Tomorrow all her problems will finally start to resolve. Chat was supposed to start his weeklong quest to capture his Lady's heart and she was supposed to reciprocate. Marinette knew for sure that she will and she was extremely happy that everything was finally getting in place. Her face was lit by a soft smile but nobody could hide from Tikki a little sadness in the girl's eyes.
"Marinette, what is it? Isn't that what you wanted? Are you having doubts? Do you want to be with Adrien instead?"
Kwami was concerned because it was such a delicate matter for a young girl.
"Oh, no. I am not changing my mind, Tikki, I mean, I still have some feelings for Adrien, but at the rate that I am falling for MY Chat, I predict that in a week of being his girlfriend my heart will be his completely. It is... just ... sometimes I wish that he would choose me."
Tikki was confused.
"What do you mean? He did or better he will in a week, on Valentine's Day."
"No, It is just that sometimes I wish that Chat or whoever else for that matter would choose Marinette over Ladybug. She is such an amazing superhero and it is very easy to fall in love with her. I bet half of the teenage boys in Paris probably at some point had a thing about Ladybug; but wouldn't it be amazing if somebody could have a choice between both of us and choose shy Marinette over famous Ladybug? That would be true love."
She looked with her big, wishful eyes at the sunset and signed quietly...
"But that is just a dream, Tikki. There is no way someone would prefer me to her."
***
Monday
"Plagg, where is my list?"
Kwami was innocently looking from the basket were just yesterday were mountains of cheese. He gasped. "Adrien, I didn't! How can you even think that I could?!!! That list is disgusting anyway - give some flowers, compliment out of blue, but not too obvious...Blah, Blah, Blah... As if I COULD even stomach it!"
Plagg looked hurt as Adrien was running around the room looking for his notes from the previous night. He planned to start his conquest today and he wanted to do every single thing from that list so she would remember this week forever.
"Found it! Let's go, Plagg! We'll be late for school."
***
Marinette's day started rather unexpectedly. The minute she opened her eyes she saw her adorable kwami floating right above her eyes and grinning heavily.
"There is a present for you, Marinette."
The girl looked around but saw nothing out of ordinary. She looked confusingly at Tikki.
"Look out the window, sweetie."
A beautiful bouquet of red and white roses was lying right outside her window. It was huge, probably fifty roses all together and it was magnificent. Tied to the stems was a small black cat stuffed toy with a note in his paws. Marinette opened the window and picked up the bouquet. She buried her face in the soft petals of the flowers smelling the stunning aroma that filled the room. A smile lit her face immediately, happiness surfaced in her eyes and warmth spread through her body. She was overjoyed. She had never before received flowers of such beauty. She had never received flowers from anyone at all, for that matter, except her dad, but that doesn't count.
"Who is the sender, Marinette? Check the card," Tikki nudged.
Marinette untied the black kitten and showed it to Tikki.
"I think we both know who the sender is. Let's see what the card says.
"Good morning, my Princess. Thank you for your help yesterday. I will start my conquest today and will keep you updated."
"Aw, this is so cute. I can't wait for you to conquer Ladybug."
"Marinette, wasn't he supposed to pursue Ladybug?"
"Of course, Tikki. He was and he will."
"Why then did he bring these roses to you?"
"Oh, Tikki, it's just a thank you present. See, it says so on the card. Do you really think he will go for me when he can have Ladybug? Don't be ridiculous. Let's get ready for school and go on a patrol after. I wonder what Chat prepared for Ladybug if Marinette got this gorgeous bouquet."
She smelled the roses one more time and looked through the window with her eyes full of dreams and hopes.
School went as always, nothing special, nothing excited. Marinette couldn't wait to get back home and start her patrol. She had to get rid of Alya first and get her homework done but as soon as she did the girl was out there looking around very hard, not for the akumas this time but for a certain kitty cat. After a couple of hours, Tikki started to nudge Marinette to get home.
"Marinette, I don't think he'll come today. He probably is busy with something. He did say once that he had a lot of extracurricular activities and a part-time job. Let's go home, we'll find him tomorrow."
