***Hello, My loyal readers. I am back and with another long and emotional chapter for all of you. Beware of cursing and violence. Thank you all for the support. Comment your thoughts and let me know what you think so far. Don't forget to vote and follow. I send you all much love and appreciation, MMF.***

Adrien dashed through the halls of the school, heading for the music room. The DJ, lo and behold, was tapping his fingers on a table swiftly, a worried expression on his face. Adrien walked inside the room, slamming the door shut, angrier than he'd ever been.

"What the hell did you do, Nino?" he snarled, approaching the table and slamming his fists down. As the door opened, Nino looked up, but neither the look in Adrien's eyes nor the noise his hands made as they slammed into the table caused him to react in any way. Nino simply cynically chuckled at the sound of his ex-best friend's voice.

What exactly did he do? He completed his task! He did the proper thing. Someone had to, and let's face it, Adrien had no idea what honesty was. At this point, Nino questioned the word was even in Adrien's dictionary. He was, without a doubt, his father's son. Nino used to put up with it because he hoped his friend would still be there, but now he didn't have to. Not for someone like him, anyway.

"What exactly did I do? What the hell do you think? I told her the truth, moron!" As he stood up from his seat, Nino retorted fiercely. He was adamant about not backing out. Others may have supported Adrien because the blonde was a celebrity. Some may be terrified of him because of the power the Agreste family holds, but not him. He would never fear him.

Adrien was furious. He felt betrayed. The blonde couldn't believe that his own best friend had told Marinette everything behind his back.

Marinette had left because of him! Adrien was at a loss for words. He knew what Nino saw was terrible, but he didn't even give him a chance to explain himself before ratting him out the way he did.

Adrien, filled with rage, shoved aside the table between them, grabbed Nino's shirt neck, lifted him into the air, and slammed him against a nearby wall.

"What the fuck did you tell her?" Adrien hissed.

Nino winced in pain when his back collided with the wall behind him, but he refused to back down. That was the old Nino, the one who held the blonde in high regard. That Nino was no longer alive.

Nino fought back by grabbing Adrien's wrists and forcing him to relinquish his grip, causing his feet to fall to the ground. He then proceeded to push Adrien away from him with force. " I told her the truth, asshole. Everything! I showed her everything. I told her about the bet, the falsehoods, the alleged amnesia, and, of course, the slut kissing bit. She knows how much of a sick fuck you are. She is aware of everything. You've reached the end of your rope. She now knows the truth, that you never loved her, and that you can no longer deceive her. It was something I made certain of." Nino erupted in rage, accusingly pointing at Adrien throughout it all.

Adrien stepped back and yanked his hair out of frustration. "But that is not the truth, Nino! I am in love with her. I always have been. Why can't any of you see that? I love her. I can't lose her!' Adrien yelled out defensively, with tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"Fuck you, Agreste!" Nino hissed, turning around and beginning to walk out of the room since he no longer wanted to listen to this jackass. "Nino, please listen to me!" Adrien pleaded as he pursued Nino. When he finally got to him, he grabbed his arm and wouldn't let Nino take another step. "Please, Nino. I swear it is not what it looks like," Adrien begged again.

"Leave me alone, asshole!" Nino snarled, but Adrien was unyielding. He needed to mend his relationship with Marinette, and he'd need the help of his best friend to do so. "No! Not until you've given me a chance to speak. Please, Nino," Adrien said, his voice dropping as the conversation progressed.

Nino was deafeningly quiet for a moment. Adrien's voice and actions appeared sincere, but he had previously assumed the same thing before finding out he had been wrong. Nino pondered whether or not allowing Adrien to speak was a smart idea. After all, he was curious about a lot of things. There were a few questions the DJ needed to ask. Nino wished to comprehend, but he was unable to do it on his own.

Nino exhaled. He was confident that the night at the club had been genuine. Adrien appeared to be in love, but just hours later, he caught him kissing another girl. Why? Nino was desperate to learn the truth. That was if Adrien could pick up the language.

