"Alya! Turn the TV up!" Marinette ordered as it was time for the afternoon news. Nadja Chamack, famous for reporting the public opprobrium of Paris. She was the first to report that Gabriel Agreste, the famous fashion designer renowned for being cold and callous, was having coitus with his personal assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur. Marinette would have never believed that her fashion role model would fornicate with his assistant if there wasn't visual proof. How Nadja got such evidence remains a mystery but the public knew she had to have a confidential source that had access to the Agreste Manor. A servant? A model? A rival? An ex-lover?  Perhaps, the chauffeur? 

"Don't be bemused, it's just the news! Nadja Chamack reporting. I found out through my confidential source that Adrien Agreste is recovering from a physical assault. I will speak for everyone here at station 24. Adrien, we all hope you recover quickly and that the culprit is brought to justice." She paused for a brief moment. "Parisians, if you have any leads on who could have attacked Adrien Agreste,  please contact the station or the local authorities."

"ADRIEN, this is all your DAMN fault!" Marinette shouted at the television. "If you just stayed with Kagami you wouldn't have got your ass kicked!" 

She was an avid Adrigami shipper and cried when Paris's power couple broke up. Most people blamed Kagami for the split but Marinette blamed Adrien. She didn't think a rich white boy could ever understand the struggle of an Asian woman climbing the social ladder. Kagami was underneath a microscope twenty-four seven. If she forgot to dot her I when she signed her name a rumor would circulate that she was mentally unfit to be the ring for the Olympics.

 It was unfair as Adrien was soon debuting as Detective Jones in the Sci-Fi thriller, Horrificator. The blonde-haired, green-eyed cash cow was prone to scandals. He only ever got a slap on a wrist or it was played off as a boy being a boy. Marinette used to be a fan but when he broke Kagami's heart she could no longer support the show he was soon to appear in. Even when her best friend's baby daddy, Alan Thénardier directed the show. Adrien doubled as a model and it was hard to purposely circumvent Adrien when he was in commercials and fashion magazines.

"MARINETTE LANGUAGE!" Alya scolded as Marinette rolled her eyes before putting a euro into the swear jar that was hidden underneath the counter. A jar that was already half-filled by Alix and Marinette. The obscene profanity jar got emptied at the end of the month and was used by the crew for take-out. "Girl, give the boy a break."

"I can't. Like what man in his right mind would break it off with Kagami Tsurugi? I just-" 

"MARINETTE!" Alya ran over to Marinette who had just overpoured a customer's order. "Are you okay? Because you seem more out of it than usual."

"Fine, just trying to focus on… something that's not you know."

"This isn't about your Adrigami obsession is it?" Alya said as she signaled Alix to handle the register and redo the patron's order while Alya took Marinette to the back.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Alya had noticed strange behavior when Marinette had arrived for her shift. She had entered through the front door and scanned the Café. Which was unusual as employees were supposed to enter from the back. She wore her sneakers instead of her normal flats. Alya found this odd as Marinette only wore her sneakers to the gym or for a morning run. 

"It's just my overactive imagination. He probably meant nothing by it."

"Honey…" Alya put her hand on Marinette's forearm. "I'm letting you take the rest of the day off."

"But… but…" Marinette stammered as La Coccinella was short-handed. Usually, four employees worked at all times but Jess was on vacation, Rachel was essentially useless, Manon and Dylan had after-school activities, and the last resort was Marianne. She owned the establishment but she was not even in France. As she took the month to reconnect with an old love interest who lived in China.  Ironically due to a genealogy test, he was also found out to be Marinette's maternal grandfather. 

Alya was the Manager of La Coccinella and was very understanding of private matters. As she had to leave work a few times to pick Miles, her two-year-old son. He was rather an accident-prone toddler. Most caused by his fixation on Superman. Both Alan and Alya struggled to explain to him that he could not soar like his superhero. Alya even had her boyfriend, Nino, attempt to explain to Miles that he was not Superhero. 

"Look, me and Alix have the café handled." 

"Alya, I need to stay. I don't want to be alone." Marinette feared that he would return and bring up that arrangement. She knew codling herself would not solve her problems but she couldn't go to the authorities. There was no proof that he did anything illegal. She couldn't work up the courage to venture into the alley and look for a bullet casing, bullet hole, blood, something that would guarantee her safety. The first aid kit, the counter, and the floor were all cleaned as if yesterday never happened.

Alya signaled her to take a seat. "Did one of Luka's bandmates get frisky with you, again?" She threw a granola bar in front of Marinette as she had a propensity to avoid eating when stressed. 

Luka had a now ex-bandmate, Kale, that had crossed a line that Luka could not forgive. Luka was throwing a party and he prohibited the use of alcohol as he didn't want to be responsible for a bunch of intoxicated teens. Kale had spiked the punch and offered Marinette a cup as she had just turned sixteen a week before and therefore was legal. Luka had caught Kale trying to steal a kiss from Marinette who didn't appreciate his advances. The party ended with Luka throwing the punch and Kale overboard. As it was a universal rule that no one ever messes with a pirate's treasure.

"No! Luka made sure of that!"

"If you won't drop a name I can't help you much more than this."

"That customer from yesterday…."

"The one that was giving you googly eyes?" Only an ignorant moron couldn't pick up on him stalking her as if he was a lion for a chance to pounce. Alya just ignored him as she thought that a wandering eye was not enough for her to intervene. Plenty of male customers ogled the employees. The idea of young females serving them their coffee and wishing them a good day was enough to have them coming back for more.

Some married, some single but what they had in common was that they were lonely. Lonely men were often the most unstable as they had nothing to lose. As long as the male customers didn't escalate to harassment or physical assault she didn't have to call the cavalry. The cavalry or the elected bodyguard of La Coccinella was Ryukyu. 

She was as lonely as the men that she protected La Coccinella but she respected the workers. She occasionally helped out if short-handed and didn't want to be paid as she had stated that she was well off. She was a reserved individual. Hiding behind a mask and the title Ryukyu.  Alya wanted to know who she was as she had suspicions about who Ryukyu was. She resisted her urge to find out as she knew it wasn't worth risking her safety on curiosity.

Marinette nodded her head. "He's dangerous." She started to pick at her fingernails. A bad habit brought on by stress. She wished that she could have gorgeous manicured nails like Alya and Jess. However, her anxieties prevent her from indulging in such luxuries.  

Alya wanted to slap Marinette's hands as she often did when she caught Marinette picking at them. This was not the time to do so. Not when Marinette was afraid of a well-dressed man that most likely held as much power as Ryukyu. Alya had to reel back her mothering instincts as nail-biting and picking could cause ingrown nails. Miles was even starting to pick up Auntie Mari's bad habit. So she started painting his nails different colors to deter him from doing so.

'Is this a mistake? Involving her? She has a family and I….' She gulped at her thoughts. Alya had parents, sisters, and a son. Marinette lacked a biological family and it wasn't fair according to her to put them in jeopardy just because she might be in danger. "I can handle this by myself…."

"You don't sound so sure and that's okay if you don't want my help. But please at least accept help from Ryukyu."

"I don't think I could. She could be working with him and what I saw him do… it's not right." She recalled how unsympathetic his eyes were. 'Emeralds without light.' The feeling curled her stomach. Maybe it was because she didn't consume any food.

Marinette opened the granola bar as Alya left her to make several decisions. Stay at work? Go home? Ask Ryukyu for help? Deal with this herself? Call the police? But the police wouldn't do anything without proof. This was all depending on whether Monsieur ChatNoir was going to pursue her or not. 'What does he want? I can't give him anything.'