The girl Marinette had seen at the Cafe had to have been Chloe, Marinette was sure of it. Though perhaps unsurprisingly Chloe hadn't been very happy to see here. She'd practically run away at the sight of her.

Honestly Marinette didn't really know how to feel about Chloe she was pretty sure she didn't resent her, not anymore anyways, she had for quite a while but now? It just seemed ridiculous.

Chloe had been awful but she hadn't had it easy either, that didn't justify her behaviour of course, but she understood where it came from.

Her attitude stemmed from her inferiority complex and her parents neglecting her, still Chloe recognised her flaws and refused to work on them, so it was hard to feel too much sympathy for her.

But still that was a long time ago Marinette would probably slap some sense into her 14 year old self if she could, so who's to say Chloe hadn't changed?

Chloe would avoid her of course but she couldn't very well do that if Marinette was a customer.

So Marinette would sit down at the cafe looking over the menu, the other waitresses were busy so reluctantly Chloe would serve her.

"Have you decided what you'd like yet Ma'am?" Chloe spoke with a forced sweetness that was obviously fake.

"Oh, maybe just an iced coffee, Chloe" Marinette was really only here to talk to her anyway.

"So you did recognise me, you know if someone is trying to avoid you it's pretty rude to pursue them, you aren't stalking me are you?"

"Of course I'm not, I just wanted to catch up, I know we didn't part on the best terms but I wanted to know how you've been doing." She was being genuine but Chloe didn't look so sure.

"Well my mother disowned me about a year ago and I had to move back here, but my father didn't want me back either so he just set me up in an apartment, I live alone with a cat that doesn't like me, not much to tell" She spoke rather bluntly before turning and walking away off to get her coffee.

She hadn't told anyone she was back the only person who did know was her family, her dad wouldn't care enough to mention her and she'd asked Zoe not to.

Marinette would notice that Chloe didn't look the healthiest, and in truth she had been surviving off of frozen meals, instant noodles and whatever she could get from the cafe, she hadn't the slightest clue how to cook.

Chloe would bring the iced-coffee to the table but before she could leave again Marinette spoke up.

"Well I'm sorry to hear that, I know I kinda pushed you to try and bond with your mother, but I don't think she's worth the effort." Marinette took a sip of her coffee it was actually kinda nice.

"Don't get all psycho analyst on me Dupain-Cheng, I don't know what you're trying to do, but drop it" She didn't know why Marinette was trying to be nice, they were way beyond the point of making up.

"Our relationship is like an infected limb, Marinette, we should just have it amputated and be done with it."

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way." Marinette finished her drink before paying the bill and standing up and handing Chloe 5. "That's for you, it was delicious, I think I'll be back."

Chloe clenched her fist as she watched Marinette leave, who did she think she was? Chloe didn't need her charity.

Marinette exited the Cafe where she came across Alya who happened to be passing by with Nino.

"Oh Marinette, I've thought about trying that place. Is it good?"

"Hard to say I only got an iced coffee, but it was good."

She'd join up with the two of them and they'd head to the park where they found. Ivan looking a little down with Mylene trying to comfort him.

"You okay bro?" Nino spoke up first catching their attention.

"No! I failed, me and Mylene wanted to go to the same university but I failed the exam." Ivan, honestly just felt stupid.

"Ivan was too anxious to sleep the night before and then he fell asleep during the exam, he only got about half the questions done." Mylene was sure Ivan would have passed if he hadn't fallen asleep. "So that means…"

"We can't go to the same school." Ivan finished her sentence. "Sorry Mylene I guess I can't keep my promise."

Ivan sighed before walking away. "Ivan wait! I can still go to whatever university you end up going to."

"You aren't giving up on your first choice for me" Ivan shouted back as he disappeared from view

"I'll go talk to him, you stay here Mylene" Nino would run after Ivan. Nino kinda understood what he was going through, after all he was in a similar situation with Alya

"So what was the promise?" Alya decided to inquire.

"Well a few months back me and Ivan decided to take a tour of the university, but I got separated from the tour guide and then I got completely lost, I was surrounded by strangers and had no idea where I was supposed to go." Mylene was too nervous to ask anyone for directions. "But Ivan managed to find me, he held my hand and promised to always be by my side."

