It probably wasn't such a great thing that I couldn't fall asleep until well after midnight, going over every small little detail that happened at Christmas dinner.
That, and I didn't get home until midnight, too.
I'd learned a few things that just might possibly help me out on my task of helping Adrien, saving Adrien. But I was beginning to think that maybe there was just more to this whole saving Adrien deal. It'd be pretty cruel of Colt to pile on more tasks than I already had, but I wouldn't put it past him.
Maybe I was actually supposed to be helping the entire Agreste family, as well as Adrien. Because the Lord only knows that family had more than enough to deal with. It wouldn't be easy, but I was positive that I'd be able to do it.
Apparently, the kiss that unexpectedly happened between Adrien and I in the kitchen was just the slightest bit of a confidence boost. Who would've thought that was even possible?
And it was safe to say that that kiss was one of the main reasons that I couldn't fall asleep for the past two nights. I was a little angry with myself that it hadn't been my first kiss, but it had more than made up for the awful one I'd gotten in freshman year when some twerp named Nathaniel had decided to kiss me for a dare. I'd never been able to live that one down, so it was nice to have another kiss to remember.
When I woke up at five Sunday morning, after a nice and calm family Christmas, I was probably over the moon and completely terrified at the same time. How on Earth was I going to face Adrien after that more than amazing kiss in the kitchen Friday night?
In all honesty, I was scared. But I had to reason with myself that I'd faced worse before and that this should be no problem at all.
I was lying, of course, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and believe it anyway.
When I walked downstairs and into the bakery, the lights were on and blazing in the kitchen as I walked in. There could only be two people working, Dad or Adrien, and I was praying that just for a few minutes I'd be able to collect myself without Adrien around. I was just the slightest bit afraid I was going to have a panic attack.
With my luck, however, I should've known that it would be Adrien who was working, rummaging about in the fridge, as I hung my things up on the coatrack, grabbing an apron. He turned around as he swung the fridge door shut and gave me a rather cool, collected look.
"Uhm... good morning," I said awkwardly, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Morning," Adrien replied briskly before leaving the kitchen, holding what looked like a box of pastries.
That wasn't what I'd been expecting to happen. Things were bound to be awkward between us at first, but I hadn't expected him to just up and walk away. So far this wasn't turning out so well.
Before I could fabricate some ridiculous lie about how I suddenly couldn't work, I slouched my way over to the sink to wash my hands with soap and water. If things were going to be completely awkward with Adrien, then I might as well throw myself into work and try not to get burned by the coffee maker. Not exactly what I would call a very exciting start to the morning, but it was better than staying upstairs, curled up underneath the blankets on my bed and wallowing in self pity.
Sighing exasperatedly, I left the kitchen after fixing my work dress, scuffing my feet as I walked out to the front.
Adrien was bent over at the pastry case, carefully arranging macaroons, muffins, and any other delectable treat on trays for display. I leaned up against the front counter and crossed my arms over my chest, hoping he would be the one to break the silence first.
Clearly that was too much to ask for.
He finished putting out the pastries a minute later and slid the case top back on before knocking the empty box off the counter, onto the floor and taking a huge breath.
"And what will I be doing today? Since you decided that you'd come in and act all king of the hill this morning." I demanded out of nowhere, my eyes narrowing at him.
Maybe I didn't have a right to suddenly be getting annoyed with him, but there was a difference between being quiet and giving someone the cold shoulder.
"Baking," Adrien answered curtly. "Since you think i'm horrible at doing so."
I bit back a snarky response and rolled my eyes. "Yes, sir."
What was with him today?
Instead of having a mental debate with myself about what could possibly be going through his head at the moment, I twisted my long, still damp hair into a braid and then stormed into the back kitchen.
After there were multiple goodies in the oven baking, I walked back into the kitchen and decided to check out how business was doing. Adrien had finished taking and giving everyone's orders and now was just sitting on the floor, his back to the pastry case.
"Adrien?" I said cautiously, bending down beside him. "What're you doing?"
He cracked open an eye to stare at me and even then he still managed a completely patronizing look. "Finding peace of mind."
Huh. Who would've thought.
"Are you alright?" I demanded before I could stop myself, my concern for him taking over.
This time he opened both eyes to more or less glare at me, his mouth twisted down in a frown. "I'm fine. And why are you asking me this?"
I swallowed hard, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. "Well, I mean, Friday night, I wanted to, uh, I wanted to—"
"Do not talk to me about Friday night," Adrien snapped, cutting me off. "The last thing I want to do is talk to you about Friday night."
