(A/N- Also check out the next chapter. I've wrote the two at once. 😁)

The woman walked out of the door quickly, pulling Nathaniel with her, before much people could notice the bloody state his hand was in.

Nathaniel couldn't make out the female in the dark, but he was pretty sure that he has never seen her before. He tried to pull his hand out, but her grip on his wrist grew tighter.

A dry chuckle was heard as they made way to the deck in long strides, "Don't worry. I am not here with bad intentions."

He couldn't make out his companion's thoughts...

Thoughts ran and crashed into one another, all taking him back to main question again, what is her identity?

Both of came to an abrupt halt when the woman released his arm.

She took off the purse swinging around her shoulder and took out a roll of bandage and medicine.

She looked at him calmly, "Give it. "

He couldn't understand her at first, "What?"

"Your hand. Give it to me. "

Nathaniel hesitated for a while before he reached his hand out near her. She was extremely proffesional. Within minutes his hand had been applied medicine and neatly bandaged.

The woman stood up, walked over to the stern, and kept her hands folded on the railing, watching the distant sea, hearing the ocean waves and feeling the cool breeze.

The wind messed up her neatly combed hair…

The moonlight shone on her face, gracing her skin with a bright glow...

Nathaniel's eyes widened in surprise when he finally realized who it's was.

Kagami???

She glanced at him quickly and fixed her eyes on the calm ocean again. She smiled, "Surprised, huh? "

"Hmm. No one knew you'd come back. "

Her brown eyes turned gloomy and she laughed out self-mockingly, "I fought with my mother. I... I wanted to move somewhere closer to Adrien."

Nathaniel realized something right then. It must have hurt her as much as it had hurt him, seeing Adrien and Marinette get engaged. He walked over to her and mimicked her posture.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. "

"I feel bad for you."

"Hey, you're the one to talk. I wasn't the one who crushed a wineglass and made a mess." She turned towards the artist and smiled.

He stared into her eyes for while before going back to watching the ocean, " You know, you've changed."

"You have too. The previous you would have run away from girls other than Marinette..." The humour insinuated in her tone didn't reach him.

The last part of her sentence...

Running away from girls other than Marinette... Marinette… she was probably dancing with her fiancé right now... To the faint ballroom music that floated to even here...

She quickly added, watching his hurt expression, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to make you feel bad."
He shook his head, "You didn't."

Kagami looked down, "How much I try to improve myself, be like the others, still the same old me. Still.....don't understand others."

Nathaniel didn't respond.

"You confessed? " She was curious.

"Yeah. After she gave birth to the babies. "

"Do you know the names? "

"Hmm. Etiénne, everyone calls him Blue and the girl is Aimée, better known as Ames. " His eyes softened tenderly.

"Oh. "

"Are they Adrien's? " Kagami couldn't help herself but confirm the question that has been eating away at her.

Nathaniel was shocked.

"No, Luka was the father."

Kagami was equally confused. She hadn't kept contact with Paris for so long that she didn't know about anything.

'Was'? And if the children were Luka's, then why was he not here? And won't that mean that Luka and Marinette are married? Then, how can Adrien and she get engaged?

On seeing her confusion, he explained everything to her that had happened since their high school.

She was stupefied. These 11 years did change all of their lives drastically.
Kagami had a grim expression on her face as she walked to a chair laid out on the deck and sat down.

"Um... Are you okay? " The artist asked slowly. He didn't know how to comfort her. They weren't close friends back then. He had only met her in a few occasions when all of them hung out in a group.

She looked up, her eyes shining with the brilliance of a few residue of the tear drops, "Yeah. I'm... okay. "

She added, "I, honestly, I don't regret not coming back earlier. These two were destined to be together. Me coming back from Japan wouldn't've made a slight difference... It was my fate. We were not meant for each other... "

Sensing the heavy atmosphere, she stood up and attempted a lighter tone, "Hey, let's go to the bar and drink our sorrows away, shall we? After all, we can complain to each other how God hates us. No one else would understand, eh?"

He tried a smile as well. "Not a bad idea. "

The two of them walked towards the bar, not knowing that fate has started making plans for them right that second...
---------------------------------------
Marinette was exhausted from the party. As a result to all the toasts given to them, she had to drink quite a bit and wasn't exactly feeling very energetic.

