Someone has been knocking on the apartment door nonstop for the last minute.

Adrien did not want to stand and open it because he feels so comfortable moping around on the couch. He thought that he could drown out the sound of the knocks, but they started to get louder and even more urgent.

He groans and forces himself out of the couch. Whoever this person is is seriously part of his list of annoyances from now on.

Adrien has been annoyed by almost everything by now and that is very unlike him. He knows the reason why, though. Even Nino and Nath, and thankfully neither of them have raised any comments about the sudden change. They offer him their presence and Adrien feels their concern but he’s not yet ready to talk about it.

This week has been hard on him. He’s not sure though if it’s been hard on her…on Marinette. She’s been acting as if they’ve never been together before. Adrien just does not see her frequently anymore, but it looks like she’s taking the breakup well.

Breakup?

That night at the hotel, would that be considered a breakup? Adrien doesn’t know and he’s not in the mood to think about it.

The person on the other side of the door continues to knock loudly. When he finally arrives before it and pulls the door open, he finds himself face-to-face with an angry-looking Alya who has a closed fist in the air since she was abruptly interrupted from knocking on the door.

Adrien scrunches his eyebrows together. “Alya?” He peers outside to see if Marinette might be standing outside with her, but there’s no one aside from her. “What are you doing here?”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t try to talk to each other again?” She questions him strongly without any greeting.

“Doctor DC?’

“Doctor DC, Marinette, the Devil, whatever you want to call her!" She exclaims furiously. “You get the point. Now answer my question!”

Heaving a sigh, Adrien leans behind the doorway. “Alya…I…” he trails off. Finding the answer to this question that was suddenly bombarded to him is draining. But Alya is not the type of person who would let him go without an answer. “I…” he tries again before settling with the answer, “She needs her space-”

“She doesn’t need that,” Alya cuts him off, “She needs you.” The desperate tone in her voice made Adrien’s heart clench in pain. He doesn’t want to hear those kinds of words or else he will break down into an endless amount of tears again. “Do you know what she’s been doing for the past week?” Alya continues, “She wouldn’t sleep and eat. She wouldn’t talk to me and would just mindlessly stare at the walls in her room. You think that she’s been normal this whole time? Nothing about what she’s doing is normal! I beg of you. There must be something that you have that will make her listen to you.”

Adrien shakes his head despondently. “...and even if I try?” He then whispers, “We both know Marinette. My words will only fall on deaf ears.”

Alya takes a step back, appalled. The look in her eyes is different. It carries the undertone of judgment and disappointment. “You sound like Luka,” she murmurs in disbelief. “Do you know him? Do you know about Marinette’s past with him?”

“...Yes,” Adrien utters in a voice above a whisper.

“Then don’t be like him. Don’t give her too much space knowing that that is not what she needs. Don’t be like him, please.”

—---------

You sound like Luka…

Adrien did not like those words.

Don’t be like him, please.

He couldn’t keep his mind focused for the rest of the day, especially during work.

When that man came and threatened the whole department, he was scared. But when all the attention was on Marinette, he didn’t care about himself. He was scared for her.

When they couldn’t take their eyes off each other, there was a deafening silence between them. Pensive yet bleak at the same time. When he looked at her, he had so many and so few to say that it came out as blank, nothing.

She acted as he expected her to, but now no one is on her side.

There was a rumor that was being passed around among the nurses that Doctor Couffaine scolded Doctor DC for agreeing to operate on the man’s son.

“The son is actually currently staying in the pediatric ward,” One nurse whispered to Adrien as they walked together in the corridor at the start of their shift. “I heard that admin is allowing him to stay there for two more days and then he’ll have to leave.”

“But wasn’t his dad brought to jail?” Adrien whispered back, “Who will take care of the kid?”

“They’re trying to contact other family members of the kid. Aside from that, I don’t know any updates regarding the situation. It’s clear that Doctor DC has been stressed about it.”

He’s restless - both physically and mentally. He knows that it cannot stop there. The hospital is allowing the kid to stay for a few more days, but they’re going to let him go without any treatment?

No wonder why Doctor DC is as bothered as him. Adrien likes to think that all doctors are, Doctor DC is just the only one who has the guts to show it and speak about it.

It was nearing break time and Adrien was on his way back to the nurses’ station. That’s where he’s been eating his meals for the past week. Even if he does not spend his breaks with Doctor DC, he still makes sure to eat a salad at least once a day. This doesn’t mean though that every time he sits before a salad he doesn’t tear up and think of all those times he spent his meals together with the doctor. He always tears up and he thinks that it’s stupid of him.

Yet, it’s simply human nature.

Since the storage room is near the nurses’ station, the nurse thought that it would be a good idea to go to it first to grab some supplies to replenish his nurse cart. As he reaches the storage room, he finds the door left ajar which is unusual. He raises an inquisitive eyebrow and peeks inside the room just in case there might be something or someone inside.

And he sees her.

Doctor DC.

He freezes in place and he felt the beating of his heart quicken, but he could not take his eyes off her. She is slowly pacing back and forth between two shelves in the storage room. She bites her knuckle, clearly deep in thought. She then stops and squeezes her eyes shut as she heaves out a heavy breath. She takes a few steps toward the stool where Manon leaves her letters for the nurses and where a roll of toilet paper idly sits all day. The doctor takes the roll of toilet paper and takes a bit of it before dabbing it under her eyes.

