Both Natalie and Gabriel Agreste are very surprised to see Chloe right behind Adrien. The young blonde asks Natalie to help arrange a room for his friend as he follows his father back to the study room, ready to answer all of his questions.
The head of house Agreste pinches the bridge of his nose, vaguely understanding the situation after listening to his son's story. Although he's not the type of person to stick their nose into someone's else business, the thought of Audrey Bourgeois slapping her daughter in front of so many people put a foul taste in his mouth. Even a strict person like himself would never do such a thing to his son in the public like that.
But then again, it wasn't right for Chloe to stir up a scene either, leaving the party without telling anyone. And then, there's that little friend of his son, Himawari Ono…
The man sighs, although he's pleased that Adriend has many good friends, the idea of him associating with either Chloe or Himawari is still bothersome to him.
"Do you understand the consequences of all of this?"
"I do, father." he nods his head "But if you ask me, I would probably do the same thing."
"How so…?"
"Well, just the thought of Chloe getting engaged to someone just to bring more power and fame to her parents is already problematic."
"She should have told her parents that she doesn't want to do it, not wait until the last minute to pull that kind of stunt." Gabriel shakes his head in disapproval.
"Even if she does, do you think her parents would accept it?"
Gabriel doesn't respond to his son's question. He knows very well that house Bourgeois would never stop to listen to their daughter's opinion. Fame and fortune are a double-edged sword, after all, one who allows greed to wield their judgment will only fall further into the pit of darkness. He, himself, understands that concept very well.
"What are you planning to do now? It's not like they're going to let this slide easily." Gabriel looks at his son "Chloe is staying here for now, but what's next?"
"I honestly don't know. We never thought that things could turn out like this…"
The man sighs as he looks at the clock. It's getting late, everyone is tired, and they can't just stay up late trying to find a solution to this big problem. Telling his son to go to bed, Gabriel decides to stay in the study room a bit longer, knowing that his wife will come to discuss this matter.
Natalie has always been a kind person, of course, she will try to find a way to help Chloe. Even if her labor day is due soon, the woman can hardly rest if this matter can not be resolved.
"Gabriel…"
Natalie walks into the room, her hand caressing the visible baby bump and smiling at her husband. Gabriel leaves his seat as he guides her to the sofa. Moving her body has become extremely hard for her due to the little bundle of joy she is carrying.
"How is she?"
"Crying then falling asleep, she must be very tired…" the woman sighs "What can we do, Gabriel?"
"It's hard to say. There is no easy solution to this matter, you should understand that, Natalie."
"I know, it just…" she looks at her husband "Even if she's a spoiled little girl, she still needs our help. When I first heard about the engagement thing, I was not pleased. For them to sell their daughter just to gain more power like that disgusted me…"
"I know. Let's get some rest first, we might be able to learn more about what's going on..."
Natalie looks at her husband, tired is visible in her eyes. With her soon-to-be-born child, taking care of house Agreste, managing her husband's work and now, trying to take care of Chloe Bourgeois has taken a toll on her physical health. Gabriel plants a kiss on her forehead and guides her back to their bedroom. Despite not wanting to be involved in this situation, he might have to for Natalie's sake.
The next morning, Chloe wakes up in an unfamiliar room. She sits up lightly, drowsily looking around before blue eyes open widely. Where is she…?
A knock on the door startles her as the blonde turns her attention to the entrance, not understanding what's going on. Where is she? Why is she here? Where is Butler Jean? So many questions pop up in her mind as her face becomes paler when the door creaks open, revealing the person on the other side.
"How do you feel, sweetheart?"
"Uh…N-Natalie…"
The woman smiles warmly at her as she sets the tray by the side table. It's almost noon, and neither Gabriel nor Adrien are at home, so she decides to bring the blonde something to eat. It's not nice to have their guest wake up with an empty stomach.
"Come now, you have to eat something. I assume that you haven't had any food since last night."