Ouch. That was kind of a slap in the face.
I involuntarily flinched at Adrien's harsh words, biting my lip. I could understand him being sensitive about his family, but wasn't this taking it a little too far?
"Adrien..." I said slowly, swallowing hard. "Seriously, what's wrong?"
Adrien gave me a look that was beyond baffling. "What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong is none of your business, sweetheart."
I was seriously tempted to kick him. What actually was his problem?
"You know what? Fine," I sighed, getting to my feet. "Go ahead and be a jerk for all I care."
That was probably my problem, I realized as I headed back to the kitchen to gather up clean dishes. My problem was that I probably cared too much— more than I should.
After awhile of working, I guess I could say it really wasn't that bad of a day. The work was enough to keep me busy, sure, but there was one thing that my mind seemed to permanently be fixed one.
One guess as to what that was.
I couldn't even begin to understand why Adrien had kissed me Friday night. Somehow "It felt right" just didn't seem to suffice as an answer. I had ridiculous hopes that Adrien would talk to me about what had happened, but of course that wasn't going to happen.
I mean, Adrien barely even looked at me the entire day, even if I was actually talking to his face. I had no idea what his problem was, but it was starting to make me angry, as ridiculous as that sounded.
I hadn't kissed him. He had kissed me. And now that was my fault? It made no sense.
When seven o'clock and closing time rolled around, my feet hurt, I was grumpy, and I was exhausted.
Mom had already turned in for the night, after working a few hours, with a few orders to make sure that the entire place was impeccably clean, that all the food was put away and that the dishes were clean.
I had a feeling I was going to be doing the majority of the work on my own.
"Are you going to give me a hand?" I asked Adrien, hand on hip, watching him eating a sandwich as he leaned up against the front counter.
Adrien gave a noncomittal shrug, focused intently on his sandwich. "No."
I wanted to scream. Thankfully, though, I didn't.
I called him a jerk quietly and I went about mopping down the tables. Just another fabulous way to end the day, wasn't it?
Adrien finished off his sandwich and disappeared into the back kitchen without a word a few minutes later. As childish as it was, I silently wished that I were the one allowed to fire him.
After I was finished with mopping the tables, I threw the wash rag back onto the front counter and set about the task of putting the chairs up on the tables. That only took me a few minutes and I'd even made it back around the front counter, to go to the kitchen, when I realized I still had to box the food on display.
Aw. So close.
I turned back around and walked into the dining area and slid the glass top off of the display counter and hurried to grab a box that was piled in the group of identical boxes.
I bent down and began tossing left over pastries into the box when I heard an unsettling voice speak from behind me.
"You know, the unfortunate people who don't have food of their own could use those, I suggest you don't trash them."
I whipped around, expecting to see Colt standing there. However, the person was most certainly not Colt Breyer.
The person standing there was an older man with whitish gray hair, dressed in a similar style that Colt dressed in, the boots, the jeans and he looked particularly at ease just standing there, his arms crossed.
I guess everything would have been normal about this situation, except for the fact that the front and back doors of the bakery were locked, there shouldn't have been a random guy standing in the middle of the bakery.
"Who are you?" I demanded shakily, grabbing the glass top of the pastry case, just in case I had to throw it at this guy.
The guy gave a pleasant smile, showing off straight white teeth. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Marinette. You can call me Snakes."
Snakes?
Where have I heard that?
I stared at the guy, frowning. "Snakes. What kind of name is that?"
So I wasn't freaking out about the fact that there was a guy who'd gotten through a locked door who knew who I was. I was questioning the guy about his name. Colt did this to me. Go figure.
The guy that called himself Snakes gave a laugh. "There's no reason for us to discuss my name, Marinette. I'm here because we need to discuss something... else."
It would seem that a lot of people had to discuss a lot of things with me lately. I decided to toss aside all reason and just go with this for a moment. I mean, I was holding glass. I was all set.
"Fine," I snapped, standing up straight. "talk."
Snakes sighed, looking horribly distraught with my attitude toward him. "Oh, I do wish you'd be more pleasant about this. It's not as if I'm going to harm you or anything... not quite yet."
That was a little disconcerting.
"Why are you here?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice steady. "Did Colt send you?"
Snakes laughed again, louder this time, and I glanced over towards the kitchen, wondering when Adrien was going to hear what was going on out here.
"Oh, Agreste can't hear us at the moment," Snakes said, almost as if he were reading my mind.
"And no, Colt most certainly did not send me. Colt has no idea I'm here. I can't understand why he's so protective over you. You're not much to look at."
