Adrienette Love Story

Chapter 18

Adrien's brows rose. Perhaps it was the alcohol clouding his mind, but, aside from Nino, that was the first helpful thing he had heard about the situation from someone within the company. They hadn't known something had happened, but it was close enough for the sirens to be heard at headquarters.

Adrien's leg shook. Or at least buzzed. As furtively as he could, he checked his messages.

Faking a yawn, Adrien turned his head and tapped the button on his Bluetooth earbud that connected him to Nino. Thankfully it was on the ear away from her.

"Tired?" she asked politely.

He nodded. "I still haven't had time to fully adjust to them from all the travel that happened."

"You weren't in Europe?"

He shook his head, focusing on the conversation on the other end as much as he could. "I was in America."

Her brows rose, head tilting to rest her chin on her palm. "But you know Nino?"

"We gamed together online for years." He confided. "But now he is helping me look into the details."

Marinette — Ms. Dupain-Cheng, he corrected — nibbled her lip. "The accident, you mean?"

"The police stopped looking once they found enough to call it that." He sighed. "I don't think I would be able to sleep well if I couldn't make sure that was all it was."

Smiling, Marinette glanced over at the other table. "You know, it's funny."

"What is?" He was genuinely curious.

"I knew Nino back in school." She smiled secretly. "We always figured that Nino and Alya would get together. They were actually really similar, but where Alya was always loud and protective, Nino was always really quiet."

Adrien grinned, as Alya suddenly spit out her drink, hitting Nino. He probably owed him a new suit. "Protective, too?"

She nodded, also watching their friends struggle on the other side of the restaurant. "For those he cares about, yes."

Adrien grinned. "He's smart... And a very loyal friend."

She peered up at him now. "Those are always good to have."

In his ear, he heard Nino ask, "Did you ask Marinette to go over?"

"Nino, do you think I can tell my very stubborn best friend what to do?"

"Well," he huffed. "I was going to thank you."

By the pause, he had to infer that Alya had stilled. "What? Why?"

"He's busy with a lot of things right now, but trying to track down a designer."

"Really?" Alya grumbled defensively. He couldn't see across the bar while he was looking at his father's employee, but her tone implied all her guards were up. "Do they already work for your friend's company?"

"Ms. Dupain-Cheng," Adrien blinked, leaning a little closer. He needed to word this carefully, but his slowly moving mind wasn't doing him any favors.

"Yes, Mr. Agreste?"

"Please..." Adrien gulped, suppressing the urge to be sick then and there. "Do not call me Mr. Agreste." He lurched slightly, and she held his arm. "Bad enough I hear it at work. My father is a very different man."

"It seems you chose to mirror him a lot."

He shut his eyes, forcing his stomach to settle. "Not by choice."

"Huh," she murmured. Her blue eyes were scanning over him thoughtfully when he dared to open them back up.

"At least for now, I need people to believe I'm more powerful and capable than I am." He murmured. "I'm probably not much older than you. I just weigh my father's name behind me."