A few days later, coupled with a few phone calls, and here Chloe is, sitting across from her so-called future fiancé. It would be a lie if she said she doesn't feel uneasy. The nonchalant expression he is wearing right now is unnerving, it's like with just a snap of his fingers, he can turn this conversation in his favor.
The blonde doesn't know what expression she is wearing on her face, is it fear? Is it worried? They say those who wear their heart on their sleeves usually face more difficulties in these kinds of conversations, and she wants to mask her emotions as much as possible. But when those eyes stare right into her soul like that, she can't think straight…
"Ms. Bourgeois, are you okay?"
"I…Y-yes…"
Chloe wants to bite her bottom lips, but she stops herself from doing so. Any action that illustrates her nervousness will only make this situation worse for her. And here she thinks that she has prepared for everything, what their conversation will be, how will he respond, how will she respond, and so much more. Maybe she has underestimated her power to control the conversation, maybe she is too naïve about this whole thing, maybe she…
"Ms. Bourgeois, there's nothing to be worried about." the young man speaks up, there's a hint of playfulness in his voice "I'm here all by myself, but you… You have your whole entourage with you today…"
The blonde almost flinches in her seat, she looks up to meet his teasing gaze.
But how…?
Blue eyes look in his direction, gazing at the table that is not far away from theirs. She sees the raven head answer her silent call, covering her face with a magazine in her hand, the girl nods at her. Chloe closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath. It doesn't matter if Leon Dubois is giving her a strange look, she needs to calm herself down, she can't let him provoke her like that.
"Well? Ms. Bourgeois?"
"I…Sorry for my rudeness…" she speaks up, her voice is slow and steady.
If there's anything she learns from her father, it is to speak slowly in any conversation. The key to any successful conversation is how she can effectively deliver her message and one way to do that is to hold a steady pace while speaking. Not only it shows the weight of her words but also establishes her power, making it easier for everyone to understand and digest the information she is giving.
"First, thank you for coming here to see me." Chloe looks at him "I'm very glad that you accept my invitation."
"Of course, how could I pass on a date with a lovely lady like you, Ms. Bourgeois?"
The blonde blinks several times, while she is here trying her best to hold a normal conversation, Leo seems to enjoy the idea of teasing her more.
The young man has a relaxed posture, crossing his legs while resting his hands on them, that smile never leaves his lips with a hint of playfulness in his eyes. Looking at him makes her feel so jealous, how can he look so casual when she is trying her best to maintain a calm face?
"Well, what is it that you want to talk about?"
"Oh, it's about the…arrangement…" she trails off, not knowing why.
She has been practicing this conversation for so many days, even having Himawari act as him to make the practice session more realistic, and yet, here she is struggling to get the words out.
"Is there anything that you don't like?"
"Yes, I mean, no… I mean, I…"
Great… Just great… I've made an absolute fool out of myself…
He still holds that teasing smile on his face, there's a knowing in his voice, like he understands what she is trying to say.
"Do you dislike me that much?"
"W-what? N-no, no… It's not like that…"
"But you want to talk about the arrangement?"
"Yes, I mean…" she stutters, not knowing what is going through her mind anymore.
Not far away, Himawari and her friends are sitting, observing the conversation. She lowers the magazine a little, just enough to cover half of her face with it. Amethyst eyes move from her friend's table back to Luka, who is slouching on the chair, patiently waiting for this to end. The young artist meets his gaze as she lets out a sigh, knowing that this conversation is not going anywhere.
Adrien is worried about his friend, he wants to go out there and help her, but Kagami stops him. The fencer knows very well that only Chloe can get herself out of this mess. This little chat is important and she has faith that the blonde will be able to pull it off.
"I… I…" Chloe takes another deep breath, trying to calm herself as she continues "I want to end this marriage arrangement."
When those words come out of her mouth, Leo shifts his attitude. The casual laid-back expression is now replaced by a more serious look.
