Rumors

"Honestly, Al, I couldn't believe it!" Zhi Ruo ranted on the phone as she strolled down the streets of Paris, not caring on putting her sunglasses in her face to hide her identity. People were staring. "John is a sweetheart comparing to this Pierre guy! I've never felt so insulted in my life!" She had just left the first date with a guy from Red Thread. It was the third time that month. Meaning that the three last dates she had with three different 'civilians' had ended up being a complete disaster. So much for the Red Thread of Fate.

Zhi should have been accompanied by a bodyguard.

"That does sound bad," Alice's voice came out of the phone, sounding very guilty.

"It was even worse than the weird red-headed guy! Seriously, Al. I didn't think there could be worse than that, but there is. The streets are becoming more dangerous by the minute!" She said dramatically, trying to make her friend feel better, "And you, Miss, don't ever, I mean NEVER, open an account on a dating app, 'cuz you are the best at picking creeps." Alice laughed on the other side of the line, "I mean it! They were all good looking and all, but the three of them were complete psychos."

"What about the other two?" Asked Alice, hopeful.

"Both of them started mocking me, saying that there was no way they'd believe that I'm Zhi Ruo. So I showed them through video call, and then blocked them."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Well, I'm going to delete my Red Thread account today." She informed, "If this dating app is my only shot at Happily Ever After, I'll pass. I prefer to live alone than to go through another one of these excruciating dates."

"I understand..." Alice answered gloomily.

"Cheer up, Al... It's okay. You were only trying to help!" Said Zhi finally arriving home, and taking out her keychain from her purse.

Ping.

"Oh, goodness, I think Pierre is texting me again." She groaned in exasperation and taking a moment to look at her phone's screen.

"Seriously?" Alice held a disbelieving chuckle.

"Yes. I just received an incoming notification from Red Thread." Zhi said, closing the gate after entering her house's front garden. "I'm going to tell him to shove it. And then I will probably change my phone number. Talk to you soon, Okay?"

"Yes! Don't forget to tell me your new number, though. Kisses!" Answered Alice, containing her laughter.

"Bye!" Said Zhi, before she hanged up.

She entered her house, closed the door and let her bag and jacket fall on the armchair in the entrance hall. Her house wasn't too big — for a millionaire. It was modern mixed with old, which made it beautiful and cozy. The hall was tiny and led to the living room, upstairs or to the service bathroom. The kitchen was opened to the living room giving the impression that it was bigger than it actually was. And upstairs she had two bedrooms with a bathroom each. Her favorite part was the well-raked garden that surrounded the house.

Zhi Ruo climbed the stairs and decided to take a bubble bath to relax, before looking at her phone. She carefully made pigtails on her hair, an habit she had caught while playing Marinette, and she entered the bathtub, now full of bubbles. She sighed, thinking she couldn't handle more idiotic incomes today. Maybe she didn't even have to check her texts in that number anymore. She could simply switch numbers and ignore what had happened in that month, dating wise. Her first month of real vacation in the last two years and she had spent it trying to find herself a date. It was just pathetic. She hoped that none of the guys she had taken out on a date called the press. She hadn't been exactly polite with the last one. Maybe she should text him back and be nice... She blatantly groaned A life of a public figure is hard. She really hadn't thought this through.

All because she couldn't give her heart easily like she used to...

Thanks a lot, Adrien Devereaux.

More than eight years had passed and she still thought of that stray way more often than she'd care to admit.

She had a type, alright: good looking jerks.

Cursing her luck under her breath and wishing for the hundredth time she had a Kwami named Tikki to give her instructions and advice on what to do, she sighed and got out from the bath.

But the freaking phone was ringing again. She'd left it in her jacket, on the entrance hall, but she still could hear it.

Without caring the slightest with the incoming call, she slowly cleaned the remained water from her body, left half naked to her bedroom, and started getting dressed.