Wow, thanks a lot.
My eyes narrowed as he spoke. What was he on about? Colt was protective over me? That didn't even make any sense. Colt had basically said that he wasn't allowed to help me with anything.
"What are you talking about?" I said, momentarily distracted. "What is it that you need to tell me?"
Snakes raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. "Tell? I wouldn't call it telling. I'd call it more of... ordering"
"Ordering?" I repeated. "What do you mean?"
Snakes took a step closer and I was scared. Really scared. "You will stop whatever this is that you've started with Agreste. I don't believe you'll like the results of your actions if you don't."
"Excuse me?" My jaw dropped as I stared at the startling man, hardly believing what I'd just heard. Maybe I didn't here him correctly.
Snakes smiled eerily, giving me a knowing look. "I do believe you heard me correctly, Marinette. I am aware you're not hard of hearing. I'm telling you you're to stop this."
"Stop what?" I demanded. "There's nothing going on between—"
"Oh, I don't really believe that," Snakes said, cutting me off. "Not after that little... ahem... meeting in the kitchen Friday night."
I felt my face flame red with color and I very nearly threw the glass at him. "So he kissed me! That doesn't mean anything! That could have easily happened to—"
Snakes cut me off again, holding up a hand for silence. "Don't try and explain yourself, because I'm not interested in hearing. I came here for one reason and one reason alone. Stop this right now."
By now my heart was pounding and my palms were sweaty and I thought I might pass out.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked a moment later, swallowing hard. "This is ridiculous."
"Rest assured, it's not," Snakes said, sighing heavily. "If Adrien is to spend the rest of his miserable life in prison. There is nothing you can do to stop that. If Gabriel Agreste is planning on doing something... awful to his son, then there's nothing you can do to stop him."
No. No. That was absolutely not true. I refused to believe this was actually true.
"I don't believe you," I said firmly after a moment.
Snakes sighed harshly, "You're meddling with things that aren't supposed to be meddled with, Marinette, it's... illegal."
I'll admit I was caught there.
"Illegal?" I repeated. "What do you mean, illegal?"
"Colt," Snakes thought while I was still scared silent, "my idiotic step son, is breaking the decree by allowing you to do this," he explained, a rather cross look on his face.
Step son?
"I trust he didn't tell you that."
"No," I said, glowering at him. "He didn't."
Snakes laughed, shaking his head. "Of course he didn't. That kid never follows any rules. Now, listen closely, Marinette, because even I'm breaking the decree myself, by allowing you to hear this."
"Okay, what is this decree, then?" I asked exasperatedly, arms crossing with confidence.
"The decree set by my great, great... an awfully large number of greats, grandfather," Snakes started, "states that no human shall never mess with any life or death situation. There has always been exceptions made where people with Adrien's... situation is involved with Colt, however," Snakes continued, like he was readying himself for a long situation. "It's incredibly sad, what is going to happen to Adrien, but you can't stop it."
But I will stop it. No matter what this Snakes guy will say. I have to stop it and I won't let anything happen to Adrien, not after I was this involved. No way.
"Why does Colt... make an exception?" I asked Snakes without thinking.
Snakes sighed again, shrugging a shoulder. "Because his brother, Weston, drove himself mad and took his own life in prison."
I gasped, a hand flying to my mouth. "Are you serious?"
Does Colt think Adrien will do the same thing?
Snakes nodded, his lips pursed. "The entire situation was rather... sad, but I didn't care for the boy much, anyhow."
Jerk.
"Who hurt Weston?" I demanded. "How'd he drive himself crazy? Why was he in priso—"
Snakes scowled, looking cross. "I'm not here to talk to you about Wes, Marinette. Do try and focus."
I glared at him, rolling my eyes. How could he expect me not to ask questions after hearing something like that about the two brothers?
"If you leave Adrien Agreste well enough alone and never speak to him again," Snakes continued. "Then everything will play out like it's meant to and everyone will forget about him and carry own with their own little mundane lives. Now doesn't that sound nice?"
I stared at the guy in horror. "No! Absolutely not!"
Snakes didn't seemed phased in the slightest that I'd just screamed at him. In fact, he looked pleasantly amused.
"I figured as much. I can't say I'm pleased it's coming to this," He sighed, drumming his fingers on the front counter. "If you want to continue on with your hopeless little task, even though Adrien will get into trouble, anyway, then by all means, go for it."
