"We lie to keep our mistakes hidden, hoping that they'll never be uncovered. But if a mistake is uncovered, it's better to know you told the truth than a person to no longer trust you because you were untruthful."

— Forbidden Love

CHAPTER NINE

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"A disgrace, I tell you! Always up to no good!" Aunt exclaimed loudly, her words coming out in fits of laughter, as she sat in the dining room surrounded by all of her lady friends. From outside the door, Marinette could hear their laughs and their snickers all the way from across the living space at the bottom of the staircase.

If they were going to talk about her, they could at least try to be discrete about it.

"Why do you not limit her, Lillian?" One of aunt's friends dared to spring the idea up. "No more allowance for the girl perhaps?"

There was a reason why no niece in this household ever called their aunt by her first name. Apparently, it was rude for a child to call a grown woman by her first name. Marinette never saw anything wrong with it.

It was just a name.

Then again, that little bit of information made the ravenette want to call her aunt by her first name just to annoy the old hag.

"Hmm, you make a fair point." Marinette could hear the sound of her aunt tapping her long, disgusting, finger nails on the wooden dining table. The sound made her want to gag. "No allowance is a brilliant punishment!"

Marinette scoffed at that, rolling her eyes amusingly at the idea. Of course, it wasn't really a punishment. She never used it to buy worthless junk from the market like her sisters always did.

But she did save her money.

Marinette was never bothered by her aunt when it came to punishments, but suddenly, the thought of not being able to save anymore money frightened Marinette. If Aunt refused to give her anymore allowance money, what would she save? And if she did not have any more money to save, how would Marinette attended college?

This could not happen.

Marinette stomped her foot into the hardwood floor and crossed her arms angrily. There was no way she would allow her aunt to cut off her allowance, and there was no way she could get a paying job to replace the free income. There was only one thing and one thing only that she could do.

She would have to have someone who was interested in her as a wife.

But who? Her conscience cried. You have chased away every man who has ever laid his eyes on you!

It was true. Any man who had dared to have some sort of interest in her would quickly give up after Marinette showed them her nasty side. They would despise her, because that is exactly what Marinette wanted from them.

But now, this was a matter of all seriousness. Marinette would go to college, she would accomplish what no woman had dared to try, and she would prove that woman are just as valuable and important as men in this greatly divided world.

And if lying about having a romantic relationship with a man was what she had to do, she would do it.

Marinette nodded, determined that she would do this for the sake of one day attending the university. Inhaling one more deep breath, she stomped her way towards the kitchen door where the women gossiped on about her.

Pushing the door open roughly, a loud SLAM sounded as Marinette stormed into the room, startling all the women who were there. Four pairs of frightened, wide eyes all fell on her immediately. Aunt was the first pair of eyes she met, and the look on the woman's face proved she was angry beyond comprehension at the sight of Marinette interrupting her gossip tea party.

"Ah, Lillian," one of the women decided to speak up first after the room had filled with silence. "Is this not the girl we were just speaking of?"

Marinette was certain no one could be any more oblivious than that woman right there.

"Marinette?" Aunt narrowed her eyes at the young girl. "What on earth is the meaning of this?!"

Although Marinette was extremely annoyed with her aunt, and all she wanted to do was slap the old woman (and possibly curse her out), she kept calm and held her tongue. Instead, she flashed a very fake, yet bright smile, "I have some very important news to tell you, my dearest aunt."

Aunt's eyebrows both raised in confusion. "Is that so?"

Marinette couldn't help but grin widely at the sight of her aunt's reaction. "I have come to tell you that I have a man."

"A man?" The other three woman in the room gasped, each of them exchanging baffled looks with one another.

Aunt's eyes, however, remained locked on her niece as she tried to grasp the meaning of her words. "A man?" Aunt echoed, "You?" She pointed her finger, laughing at the sudden news she found so dearly hard to believe. "Has he run away from you yet?"

Marinette's anger only boiled, but she knew she had to keep the peace in order for this plan to work. "Aunt, men only run away when I chase them away. This man, however, he is... what would you call you him?" Marinette tapped her chin, and then snapped her fingers together as if she had gotten the idea. "...different."

If Aunt's eyes could widen any more, Marinette was for sure they would have popped out from her sockets. "Is this true?" Aunt asked, still unsure of the news she's receiving. "Is there really a man out there that you are interested in romantically?"

Of corse not, Marinette scoffed inside her head. But a lie was a lie, and she wanted to keep her allowance. "Yes Aunt."

Aunt was overly thrilled at the confirmation, literally springing up from her chair like a rabbit from his hole. She let out an excited squeal– a sound the ravenette never thought possible could come out of Aunt's lips– as the woman rushed to embrace her niece into a tight hug. The sudden embrace, which was extremely uncommon, left everyone in the room feeling oddly...

...uncomfortable.

Since when did Aunt ever hug anyone?

And Marinette could tell she wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable. The other three women watched the scene play out with confusion, unsure of what they should say or do as their friend squeezed the life out of her niece.

"Oh Marinette!" Aunt rejoiced once she had let go of her niece and had allowed her to breathe. "You do not understand how happy this makes me!"

Happy?

"Finally! Oh bless the gods, finally! The day has finally come! You have finally found some man to love!" She continued on, grasping both of her niece's hands into her own. "You have made me so proud!"

Proud?

Her excited squeals dialed down as she squeezed Marinette's hands just a bit tighter. "In all honesty, Marinette, I never thought this day would come." Soon, the wide grin was back on her lips, and she leaned in to give her niece one more, tight hug, before she added, "You truly are a special woman."

Special?

What in the world?

Were these...

...compliments?

Marinette was at loss for words. Truthfully, this was not exactly how she had expected her aunt to react to the news. Since when did her aunt ever complement her?

It was odd.

The only emotion Marinette had ever felt radiate off of her aunt when she entered the room was disgust and hatred. Now the she suddenly made her feel happy? What in god's name woman! You had been gossiping about me just a second ago with your devilish friends!

When Aunt Lillian pulled away from the hug again and rested her hands on her niece's shoulders, her smile was wide as she asked with all sincerity, "So, when can I meet this lucky man?"

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