Thinking About You • MLB

Couple's Therapy

🐞Beware🐞 Another loooong chapter

Each wall had at least five different frames hanging on them, each presenting a beautiful photograph of nature. A white, wooden desk was scooted off into a cozy corner, and on it stood a porcelain vase that held tall orchids inside of it. A bookshelf full of thick chapter books was bolted onto the bright blue wall. And a gentle tick ticking echoed throughout the office, coming from a delicate cuckoo clock that was hung among the frames.

Marinette and Adrien sat next to each other on a cushiony sofa that was way too cramped in Marinette's opinion. She scooted as far away from Adrien as she could on the small seat and settled down comfortably right on the edge of the couch, setting down a stiff pillow in between them as a border. Clearly, she wasn't ready to forgive him yet.

Directly across from them was a stout woman who's shoulders seemed too broad for her small body. Her makeup was put on lazily, a visible smudge of lipstick on her chin. Her hair was pulled up into the most messy bun the couple had ever seen.

"Good afternoon," she greeted in a loud, flat voice. "My name is Dr. Beatrice Le Roux. And yours?"

"I'm Marinette," Marinette muttered. She had been forced in here by Alya who had been urging her to give Couple's Therapy a shot.

"Adrien," her husband said.

"Okay, then," Dr. Le Roux said, flipping through a worn out clipboard on her lap. "Here you are. Marinette and Adrien Agreste."

"Marinette Dupain-chang," Marinette corrected immediately. Adrien shot her a hurt expression.

"Anyways," the doctor continued, slight annoyed from the interruption. "Tell me the problem. What is it between you two?" She unfolded her legs and rested them on the glass coffee table in between them.

Marinette tried to ignore this and cleared her throat. "A few months ago, I kissed my ex boyfriend. And I regretted it. But I told Adrien right away, and when he heard the news he got so mad he slept with my enemy. And possibly got her pregnant. Now what are we supposed to do with our relationship? He's messed it up!"

Dr. Le Roux put on thin reading glasses and glanced at her clipboard again. Then she got up, walked to her desk, pulled out a pen from the flower vase and sat back down across from the couple. She wrote down on the paper intently for a good ten minutes or so, making Marinette antsy and annoyed. Was this woman even qualified to be here?

Suddenly, the doctor looked up from her clipboard and looked back and forth at the two, observing them with squinted eyes. Adrien shifted uncomfortably.

"Alright," she said slowly. "You. Share your side of the story." Dr. Le Roux pointed at Adrien with the cap of her pen.

"I got really mad at Marinette for kissing Nathaniel but I just made the problem worse by sleeping with Chloe. It's all my fault. I'm sorry," he said shamefully.

"You should be," Marinette murmured, glaring at him from the pillow border.

"What was that?"

"I said, that you should be sorry." She sat a little taller and looked at him more intensely.

"Well, I am, Marinette."

"Is that so?" They were now battling against each other through their gaze.

"Why wouldn't have I kept repeating it if I wasn't?"

"You made a mistake, Adrien. I can't do anything about it."

"Oh, yes you can." Dr. Le Roux cleared her throat. Her feet had gone off the table and a tiny smile was imprinted on her face. Her voice had softened, and she looked at them almost genuinely as if their mini argument had made her warm up to them.

"What?" The couple said in unison.

The therapist folded her hands together and shifted in her seat so that she was comfortable. "It's simple. Both of you should be upset with each other equally. You both made a mistake."

"But I slept with another woman!" Adrien cried. "Why should I be mad at Marinette? I made the mistake. It was me who ruined our relationship."

"And that's where you're wrong, you see. Who fired up that negative energy to make your emotions spark and make you lose a hold of your feelings?"

"I-I guess it was her . . . " he said, glancing at Marinette.

"Of course it was you who chose to sleep with the woman, but you never would have if your wife had never kissed her ex-boyfriend, am I correct?"

He nodded and suddenly Adrien looked at his spouse with coldness in his eyes.

"Now, now. Just because you've flipped the page, doesn't mean you didn't make that mistake, mister. You should never have cheated on Marinette. Never. But now that you realize this, you're kind of  equal. What do you think, Mrs. Dupain - Chang?"

"I guess you can call me Mrs. Agreste, now that we've equally sinned . . . but I'm not sure if I believe this theory yet."

Dr. Le Roux snuck another small smile on her face. Her work was almost completed. "A huge mess up can easily be fixed. Right now, it almost seems impossible to forgive this man for sleeping with your enemy, am I right?"

"Yes!" Marinette exclaimed. "How am I expected to get back up and forgive him after everything he's done to me?!"

"By saying, 'I forgive you,' of course."

"But I don't forgive him!"

"Let me ask you something. When Adrien first heard what you did, what was your first thought?"

"'I didn't mean it.' And then I thought, 'I'm sorry. Please forgive me . . . '" She was now speaking to her husband, rather than reflecting on how she reacted.

"I have forgiven you Marinette. Countless times," Adrien said. "The thing is, do you forgive me?"

Marinette looked at Dr. Le Roux with hesitation in her eyes. She looked back at Adrien. Then at the doctor. And then she looked into herself.

Dr. Le Roux says we're equal. But then why don't I feel it? Adrien forgave me. Why can't I forgive him? Marinette, stop it! This is your final moment of truth. Just say what you feel! Do you forgive him or not? Do you believe that you messed up just as bad as him?

"Yes."

Hi!

Omg so sorry that I took so long to update! I had writer's block for a while and then it took me some time to write this chapter since it was 1050 words!!😂😱

Oh, and also did you notice my updated cover? Again?😂 It was only until I compared it to my current cover that I realized how tacky that old cover looked. I'd spent days trying to find good editing apps, and now that I have, making a cover is almost as easy as making a fancy dish . . . which is not that easy. But besides that, I'm pretty proud of my cover!

And also,

980 READS??!!

I can't believe it! Thank you guys so much! And as the reads increase, the reality of this story reaching 1k is increasing too! It's hard to believe that the story I had started out with in the summer is now almost up to 1k reads right now in the fall!

Thank you~

Signing out!

~Laurel