"I'm sorry for saying this but I'm not ready for any of this. We're too young and I'm sure that you have someone in your mind who you want to spend your life with." she holds a steady pace, not too slow nor too fast "It's my fault for not speaking up about this in the first place. But I hope that you understand…"
The more she speaks, the more that weight inside her is slowly lifted. It has been so long since she can freely express her thoughts like this and it feels liberating. Who is here to stop her from saying things she wants to say?
"Ms. Bourgeois, do you perhaps dislike me that much?"
"No, not at all. I believe that you're a nice person. It just…" she exhales "Everything happens too fast, we don't have a chance to even get to know each other, and marriage is an important thing."
"It is…"
"I don't believe in the idea of exchanging one's happiness for power. For me, I want to spend the rest of my life with someone who I love and care about." she looks at him, her gaze softening as she speaks "I believe that you want the same thing in your partner too?"
"I do. If I can spend the rest of my life with someone I love, that would be amazing." Leo nods his head in agreement "Perhaps you have someone in your mind, Ms. Bourgeois?"
Chloe blushes at the question. She once had that person, but he is with someone else now, someone who can make him happy. It's a weird feeling and she might be upset at first, but that bright smile of his when he is with that person, it eases her heart to know that he has found his happiness.
"No, I don't…" she smiles to herself "Do you have one?"
Leo looks at her, observing for a moment. A warm smile appears on his lips, looking at it makes her face grows red… But why…?
"I do." the way he looks at her makes Chloe shifts in her seat, waiting "That person is sitting right in front of me."
The blonde stares at him, in awe. She thinks about how amazing that girl must be to catch the eyes of Leo Dubois, how beautiful and talented that girl must be, how kind and gentle that girl must be, until realization dawn on her…
Hang on a sec…
Chloe turns bright red as she looks at him, blue eyes open widely.
"W-w-what…?" she stands up from her seat, surprised and mortified at the same time.
"I like you a lot, Ms. Bourgeois. There is a reason why I don't deny this arrangement." Leo gives her a warm smile "And you don't hate me. So how about we make this work?"
"E-excuse me?!"
The young man stands up and moves toward her, Chloe flinches in her seat. He kneels down, holding her hand like a gentleman and places a kiss on top of her palm. Despite he has been doing this so many times, the blonde's reaction is nothing but a hot mess.
"From now on, please allow me to court you properly, Ms. Bourgeois." Leo smiles against her skin, satisfied to see how red the blonde is "Let's get to know each other very well."
Steam comes out of her head, her face grows various shades of red, and her body heats up from the confession. This person, she can't believe what just came out of his mouth. She is here to deny the marriage arrangement and yet, right now, he is kneeling down and asking to court her.
"I…" she stutters before making a full-blown of her iconic catchphrase at him "This is ridiculous! UTTERLY RIDICULOUS!"
With that, Chloe grabs her purse and runs away, her face is as red as a tomato. Leo smiles to himself, there are some arrangements that need to be made on his end now…
Himawari watches the whole scene, her eyes open widely at how fast the situation just flipped on Chloe. And here they're all thinking that their blonde friend can pull through this. She looks at her friends, Adrien is blushing madly at the confession, Kagami is looking quite surprised at the turn of this event, and Luka…
Let's just say that he's totally lost it…
The guitarist tries his best to hold back his laugh and he fails miserably. Never in his life had Luka thought that he would witness this whole thing and Himawari has to pat his back lightly as he almost chokes on his own laugh.
"Well…I guess it's a success?"
"You have some weird positive thoughts in your head, you know that?" Kagami shakes her head, baffled at her friend's understatement of the day.
When Chloe runs back to the Agreste Manor, she is greeted by Natalie, who gives her a warm smile and asks how everything happened. The blonde wants to tell her, but when she remembers how the conversation ended, her face turns bright red.
That guy…He just confessed to her in front of everyone's eyes…
She can't believe it. This is a big stretch, even to her own imagination. How can he possibly say that to her when she was there to turn down the marriage?
Chloe holds the pillow tight to her chest, slamming her head into it as a way to release some tension. But no matter how hard she hits herself in the head, her mind still holds onto his words, how he wants to court her properly.
Court her…
He wants to court her…
Does that mean he actually wants to marry her?
