Marinette recalled the day Adrien moved to London, often and painfully. She'd had the chance to stop him, but as they'd stood face to face in the airport, she'd instead embraced him, telling him he'd be amazing and she was incredibly proud of him. She'd encouraged him to follow his dream and give it a chance.

Their goodbye had been emotional, so much so that within a day of him living in London, she had already abused her powers and flown over the channel to see him, spending three days at his apartment as he went to his first rounds of auditions. She was there to eat Chinese food through the fails and celebrate his first successful call back, which led to him getting the role — as a certain famous Avenger's butt!

As they both grew busier, the visits died down and they had to make do with messages and FaceTime. She always believed he would be back one day, that he would get fed up with the Hollywood lifestyle and want to be home in Paris with his friends. But he just got more and more sought after, landing roles of a lifetime, and with each role the hope of him returning reluctantly faded away. She'd plaster on a smile when he FaceTimed, telling him he was doing so amazing and encouraging him to keep going. Then her heart would break as the call ended. He wouldn't come back – there was nothing to come back for.

She supposed she could have told him the truth, but that would have been selfish. Adrien was making something of himself and he was working damned hard for it. After he'd been manipulated for so much of his life, who was she to stop him from flying free now?

Which, inevitably, brought them to this current situation. Adrien was engaged...and not to her.

The news hit her like a weight in her chest. She caught her breath in surprise, her hands trembled with disbelief. Thoughts raced through her head, each one more painful than the last. She swallowed hard against the lump lodged in her throat, and a wave of nausea washed over her. It was as if her world had suddenly shattered, leaving her feeling lost and alone in a vast sea of uncertainty.

She thought about the last pictures she'd seen of Adrien with Elise...how close they were to each other and how happy they looked. They were a beautiful couple and she was sure she'd get over this at some point. She just needed time to process the information.

Beside her on the sofa, Adrien stretched out and grabbed her hands in his, her stomach growing more turbulent as she watched his thumb draw slow circles on her knuckles. A sudden flip and plummet and her stomach landed somewhere near Italy in a sickening crash.

Forcing a smile, she looked into those wide, glorious green eyes she dreamed about night after night, and at those perfectly peach lips she wanted to taste again — but this time remember. Only to know it would now only remain as her dream.

His lips were moving – quickly – far too quickly to be casually asking her things, which was when she realised she'd just missed the entirety of what Adrien had said, too caught up with the fact he was engaged!

"... and then she looked at my phone and saw my face and I wasn't exactly listening and I agreed that we were."

Oh wow! Even this was a new one! Had he been that much of an idiot that he'd gotten engaged by mistake?

"...so when Elise mentioned it to Lana, I just agreed again and went along with it. I'm so sorry, Marinette."

Sorry? Why was he sorry? She didn't own him. He could marry whoever he wanted without asking her. They were only partners in crime. Two peas in a pod. Two people who were truly made for each other and couldn't get out of the fricking friend zone.

She stood up, Adrien's head lifting to meet her eyes. He began to stand up with her, and he looked terrified. What did he think she was going to do? Take his Miraculous from him? Or tell him he wasn't allowed to get married?

Firmly, she placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down to a sitting position, squaring her shoulders and keeping her face static.

"I've just remembered, I promised Ant I'd walk his rat. And look at that...I'm already ten minutes late. So, I'm going to head out of here and I'll speak to you later. Yup, much later." She looked at her bare wrist before turning and scurrying out of his bedroom door and down the staircase, Nathalie holding out a glass of water, which she chugged and placed back in the assistant's hands as she passed.

Making a great escape just like Cinderella from the ball, she began to run at speed away from the mansion and down towards the river, unconsciously heading in the direction of Luka's houseboat.

She rubbed her head as she moved, thinking of all the possibilities of what this could mean. Was Adrien going to ask if he could reveal his superhero identity to Elise? Or maybe he was going to ask her to be his best man? Whatever it was, she couldn't hang around and deal with it now. She needed time.

Reaching for her side bag and her phone, she was annoyed to find she'd left it on Adrien's sofa in her haste to get out of there, which meant she hadn't got her phone or Tikki.

Well, this day was substantially getting worse. Unsure whether Luka was in, and not wanting to explain her unusual appearance to any of her friend's family, she made her way towards the bridge, passing André and finding a gap to rest her forearms on it. Upon seeing the river, she breathed out a heavy sigh, the weight of her feelings settling around her like a cloak..

Her heart was in turmoil. She couldn't believe what she had heard – Adrien, the man she had secretly loved for years, was engaged. The news had hit her like a tidal wave, leaving her breathless and confused.

As she gazed out at the shimmering river, Marinette;s thoughts were a jumble of emotions. How could this be happening? Her fingers gripped the cold metal as she tried to process the news, as her fingers gripped the cold metal of the railing.

The river flowed beneath her, its gentle current a soothing presence amidst her inner turmoil. Marinette closed her eyes, letting the sound of the water lapping against the bridge pylons calm her racing thoughts.

Memories of her time with Adrien flashed through her mind–their shared laughter, the way his smile lit up a room, the countless unspoken words of love. She'd lost her best friend without a chance to show him what he meant to her - a rather epic failure on her part considering how much time and effort he'd put into her in their teens.

She felt the cracks begin to creep across her heart just like the pavement of the bridge beneath her feet – completely oblivious to the footsteps approaching.

"Ha! I knew it wasn't true!"

"Violet," Marinette said in a word of greeting. She did not want to be dealing with Violet right now, and, by the looks of the ice cream in his hand, Violet's slave with benefits had tagged along too.

"So where is he?" Violet's arms crossed tightly over her chest as she listed a sceptical eyebrow in Marinette's direction. She turned her gaze towards her boyfriend and pointed directly at Marinette. "See, I told you it was fake. She probably doesn't even know him."

Marinette let out a pent up, exasperated sigh. She wasn't in the mood for this. "What are you talking about, Violet?"

"The fake rumours you're spreading."

Rumours? She hadn't been spreading any rumours. What would she even spread them about?

"Listen, Violet, I don't know what you think you've heard, but I haven't been spreading any rumours. I have nothing to spread."

"Exactly. At least you agree with me that it's fake news. Everyone else believes it's real. I mean, even The Ladyblog has posted about it."

Marinette's blood ran cold. Why would Alya post fake news? Her friend always checked her sources (Lila being an exception — but they didn't talk about that anymore).

"Plus, he's with Elise," Violet said. "Why would he suddenly be engaged to — well..."

The way Violet said Elise's name sent shivers up and down Marinette's spine. However, even though her body was reacting to the obvious slam, her mind was revolving around what Violet had just said.

"Engaged to who?" Marinette asked, suddenly trying to replay her conversation with Adrien back in his room. Maybe she should have listened more to his explanation. It seemed she was missing a rather vital piece of the puzzle.

Violet cackled, looping an arm around the waist of her boyfriend, who was looking less than comfortable being in the middle of this conversation. "Supposedly he's engaged to —" Violet looked over Marinette's shoulder, and gasped.

Curious, Marinette turned to look, noticing a widely smiling Adrien jogging towards her with a sweetheart ice cream in one hand (in their colours) and her bag.

He slowed to a walk, his smile dazzling in the sun and his eyes looking at her as though they were trying to turn her bones into jelly. He was on a mission and she couldn't help the small hope that she was the goal.

"Hey, sweetie." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her towards him. His lips pressed against the side of her head, too softly and for far too long. Goodbye bones!

"Oh, hi," Adrien said, looking directly at Violet and passing the ice cream to Marinette so he could offer out his hand. "I'm Adrien Agreste. Marinette's fiancé."