Adrien, stop shaking. . . I thought you said you were okay with this! I tried not to make a sound as I opened both of my eyes, both of them landing on Marinette, who was laying right beside me. Here eyes were closed, but I wasn't sure if she was pretending to be asleep, after it'd only been a few minutes before we went to bed. If she was pretending, then she was very good at it, because she wasn't moving at all, nor was she making a sound. Hmm. . . I was looking forward to seeing how loud you snored. I let out a soft chuckle, and quickly covered my mouth when Marinette began to move.

"Are you really asleep?" I muttered. I waited for a few seconds, and then it happened. Marinette turned over to me and flipped her eyes opened, a wide grin on her face. I shook my head in disappointment, knowing that it'd be more awkward around us if she was awake. It probably didn't take her that long to fall asleep. I was waiting for her to sleep first because I was afraid if she didn't and I did instead, she would hear how loud I snored. At least, I believed my snoring was loud.

Marinette then sat up. "I can't sleep." She lowered her voice but I heard her clearly. "Especially what I just did to you. I feel embarrassed. I never thought there would ever come a day when I would sleeping right next to a boy. . . especially you."

I bit my lip at the way she had said it. "Is that a bad thing? Is there something wrong with me?"

"No Adrien, it's not you." She sighed as she whirled around go face me. She stared at my face for what seemed like forever, me staring at her back, the air becoming more and more awkward. I waited for her to say something, but it didn't look like she was going to say something anytime soon. So I tried saying something, but even I could open my mouth to speak. Not a word came out of the both of us.

"Marinette. . . Adrien! You two asleep yet?" Sabine's voice coming from downstairs broke the silence. Marinette adverted her eyes away from me, replying back to her mother that we were almost asleep but just needed a few more minutes. She then turned back to me, but didn't stare, placing her head on her pillow as she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. I thought about doing the same thing, but I sat up instead, not feeling tired at all.

Marinette, am I completely free to ask you out or are you still not so sure about it yet?

•

I rubbed my eyes as soon as they opened. I would have gotten off the bed if I didn't feel something on top of me. I looked down only to see that Marinette was laying down on hers stomach, eyes closed, her left arm and leg on top of me. I blushed hard just seeing how close she was to me.

She's still sleeping. How do I move her? I sat up on the bed, taking Marinette's arm first and removing it off my stomach. I blushed with eyes closed as I took her bare leg next, seeing as it was much harder because she was wearing shorts. I gulped as I slowly made my way out of the bed, making sure Marinette was still asleep. Luckily for me, Marinette didn't look like she was waking up anytime soon. I headed over to the door and climbed down the ladder, finally able to breathe properly.

"Good morning, Adrien."

I turned around to see Mr. Dupain-Cheng sitting down on the couch in the living room, a cup of what seemed to be tea on the table. He scared me a little bit that I had to look down at the floor and try not to look embarrassed. I touched Marinette's leg! I covered my face as I turned around, knowing Mr. Dupain-Cheng was looking at me with a confused look on his face. I touched your daughter's bare leg!

"Anyway, is Marinette awake yet?" Mr. Dupain-Cheng picked up the cup and took a sip out of it.

"Oh, uh. . . no. Not yet." I scratched my head a little bit. Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng hadn't asked me why I was staying over at their bakery, but I was glad they didn't. It kind of just showed that they really trusted me. I walked inside the bathroom and pretended to use it, feeling frustrated with myself. Just staring at the mirror suddenly just showed me how selfish I was being in all of this. Marinette was having her own problems; she had suffered from Lila's lies and had only known now, and she was trying her hardest to solve the situation. . .while me on the other hand, instead of helping her out, all I thought about was whether I had a chance with her. I've never felt so disgusted with myself.

I let out a sigh and walked out of the bathroom after I was done glaring at myself in the mirror. Mr. Dupain-Cheng was still in the living room, this time staring at the TV he had turned on. Feeling embarrassed about what had happened when I had woken up, I didn't say a word and just climbed back up to Marinette's room, deciding to just keep myself busy by sitting on the floor and staring into space. When I got to her room though, Marinette was sitting down on her bed, looking towards the window. When she heard me come in, she turned her head to look at me. I immediately became embarrassed all over again, just remembering how I had touched her leg just to get off the bed. I still did not know how long I was going to keep staying here for, especially because I didn't want to go back to a place where such a controlling father lived. But if this is how the first day of me being here was going to go, then just how much more worse was it going to get?

"You're up early," Marinette seemed to give me a smirk as she relaxed on her pillow, the look on her face suddenly becoming seductive and motioning for me to come over. "Come here, Adrien. I'm not going to bite. Why do you always look so nervous around me?"

