1: Unexpected call-up

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"Snap out of it Nath." Marinette snaps making him come back to reality. "Sorry, just a little tired" Nathaniel scratches the back of his head as he lowers his voice. "Are you all right? Haven't you slept enough?" Marinette pats his shoulder as he tries to avoid her gaze. He didn't want her to get the idea yet because he wasn't sure what any of this meant either. "I... I'm- yeah." he gives up, giving his watch a quick glance before he took off. "Tomorrow again?"

"Tomorrow again. See ya." Nathaniel leaves behind a smile and starts walking away. Marinette watches him go as she realises that her stamina starts to give in too. She throws her book in her bag along with the pen between it and starts to ride her bicycle until she reaches home. She gets off her bicycle and stares at her dad's magnificent bakery, admiring it even so than she ever did. She was leaving for the United States in the next week for her internship as a fashion designer and she wouldn't come back for a year straight up.

So much for living in this house huh

She puts her helmet on her bicycle's handlebar and heads inside. "I'm home."

"Did you enjoy your day, Honey?" her mom walks out of the kitchen and hugs Marinette. "Yes maman. It was okay." She responds as she throws herself on the sofa, letting her head loose on the sofa's back. "Only a week left." She sighs as she glances over at Sabine who was taking off her apron. "That's right, baby. I'm so proud of you." Sabine gives her daughter a smile, that an artist gives after accomplishing one of his biggest masterpieces.

"I hope I fit in there easily and don't just stutter and fall over some banana peel." Marinette rolls her eyes sarcastically and then casually laughs about it. "Oh trust me, sweetie. Just have faith in yourself." "Sure, maman." Only if it were that easy 

Marinette turns on the TV and starts playing her favourite video games.

"Oh ho ho, my cherry arrived?" Tom plops his head in the doorway as he puts away the groceries. "Hi, dad!! Come play with me." Marinette smiles as she gestures for her dad to join her. "For sure. Game on!!"

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"That was one hell of a good game." Tom laughs as he and Marinette share a high-five. "Alright dad, I'm going to freshen up. I've got some packing to do too." Marinette says as she gets up from the sofa and picks up her bag. "Take a nap too. You'll get a better refreshment sleep after you shower." Sabine suggested as she watched Marinette climb the stairs to her room.

"Will do, maman."

She takes out her phone from her bag and tosses the bag on her bed. She starts heading towards the bathroom, grabbing a claw clip and the skin care products she had on her dressing table along the way. She locks the door behind her and starts undressing. One by one, she takes off the parts of her clothes, and even though she was completely naked, she never admired her bare skin as much as she did in her clothes. Even though anyone could say she had a beautiful body and without the fabric covering them, she would suddenly get back into feeling insecure once again. She turned on the tap water and let the tub fill itself up. She claw-clipped her hair and sits in the tub, still not giving herself a good look and paying more attention to her phone. She poured some bath bubbles into the tub and in less than a minute, it had started bubbling up.

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She woke up to her ringing phone that sounded like a nuclear attack on her ears. "God." It was an unknown number, so she hesitated to pick up the call for a moment but still went ahead anyway. "Hello? Who's this speaking?"

"Hey Marinette, This is uh- Nathaniel?" A voice called out from the other side. Marinette raises her brows and looks at the caller id once again. "Nath? But this isn't your number." she says putting the phone to her ear once again. "Yeah, I've got my phone broken."

"Broken? But how?" She asked but before he could respond, she told him to hold up as she got out of the tub.

"You're bathing?" he asked from the other side. "Yeah." She then looked at the time, realising that it was more than an hour now that she had been asleep in the bathtub. "Yeah, so. How'd you get it broken?" "Some kid just crashed into me while riding his bike. He looked like he had a real emergency so I let him off the hook."

"Awh, and here I thought something serious had fallen on you." "Haha, it's all good I'm alright for now, that is."

"So who's phone are you calling from right now?" Marinette asks as she drains the water in the tub and turns on the shower. She puts her phone on the speaker and places it on the closest shelf she finds. "My new phone. Luckily, there was an apple store nearby. So I picked one real quick." 

"Ah okay." She was now rinsing her body now from the soapy water.

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"So Nath, since I'll be away for a whole year after next week. I was thinking that maybe you could lend me a hand in packing up?" Marinette said as she got out of the bathroom, But before she could speak, she dropped her phone and stared at what was right in front of her. In complete utter shock.

"NATHANIEL?!"

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hehe

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