But they're too young, and they don't know each other, and she has so many things she wants to do, and how are they going to have time to even sit down for a small chat, and…
So many questions pop into her mind and she doesn't have any answers. Not only that, but her whole friend group witnessed the whole thing. How embarrassing that can be?
Even when her mother slapped her in front of everyone, she didn't feel as embarrassed as she is right now. How could he say that to her? What was going on in his head when said it? Did he even think about it thoroughly?
Another sleepless night for Chloe Bourgeois as she tries to progress everything that happened to her on this day…
Marinette frowns at the scene in front of her, Adrien and Himawari are getting way too close lately. Despite acting all lovey-dovey with her, her boyfriend has spent more time taking care of a certain blonde and talking to her raven head friend. Not only that, he also gets super close to Kagami, despite knowing very well how uncomfortable that makes her feel.
She doesn't like it at all…
"Marinette, I brought cookies, do you want some?"
The bluenette looks at Himawari, who is wearing a warm smile on her face and holding a small container full of cat-shaped cookies.
"No, I'm good. Thank you."
With that, she takes her belongings and leaves the classroom. Himawari looks at her, confused. Is Marinette angry at her? But why…?
"Don't mind her. She doesn't mean harm…"
Alya is talking to Juleka when she saw the whole thing. She walks up to her friend and gives her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. But her words don't seem to convince Himawari as she raises her brow, confused.
"Did I make her mad?"
"No, you don't. She's just… How do I put it…" Alya sighs "Adrien has been so close with you, Kagami and Chloe. I think it makes her feel uncomfortable."
"Oh…" the raven head look at her friend "There's nothing between us, really. And when we're together, there's also Luka. We're usually in a group of 5 people and rarely have a chance to talk alone. Marinette should not be worried about that if that's what you mean."
"I understand that, but Marinette doesn't." Alya sighs again "You know how she is when it comes to love and Adrien."
Himawari nods, agreeing with Alya. Maybe she has been too careless to notice how uncomfortable Marinette is at how close she and Adrien has become. She should talk to her blonde friend about this, he might know what to do to ease his girlfriend.
"I don't mean to pry, but what exactly is going on when you guys are together?" the glassed girl look at her, there's a serious tone in her voice "I'm Marinette's best friend, I don't want to see her in pain. I hope you understand that."
"I do. And don't worry, there's nothing between us, or him and Kagami, or him and Chloe. He has been nothing but stays faithful to Marinette. You can trust me on that."
"I want to, Himawari. But…" she shakes her head "It's hard, especially when you guys always have secret meetings after class."
The raven head lowers her head, not knowing what to say. It's true that they always go to Adrien's house to spend time with Chloe, maybe that's the reason why her friend is feeling insecure…
"Don't worry. I'll talk to Adrien about it. Please tell her that there's nothing she should be worried about."
Marinette storms down the stairs, each step feels heavy to her. Why is she being like this? Why she feels so irritated when she sees Himawari? The raven head is her friend, and yet…
"Well, what do we have here?"
The bluenette stops walking when she hears a familiar voice calling her from behind. She turns around, her eyes narrow when she sees her, Lila Rossi…
Of all people at school, this is the last person she wants to bump into. While Chloe can be a pain to deal with day to day, Lila is someone who she refuses to associate with. The girl is nothing but a big liar and an attention seeker.
"Where's your boyfriend today? Don't tell me he's not here with you…"
"It's none of your concern, now if you excuse me…"
"Aw…poor you… Your boyfriend has been so close with your friends that he doesn't have time for you now?"
The way Lila speaks to her is nothing but provoking, Marientte would do better not to fall for that trick.
"You know, I came to Andre's ice cream stand yesterday. Adrien seemed to have a lot of fun with his fencing partner." Lila smirks when Marinette slowly turns around to look at her "Andre even gave them their own ice cream cone."
"Wha…?"
"Oh, I also saw Chloe with him a few days ago. They looked so happy together." Sabrina chimes in, smiling like she just accomplished something good.
Marinette stares at them in disbelief, Adrien never tells her all this stuff. Is that what he's doing behind her back all this time? And worst of all, Himawari was there to help him?