Because I'm afraid I'm going to do something stupid and embarrassing. I answered her question in my head, but even with that thought, I still walked over to her and sat down on the bed.

"Aw, at least you look cute with a red face."

I gulped so loudly at her comment, not sure how to feel or reply, but taking a deep breath, I told myself not to look so nervous. Beat her at her own game! I leaned in closer to her face, Marinette looking surprised all of a sudden. Then placing a hand on her cheek, I pulled her closer to my face and our lips met; it was slow and short yet so warm. When I had pulled away, Marinette was the one with the red face now. "You look cute with a red face." I snickered in my head when shew turned away with a deeper blush. When I looked away from her, my eyes suddenly budged out at the reminder of what I'd suddenly done. I kissed her. I made the first move! I slapped my face hard, not thinking I could ever face her now.

Marinette got up from her bed and started heading to her trapdoor. "I'll be making breakfast. What do you want, Adrien?"

I quickly told her what I wanted with gratitude, following her out of the room. We walked inside the kitchen after greeting Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, and Marinette got started. Along the way, I helped her out with a few things she needed help with; it was the least I could do for her allowing me to stay here. After a few more minutes had gone by, breakfast was all prepared. We sat around the table and ate. As I ate, I kept silent, busy thinking about what fun things I could do today. I wanted to hang out with Marinette today, possibly have some alone time with her, although I wasn't really sure if my heart could take it. Whatever I did today, I just didn't want to be alone, nor go back there.

Marinette pulled out her phone after she was done with breakfast. She looked at the screen, and for a second there, it looked as if her eyes had darkened. She looked up from her phone, looking directly at me, before she spoke her next words, "the others are going to the park and wanted to know if we could come along. Lila is going to be there as well!"

I widened my eyes as I realized what this meant. "You're going to talk to her then, right?" She nodded at my question, and I was just glad it was soon finally going to be over. I couldn't wait to see how this turned out in the end; I couldn't wait to hear Lila's explanation. Standing up, I helped Marinette clear the table and wash off the dishes. She asked her parents if we could go out, and after they agreed, we were on our way to the park. It was still quite early as the sun was shining extremely bright, but that didn't seem to bother Marinette as she just continued walking, having such a bold, determined face. I walked beside her without a word, suddenly having this sick feeling like there was a fight about to happen. Marinette wasn't the kind to start a fight in a park, right?

We got to the park, and the only ones there were Nino and Nathaniel. They told us that the rest were coming over soon. Immediately after they said that, Alya came rushing over, talking about how surprised she was that she hadn't been the first one here. A sudden smirk rose up to her face as she looked directly at me, before turning over to Marinette. "Hm, I saw you two walking over together. Did you two meet on the way or-?"

I turned away with a red face, knowing that she was onto us. Marinette replied honestly, saying that I had been at her bakery, though she didn't give any more details. Alya had immediately started laughing out loud and wiping off invisible tears, as if the whole situation was hilarious. "I knew it!" She then said after her laughter died off. The grin was still there though. She took a seat down on the bench, her eyes never leaving Marinette and I. "So, care to share? What did you two do over at the bakery? Did Adrien sleep over? Which room? If I remember clearly, Marinette, there are only two bedrooms in your bakery. So, did Adrien sleep in the living room, or your bedroom? What type of dirty things did you two do up there-"

"Alya, shut it!" Marinette immediately covered Alya's mouth, and I could notice the redness on her face. I couldn't help smiling to myself as I thought about just how cute she looked with a red face.

"Hey, guys."

Then, someone appeared to ruin that for us. We all turned around to look at Lila, who had approached us. I took a peek over at Marinette, and she did not look that happy to see Lila. She kept her cool though, because she didn't immediately start screaming at Lila about how much of a liar she was, but Marinette didn't waste time at all and instantly told Lila she had to talk to her about something important. Not only did she say that, but Marinette also walked over to Lila, and before Lila could move away, Marinette grabbed ahold of her shirt and lifted it up. Lila slapped her hand away, but it was already too late; we had seen what was on her body.

Nothing.

"Where's that wound you had yesterday, Lila?" Marinette asked, and I could tell she was trying not to look mad. "Why is it not on your body anymore?" Lila may have been too lazy and decided not to put any fake wounds on her body. Maybe she didn't have time, or maybe she was too overconfident and it didn't cross her mind that someone may lift her shirt up and reveal her secret. Right about now though, it didn't matter whether she had forgotten or not, but the wound was not there, and this time Lila didn't seem to have a way out of it.

~~

Next three chapters:
Lila's POV