Blue and Ames had accepted Adrien and hers new relationship status quite well, more than she had originally expected...

Adrien opened the door and switched on the lights, the three of them following him into the room.

The blonde picked up Ames, who was trying hard not to fall asleep and walked up the stairs to get the twins to bed. Blue stayed back for a while, fetching a glass of water for Marinette and leaving only after kissing her goodnight.

When Ames went into the washroom to change her clothes, Blue hesitated for a while before asking Adrien,
"Did you see when Laura left? "

"Laura? "

"Laura Vincent. My classmate? Violet dress?"

Although surprised, he maintained a neutral expression, "Um... at around 8. Her guardians didn't allow her to stay later than that."

"Oh. "

Although curious, Adrien didn't ask anything else.

Both of the twins changed their clothes and got into their pajamas.

Adrien had to force Ames to go into the washroom for brushing her teeth while she constantly complained that she wanted to sleep. He often quipped in,
"Ames, brush that side of your teeth."

"Princess, don't play with water. You'll catch a cold. "

"Here, let me comb your hair for you."

Blue felt a bit down. It was as if Adrien couldn't even see him standing beside Ames.

The blonde, noticing his expression, chuckled to himself and ruffled his hair lovingly, resulting in the little boy's desperate attempt to stop a smile from coming onto his face.

As the both of them climbed onto the bed, Adrien covered them with a thin blanket.

When he was just about to leave the room after switching the lights off, Ames spoke up, "Handsome Adri, can you tell me a story? Can't fall asleep. "

He turned around and smiled, "Weren't you feeling super sleepy just now? "

The girl pouted, "That was before I had to brush my teeth and wash my face with the cold water. That freezing liquid would have even brought me back from death! "

Adrien chuckled at her antics and walked over to their bed. Blue rolled over, making space for Adrien who settled down on the bed.

"What kind of story do you want to hear? "

"Anything… Oh, but please not horror, I hate horror stories. " Ames said excitedly.

Her manner of speaking this made Adrien remember that time when he and Marinette had snuck to the movies to see his mother's movie.
"Okay. "

After a while, he started.

"Um... So, a long long time ago, there was a kingdom called Miraculous. The king was a very just ruler and it was a very happy and prosperous country. Although the king was fair, he was very concerned about his son's safety.

The prince, on the other hand, wanted to go out and see the world. So, one day, he decided that he would enjoy his life to the fullest. That night, he snuck out and enrolled in the king's army in a disguise. No one recognized him and the prince was overjoyed.

He portrayed himself as a poor peasant and would do things that would have normally prohibited for the prince. The prince was a great fighter but he could only attain missions in nights because at daytime, he was a royal.

One day, a woman enrolled in the army. She was a great fighter as well and was also wearing a disguise like the prince. She was very secretive about her life and didn't share much details with the prince who was her partner. The prince fell in love with the woman. Little did he know, that the woman was his friend-"

A laughing voice was heard from behind, "Wait, wait, let me tell the rest. "

The three of them looked at the door to see Marinette leaning against the frame with a wide smile on her face and her arms crossed over her chest.

Adrien smiled, "Of course. Come in. "

Grinning, she kicked her slippers off and sat on the bed, next to him, snuggling in his warm embrace.

She continued, smiling, "The woman he fell in love with was the Prince's friend in their civilian identities.

She was a clumsy person in real life and wasn't very good looking either. She was living in poverty and that's why, she enrolled into the army, to help her parents with some extra money.

However, her family didn't know about her being 'Ladybug'. The woman was named 'Ladybug' in the army because she brings good luck while the Prince was named 'Chat Noir' because he was very agile and had quick reflexes like a cat.

Ladybug was in love with the prince while Chat Noir was in love with Ladybug. They worked together side by side for 4 years..."

She was interrupted by Ames, "Wow, they are such dense people, mamma. Why can't they figure each other's identities out?"

Adrien and Marinette suddenly burst out laughing, looking at each other after Ames indirectly commented on them.

The bluenette answered, failing at her attempts to be serious. "They disguised themselves in such a good way that they cannot figure the identities out."