The bluenette shakes her head. She can't think like that, it's Himawari and Adrien she's talking about, there's no way they would do that to her.
"Well, it's your choice not to believe me. Don't run to me when things don't go your way."
Lila and Sabrina walk away, leaving her staring at them in awe. As much as she wants to believe in her boyfriend and Himawari, she can't shake off the odd feeling that there's something even she might not know about them. What are they hiding from her…?
"Marinette!"
The bluenette raises her head when she hears Adrien calling her. The blonde smiles warmly and asks if she wants to walk home with him. The baker girl looks at him, feeling complex at the whole thing. On one end, she wants to tell him how uncomfortable she has felt lately and yet, Adrien seems to be so happy that he's able to help Chloe.
As much as she hates the blonde girl, she has no right to tell him to cut off his friendship with her, not when Adrien has told her how happy he is when they're finally friends again. Doesn't he know how much she dislikes Chloe? How uncomfortable she is when he is with Kagami? Or how uneasy she feels whenever he's with Himawari?
How can he be so oblivious to her feeling like this? Does he even care about her at all?
"Adrien, can I ask you something?"
"Of course! What is it?" his loving smile only makes her feel worse about herself.
"About you and Himawari, what is going on between you guys...?"
Chloe takes a sip of her tea as she sits across from her father. For some reason, she doesn't feel as nervous as she thought she would be.
"Chloe, how are you doing?"
Andre smiles at his daughter, he is glad that she is safe in the hands of the Agreste family. It's quite difficult for him to come here and see his daughter, especially when Audrey is demanding he brings her back. The blonde woman is very upset about everything and she blames her daughter for all the negative headlines that are on the news lately.
"I'm doing good. Better than I imagine…"
Andre nods his head, listening to what his daughter is saying. While she doesn't attend school that regularly, her friends are there to give her the learning materials she needs. The blonde seems to enjoy life so much more after leaving Le Grand Paris, doing the things she likes, making friends and enjoying her life. As much as he hates to admit it, Chloe is glowing so much more after she leaves the house.
Although it has only been a couple of days, the changes in her are recognizable. Andre is glad that his daughter can be herself without the fear of being judged by none other than her own mother.
"Chloe, I… I'm sorry…"
The blonde stops her movement, blue eyes opening to look at her father.
"We never truly stop and acknowledge how you feel, don't we? Such bad parents, your mother and I are…"
Chloe doesn't say anything. She keeps looking at her father, observing.
"Leo comes to us and asks to break off the engagement."
"Wha…?"
"He told us that it's not good to force you into something that you don't like." the man smiles "Your mother was very angry, of course…"
Chloe doesn't know what to say. That young man came to her house to say that…?
"But, he told me personally that he would like to get to know you more. I was very pleased to hear that." He takes a sip of his tea before continuing "How about you, my child? What do you want to do? If you want to cancel this arrangement, I'll do whatever it takes to make it happens."
"You will?" she almost can not hold back her gasp "But what about all the good headlines?"
Andre smiles to himself. What headlines are matter if his daughter is not happy?
Although he's a politician, a man who relies mostly on the views and perceptions of the public, Andre understands how important his family is to him. While Audrey may only care about herself and her public image, he's the one who has been by Chloe's side since she was just a little girl. For a man in a high position like him, taking care of his daughter is something that sounds so foreign to him and yet, he still tries to do it. Maybe his way of providing all the lavishing materials and funding her luxurious life is not a good thing to raise his daughter, Andre only wants one thing, to make his daughter happy.
That's all he has ever wanted to do… Because Chloe is important to him…
"What good headlines? Your happiness is important to me." Andre smiles when he sees the tears gather in his daughter's eyes "You are my daughter, Chloe. I would do anything to make you happy."
Chloe can not hold back the sobbing. While her mother may think that this man is the most useless man she has ever married, in Chloe's eyes, he's the most important man in her life. To hear those words from his mouth feels like someone is pouring honey into her ears, her father truly cares for her.
And that's enough…
She may not be her mother's favorite daughter, but to Andre, she is the most precious gem that he would do everything to protect her.