Her room was beautiful, her favorite room in the house. The furniture was white and very princessy like, with some lapis-lazuli gemstone on the handles. The paper on the walls was light blue and had a beautiful floral texture to it, that was mostly noticeable with daylight.

And... The phone was ringing again.

Repressing a sigh, Zhi pushed her t-shirt down her head and strolled downstairs barefoot.

Shoving her hand in her jacket's right pocket, she grabbed her ringing phone and looked at the screen.

Charlotte Roy

Rolling her eyes and smirking, Zhi Ruo hit the answer button.

"Hello!"

"Léi!" She heard her manager call, "You finally picked up!"

Zhi chuckled softly, walking to the living room, "I'm on vacation, aren't I?"

"Yes... But I'm sure you wanted to hear this."

"Okay. Shoot." She said shrugging.

Charlotte made a pause or effect and... "Miraculous is back! And they want YOU." She squealed and laughed over the phone, "Of course they want you! No one could play Marinette Dupain-Cheng better than you-"

"But I'm a bit old to play a 14-year-old, aren't I?" Zhi giggled at Charlotte's enthusiasm. That was what made Charlotte such a great manager. They'd been together since the beginning, and Charlotte was the best. Super funny, hard worker, very professional when needed to be, trustworthy and she had become somewhat a friend to Zhi, which was a rare thing to happen. Zhi could count her true friends with the fingers of her right hand.

"Ah! But that's the best part! They aren't remaking it. They are continuing the story! Meaning, Ladybug has now 25! Your age!" Charlotte said, "Anyway, can I come over? I want to tell you the details in person! I'm so excited!"

"Sure. Do come over. Want to have dinner here?"

"Yes! I'm on my way! Don't forget, I'm a vegetarian!"

Zhi chucked and nodded, "Roger that."

"Be there in thirty!" And she hanged the call.

Zhi exhaled, looking at the phone, feeling butterflies settling in her stomach. She knew she had to accept the part. It was the best for her career.

When Miraculous series had ended, she knew she probably would never have a part in such a successful production — she'd never imagined that she'd be Mulan from Disney a few years later. But now Miraculous was back and they wanted her to play Marinette Dupain-Cheng again. How lucky can one be in a lifetime?

But, if they wanted her... That meant they wanted Adrien as well. And she did not want to see Adrien again.

Zhi Ruo started to cut the vegetables to make dinner for herself and Charlotte.

They'd filmed the last scenes of the last Miraculous movie when Zhi and Adrien finally decided to date. It wasn't official, but it was serious. At least for her. But not for him, apparently. Alice had caught footage of Adrien scandalously making out with a random girl in the studio perimeter and had told Zhi all about it. When Zhi tried to confront him, he had refused to talk to her, and that had been the end. Besides being a traitor, he was also a coward. Zhi had sworn to never fall for someone like that ever again.

She had played that conversation over and over again in her head, and something about it kept deeply bothering her... His words. He had opened his front door just to say "Don't talk to me. Ever again." As if he was the one who'd gotten hurt. Back then she had felt really humiliated and, worst than that, stupid. She had come to his house, demanding an explanation, giving him a slight chance to redeem himself, and he had just been... A jerk.

Her heart was broken in tiny little pieces and she had taken way too long to puzzle them back together. She still wavered at the thought of seeing him again. She had lost more than the love of her life that day. She had lost her best friend.

She wiped the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes with her forearm and focused on the good part of the situation! She was going to be Marinette again! She was going to reunite with the old gang! She was going to work with Alice again! Alice would rejoice to the thought of seeing Simon again! Everything was going to be perfect!

Ping.

With a reluctant sigh, she cleaned her hands and picked up her phone. She had a two new incoming text from Red Thread. She opened it to see what Pierre wanted now, but the text wasn't from Pierre.

She blinked at the phone.

[18h43 Today]

Why on earth would someone want to pretend to be Zhi Ruo Léi?

