"Marinette, no! Stay here! Don't go anywhere!"

Marinette didn't listen. She ran up to the woman that was leaving. She wrapped her little arms around the woman's leg as if her life depended on it. 

"Don't. . . Go. . ."

The woman bent down and picked her up, as if giving her one last hug. She then walked back to the curly blonde-haired woman that had been calling for Marinette. 

"I'm sorry I have to leave her with you." She handed Marinette over to Mrs. Curly Blonde, before turning away. "Marinette, maybe in the future we'll meet again, but don't let this ever bring you down. Promise me you'll try your hardest to succeed in life?"

Marinette stared at the woman hard. She looked like she was about to cry. She wiped her eyes, taking a huge sniff, then she looked up again, only to see that the woman was gone. 

"I. . . Pro . . .mise!"

"Marinette, are you okay?"

Marinette snapped back to reality. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She wasn't even sure on who had asked the question as she was looking to the floor. 

"Well, Marinette said she enjoyed your pastries so much, and she wants to taste more," Adrien exclaimed. "Isn't that right, Marinette?"

"Yeah, yeah, totally!" Marinette's eyes brightened. "Adrien brought me some of your croissants and they were amazing!"

Sabine chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you loved them. I can make some more right now if you want."

"Only if it's not too much trouble for you," Marinette nodded. She tried not to think anymore about her past, about how her biological mother had left her. It only made her sadder, but it made her think too much, and right now she didn't want that. 

Marinette walked inside the kitchen with Sabine to help her with making the pastries, while Adrien and Tom stayed behind. 

Tom chuckled. "So, tell me, son. How did you ask her out?"

"W-what?" Adrien turned to Tom with a confused look on his face. 

"Marinette. Aren't you two together?"

"Oh no, we're not," Adrien turned the other way. "If you heard that from someone or online, then it's just a rumor that these girls at school started."

"So then what about you?" Tom asked. "How do you really feel about her?"

"I just. . . She's just a friend," Adrien muttered. "Besides, even if I liked her, there is no chance I would end up with her. First of all, my father has literally stopped me from seeing her, so being here with her is just me disobeying him. Second of all, she doesn't like anyone!"

"Oh, I see," Tom nodded. "She. . . Sort of reminds of someone. Someone from a long while ago." Then he sighed as he looked down. "Oh, who am I even kidding. She is that girl. She's grown up now."

"What?"

"Sabine and I have been secretly looking after her to make sure she was okay. We never know what goes on in the house with her adoptive parents, but when ever she comes out, she always seems to have a smile on her face, and it's enough to make us feel relieved," Tom muttered, still looking down at the floor. 

"One day, I caught her crying on the bench and I wanted to go to her, but something just made me stop," He said, this time louder. "I wanted to see if she was okay, but something was stopping me. Once I saw you go to her, once I saw her go inside your limo, I felt a little relieved that she was getting help, but there was still a hole inside me."

"Marinette. . . She had a fight with her adoptive parents," Adrien wasn't sure if he should be saying this but he kinda understood what Tom was trying to tell him. "Actually, she and her new family aren't doing so well. If she comes out of the house with a smile, it's probably because she got off the phone with her friends, or it could be fake."

"What?!" Tom looked over at Adrien, surprised at his words. "Tell me more!"

"Well. . . Today, Marinette also got into a small fight with her adoptive father. I don't know what it was about, but she was yelling and he was yelling back. Something about moving out," Adrien shrugged, then scratched his head. "But I assure you, besides that, she's absolutely alright."

Tom sighed. "You must know the truth then, Adrien. Please don't tell her about this, or this conversation at all."

"Why don't you want her to know?"

"It's better off like this."

"It isn't," Adrien shook his head. "She needs her real parents that actually love her, not some fake ones that argue with her every time!"

"Adrien, you don't understand. Please let's just leave it at that. And also, promise me one thing?"

Adrien nodded. "What is it?"

"Promise that you will take care of her for me?"

"I. . . I don't know. If my father knew of this, he would punish me and the only times I would see her would be in school," Adrien shrugged. Then he turned to Tom with a small smile. "But I'll try. But now you have to do something for me!"

"What is it?"

"Re-open your bakery!"

"Adrien, you know we can't do that-"

"Of course you can. All you have to do is flip that "Close" sign to "Open" and start making pastries like you used to," Adrien stood up. "Do you know how much people love your bakery?! Do you know how much Marinette loves your pastries?"