"I don't—"
"Look here, girl. I'm done playing around now." Snakes' voice had abruptly changed to a more harsh, annoyed sounding tone, taking a menacing step towards me. I clutched the case top tighter and sincerely hoped that I wasn't going to have to use it.
"I'm trying to help you," Snakes was saying in a rough voice. "But since you refuse to heed my advice, I'm afraid things are going to get a whole lot more difficult for you now."
I gulped, an icy shiver of fear blanketing my body with chills. "What d-do you mean more difficult?"
Snakes smirked, giving a look that screamed this man was insanely dangerous. "Oh, I don't know, Marinette. You may just find from time to time that things will... slip out of place."
I let out a yelp when the glass suddenly slid from my grasp and shattered against the floor, but not before it grazed the inside of my palm, leaving a deep, bloody gash in its place.
"Ow!" I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying and kicked the large glass pieces off to the side, holding up my injured hand closer to my face to inspect the gash.
Hopefully, I wouldn't need stitches.
"And, well..." Snakes sighed dramatically. "People tend to get hurt when they slip, don't they? Try asking that little boy Malakai."
I whipped my head up to stare at him in horror, to start firing questions at him to find out what was going on, but Snakes was nowhere in sight. He was completely gone.
"Hello?" I called out slowly, looking around.
"What're you whining about now, Mar?" I breathed an unintentional sigh of relief when I heard the sounds of Adrien's dulcet tones and immediately took off running for the kitchen.
I thought about trying to hide my hand from him, but it was bleeding profusely and I was pretty sure I'd stained my apron.
Adrien was standing at one of the large sinks in the kitchen, washing dishes, when I entered. He glanced over his shoulder as I edged inside, saw my hand and then spoke awfully loud.
"God, Marinette. What did you do?" Adrien dropped whatever dish he'd been washing and quickly wiped his hands off on a dish towel before heading over to me.
"I sort of... accidentally broke the top of the pastry case and cut my hand?"
Well, that wasn't a lie, since that's what had happened. I just kept the part about Snakes out. No big deal.
"Great, you just about split open your palm," Adrien griped, looking insanely angered as he examined my hand. "Aren't you careful?"
"I am careful!" I fired back. "It was just an accident."
Adrien rolled his eyes and then yanked me forward towards the sink to stick my hand underneath the flow of hot water coming from the tap. I squeaked in discomfort as my hand started to throb with pain.
"I can take care of myself, you know," I grumbled as he genuinely scrubbed my hand with soap.
"I highly doubt that," Adrien snorted.
After Adrien finished cleaning my hand, he leaned over and grabbed a roll of paper towels off the counter. He ripped off a towel or two and carefully wrapped it around my palm, acting as a gauze.
"Thank you," I muttered quietly.
"Marinette," I glanced up at Adrien, expecting to get yelled at again, but I was surprised to see that there was this look on his face that was almost identical to the one he had Friday night before he kissed me.
Like he was undecided, not really sure of what he was doing. Well, that made two of us.
"Adrien," I said slowly, feeling my nerves start to rise. "What are you..."
My words trailed off into nothing as Adrien started leaning closer to me, using one of his hands to tilt my face towards his.
A part of me didn't want to let him kiss me, not after what happened earlier and I was trying to force myself to move, to stop this, but I quickly realized that it was pointless.
Who was I kidding? I wanted to kiss Adrien really, really badly.
And just as he was about to press his lips against mine, the voice of my father rang out through the kitchen, stopping anything that had just been about to happen.
"Are you finished cleaning up yet, Mar? It's nearly ten. You need to come to bed!" Adrien quickly leaned away from me with a disgruntled sigh.
"I'm coming, papa!" I shouted as I stood there awkwardly, trying to breathe normally again while Adrien leaned against the counter, looking more exhausted than usual.
"You should head home," I sighed, "Do you need help finding a cab?"
"No," He said quickly, shaking his head. "I'm fine."
Adrien walked out of the kitchen while I followed close behind. "See you tomorrow, then?" I said, beginning to sweep up my dropped glass.
"Unfortunately." Was Adrien's response.
Lovely. There that same cheery Adrien was.
I left the bakery as soon as I trashed the glass and ran for my room. When I arrived, I changed into my pajamas and noticed a small paper sticking out of my bloody apron.
I grabbed and uncrumpled the piece of paper against my better judgment, just to see what was on it.
And written in a looping scrawl were the words:
I warned you to be careful.
— ᴀɴ ✍︎︎
Hey! I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter, but please excuse any mistakes as well as anything that seems confusing, i'm going to have to read the story all together and fill in the gaps when I have free time! ❤︎