. You know I've only ever loved you and I still love y-"

"How long?" Adrien asked, interjecting Kagami before she could say anything else. "How long have you been seeing other people behind my back?"

Kagami pressed her lips together, her heart sinking into her stomach and she glanced down immediately. Tears immediately pooled into the edges of her eyes as she knew that if she told him the truth, he would hate her. Kagami knew that if she chose to lie instead, that would only strain their relationship even more so. She could risk losing him forever.

"Adrien, please don't hate me..." Kagami pleaded, her voice cracking at the last word. "I need you to promise that you won't hate me if I tell you."

Adrien sighed, squeezing his eyes shut as he knew this was bad news.

"Kagami, how long were you doing this?" Adrien asked, his chest growing tight as the need for the answer only grew more and more.

Kagami reached up, immediately rubbing the tears from her cheeks with a panicked expression. She trembled, her fists clenching at her sides and she glanced away.

"I...I started seeing Luka two weeks after you and I started dating." She confessed, her voice growing more and more quiet.

Adrien widened his eyes, almost feeling like his soul was ejected from his body. She had been cheating on him throughout the entirety of their relationship.

She was cheating on him long before he had met Marinette and shortly after his mother disappeared.

Adrien couldn't understand how he could be so myopic. He had trusted her, and loved her for four years of his life. He was even willing to break Marinette into a thousand pieces because he put everything he had into his relationship with her.

It was completely shattering.

It was angering.

She took him as a complete fool and Adrien certainly felt like he was one as well.

"Was this relationship serious to you at all?" Adrien questioned, his voice sharp as he stepped back to glance at her.

Kagami gasped, glancing up at her heart sank. The way he spoke to her was unlike how he had ever spoken to her before. He seemed cold, he seemed angry and just completely distant. Kagami was desperate to go back to the way they were, she missed the way he was gentle, loving and caring towards her.

"A-Adrien, I did take it seriously. I loved you with everything I had. I know I fucked up but I can't lose you. My feelings for you are real and when I saw you with Marinette, I simply couldn't-"

"Marinette had nothing to do with any of this! You put her through hell, constantly bullying her and saying horrible things to her and treating her like shit, because you didn't want her around me while you were fucking some other dude behind my back for years!" Adrien yelled. "You wasted four years of my life! You lied to me, y-you got me to trust you, you got me to care about us." Adrien paused, reaching up to run his hand through his hair.

"You almost got me to marry you, to live with you, to give you my virginity, knowing that you had a knife in my back. How were you able to do all of this to me without feeling an ounce of guilt? If you really loved me or cared about me, you wouldn't have done this to me."

Kagami pressed her lips together, her chest growing tight at how Adrien spoke to her. She wanted to scream, she wanted to yell, and in fact she still hated Marinette with every fiber of her being, but she knew that if she expressed those thoughts, it would only make the situation worse.

"Adrien! I keep telling you that I loved you. I still love you!" Kagami retorted, her flushed skin growing more dark as Adrien face away from her, completely disregarding her explanation.

"I know nothing I say can deter or excuse what I did to you. I know it's awful. There are many ways I could have went about this, but I have a problem." She breathed, her chest growing tight once more. Tears pooled into the edges of her eyes once more and began to stream down her freckled cheeks.

"There are voids in me. It's hard to explain what they are but, when I was younger, my mother was so controlling. She never let me have any friends, she never let me see the fucking light of day. She controlled who I saw, who I met, who I called on my phone. I couldn't even play games, or being a normal person." She pressed her lips together, her tears growing cold on her cheeks from the breeze.

"The only good thing that came from it was that I met you through her. You were there with me when she passed away." Kagami explained, her voice strained at the memory of the death of her mother.

Adrien kept her gaze away from her, his brow furrowing as he recalled what had happened with her mother. He remembered they connected so well because both of their parents were controlling in their lives. They found comfort in each other, they understood each other on that level.

"I was completely thrown when she passed away, but for the first time in my life I had control of my life. I got to do what I wanted." She blushed deeply, her lip drawing between her teeth. "Until I lost control of that. It was all about the control. I allowed things to get out of hand, but every day I discovered new voids in mourning my mother, as well as not knowing what do to with my freedom. I had been kept away for so long, nothing I did registered. I know it's a shitty excuse, but I truly had no intentions of hurting anyone."

Adrien remained dispassionate. He didn't know what to make of it. He understood what it was like to be sheltered, to be kept away from the world. Hell, before he met Kagami, he didn't know what life was like on the outside.

He was incredibly awkward, only expressing friendship the way he knew how by reading manga and watching shoujo anime.

Even then, he was able to differentiate between right and wrong. He honestly didn't know how he should feel about the whole thing.

Especially because since he met Marinette, he was able to feel more free and like himself. She introduced him to different people, different foods and her parents were incredibly welcoming and loving towards him.

He had been showed genuine love and true friendship aside from Nino by Marinette and her family and as much as he hated to admit it, he had found himself becoming more and more drawn to her.

Each time they got too close, he'd pull away, because he felt guilty. He loved Kagami.

At least he thought he did.

"I know it'll take you some time to trust me, or even want to listen to what I have to say." Kagami continued in a low whisper.

"But I'm begging for a chance to gain your trust again. I made a huge mistake, and I swear on everything I won't make that mistake again. I know I fucked up, but the times we had were real and meant something to me. I'm still the same person from four years ago..."

Adrien widened his eyes, his heart squeezing in his chest as Kagami wrapped her arms around him.

It brought him back to old times when they'd cuddle in bed and watch movies or perhaps cuddle while watching the fireworks.

Adrien had grown accustomed to the image he had created with her, and he was in so much pain he was willing to slip back into the imagery just so he could feel a sense of normality.

While it was true that he didn't hate Kagami, he simply couldn't forgive her for what she did.

He knew that he needed some time to heal and to trust her again, but he sat beside himself on the decision of ever starting a relationship again.

His chin rested on the top of her head and he closed his eyes as Kagami whispered over and over again of how much she loved him.

But was he really okay with something like this?