Tom didn't say a word. 

"Tell you what. If you re-open your bakery, I'll make sure Marinette comes over at least three times a week to visit you. Does that sound fair?"

Tom seemed to be thinking about it. Finally he replied. "Alright, I'll talk to Sabine about it. Just as long as you keep your promise and make sure nothing happens to her."

"I promise!"

"Alright boys, the pastries are just getting ready," Marinette stepped out of the kitchen, causing the males to quickly shut their mouth on what they were talking about. "So, Mr. Uh, Tom. . . Tell me more about this bakery?"

Marinette took a seat right next to Tom as the man nodded his head. 

As the three of them waited for the pastries, they listened to Tom tell stories about the bakery and how long it had been here. Marinette whipped out her smile as she laughed at some jokes that were made. This just...felt like home. 

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"So... I guess this is where our date ends, huh," Alya stepped on top of her porch as she faced Nino again. 

"Yeah, but I'll see you again. Hopefully at our next da-"

"Alya!!! Oh thank goodness, there you are!" The door suddenly opened and Alya's mother, Marlena, walked out of the house. "Sorry if I'm interrupting anything."

"What is it? You look really worried," Alya frowned. It was about 7:35pm right now. She and Nino had just finished their date and he had agreed to walk her home. 

"I don't know how it happened, but today Nora took Ella and Etta to the park," Marlena explained, sending another apologetic look towards Nino. "But she only came back with Ella!"

"What?!"

"I-I'm sorry," Nora looked down. "I took my eyes away from them for a second and she was gone."

"Have you asked Ella where she went?" Nino suggested. He wasn't that familiar with the Cèsaire sisters, but he had met them at least three times before. 

They walked inside the house while keeping their conversation. "She said she went to get a balloon," Ella shrugged. "But she didn't come back."

"We asked the man who was handing out the balloons but he said that he never noticed any girl that looked like Ella come to him," Nora shuddered. "We searched all around the park, I swear."

"It's okay," Alya was beginning to get worried as well, but she tried to stay calm. "Nino and I are going to try to search for her again. Maybe she would be there waiting for us, you never know."

"Yeah sure," Nino nodded. He opened the door. "You two should stay here in case she comes home or anyone calls."

"Where's dad?" Alya asked, then she slapped her forehead again. "Did he decide to stay at work late again?"

"You know him," Marlena replied. 

"Alright, let's go," Alya took Nino's arm and the both of them headed out of the house, running towards the park. 

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Tiki tried to keep her smile up the entire time as she climbed up the stairs. "Nathaniel, you can go home now. It wasn't really necessary to walk me back home."

"Isn't that what a gentleman would do?" Nathaniel stopped walking and faced her. "Tiki, I feel like there's been something on your mind. All throughout the date, you seemed really distracted."

Tiki bit her lip as she turned the other way, not wanting to look Nathaniel in the eyes. The words Alya had spoken to her hit her over and over again. 

"I feel like you're literally acting like Plagg. Are you only dating Nathaniel just so Plagg would notice and regret his decision of ever planning on fake dating you?!"

Tiki shuddered and took the thought out of her head. "I'm sorry, Nathaniel. I'm sorry it didn't go quite as well as you had possibly planned."

Nathaniel was about to walk away, but then he stopped and looked back at her. "Is it because of him?"

"Who?"

"Plagg, who else? Have you been thinking about him so much that it made you feel distracted?"

"Nathaniel, you think too much-"

"But I'm really thinking the truth," Nathaniel sent her a little glare. "Maybe you shouldn't have accepted going out with me when you were obviously interested in another guy. Or maybe Alya really was right, and you were just trying to pay Plagg back for what he did to you!"

"That's not true. I'm not like him!" Tiki yelled, but she knew Nathaniel wasn't listening anyway. 

"Tiki, I don't really think it's going to work between us if you keep this up," Nathaniel stepped away from her. "I'll wait. Once your feelings for Plagg disappears, I'm always here if you want to start over again. In the meantime, let's just pretend like this date never happened."

Tiki sighed, but didn't do anything as she watched Nathaniel walk away from her. 

"I'm really sorry, Nathaniel," She yelled at him, hoping that he knew she really meant it. Nathaniel didn't reply though as he continued walking. 

I've always treated you like my brother and I'm pretty sure it's going to stay like that. I'm really sorry. 

❣❣❣