The moment Marinette sat down in her seat, Alya tugged at her friend's shoulder and, with eyes filled with excitement, asked, "Well, what did he say?"

"Nothing really," Marinette replied with a smile that bothered Alya for some reason.

"He just wanted help writing something."

Alya was confused. Adrien had pulled Marinette over to the side to ask her to help him write something? That just sounded wrong. He could've just asked her in class. What could be so secret? "What did he want help writing?"

Marinette just smiled apologetically and said, "I'm sorry Alya, but he asked me not to tell anyone, even you and Nino."

Secretly, Marinette was glad Adrien had made her promise that, because she didn't know if she could talk about it without giving Adrien at least a hint of how sad she was. Luckily, the bell rang just as Alya opened her mouth to say something.

After school, Marinette ran home as fast as she could. Firstly, because she didn't want to answer any of Alya's questions. Secondly, because she had to "clean" her room before Adrien came, by which she meant she had to take down and hide all the pictures she had of him and change her computers wallpaper.

Marinette smiled at her parents as she walked into the bakery, and was about to walk up to her room when her mom called her back. "Sweetie, we just got an order for a hundred macaroons. Could you please help your father while I'm at the front with the customers?"

Marinette thought for a moment. She had to clean her room, but Adrien was going to come at 5:30 as he had a photo shoot, and it was only three.

"Sure. I'll be right down," she said and went to put her bag in her room, and to let Tikki out.

Tikki flew out the moment Marinette opened her purse and looked at her worriedly. " Marinette, are y-" she began in her cute, high-pitched voice but her friend cut her off.

"I'm fine Tikki, really. Now come on. These macaroons won't bake themselves, you know."

She smiled as she held her jacket open for her kwami. Tikki shot one last worried look at Marinette before zooming in.

Marinette was greeted with the welcoming scent of freshly baked macaroons the moment she set foot in the bakery. The scent made her smile, and she made a mental note to grab some for Tikki and Adrien. Adrien- she couldn't stop thinking about him, but she also knew that thinking about him won't help her bake macaroons.

"Oh good, you're here," her Papa said when she came in. "How was your day?"

"It was okay, just the usual," his dark-haired daughter replied. "So, what do you want me to do?"

He set about giving her instructions which she followed without making any mistakes (except dropping a bowl full of flour all over herself and her father, which was why both of them looked like ghosts.)

At about 4:30, just after placing the last batch in the oven, her phone rang. She was a bit surprised to see that it was Adrien who was texting, considering he should've been at his photo shoot.

She stepped up to the window so her father wouldn't be able to read the text (he could be a bit nosey sometimes) and opened it.

"Hey Marinette, photo shoot got cancelled because of the sudden rain. I'll be there in about 10 minutes. Thought I'd let you know."

10 minutes! She had to clean her room and change her flour-covered clothes. What was she going to do?

She rushed to her room and her hurriedly took down all the pictures of Adrien, changed her wallpaper and the rushed into the bathroom to get changed and cleaned up. She heard at the bakery door open just as she stepped out. "Marinette, someone's here to see you," her mother called.

"Coming!" she said running down the stairs. "Come on up, Adrien," she said to the blonde model, as she got to the bottom, who smiled sheepishly at Marinette's parents before following her upstairs.

When he entered her room, he noticed something was different. Maybe it was the flour marks all over the room. But that wasn't it. The room was missing the energetic, optimistic, uh, Marinette feeling. Marinette may be a bit clumsy, but she always had a positive energy around her. That's what the room was missing, Adrien thought. Even Marinette looked a bit low on that energy, though she was smiling kindly.

"Would you like something to eat before we get started?" she asked sweetly. "Sure," he said, even though the answer was obvious. No one, not even his father, could resist at least one of the Dupain-Cheng's tasty treats, and he could smell the sweet scent of freshly baked macaroons drifting upstairs. As he sat down on the bed, he got a whiff of something that smelled very familiar. For some reason, the scent made him smile and reminded him of his lady.

She was the reason he was here. He had been saving Paris with Ladybug for almost a year now, and he had loved her since day one.

The idea of having friends had given him courage to go to school the first time, but after meeting and falling in love with Ladybug, he had sent some of her confidence and determination slip into him. If it hadn't been for her, he would probably still be homeschooled.

Marinette walked in with a plate full of delicious looking, and smelling, macaroons. It took every bit of self-restraint in him to stop him from jumping on those tempting macaroons. He almost felt like they were taunting him by the speed they reached him as he followed them with greedy eyes.

"Thank you," he said, taking the plate from her hands, making it look like he wasn't dying for one. The macaroons seems to melt into his mouth. He felt like he was floating. Marinette laughed a little at his cute, blissful expression.

"What?" He asked after swallowing. "They're just so good."

Marinette blushed a little, and thanked him.

"Wait, did you make these?" looking at her with disbelief. She nodded and mumbled something about making that batch before looking nervously at him. For a moment, She had forgotten why he was there in the first place.

