Hi there, amazing readers!
Thank you so much for the reviews! I really appreciate them*
I know this is a very short chapter, but I will post another one tomorrow! I had to split them, it wouldn't make sense to post them together.
I hope you like this! It's short but funny. The veil is unravelling. ^^
They know
"She sure is taking her time…" commented Simon, frustrated.
They were still at Alice's house waiting on Lucie's update. Simon was sitting on the floor, watching and rewatching that awful footage, and Alice was on the couch with her legs up.
"Maybe, when she got there, there was more damage control to do that we initially thought…" Alice wondered, distractedly biting the crust of her last slice of pizza.
Her comment did nothing to help Simon's nerves, especially because she might be right.
"They got themselves into a big mess this time." Alice continued hugging her legs and resting her chin on her knees, and Simon simply nodded, "I think we should try everything we can to untangle this misunderstanding, but maybe that idea of talking to Eloise… it might not be the best one we had so far. She will probably manage to find a way to make everything worse."
"I can understand where you're coming from, Alice, but she is the one that showed you the footage… And, right now, kind of our only lead." He sighed, frustrated, "How did she even know about this damned footage?" Simon said, turning his head to look up at Alice. She was looking right back at him. Were her eyes always this blue?
Alice was the first to break eye contact, visibly flushed. She didn't look down, but to the computer screen behind Simon's head like something had caught her eye. For a moment she appeared to forget her abashment and her face turned into a mask of shock while she stared at the screen.
"I must be dreaming" she mumbled, blinking furiously.
"What!? Why?" He asked, looking behind and seeing exactly the same footage as he'd seen on repeat since Lucie had left.
Alice delicately sat on her knees on the floor near Simon, pulled the video backwards and paused it.
"I think I know exactly how she knew about this video." Alice said fiercely and clearly a bit angry, "Tell me you see it too." She pleaded, looking at him with a hint of excitement, that caught him off guard for a fraction of a second.
"Ahm~ What am I supposed to see exactly?" He asked, confused. That part where she paused the video wasn't even a good angle on Adrien.
"Don't you recognize her?" Alice insisted, pointing at the girl.
He narrowed his eyes, looking at the girl snogging 'Adrien' in the video.
"Is that…?"
"I think it is!" Alice breathed lively, making him feel hope bubbling on his chest.
At that moment, Simon's phone started to ring. He quickly answered and put it on speaker mode.
"Lucie, we got news!" He said excitedly, making Alice giggle.
"I've got news too," Lucie answered, clearly laughing hard and not able to control it.
Simon and Alice traded a confused look, followed by a chuckle.
"Okay, spill it!" Said Alice playfully, but anxious to know what Lucie had found out that was so funny.
"Oh my gosh," Lucie giggled to the phone, making them trade one more amused glance at each other, "You won't believe what I just found out!"
"That's kind of our line, Luce! Come one, quit stalling!" Replied Simon getting a bit frustrated.
"Okay, okay! So… … …, they know." Lucie said unceremoniously, after the dramatic pause.
Alice and Simon stood quiet for a moment with similar shocked expressions on their faces, and then started talking at the same time:
"They know!?"
"What do you mean 'they know'?"
"How can you be laughing at this?"
"How did they find out?"
"Did they just found out?-"
"Did they know all along-"
"Hey, hey!" Said Lucie, giggling softly, and Alice and Simon abruptly stopped talking so they could listen, "I realise that was probably the worst way to tell you. But don't fret!" She added, quickly before any of them could interrupt her, "They know, but-*snort* they-*giggle* DON'T BELIEVE IT."
Alice looked from his phone to Simon, confused. He was smiling widely with amusement glinting on his eyes.
"Lucie, are you drunk?" He asked so calmly that Alice giggled.
"No," Lucie replied promptly and slightly offended, "although, I think that if I was, it would have been easier to relate to our dumb oblivious friends."
"Okay, I give up." He sighed, chuckling.
"I know how it sounds, Simon! But it's the absolute truth!" Lucie chuckled with incredulity.
Simon sighed once again, "Explain."
"There's not a lot to it, really," She started, making Simon roll his eyes and Alice giggled at him, "I simply asked Adrien if it ever occurred to him to ask Buggzhi-what's-her-name-"
"Buggzhinette" Alice promptly corrected.
"That! Thanks, Alice!" Lucie kept going, "I asked him if he ever asked her who she was. And he had." At this point, Lucie was clearly trying not to laugh again, "And she actually answered!"
"Wait!" Alice interrupted, "Zhi told him that she is Zhi Ruo Léi!?"
"YEEES!" Lucie burst into laughter, "And- and! Oh my god, I'm gonna die! Wait! The best part: She asked him as WELL! BAHAHAHAH!" They could tell at this point that Lucie was crying on her floor, " And! And! He TOLD HER!"
"He told his penpal that he is Adrien Deveraux?" Simon asked bewildered.
"YES! But neither of them believed the other!" Finished Lucie triumphantly.
"Wow" was all Alice could say.
"Are you sure?" Simon asked with his right eyebrow lifted.
"I am!" Giggled Lucie, "Adrien literally just told me!"
"Oh my god."
"Yes, I know… They are the most blindest-est pair in the WHOLE universe." Said Lucie, "The good news is that we don't even need to keep an eye on them. They'll never believe it!"
"I'm shocked." Let out Alice, "But I'm not sure if I completely agree with you on that 'they'll never believe' thingy… What if they schedule a meeting in person, or do a video call, or-"
"Shoot! You're right, Alice." Lucie admitted with panic on her voice, leaving Alice and Simon feeling uneasy, "When I arrived here, Zhi as Bug asked Adrien to meet. I nearly got a heart attack!"