"But he was supposed to start pursuing me today. I can't deny him this chance, Tikki. Ten more minutes, please."
But neither ten, not twenty more minutes helped. He didn't come. Marinette thought that maybe kwami was right and went home to catch some sleep before school.
***
Adrien was sitting behind his desk, writing, cutting and gluing something. He was hard at work not for the first hour now. Plagg was starting to worry that he forgot about his patrol responsibilities.
"Adrien, when are we going out? You have to go on patrol today, you know."
"Oh, we are not going out today, Plagg."
The boy continued to do his work completely ignoring astonished kwami. In all this time they spent together Adrien never, and he repeated NEVER missed his patrol. What could be so important that was keeping him away this time?
"And why is that, can I know?"
"Easy. Do you want me to lie to Marinette?"
Plagg was confused. "No?"
"Good, then we are TOO busy to go out today."
"May I find out the reason for being TOO busy to go out for a patrol with Ladybug whom you promised Marinette to start to impress today?"
Adrien stood suddenly and went out of the room without a single word. He came back in five minutes carrying a huge basket of cheese, which he placed in front of the salivated Plagg.
"Plagg, you are TOO busy because you need to finish this delicious cheese and I am too busy because I have stuff to do."
"So, you are not telling me why?"
"Nope, not now at least."
***
Tuesday
Marinette was the first to wake up. Tikki was too exhausted after yesterday's patrol. She got out of bed and started to get ready for school. The girl glanced at the window and stopped in her tracks - there was a thermos, a box tied with a pretty ribbon and an envelope with an "Update" written on it on the same spot she has found roses yesterday. Marinette's heart started pumping rapidly and a blush appeared on her cheeks as she was taking everything inside. The thermos contained her favourite coffee and in the box, she found delicious cinnamon rolls. She poured coffee into a cup and started to read a letter from the envelop while wondering where did he find those delicious buns.
"My dear Marinette,
I thought I would give you an update on my quest. Unfortunately, I was extremely busy yesterday with all of my activities and I couldn't make it to my patrol. So I went today in the morning in hopes to see Ladybug. I am very sorry for failing you and I hope that today will bring me more luck.
Will keep you updated.
Yours truly.
P.S. I found those rolls in one cafe on my patrol this morning and thought you just had to try them. I was just passing by so that was no problem. You are welcome :)"
"Why are you grinning and blushing at the same time, Marinette?"
The girl jumped up from the surprise - Tikki was floating right in from of her eyes and somehow, she didn't notice the kwami.
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just reading Chat's update. He said he was very busy yesterday, so he is patrolling right now."
"We cannot go right now, you know that, right? You have school. And where did you get these cinnamon rolls? I thought it was a Thursday's feature at your dad's bakery?"
Marinette blushed even more.
"Chat left them for me when he was passing by. Anyway, this is a good start to the day. Let's hope that Chat will meet his Lady after school. Let's go, Tikki, school is not going to disappear."
Tikki thought for a moment that Marinette was trying too hard to finish this conversation, but she quickly forgot everything when the girl shared her cinnamon roll with the kwami.
***
"Don't tell me we are not going on patrol today either, Adrien. I missed the fresh air, I missed..."
Plagg was almost crying in despair.
"No, Plagg. Today we are going. Transform! Chat Noir!"
Chat opened his window and jumped outside. He quickly looked all around, and then he went around his house trying very hard to look around every time he stopped. When Chat made the full circle, he jumped inside his window and released his transformation. Plagg flew out of the ring with such confusion and misunderstanding on his face that Adrien couldn't stop laughing for a while.
"What was that, Adrien?"
"My patrol. What else did you think?"
"That's it? I mean, I understand... well, to be honest, I don't but what was that????!!!!"
Adrien continued to laugh. Then he winked at the kwami. "I promised Marinette to go on a patrol today, so I did. I didn't promise to go all over Paris."
"I don't have a good feeling about this, Adrien. You are lucky, despite being bond with me, that there is no akuma attack."
"If they attack, I am going to fight, Plagg. Don't worry about that. Let's go to sleep, I have a big day tomorrow."
***
Wednesday
Tikki was shaking Marinette very hard.