Before Nino could reply, Adrien spoke again. "Nino, I am begging you, please allow me to explain. If you still don't believe me after I have finished, then I will leave you alone. But know I truly do love Marinette." 

Making up his mind, Nino responded. "All right, but not here." Let's head over to my house. I'm sure Alya will be interested in hearing this. Adrien took an anxious gulp. When Alya spotted him, he was certain she would cut his balls off. That woman was insane. But this was his only choice at the moment. Therefore he nodded, agreeing with the DJ. He would rather take his chances with Alya than lose Marinette forever. Only they could help him get his princess back. They were his only salvation.

"Okay, let's go."

__________________________________________________

Sabine sat calmly listening as her daughter ended her story. Many parts of the story seemed incomprehensible to Sabine. At least not when Adrien was the other person involved. It was as if things were missing. Maybe some that even were unknown to her daughter herself. 

Sabine had spent a lot of time with Adrien while he was younger. Adrien would still slip into the bakery from time to time for goodies and updates on Marinette's health, not that Marinette was aware of any of it.

Sabine knew Adrien might be a great number of things and make plenty of bad decisions, but he would never purposefully hurt Marinette. He had a genuine affection for her daughter. His love for her was far from fake. It never has been and never will be. 

Tom locked his gaze on his wife, observing her reaction. It seemed as if he was able to read her mind, and he agreed. There was something off, something missing. Adrien loved Marinette, and he never once hid that from them. He was sure Marinette was missing something of extreme importance. Alya and Nino wouldn't do that to her. They were huge believers in the value of friendship. That does not sound like them.

With that being said, that did not stop the couple from feeling anger. That was by far the dumbest thing the blonde had done. How could Adrien have been so stupid? And if this was another one of Alya's plans, it was by far the dumbest!

"And if it hadn't been for Luka, I would have probably never found out the truth. Who knows, I would have probably gone on believing we would marry one day only to be left in the altar after," Marinette ended, tears spilling heavily.

Sabine wished to tell her daughter that she agreed. She wanted to say that she was correct and that she had every right to despise them. But if she did, she'd be lying. "What if you're completely wrong?" She inquired, choosing to be oblivious to the possibility of just consoling her daughter. When her mother asked a question, the young bluenette gave her undivided attention. Marinette couldn't believe her ears. Was her mother so fond of  Adrien that she refuses to believe what a callous jerk he is?

"Perhaps you're correct, and it all started as a gamble, but what if he fell in love with you for real?   What if the bet was an excuse to get closer to you? What if he's really been in love with you all these years? What if he meant every word he spoke last night? As much as I want to tell you that you are right, I can't. Honey, there is a lot of things we don't know yet. Things only he can tell you." Sabine stopped for a second and looked at her husband, wondering if she was making the right choice. Receiving a smile and a nod from the man was enough for her to continue.

"Listen to your heart, baby. Do you believe Adrien would do something like this to you, of all people?" Sabine inquired.

Marinette bit her lower lip as she sobbed. She was perplexed. Her heart screamed that there had been a mistake and Adrien loved her, but her mind told her to escape and forget him. "You know better than anyone that Alya and Nino would never intentionally harm you. Alya would risk her life for you. You are her sister, her family."

"I have to agree with your mother, honey. I know this is a difficult situation, but this is something you need to talk to him about. Don't you want answers? I know if it were me, I would demand them," Tom agreed.

 "No! He doesn't deserve a chance to speak!  He'd had plenty of chances in the past. I've been waiting for him for years, and he finally resurfaces but then does this?  If he truly cared about me, he would have told me the truth. If he truly loved me, then he would have told me the truth before giving me this!" Marinette screamed as she grasped her ring finger.

"He hurt me, Maman. Not once, twice, or even three times, but numerous times. I'm at a point where I can't forgive him any longer. You are correct about Alya and Nino. Knowing Alya, they most likely thought they were helping or something. I'm confident they wouldn't harm me. I'll call them as soon as I'm able. But not Adrien, not anymore." 