"Oh no! Then what happened!?"
"They didn't schedule anything, but they are thinking of doing it when we are all in Paris, so I guess it will be easy-ish to make them stay apart, but it won't last long. He is playing all strong, but I know he is dying to meet her…" Lucie snorted lightly at the irony, and so did Simon and Alice. It was funny indeed now that they understood the ridiculousness of the situation.
"Hey, on the plus side, none of them can get mad at each other for concealing their identities! None of them actually lied!" Said Simon, happily.
"Hum~" Doubted Alice.
"Yeah, I don't think it's that easy, pal." Agreed Lucie.
"What! Why not!? It's the truth, both of them told the truth!" Defended Simon, outraged.
"Well, yes," Started Alice, "If they didn't' have so much story together, maybe…"
"Even then…" Added Lucie, "It was very likely that one or both of them would feel wronged."
"Yes…" Alice agreed with a nod.
Simon shook his head and sighed frustrated, "Why is everything so complicated with these two?"
Alice sighed softly and smiled regretfully. Then, without a thought to it, she picked up his hand and held on tight to it, bringing it up to her heart, as if she was trying to ease his worries, "It's not just with the two of them." Her eyes locked on his for the second time, making his heart race, "Everyone is complicated. People are complicated, right?" He gulped and nodded, feeling bewitched. Alice shrugged, flashing him a genuine smile, "That's what makes life so beautiful."
It might have been fractions of seconds, but Simon could have spent hours in that delightful quiet.
"Aww!" Sighed Lucie, not realising she was interrupting a breathtaking silence, "that was so sweet, Alice!"
Self-consciousness abruptly crashed on both Simon and Alice at the same time and they practically jumped away from each other, their faces burning.
"And you are absolutely right!" Lucie continued, clueless, "Without complications, what's the fun, right!?"
The first one to recover was Simon, who cleared his thought and laughed awkwardly. Alice simply looked down, feeling her hand, where she'd held his, burning as strong as her face. She wanted to die of embarrassment.
"So, what did you want to tell me?" Asked Lucie, finally realising the odd silence.
Simon glanced at Alice, who kept her head down, cleared his throat and said, "Ah~ Yes, we found something in the footage."
"You HAVE!? What?" Lucie asked excited for more information.
"Either Eloise has a twin sister that we don't know about, or she is the girl in the video." He answered plain and simple.
"What? Are you sure?" Lucie's voice went from excited to disbelief in a fraction of seconds.
"We are. She was wearing clothes she normally wouldn't and a wig, possibly, but I'm pretty sure it's her." He grabbed his phone and turn the camera on, "Here, I'm gonna send you the video so that you don't have to turn on the computer."
"That'd be great, Simon!" Lucie replied.
Simon recorded a bit of the footage where Eloise was most visible and sent it to her. Then, he placed the phone back on the table.
While they waited for Lucie to watch the video, Simon glanced again at Alice the moment she was glancing at him, and they both looked the other way. Simon slapping himself mentally for behaving in such an odd way in front of Alice (What the hell is wrong with me?) and Alice cursing under her breath. This made Simon look back at her with his eyes wide open and guffaw.
Alice's hands flew to her mouth as if she'd just realised that she had actually said that aloud.
"What happened?!" Lucie asked, curiosity dyeing her voice.
Since Simon kept laughing, Alice smiled apologetic let out a small chuckle.
Feeling the weight lifting off the air, they could finally breathe, Simon replied, still with traces of laughter in his voice, "Nothing happened, Lucie! Alice here was just being hilarious without meaning to."
Alice's cheeks were still pink, but she didn't look down this time, her eyes were filled with amusement and a glint of defiance, "Lucie, have you seen it already?" She asked before Lucie could pressure the matter further.
"Nop, I'm watching it… Now!" Lucie said, "Oh, my…"
"So?" Asked Simon, waiting for her input.
"Damn, you were right. It is Eloise…" Lucie said breathless, "How didn't we see this before? Doesn't matter! We can't ask Eloise about something she clearly plotted!" She rambled frustrated.
"We know, Luce," Simon agreed, "But nothing is lost. On the contrary. We might not have a plan of action anymore, but we know who did this."
"Yes!" continued Alice, "Eloise is the one that showed this footage to me, she clearly has something to do with it. And the fact that we know that now, makes it much easier to know who we shouldn't ask about it."
"That means Eloise and her minion, right?" Asked Lucie, as if to just be sure.
"Well, I meant Eloise only actually. I've heard Mattheo doesn't hang with her anymore…" Alice said, with uncertainty.
Like the good Mean Girl she was, Eloise had her tight circle of friends. Mattheo had been the only one that still kissed the floor she stepped on once the last Miraculous movies were over.
"Even if that is true, we shouldn't take the risk of talking to him about this, Alice." Lucie said with certainty, and Simon nodded showing that he agreed.
"Alright." Alice let out, shrugging, "If you think that's best…"
"Can you imagine what would happen if he told Eloise?" Said Simon clearly not looking forward to it, "It's better if we find another way."
"Fine. The truth is if it's like you said, Lucie, and they are only meeting once we are in Parise, we have some time to think and figure this out." Alice sighed defeated. She would like to give Mattheo a chance. As far as she could remember, he wasn't so bad when Eloise wasn't in the room. And he was a man now, supposedly he had freed himself from Eloise, according to Zhi who had kept in touch with him for the last couple of years. Being on friendly terms with Zhi and having worked so close to Adrien, playing Nino, maybe he could be a great help. He probably knew every detail of Eloise schemes. But if Lucie and Simon were against it, she would leave it for the time being and think about it if they had to pull a last-minute card up their sleeves.