"Wake up, you, sleepyhead!!! Wake up! You overslept!!!"
Marinette jumped out of bed. How could this happen? Well, she pretty much knew how - they patrolled longer than usual yesterday trying to find Chat. He didn't come again... The girl went straight to the window to see if there was an update from Chat. There was nothing... Not a good start she thought not knowing what was more disappointing - the fact that Ladybug didn't meet Chat yesterday or the fact that Chat didn't bring her anything. Not even a note! Definitely, not a good day!
The school was even worse. She noticed that Adrien was avoiding her all day. When she would enter the room he would leave under all kinds of excuses; when she came with Alya to sit beside Nino and Adrien at a lunch he stuffed everything in his mouth in a flash and left "to use a bathroom" for the tenth time so far. Then he asked a teacher to switch teams during the gym play of volleyball so he can avoid being with Marinette on the same team she suspected. That was the last drop!
"Alya, what's wrong with Adrien? Why is he avoiding me all of the sudden?"
Alya looked at her with astonishment. "Earth to Marinette! Where were you for the last couple of days? He started to behave this strange since Monday. Didn't you notice? Not like you, Marinette, not like you. Are you sick or something?"
Marinette didn't notice. She was too excited in anticipation of being courted by Chat that she didn't notice ANYTHING around her. Definitely not a good day!!! She wondered if the patrol was even worth going to. Probably not!
***
"Perfect, Plagg! Just as I suspected. Let's go!"
Plagg was just happy to be patrolling again. He did miss running around, jumping, and soaring above the buildings. Today was a full patrol day. They checked everything everywhere. No akumas, no Ladybug either. Chat was running towards Marinette's house.
"Hello, Marinette? Are you there?"
She let him in the room in an obviously horrible mood.
"Hi, Chat. What brought you here?"
The cat gathered all of his actor's skills and exclaimed with great pain in his voice.
"A great sorrow, my Princess! I was patrolling for two days but I haven't found my Lady. All I wanted was to go home and cry myself to sleep. I was on my way when I remembered that my dear friend Marinette is the best at healing broken hearts. So here I am. But I see that you are not in a mood yourself. What happened?"
Marinette looked at him amused and didn't know what to think. A soft smile appeared on her face.
"So, you did patrol yesterday and today? Strange, that you didn't find Ladybug. I know for sure that she was out last night."
Chat blinked.
"How do you know that for sure?"
"My friend Alya searches high and low for pictures of Ladybug to post on her blog. Today she told me that Ladybug was patrolling extra-long time yesterday WITHOUT Chat. She had pictures from all over Paris. Where did you patrol?"
"Everywhere, Marinette. Cross my heart, I LOOKED for her in all directions."
Chat was extremely proud of his cleverness. The sparks in his eyes said it all but Marinette was just happy to hear that he was looking for her everywhere and missed those completely. She just regretted not going to patrol today. Chat continued.
"So what is wrong with you, princess?"
"Nothing special, just Adrien avoiding me all of the sudden and not even hiding it. He went to the bathroom twenty times today (I counted!) and his callings all happened suddenly when I was approaching! He almost choked on his lunch and had to remind our gym teacher WHO he is just to be on a different team during the game! Unbelievable!!! What did I do to him?"
Marinette was angry. No, she was furious! The tears of hurt started to fill her eyes. She didn't see or heard how Chat came from behind and hugged her softly. Marinette froze the moment she felt his strong hands wrapping around her shoulders. The girl's heart was trying to get out of her chest and the crimson colour completely engulfed her face. But she didn't fight, she suddenly felt safe, secure, right where she was supposed to be. Tears started to roll down her face.
"What are you doing Chat? YOU, my friend, are supposed to be looking for Ladybug and you are supposed to hug HER."
"I will find her, Marinette, but right now, I think, you need a hug more than she does. A friendly hug, just as a friend."
He was right. She needed a friend right now, someone who could help ease the injured heart just by being there. Meanwhile, a quiet nudge inside her was asking if he was her friend. Just a friend or something more? Marinette chose to ignore it. He loved Ladybug, he was on his conquest and she, she will try to forget Adrien and focus on Chat.