[19h24 Today]

I'm sorry if I was rude. But I'm sure that, whoever you are, you can do so much better than Léi...

Zhi stared at her phone, and her eyebrows slowly frowned. She had thousands and thousands of fans, she knew she had haters too... Everyone who's this famous has haters. But this person... Chat_Noir_999 — Oh, the irony — didn't seem to hate her fanatically. He seemed to hate her like she had made something to make him hate her. A personal hatred.

She wondered if she should type something back. She wanted to know why this person seemed to loathe her so much. But she also wanted to quit the app, so she decided against answering. It wasn't worth it.

Instead, she wrote a quick and sweet (It was hard when all she wanted was to insult the guy) apology to Pierre, to avoid further complications. She put her phone down and deciding to look for a new one after dinner — hers was ancient — and a new number. With that, Zhi turned back to cooking the vegetarian meal.

The thing was... That text was really bugging her. Not just because the guy didn't believe she was Zhi Ruo Léi, but because he seemed to hold a grudge against her. She thought about video calling him, like she'd done the other two smartasses, but something inside her begged her not to. What if, for some unknown reason to her, the guy really had reasons to hate her? Her biggest fear was to let down her fans... And the guy seemed like a decent guy... She didn't want to know the reason this person hated her. Or did she?

She looked at the phone, resting quietly above the table.

Her heart started beating faster as she stared at the white device.

And the bell rang, making her jump.

She laughed at her own silliness and rushed to open the door.

"Hiiii!" Charlotte gave her an excited hug as she was entering the house and Zhi hugged her back giggling, "It's been so looong!" Said Charlotte, making the word long sound way longer than it is.

"It's not been THAT long." Giggled Zhi, breaking the embrace to look at her friend and manager.

"Oh, shut up! Three weeks is LOOOONG!" Said Charlotte, as if it was obvious and Zhi was just too slow, which made the last laugh. Charlotte followed Zhi to the living room and placed her coat and purse on the sofa. She audibly breathed in, "Hummm! Smells so good!"

Zhi went back to the kitchen, laughing, "I hope you like it."

Charlotte walked to the kitchen and leaned on the counter, "You're not going to ask, are you?"

"What for!?" Laughed Zhi, "You are about to tell me anyway! So, I'm all ears."

Charlotte groaned, "Fine!" Her face shifted from amused annoyance to extreme excitement in less than a second, as she squealed and blond-clapped her hands, "Miraculous is going to be back!"

"So I've heard," Chuckled Zhi, entertained with her friend's expressions. She'd joked about it, but she'd missed Lottie too, "Where do I sign?"

Charlotte gave a little screech and hugged Zhi again. "I'm so glad! I was worried you didn't want to,- You know-... Because of...-" Adrien, yeah. Zhi completed in her head, "But I'm sooooo happy that you want in! You realize this is game-changing, right? One thing is to play teenager Marinette, another is young adult Marinette! Thomas Astruc already talked to me about it, and they are making it way darker now. He wants to meet us in two weeks!" Thomas Astruc was the Screenwriter and Director of the Miraculous Series. Zhi grabbed two plates and started setting the table, but Charlotte quickly took over, since Zhi was cooking, "There's a catch, though." She said, distractingly, "The filming starts before 'Where the flowers grow's ends. That means double filming in the last slash first month and no break between them."

Zhi made her right eyebrow go up and smirked, "You think I can't do it?"

"No! I mean... Yes, you can, but you don't have to. It will be exhausting if you do..." Said Charlotte, looking at Zhi. She looked alarmed and Zhi knew why.

Well, she is right to be...

"Yes, Lottie, but I won't give up on 'Where the flowers grow'." Zhi said, confirming all of Charlotte's fears. "First, because it wouldn't be correct to do it." Charlotte was about to say something, but Zhi cut her even before she started, "Second, because I really want to do this part! I've never played a part on a drama, and now is my big chance! I won't ruin it, not even if it means I won't sleep for one month."