Last night…
Her hazy mind becomes clearer when she realizes that she's now at the Agreste Manor, Adrien's house. Last night, Butler Jean asked the blonde boy to take her away from Le Grand Paris. She remembers the awful shriek from her mother, how her cheek felt the burnt from the impact, how everyone was hurried to get her out of that place, how Himawari shove a piece of paper with her phone number in it, telling her to call when she is safe.
That's right…
She's here because of what happened last night…
She did not show up at her engagement party and her mother was furious…
Chloe stares blankly at the tray of food in front of her, mindlessly picking up the fork and shoving some green grapes and cheese down her throat. She has always enjoyed the food from the Agreste Manor but today, everything tastes so bitter, like she is swallowing poison instead of food. The more bites she is taking, the more she realizes the consequences of her action.
She wanted to leave, to savor true freedom, and she did that by throwing away her parent's public. Chloe feels a big lump in her throat, she pulled a stunt and threw away their reputation. What had she done…?
Natalie reaches her hand and caresses the blonde's cheek when she sees tears falling down those blue eyes.
"W-what have I done…?" she whimpers like a baby "Mother must hate me a lot now…"
"No, no… Don't say that." Natalie moves the tray out of her way before she pulls the blonde in a comforting hug "You did nothing wrong, Chloe."
"B-but… I…"
"Chloe, you're just a child. To be put in that situation is already too much for you…" the woman comforts her as she gently wipes the tears away "It's not wrong for you to want something different from your parents, you should not blame yourself for this."
But how can she not blame herself?
oThat slap last night was a wake-up call for her, a reality check that she has a duty to fulfill and that duty is to ensure her parent's success through this marriage. Maybe if she had had the courage to tell her parents that she doesn't want this, they might be able to prevent this from happening. But no, she had to choose to rebel at the last minute, pulling a big stunt and leaving her parents to clean up this big mess, she has no right to claim that she has done the right thing.
Just the thought of making her mother, the one she has the most respect for, upset already makes Chloe's stomach twisted in the most painful way. She hates this, she hates herself for being so weak. While she can bully her father all she wants, to Audrey, it's a different story.
Now, her mother must hate her a lot. Chloe has single-handedly smeared her mother's reputation in one night.
Her blue eyes glance at the crumbling paper on the side table, the one that Himawari had shoved in her hand last night as they were in a hurry to get out of Le Grand Paris. Of all the people that she thinks she can rely on, maybe Himawari is the only one she can truly trust.
Himawari…
Marinette frowns, unpleased when she hears what happened last night with Himawari and Adrien. Although she is somewhat sympathized Chloe for what she has gone through, it's not enough for the bluenette to actually care about helping her arch-enemy. The blonde boy doesn't force his girlfriend to do anything, he understands very well how much misery Chloe has caused his girlfriend and she has every right not to get involved in this.
"Himawari, why do you care so much about her? Just leave her be." she pouts "I don't understand why everyone is stressing out so much over this."
"Marinette, she needs our help. I understand that you don't like her but, right now, she has no one but us."
"It's her problem, not mine. She should have been nicer to everyone if she wants help in the first place." Marinette huffs "You guys do whatever you want, just don't get me involved in this."
With that, she takes her leave with Alya, who gives the raven head an apologetic look. Kagami and Luka look at each other, instead of saying that the bluenette is being inconsiderate, they just exhale and look at Himawari. Everyone knows that the bluenette is the biggest victim when Chloe was still a big bully at school and she is kind enough to let Adrien do whatever he wants.
"I'm sorry about that." Adrien sheepishly scratches his head "You know that they don't get along well…"
"It's okay. I just hope that she understands our actions one day." Himawari gives him a soft smile
They're sitting on the bench near the school entrance, with the raven head keeps asking how Chloe is doing and if she is okay. The image of Audrey slapping Chloe in front of so many people still imprints in her mind as she shudders, how could one parent do this? She doesn't really know…
When she told Marinette and Alya about what happened last night, she doesn't expect them to help her right away. Maybe with more brains on the team, they can think of some way to help the spoiled blonde. But with Marinette still holding a big grudge against her, it will be very hard for anyone to convince the bluenette to set aside her anger and help Chloe.