She’s crying. Adrien could hear her sniffles from where she was standing and his heart clenched in pain. It is torturous to see that and to hear her voice. He wants to run to her and hold her. He wants to be there as she cries. He wants her to know that he will be with her even through her pain.

But he can’t do that now. She might push him away again.

…Maybe there is another way.

Adrien takes a few steps back and continues his way to the nurses’ station. An idea pops into his mind and it seems crazy but he’s going to make it work. The doctor may not want him to be around her for now so he’ll make the most out of what he’s got.

Yes, he may still feel hurt over what she has been doing to him for the past months but his feelings never wavered.

He realizes it now. He loves her. And even if the whole world is now against her, he doesn’t want to be. He’s going to stick with her no matter what.

He’s not going to be like another ‘Luka’. He’s going to be Adrien and he knows that that man would never back down.

The nurse grabs his phone from his pocket and dials Nino’s number immediately. “Nino,” he says the moment his best friend picks up the phone. His tone was all serious. “I need you to do something for me and it’s going to be a lot of work that needs to stay a secret between you and me. I’m going to text you all the details you need to get in a few minutes. I’ll pay you back by paying for your laundry for the whole year.” Adrien drops the call after and takes a detour to head to the doctors’ office.

Before his break, he wants to pay someone a visit.

Thankfully, it’s just Doctor Couffaine who’s in the office now and he’s the person Adrien wants to speak with.

Adrenaline courses through the nurse’s veins and nothing was stopping him now, not even his fears and nerves. He walks up to Doctor Couffaine who is busy filing reports at his desk.

“Oh, I didn’t see you enter!” The doctor exclaims as he finds Adrien standing before him. “Yes, Nurse Adrien? Is there anything I can do for you?”

The sight of Marinette crying plays through his mind again and Adrien does not hesitate to say, “You are a good doctor, but a fool of a man.”

Doctor Couffaine’s eyes widened at that. “I-I beg your pardon?”

“All those years ago, you knew that Marinette was hurting yet you still left her.”

“That was what she wanted.”

Adrien balls his hands into fists and narrows his eyes at Doctor Couffaine. “That may have been what she wanted, but not what she needed.”

Doctor Couffaine looks away, refusing to keep eye contact with the nurse. “You know that I can’t turn back time, Nurse Adrien,” he utters out of exasperation.

All of a sudden, the nurse slams his hands on the table which causes Doctor Couffaine to jump a bit in shock and look back at him. “Yet you still care for her, right?” He questions, peering straight into the doctor’s eyes.

“A-As a colleague, of course,” Doctor Couffaine answers almost immediately. His eyes stay wide open out of shock and fear.

“Then promise me that whatever happens, starting from now, none of the blame will be placed on her. Do you understand me?”

“What are you planning to do, nurse?”

“Make sure that all the blame is placed on me, do you understand that? Will you promise me that?” The nurse continues in a strong manner.

“I promise,” Doctor Couffaine whispers.

“Good.” Adrien then turns around to head out of the room.

Doctor Couffaine repeats his question right before the nurse leaves, “Nurse Adrien, what are you planning to do?!”

“Something you should have done for Marinette years ago!”

—---------

Marinette lost her appetite again. She’s been losing it frequently and now it’s hard for her to tell if she’s feeling hungry or not.

Luka forced her to go home in the middle of her shift. He even threatened to call security to escort her out if she was to go against his order. Marinette thinks that it’s because she has been quote-unquote “torturing her body”, but to call security? That guy is overexaggerating everything.

She’s been lying down on her sofa for the past hours and she has not moved an inch to even check her phone or check what time it is already.

Marinette feels stuck. She doesn’t know what to do. The whole universe is against her and even if she tried to change something, it won’t work.

The strong and independent Doctor DC has reached a dead end. She feels lost, instead of being surrounded by endless crossroads, endless options, she is left with a round wall surrounding her. She has nowhere to go, and no one to turn to.

She feels useless. All those years of studying and working hard to reach her goal are all for nothing. She cannot help a patient and she lost someone who meant a lot to her.

“Oh, God,” she murmurs under her breath as tears start brimming her eyes. “Don’t cry again, Marinette, don’t cry again please.”

The ringing of her doorbell breaks her train of thought and she’s thankful that it happened. Now she has a reason to stand and move around in order to not ruminate over her thoughts.

She groans as she forces herself out of the sofa. She grabs her cardigan that was hung on the side of the sofa and wraps it around her shoulders as she trudged to the door. It must be Alya who’s ringing the doorbell. She must have forgotten her key again.

Once Marinette unlocks the door and pulls it open she immediately says, “Alya, why do you keep on forgetting your key?”

But it’s not Alya who’s standing on the other side. And Marinette could only wordlessly stare at the man standing before her.

“Doctor…” Adrien whispers.

“...Nurse Adrien,” Marinette whispers back.

Adrien eyes her from head-to-toe and his face then contorts in deep worry. Marinette wraps her arms around herself defensively and sets her eyes downcast. “What…what are you doing here? I’m not in the mood to talk-”

“And I know that,” he cuts her off gently. “So I’m giving you a reason to act, instead.” He then moves a paper folder to her line of sight. “I’m here to give you this.”

Marinette looks at it out of confusion and slowly takes it from the nurse’s hold. She inspects the paper folder before opening it. “What are all these files for?”

“Those are all the information you need regarding that man’s son.”

Marinette’s head moves upward fast to look at him. “W-What?” She scrunches her eyebrows together.

“Doctor…we can make the surgery happen. I will help you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

ADRIEN, COME THROUGH!!!

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