Charlotte knew there was nothing to be done about it. When Zhi decided something, she normally went through with it. She exhaled, resigned. "Okay, I will see if I can negotiate to make the 'Miraculous' filming compatible with 'Where the flowers grow'."

Zhi smiled widely, "You're the best!"

"I know." Charlotte sighed, smiling at Zhi.

"Let's eat!" Zhi said, excited, starting to serve the plates.

"This really smells delicious," Said Charlotte as they sat on the table.

"I hope it tastes as good." Chuckled Zhi Ruo.

Charlotte took a bite and nodded, "It's better! You gotta give me this recipe."

"Sure!" Smirked Zhi, "First you cut some bacon into little pieces-"

"B-Bacon?" Charlotte was suddenly white and her eyes so big that Zhi feared they'd pop out of her head.

Zhi was planning on taking the joke further, but the look on Charlotte's face made her crack with uncontrollable laughter right away.

Charlotte's smile reappeared, "Very funny." She said dryly, as she watched Zhi bend over, snorting. Charlotte giggled too. Zhi's laughter was contagious.

Once the laughter finally calmed down, Charlotte decided that if Zhi could make fun of her she wasn't going to pity the girl. She had the right to make fun of her too.

"Are the rumors true?"

"Which ones?" Asked Zhi, wiping a tear from her face.

"That the famous Zhi Ruo Léi is using a dating app to find a partner!?" Charlotte snorted.

Zhi blushed a very dark shade of red.

Charlotte's eyes widened, "Oh my god! They are!" Her eyes moved to Zhi's phone, still on the counter where he'd left it, "Who are you and where is the real Zhi Ruo?"

Zhi chuckled, "It was an impulse. Believe me, if I knew what I was getting in to, I wouldn't have let Alice convince me to do it."

"Don't pin the guilt on someone else!" Laughed Charlotte, "You should have come to me for that, girl! I would have created a reality show with it! 'Zhi Ruo, The Bachelorette!' We'd be covered in cash right now! And you could have a decent guy to date!"

"I keep forgetting you are worse than Alice!" Snorted Zhi.

Charlotte laughed and gave her a nod, agreeing, "And I'm way more resourceful!"

"That's what makes you so dangerous!"

Zhi Ruo couldn't sleep.

Charlotte had left and Zhi'd stayed up for a while, ordering her new phone and number. After that, she'd gone straight to bed, feeling tired. But she'd spent the last hour tossing and turning. Staring at the darkness.

She had deleted her Red Thread account, but now she couldn't stop thinking about Chat_Noir999 and his words.

Why?

Zhi Ruo had many regrets in life, but none of them regarding her fans. She loved her fans, and she always gave her best regarding them. She personally responded to all her mail and letters! She always took pictures and gave autographs when asked of her... She would do almost everything for her fans... Why would this person, that was obviously a Miraculous fan, detest her to the point of sending her a text when he didn't believe she was Zhi? Why? What was the point?

Groaning loudly, Zhi got up, turned on the lights and reached for her phone.

She downloaded the Red thread app and opened it.

The 'Do you want to recover your account?' question popped out on her screen. Slowly exhaling, she hit the Yes button.

There wasn't much to recover. Before she deleted the account she'd erased manually every answer to every question, her profile picture and her basic information such as name and age. All that was left to 'recover' was her username: Buggzhinette.

She hit the search button and searched Chat_Noir999. A profile similar to hers appeared, but Chat_Noir999's profile had a picture. Of a black kitten.

Zhi Ruo rolled her eyes and smirked.

What kind of dating app is this?

And who would go on a date with someone that had a fanatic username, and a cat's profile picture, and no profile information?

Remembering his words, she hit the private message button and typed a reply.

What do you think so far? Do tell, cuz I live for my reader's comments XD (I have a problem, I know. Ahahah)

I really hope you enjoyed this,

Lots of love,

AuriMoon*