The next day, Marinette got to work early. It was not to try to "accidentally" meet a certain tall blond model, not at all.

She went to the employee's locker room to give back the freshly washed clothes that Adrien had borrowed from her colleague Sabrina. She left them on a bench with a thank you note.

Marinette headed for the break room to put her dinner in the fridge and relax a bit before her shift. She was reading a fashion magazine and, turning the page, saw a full page Agreste's underwear ad with, of course, Adrien modeling them.

She observed the pictures, her eyes tracing the edges of his body. He was really gorgeous, with his broad shoulders, his toned body and his sun-kissed skin…

"Hey Marinette!"

Startled, she yelped and threw the magazine which landed just at Adrien's feet.

"A-Adrien! I didn't hear you coming!" she said nervously, her heart thundering from the scare she got.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you." he said, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards in a sheepish smile. He picked up the fallen magazine and handed it back to her.

"What were you looking at to be so focused?" he asked.

"H-hum… fashion… stuff…" she answered, flustered, facepalming internally at her lack of words.

"Ok. I just came in looking for someone but he's not here. See you soon!" he said, waving, before walking back towards the door.

"Ok bye… Oh hey wait!" she exclaimed.

"Yes? What is it, Marinette?" he said, turning back to face her.

"Oh uh…I-I wanted to thank you for last night. It was a great night. A-and I wanted to ask you… well… if you'd like too… hum… tell me what was your favorite pastry?" she asked, her words speeding up at the end of the sentence.

"Oh hum, the passion fruit macaron." he told her, smiling.

"O-ok! I'll go work now. It was nice to see you!" Marinette said awkwardly.

"Yes, it was pleasant." he answered, leaving the room.

"Alyaaaa… kill me please…" Marinette whined, looking at her friend's amused face on her laptop screen.

"Girl, what did you do this time?"

Marinette sighed dramatically. "I kinda got spooked by Adrien while I… I was ogling him on an underwear ad… and I threw the magazine at him…"

Alya bursted out laughing. "You did what now? Oh god! That's so… so… you! How did he react?"

"As if nothing happened… I don't know if he saw what I was looking at. I'd be mortified if he did!" Marinette answered.

"Girl, if anything, it might have made him proud to know you were not blind to his charms."

"Alya!!" shouted Marinette, blushing.

"What, it's true! Anyway, did you invite him to go on a second date like you told me you would do?"

Marinette groaned. "First of all, it was not. a. date. And… I chickened out and asked him what his favorite pastry was instead…"

"Awww girl… you'll just have to try again! Unless he asks you first." she said in a sing-song voice.

Marinette scoffed. "As if…"

Standing up, her fists against her hips, Alya lifted one eyebrow, eying her skeptically. "And who invited you first?"

"It was not a date. Anyway, I have to go. Talk to you later, bestie!"

When the conversation window disappeared, Marinette layed her forehead on her desk. How could it be possible that Adrien, who could literally have any woman he wants, would be interested in clumsy her?

It's been a week since the magazine incident and Marinette hadn't seen Adrien at all. She was convinced that he was avoiding her, probably because he was disgusted by her behavior.

She was lost in her thoughts, collecting the garbage bags on the third floor, music playing through her earbuds.

She turned around the corner to go back in the hall and she collided face first with someone and fell on her rear.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed as she scrambled to get up.

"Marinette! Are you ok?"

Of course she had to make a fool of herself in front of him, again...

She lifted her gaze, meeting gorgeous green eyes. She was certain he would be mad but she only saw concern in the way he was looking at her.

"Heeeey Adrien… I-I'm so sorry, I didn't see you… I didn't hurt you, did I?" she asked, worried."

"No, I'm fine. You, on the other hand…" he said, pointing to her left forearm.

She looked down and realized that she was bleeding. Quite a lot actually

"Oh…"

She instantly put her right hand on the wound to at least contain the bleeding. She noticed a broken glass bottle on the floor. It probably had rolled out of the garbage bag and had broken when she fell.

"Don't worry! I'll clean that up right away!" she told him, embarrassed.

He was looking at her, his brows slightly furrowed. "No. Come with me. We'll fix you up first and I'll call someone else of the cleaning crew to come over for that."

"But… I don't want to bother you… or make you lose your time!" she argued.

"It's ok. I had finished anyway." he answered, smiling at her.

Marinette followed Adrien to the break room where a first aid kit and water were available.

The man motioned for her to sit down on the sofa and got several towels and the first aid kit. He poured warm water on one of the towels and sat down beside her. He took off his suit coat and rolled up his shirt sleeves. He then picked up gloves from the kit and put them on, before setting up different items he would need on the low table.

"Here, show me." he said softly, extending his hand for her to place her arm on it.

"I… I can do this myself…" she shyly objected.

Lifting his gaze to meet hers, he sighed. "If I'm making you uncomfortable, I'm sorry. But I can't let you go like this. We need to make sure that it won't get infected and that you don't need stitches."

"No you don't make me uncomfortable, it's just… Why do you do that?..." she asked, looking away.

"Well, I can't possibly let you bleed to death, can I?" he said, smiling.

Marinette chuckled lightly. "No, what I meant is… You keep helping me with the aftermath of my clumsiness. You don't have to. I'm not even someone important for the company!"

Adrien sighed loudly. "Look Marinette. First, don't ever say you're not important, everyone is. And I can't just witness something that happens and just walk by without stopping."

"I've been clumsy all my life and the majority of people do…" she argued weakly.

"I'm not like them."

She lifted her gaze and it was met by a soft but serious look. She held out her forearm and he took it delicately. They stayed silent as Adrien gently cleaned her wound, which thankfully didn't have any pieces of glass inside. He folded a piece of gauze and applied it on her cut, before taping it.

"I think you'll need stitches." Adrien said softly. "Just let me go get my things and I'll drive you to the hospital."

"What? No, you already did a lot for me. I can take the bus or a taxi…" she told him.

"It doesn't bother me at all. No one's waiting for me anyway." he answered.

Marinette didn't know if she had imagined it but there was a hint of sadness in his tone. She nodded. "Thank you, Adrien."

When he dropped her at the hospital, he gave her his phone number and made her promise to call him when she was done so he could drive her back home. Marinette shyly agreed before entering the emergency department.

Four hours later, she was sitting in his car again.

"So, how did it go?" Adrien asked as he put the car in drive.

"You were right. I actually needed 5 stitches. And a tetanus shot." she answered sheepishly. "Oh and the doctor gave me a note because I can't work for 3 days."

"No problem. You can give it to me, I'll hand it to the HR tomorrow."

"Thank you… and I'm sorry if I kept refusing your help. I just don't want to be a bother to anyone, especially my boss' son…"

"Don't worry about it."

Roughly 20 min later, the car pulled up near the dorms. Marinette thanked him again before heading towards the building where her room was.

She stopped after two steps and turned back. Leaning towards the opened passenger window, she smiled

"I uh… was wondering if… you were busy this weekend?" Marinette asked, her voice becoming almost a whisper at the end.

"Surprisingly, not as much as usual. Why?" he answered.

She cleared her throat. "Well… i-if you'd like to, we could go to that little café again? Whenever you're free." she said, blushing.

"I'd like that. I'll check my schedule and text you tomorrow, is that ok?"

"Sure! See you soon." she said, waving at him.