I will love again

Part 25 - My fault

When they arrived back at the mansion, Marinette and Adrien were already waiting for them.

The teenage girl didn't even wait for the car to completely stop, when she already opened the door and hugged Nathalie kindly. Adrien stood awkwardly beside his girlfriend, waiting for his father to get out of the car.

"I feel so sorry for you!" The half Chinese girl's voice was full of pity.

"Thank you", Nathalie replied.

The blond young man now told them: "Marinette's parents invited us all forr dinner, and uh, well, I uhm", he scratched the back of his neck, "didn't want to disturb you, so I uh, kinda.....accepted?" He grinned at them sheepishly.

"Oh Adrien, I am sorry to disappoint you, and you and your parents, Marinette, but I am not feeling like going somewhere right now. And I have to stay and wait for the letter, my.....my.....m-m-mum wrote t-to m-me", she started sobbing while she tried to apologize.

But the girl smiled at her widely and said with a chuckle: "I already thought you would say that, so I told my parents, and uhm, instead of choosing a different day, my mum said, that people in this situation too often forget to eat and that she doesn't want you to do that, so, uhm, they are both in the kitchen right now."

She hugged Nathalie again, while she spoke, to comfort her because she couldn't bear to see her cry.

Gabriel furrowed his brows.

"Have you told them, that there are people getting paid to cook our meals? I really appreciate their kindness, but they didn't have to do this."

Adrien grinned. "Sabine's answer to that was, that a meal tastes a lot better when cooked with love", he explained.

Now his father smirked as well. "Well, I the last time I met that woman I already thought about you two. If Marinette has her mother's will power, you won't win the smallest discussion against her, ever."

Marinette giggled while Adrien acted as if he was offended. When Gabriel saw, that even Nathalie couldn't hide her smile over that statement, he went over to her and hugged her tightly. 

"Is this okay with you? If you think, you can't do that, I can stop everything!", he questioned calmly.

The young assistant smiled sheepishly as she responded: "I wouldn't mind something to eat, the last I had was the breakfast and that, well, you know...."

Now Marinette looked at her sternly and exclaimed: "I don't think it's good if you go without food that long, Nathalie. Come on, my mum certainly has already a little snack ready to give to you." With that she grabbed the woman's hand and dragged her towards the house.

The two men followed them slower and with their heads shaking.

"Isn't she amazing?", Adrien questioned. "Though she goes without food for the whole day all the time, she is so worried about Nathalie letting out that one meal!"

"Yeah amazing", Gabriel muttered but he had a strange feeling in his guts. He remembered the day Nathalie returned from the doctor and Marinette being all excited over the good news. Did the girl know more about the cause of  Nathalie's health issues? After all she was the new guardian. Maybe using the broken miraculous had done more damage to her, than she would tell.

In the meantime Nathalie was scolding Marinette.

"Couldn't you be a little more  subtle? Now he's gonna be all suspicious again!"

But Marinette could be stubborn. She ranted back to her:

"Well, I was just worried. Maybe you should finally tell him, then there wouldn't be that issue anymore."