"Marinette," he said, picking another one from the plate, "They're amazing."

She thanked him and the happy expression on his face as he took another bite reminded her of the letter, and she felt a sudden pain in her chest.

" so Adrien," she said with a heavy heart and brave smile, " What's the name of the girl you're writing the letter to?"

"Oh, uh," he said a bit nervously after shoving the macaroon down his throat, "About that, Well, I kinda want to keep it a secret, at least for now, and I can't tell anyone, not even you. It's not that I don't trust you, I just can't tell you."

Marinette nodded in an understanding way and jokingly said, "Is her name Juliet?"

Adrien laughed. Marinette had a way of making everyone feel better when they were feeling awkward or sad. He admired her for this quality. He remembered the time she had come over to work on a presentation. He had been really sad that day because his father had yelled at him for no apparent reason. He felt like it was natural for him and his father to be sad as it was his mom's birthday and she wasn't there. Marinette had baked him cookies, at the risk of making their science teacher mad, and had even taught him the basics of baking. He was glad his father hadn't been home. Then they had worked on the presentation with a new enthusiasm and had gotten a 98%, and their classmates had been really impressed by Marinette's designs.

Adrian was still thinking about that night when there was a knock on Marinette's door. Marinette excused herself and came back a few moments later.

"Sorry about that. Maman was just telling me that she and Papa are going to my aunt's house because she is sick," she said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Adrien said. He wasn't really sure what to say in a situation like this.

"It's okay. Anyway," she said, trying to ignore her pain, "We should get started on the letter."

"Right," the blonde said, as if the thought had just occurred to him.

"What's she like?" The half Chinese girl asked the blonde as she went to her desk to get a pen and pad of paper. She came back and sat down next to Adrien, who seemed to be looking for the right words.

"Well," he began, not quite sure what to say. There were no words in any earthly language to fully describe his lady.

" She-she's amazing. She's smart, and kind, and confident, and she's calm in tough situations, and she can be dead serious or really playful, depending on her mood and the situation, and she's always determined to reach her goal and-" he sighed happily and a dreamy expression came on his face, "she's beautiful."

Every word was torture for Marinette, but she knew she had to stay strong, for Adrien's sake. She did sound amazing, and Adrien thanked her when she told him. Even though it was heart wrenching for her to even imagine Adrien with someone else, she knew she was doing the right thing. She knew Adrien loved this girl, whoever she was, with all of his heart, and she also knew that he would be happy only when he was with her.

"We should start working," she told him. At about seven, after two hours of hard work (and, in Marinette's case, almost unbearable pain) they were done. They had left the opening and closing lines empty because, as Adrien told her, he was going to write their nicknames, which if he told Marinette, she could easily figure out the receiver of that letter. They had done the rough draft (about 10 papers crossed over and over) on a pad of paper and copied the final letter on a piece of red paper Adrien had in black pen.

Suddenly, Adrien's phone rang and he took it out to answer. He got a bit nervous when he saw it was Nathalie who was calling.

"Hi Nathalie."

"Hello Adrien, I have sent the driver to pick you up at the bakery. He will be there in five minutes. Be ready."

"Thanks Nathalie. I will, bye."

"Goodbye"

Adrien sighed as he put his phone in his pocket. He wanted to spend more time with Marinette. He noticed that she was packing his stuff up.

"Oh, you don't have to do that!" he said, trying to take his things from her. She smiled at him, but he saw the sadness in her eyes. Now that he thought about it, she had had that sad look in her eyes all evening, but he had been too distracted to notice. She had been about to say that it wasn't a problem when he edged a bit closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Mari, are you okay?" he asked, the same way he had asked her in the morning.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired," she said, still smiling. For some reason, this answer didn't satisfy him.

"You sure that's it?"

She nodded, but she still wasn't convinced.

"C'mon. Your car will be here soon," she said, trying to change the subject. Adrien decided to let it go for then, but he knew he wouldn't be able to rest until his curiosity satisfied.

Marinette's parents weren't home when they went downstairs. Marinette remembered something just as Gorilla stop the car. "Wait here," she said to Adrien and ran back inside. She reappeared outside a minute later with the box with the Dupain-Chengs bakery logo on it.

"Here," she said handing the box to Adrien.

"Maman packed some macaroons for you before she left."

Adrien gratefully reached out to take it from her. Time seemed to have stopped. Adrien's hands were on top of Marinette's as they both held the box. Everything seemed to hold it's breath. It was almost as if their's were the only soles under the beautiful evening sky.

Gorilla coughed, bringing them both back down from the stars which were now appearing above them.

"Thanks Mari," Adrien said, slowly backing into the car. He waved at her from the window as the car drove away, and Marinette slowly waved back.

"Oh Adrian," she said to him as the car turned a corner and went out of sight, "If only you knew how I love you."