Help Me Remember

Chapter 5

Marinette stood up and stood up and set the roses on the nearest surface. "Yes, just a second." She rifled through the drawers in her vanity. "There's probably one somewhere." Finally, she discovered a pink hairbrush. She handed it to Adrien.

Adrien took it. "Great. Sit down."

Confused, Marinette sat back down on the floor.

Adrien gently ran the brush through Marinette's blue-black hair. It was silky-soft and smelled amazing. He carefully tied it back into two pigtails.

"Done." Adrien pulled Marinette to her feet. "Take a look in the mirror. I think I did a purrity good job, if I do say so myself. Adrien knew that his puns wouldn't help her memory at all, but he still hoped.

Marinette looked in the mirror, fluffing one of the pigtails. "I like it. It feels...right, somehow."

Adrien smiled. "Trust me, Princess. It looks right too."

Marinette turned to face Adrien, and he put both of his hands on her shoulders. "Marinette, I'm about to say something that's very important." Adrien brushed his fingers against Marinette's earlobe. "These earrings? They're special. It's really important that you never take them out. I'm not going to explain why today, because it's kind of a lot to take in. You'll find out soon enough. But for now, please just trust me. Keep those earrings in. Could you please do that? For me?"

Marinette furrowed her brows in confusion. "Yeah, I think-"

Suddenly, the trapdoor to Mari's room banged open and Alya Césaire burst in, yelling, "Mari? Marinette, are you up here?" She spotted her friend across the room and hugged her tightly, entirely ignoring Adrien.

"Mari," she sobbed. "Is it really true?"

Marinette reluctantly wrapped her arms around the crying girl. "You're Alya, right?"

Alya took a step back. "Yes! Do you remember me?"

"No," Marinette admitted shamefully. "Nathanäel mentioned you the other day and said that you and I were best friends. I just kind of assumed it was you."

"Oh." Alya wiped the tears off of her face. "Well,-"

"Wait, Nathanäel?" Adrien raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms.

"Uh... yeah. You know, the artsy red-headed one? He was in the hospital when I woke up and he helped me understand some stuff." Marinette said, unable to read her friends' expressions. "And speaking of whom, he's supposed to be here in half an hour." Marinette said awkwardly.

Adrien glowered. "Well then. Looks like it's time for me to bug out. My father's expecting me home. Have a good day." He left through the trapdoor, scowling.

Adrien tromped down the stairs. It was easy to see what was happening. That dumb tomato-head was trying to steal Marinette's heart! He clearly saw her memory loss as a fresh chance to try for her affection. That was low. He was surprised that Nathanäel hadn't just straight up introduced himself to Marinette as her boyfriend. He'd probably considered it, but known that no one else would believe him.

Adrien waved to Marinette's parents on his way out the door. He'd make sure that he got his Lady back, no matter what it took. And no idiotic tomato boy was going to stop him.