F•I•V•E

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Tired.

Nathaniel was tired.

His eyes glared at the door as he watched yet another client storm out of the meeting room. This happened for the fourth time that day.

People were pulling away from his company for the past two weeks and it was seriously a weight on his mind.

He scoffed to himself as he thought of their stupid reasons for why they no longer wanted to do business with him.

"You are awfully selfish."

"You need to get your temper under control!"

"I will not let my company fail because of you."

"It is hard to work with you."

"You need anger management."

Growling, he flung everything from the desk and stood, tipping his chair back.

He did not have anger problems! Everyone had just made it their top priority to piss him the hell off. He was perfectly fine.

If people continued to pull away from his company, the company would go bankrupt. He couldn't afford for that to happen. He promised his father that he would keep the company up and running. He couldn't break the promise...

Adrien Agreste.

That person was his only hope for success.

If Agreste partnered with him, he wouldn't need to worry about his company failing. His only hope was the meeting he had with Adrien in a few weeks.

Though he hated to admit it, he needed Adrien.

However, for some reason, he couldn't stand the blond man. It irked him to see the man looking at his wife. Nathaniel hated to see how his wife reacted to him. She belonged to him, not Adrien.

He couldn't understand why his wife reacted to Adrien the way she did. She had never reacted to Nathaniel that way before. Never blushed and hid away with a shy smile. It made him unbelievably angry.

Nathaniel didn't get what he was doing wrong. He was doing everything he learned from his father. He grew up seeing his father disciplining his mother, when she talked back or did him wrong, and loving her. He always saw his mother loving his father without a problem. The perfect couple, they were.

Why wasn't Marinette like that?

Why couldn't she just behave and love him like he loved her?

Why couldn't they be as good as a couple like his parents?

She made Nathaniel angry, but she was also the only thing that calmed him down. He couldn't lose her. He loved her too much to let her go. She was his, and she was going to be his forever.

Running his fingers through his messy hair, Nathaniel took a deep breath as he thought of his wife to calm himself.

Marinette. He thought. My Marinette.

He packed his stuff and made his way to his office. After entering his office, he stuffed his things into his briefcase and quickly stormed out.

He needed to get home.

Marinette had been running through his mind for the entire day. Thinking back to the events that happened in the morning, a smirk took over his lips.

Nathaniel couldn't wait to get home so he could hold her and kiss her. God, he loved her. He hoped she loved him as much as he adored her.

Climbing into his car, the redhead wasted no time to start his journey home.

Each day, when he made his way home, he regretted living so far away from the city, because it made the journey home to his wife unbearably long.

He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel rapidly as he sped on the long road to his house.

About an hour later, he was pulling up the gate of his house. The guards opened the gate and greeted him as he drove in. He rolled his eyes at the greetings and drove in, ignoring them.

After parking his car, he got out and headed into the house. A smile crept his way to his face as he jogged up the stairs to the room he shared with his wife.

His smile fell as quick as it came when he was met with an empty bedroom.

Where is she? He thought as he checked the other rooms in the house. Where is she?!

Nathaniel continued to search every corner and crevice of the huge house only to come out empty handed.

Marinette, Marinette, Marinette. He chanted in his head as he stormed into the house and headed to the maid quarters.

The maids in the room jumped when they heard the door slam against the wall as Nathaniel barged in.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" He yelled, causing them all to flinch. "WHERE IS MARINETTE?!"

Bertha, being used to Nathaniel's temper tantrums, made her way to the fuming redhead.

"A maid took her to her hospital appointment earlier," She said, seeing nothing wrong with her statement. "I'm not sure why they aren't back yet though."

"What appointment?!" Nathaniel yelled. "Marinette doesn't have any appointments!"

It then dawned on Bertha.

Her eyes widened in surprise when the man's hands wrapped around her neck as he slammed her into a nearby wall.

"Do not play with me!" He shouted, shaking with anger. "Where is Marinette? What maid took her?!"

"I-It was o-one of the n-new maids. She h-had said her name w-was Pamela," Bertha choked out.

Falling to the floor, Bertha coughed harshly as Nathaniel stormed out of the room.

The redhead was heading to the only two people who Marinette would have gone to if she ran away. Just like she did last time.

Speeding in his car down a highway, Nathaniel thought of how he would punish Marinette once he got her back.