Adrien continued telling the story, "So, one day, Chat Noir, by mistake saw Ladybug taking off her disguise. He realized that he loved the girl all this time. He revealed his identity as well and they got married and lived happily ever after."

Ames clapped her hands at the wonderful story while Blue had a small frown on his face.

"Baby, what's on your mind? "
Marinette was concerned.

Blue looked at Adrien, "I don't think that the prince loves the girl. "

The blonde was stupefied by the indirect accusation. He asked, "Why do you think so, Blue? "

"There are two points. 1. The prince didn't love Ladybug's civilian form which means that he doesn't love her for who she is. And 2. When he learned that Ladybug was his friend, it was only then that he started to think of her as 'more than just a friend'. It shows that he loved her only because she's Ladybug, not because of her real talents. " Blue shrugged.

Adrien tried to change the little boy's mind, "But, a mask doesn't define a person. "

"Maybe it doesn't. But it did make him love her that way. So, maybe the mask sometimes does define a person to others."

Adrien couldn't speak. He instinctively turned towards Marinette. There was a subtle tension in her jaw and her fists were clenched tightly.

He didn't like this look of hers. At all.

She ignored his stare and gently asked Blue, "So, Blue… do you think that the woman should leave the prince? "

"Yes, mama. Absolutely. She can find a person that loves her for herself. She's a fool otherwise, wasting all her life on a person who doesn't appreciate her real personality..."

Blue's words hit her straight in her heart.

Marinette kissed the twins goodnight and abruptly walked out of the room.
Adrien sat there motionless for a while at the sudden course of action before he greeted the kids goodnight and followed her hurriedly.

He saw her standing on the balcony, a cigarette in her fingers as she stared blankly at the midnight sky.

Adrien walked over to her and cleared his throat.

She didn't respond and stubbed the cigarette. He, feeling a bit discouraged and scared, put his hand on hers hesitantly.

Marinette immediately slapped it away.

He felt scared. Scared of what's coming next. Scared about her reaction.

After a while, she turned to look at him, tears filling her eyes and said, "Adrien, would you have really fallen in love with me if you didn't see me detransform? "

"I... " Adrien wasn't very sure of his answer. If he didn't see her detransform, he would have probably still felt the occasional pangs of jealousy he had, yes, but he wouldn't have exactly known that he loved Marinette. He wished the truth was something else, but it wasn't.

His heart told him to say yes, while his head told him to tell the truth to her.

"You are not even confident in yourself... What will I take that as,  Adrien? " Marinette's voice was trembling.

"Mari, all that which really is meaningful, is that I love you. No matter how I came to love you, I do now. It doesn't really matter, does it?"

Marinette laughed sadly, "To me, it does very much. See, that's the problem Adrien. You and I see things very differently…"

"Mari, can you please let this go? It was just a six-year old's opinion! "

Her voice was trembling, "That six-year old you're talking about is more mature than me, Adrien. I forgot that I'm a normal girl and I tried to reach for the stars… "

"Wait, let me finish, " she hurriedly cut him off when she saw him opening his mouth to speak. He shook his head, with an incredulous look on his face.

"I'm forgot that I'm a normal person and can never match up to you. I forgot that enrolling in the same expensive high school as you, which took my parents years to scratch up, wouldn't make me of the same caliber as yours-"

"Marinette, you're straying from the main point and you're inventing these imaginary delusions! Never once had I told you this! "

Adrien couldn't keep it in anymore and he burst out.

Marinette looked at him with the tears streaming down her cheeks, "Tell me, then! If I weren't Ladybug, and Ladybug was a whole another person, would you still love me? "

Silence.

"Didn't think so.... " Marinette wiped off her tears with the back of her hands.

Her mocking tone infuriated him.

"Didn't you love me for a mask? Didn't you love me for the perfect person I was? Didn't you love me for my money? Didn't you made friends with me right after you saw that I was Gabriel Agreste's son? Can you swear on your life that you didn't love me for my connections to the fashion industry? If it is otherwise, why didn't you love Chat Noir?"

Just as he finished his sentence, he saw the look on her face and he realized that he had messed up big time.

----------------------------

Ooh, drama!