"What can we do…?" Himawari sighs "I… I honestly don't know anymore…"
"It's a difficult task to solve." Kagami looks at her friend "We have the mayor of Paris and the director of Style Queen magazine to deal with, after all…"
"Not to mention the heir of a publishing company." Adrien sighs "Too many famous people in this case…"
"But we have to do something. I talked to Chloe last night, she wanted nothing from this engagement." the raven head said "She wanted nothing…"
But her reason is not enough to make her parents reconsider the idea of turning their daughter into a young bride at the age of 16. People may say rich people can do crazy things to secure their power and wealth, but to use their own children for their personal gain? What parent can do that?
And yet, Chloe's parents don't seem to be bothered about it at all, especially her mother. That woman, just thinking out what she said to Chloe makes Himawari's blood boil. She dared to talk about her reputation and public image in front of her distressed daughter, how can she even call herself a mother if she only sees Chloe as a tool for her fame and fortune? It disgusted Himawari with the idea that Audrey can sacrifice everything for her career, even if it is her daughter's happiness.
"Oh, but that guy last night was interested in talking with Himawari and Chloe, wasn't he?"
"What guy?"
Adrien wants to tell her about the future fiancé of Chloe and what he told them last night, but the cold aura around Luka stops him at dead tracks. Kagami chuckles, amused at how the older boy sends her blonde friend a glare, a warning that he should not say anything further.
"Luka, stop glaring at him." the raven head pouts "I want to know, who's this guy you guys are talking about?"
"It's not someone you should be concerned about."
"That only makes me want to know more about him." she turns to Adrien "Who is he?"
The blonde sweatdrop, feeling stuck amidst two of his friend. He looks at his fencing partner, begging her to chime in and help him. Kagami sighs, between Luka's disapproval of breaking this news and Himawari keeps asking about this person, it's hard to decide which side she's going to support.
But Kagami is closer to the raven head than Luka, so she decides to tell her what happened last night. Ignoring the frowning face of the guitarist, she tells her about Chloe's future fiancé and how he wanted to talk to them.
"He wanted to talk to us?"
"He's talking nonsense, don't worry about it."
Himawari looks at Luka in disbelief. How could he possibly think that it's a good idea to hide this from her?
"Oh, he's your knight in shining armor, after all, Himawari!" Kagami speaks in a teasing tone.
The raven head blushes at her friend's words. It's not the right time for them to tease her like this. She steals a few glances at the guitarist sitting next to her, he wears a nonchalant expression on his face while slightly leaning onto her side, his shoulder touches hers.
Before she can open her mouth to say anything else, her phone rings, a text message appears. Himawari looks at the phone screen, her face lights up at the text she receives. It's from Chloe.
'Come to Adrien's house. I want to talk to you.'
She shows the text to Luka, who raises a brow at her. The way her eyes shine in excitement, like she is expecting him to come with her to the Agreste Manor. Luka chuckles, raising his hand to pat her head gently. A lovely blush adorns her face when she sees him nod his head. When their friends tell them that they act like a married couple, it's not a wrong assumption.
"Adrien, you don't mind us coming to your place this afternoon?"
"Oh no, not at all. We all want to help Chloe after all."
"Thank you so much. Kagami, you're coming too?"
The way Himawari's eyes stare at her makes Kagami realizes one thing about her friend, the strongest strenght of Himawari Ono is persuasion. No matter how strict a person is, when they're face to face with the raven head, she will always have the upper hand at reasoning, making them do whatever she wants.
"Such a scary girl…"
"What…?" she looks at her friend, confused.
"Nevermind. You do whatever you want, Himawari."