"She never learns!" He screamed, hitting his steering wheel when he stopped at a red light. "I will surely chain her in the room when I get her back."

In no time, he was parked in front of Marinette's parents' bakery.

Tom was just locking up when Nathaniel stormed inside.

Putting a faux smile on his face, the large man greeted the redhead. "Nathaniel! What brings you here so late? Is Mari with you?"

What? Nathaniel thought. Why would he ask me that? Isn't she supposed to be here?

Just as the words left Tom, Sabine exited the kitchen.

"Where is Marinette?" Nathaniel asked, his anger spiking once again.

"What?" Sabine looked confused. "What do you mean where is Marinette? Isn't she supposed to be with you?"

"She's not there!" He shouted. "She ran away."

"What?!" Tom yelled. "How could she try that again?!"

Nathaniel was becoming confused by the couple's reaction. Wasn't Marinette supposed to be here?

"My baby," Sabine covered her mouth as tears ran down her pale cheeks. "W-where could she b-be? The last t-time she came here. Who else d-does she know?"

"She doesn't know anyone else!" Nathaniel was getting even more pissed than before. If Marinette wasn't with her parents, where could she be?

Tom wrapped his arms around his crying wife as he assured her that it was going to be okay.

"Maybe she'll call us? I don't know," Tom spoke. "If she contacts us, you'll be the first to know."

"I better be," Nathaniel sneered. "If I can't find her, you both might as well be dead."

With that said, he stormed out of the building and to his car so he could make his way home.

Murderous thoughts ran through his head as he drove home.

Where was Marinette?

How could she leave?!

Why did she leave?

He just couldn't wrap his head around it.

How could she be so...so ungrateful?! After all he did for her, this was how she decided to repay him? He pampered her, treated like the queen she wanted to be, only for her to play with his heart then leave?

Parking his car, he climbed out and rushed into the house.

He needed something to calm him down.

He needed someone to calm him down.

Marinette wasn't here...who else could he use?

As he made his way upstairs, he spotted a maid making her way down the hall with cleaning supplies.

Not knowing what else to do, Nathaniel pushed her against the wall and slammed his lips to hers.

The maid, surprisingly, didn't resist and kissed him back eagerly.

Unlike his wife who was always pushing him away.

Don't think about her for now. He told himself. Use this as a way to calm yourself down. A distraction.

He was unsure of how they arrived in the bedroom. He was also clueless about when their clothes disappeared.

What he was sure of was thinking of his blue eyed wife under him instead of the female screaming his name.

He wanted Marinette.

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She watched with wide blue eyes as her hair littered the white tiles of the floor.

"Almost finished," Tikki told her, clipping the ends so that they were even. "There."

Marinette lifted the mirror and smiled at how she looked. Her hair was short, not shorter than Tikki's, and she actually liked it. She was used to longer hair, but short hair looked nice on her.

"How is it?" Tikki asked, biting her lip as she eagerly waited for Marinette to respond.

"I love it," Marinette smiled and that was enough for Tikki. "Where did you learn how to do this?"

"I have a friend who owns a hair salon, her name's Pollen, and she taught me how to do it," The redhead explained as she went for her box of dye.

Tikki had told Marinette that she had to change her look so Nathaniel, or anyone who knew him, couldn't recognize her from the first look.

"I have a butt-load of dye, it's unbelievable," The redhead spoke as she returned with a huge box.

"Why do you have so much?" The bluenette asked, cleaning her hair from the floor.

"I was very, um, experimental in college," She replied with a giggle.

College. Marinette thought. I didn't get to go there.

Tikki noticed how Marinette's mood suddenly changed and made her way over to her. "What's wrong, Mari?"

"Huh?" Marinette looked up before shaking her head. "Nothing. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"About how messed up my life is," She sighed. "About how most of my life was miserable."

"Hey, hey, let's not think of that, okay?" Tikki took Marinette's shaking hands in her small ones. "You're here to start over, yeah? To forget about all the negatives and to move on. It's not gonna be easy, but I'll be here to help you along the way."

Marinette quickly blinked away the tears that started to build up in her eyes and shot Tikki a smile. "Thanks, Tikki."

"Now," Tikki stood straight, "what colour are you choosing?"

Marinette didn't even know where to start from.

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For those who want to know how short Mari's hair is, a pic is at the top ;-)

A slightly short chapter with no Adrien, but meh. How was it?

What are your thoughts?

Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. Until next time,