"Ivan can be pretty romantic when he wants to be huh?" Marinette couldn't picture Ivan doing something like that.

-

"So that's the deal huh?" Nino had tracked Ivan to an arcade and they were currently talking over a game of air hockey "Is there any way you can retake the test?" Nino asked as he countered Ivan's shot

"I don't know I'm just an idiot Mylene is way smarter than me" Ivan blocked the puck and sent it back scoring a goal.

"Hey that's not fair Ivan, you aren't stupid" Nino would retrieve the puck before resuming the game

"I'm not confident and I'm sure Mylene could find someone else to protect her at university."

"You think your relationship is that transactional? Gosh maybe you are slow."

"Hey shut up!" Since he was frustrated he missed and Nino scored a point

"Mylene doesn't wanna go to the same school as you so you can protect her, she wants to go to the same school as you so she can be with you" Nino's answered, which caused to go quiet he didn't even retrieve the puck yet.

"Even so… for her to give up on her first choice for my sake, I think once she's figured out what she really wants to do in life, she'll regret not going there, I don't want that to happen"

"I see, what are you going to do?" Nino asked as Ivan picked up the puck the next point would decide the winner.

"Well first, I'm gonna beat you at air hockey and then have a think about what I wanna do"

Nino smirked at Ivan's challenge getting ready to play.

The final score was 6 points for Nino and 5 for Ivan. But being a gracious winner Nino bought Ivan an ice cream. "You decided yet?"

"I think so"

Alya and Marinette had just been trying to comfort Mylene when Mylene received a text from Ivan.

Ivan: I'm going to keep studying, and get into that university next year, so please wait for me until then, okay?

Mylene: Of course

"All in all i'd call that the best case scenario." Alya read the text over Mylene's shoulder. "And it's not like you aren't gonna see him"

Mylene and Ivan at least both seemed happy with this outcome even if it wasn't what they'd initially hoped for.

Nino smiled to himself relieved he could offer his friend some advice though perhaps he wasn't in any position to give advice, he still wasn't being honest about how he felt about Alya going to Canada to study.

He has to pretend he was fine with it, for now anyway he'd hate it if he made her feel guilty for leaving.

-

It was a few hours later when Chloe got off work, of course it was raining and she didn't have a coat. But there was Dupain-Cheng stood there with an umbrella and a dumb friendly smile on her face.

"So you know when I get off work? You really are stalking me" She'd leer at Dupain-Cheng who just offered her the umbrella.

"So am I supposed to fall in love with you now? Because I'm not into girls" Chloe just walked past her despite the rain

"How did you know about Adrien giving me his umbrella?" Marinette would walk after her for a short bit.

"If you try to follow me home I'm calling the police" Chloe threatened which gave Marinette pause. She'd probably do that as well.

"Oh speaking of the police, Sabrina is following in her dad's footsteps."

That gave Chloe pause, really Sabrina had been her only friend for a while and she hadn't treated her the best. "huh really? Good for her"

That at least sounded genuine to Marinette, but before she could say anything else Chloe was already walking away "If you aren't gonna take the umbrella make sure to change out of those wet clothes when you get home and dry your hair! So you don't catch a cold!"

Marinette shouted after Chloe who mostly ignored her, but really she expected that so Marinette took her leave.

When Chloe arrived at her apartment she did take Marinette's advice getting a shower before drying her hair and changing into her pyjamas, but she did that because she wanted to, not because Marinette told her to.

A distinction that was important to her anyway. Once changed she'd make her dinner, just instant noodles. Honestly her cupboards were full of ready meals and snack foods, not really the healthiest.

Still she'd sit down on her couch and fail to call over her cat, a grey cat with green eyes, he didn't like her much. Same as most people she supposed.

She'd sigh before laying her head back on the couch, Marinette infuriated her and yet it was sort of enjoyable talking to her, she never really spoke to anyone so it had been a nice change of pace, she still wasn't interested in becoming Marinette's friend, but she wouldn't object if she came to visit the cafe every now and then.

-

And here's chapter 2 I wouldn't expect updates to come this fast all the time, this is kinda an outlier, but I hope you enjoyed it none the less