Sabine moaned in dissatisfaction. She hoped her daughter would see that she was making a mistake and that Adrien genuinely cared for her. "Okay, sweetie, but take a moment to consider everything. You know, before you write Adrien off altogether. For the time being, I'll speak with your school. I'll schedule a red-eye flight to China for you, but you only have a week. I will only give you one week in China. You must return to school as soon as possible after your return. Fashin was your ambition, your future, your dream, and you can not give it up because of a broken heart."

"Thank you, Maman."

_________________________________________________

Adrien had spent the last two hours explaining everything to Nino and Alya. He answered every question, told them every detail, and went as far back as he could possibly remember. He needed to be clear of his intentions with Marinette.

"That was when I found out who she really was." Adrien continued. He chuckled bitterly as he remembered the person who had caused him his fall. "LILA!" he growled. Nino and Alya gasped in disbelieve.

"Lila? As in Lila Rossi?" Alya asked, watching Adrien nod in response. Alya couldn't believe it. How did she not see this before? She never missed anything.

"She stopped me as I was looking for Marinette to apologize before she departed with Luka. Right before the kiss that you saw, she pulled out her phone and played a video. One that showed us talking about the bet. The day you called me out of my so-called amnesia. She had it all in every single detail as if she had been following us around. She swore she would show Marinette. I begged her not to. That's when she agreed to delete it if I kissed her one last time. I was terrified, I needed time to talk to Marinette myself, so I did what she asked. I wanted to believe she was honest, but she had seen you and had it all planned out. That is when you appeared," Adrien continued sadly, wiping a tear from his eye.

"That is why you kissed her?" Nino asked, feeling horribly guilty.

Adrien nodded. "Yes, I tried to explain things to you, but you didn't want to listen. Instead, you did this," Adrien pointed at his cheek where a bruise lay. "Even then tried to stop you, but you left. I believed you would let me explain before talking to her, but you didn't. I found that out after she didn't return home. Then Luka made it clear that she was with you. I understand why you did it, but I really do love her, Nino." Adrien cried.

"I- I wanted to marry her."

Alya's mouth dropped. Did she hear correctly? "Did you just?" she couldn't even finish. Her mind was flying everywhere.

Adrien nodded, already knowing her question. He wiped a tear and took a deep breath before reaching into his pocket pulling out a small box.

Alya placed her hand over her mouth and gasped again. "Oh my God," she mumbled under her breath as Adrien opened the box revealing the most beautiful engagement ring she had ever seen.

"I know that it's crazy considering we just got together a day ago, but I love her with all my heart. I always have. This morning, after I spoke to my father, he agreed to accept our relationship. Well, as long as I agreed to keep modeling for him, which I didn't hesitate to do." Adrien took a deep breath and sniffled.

"He said he was proud of me. He confessed that the way I stood up for her and made the deal without hesitation in order to be with her showed how much I loved her. That's when I confessed to wanting to marry her. He gave me his blessing. Soon after he sent me my mother's ring." Adrien cleaned another tear.

"I wanted to propose in Christmas. I want to marry her as soon as possible. But now, now I don't even know what to do to get her to forgive me." This time, Adrien allowed his tears to fall as he looked at the ring in his box. He felt as if life hated him. Why the hell was he so unlucky?

"I- I am so sorry. I didn't know, man. I thought you- I- it just looked so bad, and I-" Nino struggled to explain. He felt so guilty. If only he had stopped to listen and listened. He should have known his best friend was better than that.

Adrien shook his head and gave a weak smile. "It's okay. It's my fault. I should have told you sooner. I wanted to, but I was scared to admit my feelings. I had always been this player in everyone's eyes, and I thought you would laugh at me. I tried to tell her after leaving the club. I tried, but I couldn't. If only I had told her the truth, this would have never happened. I just want her back. I need her back, Nino," Adrien sobbed.

"Don't worry, you will. I promise."